It is New Year again. As usual, many Christians went to Church
on New Year Eve to receive prophesies for the incoming year about what it may
bring. There were prophesies like “APC will face crisis”; “A new party will be
formed by politician”; “A popular politician will signal his intention to run
for the presidency in 2019” etcetera which drive many Nigerians to great
excitement. Not all these “prophesy” are entirely negative or clownish as some
of the above appear to be. Some prophesies deal with the future greatness of
Nigeria and the fact that it will be blessed with good leaders. The excitements
and the mad rush to hear these statements show how religious many people are!
While it is not entirely
bad to believe these prophesies, we must understand that, as a nation, God has
blessed us so much that we can’t ask for more blessings. He has done His part;
we only need to do ours. “Over Religiousness” or “Over Prayers” seen in many
Nigerians today will not force His Hands to do our biddings. We must do our
parts too.
Though,
I enjoy reading the English novelist, Eric Arthur Blair (popularly known as
George Orwell), I have never been a fan of English novels partly because of
their over glorification of English culture or because of the boredom they bring
to me then as a student of Literature-in-English. The only novel I still read
apart from those of George Orwell, is Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.
Reading the novel, for
perhaps the eight time, some days ago still struck me much about Nigeria and
its abundant natural resources. I asked myself how a nation can be so blessed
and yet appear so cursed at the same time. Are people poor because of lack of resources?
If we had these much resources in abundance, why is there so much poverty,
disease and hunger in the land? A Columbia University economist, conducting a
research in Latin America in the 1950s, gave a strange answer (in paraphrase):
people are not poor because of lack of resources, they are poor because they
are ignorant of the abundance that surrounds them!
For
those who haven’t read Robinson Crusoe, it is
the story of an adventure undertaken by a young man whose father wanted to
become a lawyer and manage his estate but chose to travel abroad by sea. His
father warned him against such, ‘At sea you will only find trouble and
unhappiness.” And in truth, when he sailed with his two friends, what happened
were what his father had said.
On one of his sails to
Guinea “to collect Africans to work” as slaves on their farms, they suffered a
shipwreck leaving his two friends dead and Crusoe barely escaping with his life
to spend over 28 years on a strange island.
On the island, his
constant companions were his Bible, a dog, two cats, his flock and all that
nature could provide for human survival. Though the island contained all that
he needed to survive, Crusoe must go out to hunt for animals, else he will go
hungry.
Like Crusoe’s island,
God has blessed Nigeria with all it needed to achieve self-sufficiency and
become one of world’s greatest powers. But unlike Crusoe, Nigeria and Nigerians
expect God to, after doing so much, come and help us refine our oil; transform
our cassava to garri; produce petrol from petroleum; and in some cases we pray
to God to come and help us clean our dirty rooms!
Though Crusoe believed
in God’s protection, he knew he can’t be the only one on the island. He never
parted with his tools and ammunitions at any time else he became the victim
when attacked by beasts or man eating savages. He probably understood the
Arabian proverb “Trust in God, but tie your camel.” Nigeria is a sovereign
state, we need a good security apparatus to conquer internal and external
attacks. God Himself is known as “The Lord of the Hosts.” Prayers alone
will not defeat Boko Haram; looting monies meant for arms to fight Boko Haram
is not only a sin against man, but also against God!
Crusoe knows that God
has supplied his needs according to His riches in glory on the island, he knows
he has to save for the future. He understood the fact that his gunpowder (a key
resource) will sooner or later run out. He started rearing goats “for meat and
milk.” It is never God’s fault that we refused to save for the rainy day while
we made huge sums from oil boom. It is not God’s fault that we loot the monies
meant for repairs of our refineries. It is not God’s fault that we didn’t
explore other resources that nature has provided for us through
diversification. God has supplied our needs according to His riches in glory
truly, but there is a part we also must play in accessing these riches!
As a nation that knows
God so much that we sometimes even kill for Him or on His behalf (as though God
is an infant that cannot avenge Himself), we must realize that He has done so
much for us and there is no reason why we should cry or suffer. If the nation
is poor, it is because we have refused to see the abundance He has deposited in
our nation (like Crusoe’s island) as a result of our collective blindness. This
won’t change by being just religious!
Olalekan
Waheed ADIGUN is a political analyst and independent political strategist for
wide range of individuals, organisations and campaigns. He is based in Lagos,
Nigeria.
Tel:
+2348136502040, +2347081901080
Email:
olalekan@olalekanadigun.com, adgorwell@gmail.com
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