He who is faithful in little...

        I have spent the greater part, amounting to about 6weeks, of my compulsory holiday from school in a town or rather, a village called Ayegbaju-Ekiti. It is a town actually, based on my secondary school geography where I learnt that a town should have a minimum population of 1000, among other things, which Ayegbaju has. I decided to call it a 'village' because: there is only ONE tarred road in the whole village; NO bank or banking facility whatsoever; only ONE filling station that does not have fuel most of the time; ONE market place that has specific days set aside for trading; almost non-existent electricity supply; just ONE commercial viewing center for watching football matches (yes! I love football). I could go on and on as the list is virtually endless. Even Obafemi Awolowo University which happens to be my school has ONE filling station and several tarred roads. As always, I'm only stating my own opinion because for all I know, my fellow residents may be satisfied with the situation of the town.

         One might then ask; why did I single out Ayegbaju? Since that is the reality of most 'towns' and 'villages' in Ekiti state and Nigeria at large. In fact some towns/villages have it worse. To its credit, Ayegbaju is a peaceful quiet town, with some hills and vegetation that coalesce to create a beautiful landscape. Back to my question; WHY AYEGBAJU? To answer, I will have to go back to the electricity supply which has been absent for more than a week now and tell a short story to explain the reason behind it.

         As part of the Obasanjo administration's policy of 'DEREGULATION' which is still being carried out by its successors, some of the nation's public enterprises were marked for privatization; a process that led to the demise of several functioning federal corporations e.g. Nigeria Airways, NITEL/MTEL and recently, NEPA now known as PHCN. Since the sale and take-over of the successor companies of the PHCN is as good as done, payment of bills to PHCN has been suspended temporarily. As was customary with PHCN, they carried out their usual house to house trips where they ask for your bill, ask you to pay if you have outstanding bills to settle under the imminent threat of disconnection. It was while on a tour as this that the 'youths' in Ayegbaju had a clash with them citing as cheating the collection of fees by these 'PHCN staff'. The PHCN staffs were obviously outnumbered and were soundly beaten. Long story short, the whole 'town' has being disconnected and deprived of the little electricity we had, including people like my family that have simply paid the money requested, until these 'youths' have paid for their 'sin'.

         I don't think beating them was the best course of action because it is a criminal offense named in the law 'assault', 'battery' etc.; rather, they could simply have refused to pay and then restrain them from cutting the wires. I also think the action of those involved in the disconnection is shameful and disappointing in the extreme since it has led to 'law-abiding' citizens such as my family being deprived of our rights to the electricity we paid for. This event is just an example of an unsettling trend in Nigeria where people wield power and authority to oppress other people and/or aggrandize themselves e.g the policeman who cooks up a charge just to force you into greasing his palms or the public official who expects some 'kola' before he serves you while forgetting that it's his job in the first place; the list goes on and on.... If people in these 'low places' behave like this, can we expect better if they make their way to the 'high places'? NO! We can only expect worse. "HE WHO IS NOT FAITHFUL WITH THE LITTLE HE HAS BEEN GIVEN CANNOT BE EXPECTED TO BE FAITHFUL IF HE IS ENTRUSTED WITH MUCH". When you see the senator, on the road blasting his sirens, forcing you into the ditch so he can pass as though he is going to take the road along with him, or the governor doing the same with his entourage, ask yourself this: WHAT DID/WILL I DO WITH THE LITTLE POWER OR AUTHORITY I WAS/WILL BE ENTRUSTED WITH?

The sheep that walks with a dog, will eat dung

       If there is such a thing as a writer's block, that would explain what I have been going through over the past few days. Out of the blues, a wonderful idea will spring up in my mind and as I begin the process of converting the idea into the currency of communication i.e words, written in this case, the idea simply melts away in my mind. It just seems like I have a leak somewhere; as though finding words that would convey the idea appropriately becomes as difficult as the biblical camel's task of passing through the eye of the needle. At the risk of flattering myself, i would say that inadequate vocabulary is not the problem rather it is a result of my extensive vocabulary. (I just hope Hon. Patrick does not read this because I don't think he will take it lightly if someone as 'lugubriously non-loquacious and  philologically maladroit as I would boast about something he is colossally adept at.)

       Haven beaten about the bush, I should go back on course before i lose my way and find myself in the forest. I still remember the first time, when i was still in J.S.S 1, that I heard the proverb in it's more descriptive Yoruba form "agutan to ba b'aja rin ma je igbe." I felt disturbed, not because of the meaning of the proverb, but because it sounded absurd to me that a dog will eat dung. I am a dog person; I love dogs maybe because i was exposed to a lot of foreign movies, especially American, in which dogs are portrayed as anything but having filthy and unhygienic habits. If anything, they were loyal, brave, heroic, fun loving creatures; hell! they even fell in love(' check out the holly wood movie - Beverly hills chihuahua'). There was this British show on television that I used to watch when I was young; 'the famous five', about three siblings, their cousin and a dog, Timmy who embark on numerous often dangerous mystery solving adventures. As the title implies, the dog was an active member of the group not just in name as he was, on occasion, key to the solution in some episodes. I think the scooby doo franchise may have been loosely based on this series but that is just my opinion.

