CLUELESS

I was still sleeping, though awake when I heard the usual voice “Wisdom come and get ready for work, and don’t be late this time around,  because your boss always complain to me that you are always late and I don’t want that to happened again, do you  understand?” that was my brother, Seth,  who doesn’t  believe in being late. I turned on the bed I was sleeping on, glanced at the clock by the wall, 7:20am; well I should be at work latest by 8.00am. I Jumped out of bed, brush my teeth, which is always the first thing I do, no time for prayer, then take my bath, by the time I was finally ready, it was already quarter to eight. So I set off to work, it was a Monday morning.                 Arriving at work at 7:58am was a relieve. I quickly opened the iron door, rush inside, open the drawer bring out the time book, and wrote 7:58am, then sat down.                 J-tech Computer School, which is the place am working, is located in Ekpoma, Edo State, established in 2010. Since then, the school have take off in a positive direction and it has seen positivity in progress, though there are challenges facing the school like competing with other computer schools around.                 As I sat down that Monday morning, I looked around inside the lab, the computers were totally bathed in dust over the weekend. Some of which are mainly desktop computers, just few laptops. The printers were not left out, they were all also caked, the reason being that its weekend and it is a dry season, wind blowing dust everywhere. I got up took the bucket of water and a piece of cloths to clean, my director arrived.                 My Director, as I always call him, is a well built man, talk alot, a jocular but strict man. He always complain of the government but doesn’t want anything to do with them, “Government is one of the biggest problem we have in Nigeria” he always say.    “Good morning Sir” I greeted, “Wisdom how are you?”  “I am fine Sir” That is our usual form of greeting. I continued the cleaning, while he went straight to his office to pray as customary. As I was cleaning, I thought of what director said about the government, it is true that they are not doing so well in terms of satisfying its subjects. There have been so many petitions stated and request made, none of them have been granted. The Educational sector have been placed in a midst of chaos and it’s students frustrated to the extent that they now go by the slang School na Scam. Just last week the tuition fee was doubled, even when the cost of living is rising everyday, the Government has no plans for the citizens so I thought... “Wisdom did you here of the ASUU strike that is coming up next week”?  Director asked cutting off my thoughts. “Really”? “No Sir” “Why are they striking again when recently the three months strike had been called off”? I asked. “Well the reason for the upcoming strike have not been disclosed yet, but I heard that it is because of the money that Federal Government is owing the school” “Well the Federal Government always owns the school, that is a normal thing for them” I said. “Director good morning” Mr. Sunday our co-neighbour interrupted our conversation. Sunday, often referred to as Mr. Sunny, also dislike the government and wants nothing  to do with them, he and director can talk for hours concerning the so called government and the politicians, and also more importantly and main centre of discussion, the President. Mr. Sunny have a way of talking fast that you have to listen very attentively to catch the words. He is the sole director of Bits and Chips Info-tech just by the side of our building. “I just heard that they are planning another strike” he continued. “Yes o, that is what I was just telling my boy here (referring to me)” “Well” I said, “I just pray they allow us to finish our exam in peace.” “Where is the country heading to”? Sunny asked, to know one in particular. “That question is for everyone to decide” Director said and continued “If  the Government did not provide the Educational sector what they need, then Strike is the utmost way for the institution to fight back and make their voices heard” “That is just the truth” Sunny said “but the education also its own problem, do you know that most building in the school was built by the Federal Government”? Director who is now sitting on his chair inside the lab, facing the road, replied “You know, that is also the responsibility of the government” “I disagree with you on that, the school has that responsibility, the fee the students are paying what are they meant for?” Sunny was now talking fast, he has been standing since he came in and when I offered him chair to sit he stoutly declined, claiming he will soon leave. I just sat on my chair listening to Director and Sunny debating, though they had same common hatred for the government they also had some differences in some certain ideas. Sunny believes that the educational have some responsibilities to take care on its own without disturbing the government, while in contrast, director idea is that the government should take care of everything, since it is the government that establishes the institution they should also be the one to maintain and provides its wants in order to keep it running. I was observing them when I slowly drifted to my own thought. What does the future hold for us, I am a 300 level computer student, hoping to graduate next year, but is that really possible now? Since going on strike is now the recent development, and also there is the news of a new epidemic that just break out in China... with all  these happenings will graduation next year be possible again? And also back to the Federal Government, it is now accustomed that any politician elected must first had its own fill before catering for the needs of those that elected him.  