Our Past Heroes and their Labours

Amidst much that passes for euphoria as we witness the coming of another election, we ought to be asking ourselves more pointedly, as a nation, what steps we shall take in moving nearer to the Promised Land. We have been around the mountain of stagnation for so long, it is time to chart a new course and move swiftly to the place Providence has destined us to be? To be sure, our progress shall be fraught with new risks and unforeseen circumstances, but inasmuch as they will lead us closer to the land wherein floweth milk and honey, we ought to joyfully take on these challenges.

First, as some have started doing, we need to sit down and talk to ourselves in a very blunt manner. The people in government need to be more productive and patriotic in their daily undertaken. Much have been lost to the past by those who once occupied the position you know take; seek to amend for their wrongs. Not because you are guilty but simply for the sake of being a builder, the restorer of paths to walk in.

Next, there is need for our law-makers and law-enforcement agencies to be reformed in their offices. We are ashamed at the occurrences of past year wherein the law-makers engaged one another in a blatant display of folly. Such must not happen again. We must put things in place to prevent the re-occurrence of such.

                                 

Perhaps, most paramount at this hour is the state of our economy which is far from normal. We shall need to diversify from our too much reliance on crude oil to other lucrative sectors, most importantly agriculture and manufacturing; a knowledge-based economy will follow by default. We climb the steps one at a time! It is not proper that we are almost totally dependent on other nations for basic goods and services.

Of equal importance with our economy is the education of our youths and the continued training of our workforce. In their peace shall this country have peace and their failure is our failure. It is very vital that we get it right this time. Sadly, a very promising generation have almost being totally lost to militancy, agbero, prostitution and to varied unfruitful undertaken. How many shining embers have had their light quenched! This is very unfortunate and we ought to declare a day of mourning for this particular issue.

We need to put more resources in the educational sector and raise the academic standard. We cannot continue to live on the glory of the past which evidently is not sufficient for the present; we need stars, sons and daughters of the land that will go to greater heights than did Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and a whole host of our early fruits – the fruits of our freedom fighters.

Certainly we can do far better than what we now have in our hands. If we put our house in proper order, in the offing lays a mighty harvest and we shall all rejoice together. But betwixt us and this foreseeable future is this mighty mountain we must scale: corruption in high places, poor education and infrastructure, unemployment, unflinching disregard to the plight of the people by the leaders, complacency, dependency on imports of basic goods and service, et cetera. Let us all arise and begin to build an edifice out of this desolation our past uncaring leaders left us. The government should take the lead and all public persons in the rebuilding of our nation.

Yes, we can take our own future into our hands and that of our children and make a beauty from the ashes of the present. The expectations of other nations from us are massive. “By whom will Nigeria rise”, they often ask themselves. It is by Nigerians that Nigeria will rise. The labours of our true heroes who have passed away in the persons of Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and so many others in their rank must not be in vain. Oh let us make their bones to reel in the grave for joy that their labours are being rewarded! Just a little while, we ourselves shall cross the threshold of time into the world of eternity and our influence, like echo, will fade into the rear. For what shall we be remembered while this echo lingers and for how long? What will be our investment to the coming generations? The time to do something, yeah, great things is now!

Japan, a Battered Nation but Beautiful People

On my way to work this morning, ruminating on the earthquake and the accompanying tsunami that ravaged Japan, I could not help but feel very sorry for that little Island of giant people. No other nation on earth is so accustomed to natural disasters as this nation that gave the world the word “tsunami”. They have become a recurring phenomenon that Japanese have come to go about their daily business and policy-making with natural disasters in their consciousness. There is even a national drilling for all citizens on how to act during natural disasters. Also, Japan is the only nation on earth to have suffered from the horror of Atomic bomb.

The Japanese are a people not blessed with natural resources but rather than mourn their fate, they have risen to be one of the best and most technological advanced in the world. Their morals are also very commendable; the average Japanese is trained to seek the good of his fellow mates. From their pioneering work in robotics to consumer electronics of all kind, Japan is synonymous to efficiency and innovation. Their entrepreneurial endeavours are just too marvellous.

I live in Ikorodu and my place of work is in Lagos Island. To those that are familiar with the road along this route, one thing readily comes to mind: heavy and prolonged traffic. Indeed, despite leaving home as early as 6a.m., I hardly reach Lagos Island until around 8:30am. However, as I take notice this early morning of my surroundings, I noticed a consistent pattern on the road: in my conservative estimates, more than eighty per cent of cars on our roads are Japanese made. From Toyota, Honda, Nissan to Mistubishi and Suzuki all in their endless variants, the Japanese have invested so much in making their produce so indispensable!

The Japanese influence on our national life does not end in automobiles. The largest power station to our credit, Egbin Thermal Station, was designed, constructed and still serviced in part by the Japanese. Most of our consumer electronics are made in Japan. Nor is their constructive influence limited to Nigeria. Many nations of the world have Japanese products as past and parcel of their daily life.

There is a saying that “where there is the will there will be a way”. The Japanese have proved this to be so true. Without natural resources and battered by natural disasters and also the horror of atomic bomb, Japan effectively shut the mouth of any other nation from making excuse for not developing. Is there a lesson Nigeria can learn from Japan? Certainly; we can learn a lot from them.

First we can learn from them the fact that a nation is not big by words of mouth. “We are the giant of Africa”. It is only through sheer national discipline and hard work can we rise from this abyss of confusion and backwardness. We can learn from them the virtue of rewarding those that labour faithfully for the good of all and not crooks that serve the interests of the ruling party and their own belly. We can learn from them the importance of encouraging innovation and productivity by providing basic public infrastructure and good and consistent government policy.

I am inspired by Japan. I envy them. I wish our leaders will get inspired (by whatever means but evil) to lead the way in Nigeria’s renaissance and re-birth. If the head don’t go forward, there is little the body can do.