OPINION
Mr. Femi Adesina |
By Femi Adesina
Here comes the preacher. What does he want to tell us? Doesn’t he
know that we are hungry, and the din of hunger makes one deaf to reason? The
rumble in our tummies, as the worms compete for the little food left there,
will surely be louder than what anybody can say now. True? Not exactly. Come,
let us reason together.
Father Ejike Mbaka, that fearless
priest of the Catholic church, gave an illustration recently, which I believe
was not revealed to him by flesh and blood. There is hunger in the land, with people
severely famished. And there is ululation, loud enough to deafen the deaf all
over again, and wake the dead from his eternal sleep. The wailers are wailing
so loud, as if Bob Marley had resurrected with his band, the Wailing Wailers.
But hear Fr. Mbaka: somebody came, looted your kitchen, carried away all the
food. He did not even leave you crumbs to console yourself with. And then comes
another person, trying to replenish your pantry, trying to restock your
kitchen. And then you begin to shout; we are hungry o, we are hungry o, to the
point of distracting and discouraging the new man. Who should you rather wail
and rage against? The man that looted your kitchen, of course.
That is the exact similitude of the position of Nigeria. There is hunger, lack, and deprivation in the land. But is it a death knell? Not when the kitchen is being restocked, and we will soon feed till we want no more.
That is the exact similitude of the position of Nigeria. There is hunger, lack, and deprivation in the land. But is it a death knell? Not when the kitchen is being restocked, and we will soon feed till we want no more.
But what if we are dead before our kitchen gets replenished? What
if we had been knackered by hunger, before the days of plenty come? That is the
purpose of this piece. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his
eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you
perfect, established, strengthen, settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10).
President Buhari and his Special Adviser, on Media, Mr. Femi Adesina in Aso Rock. |
Christianity is the religion I am most familiar with. But every
religion must surely preach the virtue of godly patience. “After ye have
suffered a while…” Let’s look at it closely. You give a single thing, you get
four in return. What a huge return on investment. You put in suffering
(patience, if you like), and you get this cocktail of blessings : perfect,
established, strengthened, settled. Buy one, get four free.
Hear who is preaching patience, from the cosy confines of the
presidential villa. He has moved up, and from obscene comfort, he can preach.
That was the insinuation my own brother, Dele Momodu, made in his Saturday
column in Thisday a couple of weeks ago. He did not mention my name, but I knew
he was talking of me. And I laughed. Obscene comfort, in a Muhammadu Buhari
administration? Funny. Well, I do not know about those who can hustle, and gain
advantage from holding public office. But I can speak for myself. The day God
was distributing the ability to hustle, I probably was not at home, so I have
not been given that ability. And the Good Book says no man does anything,
except it is given to him from above. The sum total? I am on a national
assignment that has cut my legitimate annual income by one third, so when there
is hunger in the land, I go hungry too. Well, almost. When people talk of lack
of money, I penny-pinch, too. Well, almost. Let nobody think those in
government are insulated from what is happening in the country. At least, those
who have truly come to serve. But those precious promises hold true any day.
“In the days of famine, my people shall be satisfied.”
“The young lion may lack, and suffer hunger, but those that trust
in the Lord shall not suffer any good thing.” (Ride on, preacher!).
In Benin on Monday, President Buhari spoke at campaign rally of
the All Progressives Congress (APC). He declared: “I assure you that we are
going to get out of our economic problems. We are almost out of our security
problem and we are going to make Nigeria great again. We are going to be very
proud of our country once again.” I believe it. Implicitly. If I don’t, I am
then simply wasting time in government, when I could fare a lot better outside
it. But the Daura man needs people to believe in him. Count me in the number. I
had always been, and will always be a believer in integrity, probity and
accountability. It is good for our country.
