The
greatest tragedy of all African states is the introduction of foreign gods and
languages, cemented by tribes, decimated by education without intelligence.
Before
the advent of the foreign intrusion into Africa, we worshiped our Gods in
harmony with our neighbors. There were no levels of superiority or rivalry
between our Gods. We respected each other’s Gods despite our tribal, regional
space or academic differences. Africa was a
borderless state, yet we were a-big family with no borders.
The
arrival of the foreign incursion changed everything, they disrupted our
cultures and our Gods. Although there is
no right or wrong culture, every culture has a logic of philosophy guiding it. Our culture guided us in harmony
with our neighbors concerning our religions and
languages with man-for-nature or eco-centric orientation.
In
the past, Africans were capable of learning to attribute meaning to our
surroundings and situations, drawn from
our religious resources (our original Gods).
Africans
were told that they were children of lesser Gods. And the only gods and
languages they should value and respect
were theirs. On behold to the Africans that they signed their death warrant to foreign lesser gods at the
detriment of our superior Gods. Our Gods were devalued, relegated to the bottom while they introduced
their gods in their image, and elevated their gods above ours, what a tragedy of faith.
Foreign
religions were used to dominate, manipulate, and oppress Africans, performed
key roles for preserving class and race
superiority.
This
foreign religious manipulation was vividly evident in the use of the slave
bible. This Christian bible was
explicitly edited for slaves during the slavery era and produced in England
in the early 19th century.
Africans
are so embedded in these foreign religions that they failed to refine, develop,
make our Gods palatable and sell it to the world.
Today
in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, they are doomed to the forces of foreign
gods; Christians against Muslims,
fighting over religious hypothesis, an abstraction of ideas.
Africans
are prisoners of sorrows and lamentations. They have relegated what they should
do to God, when God is an exaggeration
of the worship of the cultural self. God is as the wind, which touches everything. They failed to conquer,
master and nurture their natural environment,
instead solely rely on divine intervention in their survival.
The
bible and the quran is a collection of religiously authoritative texts or
books, a documentary hypothesis. A
hypothesis is an assumption or concession for an unexplained occurrence that
does not fit into current accepted
scientific theory. In other words, the hypothesis implies insufficient evidence to provide more than a tentative
explanation.
Religion
has no place in any business equation. In African today, research and
development along with common sense have
been relegated to divine intervention. Africans must understand that religion is about morality and ethics,
while science is about the natural order of things or nature.
Hence,
religion and science are mutually exclusive. Likewise, wishes and hopes are not
business strategies. Religions can
hardly fit into the generalized theoretical categories employed by social scientists, a contestable character of
religions.
Africans
are slaves to their colonial masters who govern them, and the religions they
gave them, manages their conscience.
Hence, Africans will continue to be under the control of their colonial masters.
The
danger to the development of Africa is in the hands of the so-called educated
Africans. They are the architects of Africa’s failures due to their religious
oversight. They tend to be more
religious than the foreigners that introduced these doctrines to them.
They have no common sense approach to
religion and development.
Africa
is a blessed continent. Once the engine of development is on, there is no limit
to the power it can generate. If only all the natural resources are still
available for development.
Africa
is the only continent where we do not value and worship our Gods. Research and
studies indicated that the mother tongue (thinking language) is the best
instructional language, an enabler that facilitates better learning,
understanding, and transfer of knowledge. African is the only continent where
foreign languages are used as lingua franca, both in their institutions of
learning and business.
The
energies and creativities Africans infused to foster foreign religions, and
languages, if channeled to develop African Gods and languages, it will catapult
Africa to the pinnacle of developments. And, Africans will be respected around
the world. This creative tenaciousness will also lead to further developments
within the continent, particularly in Nigeria.
Until
Africans develop and make their Gods palatable, think, and teach in their
mother tongues, speak in one voice,
break the border barriers, Africans will never have peace or harmony, not
anytime soon.
In
Africa, what is logical is not practical, while what is practical is not right.
Whichever is right, is not ethical, and
ethical things are not desired. And the desired is not logical. That is the
state of Africans and Africa affairs.
Leadership
is the center of the effective utilization of resources. The true essence of
leadership is personal conquest, discovery, and self-esteem. Until Africans
ostracized the ghost of low self-esteem from their consciousness, return to
their original Gods, use their languages for learning, and lingua franca,
Africa is going nowhere anytime soon.
The
sleeping giant of Africa is busy sleeping when other countries are busy working
on developing their economies. Instead,
they are religiously praying for the foreign gods to rescue them from
greediness, selfishness, and ignorance.
A
country where the primary mission of their politicians is to make money with
impunity, and where greed runs in the
veins of its citizens, instead of correcting their situation, they are
busy praying for salvation.
Instead
of building factories and businesses, Nigerians are busy building churches and
mosques, instead of paying taxes, they
are religiously paying tithes. Their pastors are getting fatter while the congregation is getting leaner. Yet, they
are waiting for their foreign gods to change their circumstances.
The
greediness of Africans would not let them consider the next person, yet they
expect God’s blessing. Africa has greedy, selfish, and ignorant people, which
elucidates greedy, selfish, materialistic, and ignorant leaders.
Yet,
they keep praying for change. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over
while expecting a different outcome,
that is not the law of nature, and there is no divine intervention that will
change the outcome.
The
world is changing, Africa must change her thinking if they except any change in
their states of affairs. Africa will never return to its past glory until there
is a total redirection of her mindset.
The
key test for Africa is whether or not she is self-correcting. And for Africa to
be self- correcting, Africa must first be open and truthful about herself. Is
Africa open and truthful about herself? The voice of truth is easily known, and
credibility is earned through action, polished by words and knowledge.
Africa,
one continent, many worlds, prisoners to foreign religions and languages, while
neglecting their Gods with a refusal to develop their languages or Gods.
Africans have adopted Willie Lynch’s
making the slave mentality, and are perpetuating it very well. From the desk of Dr. Bamidele Adeoye
“A
leader of Self”
Market
Research Consultant, Atlanta Georgia, USA.
