Society : Happy New Year People
Happy New Year.
So, here we are in the year 2016. Glory be to God. It is a year that many people have waited for, or even longed for, as if much of the disappointment of the former years would be instantly wiped clean from their memory. It is almost like that at the beginning of each year, which comes in both with the strangeness of an alien, or with “the glory and freshness of a dream”.
In the next several weeks, we would still be writing the old year on our cheques and other datelines with persistent absent-mindedness, while looking forward to a happy new year. The thrills of success or angst of the setbacks of the past year somehow cling to our sub-conscious and intrude into our actions, unwittingly.
A merited promotion at work, a happy business deal, a successful wedding or a welcome addition to the family naturally swings our thinking back along pleasant memory tracks, while a rough passage in the office, health issues or marital upheavals would push regretful blocks into the way of an otherwise calm period of the day.
To add to these normal anxieties of an active day would be the predictions already compounded by “experts” in business and about one’s normal existence, and who insist on letting you know what the future holds in store for you. Those who would tell you about your business fortunes at least claim to have the support of empirical evidence—and sometime really do. They have studied the trend of the market over a period and are able to forecast the progression that could be reasonably expected. They are in the same street with weather forecasters among whom, by way, I began my working life.
The weatherman has physical support of calculations from observations gathered with precise instruments However, the seers—who include the fortune-tellers, the soothsayers, the clairvoyants, the oracles, the psychics and others – are hardly more than one shade ahead of our local babalawo, and you would be surprised how right he could sometimes turn out to be. The fact that most of our natural rulers are still selected on their say-so clearly shows how reliable we still hold them to be.
The worrisome prophecies are those which come from the “man of God”, without whom hardly any of the Pentecostal churches would dare open its gates these days. One of them missed the mark with the victor in an American presidential election several years ago in the loud way in which they usually announce their prophecies, to the embarrassment and disgust of some of his followers. Another foresaw the imminent demise of an aged politician, the fiery T.O.S.Benson, within the year of his prophecy. But TOS was not buying that. He told the prophet it was not going to happen. It did not.
That was one the prophet was fairly sure of. Benson was then in his early nineties, or thereabouts, so how could the prophet miss? But miss he did to the chagrin of his large followership. It was a favourite ploy of the modern-day Daniel, or Isaiah, or Elisha, or whatever, to stay on the side of long shots that are obvious to call. Some cleverly leave out precise descriptions of the personality or localities involved in their prophecy but quickly claim the prediction to be true if events turn out to be closely related to their uttering
Of course, there have been cases where the prophecies were right on the knob with uncanny accuracy. Looking at the prophecies for this year, especially with regard to the state of the nation, one can only hope that only the good ones turn out to be true. But where are they? Those who ought to know open each page to a grim period ahead. In the areas that give us much concern, the picture is as gloomy as ever. When we say, “Economy” most people immediately have ears, and hearts, tuned to “petroleum products”, So much have we tied our fortunes and our future to this commodity that we seem to have forgotten about other natural blessings.
We know they exist but who or what will ever turn our minds to thinking about their value to the prosperityof our nation? We know about agriculture and solid minerals and what-have-you, but oil is what brings in the goodies – or has been bringing in the goodies, It is so sweet and so neat: at the end of each month, we all are on the cue, cap in hand, at Abuja to partake of the “national cake”. But the cake is no longer baking in the volume it used to, and we are beginning to whine about it.
In any case, how much of it is open to all of us? The great issue – the “big deal” – subsidy, is still much of a mystery to some of us, including those who actually devote themselves to working on it. Some of the most knowledgeable stakeholders are still not very sure what we mean by it – they, in fact, say it should not, or does not exist. Even those who talk glibly about the “upstream” and “downstream” aspects of the trade sometimes leave us “midstream”, in utter confusion.
