CRY BELOVED FATHERLAND, WHEN SHALL THOU SALVATION COME?

My country, Nigeria, continue to bleed with no abatement in site.  She has been bleeding from birth, seems she was bleeding from the womb.  She has managed to bear children, plenty of them - male and female – surprisingly unhindered by her perennial bleeding challenge.  She started child bearing very early, probably under-aged and had hoped to find succour in this. But alas, the sons and daughters she brought forth has turned around to afflict her the more, worsening her problems; so much so that she seem to be just hoping and wishing to die – go back to where she came from.

At birth, she hoped to overcome her health challenge. This hope was strengthened by the enormous blessings of this creation that her maker endowed her with.  The endowments were so much that lost in them, she would not remember her ailment – possibly get a permanent cure without knowing when and how.  She went about procreating in great confidence, because she could see more than enough to carter for her offspring. Her offspring would in turn have enough to live on and carter for theirs too and so it would continue. What an existence of bliss she saw ahead of her.

Today, she is bowed in total dejection, beaten and crushed, ready and wishing to die. She is far from the blissful life that lay on the horizon for her at birth – it is so near, yet so far away. Though she was endowed with much at birth, her creator required her to go to work in order to turn her endowments from the raw state into such that she can truly enjoy. The work required was (and still is) much and this informed her haste to procreate; she hoped to bring forth offspring that will key in and help her in turning her raw endowments into precious stuff.

Alas, what did she bring forth?  Children, with heads, ears, minds and hearts that are so complicated to describe.  They keep learning but never learn; keep listening but never hear; keep thinking but never able to crystallise their thoughts; keep looking into the horizon but only able to see just to the end of their noses.  They keep running toward beauty, but suddenly stop just at the point of grabbing such.  They begin to refine their endowments, but easily get distracted by frivolities and then go away, only to return a long time later to meet these endowments in worst raw conditions.  Sometimes they manage to make great progress, but suddenly develops myopia of the head, mind and heart and then decide to dismantle their progress on the altars of debauchery, revelling and what have you.  They stay on this round trip until they exit the scene, leaving their offspring to continue in the same path.

What a situation for beloved fatherland Nigeria.  When shall thou salvation come? When shall thou get into and begin to frolic in the bliss that was bestowed on you at birth.  When you were born, men and women who saw your endowments were full of envy and wished…  Today, they have not stopped wishing.

In many instances, she brought fort offspring that chose to tow a different path, keying in fully to her vision. But sadly, these end up crowded out by the greater number with chronic myopia.  Oh! What a condition.  Suddenly, the strand of myopia afflicting her offspring have become more tormenting, creating some unique kind of madness and abject thoughtlessness.  They now devour themselves with reckless abandon – they started discreetly, but not anymore. Today, it is no more about getting to work in order to refine their enormous endowments, it is about surviving the others onslaught.  In this situation, the endowments remain unworked.  What a sad situation.  Beloved fatherland, when shall thou salvation come.

THE GOD OF MY LIFE

The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places, the goodliness of my heritage shone so bright today.  I have all the reasons to say to Him: you are the God of my Life, my anchor, my hope, the lifter of my head, the one who showers me with mercy, love and kindness, the one who answers my prayers.

 

My second son, Onyedikachi - the second of my Generals - turned 8 today. I remember that beautiful Sunday morning on the 20th day of November, 2005 when he came. He seemed in such a hurry to come conquer or how do you explain it.  My wife - the ''Acharaugo'' went into labour about 3am, contraction started gradually, but steadily.  I called up the Gynaecologist and he asked us to hit the clinic at the first break of daylight.  I prepared her, cleaned her up and was ready.  Shortly before 7am, I got her into the car, drove into the clinic at about 7am or a little past.  Barely 15 minutes later, Onyedikachi came forth, beautiful, sweet as I carried him in my arms - my second grand victory, his elder brother had come some 2 years before.  I had yet another grand victory, as my third General, Ifechukwu - my professor - was to come a little over 3 years after.

