I had taken a well-deserved hiatus and I have returned to the pages of BuisnessDay to share as always with you all the interesting things and happenstances up my alley. From last year after my article on the passing of our security guard, the late Papa Iroha, I have not regaled you with any of my pieces. I would like to thank the multitude of our reading public for their love and continued interest in this column. Indeed, it has been eight months since I took a much deserved break but you never really left my heart and I am glad to reconnect with you.
I have been to many interesting parts of the world since then and I would like to share with you my interesting journey to Mali on behalf of ECOWAS. This tour of duty, principally to support the elections in Mali as a Media Consultant threw up other unexpected things. In the middle of all of this, I visited the affable Nigerian ambassador and came away with the shock of Nigerian girls trafficked for prostitution some as young as 13 years. Not only did I hear from him but I actually visited the International office of migration IOM camp where some of the rescued girls were being held for repatriation. You wonder right as I did, what becomes of man when he goes to the base level of becoming this monster who trades in flesh for money. How do they sleep? It boggles the mind. Kudos to the Nigerian embassy in Mali doing its best. It’s a tough job to stop these girls coming into Mali through some of our borders pretending tourism and being escorted by Uncles and Auntie’s who are actually their traffickers. Looking into their eyes, 13-19-year-old girls lost in a strange country, it breaks my heart. By the way there are many of these prostitution rings managed by Madams, a lot of them Nigerian women married to Malians. Hmmm…
Then the airline tragedy just few weeks ago. Ethiopian Airline, considered one of the safest and Africa’s most organised airline. Six minutes inflight. Were we all to think about all the stories around the new Boeing, the politics, the safety and non-safety narratives, would we ever fly again. 29-year-old pilot, so young, his equally young co-pilot, the ever smiling crew, Professor Adesanmi and his co-travellers numbering over 150. We are humbled, we are saddened, we are heartbroken. Too close to home. My condolences to all the families who lost loved ones from this tragedy.
Of course there were the elections some areas of it still hanging over our heads. The upsets, the amazing stories from everywhere and more importantly the new sophistication of the Nigerian elite once their votes count. This in fact is a major plus for democracy in Nigeria. The downside though is the thuggery and attendant violence that again takes us to primordial times. Ballot box snatching, setting people ablaze and bare faced thuggery. This is not good, does not augur well for our democracy. Certainly this calls for planning forward and looking back. What could we have done better and how will all this impact us all in the next four years. As we wait for the dust to settle, let us go back to the drawing board and see what can be done to avert this nastiness in the coming elections. Sorry, I really do not mean just INEC, I mean all of us. We are all stakeholders in our nation. Stop pointing at one group of people. What have you done as a citizen? Have you played your part well or did you buy votes at a polling centre? Did you go to vote or you have just being complaining? Were you a thug for five thousand naira which is all you get in four years or did you pay a thug? Did you disrupt the counting? Did you start trouble at the booth when it seemed your party did not seem to be winning or did you actually distribute drugs to the poor young student to help you ruin your opponent’s ascendancy? Please stop pointing fingers ye citizens, step back and take a good look at yourself. It is time for introspection.
And what about surviving R. Kelly, that American musician superstar who is being accused of sleeping with under aged girls and harvesting them from schools and malls and then enslaving and brainwashing them. Open your eyes as a young girl, as a parent, don’t drop your children in the deep end because you are looking for immediate success. Hard work yields, success is a journey. Gosh, there is still so much to talk about. Of course, not all of it is bad news, there is light at the end of the tunnel and there are still good people in the world. I am glad to be back.
Eugenia Abu
Eugenia Abu is a broadcaster, writer, trainer, brand and multimedia strategy expert and a consultant.
