By Prof Remi Sonaiya
It is with great determination that I write this particular piece, because all kinds of forces seem to have conspired together to thwart my resolve of writing this time on something totally positive. The drama being played out on the national stage keeps taking interesting twists and turns. And a most dangerous drama at that! The accusations and counter-accusations emanating from different parts of the country give room for serious concern about the state of the country and our future as a unified entity. What could be behind all that is happening, especially at a time that the President is out of the country?
Indeed, the President’s protracted absence is one of our ongoing concerns. Nigerians are beginning to ask: How long is too long? How long should the President, a public servant, stay outside without any decision being taken regarding his continued occupancy of that position? Furthermore, there are worries over the outcomes of the corruption cases against several highly-placed public servants; those cases are systematically being thrown out of the courts, without any convictions. Nigerians have grounds to distrust their leaders…
Well, my resolve is not to venture along that difficult path in today’s article. I have chosen to write on something positive, and that is what I am about to do. Is that a form of escapism? Maybe. But then, maybe not. Very often, we get so fixated on our political leaders and allow their actions and inactions to take up all our attention. We forget to look at other people and see what they are doing. And these ordinary people are equally important. Indeed, it is in them that we usually find the inspiration that our leaders fail to call forth in us. Let us therefore look elsewhere once in a while, and find inspiration and encouragement – which we so desperately need in these trying times.
So, encouragement is what I received this past week from a young man who had made some furniture for us. Peter is probably 25 years old, slim, extremely courteous, with an air of uncertainty about him – until you see him handle the tools of his trade. Then, you see a master at work. When he arrived to deliver the items of furniture he had made for us, I found it difficult to reconcile the objects with the person who stood before me. The armchairs and dining set, the chest of drawers and cupboard, everything seemed to have been crafted by some master artist, possessing a level of expertise which could only have been attained after many long years of practice.
And yet, Peter stood right there in front of me, as self-effacing as they come. How on earth could someone so young have already become a master of his trade? My mind went to the well-known German apprenticeship system with their craft guilds and wondered what expert master had trained him? Looking at him again and at the furniture he had come to deliver, I was tempted to ask if he had actually made those items himself. I mean, this is Nigeria after all (although I hate to think that). What made me stop short of doing so was the fact that I knew the kind of price tag that would have accompanied such quality of furniture, had they been picked up from a high-brow store. And I knew that wasn’t what we were paying for ours.
I felt encouraged. Very much so. A carpenter friend of ours had been complaining for years how so many young people these days were not interested in learning any trade. He has had to close his workshop for lack of apprentices, with most young men opting to be okada riders instead. Now I had found a wonderfully delightful exception to the gloomy portrait painted by our friend, for here was Peter, obviously impassioned about being a carpenter – and being the best he could possibly be.
What Peter’s presence and demeanour gave me confidence to do was to hope. While the general opinion about many young men outside of the high-flying IT and banking sector jet sets tends to be rather gloomy, Peter provides some heartening evidence to the contrary. One wonders how many Peters – and Janes – there are out there, young men and women toiling hard to make something good of their lives, even though they have not been born with any spoon at all in their mouths, never mind a silver or golden one. They are ready and willing to contribute their quota to the economy of this nation with their toil and sweat; unfortunately, they have to contend with a stunting and crippling environment.
For Peter, just the constant availability of electricity would radically improve his productivity; but how long does he still have to wait for that dream to become reality? However, the positive note is that if he has already been able to achieve such a high quality of production in spite of the constraints inflicted by his hostile environment, then there is, indeed, real hope that things are not completely lost for our dear nation. Meanwhile, I eagerly look forward to seeing Peter’s Furniture Company become a leading name in the industry sometime in the not too distant future. And when that happens and he’s making his billions, I hope he’ll remember that I made a little publicity for him and reward me accordingly!
(This article has been adapted from an earlier version.)
