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Govt's Intolerance Brought about Poverty in Nigeria-Prof. Olagoke



Tolerance is a virtue that has from time immemorial ensured peace, stability, and development in several countries.

Sadly, in a sizable number of countries, Nigeria inclusive, intolerance is a factor that has negatively affected the scheme of things.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head, and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that poverty has become the dividends of democracy for the people as a result of government officials' acts of intolerance through the reckless looting of the national treasury. Excerpts :


Why has intolerance become an issue in a number of countries, Nigeria inclusive?


Intolerance is a sociological challenge of mankind due to the fact that hereditary factors, biological, usually tend to conform to the genealogical order of every person.

General human disposition towards the stimuli of his environment equally usually have a coloration of cultural background which is always influenced by the tribal, ethnic, and age differences.

The management of human tolerance level, therefore, deserves to have special attention by parents overseeing the attitudinal relationship between siblings and workers maintaining decorum through the promotion of good teamwork spirit for every institution to be able to move forward accordingly.

The Scripture of every religion is not silent over this. For example, there is a section in the Holy Quran that emphasizes the need for unity of purpose among agents of socialization.

In a home where the husband and wife fail to manage well their intolerance level, a Memorandum of Understanding will be lacking, and challenges of the natural diminishing profile of love between the two in the home may suffer from been resolved.

In the same vein, the absence of managing tolerance among school students usually leads to unwarranted in-fighting among them.

This usually leads to temptations of joining cult groups to be able to seek redress from the groups to be able to avenge unperceived people who tend to despise them.

In most cases, reprisal attacks usually lead to bloodshed and the killing of one another.

This is why every school starting from Primary to Secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions must employ the services of Guidance and Counseling experts to forestall possible in-fighting among the students and to eradicate students' perceived need to form or join gangs.

Expectedly, religion is supposed to offer permanent solutions to cases of indiscipline and intolerance. For example, the adherence of every religion is expected to have learned how to exercise patience, build up the spirit of perseverance with the focus of being a peace bearer with an unequal sense of forgiveness for those who might have offended them, even at the height of provocation.

Religion adherents must not be aggressive but are loving with all understanding and return a good disposition in place of hostility.

They are supposed to be role models in society because products of houses of God are expected to occupy positions of authority in trust for other people in society.

Unfortunately for a man in the 21st century in Nigeria, poverty is overwhelming through the government's actions and inactions while the people seek all means to make it in life, jettisoning due process of assessment and evaluation.

Poverty becomes the dividends of democracy for the people as a result of government officials' acts of intolerance making them adopt biological aberrations of Timocracy for themselves to operate kleptocracy in their governance styles.

People's tolerance, therefore, to hopelessly cope with the introduced poverty equally makes them jettison the sanctity of tolerance in making ends meet through various diabolical means.

Everybody in society, therefore, take the laws into his or her hand to celebrate quick money-making syndrome without minding the need for merit and objectivity for the future generation to adopt as a culture.

In all these scenarios, the nation becomes weak through our building of weak institutions and empowering strong individuals who can best be described as oppressors to the weak.

Nigeria needs to be reminded that the teamwork spirit of the founding fathers who tolerated their differences achieved for Nigeria with ease.

The 1960 independence is a case in point.

Without introducing and managing well the culture of tolerance among ourselves, my submission is that just as we impoverished the nation through the unwarranted looting spree of the national purse with the untold culture of avarice and greed more than 1,000 fragments, would continue to boil like a cauldron in a hot fire, to destroy every creation.

Let all the change agents, therefore, jointly uphold the culture of tolerance and work on it.

For the people's psyche to be turned towards a better future of peaceful co-existence, the dignity of labor, and life of transparency and accountability for our future at the homefront, community, society, and the nation at large to collectively walk the talk in raising our ego towards true development.

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