Where are the arable lands?

This is one question I have been asking since I returned to Nigeria. Are we all building houses with big compounds forgetting we need to be alive to live in big houses? Have we wrongly placed our primary needs as ‘shelter, food and clothing’ instead of ‘food, shelter and clothing’? It seems so to me.

One particular thing that struck me during my residence in Europe is that their cultivation season is too short when compared to ours but they end up with more than enough food for the next year and beyond. They observed their environment and used a tailored approach to eradicate hunger. What are we doing in Nigeria? Just like our blessing (crude) has turned into a curse (driving our politicians and citizens to greed), our land mass has also turned to an object of covetousness! Every single person wants a big house where he can park 5 cars to impress/oppress his neighbors. I ask, at whose detriment?

When are we going to realize that the horizontal space we are wasting by building too many unnecessary houses should be used for agriculture? What are we using the vertical space for? Are we still naïve at 56 to realize that hunger is a major driver of poverty? How can each state not be able to produce enough food for its occupants? Where will the supply come from? Obviously, from imports! How does that help our economy? Why are we wasting fertile lands and favourable cultivation weather? Why are we trapped in this vicious cycle of waste of resources? Why are we still on the world’s list of hungry nations?

Many countries envy Nigeria’s blessings. Some visionary leaders given the pool of resources in Nigeria as capital will turn this nation into an enviable haven and give the United States a run for their power. But we look on while the future of our children is hopelessly destroyed. In fact we join the train and help our leaders execute their selfish agenda. When are we going to wake up and smell the coffee? How can we pretend to be in a perpetual state of ignorance? We need to awaken the lost sense of community building and discard our individual, selfish ambitions of getting richer and richer.  Living in smaller houses has never killed people but hunger has been killing and continues to kill many Nigerians. We need to keep arable lands for us and our children to survive.

It is no surprise that the average Nigerian graduate wants a job with Shell petroleum, Agip, Chevron or Mobil. ‘Oil industry; that is my portion!’ Whose portion is it to make sure you eat and stay healthy while you drive your car to the office? Your dead great-grandfathers or your sickly uncles in the village? Agriculture is an industry Nigeria can develop and exploit! We had exported cash crops in the past, we can do it again but that is after we have provided enough food crops for our survival.  Building houses for shelter is commendable but providing enough food as a priority is admirable!

If five rich people decide to open poultries in a community, meat and eggs will invariably become cheaper in that community. If community lands or even individual lands are preserved and cultivated in acres, the same community will have more food to eat and to sell to others. If this is duplicated in every community in every state, there will be a multiplier effect and abundance of food. It is not so complicated. But, will we quell our insatiable, selfish drives and look into the future even for a second?

Let’s reorient ourselves and redefine dignity. It is not in white collar jobs and big houses and cars. That is just a façade under which lies the majority of the masses; hungry, unhealthy and angry. Let’s teach our children that choosing a career in agriculture is as noble as choosing Medicine or Accountancy! What can be nobler than studying to provide man’s first and most basic need? Let’s scale down on our mindless property acquisition and begin to acquire a greater future for our children by joining hands to accomplish greater feats for our communities. Let’s save our horizontal (arable)space by maximizing the vertical space in building more high-rise buildings for residences while encouraging mass food production. Let us all ensure that there will be a Nigeria in the future. Let’s shame our corrupt leaders and take the initiative!

How Much For A Destiny?

I wished I was God, wished for that almighty power to make things right in an instant and to severely punish anyone who deserves it. Yes, one of the encounters you make and think, ‘there has to be someone to punish the evil men consciously mete out on others’. It’s not boko haram but a young 20 year old,  8-months pregnant girl who is so alone except for her ‘madam’ who brought her to Europe and to whom she owes 30 thousand euro after she had done some trekking from Africa, went through Spain (where the father of her soon- to- be- born baby is) and is currently in Italy to start paying her dues.

 I looked back and all I remember at 20 was being in the University, dreaming of a big bright future and being a dependent who had her parents and relatives to fall back on. But here is this young girl who is Nigerian, with a Ugandan name and documents, no Ugandan international  passport (I wonder how she is going to get that), with  no idea how complicated her life has become because of the forgeries, pregnant and sceptical about going to the hospital for a caesarean  procedure (because her baby refused to turn with his head down), speaks absolutely no Italian and has someone who has tied her down with a huge debt and fear for the oaths she took on her life back home!!!

