Cash count, stock-taking and heritage

For chartered accountants, the last day of business – i.e., December 31, 2014 – is dedicated to the customary cash count and stock-taking as well as, most importantly, verification of assets under the acronym CAVEBOP, which stands for Completeness, Accuracy, Valuation, Existence, Beneficial, Ownership, and Presentation and disclosure. Perhaps this is what has prompted most families in Lagos to carry out their ‘Family Annual Stock-taking’ which is slanted firmly in the direction of re-assessing and reinforcing the reputation of the family. The preservation of the name as well as values of the family and the fertilization of the heritage bequeathed by our ancestors are paramount.

On Wednesday, 17 December, 2014, our family will hold its Annual Thanksgiving and Remembrance Ceremony at the Cathedral Church, Marina, Lagos at 2pm in honour of my father, Chief JK Randle (MBE, MVO), Lisa of Lagos, who died on 17 December, 1956 at the age of 47 years.

Before the end of the year, other Lagos families will carry out similar ceremonies – in churches and mosques – to thank the Almighty for his limitless mercies and abundant blessings. They will not be carrying out cash count or stock-taking. Neither will they be engaged in asset verification. Rather, the focus is on their moral and spiritual obligations to the God they worship and mankind to whom they owe a duty of selfless service anchored on humility and generosity of spirit in accordance with the prescriptions of our forefathers in adherence to the dictates of the Almighty.

It is the prerogative of each family to assess its own scorecard of faithfulness to the glorious ideals of previous generations who laboured strenuously to build the fortunes which their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are now harvesting. They did not do it in secret or by magic. It was done transparently by dint of hard work, honesty, perseverance and steadfastness. They were also NOT careful to arrogate to themselves omnipotence or omniscience. On the contrary, they attributed their blessings to the grace of the Almighty. Along the way, it was inevitable that there would be challenges and even apparently insurmountable obstacles. It was their faith that pulled them through, sometimes from the jaws of disaster and ambush in the field strewn with malice, mendacity and wickedness. They did not waiver. Neither did they crumble.

When they failed, they did not stay down. Instead, they rose to the challenge and strove valiantly until the Almighty himself declared triumph and awarded them the prize of victory accompanied by the resonance of the hymn “Amazing Grace”.

To outsiders, it may appear a mere ritual. However, Lagosians genuinely mourn whenever death strikes regardless of whether or not the victim is old and infirm or young and full of vigour. Most devastating is the loss of infants. The sense of grief is as palpable as it is all-consuming. Nevertheless, it is accepted as the will of the Almighty. Where we come into our own is the celebration of births, marriages and milestone birthdays – especially 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and so on. We also make allowance for the intervening years, particularly 55, 65, 75, 85, and 95. Alas, if my father were alive, we would be rolling out the drums to celebrate his 105th birthday. As confirmation that no human being is perfect, although he was a great athlete, he could neither sing nor dance. The best he could manage was to stand on one spot and sway from side to side.

This is a profoundly critical time for our nation. Millions of us are bewildered by the orgy of violence and insurgency that has sprung up – first as a creeping nuisance and now a monster of monumental dimensions, which if it remains unchecked, will eventually destroy all in its path. We thought we were in the cusp of history ready to launch ourselves into the orbit of superlative achievements. We now have to contend with the reality check which forcefully insists that not only is the edifice crumbling, the foundation itself has cracked. Our plight is the direct consequence of our waywardness and delinquency.

Do we really need anyone to tell us that if we are truly serious about pursuing the option of healing, we have to start with the family (or our respective families)? There is hardly any family in our nation that is not endowed with its own identity and possessed of its own unique history as well as culture and traditions. It discards its values at its own peril. The evidence is overwhelming – when families break down, it is the nation that suffers eventually, starting with the immediate community, be it neighbourhood, village, city, state or whatever.

Hence, it is a fundamental contradiction of logic for those who are in power to launch frontal and relentless attacks on the family for whatever reason – be it imaginary or real, and at the same time fail to recognize the consequences for the nation. In our own case, we have been bombarded from different angles. Let us start with what we stumbled upon in the national archives: “As far back as 1898, Dr. John Kehinde Randle, Dr. Akinwande Savage, and Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford (of the Gold Coast/Ghana), the founders of the National Congress of British West Africa, had begun to agitate for the Independence of Nigeria and the rest of West Africa.” Further corroboration has been provided by the British Museum at 83 Gower Street, London WCIE 6HJ, UK.

Again, in 1908, Dr. J. K. Randle founded the first political party in Nigeria – the People’s Union. It is to no avail that we have pleaded with government to at least respect authentic history and acknowledge the sacrifices as well as patriotism of our illustrious ancestors. At the risk of incurring their wrath, we must place it on record that in 1888, Dr. J.K. Randle won the Gold Medal in surgery in his final year at Edinburgh University, Scotland, which was undisputedly one of the leading medical schools.

In 1928, Dr. J. K. Randle built the first swimming pool in Lagos and donated it to the “good people of Lagos”. He proceeded to launch the Dr. J. K. Randle Swimming Competition (1908) which remains the oldest sporting competition in Nigeria. He also bequeathed “The Love Garden” (which is now known as the MUSON Centre) and left a significant sum of money in his will for its maintenance “for the peaceful enjoyment of the people of Lagos”. It is all there in his will. That is not all. At his own expense Dr. Randle installed water pumps and constructed public toilets as well as refuse disposal units/houses on Lagos Island as his contribution to communal hygiene and public health.

What we are now confronted with are the ruins of the abandoned swimming pool which government has converted to the Fire Service Station. Totally absurd and grotesque! What an eyesore!

J.K Randle