The concept of radically changing the Nigerian system is huge – so much so that it seems difficult for many people to envision the possibility. In other words, so much is wrong with the system that changing it seems too big a battle to fight. It is no longer news that the roads are filled with pothole and heaps of trash and that NEPA is epileptic; the Naira (national currency) is daily becoming worthless and the schools and hospitals are under funded. The judiciary, police, and the National Assembly are littered with cases of corruption, and pharmaceutical counterfeiting and peddling are at alarming rate in the society. Morality has taken a dangerous nosedive. The economy is comatose, with unemployment, poverty, crime, insecurity, mass illiteracy, and prostitution escalating. This is not to mention the insanity the Nigerian Customs Service often exhibits at the ports and borders. To solve a problem of this magnitude the leaders have to be proactive. Proactive problem solving, according to Russell Ackoff (1978) -an authority in proactive problem solving- includes designing the future we want and finding the most effective way to get there. One step towards moving to the future Nigerians want is restoring sanity in the polity, by adequately funding the educational institutions and taming corruption and criminal activities, because these are pivotal to the well being of the people and the nation.

Development-conscious and ‘knowledge’ societies are constantly restructuring and updating their system, equipping their educational institutions with modern technologies and controlling corruption and crime. But Nigeria continues to lag behind in these areas! A ‘knowledge’ society has partly been defined as ‘a society of mobility’ and one ‘in which many more people than ever before can be successful’ (Drucker, Nov 1994). However, most of the economic problems facing the nation today could be linked to the insecurity situation in the society and the paucity of funds and the unending crises in the citadel of learning. No nation will become a ‘knowledge’ society without viable educational institutions, because the primary goal of any educational institution is research and learning to push back the frontier of ignorance. But this objective will be difficult to accomplish without the necessary learning tools. More importantly, without the necessary technology the much-lauded long distant educational program in the society would be unattainable. A baby, as it is said, must learn to crawl before walking. In other words, the society must first acquire the basic infrastructure before venturing into space.

One can only underscore the importance of modern technologies to the growth and development of a society. Modern educational technologies would empower teachers and students to acquire the skills needed to become productive citizens and to compete effectively in the emerging computerized global marketplace. They would establish a solid foundation for innovative learning environment from where students and teachers could reach beyond the confines of a school building for information. With this, the latest technological developments around the world would enable them to solve the problems at home. Therefore, to thrive in today’s modern workplace the people must have the necessary skills and ‘good understanding of how technology works, and what it can do.’ In addition, modern technologies could expedite voting, collation of votes, and announcement of election results; reduce the rampant election frauds in the society; determine the authenticity of personal IDs and to create new ones. They could be used to verify fingerprints and addresses; to design and manage database (birth and death); and control crime, collect taxes, assist in economic planning, and resource management. And with the appropriate tools, schools, which serve as socioeconomic laboratories, could "produce bold and innovative solutions" to problems that face a nation (Carlin, Nov 5, 1999). Thus creative and innovative steps would enlarge a nation’s economic pie and creates more jobs, reduce poverty and crime. To restore sanity in the nation academic research should be encouraged in the institutions of learning with adequate funding and good working conditions for teachers.

Although many of the problems facing Nigeria today would require common sense solutions, some of them require sophisticated framework of ideas and modern technologies. As Albert Einstein had noted ‘the specific problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them’ (see Dike, Feb 1, 2000). For instance, allowing the private sector to build modern refineries (to refine enough crude oil) and good network of roads and railroads to distribute petroleum products, would solve the perennial fuel scarcity crisis in Nigeria. Resorting to frequent irrational fuel price increases (instead of rebuilding the dilapidated infrastructure) means applying wrong economic medicine to the nation’s myriad socioeconomic problems. Again, adequate funding is vital to the rebuilding of the nation’s crumbling public infrastructure. No society can achieve much at this technology age without investing copiously in modern technologies.

As mentioned earlier, improving the security condition in the society is another way to restore sanity to the polity. This is because every other activity in the nation (from political governance, private business, education, and so forth) depends on the security condition on the ground. Nigeria, as we are all aware, is strewn with cases of armed robbery, religious, ethnic, political assassination and intimidation. Consequently, the nation has lately been branded a lawless society; and this scares away foreign and local investors from the economy. The world business community will not come running to invest in the economy unless it is convinced that Nigeria is safe, because many other nations with attractive business environment are competing with the society. Granted that every nation has its share of insecurity challenges, but the insecurity situation in Nigeria becomes more complex with the failure (or refusal?) of the leaders to seriously tackle the problem.

Due to lack of concerted action plans to deal with its problems the leaders have often resorted to invoking divine powers for solutions to the problems facing the nation. Seeking solutions to the problems in the society goes beyond mere praying, because what Nigeria needs to restore sanity to the polity are action plans. It is a mark of leadership failure for the leaders to depend on divine intervention, prayer sessions, or hunger strike action for solutions to Nigeria’s socioeconomic and political problems. It is, therefore, imperative that urgent and immediate action should be taken to create the necessary foundations for sustainable growth and development.

The escalating moral problems in the society - greed, selfishness, dishonesty and corruption - have rendered the Laws of the land impotent, as some judges abuse their powers by granting frivolous ex-parte injunctions. Business and political problems have often become gold mine for the police and the court because nothing gets done without resorting to bribery and corruption. There is also an unsettling sense in some quarters that money determines everything, even marriage relationship in Nigeria and in Diaspora. Thus the rash for money and rabid materialism has become a justification for breaking the laws of the land and social norms. Consequently, the most basic kinds of moral knowledge seem to be disappearing from our culture. As a way to restore sanity in the society, all conscientious observers should condemn this dangerous trend that does not augur well with the good character formation of the young and the moral health of the nation.

The ThisDay of Nov 23, 2003 reported that the Justice Obiora Nwazota Judicial Commission of Inquiry that investigated the mismanagement of the Nigeria Airways has issued a white paper that indicted many ‘prominent Nigerians.’ Any person familiar with the magnitude of corruption scandals in the society knows that the report is just a tip of the iceberg. Criminals masquerading as contractors collect billions of Naira worth of subventions for government contracts that they have often abandoned. The personalities involved in such fraudulent activities seem to suggest to the ordinary persons on the street that it does not pay to be honest, hardworking, and law-abiding. Sadly, the authorities do not blink, because they get their share of the bounty.

To restore sanity in the nation, nobody should be allowed to live above the laws of the land. Therefore, the Congress must begin to make good laws and adequately fund the judiciary and the police (and strengthen other social institutions) to ensure that the laws are implemented to the letter. The challenge for the leaders is to come together amicably (a thing they have not done well) and create a vision that could ignite passion in everyone in the society. However, it has been noted that ‘vision without action is nothing more than hallucination.’ Thus to control the activities of the elected officials (they are responsible for most of the problems facing the nation) all stakeholders must participate actively in the politics of local, state and federal government’s administration where policies are made and resources are allocated.

Dec 2003