ON FATHER’S DAY: Making Nigeria great is a duty for all Fathers

By Dr. James C. Agazie, jamesagazie@gmail.com

 Come t think of it, it is a lot easier to criticize and condemn than to stoop down and construct. Tearing down or shredding Nigeria to pieces is the work of a destructive brain while a constructive mind with intellect  seeks opportunities to  redeem,  energize and infuse life into UNFINISHED  piece of work. A destructive Nigerian is unhelpful and critical. Both his input and output can be described as negative. He makes disparaging remarks, and his words are as harsh as the sun shining around the equator.

  The destroyer prepared yam foo-foo and okra soup and forgot them on the stove to burn black and nobody wants to have them for dinner. The destroyer’s intentions are caustic or vicious. So, anything the destructive hand touches seems downright priggish, indicating the implication of unbecoming moral superiority hidden in tribalism or religiosity.

A destructive Nigerian takes advantage of a bad situation to make it worse for selfish reasons. Because they are selfish and concerned only with akpa ha (their pockets) they grab all within their reach with  no  thought given to how they would make use of those stuffs. Imagine a shopper who goes to flea markets everyday to purchase things and fill the garage kpumkpum (packed full). The shopper then wonders often aloud: “Chimoo, gini kam ga eme ihe ndia?” (My God, What do I do with all these?)

A constructive Nigerian, on the other hand, is very one’s friend for he is not sheep in wolf’s clothing. He has your interest at heart for his steps are as soft as the bringer of great news of glad tidings. A constructive Nigerian is positive. His hands are helpful and productive as he works alongside you to mend the torn, broken fabric of the nation. His breath on you infuses you with a supply of life-giving oxygen that drives out noxious carbon monoxide.

A constructive Nigerian’s appearance on the scene is both useful and salutary, having a beneficial effect in correcting an unfavorable or unhealthy condition of the nation. His advice is a well considered exercise in practicality, commonsense, level headedness, realism, expediency, sensibleness, and reasonableness. You can go to bed and sleep soundly, knowing you can count on constructors to make sound decisions.

Constructive and destructive Nigerians are antipodal types of humans, referring to things so different in character- one a hard worker, the other a worthless loafer. The contributions Nigeria needs now is not measured in dollars and Naira (we have enough of that.). We need men willing  enlist the help of wives and together  roll their sleeves up and stoop down on raw knees and hands to pick up the broken pieces of a nation and glue them  into a beautiful tapestry that covers Nigeria North to the South, and the West to the East.

 Nigeria is not dead as many would have you to believe. What Nigeria is going through now are growing pains of maturity that would soon end.  Difficulties of life are not meant to make us bitter, but better and more disciplined. Nigeria is evolving and getting ready to burst out with renewed energy never dreamed of before. Nigeria is like a lady who danced all night, wearing nkanka (old) tight dresses and heavy wooden clogs that were choking, obstructing, or congesting her feet. The lady emerges forth in a beautiful dance with renewed energy in the morning when a new dress and comfortable shoes are fitted. We Nigerians are the new dresses and shoes. We are the ornaments that must be polished.  But we need  to be purified first to render good services. It takes the hottest furnace to purify the purest gold.

Nigeria is a woman burdened with a distressful labor going on not just for 9 months but for 672 months. The baby is unnaturally large, too large to be delivered by Caesarean; it requires a radical cut up of the  entire human body.  Healing takes time but will surely come when one least expects it.

Making Nigeria great again begins with a look inside; when each Nigerian painstakingly examines self and the nature of contributions he/she is willing to make .One ought to ask: “ Am I a constructor?  Am I a destroyer? The purpose of this essay is to encourage us at these trying times in our evolution.  

Written Father’s Day, Sunday June, 19, 2016 @6:07pm