The social nay political direction of any given
society will definitely be predicated on the norms and societal values that
guide such a community. But when there is a lack of these, it should not come
as a surprise to anyone why things do not seem to work. Thus there must be a
philosophical direction; there must be certain ideals or national values which
a society must uphold in its quest for national development and sustenance.
These values are not necessarily packaged in any form of written constitution,
but they are qualities and ethical behaviours that the generality of the
society cherish and are avowed to defend. Nigeria, I can say definitely lacks
this for now.
In a society whereby it does not matter how you attain
positions and climb the social ladder; in a society where mediocrity and nepotism
is the order of the day; and in a society where ethnic, religious and tribal
leanings are the pre-requisites for decision making and agitations, such a
society is next to a failed society. In a society where primitive acquisition
rules, there cannot be any meaningful progress, justice and genuine peace. My
drift is that there is so much intrinsic value imbued in art that our society
can tap from for the upliftment of the human spirit; it is the lifting of the human essence and spirit
that paves way for genuine cross fertilisation of ideas and consequently, the fledgling of creative thoughts for the
building of a greater larger human society.
 |
| Watercolour painting by Morgan Nwanguma |