The president who should have been the hope of the people, that is suppose to fight corruption, that should lead by example, He is now the leader the leader of gang,  half the nation despises him but nobody is going to admit that. Is our future safe? Is this country safe? Am I Safe? That was the thought that I had that morning... By the time I came back to the scenario, Sunny was gone and director was busy staring at his laptop, as if checking for something. “Good morning” a customer came in. “Good morning, what do you want to  do” I asked. “I want to check my fees to know the amount I am going to pay” “Okay, please sit down” After checking for sometimes, I said “it’s 132,000 naira” ‘what’! exclaimed the girl in genuine surprise. ‘But the last time I paid it was 125,000, so how did the extra 7,000 come into the scene’ I smiled and said “You are in Ambrose Alli University, anything can happen.” ‘But’, continued the girl ‘I have already told my parents that its 125,000, how am I going to convince them that the amount has been increased, knowing that to even come up with the last money we had dug hard’ the girl was complaining so  hard that I felt pity for her. Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma located in Edo State is one of the most popular state university in the region; popular by the way it is being run by bunch of corrupt Administrators. As at last year the fees was half the price it is now and almost 80% of the students comes from a poor family so how do the management of the school expect such student to cope with the increasing fees almost every new session? Perhaps, they didn’t care, even the state Governor is not to be left out; School is meant for the rich that was the exact word the Governor used when asked to address the issue. ‘I have to go look for a way to complete the money’, the girl sadly said and left after some minutes of silence. “You see” Director said after she left “When I said Government is not concerned with the welfare of it citizens, Mr. Sunny was arguing with me that the institution has its own skeleton, so whose skeleton is increasing the tuition fee now”? I couldn’t answer him, I didn’t want to take side, whether is the educational sector that has the skeleton or the Government I don’t care, as far as there is skeleton, both are guilty.   The weather was cloudy though in the middle of dry season. Recently the weather behaved in a funny way, in the morning it would be very bright as if there will be scorching sun, but as it approached midday, it slowly turned to a cloudy sky making traders to panicked and gather up their goods thinking there will be a heavy downpour fast approaching  but there is never a drop.. I just sat at my chair also facing the entrance just like my director that is now inside his prayer room, he seems to pray frequently nowadays. As I sat down observing the passersby and hoping that the time should move faster... ‘Vote Comrade Simeon for a better future ahead’ the voice cuts into my thought. The state election campaign has kicked off, posters with uncountable promises could be seen everywhere, countless manifestos had been made, each trying to outdo the other and lot of voters clapping and clamouring for the candidates of their choice. To me all this is a waste of time, I said to myself as I sat down at that chair, the manifestoes, the empty promises, the campaigns, the booing, they are all waste of time, the winner is already declared even before the result is out. ‘Vote for better road and stable electricity’ the voice repeated  “Corrupt politicians everywhere with their void promises” director said inside the prayer room in which he is now moving out from. ‘perhaps we should add it to our prayer point, when praying’ I said more to myself than to him.   “After all these promises, and after successfully deceiving the gullible citizens into voting for them, all they would do is to concentrate more on the money, and how to duped poor business owners in the name of taxes” director was now talking to me. ‘And it is sad how the hope of the people sadly turned into a thing of misery and suffering’ I added.     Now resting on his chair inside the lab, director was making a phone call. I was deliberating on how promises could be easily forgotten. The president recently elected after promising to solve lot of issues had come on stage to state that he is not the one that make those promises, that it was his subordinates. So frustrating. I glanced at my watch, its already past 5pm, my mood was lightened, time to get ready to go home. I always looked forward to going home, though it is just a period of 10 hours between 8am to 6pm, I still missed home. But before making preparations to go home, I swiped down the screen of my phone, put on the data with the intention of reading some headlines, which came in suit after the data was on;                   Confusion as bandits attacked Governor’s convoy                 Presidency to address the country today at 8pm                 Breaking News: 10 dead Scores injured over fresh suicide bombing                 Election date to postpone over insecurity issues                 Hundreds of soldiers killed in recent attacked by boko haram                 Popular kidnapper nabbed in Oyo state                 Yahoo boy run mad after failed attempt performing ritual                 Fuel price to increase by 1st of February     The headlines just keep coming in series, as I read it one after the other, I shook my head, this doesn’t surprise me again. Everyday its killing, either the army killing boko haram or vice versa, kidnapping everywhere, but why won’t they kidnap since there is no job anywhere. Nigeria has been ranked third in the country of number of people with no job, shameful, and this is also the country that has the largest producing oil land in Africa, so why the joblessness. When I think of all these and the numerous questions lingering in my mind, the only word I thought as the answer is corruption, nothing else come into play. Corruption is spiritual director always say, and it needs spirituality to tackle it. Nigeria’s corruption is both physical and spiritual, that’s what I thought. “Wisdom close the windows and make sure you changeover and put the regulator on neutral, then meet me by the car” director always take me along with him when going home, which to me is an advantage, though the distance is not too long.  