Opinion
Evolving New World Order
Prompt reaction of the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to the mass protests of Nigerians to excess and unprofessional activities of a unit of the Police, serves as a good omen of an evolving new world order. In a similar way, current warnings about the possibility of another phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, should serve as reminders that humanity would experience changes and challenges of unexpected nature. Surely, changes are vital spices of life, but not all changes bring smiles.
Evolving new world order should be understood to mean changes that would bring order, discipline, justice and equilibrium in human activities and interactions. Ordinarily these desirable conditions would hardly come without some protests and force, owing to the recalcitrant attitude of humans. Recalcitrant nature of humans includes the tendency to look down on what is simple and less complex. Rather, humans take things seriously when they are made difficult, hard to attain through complex rigours and life-threatening.
The haste and vigour applied in getting what should have required simple rules of discipline, gives the average human being a feeling of greatness. There was laughter in a mass communications lecture when a writing principle tagged “Kiss” was introduced. Some mischief-loving students had the audacity to say that the lecture was about prophylactics. But “Kiss” simply means “Keep it short and simple”, whether it involves writing or talking. Rather, humans have the tendency to make what they write or say so obtuse and superfluous that they become ambiguous and complex. So, there becomes a need for attitudinal restructuring!
An evolving new world order, a long-lasting process, would bring about forced changes in many human activities which had involved arbitrariness and acts of impunity. Consequently people would learn, the hard way, to respect due process and the rule of law, rather than take the law into their hands. A major cause of mass protests, revolutions and resort to violence is usually obtuseness on the part of power holders, who would not respond appropriately to humble appeals by people who have valid reasons to make complaints. In this particular respect, President Buhari’s response to the mass protest over the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) brutality is commendable.
A responsible leadership is not only one that listens to protests and then acts promptly but more importantly one that monitors excesses of subjects and applies corrective measures without waiting for protests. There is hardly any human leadership that is flawless, arising largely from factors having to do with human shenanigans. Even global leadership as represented by the United Nations (UN) can hardly be said to be free from the flaws of other categories of leadership. Therefore, issues relating to the evolving new world order have little to do with the strengths or weaknesses of human leadership. There’s ruin when there are no checks!
Nations and humans have existed on the earth for quite a long time with various laws put in place to ensure stability and collective well-being. Apart from recalcitrance and numerous weaknesses, not all humans are equal with regards to inward development. The probability is that there are more people inclined towards wrong-doing than the percentage striving to embrace what is noble and right. Causes of such wide diversities are quite many, ranging from ignorance to willful recalcitrance.
Where there are no checks and balances any system would break down and collapse. Hardly would any one accept the idea that over-indulgence, over-tolerance and permissiveness arising from weakness, are acceptable attributes of a good leader. Neither would any honest person dismiss the fact that collective humanity had erred and strayed enough that a new world order is not called for. Surely, there have been clamours from various quarters for some drastic changes to bring in some discipline.
Human expectations would not be the decisive factors in the shape of things to come. Neither would the clamours of the masses nor the predictions of the numerous prophets come close to what the new world order portends and demands. One thing is sure, namely: only by force can obtuse and recalcitrant humanity be helped. Parts of the forced changes necessary to restructure human attitudes and perceptions would include new ideas and interpretations of what we call love and other concepts that have been grossly distorted by humans. Would genuine love, for example, mean condoning weaknesses indefinitely?
Docility and gullibility have been among the factors that fostered other weaknesses in matters of belief. There is no way that a new would order can sweep across humanity without dismantling long-existing faulty foundations in every ramification. Therefore, every individual would be thoroughly shaken so that personal faults, excess luggage, indulgences, cracks on the walls of beliefs and non-beliefs, would crumble. The need to examine and weigh issues, ideas and then put personal resources of perception to maximum capacity, would dawn on every adult. This would also include development of sound judgment and self-reliance, such that herd-mentality would be done away with.
One of the objectives of the evolving new world order is the acceleration of personal maturity which is associated with increased personal responsibility, whereby an individual becomes highly conscious and knowing. In such enhanced status of personal awareness, no one would be mentally enslaved by another and much of current anomalies would cease to exist. For some people, greater force and shaking would become necessary to make it possible for a cleansing process to be effective. This is where obtuseness and recalcitrance can bring agonies and pains to many.
Like Nigerian Prisons now becomes Correctional Centres, key essence of the evolving new world order is thorough transformation of an existing state of aberration into an improved status. Like a refining process, recalcitrant and hard-headed elements which heat cannot transform, would be subjected to more radical catalysis. Religious pundits call such process a global judgment. It is here now!
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
The line that separates betrayal and corruption is very thin. Betrayal and corruption are two sides of the same coin. Like the snail and its shell they are almost inseparable. They go hand-in-globe. Betrayal and corruption are instinctive in humans and they are birthed by people with inordinate ambition – people without principles, without regard for ethical standards and values. Looking back to the days of Jesus Christ, one of his high profile disciples-the treasurer, was a betrayer. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ for just 30 pieces of silver. One of the characteristics of betrayers is greed.
