A New Genesis for GSSA
(New Year message from the Chairman of the BOT of GSSAAA, Dr. Obi Nwasokwa, January 1, 2010)
Fellow alumni of GSSA:
Happy New Year.
We observe today another turning of the tide of time. But this is no ordinary change in the calendar. This particular one holds special significance for us and our country. This new year, 2010, will mark a half century of Nigerian independence.
Ordinarily this milestone would be cause for celebration. But looking back at these years – these wasted years in the life of our nation – our mood is subdued and gloomy. Sadness comes over us as we quickly realize that there is nothing to celebrate. Time like tide waits for no nation. The currents of history rush on. Those unable to ride it are left behind. And our nation has been left behind – far behind.
The first half of the period since independence saw a bloody civil war followed by no reconstruction to speak of and then an era of uncertainty and drift. The second half has been disastrous.
During the past 25 years, the once incorruptible Nigerian military lost its innocence and not only became corrupt but escalated corruption to stratospheric levels. With this tragic but pivotal development, the once would be saviors of last resort became the ultimate nemesis of our land. As soldiers stood guard, unenlightened leaders, completely lacking in civic conscience, arrogating to themselves supreme authority and absolute power over the nation and her resources, answerable to no one but themselves, succumbed to the basest of impulses – unbridled greed and outright theft. They took it upon themselves to loot the national treasury with impunity. Apparently unable to fathom the magnitude of the number, one billion, these leaders would steal billions of dollars from the national treasury and starve the nation of the money it needed to fund development. More than that, these unenlightened leaders would set a new precedent. From then on, to the nation’s misfortune, there would be a succession of unenlightened leaders none of whom served at the pleasure of the people, each striving to set the bar of corruption higher than his predecessor. Tens of billions of dollars continued to disappear as heretofore unimagined corruption permeated the entire fabric of our society. Today corruption has a stranglehold on the Nigerian economy. It is institutionalized and seems to have risen to the level of national policy and no longer carries a stigma. The only way to really “succeed” is either to steal public funds directly or get a share of the loot from the national treasury. The nation is held hostage by robbers in the halls of power. And they have an army at their beck and call.
While the only business of interest to those in position of power at all levels is how to divide up the loot from the national treasury, no one attends to the real business of the nation. One senses that it is not even beyond our so-called leaders to make international deals that favor them personally to the detriment of our entire nation.
Of particular note, the second half of the last fifty years was when the neglect of education and the inversion of values became entrenched and GSSA’s decline accelerated to crisis levels. The story is not much different for King’s College, Lagos, Government College Ibadan, Government College Ugheli, Government College Umuahia, Hope Waddell Institute Calabar and all the other great academies the British built for us. While our school buildings crumble, our leaders – our unenlightened leaders – educate their children outside our country. We now hear that the so-called Nigerian elite send their children to Togo, Ghana and other foreign countries to obtain the education that not long ago was within reach of both rich and poor in Nigeria. While our hospitals are neglected and allowed to deteriorate, when they become ill, our leaders fly out of the country for treatment. But the fools fail to realize that not every illness allows the luxury of time to fly out. So they continue to let our hospitals, universities and schools at all levels crumble, oblivious of the fact that this is not in their personal interest.
Our leaders seem happy to let our country wallow in underdevelopment as other countries such as South Korea, India, Brazil and China, that previously shared this underdeveloped status with our country, have used education to lift their people out of poverty and make their countries centers of influence in international affairs.
Ours is now a nation with no sense of herself. No sense of her place in the geopolitical reference frame. No ambitions or aspirations as to where a potentially great nation wants to position herself in the global scheme of things. Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, the reality is that as a people, we are regarded by the rest of humanity as the dregs of humanity – the very scum of the earth. At best we are seen as a basket case, unable to care for ourselves and perpetually in need of charity and compassion. Our so-called leaders act as if these sentiments, widely shared by the rest of the world, do not matter because, thanks to their ill-gotten wealth, they fancy themselves a privileged group different from the common run of the populace – the “natives” with whom they do not identify. There is no national purpose, no national goal-directed initiatives, projects or programs; no plans, no credible worthy national agenda let alone big national dreams and … no hope. All this at a time when the national wealth has never been greater. Who will launch our satellites? Who will build our solar panels, cars, high speed trains, our super highways and network of roads and our world class universities? Who will restore the railways the British built for us? Who will treat our illnesses? Who will teach our children? Who will dream big dreams for our nation?
Chaos reigns. Anarchy is the order of the day. Life and property are in jeopardy. No one feels safe in the land of our birth.
A dark age has taken hold.
The country behaves as if it has lost its mind – as if the entire citizenry has gone insane and resigned itself to impulses that can only destroy a nation. Instant gratification is the norm. Instead of planting our proverbial national seed corn in the hope of a bountiful future harvest, those at the helm of affairs and in a position of trust, betray this trust and eat the seed corn. There is a perversion of the political process. Elections are a joke and everyone knows it. The path to power is not through the consent of the people but through subverting the will of the people. The political culture is contemptuous of the people – their own people. There is no tangible effort to correct course. The nation – a laughing stock in international circles – seems headed for the precipice.
