Because we live, we must also die. Many of us will live to be 80, 90, or 100 years old. However long we live, death will come. Death, we’ve been told, is the price we pay for living. It matters not whether we embrace it or not, or whether or not we are fearful of its arrival. Or whether or not we declare it as “not our portion”. Its certainty and eventuality are assured. One of the most beautiful things about death, however, is that you never know the precise moment it will come. It may come in your walking or resting moment; at noon, at dawn, or at sunset. Or like the one involving a pastor which was reported by The PUNCH on Monday, on the altar. Healthy living, decent environment, genetic favourability, quality health care, and various other factors may delay its arrival, sooner or later, it will come.
When death comes, I hope you are ready. By “ready,” I mean that you’ve hopefully lived an enriching and inspiring life. It is hoped that you have lived your life for others, for your country, and for humanity. It is hoped that when you breathe your last breath, it will be said that you gave more than you received, that you made life a better place for the rest of us. Really, it would be nice if your community and your country said nice and glorious things about you. It would be nice if you are fondly and warmly remembered after your death. And indeed, it would be great if a nice memory of you germinates in the minds of current and future generations. If you meet these goals, then, you are not dead: your memory continues for eternity. That should be your goal.
Yes, it should be our goal. But unfortunately, it is not a goal many of us – especially the ruling class – pursue. One of the ironies of life, and of death, is that your memory may continue in the consciousness of the collective even though you were downright callous and downright evil in which case the people remember you much the same way they remember their rapists and torturers and oppressors. They remember you much the same way they remember the wretched and the most abominable events of their lives. History is full of men and women who, in life and in death, brought misery and cries to the hearts of the people.
We know that cemeteries in Africa are full of such evil and vile bones. And even amongst the living, we can count hundreds and thousands of pure evil. In many of these countries, the masses are abused and exploited far more than slavers and colonisers could ever imagine. We have leaders who, instead of fighting for the people, fight against the people; instead of making life bearable and comfortable for the people, make life miserable and daunting. Hence, several decades after political independence, basic human needs are out of the reach of the very poor and the very needy. African governments can provide these goods and services, but they’d rather see their people suffer.
African presidents and their ministers and governors don’t suffer. They even engage in unspeakable revelry like the one that happened in Lagos last weekend when American singer Kim Kardashian was reportedly paid $500,000 to make a less than a minute appearance at a show at the Eko Hotel for a privileged few where the only thing she said was “Hey Naija” and off she went back to the airport and was airlifted back to the US! Their wives and children don’t suffer. They send their children to the best public and private schools in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and elsewhere. And when they are sick, they hop on the plane for foreign medical care. They appropriate for themselves all these privileges at the taxpayers’ expense. And what do the taxpayers get in return? Stone Age living conditions! For instance, about 70 per cent of Nigeria are nothing but shanty towns and ghettoes, and are crime-ridden and rodent-infested. Many of the private and public housing do not have modern (human) waste disposal services. What’s more, there are choking refuse everywhere!
Not a single city or state can speak of modern and efficient transport system. Not even the self-acclaimed mega city of Lagos. Not one municipality can boast modern emergency medical services. Not a single state capital has uninterrupted water and power supply. Not one! Many of the roads and bridges are death-traps, and many do not have drainage system. About 50 per cent of Nigerians live in poverty (half of those in abject poverty). This is a country where the monthly salary for an average civil servant is less than N40,000. A country where the unemployment rate of university educated youths hovers around 45 per cent; crimes and violent cult activities are at an all-time high; the life expectancy of the average citizen is about 51 years; and infant mortality rate is about 100 out of 1000 live births.
What’s more, millions do not know what it means to sleep well and sleep peacefully at night. We live in the 21 Century, yet, millions of our fellow Nigerians have never been to a dentist, and have never had a comprehensive medical checkup. In many cases, they simply do not have the financial capability to do so. But at other times, access to quality care – or to any sort of modern medicine – is simply difficult. And instead of sending our boys and girls to school, about 10 million are said to be out of school according to UNICEF records, we put them out on the streets to hawk goods and services. This is not the way to treat the poor and the needy. If these deficits are not Stone Age conditions, what are they? Where have all the billions and billions of budgetary allocations gone? Where?
Many Nigerians cannot vote, and when they vote, their votes do not count. Many do not have access to the courts, to their legislators, or to their state governments. We also do not treat the poor and the very needy with respect and dignity. What does this say about our governments? What does this say about us as a people? And what does this say about our humanity? How do we sleep when millions of our fellow citizens cannot have a restful night? How do we eat and drink when millions are denied such basic human needs? How do our leaders fly on state-of-the-art aircraft when the vast majority of the people they purport to govern endure pain and needless deaths on bad roads that traverse the country?
What is wrong with us? Things have got so bad that we don’t even pretend we care about the poor, anymore. It is like a jungle out here: A place where only the fittest and most cunning have access to everything. It needs not be so. We are humans. And as humans, we must care for the less-privileged amongst us. The current reality is made more painful when, in the midst of all these wants and deficits and moral shortcomings, we have politicians and members of the elite engaged in political and economic extravagance.
BY SABELLA ABIDDE (SABIDDE@YAHOO.COM)
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