If only we could tell what the future holds, we would probably all be geniuses. And so, for the most part, the vast majority of humanity gropes in the dark, a measure of uncertainty about any and everything. One thing that’s totally out of our control is the country we are from or the family we are born into, rich, poor or average. The game of life has no patterns. The rich become poor. The poor become rich. One thing is common to all. Everyone dies, rich or poor—and everything about everyone pales into insignificance—a little bit down the road beginning from the moment the shovel of sand pounds on the casket. Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes. The dance and the rhythms of life continue in the timeless cycle of eternity.
One journey ends. Notice is served that people will also gather for you, at a date unknown. Hence, the timeless Poem by John Donne——-“——For whom the Bell tolls, I do not know. It tolls for thee.” In the last one year, six precious people whom I knew from childhood, or came to know through secondary school or by way of marriage have taken a bow. First, the news comes. We are in shock. We make calls all around—is it true, is it true? We gather, and we say goodbye. Then, we go to the reception party. We eat, and we dance. I had always wondered why we should dance just after we have placed a loved one in a dark and lonely earthen space with mounds of sand smothering. With time, I’ve come to see that part of it differently. It is our therapy, an opportunity for us to make the transition from grief back to the grind of a daily existence, to outsteal, outfox, outexcel, to ruin or to build—the hustle, and the bustle. And then, the famous or infamous King draws his conclusion—having seen it all and done it all. He built palaces and great temples. He married 700 wives. He had 300 concubines. He did not do much to change the lives of his people. “Vanity upon vanity,” he concluded. “All is vanity.” No one remembers you after a while. The question therefore arises. Why do we strive? We strive in search of meaning. A life without striving is a life not worth living. So, my friends, never stop striving. I welcome you to a new week because you and I are still here.
Foggy clouds
In the last week, a beautiful country of beautiful people who have come to be defined by the rise of the Ayatollahs, and demonized by the West, lost their President in a helicopter crash. The foggy clouds had no respect for the mighty and the not so mighty. If the weather is foggy, whether you be mighty or small, you must respect something that’s bigger than you are. Do not fly. We mourn with the people of Iran as they mourn. One man passes on. The Republic lives on. Long live the Iranian people.
Breaking the jinx
And so, Norway, Northern Ireland and Slovakia did what every other country should have done a long time ago—they recognized the right of the Palestinians to govern themselves in a 2-State proposition. This right is unalienable. What’s so interesting about this unalienable right is that the people who inserted the word ‘unalienable’ in their Constitution have only granted the unalienable right when their hand was forced—The Emancipation Declaration, 1863; Brown versus Board of Education, 1954; Civil Rights, 1964; Voting Rights, 1965; The Great Society, 1965.
Norway, Slovakia and Northern Ireland have shown us by their example that a recognition of the unalienable rights of the Palestinians to govern themselves does not equate with anti-semitism. Two things can be right at the same time. The carnage in Gaza can stop, and should stop. Hamas is not just a group of 37,000 gun-totting, and grenade-strapping, and hostage-taking set of bandits. Hamas is everybody everywhere who thirsts for the right to self-determination. Hamas is the British merchant class of 1215–The Magna Carta. Hamas is the American War of Independence. Hamas is the ANC fighting the evil of Apartheid. Hamas is the Zionist Movement fighting and bombing the British colonizers to ask for the State of Israel in the ultimate partition of Palestine. Hamas is Sinn Fein, the IRA, asking the British to take their knee off of their neck. Hamas is now a metaphor for everyone who says enough to average, and to oppression, and to slavery. How wrong can that be? It is about time that the people of Israel went back to the polls to elect a man who is willing to embrace a future without preconditions, and without labels. My conclusion of the matter is this: it is impossible to eliminate Hamas the metaphor. Statesmen are urgently needed to put a stop to the carnage in Gaza because there is no endgame to it. Let it be clear that one can condemn what happened on October 7th and also condemn what is happening in Gaza.
A difficult case to judge
In the grind of the last week, Michael Cohen, the star witness of the prosecution in the case of Trump versus the People of New York in the matter of Stormy Daniels, admitted to having stolen from Trump. The Jury must be confused by now already. Every member of that Jury needs to be able to answer the question over the next few days as to what the real issue is in this case, and also to be able to identify who is really on trial here. Is Michael Cohen on trial or is Trump on trial? The Jury has its work cut out for it.
Another one exits
The big news last week was about the exit of the Microsoft Office from Nigeria. They are reportedly relocating to Kenya. Total Energy that has made so much money from Nigeria through the years also took a major investment decision that could have been a no-brainer for Nigeria in favour of Angola to the detriment of Nigeria. To those who lament these exits, I ask the question—if you were not Nigerian, would you invest in Nigeria? One of the largest palm oil producers in Africa is lamenting their investments in Edo State because of insecurity which is directly affecting the cost of doing business. Our rulers need to stop junketing around the globe to look for investors. For as long as we are the way we are and things are the way they are, no one will be willing to come here. We must change if we want change. There is no bigger testament to who we are and how we are as a people than the recent bad decision to destroy the Landmark Beachfront investment in Lagos to pave way for a coastal road that may never see the light of day. If no one wants to invest in Nigeria anymore, is the Landmark saga not a good enough excuse?
Fighting inflation
Let’s circle back to the alligator in the room. As I alluded to earlier, we do not choose our families, our families choose us. We also do not choose our countries, our countries choose us. Nigeria chose me. I love her therefore, but my love must also give me a choice not only to love her but to also be able to be critical of her inadequacies where they exist.
Dear Nigeria, inflation is ravaging your people. What is the way out? Increasing wages is probably the worst possible solution that can be applied at this time. It will drive inflation through the roof. I am no genius, but I am a student of history. I believe this is the time for the government to create a subsidy regime for production. We cannot go wrong with this time-tested, inflation-proof economic theory. America subsidizes agriculture and medicare combined to the tune of $1 trillion annually. Let us not be fooled by the IMF. We need brilliant and patriotic minds at every level of governance to provide home-grown, altruistic solutions. Let’s face it. We are a badly behaved people. We need economic solutions that would also address bad behavior. The time to act is now. Let’s face the bush with bulldozers, with tractors, with fertilizers, and with an army of people who say no to Zimbabwe, and no to Argentina, and no to Venezuela. Let’s get the country humming and working. Ladies and gentlemen, there’s work to be done—the work to save Nigeria.
By the time you are reading this, President Ahmed Tinubu would have spent one year in Aso Rock. The question we all must answer individually as citizens is this: Are you better off now than you were one year ago?
Ovienmhada, author, poet, playwright and public affairs commentator, can be reached via [email protected].