We are not disinterested observers. We are concerned patriots. We must therefore not just stand by and bemoan the fate of our potentially great nation. We are an important part of our nation. We know that our people are not the dregs of humanity. We know that our people are as good as any other people. What our people have lacked has been the spark of enlightened leadership that would let them shine. But there is also the sober reality that our people will never be accorded the respect and standing other peoples take for granted unless we earn it through our achievements as a nation. And we will not achieve anything of note as a nation so long as our nation is encumbered by the curse of unenlightened leadership. Our leaders have always sold our people short. But we are reminded that leaders come from within the ranks of the people. It has been said that a people always get the leaders they deserve. Or do they?
We represent enormous human capital. We harbor within our ranks an impressive concentration of skill, expertise and competence – enough to run all the major governments in Nigeria and virtually all the major universities to boot. If we do nothing, our potential would be wasted. Indifference would make us part of the problem rather than part of the solution. This after all is our country. We must not decry the absence of enlightenment and at the same time, by our indifference, act qualitatively like the unenlightened people we criticize. That would be hypocrisy.
GSSAAA Secretary-General Leonard Ozoemena has pointed out – and it is true – that if GSSA were in the US and produced as many alumni of distinction as she has done and was in its current deplorable condition (say as a result of some major devastating natural disaster), the alumni alone would have rushed to the rescue and rebuilt the school very quickly. The reason? Here in the US there is an ethos of enlightened self interest that is very much alive and well. These people understand that what benefits their community benefits them. If their community does well, they and their descendants will also do well. The converse is also true. That is why in the US most of the best universities such as Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Yale and Harvard etc were started with support from private benefactors who sought to do good for their communities without expecting any personal gain. Their grateful communities named these schools after them but Mr. Johns Hopkins, Mr. Elihu Yale and Rev. John Harvard all died without expecting or even knowing that this honor would be done them.
Our culture is different. The principle of one for all and all for one has not taken hold. Few people seem to see beyond their noses. They believe it is wasteful to engage in selfless service and selfless giving. Perhaps this attitude and mindset is one reason why our communities are less developed than the United States. The individual has to see that what is in the collective interest is also in his or her own interest. That is enlightened self interest.
I believe that the vast majority of us, GSSA alumni, are men of enlightenment. But the best that can be said is that it appears that most of us are slow in acting the part by making a selfless voluntary contribution (no matter how seemingly small) to our alma mater and thereby ensuring that the current generation as well as future generations of students will be able to avail themselves of the kind of opportunity we had. There is reason for optimism though; the number of donors has doubled since this time last year. Those among us who in spite of the prevailing self-centric ethos, have seen fit – and chosen – to support this effort, are truly a breed apart. Go to our website, www.gssaaa.org, and see the honor roll of donors. Is your name there? If not, please think about it and ask yourself “why not?”
Speaking for myself, I could never really do enough for, or give enough to, GSSA. I attended GSSA paying next to nothing for what was undoubtedly a world class education. I think of what it would cost today to attend a GSSA class high school in the US. Gentlemen, you are talking about a school with the stature and reputation of Phillips Academy in Andover Massachusetts. Not for profit. Founded in 1778 by Samuel Phillips, a man bent on doing good for his community. Tuition? $40,000 in the current academic year! And …guess what the first of the two mottos of Phillips Academy is: “Non sibi” which means “NOT FOR ONESELF”. Therein is a hint perhaps of one reason why the US is so developed and Nigeria is not. They teach their children the right values – early. Children brought up in this manner are very unlikely as adults to countenance, let alone be complicit in, the looting of their national treasury. What is learned in the cradle is carried to the grave. Another example of this bears mention. It is said that alumni of Phillips Academy attend Yale University disproportionately. When they go to Yale, the values they learned subconsciously at Andover are reinforced by the Yale University School song, Bright College Years, which ends with the lines:
Oh, let us strive that ever we
May let these words our watch-cry be,
Where’er upon life’s sea we sail:
“For God, for Country and for Yale!”
Little wonder then that graduates of Yale are represented disproportionately in public service of their country be it in government (to which they provided four US Presidents since 1970) or in important agencies like the intelligence agencies. And alumni of Yale really do love and support their alma mater more than just about any other group of alumni.
Rather than be content with cursing the darkness, we must start to devise cures for the curse of unenlightened, even criminal and insane, leadership – the bane of our land. And I propose that we do so starting with our plans for GSSA. We must imagine the school in new ways designed to begin to address – and provide cures – for some of the major social and civic ills of our land.
It has been said that education is a “social blessing”. This could be true but is by no means preordained. For whether it turns out to be a social blessing and the extent to which it is a social blessing depend on what is taught. People who consider themselves well educated can turn out to be complicit in the shameless robbery of the national treasury for instance. What is taught therefore must address the ills of the civic environment in which the school exists.
