"TO
RESTORE THE DIGNITY OF MANKIND"
I
came about this phrase about two weeks ago while I was reading Chimamanda's PURPLE HIBISCUS. Some characters in the
book had visited the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and on the welcoming board
was written; "University of Nigeria, Nsukka, …to restore the dignity of
mankind". I was shocked and curious about the motto of such great
institution. Many questions ran through my mind: "why would the University
of Nigeria choose this phrase?" "Has the institution succeeded in restoring
mankind's dignity?" "When was the dignity lost?"
Knowing
that the University of Nigeria is one of the oldest universities in the
country, I decided to ask Google to know when the school was established. I
became shocked again when I found out that the school had even been established
before our independence as a country, it was established in 1955. My curiosity
sank deeper and deeper as I began to wonder what the scholars who picked such a
phrase for a motto had in mind to make them base the standards of a school on
such powerful words.
Jokingly,
I asked my brother through a chat; "bros, since when has the dignity of
mankind been lost?" he simply replied: erm…. Tipe! tipe!! (Meaning: long
long time ago). Immediately, I picked up my dictionary to get the definition of
Dignity which means: self-respect, seriousness in behavior or worthiness. In
all ramifications, mankind has actually lost dignity. But, since when and is
there a means of restoration?
In
2011, I was privileged to be present at a seminar organized for us final year
students of Ladoke Akintola University of technology, Ogbomoso, to charge us
into the working world. One of Nigeria's top speakers, Pastor Kunle Soriyan,
charged us to be dignified in our dealings as we go into the world proper. He
said: "being human is not the ability to speak, see, smell, taste or feel,
animals do these too. Being human is the ability to be kind, caring and showing
love to our fellow species".
I
read in the news daily, housewives stab their husbands, boyfriends kill their
girlfriends for money rituals, landlords sleep with tenants, friends kill
friends over little arguments, even a fortnight ago, Suarez had to bite an
opposing player simply because he wasn't allowed space in the goal area. The
dignity of mankind is really lost. News of death of multitudes of people no
longer amaze us, we simply scroll or switch unto the next page. Almost a year
ago, four Uniport students were gruesomely killed and everybody condemned the
act, the question is; If you and I were there, would we have thrown a stone or
two? The Boko haram massacre is no longer news, infact what is news is whenever
they temporary seize bombings for weeks. Our dignity is so lost that we now
even commend the MEND activities in the Niger Delta for "only" kidnapping
and not killing like the Boko Harams do. Recently, we also heard about the
Boston bombings where athletes from different parts of the world gathered to
entertain people and unfortunately met with their deaths.
I
know you are shaking your head now reading this, yes, I agree with the scholars
who chose the motto of the institution that the dignity of man is lost, but can
we really restore the lost dignity? Let me ask; are you living a dignified man?
The subject of this matter actually cuts across to us all as we all have lost
our worthiness. Everybody wants to cheat the next person, parents cheating
their children, children cheating their parents. The passenger on a bus doesn't
want to pay the complete fare for a journey while the conductor is also devising
a means to make the passenger forget his or her change. The attendant at the
fuel station steals fuel by pumping air into cars or kegs while the buyer keeps
looking at the dispensing meter wishing it will run past what he or she has
paid for. Spiritual leaders telling lies to their congregation in order to get
more donations. Aren't we all guilty of the undignified state of mankind?
We
keep pointing fingers at people, especially those we have in government, about
the hardship that has fallen on us, but sincerely, they were once ordinary
citizens like we are now who also craved for better governance. Now, arguably,
is the indignity of man allocated to a particular position of power or is it something
that is moulded with us in our mothers' wombs which cannot be removed and the
environment we find ourselves determine its level of growth? Even Paul, the
great Apostle, in his letter to the Romans confirmed he was doing that which
was unworthy and he blamed it on something within (Read: Romans 7: 14-19).
In
this society of ours, to be anything "meaningful" to the public means
to have had your hands washed in undignifying things. This makes me conclude
that to live comfortably in this present world, one must have the mind of a
criminal, must be corrupt in one way or the other. Our law system ascertains
this. Criminals rule over us, power is passed from one corrupt hand to another
corrupt hand. People are killed daily and no one cares to know how and what
caused the killings. We simply nag about it and move on with our daily inhuman
activities. To make it more alarming is the fact that even prophet Habakkuk in
the seventeenth century BC complained about the injustice in the land of
Babylon (Read: Habakkuk 1:4). Centuries ago, the French organized what we now call
"the great revolution" which occurred between the year 1789 and 1799
where more than 30,000 people were killed. Has that restored the dignity of the
citizens of that country? God never created man with the intention of ending his life
through the hands of another man. Remember Abel? What year was that? Erm…tipe!
tipe!! (Read: Genesis 4: 8-9).
Well,
we can boldly point out some few personalities who have always at one time or
the other advocated for worthiness and good governance. Mahatma Gandhi, mother
Theresa, our own Fela Anikulapo Kuti and professor Oby Ezekwesili, who also
happens to be an alumni of the University of Nigeria, to mention a few. So many
of us have always wanted to do things rightly, we want a better governance which we believe would automatically
lead to a better life, but we forget to believe that a better life actually
exists within us, all we need to do is just keep doing things rightly without
sentiments.
With
all due humility and respect to the great university of Nigeria, the subject
matter which is "to restore the dignity of mankind", in my own
opinion, can never be achieved by the management, staff nor students of the
institution, infact, it cannot be restored in this life, maybe in the next life
it will, and that would be by the Only one who created mankind in the first
place; The Almighty. But the subject is a phrase that should run in every man's
mind to help us shape our life for the next.
Please
answer these questions as I drop my pen:
·
Has
mankind ever been dignified?
·
When
God created the world, he looked and saw that everything was good, if God
decides to take a peep on us now, what would he say?
I
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