I'M A FARMER

I'm sorry for staying away for so long. Only last week the Secretary in my fellowship said exam was around the corner. Now, Prof. is saying the same exam is knocking. But, I can't be tricked. Exams don't lurk around your backyard, they don't knock. They break down your door. So, that's why I've been away. Yeah, I miss you too. Wait oh, I heard Madam Aisha is neating Fayose's eye? But how will that reduce the price of tomatoes? *smh*

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This one came out of the AGR3*zero*5 farm and the road that led us all there

I've heard your reservation and they almost make sense. 
But is it really out of care or you are just scared I'd fail you?
Yeah, I understand. I too wouldn't see over the fence
If I were you.
But you see, what I see is quite more than frankincense
It's like nothing on your pew

Our fear ain't the same
Not anymore.
I think I see a pharaoh in yours.
"Are you really gonna consider this?"
"But it's all sweat and sand!"
"And a bit of blood"
"It is mere agriculture!"
"You're gonna end up an ordinary farmer"

I see your fears
They are almost valid.
But they are also too old.
They are like dinosaurs now.
My teeth can't chew on your ignorance no more
You can join me on this side
Or honour the treaty you signed with fear 
Either way, you'll see
That a Communion with the soil and chlorophyll, livestock and weather 

Is not a necessary evil
But a call a holy burden
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This is to the Agro Lords.

I WOKE UP LIKE THIS

"What happened to the black people of Sumer?" The traveller asked the old man. "For ancient records has it that the people of Sumer were black. What happened to them?"

"Ah" the old man sighed. They lost their history, and so they died".

No doubt, Nigeria despite the unflowered state, has its own romance. How do you make a fine soup of nationhood without the ingredient of history? How did we kick it out of our schools? Did all its teachers retire? Or did the students stop wanting it? Why is the university the only place history is heard? Faintly even! it is funny because our fathers,  who now claim we have failed never taught us about our past but expect us to respect, love it and move on. Well, it's clearer now than ever, we need a firm and an unbiased grip of history; family and nation. How did we get here? What have we tried? How have we failed? The easiest way to ruin a person is to make sure they don't tell their stories or to tell only part of it. To rise from this pit, we must tell all. Write all. Read all.

To all you visionaries who believe that to start afresh, we must forget our history, and also to everyone who thinks that the best shot at a perfect future is to deny the past; you are in the wrong. If you don't know what led to this moment, you will remain in it. Running from the glaring truth of the past is like a black lady applying blush; it's futile. We are who we are. Until we are courageous enough to learn about our history, we are not ready for the future. One chief factor why we as Nigerians can't effectively tackle trials is a thriving ignorance of the past. It is not enough to cram dates of obvious events and names of prominent forefathers. It is not okay to possess a detached knowledge of your root. How did all you've come to crammed come about? And why?

I think sincerely that one reason we don't tell about our history is that we don't have it. As a people, we have a very outdated manner of storing information. A terrible habit. We admit too many things to memory and chance. A historic happening is often undocumented and is left to the sparse mercy of hearsay. So, all the time, the truth of history is lost or often modified to suit the faction of the teller. It is almost always not correct. People forget they die, they lie. 

Ben Murray-Bruce (the "I just want to make common sense" crooner) in his book A Common Sense Revolution wrote, "Nigerians may be surprised to note that if you want to get accurate records of Nigeria Civil War, of supreme military council activities, of leaders that were deposed (e.g Buhari first regime), of defining moments of Nigeria's history, you have to go to either the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC or the British ITV". Can you imagine! Those melancholic evenings where we sat at Baba's feet and laid on mama's chest while single-edged stories were shoved down our throats were surreal. But it's no longer enough.  Their whole truth should be told and so, should be properly documented.

History can have its own weight, but ignorance is worse…it could tear us into unimaginable bits. We all seem to know who to blame, but how would that help?  In a few years, you'd become an ancestor. Then, someone would blame you. And the rat race continues. No more should blame can be bought and sold. We woke up like this. Let's bother enough to understand the past before changing it. Let's tell our story. Paint it on the walls of our primary school instead of Scooby doo and Barney. How is a borrowed English language more important than our native History? Adamu Adamu, please wake our schools. Our children should know that our fathers did not only marry many wives and practiced subsistence farming, they also carved, painted, and built empires. Take history back to our schools.

All over the universe, histories are the same! It contains a fair divide of both loathsomeness and loveliness. You must first embrace and understand it, then try to prune. Give yourself a gift this Democracy Day celebration, go buy yourself a bowl of interest on national history. Teach the young. Tell others to do the same.

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Happy Democracy Day celebration Nigeria and Happy birthday Bridget.

