By Fr Pat Amobi Chukwuma
Time is very precious. The Book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verse 1 tells us that there is time for everything. Time lost can never be regained. During my secondary school days, there were certain students among us that belonged to an obnoxious group called ‘Ogbuoge’ Club. ‘Ogbuoge’ is two Igbo coined words that literally mean ‘Time killer’. Their motto is “Ogbuoge nwere plan.” This means that they have plan for wasting (killing) time. Rarely did they come to class.
Also they were not serious in studying alone or as a group. They had no time for anything academic. Their interest was in social and obnoxious activities. The plan they had was nothing but engaging in examination malpractices. They paid some students and copied verbatim from them in examination hall. One of them committed blunder by copying even the name and examination number of the student he copied from. This led to his capture and expulsion.
One of my classmates who belonged to the club was absent in the examination hall the day we wrote Literature in our West African School Certificate. That day was on 27 May 1983. He got up in the morning and wore his best attire and disappeared. It was reported that he went for jamboree at the stadium on Children’s Day Celebration.
Late in the evening of that fateful day, he returned 100% drunk to our dormitory. He just staggered into his well-furnished bunk and slept off. From that moment till daybreak he was snoring like a wounded pig. When eventually our WASC result came out he scored 9 in nine subjects. In other words he failed woefully.
Instead of blaming himself, he furiously asked, “God, what have I done to you that you gave me 9×9?” If you were God, what would be your response? Did he not have plan as he wasted his precious time for five good years? Unfortunately his plan failed. If you waste time, then time will eventually waste you.
Normally, football match lasts for ninety minutes. When it clocks forty-five minutes, it is called half-time. The center referee blows the whistle and the game stops for some minutes. The two opposing teams go for brief rest. Afterwards the players return to the football pitch for the second half. The two teams exchange sides. The referee blows his whistle and the ball is formally passed.
The players strive to score goals in order to win the game. Any time lost is gone. Any player that commits foul is given the yellow card, if it is a minor offence. But if it is a major offence, then it merits the red card, whereby the offensive player is automatically sent out of the football pitch. He or she goes out shamefully and regrettably. The last few minutes added is known as the injury-time.
If well utilized, it can lead to victory. If not, any of the two teams can lose the match. At the expiration of ninety minutes, if no team has an advantage, then an extra time of 30 minutes is added. If it fails to produce a winner, the game ends in penalty shoot-out whereby a winner must emerge.
Time waits for no one. Any second or minute that goes, is gone forever. Therefore we must plan and work with time. The year 2025 which began in January has reached the tenth month, which is October. The last three months of the year (October, November and December) can be regarded as yearly injury time. Unlike in football time, no extra time is added in the calendar months.
A baby is conceived and develops for nine months in the mother’s womb. When the time comes for nativity, the expectant mother gives birth to a baby boy or a baby girl. The baby is born immaturely when the pregnancy lasts for less than nine months. It is over mature if the pregnancy lasts more than nine months. The lunar calendar lasts for twelve months; no subtraction nor addition.
We are now in the tenth month. The year 2025 is two months away. Hence the time is ripe for stock-taking. In Economics or Commerce, stock taking is an important topic. It is a special time devoted to pros and cons. A good or hardworking entrepreneur sits down to calculate the gains he made and the loss he or she incurred during a particular year. During the stock-taking, business is interrupted in order to achieve good result.
If the stock-taking yields positive result, the entrepreneur yields a sigh of relief. But if the result is negative, he takes drastic measures to avoid such losses again in the year to come.
The great ancient philosopher Socrates vehemently said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” An Igbo proverb says, “Onye amaghi ebe mmiri noro mawa ya anaghi ama ebe o noro kwusi ya.” This means that one must trace the origin of any problem in order to find a worthy solution to it. Each and every one of us living must ask himself or herself these pertinent questions: So far, so good or so far, so bad?
What are the factors that led to my success or to my failure this year? What are the measures I have to take in order to improve? If I made progress, how can I make more improvement? My motto must be not to despair when my stock taking is negative. To despair is total loss of hope. There is hope in hopelessness. If a black hen can lay white eggs, then there is hope.
Our country Nigeria has undergone series of economic hardship this year. Since the fuel subsidy was carelessly removed two years ago, all have not been the same again for the poor masses. Many find daily living unbearable. Many eat from hand to mouth. Some eat from the dustbin. Hunger is written o n numerous faces.
Many have been starved to death. Even though the Federal Government said that the economy has been stabilized, it is yet to be translated into the lives of the poor masses. Inflation is still highly felt. When the prices of essential commodities are coming down but there is no money to buy them, what then is the essence? Long term economic policies are telling on the lives of the people. What is the essence of undertaking long policies when the intended beneficiaries have gone to their untimely graves?
Insecurity of lives is taking a big toll. Many innocent Nigerians are still being kidnapped, tortured, extorted, raped and killed on daily basis from the hands Boko Haram terrorists, bandits, bloody herdsmen, kidnappers and other agents of darkness. The Federal Government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is yet to declare State of Emergency on Insecurity. Security ought to be the priority of the Federal and State Governments. Without it, any other achievement is meaningless. It is only the living that can enjoy the dividends of Democracy.
Our democratic institution is nothing to write home about. The electoral system is marred by corruption and electoral malpractices. It is only a free, fair and credible election that can produce good leaders. A corrupt process produces corrupt leaders at the Federal or State levels. The outgone Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, would have written his name in gold, if he had translated his words into action.
He publicly vowed to transmit the 2023 Presidential Election electronically. Unfortunately he derailed. According to him, there were some technical glitches in the transmission process. The glitches might have to do with corruption. Eventually the Presidential results were collated manually and announced in the dark hour of the night.
How can darkness produce light? Indeed corruption killed the electronic transmission of the 2023 Presidential Election result. Professor Mahmood left office without telling Nigerians what the electoral glitches actually were. His utterance was “Go to Court!” The Judiciary also became accomplice.
The newly appointed Chairman of INEC, Professor Joash Amupitan, must beware of such ambiguous electoral glitches. Nigerians expect nothing but free, fair and credible elections from him. Good name is better than riches. The forthcoming 2027 General Elections will be a litmus test for him. A professor should be above suspicion.
