THE RACE AT SUNRISE

Every morning in Africa,
A gazelle wakes up; it knows that it must run
Faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or

It will starve to death
It does not matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle;
When the sun comes up, you had better be running.

African parable

THIS DROUGHT OF GOOD NEWS

When our dear former president, Umaru Musa Yar’adua was sick, it was simple enough to understand why not much good news was coming out of Nigeria.  There were rumours and murmurs going on about his true state of health and the true leadership of Nigeria at that time.  After many months, we lost our president.  His deputy was sworn in to keep the flag flying and in expectation, Nigerians happily elected the present president believing that his leadership would soon steer Nigeria out of the murky waters that Nigeria had drifted into because of the absence due to the protracted illness of the late president.

Nigeria as a country is experiencing a drought of good news.  Any element of good news will do our psyche a good deal in sustaining us and possibly give us reason to appreciate one another, our country and our government.  If we have anything to celebrate as a people, it may not be easy for small groups of Nigerians to band up together to unleash terror on other Nigerians.

A cursory look at headlines of our dailies further highlight this drought with very unfriendly captions like bombings, kidnap, armed robberies resulting in closure of bank branches, ritual killings, increase in school fees, discrimination against Nigerian airlines and against Nigerian route travelers, university workers’ strike, students’ strike, PHCN workers’ strike, debate on fuel subsidy removal, etc. It gives the feeling that Nigerians are being ruled by non-Nigerians who don’t feel what Nigerians are going through.  In the face of all this hardship, Nigerians still have to provide their own security, electricity, water, medical care, etc.  The police are involved in so many issues of extra-judicial killings of citizens and injustice to citizens.

There are still a few Nigerians who are landing big contracts and smiling all the way to the bank but their number is so painfully small.  Other Nigerians watch such developments in pain and when they are pressured beyond what they can endure, they resort to crime.  This is by no means making an excuse for those who have taken to crime, however, it seems to explain why there is an increased rate of crime and where it seems there is no crime, it is simply a question of waiting for the one day that is for the owner.

 A CALL TO REVISIT THE FOUNDATION ON WHICH THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT IS STRUCTURED.

Nigerians have become widely accepted as some of the most religious people on earth and when issues arise, the average Nigerian takes to worship and supplications rather than a critical assessment of issues facing him. 

Over the years, we have complained about the absence of a workable framework for our systems.  In line with efforts at understanding the drought of good news that Nigeria is presently going through which is indicative of issues with governance, it calls for an urgent need to review the foundation on which the military established the framework of government in Nigeria.  Nigeria has repeatedly endured mismanagement of resources and while this has remained, it seemed like the resources of Nigeria was being miraculously or mysteriously renewed and replenished just like we Africans pray.  The reality that we are faced with today is the rapid depletion of our resources.  Until this defective foundation is revisited and controlled, the depletion will continue and the system will begin to feed on the people. 

Going into civil service or politics is now about enrichment by every possible means not about giving service to the motherland.

ROOM FOR FEEDBACK

It is very common to see people making comments that are harsh, insultive and most times, completely nasty in spaces that today’s online news portals provide for feedback.  We come across issues that are ordinarily interesting and worth commenting on but one stands the risk of being insulted by people who probably misunderstand the concept of feedback. 

Today’s reporting allows room for feedback as a means of allowing respondents’ participation in reporting to improve the quality of the message that is being relayed.  On the internet these days are many journals, fora for news, opinions and discussions online and a lot convey very crucial messages.  It is a bonus to have a large followership and it is not old school to be civil and courteous in transmitting messages. 

It may actually be misleading to suggest that this display of disrespect is common among younger followers; incidentally, it is more pronounced among older people going by the nature of the discussion or news item being covered.   It is wrong to hide behind the anonymity that the internet allows to display bad behavior.  An adult is the individual who has attained the age of knowing what is wrong from what is right and being able to take responsibility for the freedom that he lays claim to.