A
casual drive through any given Nigerian city at any time of day will reveal the
tell-tale signs of societal atrophy that eventually give rise to anarchism.
Scores of youths can be seen ambling about the streets and byways with apparently
nothing better to do. The majority of these layabouts, quite devoid of
erudition and bereft of basic vocational skills, label themselves ‘hustlers’ (a
questionably hazy taxonomy sometimes sinister in implication). For them, almost
any job is good enough. Scary, eh? Those amongst them who will readily claim,
and indeed produce, one academic certificate or the other, make up the rank and
file of the ingloriously branded ‘unemployable graduates’ -unemployable for the
most embarrassing reasons such as ill-equipped, underfunded and unaccredited
primary, secondary and tertiary institutions which consequently disempower
rather than empower. There is also the disturbing fact that some certificates
are either simply purchased a’ la black market or, even worse, printed
illegally.
How
about the scores of brilliant minds, respected at home and abroad, that this
nation has produced, you may ask? I’ll give that back to you. How about them?
Look around you and tell me what appreciable difference they have been able to
make. Their success in this hostile, unyielding, and complex-riddled
“mediocretacy” is nothing short of miraculous! This fortunate minority has
flourished in spite of the system, not because of it, and is essentially but a
drop in the ocean of the perpetually unemployable throng that is mass-produced
by our tertiary institutions and disgorged onto the Nigerian society year after
year.
Why
still, you may further query, must so grim a stance be taken on so potentially
great a nation? After all, the mantra has been “good people, great nation.” I
will respond with another question. Pray tell, what use is potential which
perpetually lingers, for the most part, constricted, stunted and/or
undeveloped? Langston Hughes captures this condition in his poem, ‘Montage of a
Dream Deferred.’
What
happens to a dream deferred?
Does
it dry up
like
a raisin in the sun?
Or
fester like a
sore
- and then run?
Does
it stink like rotten meat?
Or
crust and sugar over-
like
a syrupy sweet?
Maybe
it just sags
like
a heavy load.
Or
does it explode?
Let’s
compare Nigeria to a poorly tended garden where glimpses of beauty and
intelligent design can still be seen in the main garden entrance and other
select areas where the gardeners have concentrated most of their efforts. The
greater part of the garden, however, has become hideously overgrown with dense
brushwood and wild foliage. Carefully developed, it would amount to something
beautiful like a theme park, leisure garden or a children’s playground. Doing
this would, however, entail development of a well thought-out design and its
subsequent implementation, followed by a sustained, well-structured maintenance
schedule. Purpose, Plan, Procedure, Product and, of course …Preservation.
As
an indigenous business owner with an unequivocally apolitical worldview, I
venture to offer but a straightforward, working man’s perspective. I will steer
clear of any form of intellectualization because I choose not to be in denial.
Instead of posing unanswerable questions, I prefer to lean more towards exploring
practicable solutions. Janis Joplin posits that, “Being an intellectual creates
a lot of questions and no answers.” As a seasoned landscape specialist I will
guarantee that I obviate any form of ultracrepidarianism (“the cobbler should
not criticize a work of art above the sandal”) by keeping these musings
strictly within my professional purview. It is for this reason that I intend to
depict Nigeria as a poorly tended garden in dire need of rejuvenation and
comprehensive upgrade. Pardon me as I adopt a simplistic matter-of-fact
approach. It has served me quite well thus far and I make bold to say that I
have a bevy of very satisfied high-profile clients to show for it.
You
may not particularly share some of my opinions and may even consider my
approach too green. Well, for me, if it’s green it’s good so I’ll take that as
a compliment. I proffer no quick-fix solutions because there aren’t any. The
most profound thing Mother Nature has taught me is that she operates at her own
terms. Understand her, respect her, nourish her, love her… and she will readily
conform to your will. Push her, and she will just as readily demonstrate her
considerable power to ultimately subdue.
This
is no academic treatise. Seriously, I’m just too decidedly non-conformist to
take that approach. More importantly, however, I consider it more sapient to
leave the didactics of academics to the academicians. I will stay strictly and
safely within the bounds of my proficiency, prudently eschewing the illusive,
provocative allure of pseudo-academics.
You
can have this assurance, nevertheless. The least you will come away with is a relatively
inexpensive foundation course on the basic principles of landscape design,
establishment and maintenance.
I
have been compiling Green Musings for a number of years now. They are basically
a collection of random reflections on my profession juxtaposed with
sociopolitical considerations in my beloved country, Nigeria. My method is
highly unorthodox, to say the least. That is intentional. I have always chosen,
in line with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s suggestion, not to go where the path may
lead, but to “go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
