In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good. The Bible never mentioned whether the darkness was good or not, but was unequivocal about light being a good thing. What then may be regarded as good' On the one hand, good is what is of high quality and suitable. It refers to what is virtuous and upright. To be good is to be kind with generous disposition; affording pleasure and comfort. Good is worthy of honour or high esteem. It is pleasant and beneficial to health. A good person is decent, well mannered, socially correct and within bounds. On the other hand, whatever is bad is wicked, evil, offensive, unpleasant, harmful and distressing. Scripturally, good and bad are antithetical. Following the bomb attack that ripped through Saint Theresa Catholic Church, killing no fewer than 40 people in Madalla, Suleja, the Northern Spiritual Leader of Muslims in Nigeria, Alhaji Muhammad Saad Abubakar had issued a statement that Boko Haram was evil. In other words, whoever is behind Boko Haram is wicked, socially ill-mannered; thus causing distress to the entire nation. In the words of the revered Sultan, 'We fear that the situation may degenerate to a religious war and Nigeria may not be able to survive one. We shall, henceforth, in the midst of these provocations and wanton destruction of innocent lives and property, be compelled to make our own efforts and arrangements to protect the lives of innocent Christians and peace-loving citizens of this country.' That was very well said by a Muslim leader, who to all intents and purposes might have meant well for the well-being of the people. That again was assertive and self-assuring. However, Mr. President, the supposedly father of the nation had a somewhat different angle in addressing the wanton killings that had gone on for like a year now. In the words of Mr. President, 'Terrorism has become a global plague now. May be it is the turn of Nigeria.' Why should terrorism be the turn of Nigeria after all her citizens had gone through from the days of the unfortunate Civil War to the dark days of the Military' And to make matter worse, it was reported that Mr. President after about 10 hours of the bomb blast that rocked the Christians in their church on Christmas day, had said the spate of bomb blasts in the country are a burden that Nigerians must live with. Why must Nigerians live with bomb blast' It thus appears that Nigerians are not asking enough question on how their elected leaders have spent over a trillion naira budgeted for security. Over a trillion naira, for God sake, is a colossal amount of money; yet there's been so much insecurity in the nation. In saner countries, the entire citizenry and the leadership would have been thrown into a state of mourning with hundreds of innocent citizens killed by some unknown terrorists who also doubled as fellow citizens. In other climes, National flags would have been flown at half mast. But what do we have in Nigeria' Our leaders are still found in jollifications, dancing and cutting cakes at social gatherings. Some years ago, Nigerians were regarded as the happiest people on the planet. How they arrived at that remains a mystery to me. But today, according to the UN's latest 'Happiness Index', Norwegians are the happiest people on earth. Ten listed countries, apart from the United States and Canada, others are in Europe. Bottom 10 countries listed are all African countries. Where is Nigeria placed in all of these' This should be food for thought for our leaders and indeed, all Nigerians where they want Nigeria enlisted by the end of YearHappy New Year!Making New Year Resolutions: (Revised)Making New Year resolutions is about discipline and attitude. Though it could be said that our physical is being controlled by our spiritual; nevertheless, we don't have to get unnecessarily spiritual about making New Year resolutions. We should be resolute in taking vital decisions. Make it a New Year resolution to do more of thinking than talking. Learn to speak words of compliments and encouragement and not of derision. Those derisive statements could actually demoralise your subordinates or even your loved ones. Patience is another factor to be reckoned with. A patient dog is said to eat the fattest bone. A little patience and tolerance could do the magic rather than kill ourselves all in the name of religion; which never demanded of us to kill another human being. Why kidnap, bomb and kill unnecessarily' Is Boko Haram's bombing and killing of innocent Nigerians a honest or selfish cause' Good Nigerians can only appeal to this Boko Haram sect and the people behind their deadly acts to cease fire as a way of making New Year resolutions so that the nation could move forward; as two wrongs cannot make a right. For Nigeria to move forward, we need tolerance, understanding, compassion and above all, forgiveness. Naturally, every man is prone to become angry when aggrieved or cheated ' but a person of understanding will be more tolerant. Emotions are always there to becloud our sense or reasoning, but be resolute in the control of your emotions. Wisdom and maturity are also vital. Nigerians should follow the way of love and learn what it truly means to love. Make efforts to love people in your life; friends and foes alike. Loving unconditionally is what could give the greatest joy. Mismanagement is a factor that could deter actualising New Year resolutions. In Nigeria, mismanagement has been a bane to the positive development and stability of the polity. Malaysian representatives were in Nigeria in the 70s and took with them some samples of our oil palm. Today, Malaysia ranks as the world's leading producer and exporter of palm oil. We can only hope that exploration of oil in Nigeria would not go into extinction one day ' fuel subsidy removal or not. What are our leaders doing with the proceeds from oil sales' Are they really keeping enough water for the dry days' Clinical adherence to instructions and guide is also crucial in making New Year resolutions. Somebody once told to me how he assumed wrongly by addressing a parcel that was meant for a street called Austin in Texas to Houston Texas. He assumed that there was no Austin Texas in the US but Houston Texas. How wrong he was. His parcel spent about two months in transit until it finally came back to him. Of course, the business contained in the parcel flopped. Focus is another factor while making New Year resolutions. A story was told about a man who won a coveted prize for making it through a deep and slippery rope. The fact of the matter was that a lot of people tried before him but failed. When asked how he made it. He had this to say: When walking on the steep rope, he neither listened to the negative spectators nor the positive spectators on both sides. Rather, he merely focused on the prize.To Nigeria as a nation, may be our National Anthem should be: 'O God of creation direct our noble course; and guide our leaders aright'' Little wonder, America thrives even in the midst of their fuss. Americans put God first; 'In God we trust' is what they have on their currency. 'God bless America' is always on their lips. That is power of the tongue! Even in the midst of Boko Haram, Nigerians should still profess positive words on themselves and their nation. Did I hear you say: 'He that's down needs fear no fall' But I say even if you're down, endure grief and don't remain perpetually down in the grave. The only person who is with us in our entire life is ourselves. Make positive New Year resolutions.
Click here to read full news..
