Positive Attitudinal Change as a Panacea To Nigeria’s Intractable Problems —By Charles Nwankwo

Positive attitudinal change by Nigerians is no doubt the panacea to various intractable problems that bedevil the society.

These problems include ethnic bigotry, electoral manipulations, religious intolerance, herdsmen farmers conflict, protests, secessionist agitations others are perceived injustice, marginalization, hate speech, high-handedness by some state operators i.e governors, legislators, political appointees, law enforcement agencies etc.

According to oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, “attitude is the way that you think and feel about something or somebody” .

The dictionary went further to explain that attitude can be good or bad, positive or negative towards something or somebody.

Therefore in view of the foregoing definition of attitude by the Advanced Learners Dictionary it is what is inside that counts and what is inside of us that makes us go up is our attitude. Williams James of Harvard University postulated that the greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind” .

Attitude consequently, applies to every sphere of life, including one’s personal and professional life. An executive cannot be a good executive without a good attitude. Can a student be a good student without a good attitude? Can parents, teachers, salesperson, employers or employees be good in their roles without a good attitude?.

It should be noted that the foundation of success regardless of your chosen field is attitude. If attitude is such a critical factor in success should we not examine our attitude towards life because your attitude will definitely affect your goals.

It should be pertinent to wonder why some individuals, organizations or countries are more successful than others.

They are successful because they think and act more effectively and they do so by investing in their most valuable asset which is the people.

With better attitude people would be better team players, cut back on waste and become more loyal in general. Their country would be a great place to live in.

Research has shown that most of our attitudes were shapped during our formative years, and that there are three factors that largely determine our attitude formation these are the triple “ ES” of attitude, they include, environment, experience and education.

Environment consists of home positive or negative influence, school peer pressure, work supportive or over no critical supervisor, media, television, newspaper, magazines, radio and movies, cultural background, religious background, traditions and beliefs, social environment and political environment.

On the other hand our behavior change according to our experiences with various people. If we have a positive experience with a person our attitude towards that person is likely to be positive and conversely negative experience tend to make one cautious.

When we talk about education it refers to both formal and informal education. It is strange to observe that we are drowning in information but starving for knowledge and wisdom. If strategically applied, knowledge translates into wisdom which in turn translates to success. Education ought to teach us not only how to make a living but also how to live.

Shiv Khera a renowned educator and business consultant holds the view that all these environments create a culture every place, be it at home, organization or a country has a culture.

He pointed out that in countries where the government and political environment is honest, generally you will find that the people are honest, law abiding and helpful and that the reverse is the case in a corrupt environment where an honest person has a hard time. He went further to assert that in an honest environment a corrupt person has a tough time. Mr. Khera stated that “in a positive environment a marginal performers output goes up and in a negative environment a good performers output goes down.

With regards to the forgoing I call on all actors in the human socializing environment like parents, teachers from primary to tertiary levels, religious institutions, faith based organizations, non-governmental organizations, the National Orientation Agency, State Orientation agencies, the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Federal and States information ministries and all those involved in the business of reputation and perception management to channel more energy on the population with a view to inculcating positive attitude in them, they should demarket those things like injustice, corruption, nepotism, tribalism, religious intolerance, ethnic bigotry, education malpractices, non-respect to state symbols, disobedience to state policies and programs, electoral malpractice, brutality by security agencies touting, kidnapping, terrorism, vandalisation of government and individual property and all other anti-social behaviours.

Nigeria will consequently progress in geometrical proportions if the right foundation is layed which will in turn produce Total Quality People, (TQP). Total Quality People are people with character, integrity, good values and positive attitude. We hold the unique power to influence perceptions inspire action and drive the efforts towards a sustainable future.

Charles Nwankwo

Former Chairman Nigerian Institute of

Public Relations, Imo State Chapter and

A Public Relations and Communications Expert

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