Dec 9, 2008

FROM JOS TO JOS:THIS HOUSE HAS FALLEN


As sanity creeps back into Jos,Nigeria, after what is fast turning into a routine orgy of brothers killing each other in the name of politics,religion and ethnicity,I am very disturbed that the Nigerian government is not in any way interested in averting further mayhems both in Jos and elsewhere in Nigeria.What is happening right now is only a pause in this genocidal rave that would be errupting the next moment in God knows where. It is a sign of failure on the part of the system that has abandoned its own citizens to their fate.Jos,that once used to be the melting point of Nigeria's unity has now turned into a time-bomb that explodes at will.Jos is only a microcosm.
It is so sad that in Nigeria a slight provocation with either political,religious or ethnic undertone is cabable of claiming several innocent lives,displace hundreds of thousands of people and wanton destruction of properties worth several millions of Naira.
Nigeria is indeed a good example of a failed state.The British writer Karl Maier aptly captured this bizzare failure in the title of his book This House Has Fallen taken from a quote attributed to Nigeria's foremost writer,China Achebe:
This is an example of a country that has fallen
down;it has collapsed.This house has fallen.
The unfortunate incident in Jos this past week is only a reminder of how fragile the things that holds us together,the things we so hold dearly in Nigeria, are.
Love... for mankind has since taken flight here.

2 comments:

The Activist said...

You got me thinking. I knew waht I faced due to transportation issues and the hike in its price today and I wonder, where are we going in Nigeria

Things fall far apart and the centre has crumbled! How can we hold everything togehter again!

But we can. How is what I dont know

The Activist said...

Let's rob minds if you've got an idea