BROKE IN THE MIDST OF GOLD
NNOLI SYLVESTER CHIKELUE@sylvesternnoli140312
2 months ago
‘Just because something is possible doesn’t mean it’s probable’, I once laughed and said to myself couple of years ago, seeing myself in a situation where I was drowning in the race for academics pursuit due to financial challenges. It was like ‘hell let loose’ for me, knowing that every aspect of academic pursuit, is money demanding. Having lost dad when I was just a kid, my mother was there for me, providing everything within her reach, to see me to great success. Apparently, her best was good, just that it wasn’t really good enough to handle the ever growing financial demands that are associated with the process of formal learning. I knew that the key to a greater success is education, and couldn’t imagine myself dropping off from the pool of knowledge just because of some financial restraints. ‘How can I be broke in the midst of gold?’ was the phrase/question that was increasingly echoing in my mind. It was at this juncture that I knew I have to improvise and not dropping off from this wealth of knowledge which will eventually mould my life positively. This new found ardour, lead me to getting involved in various sorts of menial jobs to augment with the ones provided by my lovely mother. The struggle was so tensed on me, sharing my time between my academic works and the search for a greener pasture, but the zeal was very strong and the mind was very determined. So I kept telling myself that I can’t be broke in the pool of this knowledge of gold. That was the motivating force which led me to achieve success at last.
It is often said that once you fail to plan in life, you have already planned to fail. Regrettably, it beats my imaginations, seeing that the greater percentage of the populace in a society very endowed with enormous economic resources, still wallow in abject poverty. Great revelations were gained through my visit to Bayelsa State, Nigeria sometime last year when I was on a research tour. My research was actually to figure out the reasons why poverty still hovers around a land that is much endowed with great mineral resources like crude. After series of interactions with the locals and also things which i saw for myself, I came to see more light through the phrase ‘all that glitters is not gold”
Crude was just like a blessing that turned bitter in their land, seeing how polluted it has made their farm lands become. This affects cultivation of various crops in their lands for the obvious reason of pollution from the enormous crude deposit in their soil. Apparently, one would think that a riverine society like theirs would be at the top in the list of the ‘food baskets’ of the entire nation but ironically, its nowhere to be found in the entire list, Poor them! Even in the aquatic world where one would believe that the people of Bayelsa will take a lead on, the opposite still remains the case. The various inhabitants of the aquatic world like the fishes which should have been a great source of revenue for them are simply not surviving in their rivers due to the water pollution caused by the same crude which should have been a greater blessing to the people.
Crude is an enormous wealth no doubt, but it sounds awful to the ear that a people with this great resources in their lands, still don’t feel the impact of these privileges due to the fact that only the government legally handles the affairs of mining with provision of little or no dividends such as good medical healthcare facilities to the low class populace. These state of affairs gave rise to all sorts of juvenile delinquencies, ranging from armed robbery, hostage taking, drug abuse e.t.c. These social vices especially on the side of the youths which emerged as a result of being broke in the midst of gold, brought about a lot of dislocations in the polity, harming the perpetrators and the society at large in the process.
With this, the need for a re-orientation and sensitization of the youths about the unfavorable impacts of these juvenile delinquencies become imperative and a call we all must heed, in order to create a decent society for future living and also leaving a good legacy for the generations unborn. The government on the other hand must engage the people with proper dialogue and proffer working solutions to these issues. They should provide an economic enabling environment for the people and also guiding the youths through the right paths in the race for survival. It’s time for a re-think, for everyone and all hands must be on deck to curb these vices which are emanating from these awkward feelings of being very broke, even in the midst of gold.
BY: SYLVETSER CHIKELUE NNOLI
