IT's TIME TO BUILD THE SOCIETY

Elsewhere in the world, the fad is limited government. Over here, our solutions to most problem is static and statist. We want government this, government that. The truth is that the state, as an amalgam of force and a monopoly of violence has no job building the society, even though both the state and the society cannot exist without each other. But it is the citizens that build societies. We build it with our arts, our songs, poetry, dance, drama, food, cuisine and learning. States come, states go but societies remain. Where are the African Empires of old? I laugh when I see traditional rulers in Nigeria strutting about like caged peacocks. I ask myself that what do this citizens in a republic think of their status? Do they really think that the states their fathers govern and wield power over is still in existence? What a joke. Let's go back to the matter. We need to build the society. I shall be calling out some important persons here. Sultan of Sokoto, the ramadan is over. Don't you think you should put in place a scholarship fund for promising students to seek secular knowledge anywhere in the world? Aliko Dangote, you are expanding, expanding within the limits which the Nigerian society permits you but i am yet to see #DANGOTE PRIZE for Innovation. I am yet to see #DANGOTE PRIZE FOR NORTHERN LITERATURE IN HAUSA AND ENGLISH. I AM YET TO SEE DANGOTE PROFESSORIAL CHAIR IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT #AHMADUBELLOUNIVERSITY. And there you are in Lagos farting and talking down on northern youths and dismissing them as jobless for issuing quit notice to their fellow compatriots. Get out of your state of catatonia and face the reality. Do not give back to us but contribute to the building of the society that facilitated your rise and expansion. Read books and learn responsible capitalism from the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, the Fords, the Alfred Nobels, Bill Gates. Create dollar-denominated trust funds and start that research center on infectious diseases in the north. Mr.Bola Tinubu? What do you really stand for apart from power-avarice and selfish politics. I have read your many interventions on the economy in op-ed sections of newspapers and in the book you co-authored with Briane Brown. blah,blah platitudes! Do something within your power now! Where is the Bola Tinubu scholarship scheme? where is the Abibat Mogaji Endowment fund at LASU for Research in Market Economics? Where is the ABAT Prize for Arts and Literature? Where is the Bola Tinubu 1 billion naira fund for Entrepreneurship at the Bank of Industry? This society is tearing at the seams, help repair the torn tapestry. Pastor Adeboye, Pastor Kumuyi and other Pastors, If there is going to be kingdom of God in the afterlife, it is still going to be arranged in the way we have it here. The American corner shall still be for the U,.S citizens and the Nigerian corner shall still for Nigerians. If you are from Ancient Egypt, there shall be a Pharaoh waiting to receive you. Now guys, Pastors, get serious! There is no escape from your Nigerianess, even in the afterlife. I have heard all the preaching but to whom much is given, same is also expected. You and your enterprises have received much from a generous society. It is time to help build its future. Do not give me the crap that the right hand must not know what the left hand is doing. Sirs, when it comes to building the society, a gold-fish has no hiding place. I want to see Adeboye Public Library handed over to Osun state government for management. I want KUMUYI Prize for mathematical research. I want Okonkwo Endowment grant for women-owned enterprises, I want Paul Adefarasin Full scholarship Primary school at Mushin. Tunde Bakare what did you learn from your mentor, Chief Gani Fawehinmi? I remember the banner that I saw every year of my stay at Olabisi Onabanjo University, which advertised Gani Fawehinmi Scholarship Fund. The only criteria for accessing the fund is that you are an extremely poor student. Many future were saved because of this intervention. Perhaps without the benevolence of the northern region, Muhammadu Buhari would have been an angry fulani herdsman.I want, I want, I WANT good and beneficent deeds. I am tired of looking up to Jesus for material things i lacked, I want to keep Allah out of things that ordinary men can give. Is that too much? Folorunsho Alakija, Mo Abudu, Abbah Folawiyo, Abike Dabiri, Dame Fashola, Bisi Fayemi, Mrs. Ambode, Mrs. Tinubu, girls what have you been doing? I have not seen the hospices you built in poor neighbourhoods. I am yet to see the scholarships for girl- engineers you have instituted. Are you ladies that self-conceited? Why all the time hedonistic pursuits? Oh, you are pursuing plastic beauties and lifestyles? hah-hah, ok Newsflash! It is all vanity. Go and ask the old aunts who had gone before you. Please you still have the time, so let's get to work. Start the work of repairing this seared and torn society. Orji Uzor Kalu, Emeka Offor, Obi Achebe, where are the Professorial chairs you instituted? Where are the Centres for Advanced Research you are funding? Where is the Nigerian Peace Prize you began. If Silverbird television is fooling you with awards of suspect provenance, if Vanguard is massaging your egos with nonsensical man of the year awards, if Punch is presenting you with plaques in commemoration of your sterling leadership, if Nduka's Thisday has found no one else to deliver its platitudinous keynote address at its gala in celebration falsehood, they are doing this because they are hungry. Let them have a filled stomach, a filled barn and a mouth that knows how to say 'i don't want' as our parents taught us when we were young, they will surely heap abuses on you. Ladies and Gentlemen of the privileged class, it is time to start using the resources we have cornered to build this society on the firm principle of equal opportunity for all. This is the only meaning of liberty as I see it. Let us build lasting values and put the devil of Biafra, restructuring, disintegration, hunger, disease to shame. I beseech you therefore, my self-centered and hedonistic elite brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your time, resources, wealth and bodies, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Nigerian society, for this is your reasonable service. And stop conforming to this world of chaos and flux, but be ye transformed by renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.[