Nigerian stories teach morals, they do not mock morals. But a social media account that goes by the name “Nigeria Stories” mocks morals. The fellow behind the account regularly posts a particular message that indicates he has scant regard for morals or anyone talking about morals. Here I call the fellow’s attention to some implications of what he’s doing. Now, the public space is a wilderness of ideas. All manner of people push their views. There’s nothing bad about this until one notices that some ideas or materials pushed are capable of destroying the very basis of society. And there are many of such online these days.
I’ve stated before that I’m in the public space to defend Nigeria and all its ethnic groups; it’s what I do here. A few shouldn’t destroy our society with submissions that are poisonous and we just watch. I want to believe the fellow behind “Nigeria stories” has a concept. What is his concept? What is his objective, and what kind of materials does he need to promote the concept? A concept needs to be consistent; pushing one main idea otherwise the audience becomes confused. Is his objective to undermine things that should build society? Is it to make readers see the positives in Nigerian society so that they can emulate such? If this is the case then he shouldn’t be posting materials that mock morals. But that’s what he’s doing.
The quote he reposts basically claims that people are moralistic when they’re poor, that too many temptations are hidden in poverty so no one should talk about morals until they have money. For those who know better though they know money is amoral – it doesn’t make anyone moral, immoral, or even make a person mad as some often put it. It’s character or lack of it that informs all of those. You lack character and you stumble at every temptation, not just temptations caused by money. For instance, a person without character will tell lies even when they don’t need to. It’s become part of them because they lack character. That’s the vastness of the narrowness of thoughts in this quote which its owner doesn’t realise.
The person being quoted must have little regard for morals himself; he’s low on character such that he believes money is all the moral compass there is. So he holds with disdain anyone who talks about morals. Simply put the person quoted has no regard for what we call character. Meanwhile, morals build character, character subsequently sustains morals. Morals are instilled in us by parents and teachers mostly, and this has nothing to do with whether or not they have money. The reader knows what morals their parents and teachers have taught them and which have helped their lives in many ways. With his kind of disposition, I imagine the person being quoted mocked his teachers who didn’t have money when they taught him morals in school. Also, as he grew up his understanding of the core importance of morals became blurred because the examples he saw around him were so bad he concluded no one with money could live a morally upright life. In the event, he believes no one should talk about morals because by the time they have money, it must turn them into people who have no regard for morals.
The person quoted didn’t hold the title of “Africa’s richest man” because I never heard his name until I saw the quote. So he’s not Aliko Dangote or Femi Otedola, which means he cannot do all that Dangote and Otedola can do with money. So, he’s relatively poor in the sense that he’s limited financially to an extent. Does it then mean he doesn’t teach morals to his children and the younger ones around him because he is not Dangote? Is he waiting to become Dangote and successfully resist temptations before he talks about morals to his children? It’s a legitimate question because the quote attributed to him infers he believes it is poverty that makes one sound moralistic. What we say is often what we are, but it’s a mistake to think everyone else is what we are. If any person lacks character, there’re millions who know it’s character that has helped them to remain standing.
Is it that the person quoted has no religion? We know that religions teach morals, and I imagine as a result there are immoral things Dangote or Otedola may not do in spite of their money. If the person quoted had a religion, and had parents as well as teachers who taught him morals as a kid, he must have mocked all. It’s the implication of his quote. He must have mocked the clergy or clerics who sermonise morals because they don’t have money. He must have been muttering: “Wait until you have money.” Is it money that should determine how well a person behaves? I doubt if any reader would teach their children to mock morals taught in religion, taught by parents, and taught by teachers because they don’t have money. That’s the size of the scant regard the person being quoted has for morals. He despises what parents, religion, and teachers teach – it’s the only reason he can use money as the test of who has morals. If he had learnt properly and had rightly imbibed it, he should know that living upright shouldn’t be predicated on whether or not a person has money. Otherwise, society will be destroyed. The holding line should be character. Character keeps one in check, rich or poor.
Back to the fellow behind “Nigeria Stories.” Is this quote, which teaches readers to ignore whoever talks about morals but doesn’t have money, the kind of thing he wants to teach through his concept? Like the owner of the quote, the fellow behind “Nigeria Stories” believes it’s only those who’re poor that talk about morals. He too thus mocks religion, parents, and teachers who teach morals. This fellow is subtly destroying society. Many young ones who read what he posts are misled. His kind of posts can only be the reason one talks to young ones and they say, “Leave that thing”, “Na naija we dey”, “It’s a matter of money.” Is it? With the manner people have money but everything around them is destroyed – from collapsed marriage, scattered family, to children who’re scammers?
I think this particular subtle destructive message that the fellow behind “Nigeria Stories” posts is dangerous. Why does he post it? He uses it to deflect posts from other people that he has no personal moral standing to withstand? He’s trying to mock what others say because he has a dislike for them? One thing is sure: he truly believes money is the test of anyone’s morals, not character. He doesn’t believe that character instilled in a person can help them stand the temptations that money holds. I have an example. A few years after she left office as Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili granted an interview where she talked about her experience in office.
What I got from her interview was that she had access to huge funds, but unlike many others in her position, she refused to touch funds that were not hers. It was character that made her overcome the temptation that money held. Morals taught built in her character, and character makes her overcome temptation. Money shouldn’t control people. But it does when they lack character, when their moral upbringing through teachers, religions, and parents is lax.
I’m certain that in the course of her life character made Ezekwesili overcome other temptations too, the type into which the person being quoted must have fallen when he had some coins in his pocket. The fellow behind “Nigeria Stories” belongs to the same class. He doesn’t even know the right materials to select that best promote his concept. His disdain for whoever says what he doesn’t like makes him fall into this error. We shouldn’t allow people like these ones to get away with poison they subtly spread which destroys society. This is important at a time everything that has held the fabric of society together for ages – honesty, patience, respect, hard work, chastity, family, good upbringing for kids – is mocked and under threat.
