As we have entered the “ember” months, I’d like to dedicate my first op-ed to Naija’s good news. After all, good news deserves as much space as its bad sibling, and it seems I’ve been writing lately about things that enrage/frustrate/sadden me, albeit with good reason. However, as I sat down to write, a tinny, badgering voice inside of me whined: It’s not every time doom and gloom, Chika. Sometimes go out and intentionally seek joy and light.
To get rid of that pesky voice, I decided to obey it. So, I went to the ‘Good News Network,” but their last entry for Nigeria was in April, and it was about Nigeria (and Ghana) approving Oxford’s R21 malaria vaccine for infants between 5 months and 3 years. Surely, in 5 months, we have more national news worthy of celebrating? I thought I might fare better Googling “good news, Nigeria.” That was worse. One of the top entries was from the BBC: “Lagos traffic jams disappear. But this isn’t good news for Nigeria.” Not exactly what I was hoping to find. Then I remembered that it doesn’t help to complain that others don’t tell your story (well), you have to take ownership of the telling. So, this is Good News Nigeria.
Firstly, Nigerian writers are winning. Earlier this year, at an event in Lagos, I was asked why I thought Nigerian literature was dying, and a reference was made to an article by someone that had apparently gone viral. I thought it was an odd take because if anything, Nigerian literature i.e. writing by Nigerian writers in and outside of the country is booming. Almost every month, I hear of a new writer signing a good/major deal with influential publishers. So how is it dying?
Nigerian writers are winning major prizes or getting long-listed (and shortlisted for these prizes). The biggest news on this front (so far) is probably Nigeria’s Ayobami Adebayo’s sophomore novel, A Spell of Good Things making it to the Booker long list. Way to go!
UNICEF warns of $100bn economic loss over conflict in Northeast Nigeria
Flood: Jigawa dredges 60km of Hadejia River, erects 100km embankment
And on the science front, young Nigerians provided us with good news too. Two students of Wesley Girls Secondary School, Elizabeth Korolo Boluwatife and Abdulsalam Ajara, won the 2023 Stockholm Junior Water Prize Nigeria for their water purifying innovation. The device uses solar energy to purify and recycle dirty water. Boluwatife and Ajara were inspired to develop the Bithermal Water Distillation Device by the lack of safe drinking water in their Makoko community. Imagine what this would mean on a commercial scale for communities that lack access to clean drinking water.
Finally, because I am allowed only so much space and because I want to spread my word count over different areas, I’m dedicating the third piece of good news to highlighting the Lagos Blue Rail Line project. It’s come 12 years after its promised original completion date of 2011. Deadline after deadline was missed but it appears to be here now, and our people say that what matters is that a hungry person was fed not how long it took to feed them.
Okay, I just made that up. Seriously though, I wish this every success. May it not go the way of some other laudable projects. Mr Jubril Gawat, the Senior Special Assistant on New Media to the Governor of Lagos State posted on X (now Twitter), “On the Blue Line Rail, we have over 300 CCTV cameras across the whole Blue Line Rail, Over 30 cameras monitoring the tracks alone. We also have Command and Control centres available in all stations. Extra security features: plainclothes security agents will be on the ground – officers of the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps will ride with passengers; Any altercation on the train will NOT be tolerated; Vandalism also will not be tolerated.”
Vandalism especially has been a huge national problem (on the 29th of August, a truck with vandalized rail components was intercepted by law enforcement somewhere in Plateau State. Two months ago, some individuals were caught in Kwara State with a lorry load of used rail tracks on the same day that two railway track vandals were arrested in Enugu), so it helps to beat that warning drum loudly.
May the rest of the year give us more to celebrate than not.
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