Although many admit the result of a study which claims that Nigerians are the happiest people in the world, some opinions including the one shared by this column have not concealed their reservations about such an assertion because it sounds ironical to find the happiest human being on earth living in a country that possesses all the requirements that qualify it to be called a “Jahilliyah” society; and lacks any that may preclude her from taking the rear seat in the league of decent and egalitarian societies. Anyway, the assertion could be taken if the researcher in his definition of technical terms had defined “happiness” to mean “wearing smiles on the face even when one’s fundamental human rights were been usurped or jeopardized through bad governance, economic slavery, insecurity, joblessness, injustice and corruption while at the same time celebrating masters of these vices and disorders”.
Today, Nigeria is a place where nothing good works; where corruption is honored and hard work punished; where it is not what you know or profess that matters but whom you know; where the innocent is robbed of justice and the culprit glorified; where those who make laws do not only break the laws but also teach others how to contravene them; where failure is celebrated and hard-earned life achievements ignored; where it is a curse to be a teacher and a ‘special blessing’ to be a politician; where what the country lacks most such as electricity is exported and what it has in abundance such as petrol is massively imported; where ethnicity has taken the place of universal fraternity in the lives of citizens; where only the children of the downtrodden patronize public schools; where morality has been barred from the political, social and economic lives of citizens and restricted only to mosques and churches; where vices have generally become the norm while morality, decency and modesty, like beauty, remain virtues in the eyes of the beholder! The descriptive inventory of the contemporary Nigerian society is endless. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 30:41 “Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of that which the hands of men have earned, that God may give them a taste of some of their deeds: in order that they may turn back (from evil)”.
The Nigeria of my dream is that in which trust, confidence, love, honesty, dedication, firmness, commitment, sincerity, justice, contentment and fear of God find crystal expressions in the public and private lives of citizens. I long to see Nigeria as a country where citizens would be ready to offer help to their distressed neighbors without regard to religious or ethnic background. I want Nigeria to be a place where, like in the days of the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari, citizens would not drop litters on the streets except at the appropriate place or violate any laws of the land, without any policeman following them from behind. Some years ago, I was in a North African Arab country, precisely Sudan, where open boxes made from glass were kept at public buildings including airports, market places, schools, hospitals, parks and garden for the collection of alms for the poor and the needy. The transparent collection boxes which did not have tops let alone padlocks or security guards were emptied every morning. Even when the boxes were full before being emptied, no one pilfered from them. As it is now, no one would try such a thing in Nigeria by putting even non-transparent steel, and locked box in a public place. The box, the money and the guard are likely to develop wings over night.
I hope to see Nigeria become a country where people would not amass more wealth than they need; where Nigerians would not build “prison yards” as houses: prison yards because the gates and walls of such houses are bigger and taller than those at the Kirikiri maximum prison; where a Christian would alert his Muslim neighbor that the adhan (call to prayer) has been announced, and a Muslim would equally remind his Christian neighbor that the latter was getting late for service in the church; where workers would not be denied promotions or postings because they do not come from a particular region of the country.
I foresee an obstacle shielding my dream from translating into reality; it is the general pattern of attitude among Nigerians. We need major attitudinal and cultural re-orientation that goes beyond an adaidaita sahu agenda and a national political pretense called “the re-branding project”. Allah (SWT) reminds us in Qur’an 13:11 “…verily never will God change the condition of a people until they change it themselves…” We must collectively and individually accept to take up arms intellectually, politically socially and spiritually against the monster called “corruption”. If those who have the statutory, institutional and corporate responsibility or mandate for charting a functional course for the realization of this dream fail in their duties, they may have implicitly preferred the venoms of posterity to the mundane sacrifices of the moment. May Allah (SWT) make Nigeria a corrupt-free country and the most decent place in the world, amin.
