HISTORY

HISTORY! HISTORY!!

History: this is the word that enlightens us

This is the word that cannot be denied

This is the word that cannot be rubbished

It has its impact upon generations

The freedom movement was a product of history

It was conceived in the belly of history

Powered by history and limited by history

The independence of African nations

The voyage of Christopher Columbus

Was a by-product of history.

We can say by way of illustration

That there would not have been a Montgomery Bus Boycott

If Martin Luther King had never lived

But that the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Would not have become an icon without M. Luther King’s leadership

History provides opportunities for everyone to make up

And to made the world a better place than we met it

History is events of life that champion the cause of the good and the bad

All my actions today will become events in the history of life tomorrow.

For although Martin Luther King didn’t start the boycott

He was there and ready when the people called

And tell us today from the grave

That no greater tragedy can befall you or me

Than for the people to call and for you or me to be unready

As for the rest of us, there is nothing more to say except

Martin and Malcolm X did their historical duty

And now we historians and citizens of our nations must do what is needful

By breaking free of the fashionable and

False dichotomies that distort them both

History had favoured many men and women

Who pass through this world just one time

And changed the hand of the clock

Turn the tide and make a wave

Can America forget Martin Luther King?

Can America forget Henry Ford?

Can Nigeria forget Obafemi Awolowo?

Can the continent of Africa forget Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkruma?

Can the world forget Mohandas Gandhi?

No! No! The history of the present world cannot be completed

Without the historian making a big reference to Bill gate,

A man who champion the Information Technology Breakthrough.

The history of the church in the 20th and 21^st century,

Can not be completed without some notable men.

Men Gani Fawehinmi, Beko Ransome Kuti, Wole Soyinka and other freedom fighters and nation builders who left their comfort zone to make Nigeria a desirable place.

Men like Benson Idahosa, an evangelist and a reformer,

Men like Tunde Bakare, voice to our nation, radical opposition to corruption

An angry revolutionary, a man who choose to be different in all ramifications

A man who is passionate about a new Nigeria,

Prophet to the entire globe,

History will also favour me,

Because I intend to write one when am I alive,

I will do my best,

I will print my foot path on the sand of time,

In my days and time Nigeria will flourish,

History of the world is an open book,

I will write mine as long as I live

So that the generation coming after me can relate with and learn from.

All of us will be history book the world will read long after we have gone

When that book is open what will the world read about you

Will they read with disgust or with happiness

Will they thank God you came or curse the time you spent.

FELA AND THE DECLINE IN PROTEST MUSIC

FELA AND THE DECLINE IN PROTEST MUSIC

In the world of music, Fela Anikulapo Kuti is a legend, Number one musician in Africa, king and creator of Afro-beat, social critic, and activist. He happens to be my favourite musician, because all his production are impacting, scinllating, revolutionary and changing. When he was alive many thought Fela was crazy, unserious type and he never saw what was good in any government but now people who criticized him then now agreed that Fela served us very well.

Ten years after the death of Nigeria’s iconoclastic musician, fela Anikulapo Kuti, it is disappointing how music, which used to provide a weapon of social change, has greatly declined in Nigeria music landscape. No one need to look any further than the illicit liaison between musician and government functionaries as the reason for this depreciating artistic role.

It may be understandable that the August 2^nd Annniversary of Fela’s death has been stylishly hijacked by all kinds of events that appeal to no aim than the pecuniary. It may even be excusable that children, siblings and core claim of legendary composer and performer, who naturally ought to have led in a productive commemoration of that anniversary, have all seemingly moved on in their different lives. But today. It is disagreeable, disappointing and damaging so, that the core essence that Fela’s music developed in to the last of his carrer, which intrinsically is an integral function of the arts, has been left unattended. In a country where sleeze and malfensances have permeated all nooks and crannies of political, socio-economic and retrogressively hypocritical religious lives, the musical art as a potent weapon that can be used to achieve specific goals now does little other than sing praises of people of questionable valve or simply got consumed with the sensual sleaze that has become a monstrous, industrial past time.