        I have eventually 'beaten into the forest' therefore i must rummage my way back to the road. The proverb i believe is an equivalent to 'show me your friend and i will tell you who you are' or will become. This proverb should serve as a warning to us to be careful of the fledgling mega party, APC. Recently, APC has been 'phagocytosing' elements from other parties notably, the recent defection of 5 erstwhile PDP governors. While it is a welcome development signalling the fact that PDP is losing it's choke-hold on the Nigerian polity hence raising the possibility of a regime change come 2015, it still raises concerns that the APC will simply become the new mega-party of Africa having simply undergone a transplant of the unscrupulous elements from PDP to APC. I am not in anyway saying the APC is a good enough party but they represent what we need at this point in our democracy; CHANGE! A look at some of the prominent members of the APC their current actions and their antecedents should be enough evidence e.g the comrade cum politician in the south south region or our very own 'Ogbeni'.

        We all are aware that Nigeria had taken several giant strides backward in other to manage a few baby steps forward under the captainship of the PDP. Suffice to say that the APC may even perform worse but the seemingly lackadaisical approach of the ruling elite leaves little to be desired. Now the PDP boat appears to be sinking, some people are jumping ship for the APC boat which appears to be capsizing; who is to say the same people at the root of the PDP's and by extension Nigeria's problem are not already making their way to the APC, if they are not there already? If anyone asks me, I am voting APC in the next presidential elections simply because I want PDP out of power more-so because i want a change but APC cannot count on my vote beyond 2015; they even still have to make sure they don't lose my support before 2015. What is my point? We must always do everything possible to boot out any regime that does not do our bidding as CITIZENS. Oh yes! we are CITIZENS not SUBJECTS!



N.B:- this is simply my opinion although I think if everybody were to be thinking along this line, we would be making sure steady real progress in Nigeria. Please share your own opinion by leaving comments here as I know very well how much I am prone to error. 
 Eventually I witnessed a dog actually eating feces, human feces; luckily it was a 'basenji', the popular local variety here in Nigeria, not the ones I had grown accustomed to seeing in movies and television.
For the benefit of those who don't already know, 'Phagocytosis' is the word that describes the biological concept of cells engulfing other cells or foreign materials

Is our constitution a fraud?

“We, the people of Nigeria, having firmly and solemnly resolved, to live together in unity and harmony as ONE INDIVISIBLE AND INDISSOLUBLE SOVEREIGN NATION under God, dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding; and to provide for a CONSTITUTION FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROMOTING THE GOOD GOVERNMENT AND WELFARE OF ALL PERSONS IN OUR COUNTRY, ON THE PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM, EQUALITY AND JUSTICE; AND FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSOLIDATING THE UNITY OF OUR PEOPLE, do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following constitution” The paragraph above is the preamble to the 1999 and 1979 constitution(s) of the federal republic of Nigeria. While the ideals set forth are as noble as you can get, there is a fundamental flaw. It is a blatant lie. We the people of Nigeria DID NOT firmly and solemnly resolve, to live together in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God. We DID NOT promulgate the decree no. 24 which brought this constitution into force. The ‘Provisional Ruling Council of Nigeria’ (PRCN) did under the leadership of General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Our input was not sought during the drafting process, neither was our explicit consent sought. To say the constitution is based on a falsehood would be incorrect. The truth is; we accepted the constitution through our non-resistance cum participation in its provisions. During the February 1999 general elections which kick started the transition program overseen by general Abubakar to usher in the ‘new’ constitution; the 1999 constitution which is actually an abridged version of the 1979 constitution which was abolished by the military in 1984. About 50 million of an estimated 120 million Nigerians registered to vote in that election. In a country where minors and seniors constitute about 50% of the population, 50 million adults participating in any exercise is probably as much as you can ever get. THE 1999 CONSTITUTION IS AS LEGAL AS THE EXISTENCE OF NIGERIA AS A NATION. Nigeria was also created without the consent of majority of Nigerians but eventually, our actions signify acceptance of the status quo. We even went as far as fighting a civil war to keep the country intact. The obvious truth is that we have a constitution that has widespread acceptance; lasted more than any other we have had in this country. Therefore we should stop blaming the constitution and point the finger where it should point at; you and me. I firmly believe our constitution is good enough if the people we elect can really play by the rules laid down within it. We also as the electorate have to find ways to hold our candidates accountable to us because even God’s own constitution will not work if we do not uphold it. I know my last statement may have offended some religious people. I therefore offer my sincerest apology though I am not sorry because I believe I have made my point.

