Nigeria Content Online

Abuja is already
wearing a new dress. The last few days have witnessed a couple of novel
events that, indeed, I can only boast of seeing in the movies. When we
were kids growing up, the rehearsals, practice and even the final
presentation by both school children and military aircraft manoeuvring
in the air was typical of every independence preparation that was not
low keyed.

As the son of a
policeman, I always struggled to be in the school marching group that
paraded at the Ogbe stadium in Benin City; but that was not the real
fun. It was the way we tried to iron our very light cotton uniform
material with candle wax, to bring out the ‘gator’ or that ‘cutlass
sharpness’ that we wanted. This is to emulate our father’s well
starched police uniform. Rumour had it then that those sharp gators on
police uniforms could be used to cut recalcitrant criminals.

During the week,
while going to drop my children off in school and as I drove through
the three arms zone, one helicopter stopped in mid air, while vehicles
were redirected; some six military men climbed down from the helicopter
in rambo style, the ropes were dropped and the men proceeded to roll
them up. The helicopter moved on and the men vanished into the corner.
Meanwhile, about 500 teenagers or more were busy perfecting their
calisthenics inside the Eagle Square and I heard they had been in camp
for about a month practicing for the Independence Day.

Somehow, I had to
go visit the uncompleted new national cultural centre that evening.
That was the place where the variety/crossover night for the jubilee
must happen and about 300 youth were dancing vigorously and beautifully
when the uncompleted tower suddenly came alive with the figure ‘50’
climbing gradually like magic. The acrobats, the exotic lights, the
music and the dancing was all electrifying. We are alive; what with all
the wickedness, coups and counter coups, civil war, assassinations,
unsolved murders in high and low places, tribalism, religious
extremism, 419, ritual killings, militants, kidnappings, armed and pen
robbers and many evil and divisive activities taking place along the
length and breadth of the nation. Yet we have managed to stay together.
Nigeria stands. So, let’s celebrate. Let’s jubilate.

It is jubilee, a
time of great rejoicing to mark a great event. If nothing, we should
remember what the regions once were; what we tried to achieve as
partially independent regions committed to development. We should be
able to remember the palm oil factories in the east, the cocoa farms in
the west and the groundnut pyramids in the north.

At least I am able
to remember the explosive mechanism method of seed dispersal by the
rubber trees that lined my path to the river in my mother’s village in
Okparabe (Ughelli). I remember the irritating smell of freshly tapped
rubber and fresh fish that inundated my grandfather’s compound. They
are now extinct. But God said he will “restore the fortunes of the land
like they were before” in our year of jubilee and I believe him.

In the restoration
year, we must learn to forgive both physical and spiritual debts just
as God has promised to forgive us, even though we do not deserve it. We
should set ourselves and our slaves free and start afresh. All the
money bags, all the big politicians and sit-tight cabalist, those who
think Nigeria is their property, should release the masses. They should
set their slaves free and all the farmers that have over-farmed on a
particular land should allow these pieces of land to rest. All those
who have acquired and are still acquiring should at least take a break;
let restoration take place freely.

Because a lot of
Nigerians are genuinely praying, God Almighty has promised to restore
all, not some, all the fortunes of the land like they were before and
some people think we should not key into this Jubilee gift, it comes
out of the extravagant grace of God.

Let the Odua
People’s Congress, the Ndigbo, the Arewa forum, the Ijaw and even the
Urhobo sheath their sword and give way for restoration to occur. As we
celebrate jubilee this independence, let the Yorubas, the Igbos, the
Hausas, the Ijaws and the Urhobos begin to meet and plan how to revive
the cocoa plantations, the groundnut pyramids, the palm oil factories,
the rubber plantations and of course to reduce the over dependence on
crude oil. We should begin to plan genuine development of the regions
and their people instead of concentrating on do-or-die nocturnal
meetings to destroy, divide and disintegrate the nation. Rome was not
built in a day. The time to start a 180 degree turn around is now. This
jubilee, this independence, let’s celebrate it, because we will not
pass by this road again.

God is not through with blessing us.