People of every nationality are known to have been moved to speech or song by that which permeates the thoughts or appeals to the emotions in times of political turbulence. Music and the visionary musicians often performed their part in inciting lawful actions especially at time when deep commentaries are needed outside of government and soiled hands of the media.

It is for this type of valve that was inherently popular in Fela’s music that is now missing the Nigeria current all type, but little substance music industry. For who could disagree that for patriotic and even prophetic reasons, Fela’s reasonably revolutionary stance is described well in songs like Beast of No Nation, International Thief Thief, overtake Don Overtake, Big Blind Country, Perambulator, suffer Head and Unknown soldier. He might have constituted himself as a one-man riot squad and suffer the physical and mental consequences. But Nigeria has continue to be a luck beneficiary of Fela’s musical Legacy gloriously apt evergreen musical commentary that details the atrocities of military dictators in Nigeria, their collaborators in civilian garb and the villainous looting of the nation’s collective wealth. Evidently, it is because the social and political necessities of his music one considered expedient that Fela has continued to remain relevant and is serving as the benchmark till today. Beyond the recessional sparkles of traditional poetry that have attempted to name as Fela did without overtly flouting the ethical requirement in music production, it is almost impossible to find a musician of national reckoning in Nigeria today brave enough to rouse attention let alone devotion in the mould of Fela.

All over the country musician now rely on government patronage for survival. Those unable to sell records depend on government house wasteful dinners and functions to survive with their hands soiled, they sing praises of government and contractors and a dazed public looks on in disbelief. Desperately, the nation seamless in vain for popular music that can effectively function as a medium for messages at a time when alarmingly retrogressive developments have enveloped the nation.

It is only when the musical arts, like the ethical and conscientious media, hold a prominent place in the ideological nationalism of this country that Fela’s death would have been truly commemorated.

NIGERIAN CHILDREN ARE CRYING

See Nigerian children crying to government and their parents for the lack of proper care and love. I have a question to ask and that is the question that Nigerian children want an answer to, Children’s day is being celebrated on the 27^th of May of every year. Why is it only on may 27^th we remember and celebrate our children? Did children really being celebrated? Did they have a sense of belonging? Did our children really feel the joy that our members of the society have? It is here in Nigeria that I know that children always work for their living, treated like animal. Almost every child not those one who were born in Aso Rock and in all government houses in the country but I am talking about typical Nigerian children raised in the city, town and in the ghettoes are not enjoying what they should enjoy as a member of the society. There is abuse and lack of love. Some of these children always blame the Supreme Being (God) for placing them in Nigeria they wish they were born in developed nations like America, United Kingdom or European country. I don’t like to blame such children it is lack of love, care and lack of sense of belonging.

Infancy, period from birth to about 2 years of age. This first stage of life is an important time, characterized by physical and emotional growth and development. We are entitling to love, care, protection and all provision not abuse says Nigerian children.

When we are young, we grown up in the labour field where parents treated us as one of the slave bought, we are battered, beaten, punished and some times we are subjected to terror that we lost our sense of value for our real self-worth and our true identity was affected. We don’t enjoy our childhood, no time for rest, our parent engaged us all the time for hawking and other domestic work but for us no objection as we leave one work so also we are expected to jump into another. The most damaging experience of the Nigerian child is that after all these labour, no thank you or well done from the parents or the guidance instead what they receive is blame and beaten for every mistakes.

When Nigeria child commit any atrocity or offend the parent or any elderly person, see the beaten, they beat the child until there is no breath in him anymore and often they are starved of sleep, food, clothing etc for little mistakes that these elderly ones can even do more if they are in their position.

No proper education is given to the Nigerian children, no special attention and love. It is when we pretend to be sick or when we are really sick before we can get or gain the attention of our parents and guidance, Oh it is a sorry case!

Parents, children are heritage of God without price to take care of them, instead you left these children alone to feed, cloth and protect themselves, this is an abuse. Subjecting them to labour and hawking round the street is damaging to our self worth. It is only on Christmas day  parents remember they have a children they suppose to cloth and feed, it is only on Christmas day we are able to wear new shoes, new clothes says one of the children.