I didn’t know where to start but one thing I kept telling her was to concentrate on staying alive by agreeing to the procedure,  convincing her the CS was not a bad thing and that here doctors are very qualified to take care of her. I made her call the hospital with my phone (she did not have call credit and was not allowed to, and had refused to take the calls from the hospital before we met), I spoke with them and interpreted for her, took down details of the information they had to pass on to her and made her promise she will go the day they asked her to come for delivery. I asked her to call me if she needed someone to talk to (she pleaded with me not to call her, obviously her madam will not be happy to hear she is making friends who might help her out of her bondage) and if madam won’t be at the hospital the day she will give birth. I asked her to let me call a free toll number I’ve seen on a notice at the city council for help in this kind of situation but she was so afraid her madam will be taken to the police and things will get out of hand at home for her family and for her personally because of the oath. I’m still contemplating on doing that because really it looks like interfering with someone’s life and at the same time like saving someone who doesn’t know her way back to a normal life. I preached, advised, warned her of the dangers of going into prostitution but she kept asking me what kind of work she can do without speaking the language and without having legal documents? I couldn’t answer that but kept begging her to let me call that line for help. I tried getting her to change her mind with stories I had seen on the news about prostitutes who were murdered but I could see I wasn’t getting anywhere.

I got home and couldn’t sleep well! How do you  make a debt of 30 thousand euro before getting to your destination if not that you think money grows on trees at your destination? Where were her parents?  In fact I was later made to understand that most times parents are privy to these kind of arrangements and consent to it, in fact sometimes they force their children to do it because they think Europe has all the answers. Thirty thousand euros for crying out loud! I personally processed my documents for joining my husband here in Italy and even while I complained  about how rigorous and expensive the process was, 3000 euro will be just about it (if not a bit exaggerated) if I take into account the transport fare I spent moving from the Enugu to Lagos and to Abuja on several occasions and the flight fare to Italy.

How do women, women who are responsible for bringing life, giving love and nurturing it turn out to be cruel slave merchants? These are people who have stayed here, who know how things work and still they go home to deceive the ignorant folks in order to make themselves richer at the detriment of another’s destiny. How much for a  conscience and how much does a destiny cost? The Bible tells it as it is, the love of money is the root of all evil...note- the love of money, not money in and of itself!

Presently, I am looking for a way to go beyond being someone that girl can talk to when she feels the need, I am hoping she will let me help her as much as I can without complicating her life further. I am seeking information, advise, whatsoever can help her. If you are reading this and you know what I can do, please leave a comment. It all started with her asking me if she has to take a number for her turn, and me asking what it is she came to the immigration office to do. I believe in going further than exchanging greetings if you feel it in your heart, to know if you have been sent to help the person sitting close to you. We all have this ‘I need to mind my business attitude’, but I know how much I have been helped by people who didn’t think that way. I want to return this favour, I want to keep contributing to changing this our world, one person at a time. You too can!

When The Judge Is The Accused: The Nigerian Government Compensation Method

Suicide bombers in the Boko Haram sect (the Islamic terrorist group opposing western education in Nigeria) believe dying for a good cause will earn them paradise. In addition to this, they are promised  better welfare for their family members.

Sadly, the Nigerian government has adopted this method in providing 'curative' consolation to families of deceased citizens whom they could have well prevented their deaths.

Youth Corpers who were serving their nation in Bauchi state and who were supposed to be under the custody of the federal government  were killed during the April 2011 polls while they were being used as ad-hoc officials. The President declared a 5 million naira compensation to be paid to each of their families and the immediate employment of their siblings into the Federal Civil service.

Again, on March 15, the National Immigration service conducted a job test in some of the nation's state capitals and people were stampeded to death and many more injured in various centres. The President again was quick to show his sympathy and has declared compensation in the form of jobs for their families as reported by the Sun on-line newspaper.

Reflecting on it, I couldn't help thinking, 'the present Nigerian government has gone Boko-Haramic on us!!! Die for a good cause and your relations will be compensated. It is a Nigerian leadership thing to prefer cure to prevention, but this is not even a cure. It is a compensation that does not come close to doing what it is meant for. It is an ugly habit that our president seems comfortable with. Some say 'better this than nothing at all', but I say 'we do not want compensations because we are not all suicide bombers. All the youth corpers and job seekers who died were there for themselves. They did not sign up for suicide missions with 'silly' compensations. If we all have to die for our relations to get jobs, soon the ones with the jobs will have to die for the ones still without jobs or in school. At least if the jobs are not guaranteed, let us stay alive while we hope for a better future. Let's get out of the tests alive!!!!

The federal government of Nigeria should protect the lives of its citizens else there will soon be no one left to govern. There is no king without a kingdom. It is the duty of a government to protect its citizens and provide jobs. Boko-Haram is shedding enough blood already....Mr President, please do not become their convert!