By Prof. Echefuna' R G ONYEBEADI

Lamentations upon LAMENTATIONS without commensurate ACTION may just be a latent way to reinforce failure and/or sustain/maintain anachronistic status quo!

To continue to agonize over spilt milk is akin to wallowing in avoidable self pity!

Perhaps, Newton's laws of motion may just be instructive enough at this juncture.

Newton’s laws are 3 sets of rules Isaac Newton laid out in 1687 that describe how motion works. They’re the foundation of classical mechanics.

1. First Law – Law of Inertia

“An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and direction, unless acted on by a net force.”

Translation: Things don’t change their motion on their own. You need a push/pull to start, stop, or change direction.

Example: If you slide a hockey puck on ice, it keeps going until friction and the boards stop it. In space, it would go forever.

2. Second Law – Law of Acceleration:

$$F = ma$$

Force = mass × acceleration

Translation: The harder you push something, the faster it speeds up. Heavier things need more force to get the same acceleration.

Example: It takes more force to accelerate a car than a bicycle at the same rate.

3. Third Law – Action-Reaction:

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Translation: Forces always come in pairs. If you push on a wall, the wall pushes back on you with the same force.

Example: A rocket works by pushing exhaust gases down; the gases push the rocket up.

Quick distinction:

- 1st law = what happens when forces are balanced - no change!

- 2nd law = what happens when forces are unbalanced - change in motion.

- 3rd law = forces always occur in pairs.

Let’s use car crashes for example. It’s about the clearest way to see all 3 laws in action in 2 seconds.

1. First Law:

You’re driving 60 mph and the car hits a wall and stops instantly. Your body wants to keep moving at 60 mph because of inertia. That’s why you lurch forward. The seatbelt provides the force to stop you.

2. Second Law [F = ma]:

Force on you = your mass × your deceleration.

If you’re say 70 kg and you go from 60 mph to 0 in 0.1 seconds, that’s a deceleration of approximately 270 m/s².

F = 70 times 270 = 18,900{N}

That’s like 1.9 tons of force hitting your chest. No seatbelt = you hit the dashboard with that force.

3. Third Law [Action-Reaction]:

Your car hits the wall with a force F. The wall hits the car back with an equal opposite force (-F). That’s why the car crumples; the wall pushes back just as hard. The airbag pushes on you while you push back on the airbag, slowing you down more gradually.

Why crumple zones and airbags matter:

They increase the time it takes to stop, which reduces acceleration "a". Since "F = ma", lower "a" means lower force "F" on you.

Now, juxtaposing all these with the current reality today in the country Nigeria, has the country not experienced sufficient crumple zones?

By Newton's laws:

1. "Things don’t change their motion on their own."

Lamentations on the sorry state of the country without doing the needful, will continue ad infinitum; "unless acted on by a net force.”

A net force in this instance may be likened to citizens measured resistance to what's wrong. But, can passive citizenry provide the needed "net force"?

A "net force" isn't necessarily a call to violence. For example, simple "work to rule", "veritable voice(s)" where and when it matters most, simple "civil disobedience" and such like may just do.

Tyranny can only flourish in the absence of appropriate resistance!

Therefore, the absence of appropriate action can make “An object at rest to stay at rest, and an object in motion to stay in motion with the same speed and direction"!…

When forces are balanced – no change!

Lamenting, murmuring, sulking, agonizing, 'suffering and smiling' and so on without commensurate ACTION will not change anything! If anything, it will only reinforce failure and maintain the status quo of constant motion without movement.

Where then is/are the voice/voices?

Where is ACTION!?

Who/what will bell the cat?

2. Heavier things need more force to get the same acceleration!

When forces are unbalanced, there is change in motion!

No single individual and/or group can be bigger than the entire country!

There is a clear difference between an individual cooking for a community and a community cooking for an individual! The difference and consequences are clear enough.

3. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction!

Forces always occur in pairs.

When pushed to the wall, the natural tendency is to bounce back.

So far, when pushed to the wall in this country Nigeria, the unnatural tendency is to attempt to pierce through the wall instead of bouncing back; and then be falsely hoping against hope to come out to an Eldorado on the other side unhurt and better.

Citizens should be reminded that the irreducible minimum of good governance is that those in authority should be held accountable to and be there at the pleasure of the citizens.

Citizens should and ought to freely exercise their inalienable rights to democratically ease out those in authority that are performing below expectations and put square pegs in square holes!

The "office of the citizens" should ipso facto be far bigger and much higher than any political and/or any 'office' positions; and should be seen to be so.

Political office holders ought to prioritize good governance with good conscience or fail to do so at their own peril.

The teeth in the mouth are for a purpose. Use them!... and, do so wisely and rightly!!

Enough Lamentations Already!

•Professor Echefuna’ R. G. ONYEBEADI [DBA; PhDs; CEng. etc], Professor of Engineering Economy, Strategic Management Expert and the Inegbese of Oligbo Kingdom, writes from FCT Abuja.