Friday, January 30, 2015

What Really Is The Truth These Days?



The dictionary defines truth as the true or actual state of a matter;
conformity with fact or reality. It also defines perception as the
intuitive recognition or appreciation as of moral,psychological or
aesthetic qualities;insight;discernment. In short words,perception is
how we apprehend and appreciate the truth.

With the goings on in the
polity lately,we can see that so much information is being bandied
around by various groups through different mediums, which are meant to
whip up certain sentiments around some issues we are facing as a
country.

With just some weeks left to elections,the two major
political parties; Pdp and Apc,have embarked on campaigns of calumny
against their presidential candidates, with each side throwing shades
at the other at every given opportunity.

The hottest topic now  is the
article written by the former chief economic adviser and CBN governor
under obasanjo's administration,Charles Soludo,where he scored the
present administration an F grade in economic management.

Reading
through the article,you get the impression that the former CBN
governor has an axe to grind, especially with the way he tried to belittle the
modest achievements that have been recorded in the economy under
president goodluck jonathan's administration. In a bid to appear
balanced,he extended his scathing criticism to the APC by taking them
up on their change slogan,asking them how they intend to fund the said
change they have been promising, given we are in a period of dwindling
oil revenues. He further gave a kind of numerical evaluation of how
the proposed change by apc wasn't feasible within the constraint of
funds available when he took a look at how apc's proposal of
creating jobs through public works method and giving of stipends to
the poor and unemployed could not be financed within the budget
constraint.

Though the apc has since replied Soludo's article,but it's
clear they were quite ruffled by the intellectual analysis given by
Soludo which sort of exposed the lies in the change slogan they
have been mouthing,since they forgot or neglected a key component;which is
how they intend to fund the change.

This brings me to the thrust of
this piece which is on what really is the truth these days. I have
earlier tried to define what truth and perception means,and i must say
here that most of the things we pass off as the truth these days,are
actually our perception of what the truth is or what it should be. We
say things based on how we perceive  them to be,not necessarily how
they truly are. If you were to ask someone in government to analyze
topical issues based on readily available facts in the public
space,you will be surprised to learn that someone else who is outside
government would give his own analysis on the same issues differently
from the one who is in government circles;even with the same facts.

We are told facts are sacred
but opinions differ due to our exposure and perceptions of issues,but
we should never allow it overshadow rational thought. In light of
this,lets always analyze issues based on available facts which are
well proven,and when we disagree with the facts presented,we should
provide ours, provided it is from verifiable sources.

Am loving the rich
discussions on governance going on right now in the polity,where
citizens can seek
clarification on issues that are not clear to them,and government is
bound to give a reply;thanks to the FOI law which makes this
possible,so let the discussions continue.

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