"OUR BROTHER"

First semester of my second year in the university we had a class presentation and the topic was Politics and development. I had the privilege of speaking for my group. I used our school as a test case since it represented a microcosm of the larger society we were talking about. One of the things I told my class then was that when I arrived at the school the previous year, the road to the school was in a sorry state, but in the weeks leading up to our matriculation, red sand was poured on the road and it was "worked" enough to let our visitors' vehicles access the school, it was not tarred. After matriculation the work stopped. The company that had the contract to do the road belonged to a patron of our school who also happened to be an indigene of the village where our school was situated. Now, every year his contract is renewed in billions of Naira, he pours sand on the road then comes to school during matriculation and donates a million naira and we clap for him and fall over ourselves to praise such a nice generous saint of a man. The next year in which I was making this my presentation, the same thing that had occurred the previous year was repeated since it was close to matriculation time. I assured my classmates that it was almost certain the road won't be finished this time too at which my lecturer interrupted me and said I shouldn't make such predictions as his old rickety car could nottake any more beating.I told them that if the contract had been awarded to a non indigene or God forbid a person from another region, we would have been screaming our heads off that we are being marginalized, but, here was "our own brother" robbing us blind in broad daylight and yet,like bewitched sentimental fools, we were singing his praises to the heavens. Sentiments have been dependable failproof tool in the hands of politicians for all time. They whip it up anytime things don't go their way or anytime it suits them especially when they're bored just like In the movie -The Prince of Egypt- Pharoah said to Rameses his young son, "as a king, anytime you're bored start a war" That's what our politicians do. I ended by telling my class that I did not see any development coming to our school and that environment soon with the kind of sentimental politics we were practicing. A politics that turned a blind eye to evil, inefficiency, ineptitude, lack of standard and due process all because the culprit is "my brother". I visited my school penultimate year to get my transcript and there was no road to get there, we had to pass through bushes and people's backyard. Oh, by the way the contract of the road of course still belonged to " Our brother"