• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NewsNet Nigeria
  • Home
  • News
    • Local News
    • National
  • Politics
  • Economy
    • Oil and Gas
  • Crime
  • Education
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • MORE
    • Interview
    • Editorial
    • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Science & Tech
    • Videos
NewsNet Nigeria
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Provincialism, parochialism and underdevelopment

by NewsNet Nigeria
3 years ago
in Opinion
Provincialism, parochialism and underdevelopment
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on Whatsapp

By Abiodun Komolafe

By nature, development ‘belongs to those who know it, not those who have it or can buy it.’ It is like a picture, which one keeps working on. Parochialism, on the other hand, is a cultural entrapment. It is evil! With it at work, extant philosophies are laced with the cultural sentiment that a people cannot develop beyond their social thoughts. Once the ruling paradigm in the public administration is ‘awa-n-tiwa’, the society is doomed, with the social thoughts and concomitant expectations most certainly not extending the frontiers of knowledge or the ideas of development.

Embracing parochialism lends itself to easier and non-rigorous interpretation of government policies, which makes survival easier, especially for those who are stealing our commonwealth to continue doing their things without obstruction or impediment. Sooner than later, the dregs and the mediocre in the society will find elective or leadership positions attractive and suitably qualified to vie for public office. But then, the people cannot but be parochial because a man who wants to develop must be exposed to the rudiments of development. Anything outside that can only be likened to dreaming for impossibility.

The creation of pattern and its sustenance explains the development of all the nations of the world. Ever from the time of King Phillip of Macedon; to the epoch of the Tsars of Russia; down to the fall of the Republics in Rome; and the 1974 wave which culminated, especially, in the democratization of Latin America and post-communist countries of Eastern Europe, development has never been seen to have come by dint of luck, but by hard work. In plain English, there must be pattern creation and pattern sustenance! The same pattern that triggers development will also set the standard.

Without doubt, every developed society has its own pattern creation and pattern sustenance. Therefore, for any development to be meaningful, it requires that the society must have thinkers. It must also recognize the need to give them their dues. For example, an amazing might and strategic positioning, a la the righteousness of nukes and space weaponry, have placed Russia in a good stead to negotiate for all sorts of things. North Korea, where Kim Jong-un is seeking first the righteousness of military prowess with the belief that economic boom will be added unto the highly centralized totalitarian state, is not any different. That’s why Jong-un has become an untouchable leader of a sort. Even a country like Turkey has decided to develop in her own way, and at her own pace. Thus, it can be argued that, if there’s no pattern, there will be no picture.

It is a well-known fact that the Obafemi Awolowo era introduced development to the Western region of Nigeria. It is also public knowledge that there were no mechanisms in place to sustain the flow and tempo of that development after the death of the First Republic. So, the initiative was never sustained. Once the military institution in its characteristic abrasive intrusion arrested the pattern flow of the development, what became of the life and the essence of the then Western Nigerian development theory and/or policy ideas was better imagined.

To say the least, successive military interventions only ended up ruining public administration and development in Nigeria. Since there was no pattern that the people were looking up to in concrete terms, what remained were the ideas of the Lilliputians who came into government thereafter. Parochialism amongst state actors, albeit surreptitiously, replaced robust debates and arguments in public administration parlance. Again, since the new ‘lords’ were little, both in stature and status, welcome the era of little things and little thinking! What followed were leaders who were only looking up to the late sage who built the first television station in Africa; who made Liberty Stadium happen and the brain behind the first 3-Star Premier Hotel and ‘Cocoa House’. Even the Western Region Parliament Building was an edifice to behold by countries of the world. It was more of a logical incentive towards survival!

Let’s face the truth: the last time the Southwest truly witnessed development was when its affairs were directed by certain people who had vision. However, the pattern that was created at the time never attained the status of a blueprint for subsequent governments to adopt and implement. No thanks to the military jackboot anyway! So, if a pattern was created, it was never sustained, as subsequent governments never followed any laid-down plans or patterns. The Awolowo government just came and it was abandoned. Yes, Awo, as he was fondly called, built WNTV/WNBS! Had the originator of the idea lived, and his government allowed to run its course, the broadcasting outfit would most certainly have grown in size and strength, even beyond the Cable News Network (CNN). But, as fate would have it, the military came and committed blunders. The culture of development, probity, accountability and honesty was arrested; and the greedy men in Khaki stole without anybody being able to say: ‘kai, don’t do that!’ And, rather than call a spade by its name, Nigerians got carried away by bad politics. Is it therefore any surprise that dear country is in this mess?

That King Charles III took over the reins of power from his late mother within hours without any internal rancour or external interference has only confirmed the existence of the culture of development in that part of the world. On the converse, that successive governments in the then Western Region of Nigeria failed to build their own ‘Cassava House’ that would have healthily rivalled ‘Cocoa House’ after Awo also revealed that something has been fundamentally amiss in the structure and stability of public administration in our part of the global village. Above all, that the military failed to establish its own television station, but in its place coveted and converted the first broadcast station in Africa into NTA/FRCN also showed the extent to which the principle of parochialism could go at being antithetical to development.

