2015: A keg of Gun Powder?

"Woe betide the dog that wouldn't heed the hunter's call"- African Proverb

Much I do about the country called Nigeria. I love my country and owe no apology to nobody. Mine is a choice. Hard as it is, I choose to honor the clarion call. The unity of this nation, her sovereignty and her pride must be defended. I am a die hard optimist and believer in the idea called Nigeria. I believe that God has a plan for Nigeria. I fear for the future of this country. Man by nature is a free moral agent and his choices ultimately determine his outcomes. It is on this wise that I fear for my country. With the benefit of hindsight, one can conveniently and most confidently posit that if we continue in the way and manner we have been operating, there will be no place for us to call home. When the center can no longer hold, things fall apart. We have a past and we must never forget where we are coming from.

Do we ever learn from history?

History teaches that history teaches nothing. This is a true paradox which continue to find expression in our failure as human beings.  The human mind is very prone to amnesia. We forget too soon and too easily. We push our luck until we reach a cliff. The best of us have failed and still will, not because we obsessively and deliberately make that choice but because left to our vices and without God, the human nature will self destruct. I am very biased and unrepentant about my conviction that a nation is first a spiritual entity because man at his core is spirit. He occupies a body and has a soul. It is this equation; this identity that drives everything. I remember the tale of the Alchemist where the boy; Santiago was told the story of a lad who was in search of the philosopher's stone (a critical requirement in converting Corper to Gold). In his noble quest, he had to see an old man who purportedly was in custody of the valuable object. His encounter with the old man leaves an indelible impression  and a sure lesson for our fickle selves. Paulo Coelho (Author, The Alchemist) didn't quite tell us whether the lad got the object he sought for but his conclusion seemed to be that the journey is as important as the destination. Most of us get lost in the pursuit of things and for the most part, we loose the most important part of our essence, life and journey. What are we trying to become?

Is there something wrong with us?

We are being plundered not because we are vulnerable. Yes! There is poverty and even more debilitating challenges that plaque us but we are our own enemy. We are the ones that have subjected ourselves to the sour reality which we have continued to live in.  It is easy and fair to blame our woes on imperialist intervention and how the white man under-developed us but where does that take us? If after five decades; we are still not where we should be, we should be wise enough to deal with our own issues. The truth is bitter but only fools resist it. 



Today, the greatest reward in our country is material. National honours have become an elitist agenda and an exclusive reserve of the rich and famous. Filthy lucre; money has become the greatest motivator and essence of most people. A hearthy "THANK YOU" is not as stimulating as a  Naira note. Distrust rules in many places. Cries of marginalization fill the place. Majority wallow in abject poverty while few control resources. Leaders flounder at the slightest test of credibility. Followers are imminently complacent. We are very stuck in our ways. Honesty is no longer the best policy. There was a time when dignity of labor counted for something.



Talk is cheap
Wait a minute. Are we living in a fool's paradise? Have you considered the fundamental issues we'd rather not talk about because they are "controversial"? What does that say about us? What of the apologies we have refused to tender? We continue to pay lip service to change yet the security vote and salary of the politicians remain a national burden. Our debt is growing again. Per Capita is increasing yet the standard of living seems not to bulge. We claim to want change yet, we have refused to mend the fence. Our priorities are deeply mis-aligned with our talks. Talk is cheap. Its high time we started doing the right things.

2015 is just another milestone

Applying the understanding of Game Theory to Nigeria does create an instant fear similar to the one that I mentioned at the beginning of this note. In truth, my fear is essentially more of worry than anxiety. With the heating up of the polity by the actors, only a persona non granta of great proportion will pretend that all is well with us. In my assessment, we are sitting on a time bomb and this is putting it lightly. We are pedaling very fast down a road that leads to doom. Call it whatever you may wish but those who have predicted doom for us are free to say whatever they choose to. What is most expedient for us to consider is whether there is anything genuine in these dissenting opinion. Tomorrow won't be different from today or even yesterday if we don't re-calibrate our compass and find our true north. In a world of commerce like ours, one thing is sure, whether or not we become a war zone, the multinationals profit. Today, the stock-in-trade are crude and others. It could be guns and bombs. The choice is ours. Trade must continue.

Let the goons of saboteurs and those who have made it an enterprise to rupture the walls of peace be reminded that when the Jungle matures, there will be no hiding place for the wicked. 



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