By Nwachukwu Ngige
King Darius I (522 – 486 BC) was the fourth in line and
the greatest of the kings of the ancient Persia , today’s Iran .
During his reign, the empire covered the entire middle East, modern Turkey and parts
of Balkans , India and Asia .
His ambitious plan to
overrun and annex the city states of Greece however met the
waterloo at the battle of Marathon where
the highly spirited Athenians inflicted a debilitating defeat on the Persians
in B.C 490.
But that did not detract substantially from Darius’
greatness. His outstanding leadership distinguished itself in his state
attitude to the conquered territories. He wisely avoided being a
destroyer of territories that came under his flaming sword. Through proper
integration rather, he preserved and copied good developments from these
nations , building the unique strength of his kingdom on the excels of
discoveries and scientific strides of former enemy territories.*Buhari |
This could be seen from
these instances. “When Egypt came
under his conquest in B.C 489, he moved in with Persian scientists to
understudy the renowned Egyptian artistry in science and medicine. He
also copied the Egyptian twelve months in a year calendar. In Lydia whose
King Croesus, Darius put in chains, he adopted the Lydian coinage. And
after defeating Sumerians in long drawn battles, he borrowed its
cuneiform system of writing.”
Kindly fast forward to over two thousand years later when the Allied Powers emerged victorious at the Second World War. Even thoughHiroshima and Nagasaki were completely raised down, to
smithereens, the U.S carefully spirited some of the best Japanese
scientists into the USA .
Fast forward a bit to a little above twenty years later. Biafra was an African wonder.
Kindly fast forward to over two thousand years later when the Allied Powers emerged victorious at the Second World War. Even though
A people
forced into war to save self from well-planned genocide, turned the most
difficult of circumstances into attainments never before witnessed anywhere in
Africa. The “black” Biafran scientists proved to the entire world that
technological invention was not exclusive to the grey matters of the white
Caucasians, the yellow Mongolians or the brown Asians. In Biafra, a land
under land, seas and air blockade in a vicious surveillance supervised by Britain , Russia and
the Arab world, grenade launcher was locally built.
In Biafra , armoured personnel carrier as well
as four different types of armoured cars ( red devils) serving different
purposes were also invented . The Biafrans also manufactured amoured tanks,
mobile artillery machine, and the mother of all, Ogbunigwe! Do you know
what? The Biafran scientist turned and modernized a private jet into a
bomber. They also efficiently refined its crude and masterfully built its
airport.
In the same national space
in about fifty years later, a Nigeria Minister
of Science and Technology talks about the nation being self-sufficient in
manufacturing pencils by 2019! The same man whose brothers in Biafra literally went to the “moon.”
There is something wrong with Nigeria !
Let’s attempt an explanation with this contrast. Contrary to the
far-sightedness of Darius and the fore-thought of the Americans, the Nigerian
civil war leaders unfolded a scorch earth programme in post war Biafra .
Being hegemonically
incensed, ethnically challenged, blindly suspicious and impishly jealous of the
Biafran scientific revolution, the poorly educated, backward-looking Nigerian
Military rulers, in connivance with their brilliantly satanic civilian
collaborators squandered the opportunity to launch Nigeria into
a world power . They destroyed the gains of the Biafran war, hoping the Igbo
alone would suffer it.
Nonetheless, do a fast
track to 2015’s Buhari administration. He appear to have learnt from the
mistakes of the post war Nigeria .
Where many had thought that with the frenetic condemnation of the PDP and its
leaders, the current government would banish not only persons but projects
associated with them, Buahari has done otherwise. Like Darius I, he chose to
adopt and copy the good in the party he defeated in 2015.
His determined policy of
completing all inherited projects has been to the immense benefit of all
Nigerians.
The PDP started the Abuja metro line as
well as the Abuja- Kaduna Rail line, today, Buhari however has pulled them to a
completion. The PDP started the Port
Harcourt Airport but Buhari
completed it. The Treasury Single Account, the completion of many power
projects as well as many other successes of the Buhari government are linked to
the efforts of the previous administration.
He has therefore proven that government is a
continuum and that no matter how bad a situation could be, something good could
be salvaged. In summary, while the Buahri regime takes the credit for
completing these projects, tributes should not be denied those who initiated
and in some cases did over half of the work.
Diminishing such efforts is
to move forward with heads backwards, unable to see the future. This can shrink
excellence and blur foresight. After all, Darius did not disfigure the Lydian
coinage just to steal its originality or did he destroy the Sumerian scripts to
turn the cuneiform into his invention.
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