Nigeria; A contribution going bad

To be a Nigerian...?
Author: Prince Charles Dickson

Life is a circle (CONTRIBUTION)

I contribute.

You contribute.

We contribute.

When any party ceases to contribute, the circle will be broken and leakages will be discovered.

Whatever you are enjoying today is someone’s contribution.

Whatever you are lacking today is because someone who is supposed to contribute didn’t.

Don’t be that person, who because he refuses  to contribute, causes leakages to the circle.

Contribution is the essence of living.

You can contribute anything useful.

You can contribute in knowledge, in understanding, in wisdom, in love, in peace, in resources, in finances.

Also, You can contribute physically, spiritually,  intellectually, financially, morally etc.

When you contribute, people will eat and drink, when people contribute you will eat and drink.

Ask yourself.

What is your contribution in that place you are?

What have you contributed to make progress?

What is lacking as a result of your refusal to contribute?

What is the way forward?

The answer explains the scarcity or abundance in that place.

Your presence is irrelevant if you have nothing to contribute.

Contribution is the way to go.

In your place of worship, contribute.

In that organisation, contribute

In the school, contribute

In the house, contribute

In the Market, contribute.

In society, contribute.

In the village, contribute

In the community, contribute.

In the family,  contribute…

In Transformation, contribute, In your street, contribute, IN THE ANNIVERSARY, CONTRIBUTE.

Everywhere try and contribute..

You have something to contribute, Contribute in Love…

Nobody destroys where he contributed to build.

The above lines found its way into one of my crowded WhatsApp platforms, it had no author, one of those messages that come with the caveat plagiarized term “shared as copied” or “sent as received”. Many thanks to the original copyright owner, although I have made minor edits, it simply resonated with my short admonition to the citizens of Nigerians. So I thank the author for his/her contribution to this piece.

So as I collected my thoughts I stumbled on Soji Apampa’s essay in premiumtimes under the title Esusu, Adashe, & Ajo: Lessons for Corporate Nigeria? 

He started by stating, “All over Nigeria, it is common to see small contributory savings schemes where market women contribute a daily portion of their trading profit to a collective. What are the characteristics of these groups that make it work and what lessons can corporate Nigeria learn from these groups to ensure that as a group, they maintain high corporate governance standards?”

“In Yoruba, these saving schemes are called Ajo while it is referred to as Adashe in the north, and the Ibo word for it is Esusu. These group savings serve as a source of borrowing in emergencies, a way to grow savings and a means to achieve a communal goal, etc. At the heart of every collective saving scheme is the clan nature of its members.”

“Sociologist, Emile Durkheim defines a “clan” as an organic association that resembles a kin network but may not include blood relation. Clans are characterized by a strong feeling of solidarity and are governed by long-held traditions.  In case of a deviance from the traditions of a clan, they are able to correct their members through peer pressure – there is an implicit understanding that if you benefit from the collective, the collective has a right to redress if you do something that is inimical to the collective.”

“A sense that their futures are codetermined motivates members of a clan to embrace the “Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno – One for all and all for one” ethos.”

I want to thank Soji Apampa for the very simple explanation above, it is his contribution, and with that I ask, what is Thrift Cooperative (TC), TC is a voluntary association of individuals who come together to meet their savings, credit and insurance needs…

Nigeria is a voluntary collection of ethnic nationalities, diversely different in faith and all leanings, creeds in many measures, where not all contributions matter, and indeed not all lives matter in the contribution. I am not exactly sure about the voluntary association called Nigeria, but one thing that I am sure of, is that in the words of my sons—life no balance…believe…Nigeria no balance.

We are not saving, some are borrowing, we are not meeting our credit needs, Nigeria has no insurance nor assurance for her citizens. The kontri no balance, that’s why the south are asking the north to give it power, this in itself means there’s an inherent inequality and in response the north is flexing the power—that it supposedly has or does not have.

Nigeria is not a good contribution anymore, it is bringing loads of pain and bitterness to the component parts, it is no longer a productive circle. Nigerians are doing well everywhere but in Nigeria.

Some are contributing, others are just eating it up, a party has ceased to contribute, some parties are contributing less and getting more, there are leakages, lines are broken at scores of hundreds of spots.

A true federalism is a functional adashe, a rewarding esusu, a productive ajo but sadly in Nigeria, what we have in simply maths, is a case of five members of the cooperative, one contributes 500, another 400, another 300, while the other two are contributing 150 respectively to the thrift pot. At the end we have a total of 1500, and when we share the adashe, the least two contributors get 400 each after contributing 300 collectively.

For their 300 they get 800, while the three that collectively brought 1200 get 700 in return, indeed Nigeriathis cooperative is not working

Some are enjoying it, others are suffering, there’s a brute elite conspiracy, for example, they kill the public schools, and send their kids abroad to get the best education, so they can continue to chop the adashe. 

We are all suffering the collective irresponsibility of leadership across space and sphere and the total silence of citizenry in asking for accountability, Miyetti, IPOB, Odua that are not a collective become avenues to vent, they mean different things to different people at different times.

All the noise is because there’s a lack of contribution of good governance, there is a dearth of good leadership. Critical thinking and reasoning is invisible in national discourse and the government acts in such a laughable pedestrian manner.

So is the PIB Bill a fair esusu, do we see an equitable adashe when we operate one law for the rich another for the poor, one law for the ruling party and another for the opposition?

Nigerians are sad, pained, grieved, concerned about the security apparatchik because the ajo no balance, our (s)elected leaders are eating the contribution of the masses, and giving pain in return.

The problem is not Sunday Igboho, MNK or the separatists but at the core of their agitations, poverty, need, bad governance that has seen the agitators garner followership.

It’s one thing to say the country’s unity is non-negotiable but when it seems that only one party is contributing, at the expense of the collective good of others, it’s only a matter of time. We cannot be burning public infrastructure that is not even enough ala police stations. We cannot be collecting ransom from citizenry just like that ala bandits and kidnappers. We cannot be contributing lies and expect the truth…at what point do we sit and negotiate who brings what, who takes what, until we restructure the thrift, all our labour both now and those of heroes past will be in vain, it is in our hands, what we make of it—Only time will tell.

Prince Charles Dickson PhD

Team Lead

The Tattaaunawa Roundtable Initiative (TRICentre)

Development & Media Practitioner|

Researcher|Policy Analyst|Public Intellect|Teacher

234 803 331 1301, 234 805 715 2301

Alternate Mail: pcdbooks@yahoo.com

Skype ID: princecharlesdickson

 

 

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