i really have no idea
what it is/was
exactly
that

led Nigeria folks ancestors
to praying that/those prayers

however
it is a virtually universal prayer
here in Nigeria

among all the tribes
and
in all the geo-political zones
of Nigeria.

it is a prayer that
a wealthy business person
or
a wealthy entrepreneur
may
pray thus
for example :

Father Lord,
by your grace
i have overcome many obstacles in life
and
i am now at 70 years
a multi-millionaire
in Nigeria Naira terms
in USA Dollar terms
in UK Pounds Sterling terms
in Europe Euro terms
in BRICS currencies terms
and
i have extensive investments and properties
around the world
which upon my transition
will become the inheritance of
my children and grandchildren
Father Lord,
guide and protect these offspring
so that
they do not waste away and fritter away their inheritance unwisely
and thus make a mess of all the efforts that have gone into building and acquiring this wealth.
Father Lord,
please do not give me any genealogy lineage offspring
.. whether great great great grandchildren or whatever ..
from now till the end of the world that will waste away and fritter away their due inheritance unwisely
and thus make a mess of all the efforts that have gone into building and acquiring this wealth.
all these i ask of you, Father Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.

it is a pretty candid prayer.

it is a pretty straightforward prayer
prayed by
some folk(s) who has/have
acquired some measure of
material success in life
financial success in life
economic success in life
and
who do/does not want any stupid? genealogy lineage offspring descendants
that will waste away their inheritance
and waste away all the efforts.





for the purposes of illustration,
Roberta Flack onye na ekwe ukwe ndi oji na uwa nine ji aba mba,
Roberta Flack ornyeh nar eh-kweh ookwae nnde ohjee narh uhwah neenae jee ar-ba nmbah,

if my memory serves correctly
there used to be a bank called
Barings Bank
or so
back in the day
in the USA.

and
if memory serves correctly
the founders of the bank
built up a moderate fortune
and
upon their transition
the bank
and the moderate fortune
was inherited by
a genealogical lineage descendant.

this genealogy lineage descendant
instead of
either
building up and increasing the fortune
or
maintaining it as is
or
harnessing part of it and keeping the greater bulk intact

frittered away and wasted away the entire fortune.

rumours were that
he spent the money partying
and
at one time
built a slide on which
he could slide from his upstairs bedroom window
straight into the swimming pool in the premises.

i don’t remember clearly now
if
the USA Time Magazine
or
the USA NewsWeek Magazine
carried the story
or
a simillar story
back in the day.

in any case,
the fellow went broke
the bank was closed
and
the fellow had
in effect
wasted away
and
frittered away
the inheritance unwisely
and
thus made a mess of all the efforts that had gone into
building and acquiring that wealth.

the rumours rumoured further
that
now broke
he became
an object of mockery
an outcast
a reject
among his
wealthy former? acquaintances
and
wealthy former? party accomplices
who
lifted no finger to help him,
turned their backs on him
and
left him to stew
.. or rot if you will ..
in the mess
that
he had singlehandedly created for himself
despite and against
all the strenous, valiant, productive efforts of his ancestry.

i guess
that happenstance
illustrates
the foresight and vision
of
those who pray such prayer(s)
and
also illustrates clearly why
they wish / would wish to
avoid
the appearance of any sort of
“cogs to cogs in 3 generations” happenstance
at any time
in their genealogical descendancy lineage.





perhaps.
perhaps not.

in any case,
Roberta Flack onye na ekwe ukwe ndi oji nine no na uwa ji eme onu,
Roberta Flack ornyeh nar eh-kweh ookwae nnde ohjee neenae norr narh uhwah jee eh-meh ornuh,
i guess
that
the Nigeria folks ancestors / ancestry
either

neglected
omitted
forgot
to pray that prayer
in linkage
to the diligent passing on of their history
from one generation to another
till the end of all time

or that
if they did pray the/that pray
they did not pray it wholeheartedly or very strongly

thus
leading to or resulting in
a situation
at some point
in this generation

years after
the white folks who colonized Nigeria and Black Africa
had told us
that

we blacks had no history
we blacks were and are inferior
we blacks are inferior historically, genetically and biologically
we blacks are sub-human
we blacks have no capacity to rule ourselves and run a country and so we will not be given independence/self-rule

