Its 2:00am and normally, I should be asleep. But I'm not. I sit awake pondering on the fate of our people. My journey over the last weekend through the niger delta has left an indelible mark on my consciousness. The challenge of rural Nigeria is not one that can be solved by money alone. The first and most important element is the awakening of the minds of the people, through effective leadership and guidance, towards entrenching the tenets of self empowerment, industry and hardwork. This has been the story of emerging nations such as India, China and Singapore. These initiatives supported by a government that lives up to its responsibility to provide the basic amenities, as a means of supporting, sustaining, and improving the capacity of its people to produce, to participate and to prosper, is the formula for sustained growth and progress.
As a people, as Igede people of Benue State of Nigeria, we seem to have always been at a disadvantage when it comes to charting a progressive course as a people. Our success stories have not been that of teams, but that of individual effort and self motivated successes. This has led to a selective crop of Igede sons and daughters who have distinguished themselves on a national level and have thus achieved considerably, generating an immense amount of goodwill for the Igede nation as a whole.
This brief note is not meant to chronicle these individuals. There are so many people more capable of providing such accounts with greater accuracy than I would. Rather, it is a call to the new breed of Igede young men and women, whose lives have been so touched by the sacrifice and service of these few individuals to begin to consider ways in which the impact which these lives have left on us can be multiplied to the greater population of Igede people at the grassroot level.
It is easy to romanticize and dream of a time when there will be a turn around in the standard of living and quality of life obtainable in the land of our birth, it is even easier to anticipate that as sons of the soil who are sojourning in near and distant lands, there will one day be an opportunity to return to a rousing welcome and to opportunities to lead and direct the affairs of the people towards greater progress. There are unspoken intentions that at such a time, the clarion call for advancement and progress will be answered by every son and daughter of Igedeland, and we will see a transformation like no other.
The sad reality is that the time it is taking to get to that point, is more than enough time to erode the very foundation on which we want to base that revolution. The battlefield is mind of the local leaders and chieftains, the signet, the staff. The battlefield is the minds of the people, adults forged by years of lack and deprivation. A generation that seems not to have much to bequeath in form of integrity and a sustainable legacy. The battlefield is the minds of the youth, the hope of the future and the chance for today. Something needs to be done. Some things need to be done NOW!
When I look into the eyes of my nieces and nephews, I realise that it is up to me now to provide them with a heritage that they can be proud of. If you have read this up till now, then I have no doubt in my mind that you feel thesame way too. Its a difficult task, but we are the ones to do it. We are the last ones left!
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