Eunice, Precious and Taofeeq are
friends whose certain challenges in life endeavours –what my other spiritual
friends will call trials –propelled the need to re-understand “A ki je meji po,
l’aba Alade” Yoruba philosophical thought. Eunice and Precious’ cases are
similar, though with different causative factors. Taofeeq’s was quite
different. But all are unified at a point where lessons on scarcity and
resources allocation are indispensable.
Eunice is a slim lady, elegant,
intelligent and with an impeccable command of English language. Many would like
to attribute her communication prowess to her field of study: Eunice is a
graduate of Mass Communication with Second Class Upper Division grade. I
disagree because I have seen a graduate of English language who could not write
complainant statement in pure English language without giving a substantial
part to Pidgin. I believe Eunice is just a language nerd. Eunice would be 40
years old this year. To her, because she is still single, she is facing trial.
May be from certain spiritual principalities! Precious’ body structure is the
opposite of Eunice’s. She is a typical example of what is called, in street
lingo, “Orobo to cute”. She manages balances being plump with being sporty.
Precious will be having her PhD in Human Development in few months. Similar to
Eunice, Precious will be 43 years old in May, this year. She is also single. From
my close interaction with both ladies, their morals – cultural and Christian
faith-driven –are worthwhile, and their credibility is not in doubt.
Taofeeq, being a guy, probably wouldn’t
be enlisting late marriage (or being single) as trial. He is married, though,
and the marriage is blessed with kids. He controls a small enterprise of 20 –
25 employees. At an age of 36 years, the confectionery company he laboured to
build from scratch, starting from years of baking apprenticeship, now fetches
him an annual net profit of Five Million Naira. His fixed assets –building,
machines and bakery equipment –value at Ten Million Naira. Taofeeq is a
secondary school certificate holder. He could not afford a university education when he
ought to, and this necessitated his exploration of other means of livelihood.
To him, his inability to get a degree when his mates did is a trial, on which
he still groans.
In all my respective discussions with
these three persons –Eunice, Precious, and Taofeeq –I had ensured we re-engaged
and re-understood “A ki je meji po, l’aba Alade” Yoruba philosophical thought
on scarcity and resource allocation, in view of demystifying the spiritual
attachment they have given to their scarcity-induced experiences. These are
experiences they all do not want to take responsibilities, or accept fate, for
their resources’ allocation preferences.
Eunice, a Nigerian, in the midst of
blacks, has always been dreaming of marrying a White guy. When the dream of
leaving the shores of Nigeria, at least to afford her the opportunity of
meeting Oyinbo, becomes bleaker, she resolved to “manage” a black guy, but one
that is lanky, tall, and preferably with “six packs” abs. Eunice has now resorted
to fate; she is ready to go for “anything husband”, in as much she will be
loved. But at 40, her chances of marrying a single guy are almost non-existent.
She is not yet in term with polygamy, nor has she agreed to marry a widower or
divorcee, who, most likely, would have had children from previous relationship.
She never prayed for step-children. In all, Eunice has achieved being a dream
pursuer.
Precious had advances from men
expressing their love and intentions of marriage immediately she completed her
first degree. She turned all offers down. She was afraid of dream killers. She
wanted to be a scholar, an academic, and a human development expert of
international repute. She believed marriage, especially with men of superiority
complex, would defeat her dream. As she
is now rounding up her PhD, with fair number of academic journals and
conference proceedings to her resume, and with a teaching job in a university,
Precious is living up to her dream, but she still alleges that inability to
marry till now is a trial caused by certain principalities.
Taofeeq wouldn’t want to appraise the
progress he has made from another perspective: one that compares his financial
status and standard of living with that of his mates who got their degrees when
they ought to. Taofeeq was learning bread baking, while his mates were learning
binomials. His mates are either employed, or unemployed. In Nigeria, few of his
age mates could match his financial strength acquired through legitimate earnings.
Still, Taofeeq is bothered of being one that has no degree appellation to
flaunt.
To the Eunice, Precious and Taofeeq: A
ki je meji po, l’aba Alade. You cannot eat your cake and still have it. Aba
Alade (Alade’s village) is a metaphor for a livelihood with limited resources.
If our lesson in elementary Economics is still valid, the insatiability of
human wants and the limitations of resources (material and immaterial) will
always be responsible for scarcity. This will require systematic allocation of our resources. We probably will not be able to have it two ways. We will
have to set your scale of preference; we will have to choose what our forgone
alternative will be. We must be happy with our decision, after all. We must not place
responsibility of innocent principalities.
A ki je meji po, l’aba Alade is a
Yoruba philosophical thought on scarcity and resource allocation that echoes
the indispensability of these human and social (economic) principles. It tells
you to choose one, you may not have both!
