My Father's Death and Hope for Nigeria...Excerpts from the book 'I found my voice'

After my father’s death, impaled by grief and immobilised by circumstances the odds were stacked against me. My progress, my development and my chances of a break- through in life were greatly diminished. I faced a Harmattan period, with heavy fog filling the sky above and the Saharan dust choking out any hint of hope. But in my darkest hours, something kept the flame of hope burning and I refused to give up.  My own history challenges me that walls can be torn down but the task is never easy. True progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. I project my story on to Nigeria’s, its problems, its frustrations and its tragedy with an unstinting belief that it can overcome. In the last twenty-three years, I have lived abroad, but not too far from the scene of Nigeria’s devastating stagnation and pervading cynicism. My relatives and friends have ensured that I have maintained a watching brief through my regular visits.

To Nigeria, I sound a clarion call, to those who are dissatisfied with the current status quo I conclude with a series of posers. If there is anybody out there who still disbelieves that my life is an example of someone who demonstrates the art of the impossible becoming possible; who still wonders about the legacies that my ancestors left me; who still questions whether a small diminutive boy with little academic potential can rise to great heights; then this book is your answer. Is there is anyone that doubts the potential of the question called ‘Nigeria’, this book is my response. If there is anyone who asserts that our country will only end in sorrow and tears and blood, this book challenges that assertion.

In 20I0, I lost my beloved twin Folashade Feyisara and I was convulsed and imprisoned by grief, it was even more traumatic than the loss of my father and it took me so long to recover from it. My life was in shambles and it took prayers and counselling to arrest my slow descent into depression and to set me free from its shackles. My work and ministry were affected and it appeared there was no way forward, as I stumbled around blindly in the wall of darkness. Today I still continue to feel the effects of her absence, the power of the present silence of her voice, one so complete and assuredly speaking to us from the past. My country Nigeria which has faced so many traumas, so many false dawns and is in a slow decent into anarchy can draw a leaf from my present circumstance.

I realise that I would not be writing this book without the unflinching support of my earthly rock and the love of my life, Olajumoke and that of my family. However, above all the ownership of this book really belongs to the long suffering Nigerian people, those who are subjected to the daily scandal of mis-governance, to those who deserve better healthcare, to the child who has a right to decent education and also the family who simply want to live in security.

This book and its words continues to grow from the strength of my friends, Kolawole Onifade, Hillary Okoronkwo, Ismaila Zakari, Victor Amokeodo, Muhtar Bakare, Anyante Ephraim, Oba ’Dokun Thompson, ’Femi Suleiman, Olumide Adisa, ’Sheyi Oriade, The Revd Gideon Para-Mallam, Folayan Osekita and ’Dayo Oleolo. These are people who reject the myth of their generation’s apathy; they have challenged me to take on the orthodoxy of current thinking and to ask the hard questions. You have challenged me because you understand the gravity of our task, which lies ahead and the futility of doing nothing.  I hope I have been able to resist being imprisoned in a polemic that obscures the import of my story telling.

The pathway ahead remains hard, our ascent steep, and we may not get there with one book, but I am filled with more hope now than ever before that we will get there and we will reclaim our voice. I do not in a thousand years suggest that a book conceived in the depths of my anguish should end in the hype of a book launch. I am certain that this book is not the change others and I seek; but it creates a space for us to make that change. This is our chance to reclaim our voice to answer the call for this is our moment and this is our time. By default, we have had bad governments in Nigeria because we have allowed the past and present rulers to operate on the unending margins of despair and apathy. They acquired power not because they had a genius about them but because we were asleep in deep slumber and the coalition of progressives was fractured.

In the past, I have made reference to the template of President Obama, the improbability of a black man becoming the President of the United States. I have written about the near impossibility that was overcome when the first man was sent to the moon. The obstacle that Apartheid presented and the dismantling of it without a bloodbath, the impregnability of the Berlin Wall which came tumbling down! I therefore lay down a challenge to the cynics who claim that Nigeria is an impossible case and that without our abject surrender to corruption and its accompanying violence we simply do not have a chance at mounting a challenge to the status quo.

I ask what do we have to lose by trying? I suggest we lose more in not trying at all. I go further to state today that by helping the people find their voice across the diaspora in Nigeria from Sokoto to Lagos, Kwara to Taraba, Borno to Imo, Cross River to Kano, we will be able to proclaim with all certainty and voices soaring above the skies of Nigeria that our time has come!

My dream is of a Nigeria governed by policies based upon welfarism, premised on programmes, decisions and/or rules evaluated on the basis of their consequences on the governed. Welfarism based on the view that the actions of the rulers have significant consequences that impact on the human beings they serve. Welfarism, which, produces ideas that stem from having a human face. Our Welfarism must personify every structure of government. These structures must be treated with dignity and care because failure on any part will have dire consequences on others and have fatal effect on the governed.

I visualise a quality of leadership whose style is outstanding. Leadership that influences others through inspiration, generated by a passion and ignited by a genuine and sincere purpose.  Not a leader who lords it over the governed and is only after personal aggrandizement and avarice. The vision is of a new crop of leadership, which demonstrates the passion and willingness to serve and serve responsibly.

I suggest that the principle of good governance is acknowledged as essential for the success of any Nation. Leaders at the helm of our affairs should play a vital role in serving their causes and communities through committed passion as well as skills and experience to the instruments of governance and the governed. The principle of good governance enhances the provision of long-term vision and protects the reputation and values of a Nation. To make a difference our politicians need to have proper procedures and policies in place. The principle of good governance will ensure the delivery of welfarist promises made through a team that is accountable, sincere and astute.

For me my search has come to an end, ‘I have found my voice’.  My fervent hope is that you discover what you seek as you tread your own path, read my story and as you follow the end of the journey presented in this book.