Nigeria: Being our brother’s keeper

‘HOW can you do that? They are the firewood of hell! It is impossible for a black person ever to go to heaven. What a fool you are!” King Christian VI of Denmark to his friend Count Zinzendorf on his planned trip to Africa for missionary work in 1731.

The above arrogant drawl from a mean-spirited king shouldn’t shock you. It was said in the 18th century when discrimination was Heaven’s Fare. But you would have expected that in our time, such discrimination would have been squelched? How wrong you are. There are too many people with virgin eyes in Nigeria. Born here, school here, marry here, live here, consort with people from here but claim to know “those people.” I wonder how some missionaries made it to Africa and left with wonderful experiences and others so biased that they left very bad impressions on the people. Take the writing about Nigeria from an anonymous missionary who spent less than one year ministering to Nigerians for instance, “ The people are of a low type. They live for the most part in crude nudity. The older men and women can recall the taste of human flesh. They are all lazy. They do not know God.”

Credit must be given to those missionaries who even attempted to venture out and see the world, however duplicitous the intentions of some were. Not so in Nigeria. What happens in another region is the concern of the people of that region. The Chibok girls, some people still say, without shame, “were never kidnapped.” It was just a figment of some people’s fancy and a chimera to boot. How many times have you heard this statement;”I can never go to that part of Nigeria?” What is education then? Doesn’t it include travelling, meeting people, learning new languages, etc?

What happens elsewhere should concern us. Think about it! We are so interconnected and may have our relatives, friends residing as well in the lands of “those people.” If only we loved all parts and not our parts of Nigeria alone, we could have challenged our politicians to take the gauntlet to accept the responsibility to make decisions that will resolve crises in other places, banish hunger which is ravaging the land everywhere, and make us more nationalistic. Does poverty recognise people and tribe? Poverty is the same everywhere. Consider the cruelty and senseless killings by Badoo men in Ikorodu that no one seems able to contain. We lose because we never planned to win. We travel to other sections of the country not with an open mind but with a bit of negative bias, and report jaundiced stories upon our return.

We lack sympathy for the next man because we work with the popular view. Literary texts for Nigeria’s growth are needed now more than ever to reduce the number of people with virgin eyes. These texts should aim to win the battle of the minds. Again, where is the National Orientation Agency? “It is not weapons that decide the outcome of a war, but the men who carry the weapons,” said Chairman Mao. Elsewhere, some men are summoned to be part of a jury. You hardly can reject such summons even if it means travelling to another state and even if the assignment interferes with your plans. But you have to vote in elections to be a potential Juror. This shows that you are responsible. A responsible Nigerian loves every region and people as a civic duty even though he realizes that he is not obligated to.

The man in the restaurant prayed for the price of oil to fall to its barest minimum and for things to be harder for Nigeria only because  you-know-who is in power . “What kind of business do you engage in? I asked. “I sell vehicles,” he retorted. “Who will buy your vehicles if things become more difficult, considering that most private entrepreneurs in Nigeria can’t  survive without government patronage?” No response. You could decipher what was racing through his mind. I was not surprised when he asked me on his way out: “ Where are you from?”

Many Nigerians with virgin eyes are lonely and cover up for this by being grumpy. When you have friends that are Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba, Igala, Langtang, Idoma, Nupe, Urhobo, IJaw, Kataf, Tiv, Bini, Kataf, Zuru, Kalabari, Ogoni, Gwari, you will have eyes that aren’t virgin eyes but ones reserved for true nationalists. Do you have such people as friends? Now you see why you have virgin eyes. “Landlord travel and see.”

• Abah writes in from Port Harcourt, Rivers State.