In popular parlance, what the Christian preachers teach/ deep preach, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" is often so misunderstood that it has to be properly explained and applied to bring about what I imagine the social conscience of a Nimi Wariboko or a Cornel West would like to see in action as "justice is what love looks like in public" - it certainly ought not to mean what Fela Kuti lamented as "Suffer, suffer for world, enjoy for Heaven" - all levels of suffering, suffering material poverty, suffering all kinds of injustice as the essentials of taking up your cross and following Jesus. But of course, the Protestant ethic to spur people on...
There are ideals of "Spiritual Poverty", in Igboland at least we learn from Achebe's Things Fall Apart that the rewards of hard work is a good position in society, and on the more spiritual Islamic level, we have the Sufi ideals of "Spiritual Poverty"
On the more material plane, with more than 60% of Nigeria's 200 million people being youths below the age of 25, without a doubt, poverty, inequality, social injustice, the marginalization and discrimination of the less socially endowed compounded by youth unemployment and lack of opportunity, these are the best recruiting ground for terrorism, not to mention profitable ransom kidnappings. Most of the Federal Ministries, including the Federal Ministry of Education and Youth Development, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport could do a lot more to relieve the nation of such tensions.
I trust that I'm not deliberately misunderstanding Lord Agbetuyi, and his use of the term "the Social Contract" which I feel has to be more clearly defined with Nigeria in mind, to truly ram his message home.
You have justifiably identified the crimes of successive governments failing to honour "the social contract" and the dire, disastrous consequences of their failure, but, on what premises is your apocalyptic hope, your I have a dream founded when you say talk about "a totally new dispensation of a new party of government -in -waiting with which they will work to redeem their shattered hopes."? How is the presumed government-in-waiting – if ever - going to be very different from their long line of predecessors, apart from, as usual promising to zero tolerance of corruption and the intention of taking Nigeria to the next level - a little closer to living in heaven / paradise. In the case of the very realistic Brother Buhari from the very beginning, after a sober assessment of the nation's situation he advised against our expecting what he referred to as " miracles" and in that respect has at least been true to his word.
You are unwittingly talking about the failure of social justice, and, in contrast with the aforementioned government failures we have the social welfare brothers keepers aims and the widows mite achievements of the late Mohammed Yusuf, the martyred leader of Boko Haram, who was mercilessly slaughtered by one of the aforementioned, previous imperfect governments, slaughtered at the height of the good work he was doing, to some extent they would say, "usurping" or displacing some of the function of a good government by doing the social work that he was doing, the same kinds of accusations they make against certain NGOs
This evening H. E. Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi emphasised "the importance of being kind". Should like to hear more about that and about the spiritual wickedness in high and low places from both pulpit and minbar
--
FJ:
Poverty has taken this new turn because the Social Contract - the tacit basis of all societies- is broken in Nigeria leading to social injustice which they epitomize.
Unemployed youths especially the 'Alhaji Baakudi' (Educated poor) are well aware via the new digital technologies you referenced (- social media- those which I have said, often, were provided by the Primal Equalizer -Èşù from the womb of time), they are well aware that the public officials are willfully breaking the Social Contract they were elected to- and which they took oaths to- uphold, with the connivance of crooked judicial officers who have bastardized the goals of justice.
That they are willfully standing social justice on its head and carting away the colossal amounts of funds meant to create jobs for them into private accounts, and thereby the victims sought to square the circle by their retributive violence.
But retributive violence can never be equated with redistributive justice and is thus messy in its targets.
They need to be re-÷educated by a new political formation to put their faith in a totally new dispensation of a new party of government in waiting with which they will work to redeem their shattered hopes.
OAA
Sent from my Galaxy
-------- Original message --------From: FJ Kolapo <fj.kolapo@gmail.com>Date: 27/06/2021 05:35 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today
agreed, prof. but worryingly, it seems that it is increasingly associated with crime in Nigeria. It is usually said that poverty is beastly. But poverty in Nigeria seems to be a new type of beast, with new fearsome features. Its nature seems to have changed in the last 30 -40 years and the morality and philosophy associated with it in the minds of youthful Nigerians with how to understand and manage it have changed or are changing faST. For one, much of poverty used to be communal, a fact that ameliorated the material and psycho-social devastation that individuated poverty would otherwise have caused. This sense of communally shared experience and management of poverty is evaporating fast. Also, poverty used to be associated with rurality and illiteracy and was defined in terms of the experience of the subsistence agriculturalist, the unskilled urban laborer, the unskilled unemployed or of the informal sector vendor in shanty towns and city margins. With their tenuous access to cash and run-down housing, poverty manifested in their generally limited access to the national and international markets and to imported use goods, and in limited but not totally absent food and dietary choices. It is now worse. Today poverty is also experienced by mobile, literate or rather Western-educated youth; it is foregrounded by their frustrated and thwarted hopes and ambitions; hopes and ambitions born of the knowledge via modern communication technologies of the boundless and seemingly readily available possibilities of individual flourishing and happiness out there in the wider world. to these people, poverty seems to have acquired a new horrible visage and many of them are handling it without bothering with religious or philosophical reflection. Unfortunately, crime has emerged to be one major way that an increasing segment of Nigerians see themselves escaping the stultifying hand of poverty - blue-collar and now "red"-collar and blood-colored crime. Sad. Terrifying.
--On Sat, Jun 26, 2021 at 10:19 AM Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
--Chidi:
Poverty, with due respect, does not necessarily lead to crime. Indeed, it is one of the strongest motivation to succeed in life. It carries a body of dignity and hope.
See a current movie, White Tiger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yNZsomWa7U
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi.opara@gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 8:00 AM
To: USA African Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For TodayIf you are from a very poor home like me and you did not go to prison at the age of 21, you are lucky.
You struggle for things your mates take for granted.
Almost everyone takes advantage of you, nobody respects you. You don't have dignity and you hate society for these.
I however have to sincerely thank the (Roman Catholic Church) Sunday school teachers, who kept drumming it into our ears then that any slight moral and legal infractions would land us in "hellfire".
I also must sincerely thank my late mother for that singsong of hers even in the midst of poverty, that "Chidi, any day you commit any criminal act, you will cease to be my son".
Society should for the sake of its safety, work towards reducing extreme poverty.
-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)
--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet and Founder/Publisher of; PublicInformationProjects (www.publicinformationprojects.org)--
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