So, when on resumption from his imposed suspension, the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminilayi Fubara threatened to bring permanent secretaries who were found complicit in “defrauding” the State during the days of Locust and Caterpillar regime, he did not only decry a loot of the Treasury but the emotional trauma of betrayal perpetrated by those who swore to uphold the ethics of the civil service. Governor Siminilayi Fubara had least expected that those who feigned loyalty to his administration would soon become co-travellers with an alien administration whose activities were repugnant to the “Rivers First” mantra of his administration. The saying that if you want to prove the genuineness of a person’s love and loyalty feign death, finds consummate expression in the Governor Fubara and some of the key members of the State engine room
Some of those who professed love for Governor Siminilayi Fubara and Rivers State could not resist the lure and enticement of office in the dark days of Rivers State, like Judas Iscariot. Rather, they chose to identify with the locusts and the caterpillars for their selfish interest. Julius Caesar did not die from the stab of Brutus but by his emotional attachment to him, hence he exclaimed in utter disappointment, “Even you Brutus”. The wound of betrayal never heals and the scar is indelible. Unfortunately, today, because of gross moral turpitude and declension in ethical standards and values, betrayal and corruption are celebrated and rewarded. Corruption, a bane of civil/public service is sublime in betrayal. The quest to get more at the expense of the people is the root of betrayal and sabotage.
This explains why Nigeria at 65 is the World’s capital of poverty.
Nigeria is not a poor country, yet, millions are living in hunger, abject poverty and avoidable misery. What an irony. Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies and most populous nation is naturally endowed with 44 mineral resources, found in 500 geographical locations in commercial quantity across the country. According to Nigeria’s former Minister for Mines and Steel Development, Olamiekan Adegbite, the mineral resources include: baryte, kaolin, gymsium, feldspar, limestone, coal, bitumen, lignite, uranium, gold, cassiterite, columbite, iron ore, lead, zinc, copper, granite, laterite, sapphire, tourmaline, emerald, topaz, amethyst, gamer, etc. Nigeria has a vast uncultivated arable land even as its geographical area is approximately 923, 769 sq km (356,669 sq ml).
“This clearly demonstrates the wide mineral spectrum we are endowed with, which offers limitless opportunities along the value-chain, for job creation, revenue growth. Nigeria provides one of the highest rates of return because its minerals are closer to the suffer”, Adegbite said. Therefore, poverty in Nigeria is not the consequences of lack of resources and manpower but inequality, misappropriation, outright embezzlement, barefaced corruption that is systemic and normative in leaders and public institutions. According to the World Poverty Clock 2023, Nigeria has the awful distinction of being the world capital of poverty with about 84 million people living in extreme poverty today.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data also revealed that a total of 133 million people in Nigeria are classed as multi-dimensionally poor. Unemployment is a major challenge in the country. About 33 percent of the labour force are unable to find a job at the prevailing wage rate. About 63 percent of the population are poor because of lack of access to health, education, employment, and security. Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) speculated that unemployment rate will increase to 37 percent in 2023. The implications, therefore, is increase in unemployment will translate to increase in the poverty rate. The World Bank, a Washington-based and a multi-lateral development institution, in its macro-poverty outlook for Nigeria for April 2023 projected that 13 million Nigerians will fall below the National Poverty line by 2025.
It further stated that the removal of subsidy on petroleum products without palliatives will result to 101 million people being poor in Nigeria. Statistics also show that “in 2023 nearly 12 percent of the world population of extreme poverty lived in Nigeria, considering poverty threshold at 1.90 US dollars a day”.Taking a cursory look at the Nigerian Development Update (NDU), the World Bank said “four million Nigerians were pushed into poverty between January and June 2023 and 7.1 million more will join if the removal of subsidy is not adequately managed.” These startling revelations paint a grim and bleak future for the social-economic life of the people.The alarming poverty in the country is a conspiracy of several factors, including corruption. In January, 2023 the global anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International, in its annual corruption prospect index which ranks the perceived level of public sector corruption across 180 countries in the world says Nigeria ranked 150 among 180 in the index. Conversely, Nigeria is the 30th most corrupt nation in the ranking. It is also the capital of unemployment in the world.
Truth be told: a Government that is corruption-ridden lacks the capacity to build a vibrant economy that will provide employment for the teeming unemployed population. So crime and criminality become inevitable. No wonder, the incessant cases of violent crimes and delinquency among young people. Corruption seems to be the second nature of Nigeria as a nation . At the root of Nigerians’ poverty is the corruption cankerworm.How the nation got to this sordid economic and social precipice is the accumulation of years of corrupt practices with impunity by successive administrations. But the hardship Nigerians are experiencing gathered momentum between 2015 and 2023 and reached the climax few days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who assumed power as president of Nigeria, removed the controversial petroleum subsidy. Since then, there is astronomical increase in transport fares, and prices of commodities. Living standard of most Nigerians is abysmally low, essential commodities are out of reach of the poor masses who barely eat once a day.
