NIGERIA AND OUR PRESENT STATE: WHAT DO YOU PRAY FOR?

Times without number, a lot of people have embarked on turning great business ideas into reality with a mindset of succeeding at all costs, believing that with a  large circle of friends and family members, the business will definitely succeed.

Alas they are disappointed 70% of the time because the same circle of family and friends would rarely patronize them and even when some of them do at all, a large number of that group will either want it for free or for a token and also  many a times give the attitude that they are just doing you a big favour for even attempting to buy into your idea.

Alright, let’s assume the business eventually sees the light of day, you would be shocked to realize in the long run that your loyal customers are people you never knew or thought would even give your business a thought or two at the time you conceived the idea.

Apart from the human factor, the many other necessities such as unavailability of constant electricity  supply, lack of good road, insecurity and most importantly the many stringent and unfriendly business Government policies on the other all add up to frustrate businesses in this county.

What is responsible for the above scenario?

 Life is complicated! Really complicated therefore, it is impossible to get all the answers to the countless “whats, hows and whys”.

Sadly, it is the same “we” who make the life as complicated as it is. We need no ‘rocket science’ to hit that hard-truth nail in.

Just yesterday, I watched on one of the local stations as a 37 year old man from the eastern part of Nigeria who now lives in Doha was being interviewed about his life in Doha and why he left Nigeria in the first place. I was totally disappointed and deeply hurt to hear the first statement from him was “Nigeria is a killer of destiny”. Those words cut really deep.

I wasn’t disappointed at the man who is now doing so well in Doha that he said those words without any apologies, I was disappointed because our government pushed the young man, a Nigerian University Engineering graduate to that point and I was hurt because the man reminds me of the reality once again that I’m also a Nigerian thus makes me scared that I may one day, if care is not taken, be pushed to that same level of saying “Nigeria is a killer of destiny”. Gosh! May God not let it get to that level for the rest of us even as we pray for a better Nigeria.

We pray for a better Nigeria where the gap between the rich and the poor will get so short by just an arm’s length.

We pray for a better Nigeria where our leaders will think about led positively before policies are made and actualized.

We pray for a better Nigeria where entrepreneurs will be encouraged and not be frustrated out of the country  seeking  greener pastures only to die in the desert, at sea, sold as slaves or killed in places such as Libya amongst others.

We pray for a better Nigeria where every family would not need to toil so hard to put food on their tables, clothes on their backs or shelter over their heads.

We pray for a better Nigeria where the era of “brain drain” will be over thus our great and excellent professional doctors, teachers, scientists, lawyers, sportsmen/women, engineers and more will be well taken care of so that they would not need to leave home to go work in other countries thus leaving Nigeria as wrecked as it is right now.

We pray for a better Nigeria where immorality will gradually become unfashionable, eventually fading out completely as every Nigerian becomes comfortable hence they would be no need for so much atrocities.

I could go on and on as the list is endless!

What do you pray for? Yes, I mean you, dear reader!

STELLA ENE-INYANG

Pray! Pray!! Pray!!!

Nigeria must get better!

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY: OGA! ARE YOU THE GOVERNMENT?

andrevashaw.blogspot.com

Mr Egodi is a bus driver. He works from very early in the mornings, as early as 4am to meet up with early morning ‘rushers’ that is, workers and other business persons who leave their homes in the wee hours of the morning  everyday by public transport. Mr Egodi has a family of four, his wife and three young children, a girl who is just seven years old, boy 8 and the eldest boy 10. These children attend a public school just a few miles from the home and the trio walk to and fro the school every day.

Their mother Mrs Egodi sells roasted corn and sometimes plantains during the day by the roadside. She has a gutter right in front of where she does her business and oftentimes, throws the peels of the plantain and corn right inside the gutter and of course overtime, the gutter has gone from stagnant to a heaped refuse bin thus preventing any further flow of water. When she is cautioned by anyone to refrain from dumping refuse in there, her responses include “na you be government, is it your father’s house or what is your business”?

