Dignity Demolishing Generosity. By Pat Utomi. I went to a public event recently and was struck by the drama that marked our departures. Leaving about the same time as I were a noted politician or two. First we were almost mobbed by groups that proclaimed themselves journalists, real and imagined, then in the drive way by security men for the event Centre and by policemen. It was evident how different those politicians myself and the various group crowding around us see the phenomenon of entitlement begging that was playing out. One newspaper once quoted my dear friend Ben Murray – Bruce as complaining that Nigeria has become a country of beggars. In many ways it was an appropriate depiction of where culture was flowed to. The trouble, sometimes, is that we do not realize that this trait which has sipped into popular culture is not just a small guy syndrome. Big Men, they grovel before power, and prostrate before younger men to obtain material favors. This has brought culture to its knees and shaped the challenge of our collapse of culture. But the point often lost in the experience as I left the event referred to earlier is the effect on the dignity of persons in these transactions. Having started life as a reporter I am particularly vexed by reporters taking a beggarly mode. When I am able to I tell young reporters that I would give a reporter money not out of stinginess but out of respect for them. It confuses some when I say that. But think myself as a 21year old Youth Corper reporter at new breed in 1977 when I wrote stories I believe generated discussions at the supreme Military Council and Federal Executive Council possibly triggering a Federal Cabinet reshuffle on the Radio Kaduna controversy; and wonder how I would feel if someone handed me an envelope after an interview, back in those days. I probably would have felt gravely insulted so what has happened between them and that has made the journalist think less of his dignity than was hither to the case. I confronted this upfront a few years ago when Reuters was running a training programme for journalists in Apapa, Lagos. My friend and Reuters veteran John Chiahenmen who was a news feature whiz during NTA’s years of glory a quarter of a century ago, before joining Reuters, was the lead trainer. He invited me to speak at one of the sessions. After pointing to John’s own career during which I had visited him in Paris, Nairobi, Abidjan and Johannesburg and them talked about the shame of not seeing elsewhere what I see some reporters coming to regard as entitlement in Nigeria was not thought likely. Several of the reporters admitted they saw me as stingy and unwilling to give bribes but they did not think deeply enough to realize I was more pained by the insult of assault their dignity by compromising their news values through material gratification. To be fair, most of the reporters who deal with me are very ethical and self-respecting and it seldom ever comes up except from some photographer or the other who pleads not having transport money. I have to admit that a reporter with real need who not trying to shake down a news source could suffer from not getting the due human solidarity I would show to someone I need where I can do something. I think though that the system, overall, is better served by erring in not supporting the crushing of the dignity of others in this feigned generation of the big man. Sadly for us the idea of the big man is of one who splashes cash to show his generosity. But this false generosity crushes the dignity of the ostensible beneficiaries. This kind of generosity seen often in the heydays of 419 kingpins when they stopped in village squares and threw wads of Naira, and sometimes US dollars into the air for the poor to scramble is wickedness to culture. Yet it is the dominant way the politician and the rich men in Nigeria shows his ‘generosity’ it is a generosity that media and all interested in a moral rearmament in society must showcase as disdainful and act to combat. It is a bit of a paradox that public officials are working hard to rid our cities of beggars. Lagos state has in fact promulgated a law against alms giving and people are being relocated for destitute – behavior yet political figures are daily encouraging begging by this dignity demolishing generosity. But it is in the conduct of people whose job requires dignity, like policing and journalism who then solicit or begin disgraceful ways that the crises of culture in our extent reality is highlighted. One of the reasons I do not like going out at night is the sorry encounter with policemen who remind you that “your boys are here” and wish you happy weekend 10 times in 30 seconds as they dress you up to show generosity. As an institution the Nigerian Police ought to begin an aggressive effort at curbing this dignity defying conduct. This should go beyond just monitoring and punishing but raising morale, remuneration and their general sense of self-worth through training and motivation. The time to act is now. Pat Utomi, Political Economist and Professor of Entrepreneurship is founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 20:04:40 +0000
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