I sat on the train departing Victoria London on my way to Angel, my stop, to head for my abode in North London. It was many years ago when I was only 29 and youth was an elixir. I was already married and had two children but it did not make me any less young. It was the heady days of London when Margaret Thatcher was all the rave and gave women the requisite oomph to believe and aspire. The “She” was in Number Ten, with the world at her feet and in full reign. First female British Prime Minister and one of the longest-serving, a record eleven and a half years, the unforgettable Margaret Thatcher. It was during this time that I sat on this train and watched the countryside zip by. I come from a fairly traditional background so we kneel for our elders and leave our seats when an older person can’t get a seat. Even the London rail tells us to vacate our seats for older people. I watched after I rose for an elder person in a fully booked train, how young persons treated older people. Like furniture. As if they did not exist. Totally disrespectful. But old we shall all grow. As I sat on that train, I wondered what it would be like to be older but here we are today as I am on the cusp of sixty next year. I have been blessed to have older people around me for the longest and their wisdom sparkles. Their words always ring true. My Eighty-year-old Mums, the lovely H.E Mrs. Ajoke Murtala Muhammed, and my former Principal, the amazing Mallama Salamatu Tabitha Audu who just turned Eighty. Wise women with only lessons to give. My birth Mum, the gorgeous Mrs. Josephine Hauwawu Amodu did not make it to Eighty but I hung around her every word before she passed. Wisdom cannot be bought. I, therefore, admonish anyone who still has a Parent to love them hard and learn all they can from them.
Read Also: Nigeria at 61
I watch back home in Nigeria, as Sixty is the new ninety-one, and how young people begin to wish older people away by their very language and their dismissive looks. Look hard. That is where we are all going. Be gentle with someone older. That is you, tomorrow. And therein lies the burden of being older. The children use you and then begin to dismember you. An older person has needs and feelings too and this is when to nurture them when to say thank you for their sacrifice. This is not time to steal from them and plunder them, be you young or old.
Our nation at sixty-one has many challenges and many burdens. How we treat it today will be the reward of our grandchildren and the pride of our grandfathers.
The story of an older person who plants trees for the next generation is what this analogy is about. The story of a burdened nation at 61. Nigeria sits at the crossroads, despised by her youth and dismissed by her citizens as a spent force. But this is the Nation that fed us, that birthed us, that gave us everything we are. This is the nation that educated me and gave a job to my Dad and Mum. If it is hard for the generation of my children to get a job, it does not make Nigeria any less generous, it gave to their grandparents and their parents. Lest we forget.
A sixty-one-year-old comes in different rainbow and colours. Some are ailing and some are healthy. Not all fingers are equal. Our nation at sixty-one has many challenges and many burdens. How we treat it today will be the reward of our grandchildren and the pride of our grandfathers. It used to be young and giddy. It used to give and give when it had a lot. Ask South Africa, ask our neighbours. But today people turn their noses at us and dismiss us for all manner of things we have brought upon ourselves. As children and grandchildren, we have enough to give an aging 61-year-old Nation. Kindness, assistance, a smile, truth, hard work, service, and love. You cannot claim to love your grandfather or grandmother if you steal from him/her or from your Father/Mother. We do hold our parent’s hands as they age and we see the lines of sacrifice. It is time to look after this nation that gave us pride and gave us our parents and our grandfathers. This nation that gave us the best Yams and still does, pineapples to die for and oranges sweet as a nectar and my favourite, succulent mangoes. This nation that gave us our swag. Time to fix and care for Nigeria one and all and show some love. Happy Birthday Nigeria, my birth nation. Love you loads.
