A letter of thanks on New Year Day

                                         

Dear Lord, thank you for another New Year.  And thank you that 2013 has gone with its troubles.

Thank you again that we did not witness another fuel subsidy removal.

Thank you for those who matter to us.

Thank you for our parents, for our wives, for our husbands and for true friends.

Thank you for the newborns, for the growing children, and for the old people.

Thank you for wellness and prosperity.

Thank you for wisdom and understanding.

Thank you for life’s good, a life of joy, and for a life well spent, and for those dead and gone.

Thank you for the plans of the enemies that failed. And that no weapons fashioned against us shall prosper.

Thank you for escaping armed robbers, for escaping terrorists, for escaping kidnappers, for escaping rapists, for escaping accidental discharge and for escaping bloodthirsty convoys.

Thank you that we have food and we can eat, even if Aso Rock animals have more.

Thank you for the family cars, even if they are not bulletproof.

Thank you for cancer survivors, polio survivors, fire survivors, flood survivors, plane crash survivors, and even stowaways that survived.

Thank you for the Golden Eaglets and the Super Eagles.

Thank you for Nations Cup glory and for World Cup qualification.

Thank you for PHCN, TCN, NERC, DISCO, and GENCO.

Thank you for “No speeding”, “No hawking”, “No trading”, “No smoking”, “No loitering”, “No parking”, and “No farting”.

Thank you for “Post no bill”, “Car parked at owners’ risk”, and “This house is not for sale. Beware of 419.”

Thank you for “C in C”, “CEO”, “GM”, “GO”, and “My oga at the top”.

Thank you for safe take-off, for safe flights and for safe landing.

Thank you for a state of health, for a state of emergency, and for a state of origin.

Thank you for freedom of speech, for freedom of choice, for freedom of movement and for freedom to defect.

Thank you for admission letters, for call-up letters, for appointment letters, for promotion letters, and for open letters.

Thank you for agricultural reforms, for free cellphones for farmers and for cassava flour and for cassava bread.

Thank you for Good, without the badluck, for Okonjo, without the wahala, for Stella, without the odour, and for Allison, without the mad.

Thank you for the committees that oversee committees, for probe panels that probe other probe panels, and for full circles.

Thank you for presidents that lead and governors that care (for widows).

Thank you for sure deal, sure banker, surefootedness and SURE-P.

Thank you for used security votes, for used constituency allowances, and for used budgetary allocations. And for unspent funds too.

Thank you for a just judiciary, for democracy, and for the ghost of June 12 (that never gets exorcised).

Thank you that one day Dele Giwa and Bola Ige will get justice.

Thank you for Arewa, Ndigbo, and Odua.

Thank you for economic sustainability, for policy sustainability and for a stable polity.

Thank you for religious harmony, for ethnic harmony and for national harmony.

Thank you for small mistakes and big erasers.

Thank you for 1914.

Not leaving 1960, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1993, 1999, and of course, 2015.

Thank you for knowing that truly, Things fall apart, for knowing The Trouble with Nigeria, and for knowing that There was a Country.

Thank you for human and natural resources, for oil wells and for oil boom.

Thank you for raw talents, for raw materials and for raw deals.

Thank you for probity and prudence, for professionalism and for rationalism.

Thank you for uniformed men and uninformed men.

Thank you for Nigeria.

Thank you for the journey of nationhood.

Thank you for the upcoming constitutional conference, but which would have been better if it was sovereign.

Thank you for the Nigerians that are their brothers’ keepers;

Thank you that we will fight for one another and not with one another.

Thank you for those that speak truth to power, for human rights activists and for the forward-looking.

Thank you for conscience, and truth.

Thank you for the National flag at full mast.

Thank you for honour and for glory.

Thank you for the dreams that never die and for the memories that never end.

Thank you for Nigeria’s hope for a better tomorrow. Amen.

Happy New Year

•Dr. Cosmas Odoemena