One Day, One Day

I wanted to watch the BBC news at 6. My eldest daughter, a big fan of HiTV and other stations where Nigerian music is played pulled a face and played something she had recorded on the SkyHD the previous day. Just before I raised my voice to tell her off, I heard the words:

       

One day, one day
e go better for naija
money go circulate
light go dey
One day, one day
we no go need to ja
comot naija
omo e don tey,
I for like make e be today

This song, One Day by Eldee has touched me to my marrow for many reasons. In the last year or two, I have become an unwilling fan of the new generation of Nigerian music videos. No thanks to my daughters, though born and bred in UK, they know all the songs and are always skanking, dancing Alanta, etc. The quality of the videos is as good as any I have seen and the music industry in Nigeria must be commended for this. With Nollywood, HiTV, OHTV, HiNolly, AIT etc. my girls have become quite Nigerianised and that makes me quite proud. However, it's an uphill task as the battle for their young minds is skewed in favour of secular genre as biblical principles though appreciated appear drowned....

Back to my marrow, it is very easy, in fact natural to get disillusioned by news coming out of Nigeria especially in the last month.

But Eldee expertly analysed the problems of our nation and tells us:

we must say NO that’s the solution
new day, new way, due revolution

I have taken up his challenge which hits the nail on the head. The ONLY problem in Nigeria is the culture of corruption in the three tiers of governance and he proffers a solution:

We must say No No to all bad politicians
NO NO to bad government officials
NO NO to all man wey suppose dey work
wey dey thief money

The first step for every good government and corporate body is to provide 'BASIC AMENITY':

Clean water to drink
good house to sleep
electricity and security
my brother all these things
na basic amenity

I like taking my visitors to Thackeray Medical Museum in St James' Hospital, Leeds, UK. There is a graph in one of the rooms which shows that the great reduction in disease and death at the turn of the 19th Century in Britain was brought about primarily by public health changes - clean water, housing, sanitation, not hospitals or medical advances.

Despite the bomb blasts, the politicians stealing billions of naira, the oil mafia and all the problems we know about, I agree completely that one day e go better (in my lifetime)!

For today, all of us at GoodNews Nigeria will look for good news and write about it. More importantly, everyone of us must act strategically - influence our leaders today - share ideas with them, plead/beg/shout/scream/cry... lobby them to do the right thing. If that fails, we should use our vote to kick out the bad and vote in good people. At the individual and family level, we should give a scholarship here, support a micro-enterprise there and teach someone to fish. If every Nigerian lights one such candle in the dark, there will be floodlights shinning through Naija.
I've now listened to One Day no less than 20 times on headphone and it's time to dream dreams...

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

We are the change that we see

Barack Obama (2008)

My Nigeria

I believe in God and I know he is perfect. No mistakes then in my being born in Eastern Nigeria, schooled in the South and acquiring native intelligence in the creeks of the Niger Delta. I treated my first patient in the North and married a beautiful bride from the West and now live happily after in the land of our colonial master as a dual citizen.

For these and more reasons, I must confess, I love Nigeria (warts and all). In 1970, as a school boy in Ogoloma, Okrika, I learnt to sing many songs. I'll list some of them:

1. The day is bright, it's bright and fair..
2. We go to our classes ...
3. Punctuality and regularity...

There were folk songs, hymns from Songs of Praise, sad songs, happy songs but there is one song that reminds me about my motherland: 'Ojukwu wanted to separate Nigeria, Gowon say Nigeria must be one, we are fighting together with Gowon, to keep Nigeria one!'
As I grew older and wiser, I was still determined to fight "on Gowon's side" but I became acutely aware of the problems of the Niger Delta and the marginalisation of its people by successive governments both local and national. I saw firsthand, how the oil destroyed the land while it made millionaires and brought development in other parts of Nigeria.

Then, Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged on my wedding day.

Successive military and civilian governments institutionalised kleptocracy and it seemed all hope was lost. My love for Nigeria waxed and waned but it never died.
In 2006, I was elected 'Chief Servant' of Nigerian Community Leeds, UK. One of the activities we organised was a Prayer for Nigeria event. On that day, I joined other Nigerians to put our country in God's "in-tray". Since then, I resolved never to be negative about Nigeria because I cannot expect Him to put Nigeria where it should be if I didn't do my part. It dawned on me that changing Nigeria had to begin with me. For two years, we tried hard to practise servant leadership and honesty. The people responded and NCL went from a community organisation to a charitable company before the baton of leadership changed hands.
That was a turning point for me. I realised that it was not an illusion. Nigeria can, and will be a great nation if we put our best foot forward.

Six months ago, we shared the idea of a website completely dedicated to postive news about Nigeria. The reason is obvious. You don't have to make effort to hear bad news about Nigeria but you'll have to drill a bore hole in the desert to hear a cheer about the country. GoodnewsNigeria celebrates Nigerians and other nationals anywhere in the world in the public, private, voluntary and community sectors who have made a positive impact on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
Do you have such a story to tell? Do you know such a person, company or organisation? Are you doing good, or the beneficiary of someone's benevolence? Tell us about it.
Do you have a great idea or know about a community project or a public, private or third sector initiative which is making a big difference in Nigeria? Send a summary of the goodnews including your name and phone number to goodnewsnigeria@gmail.com

If you want to join our team to search for and/or verify goodnews, please send a short CV.

CS
https://sites.google.com/site/goodnewsnaija/

Microfinance - My Community Experience

Poverty, ignorance and disease are tripartite ills. The best way to

keep a nation healthy is to reduce poverty. Five years ago, an attempt

was made to get members of my community (Ogoloma in Rivers State),

resident in UK and USA to contribute funds towards establishing one of

three projects:

1) Interest-free loans to petty traders

2) Scholarship schemes - primary, secondary, tertiary

3) Skills Acquisition programme for young people.

Unfortunately, no one responded. I reasoned that 'the vision is for an

appointed time'.

A year later, I went home for my mum's 80th birthday and gave NGN

100,000 (£400) to an honest lady who runs a non-governmental organisation to

start the microfinance scheme with some women.

To 'cut a long story short', three years later, 'Ama ibi gose' Project

('for the good of the community') now has a budget of 5 million naira

(£20,000) and is currently giving loans to nearly 200 women in the nine towns

that form two local government areas. 27 children have been given

scholarships in 2010 (pix) and plans are underway to support restive youths

in the community through a skills acquisition programme in 2011. Most

of the funding for these projects has come from Wakirike Washington,

Inc., one of our community groups in USA.

The more exciting thing is that we have now established Wakirike

Developmental Coalition (www.wakirikedevelopmentcoalition.org).

Membership is by subscription only and made up of Wakirike (Okrika)

people in Nigeria, USA, UK, Asia, etc. Funds raised by these

individuals and their community groups will be sent back home to

strengthen projects in the years ahead, (see waiting list).

Nigerians send billions of pounds every year home to family members

and friends. From my community experience, I imagine that it would be

a great idea if every Nigerian community group abroad could do

something similar and raise funds for educational, skills acquisition

and/or microcredit/wealth creation schemes. We can have platforms to

share good practice online and learn from each other's experience.

These little drops of water in our villages and towns will someday

make a mighty ocean.

Do you have a similar experience? Please share it. Would you like to

initiate something similar in your corner of Nigeria, let's talk...

CS
https://sites.google.com/site/goodnewsnaija/