Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
Mahatma Gandhi
With the way things are in the country now, there is nothing left than to sit out with friends and exchange banters. It is not as if this is a new thing; we do it almost on a daily or weekly basis, but of recent we found out that we need to do it more often. Why? Well, we have come to discover that it is a good therapy for these times, because as the Chinese say, ‘we live in interesting times.’
Our sit-out of nowadays is no longer as festive as it used to be, many things are responsible for this: one, we are all getting old, meaning we have more responsibilities to shoulder because the children are grown up and are in higher institutions, signifying that our finances are getting stretched and because of the lean times we have to cut down on so many luxuries. The ‘usual’ that goes with our soiree were not present but that does not mean our discussions were dull nor inspiring. In fact, on this day I bet they were more engaging because we are all sure all the things that were being said were all coming from the bottom of our hearts. They were not inspired by any substances, and you know what I mean.
The first topic of discussion obviously was the parlous state of the nation’s economy. After bemoaning the fact that we are all guilty and have taken the wrong way in terms of how we contribute to the national economy. The ‘little ways’ we contribute in our own ways to the depletion of our foreign resources. For instance, that ball of apple that you buy in traffic is part of the way our foreign reserves thins out. If we all decide to shun apples and buy the local varieties where available, our foreign exchange will last a while; we should try to work and be conscious that small things matter. The more we think the apple we eat is just too small to matter the deeper we sink. The call to patronise our own local goods should not be viewed as only what we only say and not act upon. Our argument was long and drawn on this but we ended up agreeing that we have to contribute in our own little way.
The other issue that generated controversy and tension among us was naturally the Niger Delta. This was so because a few of our sparring partners who sit down with us anytime we convene to banter on issues of national and international dimension are from this part of the country. The argument which I proffered and which I intend to highlight here has to do with what is going on in the Niger Delta region now.
It is my strong belief and I expressed that very clearly that the region’s neglect did not start today or yesterday, it has been long and what their forefathers stomached the present generation would not brook. Therefore, we must be ready to put up with some of their offspring’s excesses; that’s the price we have to pay for our collective neglect of the region. However, where my argument branched off from that of my friends from the region is this: should they cut their nose to spite their faces? What do they hope to gain by the atrocious and senseless bombings of oil installations in their region? What, for goodness sake, do they think they are going to gain from these criminal and unforgivable acts by despoiling their own environments? How much do they think they would need to repair the incalculable damage they are invoking on their own people? When the repercussions come, do they not think or know that it is their own people and environment that are at the receiving end of these indignities they are inflicting on the land?
Will other parts of Nigeria which they feel had ‘profited’ unjustly from their wealth of the region be touched? I was recently in Kaduna State and I saw the massive road construction that the government of the state has embarked upon. It is a long time I visited Kano but I heard and read that the former governor of the state, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, did marvellously well and that his successor, Abdulahi Ganduje, is following this up and continuing with the good works. In Lagos where I work, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is also carrying on the good works with construction of roads all over the state. I have cited these examples to buttress my argument that our brothers in the Niger Delta are always very touchy and quarrelsome when you direct them to ask their governors what they have been doing with the humongous allocations they have been receiving.
It is true the nation might have been unfair to them, but how did they spend the ones received? They should begin to ask their leaders some questions and tell them to explain. Allocations that go to various agencies created for the region are enormous and we should start asking questions. The three governors I mentioned above are doing things with the little resources they get from the centre and the internally generated revenue (IGR), why not those from the Niger Delta region?
And for those who call themselves Avengers, they should ask themselves if what they are doing to their environment now is not worse, in the long run, than what the oil companies and the federal government or whoever they want to blame for the despoliation of their environment in the last fifty years since oil was discovered in the region. Should they not pause a while and think of the incalculable damage they are doing to their own people and environment? When their grievances are finally addressed or they get what they are demanding, who will help them remedy their environment, the same Nigeria they are fighting and want to bring to its knees?
Think again, please.