THE SKY IS THE LIMIT
Nigeria is a blessed country and many of her citizens don’t even know this yet. Imagine a country that is unorganized, corrupt, and without electricity that has an economic growth of 6 - 7%. When we have the problems that confronts us fixed, our economy can grow at 25% per year for the next 25 years.
I have lived in Canada for 36 years and I have observed the social structure in this country I think our government must incorporate it into our social system but I am finding the difficulty reaching those who can effect change. We collectively can reach our leaders it is time that we get out of this rot we are in right now.
In industrialised nations, they have realized that the social structure of a nation which is the organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions that together compose a society is very important to nurturing a society, they made it a science. This social structure they presently employ was not developed overnight it evolved. It was not created by one man or one country it is shared daily between industrialised nations, it is not a secret but a cultural technology that is not immediately visible to the untrained observer but however present and affect all dimensions of their citizen’s experience on how they interact and live together. We have to incorporate this structure in our society. This social structure is the foundation of an economy.
If you look at our problems what is visible is corruption, disorganization, non - conformity to the rules of law, dishonesty, aggression, confrontation, and violence. This all stems from our social structure. Not only was our social structure interrupted during colonization while our economic and political structure quantum leaped, we have neglected to nurture it thereafter. If our social structure is the distinctive stable arrangement of our institutions whereby we in a society interact and livetogether, we must spend considerable effort torestructure it else we will continue in this rot forever. It is the individuals in the society that produces, exchange the goods produced, and provides the public functions of the society. Therefore the people need to be organised, disciplined and supported to be conditioned to live together, perform their roles in accordance with the rule of trade, rule of law and be accountable.
Organization: In industrialized nations they have spent considerable time to organize their people and the advent of information technology has strengthened their resolve. They have an identification system. A driver’s licence, individual personalized identification, birth certificate, and a health card identification. Armed with information technology each individual’s assigned identifications can be stored and retrieved with ease. The importance of this structure cannot be overemphasized. (a) It enables the institutions in their society to organize, discipline and support their citizen. For example, there is ease in identifying the gender, age, population, education, health, etc. of their citizen in real time. It enables government institutions to effectively provide and support their needs and it makes planning easy. (If we know the amount of 10 -18 years old in an area in real time we know how many high schools to build etc.) (b) Each member of the society is now responsible and accountable and feel belonged to the society and each has an assigned number that can be easily retrieved and stored. This enables each one of them to produce and exchange their production with the least interruption because they know each other (identifications) and each is known by the society. The accountability also ensures the social conformity to the rule of law. The conformity to the rule of law and trade is affirmed. (c) They know exactly who their citizens are since each has to have identifications. Each has to drive, have a birth certificate or permit, attend the hospital when sick, and have a personalized identification number. No alien can assume nationality to destroy the country or become a president. (d) There are now layers of relationships and responsibilities between citizens and between citizens and institutions. When we attend the banks we show our identification to open accounts, when we attend the hospital we identify ourselves with these pictured identifications, and when we have contractual obligation with each other we provide identifications. (e) It becomes easy for us to be disciplined each one of us is now responsible and accountable. Each one of us has layers of relationships with each other and with our institutions. A major reason why it seems we are unorganized.
Support for basic need: In a society our needs are diverse but we share the same basic need for shelter, food, and security. A society must find the means not only to discipline her citizens but to support them to eliminate any interruption or burden in their daily lives that will affect production and its exchange. On the other hand whenever needs are satisfied it is always profitable. Industrialized countries made shelter provision possible through an organized mortgage structure. (a) A mortgaged infrastructure that enable as little as 10% down payment of total mortgage cost which makes housing affordable and reduces stress, corruption, aggression, violence, and allow affordable monthly payments. This mortgage programs are structure by the government between the banks and the mortgagors a venue where those with money can invest. Each monthly payment is with interest and it is taxable, it generates revenue for the state, the banks and investors while making the lives of the people better. The most important accomplishment however is that it reduces the stress that leads to corruption, beautifies the country, and creates employment. (Housing is a leading economic indicator in industrialized nations. In America housing is about 18-20% of GDP of $16 trillion dollars (not including the added value of things used in the houses such as appliances, furniture, home hardware etc.). We can only imagine how much effect it will have on our economy if the mortgage structure is created). The affordability of a place to keep our family safe and warm is essential to conditioning the citizen to conform. Paying cash for a house or building a house for many years creates stress, damage the landscape, encourage corruption, deceit, and unnecessary poverty. (b) Every nation must be able to provide majority of her society’s food intake. With our present and future population growth, we must structure mechanized farming. A country must be able to provide majority of her citizen’s food intake else it will become inflationary which may impact growth. Like housing mortgage, industrialized nations, through government programs, used the land and equipment for the collateral for loans to farmers. They have a farming mortgage infrastructure. The added values, such as processing, marketing, distribution and retailing will fill the unemployment (c) Security is essential to conditioning a culture to conform. The feeling that I am not alone, that the country cares about me, gives all of us a sense of belonging to our society. Industrialized countries created structures for security of live and property and assurance of continuity. There are places to call with immediate response when our lives, property, or community is in danger and there are places to report irregularities. There is security for the continuation of our lives such as unemployment insurance, property insurance, life insurance, business insurance, education insurance, health insurance, pension, etc. These securities and assurances reduce the burden on our lives and reduce confrontation, aggression, violence and corruption.
Without a structured law enforcement agency with defined separation of powers nothing is possible. ‘Corrupt the law enforcement in a country and you corrupt the judiciary, the elected government officials and the populace. Without uninterrupted electricity it is difficult to be a digitize society.
This is what motivated me to develop this forum http://nigerianpage.com with the hope that we can all contribute, participate, and support our country to overcome this social structure that has a stranglehold on our society and our future. We are 164 million strong and each is unique with special talent and knowledge which combined can move us forward. If we all participate and contribute in this forum we will collectively begin to educate, inform, and support each other and our country. Someday I assure you, our elected officials will find us, it is inevitable. We will all begin to speak with words that all of us can hear and most importantly understand. I ask that you share this forum with your co-students your absence in the political, economic, and social functioning has created a vacuum of knowledge and ideas needed by our country.
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Thank you
Jim Osiname
email: [url=mailto:jimbonnieo@hotmail.com]jimbonnieo@hotmail.com[/url]