 

While I was still celebrating my son, the glorious bombshell of blessing came in from Norway - that great and enviable country in Europe. My younger brother, the one that sucked my mothers breast after me, the one whom limiting situations in Nigeria forced to run away in the hope of finding a good future and actualising his dreams, has just been graciously granted full rights to live freely, work and find fulfilment in that great country.

 

I am a strong believer in the equality of all men and women created by the Living God.  I strongly believe in the liberty of all to choose to call anywhere in the world home and to be freely allowed to do so if he/she has shown enough will, love and committment to the values and aspirations of such society.  True, I love my country of birth today.  Truer still, I love a few other countries very much.  In these, leadership has not failed the people, true nationalists, statesmen and lovers of the common good still abound - has always abounded. In these, every citizen, from the day of conception, matters and is loved to the best of the states abilities.  In these, citizens are ever prepared to die for fatherland or motherland, whichever you choose.

I am proud that the generation of my bloodline is extending beyound the boundaries of our origin.  I salute again, with great love and worship, the creator himself, the essence of life and the one who knows the end from the beginning.  I salute countries and governments of countries (past and present) of the world, who still give hope to peoples from such countries as mine today. They make us still believe that there can be a true nation state, serving her people in all facets and delivering enduring dividends of a true nation state - freedom, justice, equity, equal opportunities, love and care, etc.

I salute my beloved son, Onyedikach at 8.  I salute my beloved brother, Uchenna on his new status in an enviable country.  I enjoin him to serve and love the country in the best way possible and then soar to whatever heights he wishes.  See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and do no evil.  Fly the banner of our bloodline for we are noble.  Make mama proud, she is a woman of great honour, a mother hard to find.

To the GOD OF MY LIFE, than you so much faithful and loving father.

I DO SOLEMNY RESOLVE

I, EMMANUEL FRANCIS CHUKWUDI OBASI, DO SOLEMNY RESOLVE BEFORE GOD, TO TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR MYSELF, MY WIFE AND MY CHILDREN.

I WILL LOVE THEM, PROTECT THEM AND SERVE THEM AND TEACH THEM THE STATUES OF GOD AS THE SPIRITUAL LEADER OF MY HOME.

I WILL BE FAITHFUL TO MY WIFE, TO LOVE AND HONOUR HER; AND BE WILLING TO LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR HER AS CHRIST DID FOR ME.

I WILL TEACH MY SONS TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL OF THEIR HEART, ALL OF THEIR MIND AND ALL OF THEIR STRENGTH; AND I WILL TRAIN THEM TO HONOUR AUTHORITY AND LIVE RESPONSIBLY.

I WILL CONFRONT EVIL, PURSUE JUSTICE AND LOVE MERCY.  I WILL TREAT OTHERS WITH KINDNESS, RESPECT AND COMPASSION.

I WILL WORK DILIGENTLT TO PROVIDE FOR THE NEEDS OF MY FAMILY

I WILL FORGIVE THOSE WHO HAVE WRONGED ME AND RECONCILE WITH THOSE I HAVE WRONGED.  I WILL WALK IN INTEGRITY AS A MAN ANSWERABLE TO GOD.  I WILL SEEK TO HONOUR GOD, OBEY HIS WORD AND DO HIS WILL.

AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.

29/10/2012

(Culled from the movie “Courageous” by Alex Kendrick, 2011)

YORUBA-IGBO-HAUSA: TOGETHER BY DESIGN, LET'S WORK IT OUT

I have been greatly jolted by the vicious hate exchanges of the last two weeks, between brothers and sisters of the south-east and south-west of Nigeria.  Forget whatever the cause is; it does not really matter to me.  It got to a point that I stopped reading altogether; main writings and comments alike. I was jolted because it finally dawned on me that I may have been living in a fool’s paradise, thinking that we were actually brothers and sisters; people who no doubt were brought together, not by deliberate choice but by design – God’s design I dare say.  Somebody may say that I must be a poor student of history – lacking in the history of colonial and independent Nigeria, and the past existence between the brothers and sisters of these geographies of Nigeria –to think of brotherliness, design, and all that.  I am not I must say. It is just that my upbringing, my childhood and my relationships in the last 3 decades of my life (by the way, I belong to the post war era), has virtually made it difficult to think otherwise, in spite of all the history that I have packed into my brain.