The Dollar to Naira exchange rate ratio at one dollar to N1,000, is the most economy-unfriendly in the annals of the history of Nigeria. The prohibitive prices of petroleum products with the attendant multi-dimensional challenges following the removal of the subsidy, has posed a nightmare better to be imagined than experienced. Inflation, has been on the increase, negatively affecting the purchasing power of low income Nigerians. Contributing to the poverty scourge is the low private investment due to.unfriendly business environment and lack of power supply, as well as low social development outcomes resulting in low productivity. The developed economies of the world are private sector-driven. So the inadequate involvement of the private sector in Nigeria’s economy, is a leading cause of unemployment which inevitably translates to poverty.
Igbiki Benibo
In today’s fast-paced, hyper-competitive world, the pursuit of success and growth has become an all-consuming force. Individuals, organisations, and nations alike, are locked in a perpetual struggle to achieve more, earn more, and surpass their rivals. Yet, beneath this relentless drive for progress lies a silent danger—the risk of self-destruction. This perilous pattern, which I call the self-destruct trajectory, describes the path taken when ambition and growth are pursued without restraint, awareness, or moral balance. The self-destruct trajectory is fueled by an insatiable hunger for more—a mindset that glorifies endless expansion while disregarding the boundaries of ethics, sustainability, and human well-being. At first glance, it may appear to promise prosperity and achievement. After all, ambition has long been celebrated as a virtue. But when growth becomes the only goal, it mutates into obsession.
Individuals burn out, organisations lose their soul, and societies begin to fracture under the weight of their own excesses. The consequences are everywhere. People pushed beyond their limits face anxiety, exhaustion, and disconnection. Companies sacrifice employee welfare and social responsibility on the altar of profit. The entire ecosystems suffer as forests are cleared, oceans polluted, and air poisoned in the name of economic progress. The collapse of financial systems, widening income inequality, and global environmental crises are all symptoms of this same relentless, self-consuming pursuit. To understand this dynamic, one can turn to literature—and to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. In one of the novel’s most haunting scenes, young Oliver, starving in the workhouse, dares to utter the words: “Please, sir, I want some more.” This simple plea encapsulates the essence of human desire—the urge for more. But it also mirrors the perilous craving that drives the self-destruct trajectory. Like Oliver, society keeps asking for “more”—more wealth, more power, more success—without considering the consequences of endless wanting.
The workhouse itself symbolises the system of constraints and boundaries that ambition often seeks to defy. Oliver’s courage to ask for more represents the daring spirit of human aspiration—but it also exposes the risk of defying limits without reflection. Mr. Bumble, the cruel overseer, obsessed with authority and control, embodies the darker forces that sustain this destructive cycle: greed, pride, and the illusion of dominance. Through this lens, Dickens’ tale becomes a timeless metaphor for the modern condition—a warning about what happens when ambition blinds compassion and growth eclipses humanity. Avoiding the self-destruct trajectory requires a radical rethinking about success. True progress should not be measured solely by accumulation, but by balance—by how growth serves people, planet, and purpose.
This calls for a more holistic approach to achievement, one that values sustainability, empathy, and integrity alongside innovation and expansion
Individuals must learn to pace their pursuit of goals, embracing rest, reflection, and meaningful relationships as part of a full life. The discipline of “enough”—knowing when to stop striving and start appreciating—can restore both mental well-being and moral clarity. Organisations, on their part, must reimagine what it means to succeed: prioritising employee welfare, practising environmental stewardship, and embedding social responsibility in the core of their mission. Governments and policymakers also play a vital role. They can champion sustainable development through laws and incentives that reward ethical practices and environmental responsibility. By investing in education, renewable energy, and equitable economic systems, they help ensure that ambition is channeled toward collective benefit rather than collective ruin.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provides a tangible pathway for this transformation. When businesses take ownership of their social and environmental impact—reducing carbon footprints, supporting local communities, and promoting fair labour—they not only strengthen society but also secure their own long-term stability. Sustainable profit is, after all, the only kind that endures. Ultimately, avoiding the self-destruct trajectory is not about rejecting ambition—it is about redefining it. Ambition must evolve from a self-centred hunger for more into a shared pursuit of the better. We must shift from growth at all costs to growth with conscience. The future will belong not to those who expand endlessly, but to those who expand wisely. By embracing restraint, compassion, and sustainability, we can break free from the cycle of self-destruction and create a new narrative—one where success uplifts rather than consumes, and where progress builds rather than burns.
In the end, the question is not whether we can grow, but whether we can grow without losing ourselves. The choice is ours: to continue along the self-destruct trajectory, or to chart a more balanced, humane, and enduring path toward greatness.
Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi
