Aspirations of a New Yearn (1)

Many of the regular and occasional congregation members on the eve of the new year are no more than mere  criminals who have contributed to the mass misery of the year just concluded; Politicians, top-notching civil servants whose actions of misrule and mis-governance had led to death, unhappiness, pain, disillusion and the dystopia ion our […]

Many of the regular and occasional congregation members on the eve of the new year are no more than mere  criminals who have contributed to the mass misery of the year just concluded; Politicians, top-notching civil servants whose actions of misrule and mis-governance had led to death, unhappiness, pain, disillusion and the dystopia ion our streets in the year that has just rolled by and about to be concluded—making valiant resolutions and signing covenants with God  to be good and virtuous , loving their neighbours more than themselves, if God spared their lives and they survive the night and are able to see the new year. Those who manage to resist the drove to worship places pore over their drinks or in hideous romantic nests, pouring resolutions to wipe out the ones they made last year, which they did not fulfil—which they never meant to fulfil.
Yes, the multitude trooped to the churches, grabbing ounces of reprieve, blessing and forgiveness of myriad sins as armoury and shield for the vagaries and aspirations of the New Year. But how have we all prepared ourselves for the New Year? Beyond wishful thinking, how have we ended the year gone by? What was cheering in 2013, leading to the hope and expectation of bounteousness and plenitude in 2014? What, with an ending year which witnessed the death of love and upsurge of vituperations, betrayal and treachery from erstwhile loved ones—daughter and father, godfather and godson in power then and now, political associates and game-players, bad-belle political chess-games, that had produced the avalanche of misery and mystery missives that have left the nation gasping for breath?
On the eve of the New Year, newspapers churned out screaming headlines screamed over the blood bath in Borno where soldiers on operation kill 0ver 70 Boko Haram bombers in Alafa, Lake Chad Island. Ground and air operations, which General Olukayode pronounced expedient to dislodge a new camp of Boko Haram in the offing, to stem scaled wave of insurgency in Borno, had inflicted heavy casualties on the terror sect. Besides violent death by insurgency, in Benue, Boat mishap, reported by the Police Command, led to the death so far of 17 people, 2 salvaged survivors, as search operation continues to determine the actual number of passengers on the boat. This took place at River Buruku in the Buruku Local Government of Benue State. The Federal Road Safety Commission has provided data of auto-crash tragedies with a high rate of mortality. Meanwhile, the FRSC gave the chilling report of the death of 20 children, with 75 others injured within ten days in December, with a cheery news of the success of the Commission of rescuing 144 unhurt children out of the 239 involved in motor accidents. Now, the depressing situation is the deplorable state of our transport system—by road, by air and by river, compounding the spate of national insecurity of our country, which has been escalated by insurgent and terrorist activities. Government has said it is making remarkable effort to address the security problem in the country, but as we concluded in our Eminent Persons and Expert Group Meeting early in December at the national Institute, there is yet to be established a Comprehensive Security Policy in the country, even when incoherent grand security strategies abound.
Added to the poorly economic and development programme in place, whereby unemployment, mass poverty, improperly implemented educational and health policies characterize governance, what will be the state of the nation in the new year? What will our democracy translate to for the popular masses as we trudge on the road in the New Year? In reflecting along the line of the destiny of the nation in 1914, I cast my mind back to what I said this time last year and I am saddened by the fact that not much has changed for the better. Let me recall from excerpts of what we wrote last year as we matched into 2013:      
The most prevalent vernacular atmosphere of our country today is one of grieving pain over the rapid slide of the country toward the precipice. Insecurity has since attained an emergency status. There is no certainty of life in our country today. Nobody is sure that he will wake up to see the next day. The menace of Boko Haram insurgency is the over-arching certitude in our country today. Lives, innocent lives, are being wantonly wasted by the bombing rampage of Boko Haram. National sanctuaries and patrimonies have been invaded; universities in the north—Gombe, Maiduguri and Kano- have been assailed with numerous innocent lives lost to aimless violence. Students and their Professors are being slaughtered in their institutions. Churches, and now Mosques, are being attacked with mortal consequences. In Potiskum, innocent herdsmen and their cattle have been killed and the cattle market left in disarray. It is not as if other flash points of insurgent violence like the Niger Delta, MEND, OPC, the Plateau, and so on, have finally quietened enduringly. It is just that the Boko Haram menace is the greatest indication of the rapid deterioration of our nation today. What is worse is that there is no clear solution in the horizon. Government’s response has been painfully incoherent; dialogue today, no dialogue tomorrow, as numerous, valuable Nigerian lives perish, daily.
As if that is not enough to worry a responsible government, there is, as I once described it on this page, an incredible capacity for mass provocation among our governing elite. Nigerians woke up to a new year with the announcement of the removal of subsidy ((many informed minds of the political economy of oil cry foul) on gasoline. An outraged populace, led by organized labour but not limited to it, took to the streets and paralyzed the entire economy for a whole week. The aftermath of the crisis is a reduced removal and a promise to punish the saboteurs of the oil sector. The House of Representative swung into action to probe the subsidy brouhaha and fish out the mindless racketeers and profiteers. It did. The nation still awaits the adequate reprisals on the culprits. Many find a de ja vu echoes from it all. We have passed through this way before! Which crime has this government ever firmly punished? All the criminals that we fail to bring to book receive jail terms outside. Ibori was a sacred cow in Nigeria. Thanks to Britain, he is in jail. This ought to denote a national indictment to a discernible ruling elite.

To be continued