By Salihu Mohammed Lukman
One of the important lessons that students of history, politics and society learn is that Ancient Egypt was the origin of human civilisation. Dating back to around 3000 B.C., more than 30 centuries ago, the first organised society with government and leadership evolved.

Located in the Nile Valley on the North East of Africa, it covered Upper Egypt, spreading Northwards to Mediterranean, occupying the Syrian coast, Southwards to present day Sudan, up to the Red Sea in the East and along the Nile Valley past Nubia in the South, and spreading west inland into the Libyan Desert.

Being the first human civilisation, it has attracted a lot of scholarly attention, investigation and enquiry, especially with respect to factors that made the people to respond with such organising initiative. Some scholars were very passionate about issues that bordered on identity of the people, mainly based on racial notion of Ancient Egyptians being blacks. Leading historian, anthropologist, physicist and politician, Prof. Cheikh Anta Diop (1923 – 1986) was a proponent of the black racial identity of Ancient Egyptians. Some of the explanations proffered include factors of cultural influences linked to racial hierarchy.

Many scholars have contested such interpretation of the developments and accounts of the Ancient Egypt. In contrast to racial notion, theses and propositions highlighting factors of constant flood from the Nile River were presented as critical factors that necessitated some responses by the people of Ancient Egypt. These responses shaped and enhanced the capacity of the people of Ancient Egypt to control and direct processes in their environment resulting in the emergence of the first human civilisation.

The responses mainly helped in tackling effectively problems of flood through regulating the flow of water along the banks of Nile Valley. The main tool that stimulated such landmark development that is today the most important heritage from the Ancient Egyptian civilisation include the invention of hieroglyphics (written words) which greatly facilitated the emergence of administration as well as innovations in the areas of quarrying, survey, mathematics, architecture, irrigation, agricultural production methods and ship building.

With these, Ancient Egyptians controlled the Nile Valley flood and in the process, created dams and canals. Work on the first canal joining Nile River with the Red Sea was said to have started in the 2nd Millennium BC under the legendary Sesostris between 1897 BC – 1839 BC. Knowledge of mathematics was deployed to construct pyramids and temples. They (Ancient Egyptians) also recorded tremendous progress in the areas of medicine and the art of governance resulting in the emergence of a ruler – Pharaoh – who was regarded as representative of gods on earth.

The Pharaoh was in charge of the army and governed the entire territory with officials and scribes organised in what is regarded as the world’s first civil service. Divided into about 42 regions (nomes) with nomarch, Pharaohs had ministers and courtiers (Vizier). The economy was mainly agricultural and the people predominantly peasant farmers. Fertile land on the Nile Valley enabled production of large surpluses that sustained the exotic lifestyles of the Pharaoh. The peasants are also the source of mass labour that was employed to build the pyramids and temples along the Nile Valley.

This is the origin of modern governance. In fact, it can be argued that the most important legacies of Ancient Egyptian civilisation were knowledge of hieroglyphics, which resulted in development of mathematics and science, the emergence of structure of government administration with a ruler who is responsible for directing affairs, and monuments that are more represented by the Egyptian Pyramids.

Virtually modelled around the structure and orientation of Ancient Egypt, all modern nation states are organised with rulers, army under the command of the ruler, administrative structure (civil service) and regions (or states). Like in Ancient Egypt, in all modern nation states, the people are the source of mass labour. Similar to the situation where mass labour was employed in the construction of pyramids, temples and canals in Ancient Egypt, modern nation states recruit mass labour for all manner of constructions ranging from road, railways, building structures serving as schools, hospitals, offices, residences, factories, etc.

The logic is that governance is defined by initiatives based on the interests of the rulers. This means that the art of governance is about leading societies to take proper control of their environment to the advantage of humankind. The machinery of government should be embodiment of knowledge strategically employed to primarily eliminate all threats to human advancement.

With good heritage of hieroglyphics and the emergence of institutions of learning therefore, unlike perhaps in the case of Ancient Egypt whereby learning is at best spontaneous based on the need to respond to challenges that were in most cases unknown to humankind, modern nation states have acquired a system of learning through schools that enabled proper orientation and development of skilful citizenry. With that also modern nation states can be argued to have by far more productive citizenry.

In some ways, given that these legacies have also produced what can be regarded as resource threshold, whereby through development in commerce and modern financial superstructure, nations are associated with minimum value often referred to as gross national product, gross domestic product or purchasing power parity. They all represent different measures of economic activities, which aggregate values of production and transaction in the geographical territory that define the nation state.

Therefore the critical underlying factors are production and transaction. The responsibility of government since the emergence of modern states has been to regulate processes of production and transaction. Leaders (properly put rulers) are expected to come with clear vision on how to direct society towards growth and human advancement, just like the Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt have directed their societies to produce hieroglyphics, quarrying, survey, mathematics, architecture, etc. resulting in development in irrigation, agricultural production methods, ship building, construction of dams, canals, pyramids and temples.

Partly on account of the aspiration to shape and orient citizens to become more productive, a critical function of all modern states is educational delivery. Accordingly, governments associated with good records of human progress are also reputed with functional and efficient public educational services. United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, the Scandinavian countries, etc. all have efficient public education. In the case of most African countries, public education has been on the decline since the mid-1980s with the introduction of IMF/World Bank promoted structural adjustment programme (SAP).

Systematic and continues decline over the years has left public education in African countries unable to meet the task of developing productive citizens. In some ways, this has undermined and constrained the capacity of African states to mobilise resources for development, thereby increasing the propensity to be poor and further pulling African people into poverty.

Lukman, a development economist and activist, lives in Abuja. He can be reached at [email protected]