“…I feel alright, London l’awa!” That is from Fuji music lord and ‘official’ musician to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, K1 The Ultimate. As you read this, our dear president is feeling alright in London. He is in London again after three long weeks. Oh, you forgot he was in London on September 12, on his way from China and had met with King Charles…? Well, this time he is in London to spend part of his well-deserved annual vacation, especially after standing all through to read his Independence Day broadcast to the nation on October 1.
President Tinubu achieved the monumental feat of standing all through his nationwide broadcast on our 64th Independence Anniversary. And you didn’t think he deserves to go on vacation in London to cool down? Think again if you thought that is drivel!
One brilliant writer needed to drive the special achievement into our skulls in a post on his X handle the day after: “The president stood up throughout his October 1 broadcast. Few are willing to observe this. His predecessors sat. If he faltered, it would have made headlines. An upstanding delivery.” True. Anyone who did us the favour of standing up to address us deserves to jet out.
However, you need to also note that they have explained that President Tinubu hasn’t gone there just to relax. They have told you and I that it is a ‘working leave’. Therefore President Bola Tinubu is not just in England to cool down but would also “retreat to reflect on his administration’s economic reforms.” So, before you boil and fret while ruminating on the thought that our hardworking president has gone to only cavort and chill, please note that he has not, and cool your mind. Vicariously, that clever injection of the work angle to the president›s leave must be the reason for not formally handing over to Vice President Kashim Shettima while he is away.
Meanwhile, while our president is safely cooling off, cooling down and retreating in London, Nigerian workers, our Corpers and the petrol-buying public are cooling their heels in the fire of hunger. We are all anticipating the new minimum wage that has been approved since July. Together, all of us are holding our breath in weighty anxiety, ‘waiting to exhale’ in the midst of our various heavy economic encumbrances amid fast-fading renewed hope.
I beg, make we leave President Tinubu to enjoy his… leave. There are so many other things that should occupy our minds at a time like this. One of them is centred on those whom providence has positioned to directly share from and eat our national cake. Our national cake and those eating it came up because Nigerians are hungry for food and for competent leadership. We are also in great need of humane sharers of the national cake who would have the heart of flesh as the Psalmist prescribes.
Should we define national cake? Do we have perceptive people who cannot (or should not be able to) place what ‘national cake’ represents in the context of Nigeria, Nigerians and the leadership class? I will not think so. I no gree!
Well, in case there are those who need explanations on national cake, or who want to read more about the concept, I think they should read a paper written on it by George C. Nche of the University of Johannesburg. The work was published in Bassey Andah Journal in 2011 is entitled “The Concept of National Cake in the Nigerian Political System: Implications for National Development”. In it, he did a lot to explain national cake in all its ramifications. Nche noted that this concept “is popular among students and the teeming unemployed graduates”; and it is also popular “among casual workers, commercial drivers, businessmen and women, and civil servants.” Nche defined ‘national cake’ as a country’s “national wealth and income.” He did not delight in the development in which Nigeria’s national wealth and income has been designated as ‘national cake’. “The popularity of this concept of national cake among Nigerians is overwhelmingly obvious,” he submits. Can that be faulted? Artisans, traders, people at the lower and the lowest rung of the economic ladder know that in Nigeria, national cake means Nigeria’s wealth. He understands that we are all familiar with the concept and what we all are thinking about national cake.
Interestingly, the concept of ‘national cake’ is actually not originally Nigerian. Besides, cake, regardless of how much we are forcing ourselves to make it our thing, is not Nigerian. It is not our natural thing. Those to whom cake is a thing have their national cake day which they have been observing since the 1800s. National Cake Day is celebrated in the United States of America and this year it will take place on November 26. There, they would enjoy cake and relish the artistry around it. For the owners of the yam and the knife, there is also the King’s Cake day around the Epiphany as well as the merriment around this popular desert in the United Kingdom. These are people who have cakes – national or otherwise – and share them among the people. The sharing might not be equal, but you are sure to get a piece which would be sizeable enough to necessitate your hearty contribution towards a fair sharing and the baking of another cake. The sharing of cake there nourishes patriotism.
However, when issues are the national cake in Nigeria, just look around you and see the stark difference. A sample of what happens to our national cake is in the photograph published by the Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday, October 2, 2024. In that symbolic photo, our representatives stood in our place behind the national cake, cut the cake, shared it among themselves and ate it. The cake can easily pass as our national cake and represents our collective aspiration.
Yes, the cake was the Independence Anniversary cake and so it was emblematic. Since the country began the celebration of its independence anniversary, the same circle of people cut the cake every cycle. The individuals cutting the cake might be different at certain occasions, but the circle can only get wider as the country grows while the cake is made bigger for the sake of the exclusive clique.
This is figurative, but literally, they are the same people eating the cake. These same people hold the reins of the country and decide who gets near the cake and what they get from it. As noted by Nche in his work, “the distorted import of this concept of national cake in Nigeria has been found to be the bane of national development. It has laid platforms for ethnic, political and even religious conflicts in the country.” Everything about this submission is found only at the hem of the clothes of the people around the table and the cake. They know what they are doing with us and the national cake. Look through Nigeria’s recent history and decide for yourself if the people helping us to cut the national cake have been fair in their duties. Look around you and compare our predicament with that of the people who truly celebrate national cake day. Look at the leadership in those countries and look at our situation. There is a big difference in those in charge of their cakes and those in charge of ours. Obviously, the people cutting our national cake are eating it alone. In fact, they have nearly finished the national cake and we do not have the wherewithal to stop them!
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