USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fashola and the question of rational thinking

Fashola and the question of rational thinking

KAYODE KETEFE

The former Governor of Lagos State and the incumbent Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji  Fashola SAN, gave one of the greatest speeches by any politician in Nigerian history on Friday 25th November, 2016  while  delivering lecture as the Guest Speaker at the 42nd Convocation Lecture of the University of Benin, at the Akin Deko Auditorium, Ugbowo Campus in Benin City, Edo State.

Speaking on the theme, "Freedom from Fear, Choices before the New Generation," the Minister provided insightful perspectives on subject of superstition afflicting the minds of millions of Nigerians. He posited with utmost candour that unless human mind is cleansed of baggage of superstitious belief, rooted in fears and ignorance, real progress and development would be hard to get.

It was a most inspiring speech, illustrated with personal experiences, real life examples, anecdotes, uncanny humour and perspicacious insight; the piece was as intellectually enriching as it was critically engaging.

In spite of being a devout Muslim and a firm believer in God, Fashola treaded on a landscape where many angels in the Nigerian polity fear to tread. He questioned many things we do in the name of religion, which many would shallower minds would regard as invidiously irreverent.  

For example, he queried the reason behind the morbid proliferation of religious houses instead of establishment of business enterprises that create job directly as against places where prayers will be offered for job opportunities!

Using a prose that is measured, elegant, simple, and most aptly, accessible, he challenged many religious practices and traditions that had nothing to do with God per se which are merely human conventions.

More importantly, the cerebral Minister made appeal to Nigerian youths to place great premium on human intellect which is the greatest asset they possess. He did not denounce the relevance of prayer and other pious expression of spirituality like meditation et al, but, he courageously put prayer in its place, delimitating the assigned boundaries where prayer should, meekly, concede to the superior dictates of rationality.

For example, he said, "I once listened to a sermon broadcast on Television, asking people who are indebted to step forward for prayers that will make their debts disappear.

It frightens me. It does not make sense to me. Debts are accounting, matters of credits and deficits. They do not vanish.

"It is people who live in FEAR who fall prey to such teachings and become victims of misery from poor choices.I urge you to free your minds from such fears."

Fashola believes God has given us a lot of blessing and great potentials and that he has equipped us with the intellect to harness them productively for our progress and development. Why then bothering God when all what we need is strategic plan and intelligent implementation?

When this writer finished reading the piece, I involuntarily exclaimed "No wonder this man succeeded as a Lagos State Governor" The work portrayed Fashola as pragmatic thinker who knows how to put everything in its proper perspective.

Hear him "I will challenge you to take control of what happens to you and what happens around you. I say this because there seems to be an increasing manifestation of our collective surrender of our individual choices and free will to divine intervention and the possibility of endless miracles.

"We are now in the realm and reality of constant expectations of miracles and divine intervention. Superstitions have taken over reason and logic.

"When we pass examinations, win football matches, conduct successful elections, or achieve any feat, we seem all too frightened and unsure of ourselves to take credit for even the most modest of successes attributable to our efforts.

"The first thing you hear is God did it. For the avoidance of doubt, I believe in God, and only He can question my faith. But I also believe He gave us a lot of free will."

This to me is one of the best advices ever given to the Nigerian youths. It urges in a most compelling way the cultivation of the attitude of critical thinking.

 If I have my way I would recommend that the speech be made into pamphlets and distributed to matriculating students in all Nigerian universities and polytechnics.

I am so enamoured with Minister's speech that I have shared it on all my social media and send it to friends' emails!   This is because the position taken by the Minister incidentally correlates with what I have most passionately espoused over the years in my columns and articles.

For example, in my piece entitled "Why Nigeria must promote science education" published in February last year, I wrote inter alia: "Our state of scientific backwardness also has culture-based dimension. We have cultivated attitudes and belief system that are antithetical to evolution of scientific knowledge. It seems that we are bereft of that daredevil mentality of insatiable pursuits of knowledge that makes other races routinely engage in investigative enterprises – the hunger to understand the secrets of the universe.

"Right from childhood our children are being nurtured to imbibe certain ideas capable of prejudicing their minds against later-life empirical pursuits.

By way of illustration, let us examine two short songs, sung by children in Yorubaland and England. The two songs deal with the same theme-rainfall. The Yoruba version goes, "Ojo nro s'ere ninu ile! Ma wo' nu ojo ki aso re ma ba tutu, ki otutu ma ba mu o" This literally means "Rain is falling, keep indoor while playing. Don't enter into the rain, so as not to get drenched and thereafter succumb to cold". The English "version" goes; "Rain, Rain, go away, come again another day, little children want to play!"
Now, look at the Yoruba version: it urges a vile submission to the forces of nature! It warns of consequences of staying in the rain and enjoins the child to passively retire indoor; it offers nothing to the child on the possibility that rain itself could be controlled by human's exploits.
In contrast, the English version issued a command to the rain to go away! Now, little and insignificant as this may seem, it may have far-reaching consequences on the psychology of the child and his attitude to nature in future. One child may grow up believing all he could do is to offer prayers to higher powers for protection against an inclement weather; the other may grow up believing in controlling the weather through meteorological knowledge.
"There are some set of laws that governs the universe and these can be fathomed through empiricism. The pathway to liberation is the systematic accumulation of knowledge of these laws. To this end, we should re-invent our educational system to give a pride of place to science-based curricula and also encourage massive participation of Nigerians in the sciences right from birth."

I quoted copiously from my said piece above to underscore the parallelism between this submission and the message the former Governor Fashola was passing across in his immortal convocation lecture.

Fashola's speech, like the controversial Tai Solarin's piece, "May your road be rough" will endure for many generations.    

 

Ketefe may be followed on twitter @Ketesco