Intellectual Laziness: Nigerians Next Problem

I remember talking about intellectual laziness on some of the previous posts. It has been stressed as one of the major reasons this country isn’t moving like it should. “I heard, they said, Crowd mentality, join the bandwagon, if you cannot beat them, join them, that is how they do it in America, that is how other countries do it…” With Nigerians, I have heard it all. Let me just state that there is nothing wrong with borrowed ideas. No man is an island and sometimes, you need people to point your ideas in the right direction. But then the case is a lot different when Nigerians are involved. We do not research anything, we do not read, we take everything we are given hook, line and sinker (I remember someone telling me Gov. Rochas and Aliko Dangote has accounts with world bank). I mean, which lazy person hears this and not find out the truth in this content? Nigerians are the Lords of copy and paste. If there ever was a land of circulated ideas, no other country would get in because we would leave them disqualified.
I started to think about the causes of intellectual laziness amidst Nigerians and I came up with a few theories:

The school system

Like every other thing in this country, Intellectualism has decayed compared to the sixties when there was a zeal for knowledge thanks to the decline in the quality of the school system. The major ill of the school system are teachers, lecturers, etc.

I am very sorry but many lecturers are not properly qualified to teach (without prejudice to lecturers). They feel very insecure by bright students. With their know-it-all attitude, they leave no room for students to explore. You hear lecturers say things like “give me exactly what I gave you in my notes or I want my definition”. If you can have “your” definition, why can’t your students have one? These lecturers create lazy students who just cram their notes and move on to the next one. These lecturers never let you question ideas and if not for questioning, would we ever have discovered evolution, gravity and the likes of it?

Another ill would be the sorting problems. This goes both ways. Intellectual laziness makes them take the easy way out thereby paying money to pass. And because there is the option of paying to pass, people no longer find any reason to be intellectually hardworking. They would rather not put their brains under any stress (It’s there to decorate and give their heads a shape and support). As much I would say the kids are on the wrong, it still falls back on the lecturers for making such an option available.

Culture of dependency (Connection/God “fatherism”)

“You do not need to be good at what you do, you just need to know somebody” This would surely serve as a better replacement for “unity, faith, peace and progress”. In any case, we barely have needs for any of that. We are tearing our fabric of unity ourselves, people are losing faith in Nigeria and clamoring for secession, Northerners and southerners are at each other’s throat and mostly, we have only taken not more than 5 steps since 1960. But then it does not matter if you know someone or you have a “godfather”. All will swing in your favor even if you can’t spell your name (I am not exaggerating). People do not believe they can achieve anything on their own and in the typical Nigerian setting, they cannot (Please don’t give me your sisters testimony of divine intervention). This “godfatherism” and connection is the reason we have pointless people in the senate and other top positions in the country (I will discuss more on “godfatherism” and this issue another day)

The big ole Ignorance 

Stemming from illiteracy and the fervor to not know. Some people are so ignorant, any attempt to revitalize their minds makes you a perceived enemy and they start building an unwarranted defense. Some even insult you for trying to emancipate their chained minds. They love their ignorance, bask and pride in it. They raise their necks like peacocks and trot around the country (especially social media) with their half baked knowledge. We all know half knowledge is even more dangerous than not knowing at all.

Finally, there are no rewards for intellects. You have brains you do not use to fill your skull? Great, Keep it to yourself. You scored highest in mathematics competition or made your own invention? Awesome! Here is N10,000 and a can of malt. Numerous pageantry emerging and giving cars, huge cash prices… to name a few. No wonder many people have no use for their brains anymore. Who knew the brains were actually just a part of the body? I am sorry for thinking the brain more than a part of the nervous system.

The Nigerian school system needs a reform; A massive, huge, groundbreaking reform. Get busy with your minds, ask questions. Question everything. Question that I had this written. Question my ideas. Question the government. Question the school system. Question your religious leaders. Question everything… You are allowed to. It’s not illegal to have a mind that works.