LOVE IS NOT RED

The day will come when, after harnessing space , the winds , the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire"

-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

On valentine's day, my school is always turned into a bloody colour by 'lovers'. If you don't have any touch of red, you are either too young to grasp love or too old to feel it. If you don't have a lover, you didn't exist that day. Mr. Matthew said about love, "It is the kind of feeling you feel when you feel the kind of feeling you've never felt before". 

Is love that reliable rising sun that never fails to come every morning or that denting black spot on your knee that stays after a fall?  Maybe my school was correct, love has some colour to it. Maybe Mr. Matthew was right, love is indeed a feeling. Maybe love is really meant for lovers. But is that all love is about?

Some say love dampens the senses and so, should never come. Others suggest that if it did come, it should never stay for It comes with too much bother. Society (you and I) have tenaciously misconstrued the science of love. It's not always sex. It does not always gain. It is not the light in your eyes when you see Felicia or the lump in your throat when you hug Dápo. It is not about who you can love and when it's convenient. It's not moi-moi, it should not be rationed. Love is not religious, tribal, or racial. Love is not blind. Love does cost a thing. Love is not that dripping red heart picture on your gallery. No! Love is not red. What did they say about journalists? They consistently repeat a lie with the hope that it will become true. No amount of clothing we put love can change how it looks. It is either love or not. No semi-love or fake love.

Love could be petalous as well as thorny. Love is commitment. Believe me, love is the smile on your face when you see your imperfect self in a mirror. It was the pain in mummy's voice when she bore you. It was the necessity in daddy's gait as he spank your mischievous bum. Love was the hurried steps your playmates made into the bush to fetch Awolowo leaf to tend your scratched knee. It was the silence Uzor shared with you when words failed. It was in those things we shared and gave when it was all we had. It was in those voices that prayed and cheered us on when we couldn't find strength. It was in the kiss on the altar when you remembered how long Bamikole waited to deserve you. Love was when you trusted Isoken with your heart. Love is simple. It cannot be caged, but given wings. Love is the only debt that can't be paid in full.

Love is when you let yourself live.

THE VALLEY OF BROKEN DREAMS

Never again shall a single story be told  as though it's the only one.
- JOHN BERGER

I read recently that the average Nigerian child will want to be a doctor, accountant, lawyer, nurse, banker or engineer. One website refers to them as the most marketable courses. At first, I saw nothing wrong with this simple statement. In fact, I almost clapped. It was after I thought deep that I saw the lacuna it has made in our nation's health.

It started in primary school when the teacher will state, "If you want a Dr., Engr., Barr., Pharm., to come before your name, you better be serious. Or else, you will end up a farmer". Now, this was repeated for several years that it became impossible for pupils to see farming as anything but poverty and want. When any child was asked what they wanted to be when they grow up, it was normal to not hear them say police, teacher, chef, nutritionist, soil scientist, farmer, musician, soldier, artist.

This continued in secondary school as it was not rare to see hear blunderbuss teachers slaying statements like , "Udoh, you should be a doctor; BECAUSE you are very good in biology". "Amarama, maths comes easy for you, you should be an engineer". "Usman, I've seen the way you deal with numbers, you should fill in for accounting". God help you if the only course you are good at is agricultural science! Your portion of scorn Will be out of this world. We let our children graduate from 12 years of schooling with a faulty concept of career and value.

You still Wonder why almost all our young people are angry and irritable? Why there's halfhearted approach to public service? It's simple...broken dreams. The doctor really wanted to do business. The engineer seriously had the dream of becoming a research farmer. The agriculturist's mind was fixed on medicine.

Our society is crawling with young souls who either did not get what they wanted or got what they thought they wanted but later found out their heart beats for another.

What if those pupils our classrooms were told to study hard to become honourable doctors, engineers, lawyers and FARMERS? (agriculturists)?

What if Udoh was told that he needs good knowledge of biology to become a doctor or an ANIMAL SCIENTIST?

What if Amarama was taught that maths needed in Engineering and AGRICULTURE?

What if Usman was told that he needed his finesse be an accountant or an AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIST?

I hope the Education minister and school owners read this. Employ trained and compassionate counsellors in our primary and secondary schools.  It is sickening to note that public tertiary institution have such a department as GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING but it's missing in public primary and secondary schools. So, I'm left to wonder, who needs the milk more? The forming child or the formed adult?

Mummies, daddies, guardians and teachers, teach our children that there are over 570 courses approved by NUC that can be studied in our institutions. Also, add that they can read anyone and still succeed!

And to all victims of broken dreams...heal and help posterity with your scar.

To all agriculturist, projections implies that by 2050 Nigeria population will rise to be over 500million. They will need food!

The future is green...I hope you can see!

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This piece is the brainchild of a chat I had with Marvellous Osaji following the publication of my last post. This one is dedicated to you. Thank you for your suggestion dear.
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