Security is the grand normative By Pinado Abdu-Waba

Some ironies are self-annulling. Take the phrase ”blissful ignorance” for instance, and try make sense of it. To be sure, you couldn’t be bothered about anything you knew nothing about, and if you ask me to be specific, I will point at the feelings of betrayal and fraud.

We all want the best in life, and I believe even providence designed it that way, but before I become too philosophical Iet me trade off my frustration quickly. I have been trying to make sense of the so-called “Subsidy Report” and its 62 recommendations. The probe itself was instituted on the 8^th of January 2012, but trust me I already had a vague idea of what the outcome would be and the subsequent proceedings that will unfold which will gradually pave way for an inquest that in turn will inspire it to be laid to rest. In the sense of a ritual also,  “we” will praise the government for being brave enough to have staged it in the first place, use it as an example to other similar issues that may arise, and, afterwards give up exasperatedly at the end and blame our system for making it impossible to “dig deep” into such occurrences or even make it successful enough to have a scapegoat!

When it’s all said and done, the story dies a natural death as if I am the only one talking about it at the moment.

Previously, every time I heard “going green” I associated it with being vegetarian and I automatically excluded myself. Along with a friend of mine, we listened to opinions of farmers who were blaming low crop yield to lack of NPK fertilizer and my friend smirked saying even the most scientific countries are turning to organic farming and here we are like a moving car behind a parked one, the irony was always very funny given how easy it is to come across all sorts of garbage that can be classified as organic.

I listened to an interesting debate on BBC Africa titled “Africa’s global image: Justified or Prejudiced?” there was quite an impressive collection of opinion but two stood out to me. One was that Africa had its reputation in its hands and is free to shape it however it likes, but such was the post-deterministic discourse that led even progressive Africans to allude more to poverty and disease rather than the geniuses and opportunities that exist, for example telling the story of Africa’s democracy through the lens of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe rather than Ian Khama in neighboring Botswana who is indeed an icon of regional democracy.

The other which made the most impression on me I must underline, is the empiricist construct which opines that once the issue of leadership is addressed, everything will fall into place because right now it is only in Africa where the military teaches democracy, it is only in Africa that the law enforcers are ignorant of the law and it is only in Africa that poachers are employed as game rangers! Quite hilarious, but really, what could be a more accurate description of Africa?

I started on a note that suggested I was going to talk about the subsidy report or probably try to give it my own version of sanctimonious lashing, but no. The massive greed and corruption exposed in this report displays a paradox of need and depravation, which for me is a classic paradox of the security and insecurity I am talking about or how best does one describe the politics of oil in Nigeria?

We are in a time where people are struggling to feel more secure in investment, economic wellbeing and social life. At a time when people unite to vote for an ideology that provides a form of security for the interests they pursue, if Francois Hollande’s victory in France is anything to learn from, a time where the right proportion of knowledge and wisdom is what will sustain security. Japan was powered mainly by nuclear but barely a year after Fukushima the country has gone almost nuclear free to prevent future accidents.

Resources offer the security of a sustainable development but it can only be meaningful if it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Hence while it is imperative to punish those who have violated this rule in favor of self-gratification, it is imperative to note that rather than assume the role of the treasure house security is the key word, not only from terrorist groups and corrupt leaders, ensuring sustainability of what one has, shopping for other resources and seeking a brighter future even when we won’t be part of it no matter how tempting it is to stock our houses with wealth and show people how profiting it is to be in a position to govern.