There is no time to waste, she’s on a life-support machine and she definitely needs help. If unaided, this may be the last phase of her challenging life.
I would like to warn that this not a usual romantic tale as you may have thought or as suggested by the title nor a thriller full of escapades, it is a story dedicated to finding possible solutions to some of the problems confronting us as a people. If you are still interested in reading further, here we go.
Many years ago, she was diagnosed of a rare form of cancer that was detected at such an early stage that would have made it curable. Contrary to expectation, chemotherapy and radiation were ineffective in her case and the only option would have been surgically removing the affected tissues or organ from her system just like her sister once did when she had a similar problem. The tumour has now ravaged some of her organs. It has weaken her kidney and she needs a transplant. She also needs bone marrow transplant to ensure her survival. Compatible donor are needed immediately. The donors are you and I, the patient is Nigeria and the cancer is corruption. It is unfortunate that corruption has become an integral part of the nation. A way of life and a way of governance.
While Nigeria lives with corruption and allows the corrupt officials to flaunt the proceeds of corruption to assail our collective intelligence, J.J. Rawlings knew long ago that it would neither serve his country nor his people any good to let the corrupt leaders be. He removed the malignant cells from their system and this makes the difference in these two countries today. As much as this is not the main focus of this write up and coupled with the fact that I would not like to support a bloody revolution yet in this country, I think we need to start discussing how to rescue our dear nation from this marauders who are only out to filch the nation to death.
As an optimist, I tried most possible not to sound a pessimist or an alarmist but the situations on ground prove me otherwise. The problems are visible everywhere you turn your face. Needless to start listing them. We need to speedily intervene in bringing back life into this system whose collapse is imminent. The good people of this great nation want you. The unfortunate lot who have been at the receiving end of the misrule of these heartless successive corrupt governments need you and the most fragile part of the society - the poor, particularly widows and orphans, and the sick and disabled need you. They need your aid. At the very least, everyone needs to do at least one thing every year to help these people. We all know that at best, the government has no welfare programme for struggling people save for the little window dressing the first ladies do in the eye of television cameras to deceive the world that they care. They cannot deceive God.
Under the present global financial conditions where unemployment are at an all-time high, Nigeria needs you much more than ever and we can not afford to fail. Her survival depends on what we give back to her in this crucial time. A nation is built on what individuals give back and not what they take it from it. We surely know that to whom much is given, much is expected but in this time of emergency, even though little or nothing was ever given, we still cannot close our eyes to the suffering of the populace.
We are a people who pride ourselves in our communal living ensuring the welfare of people who are connected to us as in the saying "Charity begins at home". We have our peculiar and informal way of giving back. We generously support our extended families and friends. We take good care of our parents and grandparents. We sponsor our nephew and nieces as if they are our children. We even pay school fees and hospital bills of our distant relations. Truly, charity begins at home but it does not end there. Normally, charity denotes giving to those not related to one. In giving back, we need to look beyond our family lines. We need to institutionalize our giving such as to ensure continuity and allow it transcend our time and bloodline.
Even though the notion of giving back is universal, the institutional form is more established and more popular in the developed world. As the governments provide the best social services and welfare programmes to the disadvantaged, the voluntary efforts of the private sector is imperative in complementing those of the various governments as a way of showing appreciation to the system that has given the opportunity to be in the position of helping others.
In giving back, corporate and religious organizations and well meaning members of the society engage in charitable and philanthropic work by donating money, goods, services, time and/or effort to support socially beneficial causes, with defined objectives and with no financial or material reward to the donor. In a more general sense, philanthropy may encompass any unselfish activity intended to promote good or improve human quality of life.
During the past few years, some high profile examples of philanthropy include Irish rock singer Bono's campaign to cancel Third World debt to developed nations; the Gates Foundation's massive resources and ambitions, such as its campaigns to eradicate malaria, polio and river blindness; and billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett's donation in 2006 of $31 billion to the Gates Foundation. Although philanthropists are often rich, people may also perform philanthropic acts without possessing great wealth.
As against philanthropists, charitable workers are non-wealthy persons who have dedicated and donated some of their time, effort and wealth to charitable causes. They pull up their small resources together to do great work that would have been otherwise impossible to do alone. I have had to support some great charitable causes with as little as €1.00 (One Euro) that was deducted from my mobile phone credit.
Recently, as L’Aquila, Italy was devastated by earthquake, more than 10,000 (ten thousand) people volunteered to work night and day with the government agencies in the rescue and relief efforts. My son’s football club is coached by a team of three young men who dedicate 9 hours every week to ensure the boys play good football. It is also not an uncommon scene to see a young volunteer driving an ambulance donated by a local bank alongside those provided by the local health authority. We can do all these and even more.
We can develop institutions and charities to carry out the labour of assisting the poor. These include orphanages, food banks and feeding centres, hospitals, organizations that visit the imprisoned, support groups and religious orders dedicated to care for the poor. Jesus did not only provide for the spiritual needs of the people, he also cared for their welfare. He fed those who came to listen to Him. In the same vein, Islam is about sharing and caring for the less privileged.
In giving back, we can be involved in the area of education giving grants, scholarship, counselling and supporting both parents and students in one cause or the other. We need to come together as old students’ association members to support our alma meters. Virtually, all the schools are shadows of their past. In the health sector, we can come together to build and run primary health centres, donate tools and materials to government hospitals, donate working hours at different levels, organising counselling and enlightenment campaign and running ambulance services. In the social/welfare/youth sector, we can run rehabilitation centres for the street guys, recreational and sporting centres to develop sporting ability and leadership in the youth. ‘The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own’. We can also operate feeding centres where dinners are served ensuring no one dies of starvation and hand out centres where people can
collect new and used materials like clothes, shoes, books, baby food, toys etc. We can also give special assistance to the disabled.
When we institutionalise our charitable work, it will be easier to get philanthropists and cooperate sponsors to lend their weight. Save for a few, many of our organisations and the super rich only give out rams during Sallah break or over-publicised hand out at Christmas whereas they can replicate what Bill Gate is doing internationally at our local level. The other areas that charity can effectively operate in Nigeria are:
1. relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged,
2. advancement of education,
3. erection or maintenance of public buildings, monuments, or works,
4. construction of bore-hole to communities
5. defence of human and civil rights secured by law, and
6. legal defence of the defenceless
7. combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.
8. protecting and preserving the beautiful and fragile natural habitats within and surrounding our centre,
9. waste recycling – especially paper, card and pure water plastic and nylon,
10. the advancement of citizenship or community development
11. the advancement of human rights conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity
12. the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
13. the relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
When look back to the activities and performances of our successive governments, most of us may not have any reason to give back but when we look at the suffering of the populace as a result of the neglect by the government, we have a moral obligation to give back. The system has not actually given us so much but in most instances, it has forced many of us to where we are today enjoying the best facilities in the world
Nigeria Go Better!
God Bless Nigeria!
Rufus Kayode Oteniya ([email protected]) is a Milan, Italy based businessman and social commentator.
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