We must seek to make a GSSA education an unqualified social blessing for our country designed to provide an antidote to the civic malady of unenlightened leadership.
In addition to her proven past role as a preparatory school for doctors, engineers, architects, scientists, educators etc, GSSA should also seek – deliberately and by design – to produce leaders with the right mindset and the right set of values of enlightenment. These will be leaders who will serve the people and not just their self interest – leaders who will dream big dreams for the nation.
To this end, I propose not only that the rigor of the traditional curriculum be maintained but also that the curriculum at the new GSSA should go beyond the usual traditional curriculum to include a healthy dose of Civic Ethics.
The values and principles that have to be fostered include the following:
- Respect for and celebration of difference and diversity for, if handled properly, difference and diversity can be a source of strength rather than of discord and weakness.
- The ability to see personal interest in the collective good.
- Inculcation of a moral spine grounded in civic and social ethics; belief in something socially redemptive and in inviolable convictions and principles one is willing to live by and will not compromise and will defend with all the fiber of one’s being.
First we should require that the makeup of GSSA and any other southeastern Nigerian secondary schools we shall restore, be such as will ensure prolonged and meaningful contacts between students with diverse backgrounds so as to foster tolerance and understanding in our multiethnic Nigerian society torn asunder in the past by conflict and hostility between tribes, often along the fault line of religion. To this end we should plan to make GSSA a boarding school again not just because that is a way to entrench discipline but also because we will seek to attract students from all parts of Nigeria and all countries of Africa and even from non African countries. Not only will Kanuris, Yorubas, Hausas etc be actively encouraged to attend alongside Ijaws, Ibibios, Igbos and others from Nigeria but Sudanese, Ivorians, South Africans, Gabonese, Ethiopians, Zimbabweans, Americans etc will also find a home at GSSA. Adherents of various faiths and of diverse tribal origin will live, study and play together and thereby learn about one another’s background under the guidance of tutelage with the skill to produce the desired results. Our vision should be of a school that will teach students not only to respect, but to celebrate, difference and diversity thereby promoting goodwill, peace and harmony among people who must share the same civic space.
Secondly Civic Ethics should inculcate an ethos of enlightened self interest by which the students are taught to see self interest in the collective good. They should also be taught that corruption is a cancer that can destroy a nation and must not be countenanced and should never go unpunished. They should learn that whenever self interest is in conflict with the collective interest, the collective interest should override self interest.
Thirdly Civic Ethics should seek to instill in the students a moral spine rooted in social and civic concern and conscience. Given the current crisis of values, GSSA must aspire to produce leaders with the desired set of values that will enable our country to correct course. We should sow the seed for a future enlightened citizenry from whose ranks can emerge a crop of leaders with the stature of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Andrei Sakharov and Vaclav Havel – giants of history, with a soaring civic conscience; who dared to speak truth to power in complete disregard of personal consequences; who drew a moral line in the sand that must not be crossed come hell or high water; whose moral spine and compass instilled a “freedom from fear” – courage that came from conviction and that showed time and again that right can be might. When the times and the prevailing social order demand, such leaders can emerge and serve as beacons of uncompromised and uncompromising moral rectitude and clarity in matters of the collective national interest. In contrast to the current leaders, this new breed of enlightened leaders will be motivated not by greed but by creed rooted in conviction; and will bow to principle and not to power; goaded by conscience and never coercion.
Pipe dreams? Only if we choose not to act. The new GSSA can come to be but only as the fruit of our exertions and our active engagement. And there is no doubt that we have the capacity to bring it to fruition. Failure will be a failure of will.
GSSA’s destiny was always to become an international boarding academy of great repute. It had achieved that status before the Nigeria-Biafra war. Her current status as a local day school happened by default and not by design. Her true destiny cannot now happen by default but only by design. It will materialize if we adopt a posture of passion and persistence rather than of passivity. Some people who see GSSA as she is now may be content with saying why. We must dream and imagine GSSA as she is not, but as she should be, and ask: “Why not?” By so doing, we will be part of the metaphorical “thousand points of light” that will herald a new dawn for our country.
The second motto of Phillips Academy, Andover Massachusetts is “Finis origine pendet” which means: “The end depends on the beginning”. This is indeed true. To achieve our goals at GSSA therefore we must seek the proper new beginning.
In the current existential crisis, therefore, the rebuilding of the physical structures and infrastructure that is now underway at GSSA will continue to conclusion in God’s good time. But it will not be the end. Nor will it be the beginning of the end. Nor will it even be the end of the beginning. What it will be perhaps is the beginning of a new beginning for GSSA.
As we imagine GSSA in new ways; as we seek a new beginning for our beloved alma mater in an age of darkness; we must go to the very beginning and draw inspiration and take instruction from the very first command,
“when creation was begun
When God spake and it was done.”
Let us therefore rise up and with one voice proclaim: “Fiat lux!”: “Let there be light!”
Obi Nwasokwa, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.C.
Chairman, Board of Trustees, GSSAAA
School Captain, GSSA, 1967-1970