That’s not all! Had Nigeria’s forebears attempted going to the moon, the present generation of Nigerians would have been aiming beyond that idea. Unfortunately, our forebears died searching for the road to the moon. The best they got – and used – was the product of that development. They never invented any! Is it therefore any wonder that Nigeria is embarrassingly debating grazing routes in 2022? In this age and time, can one ask a British herdsman to ply his trade by rearing his herds from, say, Newcastle, to Liverpool; or from Scotland, to Dublin, simply because his forebears invented nomadic trading, as such, it is his duty to reinvent the routes? For God’s sake, when will Nigeria secure the services of circumstance-thrown-up and time-tested leaders who will help repair Nigeria’s problems and rearrange the thinking of governments? When will our leaders come to terms with the fact that success in planning and executing the strategy for development doesn’t come by accident and that, apart from the right resources and strategies, the implementation must also be thorough? And, are we as a country really ready?

Well, until society embarks on pattern creation and pattern sustenance, good policies will continue to be repudiated for rootless policies to spring up; and there will be no development. Until there is a determined political will on the part of our leaders to dismantle the parallel structure of the Mafia-like bureaucracy in government, Nigerians will continue to wallow in abject poverty and creeping underdevelopment. It’s like the Parable of the Sower!

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

•KOMOLAFE wrote in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)

Previous Post

Opinion: If It Is Turn By Turn, Then… By Leye Igbabo

Next Post

Delta 2023: Agege ought to be in jail, can’t be governor – Okowa’s Eac

MORE NEWS

RE: Clarifying Anioma Identity and the South-East Question – A Response to the Odogwu of Ibusa
Opinion

ANIOMA STATE: A BRIDGE OF UNITY AND BALANCE FOR THE SOUTHEAST AND NIGERIA

July 24, 2025
Smoking Weeds: Like Ibadan, Like Warri
Opinion

Smoking Weeds: Like Ibadan, Like Warri

July 20, 2025
Seats of Power: Aides, Hyenas, and Why Some Level of Dictatorship Is Needed in a Growing Democracy
Opinion

Seats of Power: Aides, Hyenas, and Why Some Level of Dictatorship Is Needed in a Growing Democracy

July 17, 2025
Ned Nwoko meets newly crowned Asagba of Asaba, says his commitment to creation of Anioma State irrevocable
Opinion

Ndokwa, Ukwuani and the Quest for Anioma State, By Nosike Ogbuenyi

July 16, 2025
Next Post
Delta 2023: Agege ought to be in jail, can’t be governor – Okowa’s Eac

Delta 2023: Agege ought to be in jail, can't be governor - Okowa's Eac

Leave Comment

RECENT STORIES

Senator Dafinone Calls for Unity, Condemns “Pull Him Down Syndrome” Among Urhobo People at Inaugural Leadership Forum

Senator Dafinone Calls for Unity, Condemns “Pull Him Down Syndrome” Among Urhobo People at Inaugural Leadership Forum

July 29, 2025
Senator Dafinone Felicitates Orodje of Okpe on 19th Coronation Anniversary

Senator Dafinone Felicitates Orodje of Okpe on 19th Coronation Anniversary

July 29, 2025
Insights on Ned Nwoko’s initiative to upgrade Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba to Federal University of Technology, Asaba

HOSCON Applauds Tinubu Over 3% Fund, Nwoko’s Active Engagement on Host Community Issues

July 29, 2025
Police Take Action Against Officers Over Viral Assault Video in Delta

Police Take Action Against Officers Over Viral Assault Video in Delta

July 28, 2025
Tinubu Honours WAFCON-Winning Super Falcons with Mouthwatering Rewards

Tinubu Honours WAFCON-Winning Super Falcons with Mouthwatering Rewards

July 28, 2025

TRENDING STORIES

  • Warri Urhobo APC Members Hold Unity Meeting, Adopt 8-Man Leadership Council

    Warri Urhobo APC Members Hold Unity Meeting, Adopt 8-Man Leadership Council

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Solidarity Walk for Tinubu, Omo-Agege a Huge Success – Erhire Counters Oharisi’s Boycott Claims

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Delta Assembly Passes Community Security Corps Bill to Bolster Local Security Architecture

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Sports University of Nigeria, Idumuje-Ugboko: “A National Vision Made Manifest,” Says Senator Ned Nwoko as 2025/2026 Admissions Begin

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Police Foil Major Kidnap Plot, Arrest Notorious Gang Leader ‘Adusa’ in Delta

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

NEWSNET NIGERIA Published By: Morex Consult Limited - Since 2020.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Local News
    • National
  • Politics
  • Economy
    • Oil and Gas
  • Crime
  • Education
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • MORE
    • Interview
    • Editorial
    • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Science & Tech
    • Videos

NEWSNET NIGERIA Published By: Morex Consult Limited - Since 2020.