Why is it only once in a year we are entitling to all these goodies and privileges of life?

When I sat down with television, magazine to watch and read what other children in Europe and America enjoy from their parents and governments I always feel sorry for the state of children in this country and in Africa.

Hear the cry of the Nigerian child “Anytime  I pay visit to my friend’s house and I see how their parent relate and show them love, I regret being born of my parent”

Nigeria government needs to rise to this challenge and do something now concerning the plight of children. Presently there is no adequate provision for Nigerian child, see all motor pack and all our street children that suppose to be in school are found every second and everyday hawking instead of being in school please do something.

Child abuse means using or treating our children in a wrong way. One day just open your window if you are living in a widely congested area like Lagos state, within 5 minutes the next thing you see are these little children hawking, carrying tray of yam, cloth, gari etc. In every society where there is a tragic occurrence, children are always the major victim, children of 4 to 5 years dying of hunger, war and famine. Parents and government please do something on child abuse, child protection, child victimization they are the seed of the future we desire to build.

There is one ugly experience in the northern part of Nigeria where parent who should be the custodian of the destiny of their children gave them plate and telling them to go beg for food and money.

Celebrating our children should not be once in a year or twice a year. If this nation or parent neglected the children the future is being neglected and every labour of our lives will be in vain. Our dear parent and our dear government, watching the children like this is like sitting down watching your home collapsing. Parents and government let us build up our children, train them, give them all they deserve and a ready-made future will be delivered into your hands. Hear this, when a ball is throw or tossed against a wall, the direction it will bounce depends on how it was thrown, many parents live helpless today and they have children living fine and adequately equipped but because their children did not enjoy them when they are young.

NIGERIA: A DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURE RUNNING OUT OF ENERGY.

Once upon a time, Nigeria used to be the pride of other Africa nations, joy of many western powers. J.F. Kennedy say during his inauguration that “today a new child is being born give that child 20 year he will rule the world” he was referring to Nigeria. The pronouncement would have been fulfilled but due to a lot of entanglement that cripple the growth, development and emancipation of this country everything today is pathetic.

The unfortunate event is that nothing positively and pragmatically is working, everything is retrogress, no electricity, no good roads, infrastructure are going down the drain every day, education is in shambles, we have lost everything that gave us a good beginning, lives were lost to road accident, air crash, tribal violence, religious clash and intolerance, boko haram insurgence, militancy, kidnapping and what have you. One of the reasons why nothing is working is because those who destroyed yesterday are still in charge of our nation today that is a sorry case.

Considering where Nigeria was in the past and where we unfortunately are now. Today, Nigeria is in a big mess, the way things are going now is not the way our founding fathers designed our future. The prediction of America is far approaching; the life of an average man is going down the drain every day. Nigeria is pathetically an irony of nationhood and shadow of itself. Nigeria is placed first in corruption, bribery, poverty, diversion of public funds, illegal transfer of money abroad, inflated budget and what have you. Youth unemployment is on the rise daily, breakdown of law and order, breakdown of moral values.

Today we are face to face with uncertainty, economic failure because of significant crash in economic structure. This country is presided over by generation of looters and squanderers, a nation where the presiding minister of finance said publicly that budget prepared by Federal Government cannot bring development, oh what a tragedy!

There is disconnect between the people and their country, Nigeria is doing nothing for Nigerians, the government has been disconnected from the governed. The myriad of problems facing Nigeria is limitless but there is a way out. New Nigeria is possible when we have leaders not the kind of rulers, vagabond in power (VIP) we have today, who are ready to serve and committed to serving the people we will or may never make any headway.

The civil societies must embark on mobilization of our people just like in the days of military when Beko Ransome Kuti and Gani Fawehinmi and host of others activist mobilize us to fight the military and until we see their end. Now we need massive mobilization of our people to identify the enemies of our country and how we can defeat them so as to take back our country.   

Productivity is a function of value, let us teach our people our people to embrace and cultivate right values for living. We need to shun status quo and say no to corruption and discipline. Nigeria government should stop this malady “movement without progress”.