I just found out I’ve not written anything here in weeks months. The last post here was during the genotype week, and I did a good job of forgetting I owned a blog till today. Maybe because of the ridicule that many news bloggers have brought to the blogging brotherhood council by their incessant half truths and other needless articles. This journey has no destination. You may wonder why I call it a journey, since “all” journeys have a definite destination. Ever heard of a journey in search of greener pastures often undertaken by our brothers from the east? Those journeys have no destination I must say, wherever they find food and water, they pitch tent, and begin the sales of spare parts, and await success.
These are hard times, desperate times. In Dicken’s words, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of folly…” In our beloved country, everything that can go wrong has gone wrong, or is planning to go wrong. Our Universities have been shut down because of the palava between the government and the university teachers over all worths and worth nots! Not long ago, our beloved brother on the bench was caught collecting bribe in a foreign land. Daily, our sons and daughters sneak out of the country to commit atrocities in other peoples’ countries. Coming back home, a friend of ours a police officer, and a honorable MP was caught taking bribe, and a judge was also caught falsifying age. A survey by the Anti Corruption non-profit Transparency International shows Nigeria as the 8th most corrupt country in the world. I know not the veracity of this claim, but as a Nigerian, I don’t even have the facts, nor the inspiration to fault the ACTI. Need I go on? To weep and wail about how deep we have sunk into the pit of despondence? The weeping prophet said, “Harvest is past, summer is ended, And we are not saved.” Jeremiah 8: 20. (the non Christians can still read this for illumination) The millennium held much hopes for us, yet 13 years on, we cannot boast of much.
Every country has its moment of trial, this is ours. The youths are the strength of the state. If the best we do is to sit up everyday, do nothing but curse and abuse ourselves on twitter, then I must say, we have a long way to go. We have to sit up and plan for the future we desire. The country will not advance if we as individuals do not advance. We will still top the corruption chart if we do not make a conscious effort to curb the menace in our immediate environment. It is necessary to note, that he who comes to equity, must come with clean hands. You cannot be saying “yes” in the morning, and “no” in the afternoon, and then hope, that by some strange manifestation, you will end up as a trustworthy leader, who will take his people to the promised land! mba! It cannot be! Charity they say, begins at home! Lets start from there. Ye weed smokers and ganjamen, know you not that that which ye take is unlawful in the society? We are talking about youths who will rise up to lead the country tomorrow, but all I see, are people who are not ready to take the future in their hands, and mould it to the common good of all. I see young people who will rather “sort” than read to pass. Pray, tell! If we all in the class decide that no one is sorting a course, that we will all read and pass as our abilities are, the best the lecturer will do is to put on his eye glasses and mark like the devil. A good student will always pass, if not at the first marking, then at the re-marking. I am aware that some faculties will join forces with the corrupt faculty member, but these circumstances are few, and there will always be an upright man in the system if you persist. Our problem is that of siddon look, I once stood in a filling station, and when it was my turn to buy fuel, the price automatically changed from what was on the meter to something higher. I shouted, screamed, ranted, made noise, but the best I saw was a set of faces, merely grumbling because of the price change, and unwilling to stand up and protest. I even suggested we all leave the station. The reaction I got that day was stunning. I was abused by everyone, and asked to move the old volvo I was driving away if I wasn’t ready to buy fuel at that price. There were young people among that crowd that day, people who should have been eager to see change. Apparently, they were satisfied to be trampled upon by others, and even vigilance was a price they weren’t ready to pay. Not everyone will support you when you’re standing for justice and fairness. But act anyway… I left out of pride, but then I knew, that our journey will become a journey to nowhere, if we do not stand up, and swim against the tide. For this tide which takes us now, leads to doom.
