The Trouble with Nigeria by Chinua Achebe is a book that defines the struggles Nigeria is facing and the underlying problems that drive some of the outrageous and condemnable actions we see in society today. The sad part about writing this is that the book was written in 1983, and instead of a change in the situation, they worsened.
I’m sure Grandpa Chinua is resting well in his grave because he gave his best before leaving the earth. But, on second thought, he may still be restless because of the appalling state of the nation. For a patriot like him, if dead men could still make motions, notice the use of the word “motions” not “talk” because from 1983 to 2021, with the situation of things? Grandpa Chinua would only make the SMH motion because he wouldn’t speak; the system’s degradation is saddening.
This article isn’t about Grandpa Chinua’s state in death; I would love to share some profound thoughts from the sage and writer Chinua Achebe’s book. The Trouble with Nigeria was published in 1983 by Heinemann. The book is divided into ten chapters and about a hundred pages, giving me hope as a budding writer that my book does not have to be 350 pages before it is impactful.
Chapter 1: Where the Problem Lies. Chinua Achebe has this to say about where the problem lies: “The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.”
Chapter 2: On Tribalism and its devastating effect on the nation, Chinua Achebe had this to say “We may not be able to legislate prejudice and bigotry out of the hearts and minds of individual citizens, but the state itself and all its institutions must not practice endorse or condone such habits.”
Chapter 3: False image of ourselves in Nigeria. He talks about the cargo-cut mentality that Anthropologists sometimes speak about a belief by backward people that someday without any exertion whatsoever on their part, a fairy ship will dock in their harbour laden with every good they have always dreamed of possessing. He says in his own words: “I know enough history to realize that civilization does not fall down from the sky; it has always been the result of people’s toil and sweat.
Chapter 4: Leadership Nigerian-Style. In addressing the nation’s motto, Grandpa Chinua says, “Virtues like faith and unity are not absolute but conditional on their satisfaction of other persons.”He further questions why we did not think, for example, concepts such as justice and honesty, which cannot be so easily directed to undesirable ends?
Chapter 5: Patriotism. Grandpa Chinua says patriotism being part of an unwritten contract between a citizen and the state cannot exist where the state reneges on the agreement. But my most important lesson from this chapter was the definition of a patriot: “A person who loves his country. He is not a person who says he loves his country. He is one who cares deeply about the happiness and wellbeing of his country and his people. Patriotism is an emotion of love directed by critical intelligence. A true patriot will always demand the highest standards of his country and accept nothing but the best for and from his people.”
Chapter 6: Social Injustice and The Cult of Mediocrity. “Whenever merit is set aside by prejudice of whatever origin, individual citizens, as well as the nation itself, are victimized.”
Chapter 7: Indiscipline. Simply defined: “the goal of indiscipline is self-interest, its action is the abandonment of self-restraint in pursuit of the goal.” Yet more profound is Sir Chinua’s thoughts on discipline. He says that “discipline does not invite supervision by an external force but is imposed by the individuals from within. Discipline is either self-discipline, or it’s nothing at all.”
Chapter 8: Corruption. Dr. Achebe states explicitly that “Nigerians are corrupt because the system under which they live today makes corruption easy and profitable they will cease to be corrupt when corruption is made difficult and inconvenient.”
Chapter 9: The Igbo Problem. Here, he talks about his ethnic group, the Igbos, their strength and weaknesses. I’m not quite sure I understood the importance of this chapter in the book, though.
Chapter 10: Reading this chapter made me appreciate Grandpa Chinua as an unequivocal writer. It also made me wonder who Mallam Aminu Kano was; the most surprising discovery from this chapter is that Mallam Aminu Kano from Kano state, as far back as in the 1940s to the 1980s was a champion of democracy, freedom of speech, women empowerment, disenfranchising ethnicity bias etc. proof that you can have a future-forward heart amid crudeness and backward thinking.
I wish all Nigerians read that book as far back as 1983. Maybe things would have changed. Many of the information needed to change our mentality and approach to life is found in books, but are we reading them?