The economy has fallen into recession, and after recession comes
depression. Really? Why are some people too eager to believe negative
projections, while shunning the positive? Yes, when you have negative economic
growth for two consecutive quarters, there is business contraction, and the
economy falls into recession. Depression is even worse. But recession is not
Armageddon. It is not a death sentence. Leading countries of the world had
fallen into economic recession at one time or the other, and they came out of
it, to become strong and sturdy again. Why not Nigeria? The projection is that
by the end of the fourth quarter, we would be on our way out of recession. I
believe it. I do not spend my days expecting a thunderstorm, and render myself
unable to enjoy the rain. “After ye have suffered a while…” Better days will
come again, and under this Buhari administration. Yes, we shall soon be proud
of our country again.
Do we forget so easily? No, we shouldn’t. Buhari and his party
rode to power last year on the wings of three main promises, among others:
security, anti-corruption, and economic restoration. The first promise is being
roundly and soundly fulfilled. You can’t administer a country you have not
secured, the President keeps saying. And so, from Sambisa to Sango, in Ogun
State, from the creeks of Ikorodu to those of Niger Delta, even the crocodiles
are smiling, knowing that the country is being secured. From Ogbunike, to
Okigwe, and to Okporoza, the security agencies are proving their mettle. In the
North East, internally displaced people are returning home. Ask people from
Konduga, in Borno State. Roads that had been closed for five years are
reopening. Emirs, who had fled their palaces for many years, have returned.
“After ye have suffered for a while…”
Corruption is being given a bloody nose! You do the crime, you
serve the term. A Daniel has come to judgment. In Nigeria, not only are
officials corrupt, but corruption has become official, said Shehu Musa, a
former secretary to the Federal Government. Well, not anymore. Do the crime,
serve the term, is the new singsong. Stealing has now become corruption, and
the battle has just started.
The economy is the third promise. But just as the promise is being
kept on the security and anti-corruption fronts, the economy will also be
turned right side up. After ye have suffered a while…
It is inevitable that we pass through this rough patch in which we
currently find ourselves. Up to the end of 2014, we made an average of three
billion dollars monthly from oil. We whacked everything, officially and
unofficially, nothing put aside for the rainy day. It was a bazaar. Now the
rain is falling, and it is beating us almost mercilessly. Monthly income from
oil has dropped to as low as five hundred million dollars. From billions to
millions. We are running soaked. But after rain comes the shine. Nigeria not
only has a thrifty and prudent leadership, but also one that will not steal our
money. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, so goes the saying. Some people
are so rapacious that if you keep a boiled egg in their care, and knowing that
a bite on the egg would be quite visible, they then lick it, so that the egg
never goes scot-free. But the good news for us is that a man who did not bite
our egg in his 30s, would not lick it in his 70s. Our treasury is safe, and we
will beat recession. Better days are surely coming, “after ye have suffered a
while…” We trusted Buhari and gave him our votes in 2015. Let us keep the
trust, the confidence, and ride the storm. In quietness and confidence shall be
our strength, not in wailing and throwing of tantrums.
In private, and in public, President Buhari has acknowledged the
tough times in the land. But he is not throwing up his hands in helplessness.
Problems are meant to be solved, and the government is doing just that. It’s a
time of national emergency that calls for cooperation, goodwill, best wishes,
encouragement, even prayers. But some people rejoice, thinking the government
would fail. Why do the heathens rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Wasn’t the siege on Samaria so terrible that they began to boil their children
to eat? And then came Prophet Elisha, who told them, “Tomorrow about this time,
shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel.” Did it happen? It did. But
the scoffers, the unbelieving, did not partake of it. Things will turn in
Nigeria, and it would be for our good.(I can see everything turning around,
turning around, turning around for our good).
If you faint in the days of adversity, your strength is small.
Good Nigerians will not faint, rather, they will trust, pray and encourage the
man restocking their kitchens. As sure as day follows the night, better things
will come, and will not delay. The troubles of the present are not worthy to be
compared to the glory that will be revealed, “after we have suffered for a
while…”
No comments:
Post a Comment