Leonard Shilgba
At a time of great hopelessness and dryness ( in their personal and
economic endeavors) among the Jews, Prophet Ezekiel was taken by the
Spirit of God to a valley full of dry bones and given a great
revelation. After taking in the sight for a moment, he was asked a great
question by God: "Can these bones live?" The prophet could only throw
it back to God, "You know the answer." And yes, God always knows the
answer. God then asked Ezekiel to "prophesy to the dry bones." How does
one begin to prophesy to a hopeless people whose only expectation is
tangible or material assistance? But how can a people that has little
patience for rich information and knowledge value prophecy? As we
examine the content of the prophecy we will have an insight into what
prophecy means.
Great prophecy: "I will cause breath to enter
into you, and you shall live." The prophecy then outlines the systematic
steps: "I will lay sinews upon you, put flesh on the sinews, cover the
flesh with skin, and finally put breath in you, and you shall live."
Revival of hope in Benue State must be preceded by a clear outline of
tangible steps by the leader or Governor of the State. Governor Ortom
must be articulate enough, positive enough, and practical enough. All
three are missing right now. Faith is not enough, living faith is
required. But living faith is demonstrated by both hopeful speech and
workable actions.
Prophet Ezekiel prophesied as he " was
commanded." Obedience by a leader to the heavenly vision precedes
rejoicing by the people, and that is why "when the wicked RULE the
people mourn, but when the righteous are IN authority they rejoice." And
as he prophesied, three things happened: There was a noise, then a
shaking, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. In other words,
the prophecy instigated excitement, positive response, and order. The
bones that were scattered in the valley were coupled together to form
complete and orderly skeletons; one person's bone did not lock up with
another's. This is order.
After another prophecy to an external
agent ( the wind) was made, and it entered into the
sinews-flesh-skin-covered skeletons, a great army stood up in the
valley, where once only very dry bones littered.
Benue people
complain, "Our bones are dry, and our hope is gone." They complain of
lack of fertilizers for their crops; they lament that their oranges
cannot be sold in Benue State at great prices because they must take
them outside their State and hand over to strangers who sell at whatever
price and hand them a pittance. They complain that the State government
lacks the vision, knowledge and will to take very simple steps to make
them rake in billions of naira from their oranges. While a State like
Anambra exports vegetables and earns foreign currency, and does not owe
workers any salaries, the Benue Orange farmer, without his government's
intervention, only slaves for other Nigerians in Lagos, Abuja, Port-
Harcourt, etc., who make billions off his labor. The same story can be
told of the Benue yam farmer, tomato farmer, etc. If you can tell the
economic contribution of Benue oranges, yams, tomatoes, etc., to the GDP
of Nigeria, then you will appreciate the humongous loss of the Benue
economy, because a huge chunk of that is not retained in Benue. But the
lamentation in the land is that,"There is no money." No, rather, there
is no visionary government. Governor Ortom's problem is not money, and
definitely, not the poor actions of his predecessor. Enough of
lamentation and blame game! "Much food is in the tillage of the poor,
but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment." (Proverbs 13:23)
This scripture aptly describes Benue State and its present government.
Benue State is not poor because it has no money; rather, it lacks money
because it lacks judgment ( understanding of time, vision of time, and
wisdom of God's will). If I believed that good counsel is yet cherished
and acted upon by the Ortom government, I would remind of what I have
written before about Benue agriculture, and would have made available to
the governor a draft bill that formalizes the vision. But this is what I
will say: This opportunity will pass to another if not siezed with
skillful hands and upright heart.
God said to the people of
Israel through Prophet Ezekiel, "I will open your graves, and bring you
up and bring you from captivity into Israel ( The Promised Land), and
you shall know that I am the Lord." God will rescue Benue himself. His
arm shall fetch salvation for the people. But first, God will turn their
heart back to him, for the set time to favor and show them mercy has
come.
"God will arise and show mercy upon Benue; for the time to
favor Benue has come." ( Psalm 102:13). God's mercies are fresh, full
and free. He will show us mercy in giving us unprecedented repentance,
unspeakable vision, and living faith.
I conclude by alerting
Governor Ortom of symptoms of his inactivity and lack of productive
leadership ( his fallow grounds, which he is yet to break up):
1.
As the Local Government chairman of all local government areas of Benue
(Ortom is yet to conduct local government elections almost one and half
years since he became governor) he has failed to clean up our towns and
villages, leaving them even worse than he met them. I vacationed in
Lagos State last month (August, 2016), and learned about Governor Ambode's strategy to
build eight roads in each local government area every year, which would
translate to thirty-two roads per local government area in four years. I
am disappointed that, in Gboko, for instance, the Tiv capital, the
colonial beautifully designed streets are being destroyed by erosion,
and I see no evidence of action by Ortom's government to have them laid with tarmac. This applies to
other major towns in Benue such as Otukpo, Katsina-Ala, Adikpo, Lessel,
etc. What is the plan?
2. Poor traffic control on our streets/
roads and in our markets without adequate parking spaces and
recreational facilities; lack of traffic or road safety measures;
absence of waste management plan, just to mention a few simple things
that should make life more livable, are a proof that change is yet to
come. What is the plan? The continued disorder is an indication of
absence of government.
3. I have seen some State governments in
Nigeria take steps to secure their homeland. Considering the urgency
required, I am unaware what has become of the bill to fix the Fulani
cattle herders' menace in Benue, which was widely announced by Ortom's
government about two months ago ( Remember Ekiti).
4. Governor
Ortom had directed Benue workers to work for only four days a week in
July this year, and use the remaining day and weekend to take to
farming. This action betrayed his (mis)understanding of agriculture. Let us
assume Ortom told Benue workers to work for only four days a week, and
invest the remaining time in refining crude oil, estate development, or
manufacturing activities such as processing agricultural produce. The
likely response would be the question, "Where does he expect them to get
capital from?" The same question applies. Governor Ortom needs to
understand that agriculture is big business and that not everyone can
invest in it. He needs to understand who a farmer is, what assistance
true farmers need, and that just because a man is poor doesn't mean he
is a "farmer." Farmers are rich people, facilitated by a series of steps
by their government. For now, Ortom has done nothing tangible for
agriculture in Benue State. He needs to break up his fallow ground.
Benue shall live again.
L. K. Shilgba