If on the other hand, one mentions, “Security”, one hardly knows whether the reference is to policemen who get drunk and shoot down siblings and others, or those who demand and obtain bail fees that are not prescribed by law. Of course, the “mother” of them all still flares like a bushfire in the night in the North-east of our country in a confrontation we have technically won, bar the return of our Chibok girls back home.
Anyway, perhaps we would now stop demanding further information about the whereabouts of these poor girls, since President Buhari has admitted that little is known about their exact situation so far. The future in that direction is dim. It has now got to a point where one would have wished that, like the Americans when faced with the intransigent problem of the Vietnam War, they simply said, “Okay, let’s just declare that we have won the war – and go home!” We have no way of turning our back on this war and walking away. We are home.
Indeed, Boko Haram has created a huge problem of its own for our future. A rabble-rouser starts a movement in a manner that is profanely treasonable, but the law is cautioned about “civil rights” in the handling of what is a patent crime against the state. A sect sets up itself in the midst of a state and, armed to the teeth, becomes almost a law unto itself, and those who value human rights above human lives are miffed at the prompt action of the law. And all because those who are refined about the philosophy of humanism continue to caution the authorities about performing their duties.
Of course, there are more than two ways of looking at the picture, Here is another way from the perspective of Michael (08033593310): “I believe that virtually all our problems arise from our abysmal lack of regard for the fellow human being. This I see as the psychological consequence of rituals with human body parts. Then the matter of overpopulation which also cheapens life the same way oversupply of a product in the market brings down its price.
By the way, crude oil has made us very crude…”.
Well, as they say at the prayer meetings, I receive that. There can be nothing remotely dignified in intelligent and decent elements of our communities lining up for their quota in Abuja every month. But one thing we can observe with the passing of 2015 is that the campaign is over. The APC won, and the PDP lost.
It is not the end of the world. In fact, it is the beginning of another life. Whether we like it or not, we shall have to face it together – subsidy or no subsidy; we shall have to face it together, security or no security. We shall have to pay outstanding salaries and pensions. We shall have to regulate our educational development with universities mushrooming like elementary schools.
Happy new year
So, here we are in the year 2016. Glory be to God. It is a year that many people have waited for, or even longed for, as if much of the disappointment of the former years would be instantly wiped clean from their memory. It is almost like that at the beginning of each year, which comes in both with the strangeness of an alien, or with “the glory and freshness of a dream”.
In the next several weeks, we would still be writing the old year on our cheques and other datelines with persistent absent-mindedness, while looking forward to a happy new year. The thrills of success or angst of the setbacks of the past year somehow cling to our sub-conscious and intrude into our actions, unwittingly.
A merited promotion at work, a happy business deal, a successful wedding or a welcome addition to the family naturally swings our thinking back along pleasant memory tracks, while a rough passage in the office, health issues or marital upheavals would push regretful blocks into the way of an otherwise calm period of the day.
To add to these normal anxieties of an active day would be the predictions already compounded by “experts” in business and about one’s normal existence, and who insist on letting you know what the future holds in store for you. Those who would tell you about your business fortunes at least claim to have the support of empirical evidence—and sometime really do. They have studied the trend of the market over a period and are able to forecast the progression that could be reasonably expected. They are in the same street with weather forecasters among whom, by way, I began my working life.
The weatherman has physical support of calculations from observations gathered with precise instruments However, the seers—who include the fortune-tellers, the soothsayers, the clairvoyants, the oracles, the psychics and others – are hardly more than one shade ahead of our local babalawo, and you would be surprised how right he could sometimes turn out to be. The fact that most of our natural rulers are still selected on their say-so clearly shows how reliable we still hold them to be.
The worrisome prophecies are those which come from the “man of God”, without whom hardly any of the Pentecostal churches would dare open its gates these days. One of them missed the mark with the victor in an American presidential election several years ago in the loud way in which they usually announce their prophecies, to the embarrassment and disgust of some of his followers. Another foresaw the imminent demise of an aged politician, the fiery T.O.S.Benson, within the year of his prophecy. But TOS was not buying that. He told the prophet it was not going to happen. It did not.
