Nigeria's Bright Sparks and the Quest for Collective Light: The Journey towards getting it right

 

Nigeria’s Bright Sparks and the Quest for Collective Light: The Journey towards getting it right

A Paradox of Individual Success
Why do so many individuals get it right in our country, yet collectively, we still haven’t?
Football offers a vivid example. Watching Nigerian players perform week in and week out on the global stage is pure delight. Victor Osimhen’s consistency at Napoli, or the joy Galatasaray fans feel in Turkey for having a player who gives his all—these are testaments to Nigerians who have gotten it right. Yet, it’s only during international breaks that we get a taste of our own honey; the clubs reap the best of their brilliance.
But football isn’t the only example. I was already in my adult years when I discovered that a Nigerian owned one of the top airports in the United Kingdom. That’s not a small feat—it’s evidence of mastery, of rightness. Nigerian doctors head departments abroad; our academics lead global research projects; our authors converse with world leaders; and our politicians hold sway in foreign lands. Nigerians have gotten it right—in droves.
Sometimes, I think international studies that forecast a bright future for Nigeria base their optimism not only on our abundant natural resources but also on the rising global stature of Nigerians. If a good crop of our people have gotten it right, can we not extrapolate that a significant portion of our 200 million citizens have as well?

Then why hasn’t that individual brilliance translated into collective greatness?

Understanding Collective Rightness
First, what exactly is collective rightness?
When Muhammadu Buhari became Head of State in 1983, he blamed Nigeria’s problems on indiscipline—both behavioural and fiscal. He identified corruption, tribal divisions, and disunity as symptoms of that malaise. His draconian measures, though well-intentioned, didn’t produce the long-term transformation he envisioned. He fought the effects rather than the causes.
Rightness, at its core, is a culture of doing things the right way—a lifestyle, not an event. Collective rightness, therefore, is what emerges when a society embraces this culture as its way of life. In our world today, this culture exists everywhere but in varying degrees.
Countries that cultivate rightness naturally attract right-thinking individuals. It is a self-reinforcing cycle—rightness breeds rightness.

The Battle Between Rightness and Baseness
The opposite of rightness is baseness. Baseness, when embraced, gives birth to corruption, decay, and destruction. History is littered with societies that perished under the weight of their own baseness. As humanity evolved, the baser instincts—greed, deceit, and cruelty—were gradually tamed. Yet, their residues remain in our thoughts and systems.
When base thoughts are emotionalised, they manifest as base actions. But when right thoughts occupy that space, they give birth to right actions. Civilization, then, is not about living in cities or using modern gadgets—it’s about whether a people have overcome the baseness of their nature.
Ancient Egypt, for example, became the civilization capital of its age because rightness was widespread. Civilization and advancement are not the monopoly of any skin colour—they are the natural outcomes of rightness.
The more right people exist in a society, the more that society will advance. Conversely, the more baseness there is, the more stagnation persists.

Individual versus Collective Rightness
Every human being operates at a unique stage of evolution. Some are capable only of base actions; others can toggle between base and right; and a few have evolved into predominantly right beings. Life, by its nature, favours those who act rightly—it smooths their path. For the base-minded, life becomes a drag.
Individual rightness doesn’t automatically translate into collective rightness. Why? Because individuals act within the limits of their capacity. A 10-watt bulb can light up a small room but not a city. A 100-watt bulb does better—but even that has limits. Yet, a million 10-watt bulbs can illuminate an entire region, just as a single 1-gigawatt bulb can light a nation.
This analogy explains leadership models. History has seen both the one-leader system—where a visionary with immense capacity propels progress—and the multi-individual system, where many self-governing individuals collectively drive advancement.
Dictators often emerge from the former, believing they are messiahs of their race. In the latter system, progress depends on shared responsibility and the moral maturity of the populace. When leaders in such societies prioritize their survival over progress, coups or revolutions often arise to reset the order.
Ultimately, both paths aim at the same destination—collective rightness.

When Will Nigeria Get it Right?
Nigeria is its people. Our collective rightness will mirror the sum of our individual rightness. Each time a Nigerian doctor saves lives abroad, an engineer innovates, or a student excels, our collective rightness inches forward. Conversely, each act of corruption, indiscipline, or moral decay drags us backward.
Some of our political leaders have indeed gotten it right. But beyond politics, there are “people-leaders”—teachers, spiritual mentors, and reformers—who help others transition from baseness to rightness. The missionaries who once tilled Nigeria’s moral soil passed the torch to Nigerian evangelicals, who now continue that work.
From a bird’s-eye view, Nigeria’s giant wheel of advancement depends not solely on those in power but on everyone. True progress requires the synergy of all—politicians, professionals, and the ordinary citizen. While individuals who “get it right” will always stand as beacons, the real transformation will come only when their light collectively brightens the nation’s path.