About 5000 people thronged the crusade ground. They came to hear the salvaging word from the mouth of the Master. They were poor and impoverished. I am sure that the effects of the weight of the burden of hunger they carried must have been tattooed on their grim faces. The disciples of the Master were obviously frustrated and confused. Their calling, they thought, was only to assist the Master to feed with the Word; not with comestibles. In their natural eyes and thinking; there was no ready intervention and solution to the trouble on ground. They asked that the people be dismissed.
But the Master told his disciples: “No. Tell the people to sit down”. He would not let them leave the way they came -with empty stomachs. The Master then accessed the lunch pack of a young boy. Five loaves and two fishes it was. Miraculously, he commanded the dews of heaven to multiply the little. The little boy’s small sandwich became much. It was able to feed the 5,000 hungry people and with 12 baskets of leftovers. The people were given the chance to live and fight another day. But where was the government when hunger was killing the people? It was obvious that the Roman authority had abandoned its duty-post and abdicated its role to fend for the people. The legions of government officers were busy building up wealth for themselves and their children instead of building up people’s lives. The Master did what the government wasn’t available and able to do for the people it serially extorted. He took over a pinch of the role of an irresponsible government. Any incorrigible government is an irresponsible government. Readers, governments all around the world do fail. But when the government fails, do not fail yourself. When the government won’t fight for you, fight for yourself.
What happened in the account of the five-thousand hungry people has been happening in Nigeria since Independence. Eyes of government people have been shut to relieving the people and giving them and their children a smooth path to launch into the future. Instead of rebuilding our roads, rehabilitating our hospitals to world standard, rebuilding our dilapidated schools and educating our youths; government officers are busy stealing as they serve. Look around you, and you can’t miss it. It’s like a horror movie beamed on a big screen and in public glare. You hate to watch it; but it’s in your face daily. The crooked and corrupt in Nigeria are growing stronger wings. Nigeria is growing older but refusing to grow up.
Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) promised to fight corruption to the finish when he became President. Now, he knows the true scope of the promised fight. I am sure Mr. President now realises that even the best of incorruptible presidents can flatly fail to survive sharks and shylocks working with him. These sharks and shylocks are like demonic thermostats; they control what happens in an environment. If you are a pusillanimous poltroon around these ‘thermostats’, you soon become one of them. A president whose heart fiercely fights corruption may have now been proved to be unable to fight desperate thieves in his orbit. God once told Elijah when he was fighting for his life that the journey ahead of him was far. When it comes to fighting corruption and prevailing in Nigeria, the journey is both infernal and eternal.
The wildfire of corruption may have stalled progress all around the country; but in many quarters around the country, Nigerians are taking their destinies in their own hands. They are no longer waiting for the government to provide for them basic amenities. Communities bond together to build technologies for regular supply of electricity. They bond together to build and revamp schools where government has slacked. They join hands to provide potable drinking water. As bad a name as the church and pastors have earned for themselves in Nigeria, some churches have taken up the reconstruction and rebuilding of major roads in Nigerian big cities. These are roads that funds were allocated for over-and-over again for many years; but the funds were diverted into private purses. Where the people in any nation are not getting what they ought to get by right, and life becomes hellish and unbearable, we all ask that same question; “where is the government?”
The words of the Turkish playwright and thinker, Dr. Mehmet-Murat ildan: “If your country is governed by the most stupid people, it is vital for you to continue going up personally while your nation and your country is going down because your country will inevitably collapse and it will be in need of people like you, people who managed to improve themselves while everything else was falling and deteriorating!”.
My hometown of Imesi-Ile in Osun State is probably one of the most neglected towns in all of Africa. Imesi-Ile is a town with men and women with big hearts, who are doing big things all around Nigeria. A town of men and women of impeccable characters where many are doing so well in their various endeavours. Because of the virtues of humility engrained in us by heritage, the people chose not to make noise about their accomplishments. Tired of the neglect of government-after-government, they got together and took their destinies in their own hands. With its strategic positioning in the Ijesha heartland,the town could not boast of a police station for years. That became history recently. The people knew it is a waste of time waiting for the government to do what is right. They then launched out looking out for the peace of their “Jerusalem”. They built a standard police station running into a pile of millions of naira and handed it over to the government through the Inspector General of Police represented by the state Police Commissioner. Before now, the community had a security fold of volunteers to help stem the tide of kidnapping in the area. In 2019, about 18 people who were kidnapped by mayhem merchants in my area were rescued by the local security people without paying a dime as ransom to the terror bandits. It did not stop there. An intercity connecting bridge that had been broken down for years was also reconstructed to the tune of millions of naira. Today, traffic flows freely between the two contiguous towns. Comparable stories like this are all over Nigeria where the people took their destinies in their hands when the government is not forthcoming.
My Ghanaian brother, Ernest Yeboah, is a writer and teacher of note. He spoke these words in one of his many submissions: “A sure way a country can develop is through a true development of the masses. A sure way to ensure a true freedom of the people is for the people to take up their own destiny into their hands and bond their strengths to positively dare with a clear vision and fortitude like the eagle for a great change in wisdom and in peace, devoid of rebellious motive, massacre and nepotism, and with tenacity, direct the thought, policy and inspiration of the few people who rule the masses for the best change ever”.
I concur with Ernest. To those who feel cheated and abandoned by any government in which they had so much trust and confidence, when the government fails, do not fail yourself. When the government is unable to fight for you, wrap your destiny tight around your hands and fight for yourselves. When the government abandons you and refuses to provide essentially necessary amenities, wait not for that government to be ‘born-again’ because it never will. Join forces together as one community unit and make things happen for yourself. May God bless Nigeria.
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