9 May 2009
opinion
Lagos — My primary school years must have been the best years of my life. I still remember the weird stories in school then and how naïve we were. Once it was time for break, a couple of friends and I would gather and start to tell the most ridiculous stories. From the strangely famous Nigeria vs India soccer match which ended 99-0 in favour of India, to the fact that Diego Maradona was actually from Nigeria, it was always hilarious and the fun was immeasurable. Looking back now, that innocence was something I, and most people like me, took for granted at the time but wish they could now have back with the many problems we are meant to deal with as adults today.
For crying out loud, if I was still caught in those years, I would not have known or cared about a certain Mrs Ayoka Adebayo and how Ekiti State has become the shame of the nation; neither would I have cared that filling stations are running dry and so is my generator and car even as no one seems to be giving Nigerians a reason why. That innocence can never be gotten back and yes, I do wish for it sometimes.
Break time was fun time. It meant we would be allowed to play, and eat our snacks and buy banana Walls ice cream; and eat Okin biscuit while also looking for trouble with the girl you liked the most in class. The end result was always evident in the white stockings which would turn brown by the end of break time, thus definitely landing you in trouble once you got home.
With that sort of fun at break time, it meant that hearing the break time bell was just the sweetest thing; a bell which meant that everyone would stand up and launch whole heartedly into one of the most famous songs in Nigerian schools till date; "Some have food but cannot eat. Some can eat but have no food. We have food and we can eat. Glory be to thee O Lord; Amen!" After that song, everyone took off and went into their different cliques to eat and groove.
That song has stuck with me till date and naturally defines most of what I do in life even if unconsciously. It always serves as a serious reminder of how much God has blessed me and most people around me even if I sometimes refuse to acknowledge that. My principal in secondary school capped it with one of his most famous sayings at the time. As young boys in boarding school, we would complain that our eba was always small or that the meat in our stew was never enough and could pass for maggi cubes. But he always had a ready answer for us; "I was angry that I had no shoes until I saw someone without legs." At the time, it made no sense to me since all I simply wanted was food for my stomach. But today, added to that wonderful lunch time song, I understand that all we were being told was that we should be thankful for whatever situation we find ourselves in because someone somewhere is definitely having it worse than you are.
People, who live in the Mushin area of Lagos State, are not exactly seen as the most fortunate people in Nigeria. It is not exactly an affluent or even middle class area and so anyone from around those parts, would be singing that lunchtime song, wondering if things can actually be any worse. Not that everyone there is a pauper or that poverty defines their lives there, it is just a label that they have been tagged with; one that says no good can come out from their nationally famous ghetto! But like with everything in life, no one place can have only gloomy stories. There will always be a feel good or grass to grace story in parts like Mushin, which is usually made all the more interesting if the story is of a person who has fame added to the success achieved.
Wande Coal, a young Nigerian musician first came into our consciousness in D'Banj's 'Why Me' video a couple of years ago and has not stopped rising ever since. He was born and bred in Mushin but grabbed with his two hands, a chance meeting with Don Jazzy, one of Nigeria's most successful music producers. He had a good voice and could dance, so he instantly became a member of the Mo' Hits music family. His fairy tale story continued when he won a car last year at the Hip Hop World Awards as the Best New Act and has finally been capped this year with a brand new debut album hitting the market. With hit songs from the album way before its release, he was already set to write his name into Nigerian music legend as one of the ones to watch. He showed that he could actually sing and make good music and the fans have embraced the album ever since. But with all the rave making songs on the album, one which was not even hyped or talked about all along
was the one that struck a chord with me.
I was at Swe Bar, a popular restaurant and bar in Lagos sometime ago, when a friend Jibola, asked me to listen to a song in particular from the album. Track 6 started with a very playful and nice feel to it and I was interested immediately. Then the lyrics started; "Some have food but cannot eat; some can eat but they have no food. We have food and we can eat; glory be to Jah Jehovah." I loved it immediately. It even had my principal's line about having shoes and no legs. There are of course other parts in the song that basically talk about how bad you think your situation might be and the need to be thankful regardless since there is most likely someone else or even people who have things a lot worse.
