SHATTERED BLISS

Life can be so funny, but this is not a laughing matter at all. Here I am crippled and disfigured for life. Waiting for a death that has so far eluded me. It can’t be me here, bedridden for two years, crippled and disfigured for life. Longing to slowly drift away into that state where there was no pain. To think that I once had the world at my feet. Born into a wealthy family with parents who ensured that we had the best of everything. I had a perfect life with everything going for me, until I met my doom; until I decided to marry Tunde, my first and only love.

As a child I remember dreaming of when I would become an adult and on one cozy evening, my Prince Charming wouldcome sweep me off my feet to a place where we would live happily ever after. Too much of watching TV soaps, love stories and reading romance novels perhaps made me think that marriage was a bed of roses; a world filled with so much love, companionship, children and all the niceties life has got to offer. How mistaken i was. The dream of a beautiful married life was just but a dream.

I met Tunde at the university. I was a fresher who had just gotten admission to read Mass Communication in the prestigious University of Ibadan. He looked dashingly handsome and harmless; I was smitten at first glance. The chemistry was banging, the smile ravishing and I fell helplessly, drowning in the ocean of love.

Tunde was a final year Medical student. Words could not describe how I felt when he asked me to be his girl. Of course I agreed without thinking twice.  I felt like a queen to gain the attention of one of the most sought after bachelor on Campus. It was a thing of pride to be seen walking side by side; with his arms around  my shoulder. I let go of my shy tendencies as he would kiss me publicly, not minding whose ox was gored.  My friends warned me to be careful but I would not listen. I gave him everything: my money, my body, my life.

Tunde was everything a woman would wish for a husband. He could never go wrong. I was so smitten and terribly in love. I cried my eyes sore when the end of the session came and he had to leave the school on completion of his degree programme. My joy knew no bound when on his last night in school, he proposed to me. I accepted to be his wife. I had been waiting for this all my life.

After Tunde left the school, I could barely concentrate on my studies. I looked forward to his visits and longed to be in his arms again. We got married three years later at a beautifully organized society wedding. The VIPs trooped in in numbers. My dad presented a gift of a Hummer Jeep to us to the admiration of guests. Everyone wished us a fruitful and blissful married life.

We set out on our life journey together to fulfill the dreams I had longed for all my life.  I never bargained for what was to become my lot five months into our marriage. Everything changed! Tunde; my husband became a monster. The patience and love we shared disappeared and life became a living hell. Tunde would come home completely drunk, smelling like a skunk. Sleeping with other women became his favourite past time and I became his punching bag. He derived pleasure in inflicting injuries on my body. I dared not question his moves as he’d beat me to unconsciousness. I decided to ignore his unfaithfulness and romance with other ladies . I made up my mind to endure the hell I had brought upon my self by marrying him

Tunde came home one night, drunk as usual. I had gotten used to it and so, did  not flinch. But then he started asking for his food. Since it was so late and I wasn’t expecting him home for the night, I had prepared only the food I could eat to avoid wasting it. So, I told him nicely that there was nothing at home at the moment for him to eat.  Suddenly, Tunde started calling me all sorts of names. I begged him to allow me go and cook something but he wouldn’t listen. He started beating me. He beat me to stupor and perhaps thought he could have more fun by teaching me the lesson of my life. He tied me to a mchair. Though I was unconscious, my senses came alive at a smell…could this be kerosene, I wondered in my spirit. That was when everything became black.

Here I am in this hospital.  I could have been dead..thanks to neighbours who came to my rescue…why would Tunde want me dead? Was it the alcohol? Or was it his darkened devilish soul? I can only wonder in pain. Where is my first love, My boyfriend; My Tunde.

REDUCING ROAD ACCIDENTS DURING THE EMBER MONTHS By Titi Bamigboye

As the year gradually comes to an end, deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes are a major concern. In Nigeria, higher incidences of road traffic accidents are experienced during the final months of the calendar year, popularly called the ember months. The ember months refer to the months from September to December.

During this period, the roads tend to be busier as there are high influxes of both vehicular and passenger movements from one part of the country to another, especially as some religious festivals fall within the period. Due to the high prevalence of auto crashes and its attendant carnages during this period, the months have become dreaded.

The Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, an agency charged with the responsibility of ensuring safety on Nigerian roads, attribute road accidents during this period to motorists’ overloading, impatience, lack of courtesy for other road users, faulty vehicles as well as dilapidated road infrastructures. Another major cause of auto crashes in the country is the use of mobile phones while driving.