A few days ago, I was on the phone with a bosom childhood friend of mine, from the south-west; one that I am proud of till tomorrow.  We were short of weeping over the phone discussing recent events in Nigeria – we never cease to do so each time we talk. We recounted our growing up days in south-south Nigeria, where design first brought us together.  In our little society then were children from all the geographies in Nigeria that you can think of.  We did things together – good, bad, ugly.  We competed, fought, settled, forgave one another quickly and moved on, schemed, dreamed together-all in very healthy circumstances.  When necessary, as you will expect with children/teenagers/young people, we formed our small groups based on attraction/content of character as we saw at the time; not recognising which region the other came from.  The others’ idiosyncrasies were interpreted as being of the individual in question and had nothing to do with his race or tribe or ethnicity or colour or parentage, etc. – there were no such in our dictionaries at the time.  We influenced each other in our different ways.  Of course you will expect some to have certain character trait that was stronger/more positive and which naturally stood out, influencing more. This cut across all the children in my little community – we still talk of these with some fondness today, and appreciate each other for the influences we had on each other which have contributed immensely to our lives today.

I was glad that I had this contact/orientation before I read much of our chequered history and listened to stories.  My father and subsequent guardians for one never told me any tales of hate (my father was a teacher and great story teller).  My father’s war stories were more about display of valour and fortitude in the face of daunting difficulties than that of a hate combat. I was later to read on my own of the real and remote/underlying causes of the war.  Was I sad about the things I read about? Yes I was and still am.  To think that the generations before me could not live in the atmosphere I did in my growing up days and possibly carried on same into adulthood was and still is saddening.  To think that our tolerance for one another could so easily decay, allowing us to betray, kill, counter-kill  and then take up arms to destroy/kill same persons that a week before, were our immediate neighbours – persons we ate and drank together - were unthinkable to me.  All I read could not completely change my opinion of my childhood friends from ethnic nationalities different from mine, hard as such tried.  My experiences as a growing child were the most real and objective to me; what I read were before I came on the scene – they were the accounts of others.

You can see my pain, when the volcanoes of these past weeks started erupting.  To think that such deep seated hate exists in the hearts of a people who have co-existed this many years was unbelievable.  To also think that many of the dramatis personae of the past years of hate have passed on – meaning that the agents of the present are mostly those of my near or immediate generation - and yet this hate persists is even more worrying.  Could it be the case that they did not have the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of my growing up days?  But I have also heard others, who grew up in other regions of the country; recount their experiences similar to mine.   Is it that they have simply been overtaken by the accounts in history/story books – the books I have refused the opportunity to overtake me? Or that they do not see any design/divinity in our co-existence? Or they have been made lesser men/women by the forces of hate, prejudice, impure jealousy and all such despicable vices that so easily enslave men and women?

I have had seasons to doubt our co-existence, but my reasons have never been strong enough to truly convince me; the experience of my growing up days is always one big factor that fights my doubts to a standstill.  Above all else, I am convinced that this is by divine design.  All continents, regions, countries, races, ethnicities, tribes, etc., need each other; if not today, certainly tomorrow.  Just like the master today, may someday need his or her servant of today and vice versa.  This is Gods design and it is forever.

Our past leaders have (as in many other areas), failed us in not promoting strong mutual co-existence.  Their recorded utterances, decisions and conducts at various times negated the fact that we have been brought together by divine design and so must seek to outdo each other in deep/whole hearted tolerance, trust, respect, forgiveness and love.  They have not sought to harness the great benefits of our peculiar diversity, even at great pains.  I saw the beauty and strength of this diversity in my growing up days.  I looked through the year book of my children’s school recently and discovered to my joy that my last son’s best friend was from the south-west.  I also looked up another child who chose my son as his best friend and again discovered he was from the south-west.  This was the atmosphere during my growing up days and it made me very happy. I must confess that I would have been greatly disappointed if all of my sons’ best friends were from their geographic divide; it would have saddened me the more in the light of recent happenings in the country and my reminiscences.

