Once upon a colourful Christmas

“Creating traditions in the blended family promotes unity and a sense of belonging”

-Diane Greene

Reminiscences! Waves of nostalgia sweep yours truly back to the good old days of the Sixties, Seventies up to the early Eighties. That was when virtually every citizen of this great country, Nigeria looked forward with great excitement to December, not only being the last month of the year but always a memorable moment to go back home and re-unite with members of one’s family, long separated friends as well as townsmen and women. It also evoked the beautiful and attractive aura of the cool and calm harmattan season, when we looked forward to enjoying the mouth-watering local delicacies, once back home. But mine, like those of fellow Ebira kinsmen was unique in more ways than one.

For instance, the Yuletide season falls coincidentally with the popular end-of-year Ekwuechi Festival celebrated every year to mark the beginning of the harvest season. But the point of convergence here is that of Nigerians benefiting from the fascinating features of good governance on ground. Travelling back to one’s home town of Oboroke in Ihima District back then in Kabba Province (now defunct) was stress-free. There was no fear or apprehension of being hounded by all manner of terrorists, bandits and kidnappers. Not at all! Beyond that, there was also no reason of getting worried about the high costs of sundry food items. Incidentally, belonging to a famous farmer-father and a highly creative weaver of the popular Ebira clothes of a mother, who also traded in food items, palm oil and kerosene the time of Christmas and Ekwuechi Festival celebrations provided us the opportunity to invite friends from other ethnic groups. Be they of the Hausa, Yoruba, Edo and Igbo ethnic stock they were warmly welcome to join us and savour our traditional treasures. The nauseating issues of ethnic bigotry and nepotistic appointments into juicy offices, as senselessly displayed by our political helmsmen over the past decades was the exception, rather than the rule.

One would recall that back then in the ’60s and ’70s my father, Sadiku Umeche ( now of blessed memory) made it a policy to keep one room in his house at Oboroke-Ihima to accommodate people who were not Ebiras by ethnic colouration. One that I met while growing up, who sold colanuts spices and mats hailed from Oyo town. Another came from Ake in the then Bendel state and yet one other was an Igbo man trading in the daily consumables called provisions. It would in fact, interest the reader to know that the name Ayo, which I currently bear came from a Yoruba trader, who was a business partner to my maternal grandfather,Ochu who was on a visit at the time of my birth. And my father who plied his trade as a farmer in Idanre, Ondo state imbibed in all his children that noble principle and philosophy of oneness and unity amongst Nigeria’s ethnic groups. But do some of our political leaders understand the importance of that binding philosophy, as some have openly displayed phobia for some other ethnic nationalities? The answer is patently obvious.

Fostering national unity, which the Christmas and Ekwuechi celebrations provided an ample opportunity to amplify then was also an eye-opener. For instance, a friend from Ijumuland who I invited to attend Ekwuechi Festival on the night that the male songsters, including the famous Adeku in Okengwe town performed was obviously thrilled! He confessed that long before his presence at the colourful event of singing and dancing he had other thoughts. But after listening to the singers reeling out thematically relevant, and morale boosting ikede songs he was convinced. He had thought that Ebira festivals were ritualistic in nature. But after listening to my interpretations of the songs that touched tellingly on the attributes of the fear of God, honouring the faithful departed loved ones , having respect for our elders, the need to always inculcate and exhibit hard work and honesty of purpose in our dealings with fellow human beings, he was not only inspired but had a change of mind!

At this period of festivities, which is meant for caring and sharing, some of the significant lessons for us all to glean from our past experiences, as a people and a nation include unity right from the family unit and being our brothers’ keepers at all times. The crying need to retool our current political leadership structure to be skewed in favour of the mass of Nigerians is now not tomorrow. Much as we should respect our elders and leaders they should walk the talk on being the beacon bearers in the long, dark tunnel of ignorance and poverty. They should stop living large in the midst of mass penury and justifying anti-people policies such as taxing the poor to satisfy the greedy rich leaders in the economic and political spectra. But to succeed at resolving certain critical issues we must admit that Nigeria as a country could have done far better than we currently find ourselves. The right leadership structure is therefore, a must.

If Lee Kwan Yew could transform Singapore into a modern state against all odds, and if Paul Kagame could turn the fortunes of the once genocide -ridden Rwanda around certainly, it would be much easier for Nigerian leaders to do so. And it is all because this country is immensely blessed with vast arable land, abundant water resources, oil and gas, a clement climate, right from the Atlantic ocean down south through the savannah fields in the Middle Belt up to the Sahel Savannah up north. And of course, we have the best of brains to act as catalysts to turn us from the bottom rung of the poverty index to that of sustained prosperity.

With good governance in place, driven by servant – leadership and with solid infrastructure, stable electric power supply from diverse sources including solar and water resources Nigerians do not need to be caught in the ‘japa syndrome’. Also needed are polices to drive Medium and Small Scale Enterprises, MSMEs and accessibility to loans with single digit interest rates.But to fast track them the restructuring of the country has become a necessity.

With all these policies firmly in place we can go back home to celebrate Christmas and other festivals without fear of molestation and intimidation. That is, by a growing crop of rudderless youth who want to reap from where they did not sow with come-quick money. The time for our leaders to guide them right, as the dependable moral compass is this day, before it gets too late.