I started listening to that song a lot after that day. I would play it in the car and on my laptop at every opportunity I got and it naturally started ringing in my head. It probably was because I needed the constant reminder that I can never be hopeless as long as there was life.
For some reason, I still did not take the lesson in well enough. I spent a good part of last week in Abuja and was beginning to get irritated at how the city which is meant to be the pride of the nation is gradually turning into just another Nigerian city. PHCN is gradually moving out of the town as power cuts are almost reaching Lagos proportions; danfo drivers are becoming as notorious as their yellow brothers down in the west as they drive and park any and everywhere; fuel has been almost unobtainable for about a month now without as little as an explanation to the inhabitants even at some points when other cities had the commodity in abundance. Abuja did not just feel like what it used to be to me anymore and worse still is that the government who should be fixing things is more bothered with banning the sale of alcohol in parks. Such a priority!
I was gearing up to write a scathing article about the slow death of the nation's capital city when I got a copy of ThisDay newspaper on Wednesday May 6th. The Editorial instantly caught my eye at a time when Wande Coal's song was still playing somewhere in my head.
In the year 2009, at a time when the internet and satellite television are being taken for granted even in Wande Coal's Mushin, a lost tribe had been discovered at the top of the Gerinjina Mountain in Gashaka LGA of Taraba State. In this technological age, a tribe who had never had any contact with modern day civilization and still roamed around stark naked, dressed only in natural leaves from trees, used to cover their private parts, still exists in Nigeria. In what was reminiscent of the discovery of the popular Koma tribe from neighbouring Adamawa State in the mid 80's, this mountain tribe known as the Jibu people (which is a part of a larger Jibu tribe that has some developed areas outside the mountain community), was discovered by a missionary, Pastor Miracle Ishaya who said he had to strip down naked too before he could walk in and be accepted. The Jibu people had never had contact with anyone outside their community. They knew nothing about
the world around them; they knew nothing about clothes or the government or healthcare and as a result were/are ravaged by disease and poverty. They know nothing about Christianity or Islam and thus have their traditional beliefs, which have governed them all these years. They hilariously had no idea that they were even Nigerians!
Like the ThisDay Editorial stated, more than anything else, it is a sign of how much government and its agencies have failed. With census after census and the multi billion naira aerial satellite-mapping project of the Federal Government amongst other projects, it is a real shame that no one had ever found the Jibu people out. The system of government we run in Nigeria is meant to bring development closer to the people with overpaid Councilors and LGA Chairmen being the closest to the people. How could they have known nothing about the people they supposedly govern? If we had a tax system where revenue is internally generated as against waiting for Federal allocations every month, the local authorities would surely have gotten the Jibu people to be a part of government.
It just leaves everyone wondering how many more Jibu's there are out there and how much neglect they must be suffering as a result. There I was getting myself worked up simply because power was irregular and that Abuja was losing its shine when the people of Jibu had no idea that electricity was even a possibility. They have no answer to simple diseases like a cough or rashes; and yet we are supposedly marching towards world class status in 2020!
I am not sure even Wande Coal saw the people of Jibu coming when he wrote that song but it is a sad reminder of the state of Nigeria once again. It reminds us of how government does not work and the need to make local governments really local. While I loved my innocence in primary school, the sort of innocence which the Jibu people have lived with all these years, should be forbidden. It in fact, tells me that the Nigerian government could not care less. After all, if they could treat a tribe like the Jibu's with such neglect, how much more you and I who are seen to be able to fend for ourselves? Very sad indeed!
But if there is one positive from the Jibu discovery, it would definitely leave Nigerian women cheering. One of their laws goes; "For a young Jibu man to get a wife, he must serve the family of his bride for 5 years." What? I hope no woman tries to sneak that one into the Senate for it to become law in Nigeria. That would be pretty scary for the Nigerian man's ego.
God forbid that there are more Koma's and Jibu's left out there. But you and I know there are more
ANSWERS ANYONE?
From election to inauguration to tribunal to cancellation to re-election to inauguration to tribunal to cancellation to re-election! When does the cycle end?
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