It has been estimated that during this volatile ember months, over two thousand people die from one form of road accidents or the other in Nigeria. Undoubtedly, this figure is staggering and urgent steps need to be taken to stop the trend. Aside from the huge human loss and psychological impact, the economic burden is also noteworthy because, the nation's productive work force tends to shrink significantly with every life lost to road traffic accidents.

While the Federal Road Safety Commission and the government are encouraged to play their parts to ensure safety on Nigerian roads, it must be pointed out that the task of ensuring road safety and reducing road accidents during the ember months should not be left to government or its agencies alone, but should be seen as a collective responsibility. Nigerians must rise to the occasion by cooperating with government to bring the carnage on Nigerian roads to the barest minimum.

This can be achieved only when motorists and other road users give due recognition and respect to road signs and traffic regulations.

On its part, government must enforce existing traffic laws and regulations. A lot still needs to be done in the area of road users’ education. Campaigns should be mounted all year round and intensified at specific periods of the year such as in the run up to the yuletide and other festivities.

DEMOCRACY: THE LONG ROAD HOME

Education has been used to channel democracy into a successful phenomenon, in developed societies. In Africa, Money is what drives democracy. How can the media, educate the so called masses to demand from government that which they had promised to deliver. In other words, dividends of Democracy. Democracy in Africa is still evolving. All over africa, you find the same people who had been in government either as military rulers or traditional chiefs , still occupying the seat of government. If not them, then, their relatives. This leaves the average person from lower class out of ‘eligibility’ of aspiring for leadership because he may not have the wealth and the family name to be recognised in a society where the values are misplaced. Bad leadership or lack of good governance has been the bane on Africa’s development.

Democracy in Africa is mostly fashioned after that of the developed world. However, what is working for the developed community is rather eating deep into the resources of african countries, thereby increasing the poverty level of Africans, and widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

The rich to solidify their wealth go into politics and make policies to favour them, leaving the poor at their mercy. In the case of Nigeria, for instance, corruption has eaten so deep into the fabric of the society, and is becoming a norm. Who takes up responsibility in reviving the value system of honesty and loyalty to one’s nation. How can one break up the cartel of the so-called “politicians” and ensure that the right people are voted into power. How can we have an enlightened electorate that would realise that their destiny and that of their children tomorrow, lie in the decisions, policies and infrastructural developments of today. A Senator in Nigeria who is probably not educated to the tertiary level, earns fifty times more than a professor who had spent all his live studying. From reliable information, it was gathered that a Nigerian Senator even earns more than the president of America. This is an abnormally and it is the same in most countries in Africa. Africa will not develop until she gets her democracy right!

Though there is no perfect democracy, developed world’s like America have institutionalise Democracy to such an extent that it is owned by the people. The people in a way, control the government. This makes government accountable to the people. Nigeria, operates the presidential system of government. This comprise the Federal, the State and the Local government which makes it a federation. But there is so much power in the middle that the state is dependent on the federal, while the local council though has local council chairmen is virtually run by the state. This system of governance is responsible for the malfunctioning of democracy in Nigeria, as corruption reigns free. Allocation of resources are left at the discretion of the federal executives. This has resulted in a lot of misgivings and grievances as states that contribute less or nothing to the gross income of the country are given the same allocation as states that contribute more to the GDP.

Nigeria’s economy is largely dependent on oil. Oil explorations have polluted most of the oil producing areas, thereby destroying their major source of livelihood; farming and fishery. This had led to agitations from people living in these areas for more government attention.

To a large extent, the electorate is to blame for the bad leadership they get. Often times, especially in the developing world, the electorate/citizens are not really concerned about who holds power or even the policies made by those in power. The disturbing fact is that most Nigerians are not interested in what happens in governance or who governs them. A lot of youths are disenchanted about the electoral process, while some are just ignorant But the fact remains that these people make decisions that affect them. This explains why so many of them run abroad to try to make a living for themselves. Most times many of them end up doing very dehumanising jobs in their bid to make ends meet. A lot of them feel that there is no place for them in government. Because what obtains is a recycling of Old leaders who were once in power either as military rulers or those related to those who were once in power.

The media is described as the hope of the common man or sometimes, the fourth estate of the realm. What this means is that, the media could be the savior in a hopeless democracy. It is the responsibility of the media to educate and inform the people about what they have the right to know and what they ought to know. The media is also supposed to be the watch dog of the society. This is to keep those in the corridors of power in check, so they know what the people demand of them. Leadership is a position of service.