IN ALL OF THESE, I CHOSE HOPE

British PM, David Cameron at PAU, Lagos

"From Eko Atlantic and Balogun Street Market to the biggest port in the most populous country in Africa, you (Governor Raji Fashola of Lagos) are transforming your city. And your fellow Africans are doing the same all over the continent. Today there are unprecedented opportunities to trade and grow, raise living standards and lift billions from poverty. So I urge you: seize these opportunities, grab them, shape them.." 

These are not party times in our nation. There is the return of high profile abductions. Violence, resulting in maiming and deaths in Borno and Plateau states, has continued without ceasing. There is the bombing of the United Nations Building in Abuja, which has claimed 27 lives.  And there is the massive flooding of my home town, Ibadan and the unprecedented level of fatalities, put at 102 by the Nigeria Red Cross.

I commiserate with all who have been negatively affected by all of these and many more occurrences of the unhappy kind across the land. Lives have been lost, properties worth millions, may be even, billions have been lost and we are being treated to the same rhetoric by our leaders.  Experts are proffering all kind of solutions; Christian and Muslim leaders are calling for prayer and fasting – as usual.

In the event, gloom is in the air. Fear stalks the land. And doomsayers are having a field day, their rank swelling by the day. But in the midst of all that I dare to hope. I dare to join those, like British Prime Minister David Cameron who, on a recent visit described “Nigeria as a dream waiting to happen.”  

Cameron, who was guest speaker at the Pan African University, Ajah, Lagos, on Tuesday, July 19 was widely quoted as follows:

“Tell me this: which part of the world has seen its number of democracies increase nearly eight-fold in just two decades? Eastern Europe? No, it’s Africa. Which continent has six of the ten fastest growing economies in the world? Asia? No, it’s Africa. Which country is predicted by some to have the highest average GDP growth in the world over the next 40 years? You might think Brazil, Russia, India or China. No. Think Africa. Think Nigeria. 

“The point I want to make today, is this: This can be Africa’s moment. Africa is transforming in a way no-one thought possible 20 years ago, and suddenly a whole new future seems within reach. I have known for a long time about the tremendous energy and ingenuity of the Nigerian people. From the civil activism of the churches of South London to the contribution of Nigerians to British business, law, medicine, sport and music, I have seen the passion and enterprise of Nigerians changing my country for the better. But what I have seen in London I have seen a hundred-fold here today.

“From Eko Atlantic and Balogun Street Market to the biggest port in the most populous country in Africa, you (Governor Raji Fashola of Lagos) are transforming your city. And your fellow Africans are doing the same all over the continent. Today there are unprecedented opportunities to trade and grow, raise living standards and lift billions from poverty. So I urge you: seize these opportunities, grab them, shape them.”

He reminds me of that wonderful young lady, TY Bello and her inspirational song, “We Are the Future”, which I had quoted in full here  about two months ago. The first verse says:

“We are the future

We are the dream

We are the nation

We are part of this

“Yes, we are so amazing

That’s the least we shall be

At the heart of the nation changing history”

It’s followed by a bridge which goes like this:

“How can we say that we are finished

We have just begun

When we have nowhere else to run to

We have nowhere else to go…”

Yes, I chose to hope in the midst of all of the seeming doom and gloom, because, my God is capable of making all of these work together for our good. That is the import of the Scripture in Romans 8:28 which reads: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  Our role, the leaders and the led, is therefore to love God, identify His purposes and pursue it. 

It is well with Nigeria, in the precious name of Jesus.