This one is a bit close to home which is probably why it took me a while to post it up on here. Also the timing might seem a bit off now but the main message is still relevant I think.
Making Something out of Nothing
As Nigeria embarks on the final leg of what has been an epic
AFCON (African Cup of Nations) journey, I can’t help but think of all the bad
publicity we have gotten lately. From the menace that is Boko Haram to the
timeworn story of corruption, it seems we’ve had more to complain about than to
celebrate in the last year. Yet things seem to be looking up for us.
It may come as a shock to the uninformed but Nigeria isn’t
actually a poor country. It just has a surprising amount of poor people. Research
shows that although it ranks as the 3rd biggest African economy, Nigeria
still falls short as the 160th of 177 countries in the Human
Development Index. In simple terms we are rich on paper but the money never
seems to make it to the man on the street. You hear that there is money
somewhere, but somehow you never actually see it. Do we blame this on
corruption, illiteracy, the government? The average Nigerian will tell you that
things only seem to get worse as time goes by, though our president boldly
claimed otherwise on an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Despite all the bad news that seems to be surrounding
Nigeria at the moment, there is still a measure of positivity in the air.
Investing in real estate and construction in Nigeria right now seems to be
quite common. All around the capital state of Abuja, there are new
constructions taking place on both a private and public level. People are
taking advantage of the developments and investing where they can.
That’s great for people who have the money to invest in big,
high risk industries such as real estate. But what does all this mean for the
average Nigerian? One simple solution is all there is; be your own boss. It’s
something Nigerian’s do very well. We start businesses from scratch to feed the
family and pay the bills. Now more than ever before it seems the average
Nigerian is taking their elementary knowledge of mathematics and their people
skills to the streets and making something out of nothing. Recalling my childhood,
street hawkers and small shops that sold everything from African print to a
good meal were part of the landmark. They seem even more vital now that the
country is doing less and less for its people. These jobs may not be the most
glamorous in the world but they offer a solution for many people who need the
money to feed themselves, pay bills and put themselves or members of their
family through school. Some of these people are graduates who have been unable
to find an office job and have decided to make something else out of their
lives rather than staying jobless. I don’t see them as less privileged but as
resourceful. After all, they’re only doing what anyone else would do in their
shoes by utilising the talents they have to get the money they need. So their
talents aren’t the usual suspects; some sing, some dance, others make gates and
weave baskets. Everybody is doing what they can to get where they must. We must
realise that although we’ve been blessed with an education abroad that is
supposed to give us an advantage over our peers, there are many out there who
aren’t as lucky. Would we be quite as creative were the shoe on the other foot?
My guess is the name varies across all the many tribes in Nigeria but the Yoruba people call it ayo. It’s a game most people learnt to play with their fathers or grandfathers. Me? I learnt by watching other people, siblings, uncles and even my mother. It’s fairly easy to pick up if you watch a couple of rounds. The one we had while I was growing up was larger and it was set on the back of a rather ugly looking eagle carved out of wood. The statue which I now remember as being quite grotesque was actually what attracted me to the game to start with! I spent so much time tracing all the kinks and crevices of the carving with my finger and I remember being quite taken with the beak. This one is relatively smaller and simpler and belongs to my sister. I had all but forgotten about it till I found this at her house over Christmas.
