*TIME TO REVIVE THE SPIRIT OF CONTENTMENT- OLAWEPO HASHIM*

One of the values that sustained pre-colonial Africa was contentment. It was the value that made people satisfied with the little they had, and many sought for the collective good.

Some of us were witnesses to a clime when people left their wares by the roadside and were not present physically to supervise commercial transactions. They indicated the price of the commodity by number of stones. People (Nigerians) were kind and honest enough to put the exact amount of money down and leave with exact quantity of commodities. Nobody left with the product without dropping the exact amount of the commodities (paying); and passers-by would see the money and commodities left without taking them.

I am in my fifties and not sixties or seventies. That was the Nigeria I saw while growing up.

It is OK to criticize bad leadership and speak against oppression, but at the root of some of the crimes and instability in our country is exponential greed and avarice in the face of “weak institutions, and Law enforcement”.
People who organize kidnapping are not poor. They are usually above average. A single AK-47 costs about a million Naira in the black market and the set up for internet fraud, organized by the “Yahoo boys and girls” are not devices the desperately poor can own.

Most desperately poor women still put their children in school through trade from their turnover of total capital less than 30,000 Naira. They are still contented and able to make daily savings through contribution (Ajo & Esusu) of N2,000 – N3,000 Naira every day.

Our two main religions, Christianity and Islam speak of contentment as an important moral force. The Holy Bible says in 1st Timothy 6:6: Godliness and contentment is great gain”. The Quran likewise speaks of contentment. In the Holy Quran 13:28: “it is in the remembrance of Allah the heart can find contentment.”

In one of the Hadiths, it is noted, “if the son of Adam, (the human being) were given a valley full of riches, he would love to have another, for nothing satisfies the belly of Adam’s son except dust (of the grave) and Allah forgives he who repents”. (Sahih Bukhari Vol. 8 book 76).

Unfortunately, the values above have fast disappeared from our religious houses and homes. Our African traditional values of ‘be your brother’s keeper’ have been significantly weakened. We need now to save those values even as we build strong institutions.

It’s time for ethical revolution. Be part of the moral force.

After Nigeria is divided, we all can go back to reviving the spirit of contentment. No living thing is contented under slavery and oppression. We know the aim of this thread. Trying to pacify the same people you want to enslave. Just imagine.

Fejoku:
After Nigeria is divided, we all can go back to reviving the spirit of contentment. No living thing is contented under slavery and oppression. We know the aim of this thread. Trying to pacify the same people you want to enslave. Just imagine.

Lol

Fejoku:
After Nigeria is divided, we all can go back to reviving the spirit of contentment. No living thing is contented under slavery and oppression. We know the aim of this thread. Trying to pacify the same people you want to enslave. Just imagine.

God bless u , no mind the thief , after he finished helping himself to the loot , he is now mouthing contentment .

amuwo1980:

God bless u , no mind the thief , after he finished helping himself to the loot , he is now mouthing contentment .

Abeg, watin e thief?