I quickly turned off my data; even the cost data is among the things that are rising in this country, I took my bag, close the windows and locked the door. “ohh the regulator” I totally forgot about so I had to open the door back and change the regulator to neutral, then closing the door again, it was already five minutes past 6.   As he dropped me off at the place I was staying I could see some of my friends standing outside, probably because there is too much heat inside. They were discussing and arguing as usual about football. ‘Messi is talented and Ronaldo has his own through hard work, don’t compare the two because they are good in their own way’ I could hear one saying but the other seems to disagree ‘whether it is talent or hard work, I don’t care, Messi is far more better than Ronaldo.’ ‘Based on what?’ the other was about saying something, when they saw me coming. “Wisdom, how far, you closed early today”  he said drawing closer to me for a handshake. “Yeah, we closed early” I said shaking him. ‘We were just discussing sport, about the star  players, which of them is the greatest of all time?’ ‘To me’ I said ‘it is not about who is the greatest, these two players are great, even statistically they supersedes all other players, so comparing is impossible, they are both good in their own ways’ As I said this, he wasn’t satisfied by the answer I gave, probably hoping that I will choose Messi. “Anyway” I continued “it’s not sports that is my problem now, we should all forget about sport and focus on the main issue at hand.” ‘And what is the main issue?’ he asked sarcastically still haven’t got over the answer I gave about Messi and Ronaldo. ‘How can you be in this country and still asking what is the main issue?’ I replied not mind his cynical attitude. ‘There are lot is issues in this country, everyday new things are happening, people are dying everyday because of insecurity and lacks of food. So which of them are you referring to, you have to be specific’ he was beginning to sound serious. ‘That is the point’ I said ‘The main issue here is the country, yes, this very country we are in. Do you know that fuel price will soon increase?’ ‘hmmm, you are right Wisdom. To tackle this country’s problem, the leaders should be put into consideration. For instance, who is increasing the fuel price, because the price didn’t will not just increase by itself, and what I think is that the person responsible is the president’ ‘I agree with you on that’ I said. ‘Because it is the leaders that have...’ “Wisdom, are you not going to come inside? You have been standing there discussing irrelevant issues since you came back from work” I was interrupted by my brother, only if he knows how relevant this issue is, he wouldn’t have yelled at me. We shook hands again before I left, went straight to my room not minding my brother standing at the door, I brushed past him. Recently things have not be going smoothly between two of us. Seth has been having some issues at school, he seldom went to class and complain every now and then on how stressful the school is. This was his third year, and he already carryovers in most of his courses. He focused more on work than study as he believe, as most people believed that school na scam.   As I lay on my bed that night, thoughts ran through my mind. Nigeria is a blessed with lot of resources, and also the  country have produced  indigenous people that have left the country cause of the situation, in a view, Nigeria is a good country, in another view, she is just bad and corrupt. The cause of the later is because of the corrupt minded individuals who sit at the top, controlling the resource that is meant for the betterment of the said country and its citizens. If there could be a standout individual among the leader that will say ‘I wouldn’t  be part of this foul condition’, does that means that its every so called leaders, ranging from the local government level to the federal government level that is corrupt? I asked rhetorically, there have to be someone with a difference, just like Daniel in the bible who wouldn’t defile himself with the king’s meat, but even if there is someone, who would listen? Who would listen to the lonely voice? There have been many write-ups, publications, on the messy state of the country, but no one even cared to read. The media forum, agency for communication such as the News Outlet, Radio broadcaster, Magazines, because of security are afraid to published such views about the state of chaos that this country Nigeria is now in.   Independence came too early that was the assertion that was made in the book In Dependence by Sarah Ladipo, independence came too far early, but does that justify the rate of the incessant regularities that is now rampant in the society and the country at large, NO, that doesn’t justify it.   I just lay down, in the cold bed and asked myself silently, like in a whisper, where are we going? Where is this country going? Is there hope for us in this country? What does the future holds? If only there was answer to all these question, if only there were answers, No, there wasn’t, not even a single clue.