The Place Of God And The Role Of Man! By ‘Tunde Olatunji

By ‘Tunde Olatunji

At a mini breakfast meeting with some Africans in Diaspora recently, I shared the pathetic story of a family of eleven (11) in Southern Nigeria. The man in his late forties has a wife that is about 40-years old and they have 9 children, all under 18.

The kids are not well fed, they have outnumbered their small rented room and parlour, the mother is looking older than her age, their condition of living is nothing to write home about and i can go on and on.

I never stopped wondering what economic strategies or tools can any man deploy under this self imposed condition that will make him and the family escape abject poverty.

It’s really so pathetic,particularly for the 9 kids who have no choice in deciding the family into which they were born.

The Bible says, “and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” – Gen 2:2b.

The last thing God created on the sixth day before he rested was man and what differentiates man from other animals is simply his developed brain. God gave us brain,so that we can let him rest.

God will not combine anybody’s responsibility with His own job. It is our responsibility to plan our lives and not HIS job. Any growth in liabilities without commensurate growth in earnings is simply a gross violation of common sense and an open invitation to misery. Until there is a significant growth in your source of income, you are not permitted to increase your spending.

Africa’s population growth (with Nigeria topping the list) is flying on the wings of an eagle while her productivity/GDP growth is riding on the back of a snail.

Unfortunately, the biggest challenge facing our continent today is the misdiagnosis of our problems. We want to violate all established fundamentals of national and economic development yet,we pray and long for prosperity. We even have what we nicknamed “African time”, the most chaotic time zone in the world and the only one that has no business with the standard GMT. Our 2pm today can be 5pm tomorrow, it doesn’t matter. It’s our time,it’s nobody’s time.

√To us, economic prosperity is all that matters, our population growth is inconsequential.

√To us, academic qualifications should be sufficient to get a good job,skills should mean nothing.

√ To us, every graduate that can not find a job is simply unemployed, unemployability should only have meaning in the Oxford advanced learners dictionary.

√ To us getting a “good job” should guarantee a good living, our performance and attitude towards the job should not be a factor.

√ To us, politics simply means winning elections, the capacity and antecedents of our public office holders should be nothing compared to the sentiments and emotions we attach to them.

√ To us government should just perform, responsible citizenry should not have a place in nation building.

√ To us,once we are busy we are working, output and productivity is a no go area.

To a lot of people,nothing about their situation is really their fault, every other thing apart from them should be held responsible – bad governance, poor background, polygamous home,academic qualification, unemployment, “not having leg”, “not knowing anybody” etc. Yes, all these and even more are enablers,but definitely not the core!

Every man is at the center of his/her fortune or misery. Once we fail to plan,we have planned to fail. Even in the streets of New York and Washington today, there are beggars.

Just as in Nigeria, I take time to visit and share the experiences of the downtrodden anytime I’m outside the country,and guess what, from Johannesburg to Washington, from Nairobi to Paris,all I discovered were commonality of mentality and similitude of thinking. Only a few, stand out! That is to say poverty starts from within and not without. Once the brain is underutilised, the pocket must be empty.

The last time i visited the homeless in the US to share a token of my love. It’s really so pathetic and sad seeing human beings- the aged,the sick,women etc under bridges and trees in a country with season’s of minus degree temperature. My heart bleed watching them scrabble for the can of Soda and meal we took to them. They live in the largest economy in the world, they live in the most developed country on the planet. Yet, homeless! I will share my interview with one of them in my subsequent post.

Today, Africa is at the brink of a serious crisis and that is the productivity crisis. As at 2017 financial year end, measured productivity (GDP) of the entire African continent with an estimated population of 1.3 billion was an abysmal $2.2Trn. Japan with about 130million people has measured GDP of $4.9Trn, Germany with almost 90million people, has a GDP of approximately $3.6Trn, there are less than 70 million people in France with a GDP of $2.6Trn, California, a state in America, with about 40million population has a GDP, bigger than that of the entire Africa,approximately $2.7Trn.

Figures don’t lie, Opinions and comments are free, but facts are sacred.

This is a collective job at hand and no one should be exempted. Government at all levels and leadership in all sectors (Religious, Corporate, Informal, Academics etc) must get serious and be accountable, citizens must become responsible and productive.

To those abusing the privilege of public office, stop governing people as if you’re doing them a favour, you offered to serve and service is what you’re simply expected to render. Taxpayers pay our salaries and their must be value for their money! And to the citizens,please don’t let our expectations from people in government look as if they had being sent on an armed robbery mission. Let’s try to keep it real. The most important demand we must place on them is performance.

To individuals who still argue about being the architect of their success or failure, Stop creating avoidable problems for yourself hoping, you or your pastors/imams will pray to solve them, stop sending your kids to schools that will make you turn school fees to prayer point, stop renting apartments where you need prayers to pay the rent, there is no minimum requirement in family size, give birth to only the number of kids you can cater for. There is no competition in life, men are in sizes,life is in phases!

Stop marching yourself into penury, expecting your uncle, aunty, friends, family and government to walk you into prosperity. Stop mistaking academic qualification for relevant skill set, stop violating basic principles of success and expecting a miracle. Stop substituting activity for productivity.

If you’re a trader,learn to have good customer service and value your client (Oro Aje). If you are an artisan, make integrity your watch word. To our doctors,lawyers, engineers,journalists,bankers, and other professionals, professionalism is not a substitute for attitude, in addition to our expertise, let us cultivate good character.

It is high time we began to unlearn, change our thinking pattern, get creative and be productive!

Start playing your role and let God take HIS place.

God bless Nigeria

God bless Africa.

Hon. ‘Tunde Olatunji