Nigeria must survive

How can you say something as awful as that? That was the response I got when I declared to my friends, what I believed then to be true, that Nigeria is on the highway to state failure. It was on a typical “idle” afternoon in Angola hall, OAU and we were involved in the universal pastime of Angola boys – “blind, directionless and intense debate. I was a fresher, like my “co-brawlers” but I was clearly the youngest and maybe a little too green when it comes to life experiences. This obviously implies that my views were simplistic, idealistic and just plain naïve. (If by chance, you are/were a resident of Angola hall, please take note of the last sentence in this paragraph)

The problem was not because of what I said. Rather, it was the fact that I had the guts to say it aloud....i think!. I pray “the angel that grants prayers” (angeli ti n se amin! amin!) was not around that day. History has taught us (at least I have learnt) that no political contraption, regardless of its might, is eternal. Except what we believe happened with Rome, Greece, Arabia, Persia and the other great empires/states all through human history were all lies, I can say boldly that even the United States of America has a countdown timer on its existence. Don’t ask me for the time limit, only God knows. At least there are people alive who knew when China was just a nation filled with short, white people with slit eyes who speak funny, now they are a full fledged world power

What I really should have said that day is that Nigerians are busy at work fast tracking our countdown to the ‘D­-day’. Having a president who appears unable to distinguish his left from right but is still able to hold on to power seems to me a guaranteed promise of state failure. A myopic national Labour union that only responds to fuel price hike but has turned a blind eye to an industrial action which has, in all appearances, paralysed the nation’s university education. Lecturers have now taken to the streets partaking in “Aluta” like undergraduate students. The NYSC just released another batch of graduates of which a good number of them will increase the ranks of unemployed and under-employed citizens. A political class who are unable or unwilling to make forward thinking decisions and make progressive decisions.

I’m no doom watcher; it’s just that as time goes by, it becomes more difficult for me to see the dim flicker at the end of Nigeria’s present tunnel. I am well aware of the positive developments that raise the banner of hope and fly the flag of faith in Nigeria’s brighter future. A question I’d like each of us to answer and ask others is “how have I made improvements in my immediate society and how can I make further improvements?” I frimly believe that the moment we (Nigerians)get the right answer to this question, that moment is the moment we start making real and solid progress towards the ‘promised land’

N.B- I don’t have an exact idea of what our promised land should be but it must include the following:- free fair and credible elections that will bring in people of integrity who have the brains and commitment to lead well; affordable quality education; plenty of food; properly industrialized economy; poverty being defined as inability to afford luxuries e.g. >1 cars and not inability to afford necessities e.g. food; Nigeria being a real leader on the international scene.

OUR FUTURE BEGINS NOW!

NIGERIA AT 53

          By the time I’m 53 years old, I hope to have achieved so many things among them being happily married to a wonderful woman; having adorable children to be proud of; being retired after a fruitful  medical career; having already visited some exotic places in the world with others in the offing. If I can achieve these basic things, then I will see myself as an immense success. These are things I hold dear to my heart and my birthday would have been an appropriate occasion to talk about them.

          Today, October 1^st, marks the 53^rd anniversary of the birth of an independent self-ruling nation. Nigeria existed prior to that but just as a device to maintain enough order and structure to facilitate the siphoning of our immense resources. That is simply my opinion but prior to that, Nigeria was ruled by foreigners with the participation of only a handful of Nigerians. On October 1^st 1960, for the first time, the ship of the Nigerian State was manned and captained by Nigerians. That, by its own merit, is worth celebration.

          Many people are quick to point at the terrible things happening in Nigeria. The manic zeal with which labour unions take strike actions; the fact that Nigerians now get killed in their sleep and the perpetrators may yet get away with it; a president who appears unable to comprehend the magnitude of our situation; I could go on and on listing these problems but that’s not my aim. I only wish to remind us that we need to start thinking of a solution and how to execute such a solution. By ‘we’ I mean those of us too young to have witnessed any coup d’état or perhaps too young at the time to have known the meaning or implications.

          I have a dream that one day in Nigeria, political aspirants will debate ideas and not trade insults, accusations and counter accusations; our educational institutions will provide soundly educated minds; justice shall prevail; the kidnapping industry boom will be a dark chapter in our history; northerners and southerners will see themselves as partners in progress; Christians and Muslims will live peacefully together; the super eagles will win the world cup. Above all, I hope to see that day when Nigerians will stop seeing Nigeria as a golden goose, when paramount on our minds will be “how can I lift my nation higher?” and not “what benefit will I gain from Nigeria?”

          If I were alive on that historic day when we began our self-directed journey, my dreams would have been different. I would have dreamt of the time when Nigeria will call the shots on the international scene, in Africa and beyond. I still hope that day will come and if I’m lucky, I may witness it.

          Let us all remember, as we mark today’s anniversary in our different ways, that our situation requires us to be willing to do whatever is necessary to take over control of our country from those who will exploit us. As we celebrate our Independence from Britain, let us all start working, in our own little or great way, to make Nigeria truly independent and awaken this sleeping giant from its slumber.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY ANNIVERSARY