The Jos crisis:
While some Nigerians were still nursing the yet unhealed wounds from the December 2008 crisis in Jos, the sores were last weekend opened again with the eruption of a fresh crisis. While condemning all forms of bigotry, this column condoles with the family of those who lost their lives in the crisis. We pray to Allah (SWT) in His infinite mercy to touch the hearts of those who find pleasure in manipulating religion through the killing of innocent lives for selfish spiritual, political or economic interest, amin
Although many admit the result of a study which claims that Nigerians are the happiest people in the world, some opinions including the one shared by this column have not concealed their reservations about such an assertion because it sounds ironical to find the happiest human being on earth living in a country that possesses all the requirements that qualify it to be called a “Jahilliyah” society; and lacks any that may preclude her from taking the rear seat in the league of decent and egalitarian societies. Anyway, the assertion could be taken if the researcher in his definition of technical terms had defined “happiness” to mean “wearing smiles on the face even when one’s fundamental human rights were been usurped or jeopardized through bad governance, economic slavery, insecurity, joblessness, injustice and corruption while at the same time celebrating masters of these vices and disorders”.
Today, Nigeria is a place where nothing good works; where corruption is honored and hard work punished; where it is not what you know or profess that matters but whom you know; where the innocent is robbed of justice and the culprit glorified; where those who make laws do not only break the laws but also teach others how to contravene them; where failure is celebrated and hard-earned life achievements ignored; where it is a curse to be a teacher and a ‘special blessing’ to be a politician; where what the country lacks most such as electricity is exported and what it has in abundance such as petrol is massively imported; where ethnicity has taken the place of universal fraternity in the lives of citizens; where only the children of the downtrodden patronize public schools; where morality has been barred from the political, social and economic lives of citizens and restricted only to mosques and churches; where vices have generally become the norm while morality, decency and modesty, like beauty, remain virtues in the eyes of the beholder! The descriptive inventory of the contemporary Nigerian society is endless. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 30:41 “Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of that which the hands of men have earned, that God may give them a taste of some of their deeds: in order that they may turn back (from evil)”.
The Nigeria of my dream is that in which trust, confidence, love, honesty, dedication, firmness, commitment, sincerity, justice, contentment and fear of God find crystal expressions in the public and private lives of citizens. I long to see Nigeria as a country where citizens would be ready to offer help to their distressed neighbors without regard to religious or ethnic background. I want Nigeria to be a place where, like in the days of the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari, citizens would not drop litters on the streets except at the appropriate place or violate any laws of the land, without any policeman following them from behind. Some years ago, I was in a North African Arab country, precisely Sudan, where open boxes made from glass were kept at public buildings including airports, market places, schools, hospitals, parks and garden for the collection of alms for the poor and the needy. The transparent collection boxes which did not have tops let alone padlocks or security guards were emptied every morning. Even when the boxes were full before being emptied, no one pilfered from them. As it is now, no one would try such a thing in Nigeria by putting even non-transparent steel, and locked box in a public place. The box, the money and the guard are likely to develop wings over night.
I hope to see Nigeria become a country where people would not amass more wealth than they need; where Nigerians would not build “prison yards” as houses: prison yards because the gates and walls of such houses are bigger and taller than those at the Kirikiri maximum prison; where a Christian would alert his Muslim neighbor that the adhan (call to prayer) has been announced, and a Muslim would equally remind his Christian neighbor that the latter was getting late for service in the church; where workers would not be denied promotions or postings because they do not come from a particular region of the country.
I foresee an obstacle shielding my dream from translating into reality; it is the general pattern of attitude among Nigerians. We need major attitudinal and cultural re-orientation that goes beyond an adaidaita sahu agenda and a national political pretense called “the re-branding project”. Allah (SWT) reminds us in Qur’an 13:11 “…verily never will God change the condition of a people until they change it themselves…” We must collectively and individually accept to take up arms intellectually, politically socially and spiritually against the monster called “corruption”. If those who have the statutory, institutional and corporate responsibility or mandate for charting a functional course for the realization of this dream fail in their duties, they may have implicitly preferred the venoms of posterity to the mundane sacrifices of the moment. May Allah (SWT) make Nigeria a corrupt-free country and the most decent place in the world, amin.
The Jos crisis:
While some Nigerians were still nursing the yet unhealed wounds from the December 2008 crisis in Jos, the sores were last weekend opened again with the eruption of a fresh crisis. While condemning all forms of bigotry, this column condoles with the family of those who lost their lives in the crisis. We pray to Allah (SWT) in His infinite mercy to touch the hearts of those who find pleasure in manipulating religion through the killing of innocent lives for selfish spiritual, political or economic interest, amin