That was one the prophet was fairly sure of. Benson was then in his early nineties, or thereabouts, so how could the prophet miss? But miss he did to the chagrin of his large followership. It was a favourite ploy of the modern-day Daniel, or Isaiah, or Elisha, or whatever, to stay on the side of long shots that are obvious to call. Some cleverly leave out precise descriptions of the personality or localities involved in their prophecy but quickly claim the prediction to be true if events turn out to be closely related to their uttering
Of course, there have been cases where the prophecies were right on the knob with uncanny accuracy. Looking at the prophecies for this year, especially with regard to the state of the nation, one can only hope that only the good ones turn out to be true. But where are they? Those who ought to know open each page to a grim period ahead. In the areas that give us much concern, the picture is as gloomy as ever. When we say, “Economy” most people immediately have ears, and hearts, tuned to “petroleum products”, So much have we tied our fortunes and our future to this commodity that we seem to have forgotten about other natural blessings.
We know they exist but who or what will ever turn our minds to thinking about their value to the prosperityof our nation? We know about agriculture and solid minerals and what-have-you, but oil is what brings in the goodies – or has been bringing in the goodies, It is so sweet and so neat: at the end of each month, we all are on the cue, cap in hand, at Abuja to partake of the “national cake”. But the cake is no longer baking in the volume it used to, and we are beginning to whine about it.
In any case, how much of it is open to all of us? The great issue – the “big deal” – subsidy, is still much of a mystery to some of us, including those who actually devote themselves to working on it. Some of the most knowledgeable stakeholders are still not very sure what we mean by it – they, in fact, say it should not, or does not exist. Even those who talk glibly about the “upstream” and “downstream” aspects of the trade sometimes leave us “midstream”, in utter confusion.
If on the other hand, one mentions, “Security”, one hardly knows whether the reference is to policemen who get drunk and shoot down siblings and others, or those who demand and obtain bail fees that are not prescribed by law. Of course, the “mother” of them all still flares like a bushfire in the night in the North-east of our country in a confrontation we have technically won, bar the return of our Chibok girls back home.
Anyway, perhaps we would now stop demanding further information about the whereabouts of these poor girls, since President Buhari has admitted that little is known about their exact situation so far. The future in that direction is dim. It has now got to a point where one would have wished that, like the Americans when faced with the intransigent problem of the Vietnam War, they simply said, “Okay, let’s just declare that we have won the war – and go home!” We have no way of turning our back on this war and walking away. We are home.
Indeed, Boko Haram has created a huge problem of its own for our future. A rabble-rouser starts a movement in a manner that is profanely treasonable, but the law is cautioned about “civil rights” in the handling of what is a patent crime against the state. A sect sets up itself in the midst of a state and, armed to the teeth, becomes almost a law unto itself, and those who value human rights above human lives are miffed at the prompt action of the law. And all because those who are refined about the philosophy of humanism continue to caution the authorities about performing their duties.
Of course, there are more than two ways of looking at the picture, Here is another way from the perspective of Michael (08033593310): “I believe that virtually all our problems arise from our abysmal lack of regard for the fellow human being. This I see as the psychological consequence of rituals with human body parts. Then the matter of overpopulation which also cheapens life the same way oversupply of a product in the market brings down its price.
By the way, crude oil has made us very crude…”.
Well, as they say at the prayer meetings, I receive that. There can be nothing remotely dignified in intelligent and decent elements of our communities lining up for their quota in Abuja every month. But one thing we can observe with the passing of 2015 is that the campaign is over. The APC won, and the PDP lost.
It is not the end of the world. In fact, it is the beginning of another life. Whether we like it or not, we shall have to face it together – subsidy or no subsidy; we shall have to face it together, security or no security. We shall have to pay outstanding salaries and pensions. We shall have to regulate our educational development with universities mushrooming like elementary schools.
Happy new year
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