The first time I heard about the word,” paradigm” was during my undergraduate days. My lecturer on advertising and marketing often used the word, “paradigm shift”. At that time, my understanding of the word was shallow or perhaps narrow until recently when I read Joel Arthur Baker’s book,” Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future”. But before then I had gotten some glimpse of the word in Stephen Covey’s classic work, “The Seven Habits of Effective People”.

Covey explained that paradigm affects the way we see things adding that, “the way we see things is the source of the way we think and the way we act”. For example, he explained that until the germ theory was developed, a high percentage of women and children had died during childbirth, and no one could understand why.

Even before then, lots of soldiers had died from small wounds and diseases than from major traumas at the front lines. But whether they shift us in positive or negative directions, whether they are instantaneous or developmental, paradigm shifts move us from one way of seeing the world to another. Along the line Covey made a striking statement when he said,” the United States today is the fruit of a paradigm shift.

The traditional concept of government for centuries had been a monarchy, the divine rights of kings. Then a different paradigm was developed- a government of the people, by the people and for the people. And a constitutional democracy was born, unleashing tremendous human energy and ingenuity and creating a standard of living, of freedom and liberty and of influence and hope unequalled in the history of the world.

Unfortunately, if this is juxtaposed with the Nigerian context, one can easily see the urgent need for a paradigm shift in our polity. It is not debatable that the country was founded on a quick sand of economic convenience by the British colonial powers, and over the years we have experienced the shaky foundation of the Nigerian construct – from the pogrom in the North, the political violence in the West, the civil war in the East and Niger-Delta militancy, and currently Boko Haram.

The current political, religious, social and economic developments in the country are an indication that the nation is not only sick but needs an urgent change to a new paradigm. This is necessary if viewed from the assertion made by Barker that paradigms always become inevitable during a period of cul-de- sac. He says, “ Every problem will, in the process of finding new problems, uncover problems it cannot solve. And those unsolvable problems provide the catalyst for triggering the paradigm shift”.

The question that would easily come to mind is, has Nigeria ever had a paradigm shift before? This question is pertinent if we take a hindsight on our national development plans commencing from 1960. Right from independence the country’s development plans have always hovered on wealth creation, employment generation, poverty alleviation, capacity building and provision of infrastructure, among others. In Nigeria, there have been four national development plans: 1962-1967, 1970-1974, 1975-1980, 1981-1985. Despite efforts to pursue the first three phases, Nigerian economy has not made much progress.

The Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) adopted in 1986 by erstwhile Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) further worsened the economic situation. And since SAP failed, it has been one economic somersault or the other.

In 1999, the democratic government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo adopted a four year ad hoc plan (l999-2003) based on a policy framework known as National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy(NEEDS). Late President Yar’ Ardua came on board and christened his own plan. ‘’Vision 2020″.

Worried over these frequent experimentations, renowned economist and former Vice Chancellor of  University of Uyo, Professor Akpan Ekpo remarked that the Nigeria economy still remains at the crossroads.  He however, called for a paradigm shift when he said, “there is need for the emergence of a new framework which requires thinking outside the box”.

Covey’s assertion seems to suffice in this regard. He was of the view that paradigms, whether positive or negative, instantaneous or developmental, move one way of seeing the world.

A good example of this scenario is the recent woeful performance of Nigeria at the just concluded Olympics in London. Just few days after the dismal outing, Senator Uche Chukwumerije recommended that coaches be sacked forgetting that he led the London delegation. The same scenario has continued to beset football and other sectors of the economy. In the past five years, Super Eagles have engaged over five coaches; both local and foreign. The truth is that no one wants to bear the responsibility.

Noble Laureate and human rights crusader, Professor Wole Soyinka paints the picture succinctly in a recent interview he granted News Africa, “Nigeria is filled with a whole race of mimics” , he said.

He further asserted,” mimic syndrome of the worst kind taking place in other areas is somehow prevalent here. A mistake in London is a style in Nigeria. That is our mentality which has been carried over into the realm of religion”.

I would gladly add that the ‘blame game syndrome’ has gone beyond religion. It cuts across social, economic and family life.

The question then is, can we change? Yes we can! Albert Einstein counselled that, “the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were when we created them”.

Stephen Covey had identified the need for a shift based on what he described as “ deep and principle based”. He prescribed a paradigm based on the principles that accurately describe the territory of effective human being and interacting- to solve the deep concerns”.

He calls it character ethic based on the idea that there are natural laws that govern human actions, just as gravity is sure to pull anything to the earth. This means that we need to take a deep look on our past as a nation and make realistic adjustments. We need to ask ourselves why our power sector is not working.  We need to ask ourselves why our rail system is comatose. We need to ask ourselves why our economy is still wobbling? These deep soul searching questions provide the path for a change that Covey calls an “inside-out approach”.