25. Patriot Alert 18: A Plea Against Dishonest Communication – The Empty Use Of Words In Nigeria.

The words of any language are utilized to make sentences for the purpose of decent communication. This is typically the only medium which can convey the invisible and unknown thoughts or intentions from a person to another. The truth behind this statement cuts across the entire Human race regardless of ethnicity or nationality. There is no way the intention of a person, or group can be absolutely determined if there is no window of verbal, written, or sign communication.

Without the process of communication, we would be living in a world of assumptions, and as the saying rightly goes, this is the foundation of all mistakes.  

On face value, it is presumed that a person would use the right words to convey an intention or thought in order not to mislead the target audience. With the activities of a group, the impact of sincere communication is the direct consequence of the success or failure of any endeavor embarked upon by the group. Bad communication or insincere communication would have a negative effect on the ability of the group to synchronize their actions and effort toward a common objective.  

In progressive nations of the world, people mostly say what they mean, and mostly mean what they say. Everyone is mostly sincere in communicating their thoughts. This is one of the reasons the citizens of such nations can easily synchronize with each other on the goal of success with most of their endeavors.

There is also a penal code for communication which is not sincere and which can flatly be labeled a lie. This ensures a great measure of accountability with the use of words and upholds societal sanity with regards to human interactions. Productivity with such nations are typically high because energies are conserved for the task at hand and not dissipated in figuring out the real intent behind a probably deceptive conversation. The blood pressure and general stress of daily living is not mostly dependent on prayers for divine intervention at every stage of Human interaction, but on an efficient system which is mostly driven by sincerity.

In Nigeria, taking most people by the sincerity of the meaning of their words is a risk which can come with very expensive consequences. This is simply because most interactions are guided toward self interest and social security of self. Most people aim to speak remarkably well but the action of delivery is mostly a deviation from the agreed end and this normally comes with a heavy dose of explanations. These explanations were never made in the beginning, and are designed to justify the reason a distorted end result must be accepted.  

An agreement to a time of appointment with most Nigerians cannot work because someone who had agreed to be punctual is definitely going to be late. Someone who says on the phone: ‘see me, I’m around the corner’ may actually be several miles away and perhaps may not even have commenced on the journey yet.

With Politicians of nefarious repute, most mouth watering campaign promises made to people prior to being elected into a position of governance, mostly never translates into any meaningful action throughout their duration in office if elected.

If statistics were compiled, the most abused word which is frequently interjected within the context of lame and deceptive sentences on the lips of Nigerians is the name of the Almighty God. This is a highly revered name that should be used with the greatest respect, dignity and restraint, as directed in the Holy books, yet it is a prominently recurrent feature in most conversations with most Nigerians. It is seen as a means to deceptively earn the conviction of another person, rather than a symbol of commitment to action.  

This careless use of words has found a comfortable space in our psyche to the extent we also hardly respect written documentation on any agreement. On a national scale, our leadership and certain privileged individuals blatantly disregard the constitution and other written agreements within the context of presiding over the nation, while the Judiciary simply sits with a load of excuses for its inaction.

A glaring and frequent example is with high profile court cases where a Surety agrees to the consequences of allowing someone to go on bail, however, when the person jumps bail, everyone responsible to enforce accountability just sits, while the Surety swaggers around the society as an untouchable.

With this attitude of insincerity boldly engrained in our subconscious, it is no surprise that very few Nigerians can connect with the profound meaning and inspirational effect behind the words of the National Pledge and Anthem of our great country.

The illustrations continue; on the road and indeed anywhere, simple board signs are mostly ignored; at work, operational policies are loosely implemented and a ‘must happen’ on paper, can easily turn to a ‘could happen’ in practice. This unhealthy habit of compromise has become common place in our clime. There is always a protest whenever any attempt is made at correcting anyone found liable of being insincere with communicated intent. Some people would even have the audacity to sue such attempts at enforcing accountability.

With this level of dishonest communication within our clime, it is neither a trick of fate nor curse of divine proportions, that we are unable to synchronize our collective strength at forging meaningful national development for our Country.

This painful hindrance is massively as a result of our selfish commitment to dishonest communication where projected milestones are compromised to a point that achievable results are watered down to mean nothing.

It is most worrisome that most people do not appear bothered by the fact that we are mostly communicating what we do not mean in Nigeria. This is a very mediocre attribute of life which we are successfully implanting into our children from birth; a trend with dreadful future consequences for our nation and citizens.

There is a need for each of us within the context of our noble country Nigeria to realize that every human being has a daily routine which mostly depends on the execution of honest actions for success. We need to learn and understand that group interactions involving any scope of number of people require a synchronization of honest individual actions for which success is hinged on the sincerity of intent regarding communicated information.  

The absence of sincere communication in any segment of society simply breeds room for confusion and this truth is obtainable in the smallest family cell or a larger group of national magnitude.    

It is imperative for every single citizen of this great nation to relearn the dignifying principles of honor behind the sincere use of words in all dealings with others.

This message of honesty is resoundingly echoed in the spirit of the National pledge as a daily reminder. Our desperate attempt at twisting this fact of life has left our nation in shambles and this is a reality we cannot deny with the current state of our dear country.

On these truths and more, I rest my plea on the case against our dishonest use of words.

Arise O Compatriots…

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