By Chris Curtis
Growth has never been the product of chance. Life itself did not emerge from accidental discharge or random occurrence; it exists because of deliberate intention. Every enduring system—biological, social, or national is sustained by conscious design and responsible action. Nations do not rise by hope alone, and they do not survive on wishful thinking.
Yet for far too long, we have folded our hands in quiet desperation, waiting for a change we desire but refuse to deliberately create. We hope unconsciously, while decay advances consciously. No society survives the passage of time with the kind of mindset and systems we presently operate.
Most Nigerians repeatedly ask, “How did we get here?” This question is mostly raised by those on the lower end of the social divide. Those on the upper end—the opportunists, the self-serving political and institutional elites rarely ask it. They know exactly how we arrived here. We arrived here by first destroying the foundations of our humanity: morality, values, cultural responsibility, and collective conscience. Once those collapsed, corruption did not struggle to thrive it was invited.
Today, our society stands at a dangerous crossroads. The foundations are already weakened, barely supported by one and a half pillars. Without deliberate intervention, we may soon be left with just one. Those who believe they benefit from the present corrupt system must understand this truth: collapse does not discriminate. Even if it does not consume you directly, it will surely devour someone close to you.
Deliberate national renewal must begin at the smallest and most powerful unit of society—the family. How responsibilities are shared, how work is honored, how accountability is taught, and how results are expected within the nuclear family eventually replicates itself in communities, institutions, and the nation at large.
From there, we must confront the heart of our crisis: education.
We must ask hard questions without sentiment or fear:
Who is our educational system truly designed to serve?
Why do our children know the rivers of Europe and America but remain ignorant of the River Niger, River Benue, or Osun?
Why do they more of the geography of other nations especially Europe and America but little or no knowledge of our immediate environment?
Why are we educated away from our environment, our problems, and our solutions?
An educational system that alienates a people from their own society is not education but intellectual displacement. We have produced a population of consumers rather than producers, certificate holders rather than problem solvers, and graduates trained to escape the country rather than rebuild it.
Worse still, we now operate a system where fraud has been normalized as a lifestyle, while the very institutions meant to correct it have been deliberately corrupted to preserve subservience. Poverty has been weaponized. Labor has been dishonored. The guiding philosophy has become: “What is in it for me?”
If we truly desire the transformation witnessed in Singapore, the UAE, Japan, or China, then we must deliberately retrace our steps especially in our justice system. A judiciary that once stood as the last hope of the common man has, in many cases, been reduced to a marketplace where justice goes to the highest bidder. When the law loses its soul, society loses its direction.
We must also confront a painful reality: our oppressors are not strangers. They are among us, across tribes, religions, professions, and institutions. Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality; it is collaboration.
The solutions to our problems will not come from outside Nigeria. They must rise from within us, and only deliberate action can unlock them.
Possible Solutions Rooted in Deliberateness:
1. Education must reflect societal needs. Our curriculum must be localized, problem-solving, and aligned with Nigeria’s realities.
2. Education must be pragmatic, not merely oratorical. It must drive production, manufacturing, innovation, and value creation not consumption.
3. Curriculum planning must be deliberate and strategic, addressing local challenges while positioning the nation for global relevance just as Singapore, Japan and China did before the results they are enjoying today.
4. Values, morals, and integrity must be taught intentionally, restoring dignity to labor and rejecting theft, shortcuts, and entitlement.
5. Citizens must be taught service before reward, contribution before entitlement, and honor before profit.
6. Education must instill institutional responsibility, especially among public office holders, so ministries—particularly health ministry exist to serve, not exploit or enrich individuals pockets at the expense of the public .
7. We must deliberately produce competent local engineers, not depend perpetually on expatriates for our structural development.
8. Academia must reclaim its conscience. Professorship is not a license to manipulate truth or legitimize electoral injustice.
9. Legal education must restore ethical rigor, so we stop producing judges whose specialty is injustice and whose courts resemble commercial bazaars.
This responsibility does not belong to politicians alone. It belongs to parents, teachers, religious leaders, professionals, and citizens alike. Change must begin in our homes, flow through our communities, shape our institutions, and redefine our national character.
We have a choice:
To deliberately step forward and rebuild—or to deliberately remain silent and watch the labor of our heroes past collapse before our eyes.
History will not forgive indifference disguised as patience.
Author’s Note:
This commentary is written from conscience, not convenience; from responsibility, not resentment. A nation can only be saved by citizens courageous enough to tell themselves the truth.
Author: Chris Curtis
Email: chriscurtiswrites@gmail.com
