ANTS AND CRABS IN NATION BUILDING

ANTS AND CRABS IN NATION BUILDING

I was watching a movie (can’t recall the title) sometime ago and in a scene, an elderly man was walking with a boy around the age of ten. As they passed by an ant hill, the boy was staring at the ant hill. One can imagine what was going on in the mind of the boy. The elderly man quickly suspected and told him, that is an ant hill which was built by millions of ant. At another time, the thought of crabs in a container trying to get out, and pulling down any that attempts to get out also came to my mind. I was reflecting on these two scenarios recently and decided to do a little research about ants and crabs in view of building their different environments.

An online search about ants on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant reveals as follows:

          Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae…

Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen predatory individuals living in small natural cavities to highly organized colonies which may occupy large territories of millions of individuals. These larger colonies consist mostly of sterile wingless females forming castes of “workers”, “soldiers”, or specialized groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called “drones” and one or more fertile females called “queens”. The colonies are sometimes described as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.

Ants have colonized almost every landmass on Earth… Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic and mutualistic relationships.

Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals and ability to solve complex problems… However, their ability to exploit resources brings ants into conflict with humans, as they can damage crops and invade buildings.

Many animals can learn behaviours by imitation but ants may be the only group apart from mammals where interactive teaching has been observed. A knowledgeable forager of Temnothorax leads a naïve mate to newly discovered food by the process of tandem running. The followers obtain knowledge through its leading tutor. Both leader and follower are acutely sensitive to the progress of their partner with the leader slowing down when the follower lags, and speeding up when the follower gets too close.

More interesting is the fact that the life expectancy of an ant is 45 to 60 days- lingolex.com/ants.htm. More so, an ant has 250,000 brain cells as opposed to humans with 10 billion brain cells. The abdomen of an ant contains two stomachs- one stomach holds the food for itself and the second stomach is for food to be shared with other ants.

It won’t be an overstatement that there is much to be learned from the world of ants. No wonder the Book of Proverbs 6, says “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise. Which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest”.

In view of the above, I will discuss ants under:

1.      Organisation

2.      Unity

3.      Strength

4.      Leadership

Organisation:         Ants are described as social insects. This would surely inspire their having organized colonies; these colonies with workers, soldiers, drones and queens. The organisation is to the extent that each colony has a unique smell that if an ant from a colony enters into another, it is easily and quickly identified. Comparing this to the human world, we are also social beings with organisation to the extent that we design it.

Unity:                    Our easy observation over the years will establish the spirit of unity among ants. They operate as a unified entity collectively working together to support the colony. It cannot be over-emphasised that the strength and achievements of ants are predicated on their unity. Talking about the ant hill mentioned earlier, it would never have been achieved without unity and commonness of purpose bearing in mind the fact that an average ant will not live for more than 45-60 days. The sustainability of the ant hill is also largely based on unity.

                            

                             This stresses the importance of unity in development. Unity in Nigeria is a pre-condition for national development. Disunity has always threatened progress in any setting. As per the place of unity in development, I can’t help mentioning the United States of America. The unity of the US from prior to its independence to date is most admirable. For South Korea and China, their development is a project which all the people are in agreement with and are tirelessly working at.

Strength:               It was stated that ants have colonized every landmass on Earth. They have such strength and ability to modify habitat, tap resources and defend themselves. They have the ability to solve complex problems. As we would have observed, when ants invade anything and there is a sudden obstruction, they are most likely to device another means to their invasion. Ants are highly determined and unrelenting in supporting their colonies. More astonishing here is that an ant has 250,000 brain cells.

                             We humans have 10 billion brain cells and exist in a community, state and federation. We have so much capacity to make our world a far better place. With the current state of the nation characterised by unemployment, poverty, environmental degradation among others despite our blessings in human and mineral resources, we should utilize our strength towards creating solutions to achieve national development. But I suppose if we had utilized our strength enough in the first place, these problems will not be there; we will only be contributing further to our development.

Leadership:            The leadership structure in the world of ants is more interactive. Every ant’s talent and resources are maximized in building the colony. Both leader and follower are so sensitive about each other’s progress, with the leader slowing down when the follower lags and speeding up when the follower gets too close. This is the highest form of leadership with impact.

                             In fact, there is no leadership without relationship. Someone once said, “Don’t get too far out in front of your people or they will mistake you for an enemy”. While standards must be upheld, the leader cannot hold those standards in some cold, distant fashion, unfeeling of the people-heart. No leader will ever make impact in the follower he/she is not close to.

                             Two basics can be drawn from this. 1, everyone’s talent, ideas and resources must be maximized in building our nation. No one is without something to add, no matter how little it is towards national development; and 2, Leadership should be more sensitive enough to move close to the people being led. This should not just be by words of mouth but deeds should establish this.

CRABS

There is not much to discuss about crabs. From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab, it can be said that crabs are mostly active animals with complex behaviour patterns. Crabs tend to be aggressive towards one another. Crabs are known to work together to provide food and protection for their family and during mating season, to find a comfortable spot for the female to release her eggs.

Apparently, the best of crabs is limited to the family unit. Relating with others is with aggression. One can better understand why crabs put in a container will always pull down any that tries to get out.

We have people with crab mentality in our environment. Some are in leadership, some are elites but more frightening are the people who are neither leaders nor elites but can’t stand people who try to do anything beyond them or provide an idea that outweigh their initiatives. The best of people with crab mentality is always limited to a small unit and never spreads to the larger environment.

Trying to distinguish between ants and crabs, ants are generally cooperative, sacrificial, supportive, resourceful, secure and sensitive about one another all for the ultimate purpose if building the colony while crabs are aggressive, selfish, insecure, and easily threatened by others progress and welfare. Unfortunately, the people with crab mentality pose strong hindrance to national development.

We must always remember that we are part of a larger entity. The progress of the nation will directly influence our individual comfort, welfare, prosperity, and security among others.

In conclusion, this piece is to stir us to self-assessment and challenge us to utilize our resources towards national development. The nation will be a far better place for us all when people with crab mentality retrace their steps and join in the pressing cause in developing our nation. We therefore need more people who are indeed 40,000 times better than an ant in the cause of building our nation.

Olusola Akinyemi Esq.

President

Joseph Initiative, Lagos.