The Other Side Of Night

The current global financial crisis is no doubt a trying period for many. It is a period of great economic tribulation and a lot of people are being persecuted and undergoing unimaginable distress. It is my sincere belief that the globe will not have found itself in this rut if the basic cause of this crisis is made to round. If everybody was given their due, no cheats, no embezzlement, no cutbacks, we will not be in this mess, but then human nature not made to be perfect or able to see the true big picture, it comes as no surprise to me. I do not nor do I pretend to claim to know what tomorrow may bring, but the life I live is a life anchored on what God says and He said it in his word that though the lion’s cub, I.e. the self made man, the self reliant man may lack and suffer hunger, but they that trust in the Lord will lack no good thing. That is what I predicate my life on.
But then this season of recession, just like any event or affair in the life of a man which has the upsides as well as the snag, this dark season has a positive flip side to it, especially for Nigeria and Nigerians.
For starters, a lot of people will come out with a changed attitude, a vital emotional quotient ingredient for a colourful life. The implications of this is awesomely profound plus it will pay off for a lot of Nigerians and the individual himself. A lot of Nigerians will come away with a new attitude and perspective of not just money and materials but their fellow human beings. It will make a lot thoughtful and considerate. A lot of dead and unfeeling nerves will be refreshed and a wave of thoughtfulness will sweep over Nigeria making a lot of people sensitive to the plights of many disadvantaged and helpless Nigerians.

Besides all these, it will dethrone the glorious status we have wrongly accorded to money. The most important things will be foremost, that is, the main things will be kept the main thing. Like the cleansing and purifying effect of rain on the atmosphere, there will be a purging and a cleansing and everyone will see clearly everything for what they really are and for what it is worth. Forecasts are forthcoming about the duration of the crisis and though we hate it so much, having experience the heat of the crisis, we sleep and wake up expecting the whole brouhaha to be over. At the peril of being labelled a doomsayer, we should be prepared. This is a season of adversity and the most qualified, true outline of living for mankind in Proverbs 24:10 says that if we fall in the days of adversity, our strength is small. What we need is strength. Strength to keep on giving. Strength to keep being truthful, to keep being sincere, to keep being faithful, to keep being thankful and not to lose our head or our heart, our sleep or our joy or our God. In no small ways, we can bring relief to ourselves and those around us by sharing and before we know the good things that we do go full circle and bring us goodies and we wonder ceaselessly. Like the Bible in Psalms 30:5, weeping may endure for the night, joy comes in the morning. `
Dear, it is still true that the darkest hours is always before dawn. Let us all learn the lessons now or another ruthless teacher will take us on what it means to be human. Cheers.

Naija 4 Life!

I’m young and I’m depressed and that is an anomaly but then, Nigeria is a greater abnormality.
This is 2009 and we are yet to have something as simple and basic as electricity, we qualify it, (at least 12 hours a day) a concession of the gross and remarkable ineptitude of our government. Everybody is using petrol generators, there is noise everywhere, fumes and pollution, you can hardly think straight. If it is too much to expect electricity for “at least 12 hours a day” then your excellencies we are sorry.
The truth is that Nigerians are out there living their lives themselves, fending, protecting and providing themselves. They cannot afford to look up to the government any more than a married man will look for help to consummate the union, unless they are waiting for godot. Godot did not come then and nobody is expecting him nor anybody in their right mind.
Another truth is that, people are fast giving up hope in this country, and for the sake of their conscience and faith, if they cannot indulge in the debauchery going on, at least they can leave and they are leaving and I will also leave. And I know the government is least concerned who leaves or not but then one day we will wake up to find a morally, political, economic and human bankrupt state. One day the realisation will dawn on us like the breaking out of a new day after a period indefinite of darkness. The trajectory of our future is not one people have the least hope in. It is hopeless. How long should we wait for all these foundational things( at least some of them) to get right and resolve themselves. Nigeria is unbearable and it is causing severe clinical depression in people and more importantly in youth and even children. This is not an issue of poverty or money. If we had all these basic things that we regard as luxury, life will be far bearable. Beauty will blunt the poverty’s severity. Electricity, light(more preferable) will lighten up the darkness that engulfs the soul when you are able to watch a movie, listen to a song, or just watching the evolution of cosmopolitanism and modernism in a city like Lagos in the night with all its yawning glory, its bright lights and fine buildings and fast cars and enigmatic citizen and make you dream or at least daydream.
I’m not a pessimist and I will not let this dreary country kill the man inside. I love old school R & B, soul and a little bit of old school pop, pun and smart sound bites. I love good, classics movies like Titanic, Phantom of the Opera and all those special films that leaves me all warm inside and make love the greatest of virtue. I am a man,i can read and appreciate the beauty of expression and perspective like the intricate frilly designs of lace. I can write with the passion of an ardent lover and understand and recognize the workings of an internal logic system. I love life. I could never come out better being anything but black. I’m proud and full of lust and zest and zing for life and I’m a young man but above all I’m a Nigerian. How unfortunate!