BNW Magazine: Biafra Nigeria World :: Time out for Good Vibes about Nigeria:: Farouk O. Martins, Omo Aresa: Commentary @ BiafraNigeriaWorld.

All the news about Nigeria is not that bad. There are many encouraging news but the bad ones are so real and devastating, we forget many goods things. In spite of what may dismay us, we still celebrate our Traditional, Muslim and Christian religious festivals, birthdays, weddings, naming and old age ceremonies. When I asked some of my friends what is there to celebrate in the midst of poverty, they cautioned me that they will not die without some fun and happiness in their life. One friend said if he tightens his belt further by a millimeter, he would break into two!

I think one of the best news was the spinal cord operation at

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the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Dala by Dr. Mohammed Salihu. He graduated from Bayero University Medical School with further training in Germany. My emphasis is on Bayero University against all odds. It has been a long time anyone can boast of a well equipped high school laboratory, not to mention a University.

Discovery of uranium in commercial quantity is a gleam of hope. Think about all the possibilities and keep it to yourself. We can, at least discuss the end of power shortage through the years of ECN, NEPA and whatever their transformation. Does it hit you when those kids celebrate as NEPA restore light after been starved into the darkness?

I have been following solar developments for the use of street lights in Jigawa and Akwa Ibom States. I remember most of those stories we called fabu in Lagos that were perfected under the street lights or moonlight as in Achebe�s Things Fall Apart. Man, our children did miss out on Nigeria.

I could not believe it when I heard food prices were coming down in some parts of the North. We are waiting for it to spread to all parts of Nigeria, no matter how short that may last. It was not exactly tumbling down, so tone down your celebration. Food has most of the answers to our problem by the time we industrialize that sector.

I still yearn for the days we used to celebrate � First in Africa! But when we say - Only in Nigeria; that means something negative. Other countries place their pride on � The First in the Whole Wide World. I usually find myself in envious position I must confess. We can then turn the question into � What have I done as an individual to make Nigeria the first in the world? That is better than pointing fingers.

As I think about myself, I am happy about my tiny contributions when I went back home. But this is not about self gratification. Each and every one of us has a contribution to make no matter how tiny instead of bleeding the Country to death. It is the best Pope we have never had, Cardinal Arinze, who wishes Nigerians, can decide not to steal a kobo. I think that will be a contribution these days.

Africans made so many contributions in all fields of Arts and Sciences to

the world civilization all these centuries that were masked and plagiarized only in the last century. One may then wonder why we are not proud of �made in Africa� products. It is more appreciated if it is an import. Professor Ade Ajayi lamented the dying of separate History Departments in our Universities. If we do not learn our history religiously, we are left with the history of others. They will then interpret our history for us. I remember we were so proud of �maths, maths, and physics�. We used to laugh at �rk, rk, and Yoruba�. How foolish it looks now.

One can not say enough about the task of the drug enforcement agency under Dr. Dora Akunyili who continue to save us from fake products made in Nigeria. Stout and beer factories were discovered with the label of popular brands. If these products were safe and the ingredients came from local products, it seems to me that they are suffering from some forms of complex not unrelated to the fact that if they had come out with their own labels, Nigerians would not have patronized them. It is not unlike the same case of the difference between Coke and Pepsi.

Some of us may remember the days Tai Solarin who challenged the Authority to arrest him for openly displaying ogogoro or apetesi. Foreign alcohol was the legal drink of those days. Even religious preacher had their own stock in their closets, after service of course! If I remember my Things fall Apart well, Okonkwo grabbed his horn and decided to attend service when he heard that alcohol was served during communion. The pride was about which country the drink was made and how �reputable�.

Nobody doubts the fact that Nigerians are well known anywhere in the world. While our food is now popular among Nigerians outside, I am still looking for the days when our food will be as common as Chinese food, Italian pizza or fish and chips. Foreigners love our Jollof rice and moin-moin. No matter how many times I tried to cook both, I never got them right. It has a special touch to it.

I have to make a personal confession since charity begins at home. Some years ago, a friend of mine said he ate Nigerian food everyday in California. I called him ole and a greedy man. I later started eating the same dishes as the supply moved up North of America. In those days, Nigerian food was not readily available outside even if you have the money to buy then, because they were and are still expensive. We used to make do with substitutes. Well, things have changed. Nigerians now buy gari by the bag. No need to wait for those coming from home.

While our Nigerian restaurants prosper and compete with one another in some

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European, US and Canadian cities, I was appalled when one went belly up in a US city for lack of Nigerian patrons. For those Nigerians who can afford it, there are so many restaurants in Lagos these days serving Nigerian dishes. I was so impressed, I marveled at the courteous behavior of the staff and their clean toilets. Some of our boys are coming back home and starting their own businesses that can rival any fast food restaurant in the world.

The movie industry products are exported from Nigeria to all the Continents. While I admit that some of the fetish image are not in the best taste, I find it educational because all these were usually done in secrete. Now we have an opportunity to sanitize or regulate them. Nigerian movies are so popular, some people become addicted to them.

This is just the beginning of a New Nigeria. We now have people who do not wait on Nigeria to do things for them or complain about what they can not get from Nigeria. It is what they can give to Nigeria while making themselves wealthy and worthy. When we were returning home in early eighties, some of my friends questioned my reasoning to go and expose my family to good harsh realities in Nigeria. Yet, some people think that was a good time in Nigeria.

The fact is Nigeria surely got worse so that those who left at certain point and time think Nigeria was better then. When I told people I was home during the time of Gowon and Shagari. They told me those who made it, got it then. If I did not become rich then, I would never be rich again. It is not a curse � a direct Yoruba translation into English.

We tend to look at our life in terms of material things, which is important for comfort, I must say. But the gratification I got from my job and the contribution we made with the opportunity to travel to the villages in all the nineteen States of Nigeria then can never be gained or duplicated anywhere else in the whole wide world. I am proud to be the son of the soil!