On the other hand, Mr Egodi buys a bottle of cold beverage drink during the day which most times is very hot hence the need for that drink. He gulps the content of the cold bottle and immediately, instead of leaving the empty bottles in the bus till he gets to a proper refuse bin, he would rather throw the bottles on the street which many times would eventually roll or get kicked into the nearest gutters by idle street mischief-makers. Again when a passenger scolds him for dumping the bottles on the street, his responses not anyway different from his wife’s will also include “oga or madam patriotic, what is your business, abeg when you get to your home or  office you can talk to your children or workers like that, this is my bus or are you government?”

One day while everyone was still at work and children on their way from school, it rained nonstop and heavily too, and of course the roads and many houses were flooded and since many of the gutters were already blocked with refuse from the likes of the Egodis, many people could not find their way home so easily including the children of Mr and Mrs Egodi. And while the children tried to wade their way home through the waters, given the current of the flow of water, the daughter was suddenly picked up by the flood even as the helpless siblings screamed for help as they couldn’t get hold of her given the heavy downpour. 

Luckily, it took the intervention of a man who was also at the scene to rescue the little girl whom by the time she was eventually pulled out from a spot was bleeding profusely from a big scar on her head very close to the right eye; it was obvious she had smashed her head against a huge and sharp object whilst the torrent of waters swept her away.  Sadly she lost that eye at the end of the day. Till this day, Mr and Mrs Egodi blame the government for the fate of their daughter.

Now some of the questions for the likes of the Egodis include “is it the government that filled the gutters with refuse or that makes the rains fall? And this brings me to my topic “Taking responsibility of our Environment".

A few days ago, it rained heavily in Lagos and some other parts of Nigeria leaving people stranded at home for as much as two days whilst many others lost so much properties even as a couple of lives were lost.

The thing here is, the rains will always come and when they do, one can never predict how much damages they would leave behind so why do we as citizens keep engaging in the wrong things when it comes to protecting ourselves from having to encounter the wreckages of an aftermath of heavy downpour every year?

Reports have it after what happened in the Lekki axis that apart from blocked drainages by refuse, many people built houses over drainage systems, who does that?

It is so insane the way we behave in this part of the world. The blame over such houses built should be on the town planners who either ‘okayed’ such plans or didn’t do their work by ensuring that such houses shouldn’t be positioned there in the first place. It is such scenarios that make some ignorant people quickly blame the government; after all it is the government who appointed those supervisors in the first place, right? What about you, the neighbour or citizen who turns a blind eye to such habits with the attitude of “it’s none of my business” and unfortunately, it becomes “your business” when the entire environment, including yours suffers the consequences of what was initially termed “none of your business”.

  

Now who and what is the government?

The government is made up of people from amongst us, right? hence if we as citizens can eat gala, biscuits, corn and throw the waste in the gutters, then what do you expect from our representatives in government? Of course they would turn a blind eye to such buildings and even do less or nothing when it comes to disciplining anyone seen dumping refuse in the gutters.

But then who cares? Nobody!

Instead everyone is busy looking for anyway to get their bread ‘buttered’ so nobody is held responsible for anything until the day of reckoning when all those involved or not involved in these irresponsible acts and habits are affected in one way or the other. Then once again, the government is blamed and the circle continues.

The truth is, we are first of all our own government before anything else. Let us speak against any damaging environmental act around us and caution anyone involved as in doing so we protect not just our environment but ourselves as well.

So when next you are asked “is it your business or na you be government? Be quick to reply “yes, it’s my business” or “yes, I am the government” without batting an eyelid.

Next time, we'll talk about the business of recycling, reuse and more!

(c) STELLA ENE-INYANG

THERE WILL BE MORE JOY ODAMAS AND EVANS' UNTIL WE STOP DISRESPECTING OURSELVES

As I sit here at my desk in the office going through one of the national dailies on an update report by the Nigerian Police on the death of the late young Joy Odama who was said to have recently died in the hands of an Alhaji as a result of an overdose of cocaine in Abuja, one cannot help but be pained at how callous and undiscerning some so called men can be or get when it comes to exciting themselves with some of these vulnerable girls.

