Very Urgent! Something every leader should know at this time.

Walking along the road one day, a sharp question was dropped in my mind “what if you woke up tomorrow and realized that the government has failed- No salaries, no food security, no power, no guarantee of basic facilities and amenities. What would you do?” It was so strong; I pondered on it and realized I had actually put my other sources of income on hold since I got a job because of time constraint. But what was worse was that I had stopped thinking about a certain aspect of the future, a certain aspect of posterity. I had stopped projecting in those lines and now I feel a certain sense of urgency to do what must be done. 

Have you ever woken up one day to realize there was no hope of eating through out the day? Not because you are fasting. Have you ever been without a single coin in your pocket for a whole week? Well it is easy not to think about that and hope that it never happens but what if it does?  Have you taken a good look at the environment, the happenings around? Have you seen the news? Have you perceived anything at all? If you have, what have you done about it? Maybe most of us who are still under our parents still believe they are magicians that would provide everything just by the wave of a wand. Or maybe we are waiting for the government? Well there are some things we can help ourselves with as individuals and if we don’t, we would feel the brunt more. 

For me, I have perceived a lot of things and the strongest of these perceptions in recent times is that a famine may be lurking around the corner. Hold on, I’m not a prophet of doom. But you can call me one if you think what happened during Joseph’s time in Egypt is just a fable. But I’d rather see myself as one who has a strong sense of projection based on deep perceptions. 

I’m not a farmer; neither do I know much about agriculture. But I see a lot of Nigerians resorting to farming. In my community presently, the average resident is a farmer of some sort. I see youths going into farming and I’m so excited. As a matter of fact I’m getting involved soon.  And you know what’s most interesting? A lot of the produce is being cultivated organically because we have fertile soils and healthy ecological systems and more people are becoming more aware of the dangers of inorganic farming especially when done inappropriately.

Good as this development is, I’m bothered about one other aspect of farming; STORAGE! We have had farmers for years, even when a vast majority shifted to white collar jobs, there was still a large number of farmers (small and large scale). However, I don’t see any storage facilities today and the plans seem to be taking forever. We mostly just plant, sell and eat up immediately.  There is need to take it a step further because according to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, “in a world of plenty, no one, not a single person should go hungry. But almost 1 billion still do not have enough to eat… ”  We all have a part to play. It is possible, but how?

The government may have a plan but like the question “what if the government fails? This is a call to youths and teenagers to show that we can indeed be leaders, to begin to think deeper. Don’t wait for the $250 million investment in food storage in Nigeria promised by the US to materialize first. Even if it’s in progress already, beauracracy may not allow it get to you and I on time. Well my point is, we should forget about being spoon fed and Spend time more on constructive chats and issues. Let every family begin to think of their immediate sustenance in the times ahead. Maybe if we think deeply enough, we would get an idea for sustainability of the entire nation and delve into other sectors too. But think about it, what would you do if you woke up one morning and there’s no food in sight probably for the whole week? Trust me, you would find anything to do in order to get food because hunger is a nasty situation. Stop wasting time on unprofitable things. Please read and act. 

If you have any ideas in this direction, feel free to share.
#food security

By Fidelia Ben-Udi
Make hay while the sun shines!