In discussing with my bosom friend of nearly three decades recently, we agreed that our generation must rise up and win where our past leaders failed – pursuing strong bonds as a people brought together by divine design.  This goes beyond lofty speeches and claims in write-ups, although out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  The convictions in our speeches and write-ups must be demonstrated by our daily utterances, decisions and conduct, in every place and situation.  We must seek to harness the positives in our brashness, cockiness, flamboyance, tact, suaveness, loquaciousness, etc. for our common good and in building a solid and prosperous country.  Truth again is that we are here for the long-haul, in whatever arrangement – regional, federal (fiscal, etc.).  Even if we chose tomorrow to exist as smaller independent units, we will still co-exist in some unique respect – there still will be elements of divine design in our cross border relationships.

I ask every member of my generation to henceforth cease engaging in these unpleasant hostilities.  Let’s direct our writing energies in articulating the way forward as we prepare ourselves for taking over the mantle of leadership; some have already done so – in business, industry, academia, politics and governance, etc.  Those who have been dragged into these murky waters of ethnic hate and bigotry must retrace their steps immediately. We must engage our intellects again in searching out the very principles and dynamics of human co-existence.  All of us are wanderers; we were at different places at different times.  This may certainly not be our last places while still here, you never know.

PREVENTION OF OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES: A CASE FOR DECENT WORK IN NIGERIA

The International Labour organisation (ILO), marks today, April 28 as the World Day for Safety and Health at Work with the theme ‘‘The Prevention of Occupational Diseases’’.  In its document to support this years’ observation, the organisation defines an occupational disease as ‘‘a disease contracted as a result of an exposure to risk factors arising from work’’.  To buttress, the Wikipedia free encyclopaedia describe an occupational disease as ‘‘any chronic ailment that occurs as a result of work or occupational activity……typically identified when it is shown that it is more prevalent in a given body of workers than in the general population, or in other worker populations’’.

The 2013 ILO document on this years’ day declares that ‘‘occupational diseases cause huge suffering and loss in the world of work.  Yet, occupational or work-related diseases remain largely invisible in comparison to industrial accidents, even though they kill six times as many people each year’’.  It is against this backdrop that the organisation has aptly chosen this years’ theme. 

Pneumoconioses is a deadly and globally well-known occupational diseases; this is a chronic lung disease resulting from widespread exposures to silica, coal, asbestos and various mineral dusts in mining, quarrying, construction and other manufacturing processes.  Others of concern include skin diseases (eczema, urticaria, sunburn and skin cancer); mental and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) - conditions affecting the body’s muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments and nerves.  The ILO notes that while Pneumoconioses is well known/reported and widespread, mental and MSDs are relatively new and on the rise across occupations in countries of the world.  Other emerging risks include poor ergonomic conditions (poorly designed workplaces/workstations, bereft of basic tools and comfort); exposure to electromagnetic radiation and psychosocial risks.  These conditions among others are being exacerbated by technological and social changes as well as global economic conditions.

In 2012, under the theme ‘‘Promoting Safety and Health in a Green Economy’’, the ILO made a case for closely linking safer and healthier work places and ‘‘decent’’ work for all to the worlds shift towards a greener and more sustainable economy.  In other words, green economies should produce green (decent) jobs – jobs that not only empowers financially, but assures wellbeing, preservation of life and longevity.

This years’ theme focuses on prevention, which would mean tackling the root causes of occupational diseases.  Most importantly, emphasis is again placed on the ‘’decent work’’ paradigm.  In the words of the ILO ‘’prevention is key since it not only protects the lives and livelihoods of workers and their families but also contributes to ensuring economic and social development.  Continuing, the organisation maintains that ‘’concerted efforts are needed at international and national levels to raise awareness about occupational diseases and to tackle once and for all the Decent Work deficits that are their root causes’’.