The sad part is that as you read this now, no doubts some other stubborn girls and hell-bent ones are still on their way to see one or two unknown Alhajis even with this trending story on the investigation of Joy Odama’s death. These hell-bent ones will still embark on such journeys with a mindset such as “that Joy Odama Girl was just unlucky, what happened to her can’t happen to me”, and so many more young girls have gone and also met their ends with such mindsets. It’s a sad truth.

A couple of days back, while having a chat with one driver who operates with one of these newly introduced and well packaged car hire service providers in Nigeria, I was amazed when he reeled out the number of young girls he picks up on a daily basis to destinations where they meet men they have never met in person before except via social media connections all in a bid to get money in other to maintain their “slay queen” status. In other words, many of these ‘runs girls’ stake their lives for little, more or nothing when it comes to this kind of business as sometimes their monetary expectations are either met, surpassed, not met or are killed in the process.

What a shameful, painful and sympathetic life as many of them are declared missing on a nearly daily basis, that’s if not found dead with no trace of where or how it happened.

In the case of Joy Odama, she was said to have been invited by a friend to see one ‘Philanthropic’ Alhaji while she was on holidays in Abuja  sometime in December 2016. According to reports, the mother of the deceased was offered N400,000 so that she can keep the matter of her child’s death buried. What an avoidable death!

Now the many questions being asked include “Who was this friend, who is this Alhaji and why would her mother allow her go to see an unknown Alhaji and for what? Can N400,000 bring back the young girl’s life?

Once again, like I have mentioned in previous posts, I reiterate here that the society takes a huge part of the blame when it comes to the question of “who is to blame?”

A young intellectual or young business struggling man or woman appears with an average lifestyle given his/her humble source of income; unfortunately, they are hardly recognized or respected when they appear at events or any social gathering. They do not have a ‘say’ in extended family meetings or amongst a gathering of friends all because they don’t have the kind of money to throw around. If he/she manages to buy a small decent car, buys inexpensive but good looking watches, clothes or shoes, they are looked upon with disdainful looks such as “is this the kind of cars your mates are still driving, do your mates still were such watches, clothes or shoes?”, the list is endless.

To crown it all, he or she is invited for an event and when he gets to the gate of the venue, the security man with just a quick look at his/her car will ask them to park outside with an excuse such as “no more space inside the premise” but as soon as a supposed “big man” with the latest Range Rover arrives the same event, the ‘silly’ security man will not only quickly fling the gates open but will add a quick military-like “salute Sir” and thereafter goes to direct the driver of the car where to park in the same premises he had earlier said there was no longer space.

Now tell me, why won’t young girls, boys, men and women who cannot endure such disrespect anymore lean towards all sorts of methods to get rich overnight just so they can earn the respect they so desire from the society? It takes God and a strong morally bond person to still stick with the “slow and steady” lifestyle with the hope that one day after so much genuine hard work, things will eventually fall into ‘pleasant places’ for him/her.

In the past few days after the news of the death of Joy Odama and the recent capture of ‘Evans’ a reported kingpin in kidnapping made news, the social media has been agog with different remarks filled with 90% of condemnation with the other percentage on pity especially for the family of the victim, Joy whose mother has been seeking for Justice.

Interestingly a huge percentage of all those condemning, casting aspersions and sharing sneering remarks on ‘Evans’ and even Joy Odama’s misfortune, are guilty of disrespecting those who seem ‘not to have arrived’ while praising the “ I have arrived” ones whenever the opportunities arise even when the source of income is questionable. What a group of discriminating ‘two-faced’ individuals.

Sadly, there will be more Evans Chukwudi and Joy Odamas in our society until the government creates an enabling environment for entrepreneurs, until many of us stop our nauseating ostentatious lifestyles and discriminating attitude. Until we stop disrespecting humble earners, until we stop unnecessary praise singing, ‘show-offs’ and thus making guys and ‘queens’ struggling to ‘slay’ on social media as well as events trying to look rich in a bid to earn respect thus getting ‘pocket’ broke in the process, this circle of “menace to society” will never stop.

My two cents!!