A home from home

Happy Christmas everyone! This will be my first Christmas spent away from home; as such it will be tinged with certain sadness and perhaps the onset of home sickness. To date though, I am still in a relaxed and anticipatory mode, maybe akin to the expectant child on Christmas morning, wondering what delights will Nigeria bestow on me over the coming holiday season and beyond? Plenty of palm wine is a distinct possibility.

Today, my predecessor Ronan left for Ireland. He has lived and worked in Nigeria for the past two years, and the people here have left an indelible mark on his soul. We will meet at a still undetermined time in a watering hole in Galway in the future. Based on current climatic conditions, my thinking that it may be on a floating bar. My brother informs me that it has rained for the last forty days in Galway; Michael, maybe it’s an ark you should be building! Surprisingly, it’s still sunny here.

Having a place to call home is something instilled in the human psyche. This is very true of the Irish as much as Nigerians. A home should offer some security, safety and sense of belongingness. Thousands of such homes have been destroyed in Abuja over the past few years, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. The reason for destroying the homes, simply put, they did not fit in the Master Development Plan for the city. While similar actions raised the shackles of the media when perpetrated in Zimbabwe, the actions in Abuja went largely unreported in the Western Media.

The signs of the destruction wrought over the city are not so visible now; the sites of homes are now covered by long grass, though one can still see particular buildings marked by an X, ready for bulldozing. One can appreciate that the federal government did not want another labyrinthine Lagos-like city to develop in the new capital, I guess it is important to remember though all ‘development’ is value laden, often determined by those with power.

So wherever you spend Christmas, appreciate where ever you call home and the people you share it with.

See you in 2007.