They Crawled So We Could Walk: Imperative Of Inter-generational Dialogue In Nigeria

Every nation considers nation building a work in progress, a shared vision of greatness, conceived and articulated by those who have gone before. Every nation has a solid foundation on which rugged pillars and scaffoldings stand to hold their dreams together. National anthems, Art, Theatre, History, Culture are often drawn from a hymnbook of supplications, invocations for divine inspiration to keep these dreams and hopes alive. As such, the hymnology often invokes notions of aspirations, visions, sacrifices of these heroes and heroines. They may have died in the battle fields for freedom or in the prisons constructed by the conquerors of yesterday. Still, their memories are invoked in solemn supplications.

American history cannot be complete without reference to heroes like General Paton, Ulysses Grant, George Washington, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, etc. Ho Chi Min city is named after the great eponymous freedom fighter who gave North Vietnam its freedom. The mention of such men as Mao Zedong or Deng Hsiao Ping, Lenin, Stalin, Castro, Mandela or Lee Kwan Yew, inspires their citizens to sacrifice and awe. The lives of these great men are embedded in the histories and myths of their nations. Their memories are summoned as witnesses to the imperative of patriotism or when their nations are threatened.

The stories of their years of humiliation, subjugation, imprisonment or death often become seared into the collective memory by way of folklore, drama and theatre. The complex scars of their individual or collective sufferings are held up as a kaleidoscopic scenery of adoration and even worship by generations. This is often a function of identity construction and mythology. In this way, the streams and rivulets of different ethnic or religious groups and cultures gradually flow into the rivers of patriotism, watering and leading the nation to greatness and glory.

Flip this and think of our dear country. To be sure, we have had great men and women who rose up to the challenges the history of their times. I do not to bore you with their names. However, time has passed and it would seem that whatever awe their names inspired has now descended into whispers now. Imagine trying to convince a young undergraduate in Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto to write an essay on the inspiring life and times of the great Obafemi Awolowo. Or, try asking a young undergraduate in your own university here in Oye- Ekiti, to write on the life and times of the great Sir Ahmadu Bello, you will meet with the same sense of shock. Similarly, if you go to Awka and asked a young Igbo to write on the life and times of Tafawa Balewa. He or she might think you are crazy. Nigerian students might be more excited to write about Nelson Mandela, Julius Malema, Thomas Sankara, JJ Rawlings or Ibrahim Traore than any Nigerian hero they can imagine. Time, prejudice and ignorance have taken their toll on the memories of our youth today. And, it is not their fault. It is we, teachers and parents who have sown the seeds over the years.

For example, today, is it conceivable that a Professor Tunji Ajibola can become the VC of University of Nigeria, Nsukka? Or, can a Professor Sani Bello become the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan? Can a Professor Obiora Kanu become the Vice Chancellor of Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto? How did we come to this state, you might ask. We cannot lie to ourselves because we know the garden where this original sin was created. We know where, when and how our nation come to be just a story of dreams deferred, a story of shifting goal posts of opportunity. We know how the foundations of our country started shifting. We know how the conductors of this orchestra of immense talents lost his baton. We know how and why this orchestra with immense talent could no longer find symphony. Over the years, the race to greatness has become tiresome drudgery. The finishing lines have become dimmer as the years rolled by. Many ask, is there hope? I answer, absolutely, unequivocally, yes.

It is true that for the first time, we have conducted seven unbroken elections. The optimists say we should clap because there is evidence that we have deepened Democracy. Each of these elections have been flawed. They have called the integrity of both the electoral body and the actors to question. Yet, we have soldiered on. Even the news of an attempted coup is treated with disdain. Surely, this must be a sign of progress. I would say, yes, the evidence suggests that flawed as our elections have been, there is evidence that our people still have high hopes that things can only change with improved practice and discipline in Democracy. The military’s loss of appetite for direct intervention is not necessarily based on their belief in Democracy but more to do with the fact that the military today, under the clouds of insecurity are now in power even if not in office! No matter the outcome, despite stumbling and falling, we must learn to rise and continue the race.

Democracy in Africa is very much like Joseph’s coat of many colours. For example, the rituals of elections have continued, often combining gerontocracy with autocracy. Elections have been successfully conducted and concluded in Rwanda [2024], Cameroon [2025], Egypt [2025], Tanzania [2025] and recently, Uganda [2026]. In all, the liturgies are basically the same and all the boxes are ticked; voters trooped out, cast their votes, votes were counted and winners were declared to great acclaim. Post-election funerals here and there, broken skulls litter, the prisons take in more admissions, a few widows sob, civil society grumbles and life goes on. In all of these elections, the winners won by between 80 and in some cases, over 90% of the votes cast, not cast but counted and allocated. Normalcy returns with bandages soaked in blood. Time provides an analgesic that dulls the pain while we await the next election circle.

It is interesting that despite the violence and the humongous and immoral deployment of state resources to win elections, newly elected leaders go out of their way to turn their speeches into hymns of lamentations, accusing their predecessors of incompetence and corruption. They say they inherited empty treasuries and bad loans. They claim that they underestimated the depth of the rut. Cleansing the stable starts with ceremonial parade of the fraudsters of yesterday, often their former colleagues from other parties or their opponents within their parties. They are arraigned on stage managed trials surrounded by an orchestra of the most senior members of the Bar in the country.

In full court, with the judges presiding, the accused is arraigned, the lawyers, in synchronised logic, enter their pleas of not gu…