Tonye Princewill

AS an adjective satellite, “Olympian” means, among other things, “great” or “majestic” in bearing—which makes it perfectly applicable to the national psychology, our self-deception as the Giant of Africa prior to Nigeria’s dismal performance at the recent London Olympics.

UP to this point, I have focused most of my attention on extremist ideologues and the instigators of violence and social discord. That’s because these happen to be the most urgent challenges we are facing at this time—and the perpetrators are very visible.

DESPITE the fiery death, in recent years, of more than a thousand Nigerians, many of our people still refuse to obey a simple rule of survival: Keep away from unconstrained and unsecured petrol.

MUCH of what it takes is common knowledge, particularly to power sector personnel, political leaders and affected public officials at various levels of government.

A FEW days ago, several persons reportedly lost their lives in the Apata area ofIbadan, when a live power line snapped and fell in a vegetable market, at early morning.

IF I had the “leaders” in one room, I would also try to make them understand and appreciate the importance of symbols—subtle but powerful communication media, to which we pay little attention in this country.

Symbols represent beliefs. They are, therefore, clues to what goes on in the psyche. They are abstract indicators that cue us into what course of action we ought to take in a given situation.

SOMEHOW, in the course of our short but eventful history as a nation, we’ve lost sight of a fundamental reality: Passion is an invaluable and inexhaustible national resource.