Abule Ado: Where’s Our Humanity?

We are passing through a very tough and difficult time not only in Nigeria but globally. To say human beings have come under severe threats caused by their own machinations and the elements would be an understatement. In reality, the world is confused and in utter turmoil. In recent times, we have seen the effects of the bushfires in Australia and the devastation they wrecked on lives and property and the economy in that country. In the United States of America, a combination of climate related typhoons, cyclones and flooding cost the economy over $1 billion.

India, Japan, Africa, China also had their fair share of these devastating heatwaves, flooding, typhoons, cyclones as each of these countries recorded very high fatality rates. Even before now, countries like Japan and Indonesia have been wrecked and brought to their knees by powerful Tsunamis that killed thousands of people and destroying property rendering millions homeless.

In the US, a combination of Hurricane Katrina and Ima set the country back by over $200 billion according to a New York Times report. Today, the world is grappling with the COD -19 (Coronavirus) believed to have originated in China. This virus has so far locked down people into quarantine across the globe; disrupted production processes; challenged the health systems of even the advanced countries and brought global economy to a halt.

At the time of this report, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that over 10,000 persons have so far died as the pandemic sweeps across 49 countries with strong potential of spreading to more countries especially in the African continent in the coming days.

So far, global reactions have been spontaneous. The Chinese, for instance rose to the occasion by building new hospitals, researching new drugs to tackle the pandemic and strengthening its entire health systems to keep its people safe.

President Donald Trump of the United States, working with congress has approved new legislation that would put in place the required measures to protects all Americans from the scourge of the pandemic. Europe is not left out as countries like Germany, United Kingdom, Italy have all announced financial stimuli to cushion the losses that would impact businesses, people and the economies generally.

Exactly one week ago, the joy, certainty and serenity of Abule

Ado, a sleepy backwater community off Badagry expressway was cut short by a huge gas explosion which left over 20 persons dead including the Principal of Bethlehem Secondary School. In addition to the loss of lives, several houses, vehicles, shops and businesses around the area were either completely razed down or suffered tremendous damage.

If you visit the community today, the once bustling community is a shadow of its past. While some are still in a trance wanting not to believe what has befallen them, others are still prowling the grounds with the hope of rescuing a family member alive or the corpse from the rubble.

Those who are not looking for lost relatives are busy searching what used to be relics of their abode, looking for any piece of valuable that could be recovered from the place.

As you read this piece, majority of those affected in the gas explosion who have no family members or relatives to hang on to are homeless, hopeless and with no help and have no where to go. These people are literally on their own, abandoned to their fate by those who should take care of them.

The saddest part of their predicament is that the government ab initio never provided any facilities for them like housing, electricity, potable water, transportation, medicare, school system etc.

These people, just like millions of other Nigerians who are engaged in the endless struggle for survival, have always resorted to self help to fend for themselves and families. Therefore, in Abule Ado, the affected people sweated to build and provide themselves accomodation, potable water, electricity through generators including every facilities that could standardize their living without a single government assistance.

Yet, every year, government collects taxes from both individuals and businesses to provide basic amenities that are never in existence. The question to ask is: what is government’s responsibilities to its citizen? Where is the humanity in government? Why are our leaders so callous and insensitive to the yearnings of the people and display absolute disdain for the people?

Imagine the immediate response that greeted the terrorists attack on the World Trade Centre in the United States. Within minutes, fire fighters, patriotic Americans poured in scurrying all the floors for signs of people alive to rescue and bring them to safety. When Lousiana came under severe Hurricane Katrina flooding, the response was spontaneous. Shelters were built overnight and catering booths were set up to take care of people who had been displaced by the unfortunate incident. In the end, those affected were resettled peacefully in new abodes provided by government or their agencies.

Japan and Indonesia that suffered huge losses from Tsunamis that ravaged their respective countries recovered in record time along with their people whom they positioned as central to their recovery. They never abandoned their people to their fate and never demonstrated the kind of lackadaisical attitude Nigerian officials who are fed and paid with tax payers money have always displayed.

China where the COD - 19 originated from and which suffered about the highest casualties including huge economic losses is on the throes of a recovery. The casualty figures are down, shops are reopening and the country’s hub or engine room of production is gradually humming back to life. All because it placed it people as central to its recovery.

This brings me to the second leg of this discourse. Do our leaders understand the difference between service and being served. In 2007, the Late President Umaru Yar’Adua promised Nigerians in his inaugural address that he was going to be a servant leader who would put the people first in his policies and programmes.

According to him “I most humbly offer myself as a servant leader. I will be a good listener and a doer. I will serve this nation with honesty, transparency, accountability and absolute fear of God. Let us work and strive together to restore our time-honored values of honesty, decency, generosity, modesty, selflessness.”

At that time, the former president was apparently rankled by the rot in government and was determined to set out on a new trajectory to change the corruption narrative that has festered to this day. Regrettably, he did not live long enough to fulfil his wishes.

Nigerian leaders and politicians would continue to treat their constituents with disdain and high level insensitivity, something that cannot be tolerated in even nearby Ghana or Senegal, for so long as we have the prevailing weak institutions that hold no one accountable.

In 2009, during a visit to Ghana, former United State president, Barack Obama told the Ghanaian parliament that no country moves forward where lawlessness prevails, bribery and corruption are order of the day and where institutions are weak and individuals are stronger than institutions.