and
Nigeria folks ancestors
and
many Nigeria folks
e.g?
late Professor Kenneth Dike?,
etc, etc
had struggled to

show that we have a history
document our history

and
showed that
we actually indeed have a
magnificent and marvelous and ancient history

e.g
the history of the Bini ( Benin ) Kingdom
the history of the Nupe Kingdom
the history of the Sokoto Caliphate
the history of the Yoruba Nation
the history of the Igbo Nation
etc
etc

there came into existence
i.e
there came into being,
seemingly,
a generation of Nigeria folks
some of
who/whom had and wielded great power
who/whom had and wielded great influence
and
who decided to use this great power
who decided to use this great influence
to
waste away and fritter away
unwisely
the inheritance
of
the compilation,
the documentation
and
the generation-to-generation teaching of history
in
Nigeria Secondary Schools and Primary Schools
which
Nigeria folks ancestors and valiant Nigeria folks
bequeathed to Nigeria

and
also decided to
make a mess of all the effort
that
Nigeria folks ancestors
and
some valiant Nigeria folks
had made
over the years

to show the entire world
to show the colonizers who said we have no history
that

indeed, we have a history
in truth, we are not inferior
in actual fact, we are not inferior historically, genetically and biologically
in truth, we are not sub-human
in reality, we have the capacity to rule ourselves and run a country

and so
we will make notable strides if and when we acquire independence/self-rule

by
– – by themselves alone – –

.. with no clearly demonstrable urging on
by/from
colonisers and the racist beneficiaries of colonisation,
neocolonialists,
racist anti-Black Africa folks,
etc ..

removing
the teaching of History
as an independent subject of study
in Nigeria Secondary Schools and Nigeria Primary Schools


all told,
Roberta Flack omalicha nm,
Roberta Flack ormahleechar nm,
it does seem
.. on balance ..
that
it is a fair positivity
that
in response to the averments by the general Nigeria public
essentially indicating that
they saw/see no value and no wisdom
in
removing the teaching of HISTORY
as an independent subject of study
in
Nigeria Primary Schools
and
in
Nigeria Secondary Schools
there has been a
return to the teaching of HISTORY
as an independent subject of study
in Nigeria Primary Schools
and
in Nigeria Secondary Schools up to JSS 111 Class
after which class
it becomes an optional subject for the Nigeria Secondary Schools SSS years.





and it does seem,
Roberta Flack nma nm,
Roberta Flack nnmah nm,
looking at things
retrospectively
and
in historical context

.. especially the absurdity
of
the SLAVE COAST

[ i.e NIGERIA, SLAVE COAST being the general? name for the NIGERIA AREA
in the era
in which
Western Europe colonized territories
in
Western Africa
were referred to
with names like

GOLD COAST ( i.e GHANA ),
PEPPER? COAST?,
etc

.. by the way
IVORY COAST i.e COTE D’IVOIRE
still retains a name
seemingly from that era
although
according to rumours
the killing of elephants
in order to
access the ivory in their tusks
is no longer encouraged
in the IVORY COAST/ COTE D’IVOIRE ]

after
going through
the deprivations of

the Atlantic Slave Trade,
the Trans Saharan Slave Trade,
Colonization,
Colonial Rule,
New Colonialism i.e Neo Colonialism,
etc

ever considering
in any way at all

the removal of the teaching of
it’s OWN HISTORY
and
RELATED RELEVANT WORLD HISTORY

to/from it’s own pupils
– – and therefore
to/from it’s own future generations
i.e
to/from it’s own succeeding generations – –

in their critical formative years and foundation/foundational years
i.e
the Primary School Years and the Secondary School Years

and
in fact
stupidly?
going ahead to implement that absurdity



.. which TO GOD BE THE GLORY was later reversed to a fair extent ..

that
there is much value in that historical prayer
of Nigeria folks ancestors
which prayed that
GOD should not give them children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, etc that will
make a mess of their efforts, struggles and victories in life





[ TO BE CONTINUED ]



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By sam

Samuel Ojekwe is essentially just your basic everyday fellow that you see in your neighbourhood while you go about doing your stuff and who, like you, wishes and hopes that the world becomes a better place for all of us.

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