SO HYPED... What I hate most about this country is nothing but HYPE! There’s an outrageous amount of it and it irritates my insides. I can stomach the corruption, nepotism, inefficiency, etc, but HYPE? Big NO! Both the government and the people propagate it. Whatever happened to MODESTY? I am an early riser but today I woke up rather too early, about 1 am. What happened? The power utility failed to power my simple fan and because this period is quite hot, the profuse sweating that caused my shirt and body to become wet and clammy made it very uncomfortable to continue the sleep. As it turned out electricity was supplied. However, out of the 3 phases only one was energised. Even at that, the voltage was very low and it could not have powered the motor of the fan. The yellow incandescent bulb was barely bright enough to give any illumination. Would I have been upset if this was the first time such a situation occurred? Of course not, but this one was like the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Suddenly, I pictured the government official on TV claiming that the “privatisation of the Nigerian power sector is the biggest of such deal anywhere else in the world” and I riled within. The paltry less than 4000 MW we generate, the weak transmission and distribution infrastructure, nor the delays and sloppiness that bedevilled the privatisation process and settlement of labour issues, unlike that boastful statement, bother me very little. ‘We too talk!’ Why can’t we focus on doing something right and let our work speak for itself? Even a little child can sense when something good has occurred. Achebe captured it very well in his little book, The Trouble with Nigeria. Nigeria is so much about empty talks and very little action. The public universities have closed shop for over four months now and there’s no urgency about resolving the matter. During that time so much noise was made by the people and the government about the Stella Oduah case. Let me ask: what has come out of it or what would likely come out of it? Currently, we all are very delighted with the spectacular performance of the Golden Eaglets. The team performed excellently well at the tournament and their success has become the talk of the whole country, on TV, on Radio, on social media, on the streets. However, I did have an observation. I could be mistaken, though. Of all the local stations on cable TV, except the final match I saw on AIT, none televised the tournament. I was only able to follow the tournament on Ghana TV (GTV). I ask again: was Ghana even at the tournament? Kindly pardon my digression. Let me quickly narrate what happened after I left the bed. It’s so amazing how much technology has improved such that TVs can work perfectly well at low voltages. I spent over two hours catching up on global news and enjoyed two wonderful documentaries on BBC. I then had my bath and arrived early at the church for 5 am Mass. I went straight to the fastest fan in the church and planted myself directly under it and refused to budge for anybody. The homily and entire service was particularly incisive and soul-uplifting. A few minutes before 7 am, the sun came out in its full splendour and I became fully alive and active. “The Trouble with Nigeria” didn’t even occur to me again as I walked home and suddenly I realised how it’s such a bad idea for someone to claim to be an atheist in this part of the world. Frustration will just kill the person. Grinning so much that my lips are about to draw a full circle on my face, I say today is already a beautiful day and it’s going to be a wonderful week and I strongly believe yours will go as such. #OkechukwuEfobi
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 19:23:07 +0000
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