‘’Decent Work’’ is at the heart of the ‘‘prevention paradigm’’ being advocated by the ILO.  It is about good jobs which apart from offering adequate wages, job security, reasonable career prospects, and worker rights; is carried out under safe working conditions – conditions that guarantees that the worker will live long enough to savor in retirement, his/her days of active and honest labor.  The fact of the matter is that occupational diseases/illnesses develop over time and are caused either by the work itself or by the employees’ working environment.  In Nigeria today, the majority of available jobs – in both public and private sectors – are carried out under conditions that are very far from decent.  The conditions in most offices/work locations in the country are so un-dignifying, short of saying horrifying. This is true (with limited exceptions though) for the private and public sectors - educational institutions, manufacturing, construction, quarrying, the media, transportation, etc.  The armed forces and police as well as private security and paramilitary organisations/agencies are not left out.  The absence of data will not allow us to appreciate the enormity of occupational afflictions that workers in Nigeria have suffered and are still suffering. The ILO notes that ‘‘globally, more than half of all countries still do not collect adequate statistics for occupational diseases’’.  Where available, the data ‘‘concern mainly injuries and fatalities’’.

In  a study on the ‘‘Epidemiology of occupational disease among bricklayers in Nigeria’’, Soyinka, F. (1977), reported that ‘‘clinical and epidemiological investigations on 240 bricklayers in Nigeria show an incidence of 2,3% of cement-eczema, 2,0% of wear and tear dermatosis, and 2,8% of sensitivity against chrome’’.   Continuing, the report noted that ‘‘the workers with longest professional contact with cement showed the highest incidence of cement-eczema, and sensitivity against chrome’’.  In another study on the ‘‘Pulmonary functions of wheat flour mill workers and controls in Ibadan, Nigeria’’, Ijadunola and others (2005), concluded that ‘‘wheat flour-mill workers in Nigeria are at an increased risk of developing abnormalities of lung functions…..., and the dominant pattern of respiratory disease among them is airway obstruction.  Ijadunola and his team had noted in their abstract that ‘’the impact of grain dust exposure on lung functions of grain handlers in Nigeria has remained largely undocumented’’.  This lack of documentation as the ILO had noted, may not have changed much today.

As Nigeria grapples with the numerous socio-economic and political challenges confronting her as a developing economy, and with vision 20-2020 in focus, it is expedient that she does not neglect to the background the serious issue of occupational diseases and the push to address its root causes which is linked to ‘‘decent work’’. The ILO reports that ‘‘many governments and employers’ and workers’ organisations are placing now greater emphasis on the prevention of occupational diseases’’ albeit, ‘’prevention is not receiving the priority warranted by the scale and severity of the occupational disease epidemic’’.  As is the case  in several instances and sadly too, the developed economies are far ahead in this push, leaving countries like Nigeria at the stage of either having not given this the serious consideration it deserves or are yet to have an articulated policy document with clear road map for implementation.

True, job creation is top on the agenda of our government at all levels and this is good – part of the fundamental responsibilities of the state to her citizenry.  We have read about hundreds and thousands of jobs that have either been created or are being created at both federal and state levels.  The questions will be what are the nature of these jobs, under what environments are (or will) employees (be) fulfilling their job roles and responsibilities, what minimum improvements will these jobs bring to their lives.  It may not be so much about big remuneration, equitable remuneration as I will love to call it, but rather about the other elements of a ’’decent work’’ – ergonomics, safety, health and general wellbeing.  These minimum elements bring real value and dignity into any job and in a way compensates for small pay package of today.  They assure that the worker does not pass away through occupational disease/illness before he or she has the opportunity to enjoy his or her first pay cheque.

Nigeria must join the ‘prevention paradigm’’ move, at the heart of which is tackling the ‘‘Decent Work deficits’’ – the chief root causes of occupational diseases/illnesses. I strongly believe that a strong ‘‘Decent Work’’ culture will help reduce and may be eliminate corruption, engender patriotism, diligence, hard-work, commitment and patriotism as well as strengthen the value of ‘‘dignity in labour’’.