Kebbi’s aimless quest

Maryam seemed so absorbed in what she was doing that she didn’t even raise her head when I walked into her sitting room.

‘Oga Madam,’ I joked ‘what’s so captivating in your hand that it wouldn’t allow you to answer my salams or even hear my footsteps?’ I asked.

‘It’s this crazy story Bint, a totally crazy stuff if ever there was one.’ She replied rising up to hug me. ‘I am referring to this report from the VOA Hausa service.’ She explained, showing me the video on her phone.

‘And what does it say that’s got you all worked up?’ I asked, taking her phone into my hand.

‘You better listen to it yourself. Just play the video from the beginning, it’s better heard from the reporter himself.’ She urged.

‘But I don’t have the time to replay and listen Maryam. You better give me a summary of it or else forward it to me and wait till I get home before I watch it.’ I replied.

‘Ok, I’ll give you a summary, but at least watch the first few seconds. It will give you an idea of what I feel so strongly about.’ She insisted.

‘All right,’ I replied, reluctantly taking the phone from her. The pretty, fashionably dressed VOA newscaster is a pleasant sight to behold. But the moment the footage moves to Yawuri, a town in Kebbi state where the newsline originates from, it becomes a different story. A dirty scene, with a few benches near a rubbish pile, was introduced as the meeting place of youths in the town, their majlisi.

The next scene, portraying the town itself is actually worse, as far as the dirt was concerned. So disgusted was I that at that point I quickly said. ‘Please summarize the story for me, I can’t take anymore of this dirt strewn footage.’ I protested.

‘Good, I see that you’ve got a feel of what I wanted you to see.’ Maryam answered, a mischievous smile spreading on her face.

‘As you have heard from the newscaster’s commentary, some apparently aimless youths were debating about which was more numerous between Nigeria’s population and the contents of a sack of grains. They then decided to count a sack of millet to find out. Now, for the past two months they have engaged themselves in this useless task. Can you believe this Bint?’ She asked, rhetorically.

‘Yes I can. It’s sheer idleness and total lack of anything worthwhile to do. Otherwise, how can several able-bodied young men embark on such a worthless venture just to settle an equally worthless argument about whether Nigerians are as many as the grains in a sack. What would they benefit from finding that out?’ I queried.

‘But according to their spokesman, who was interviewed by the VOA, they are all gainfully employed youths. He claimed that among them are civil servants, traders and artisans and that they only engaged in their self-imposed task as a means of entertainment. Amazingly, they even appointed a committee to take care of picking the grains that fell to the ground so they will be counted and not missed. Still I can’t help thinking it’s such an aimless venture. I mean what good would they possibly achieve?’ She demanded.

‘You are right Maryam. The whole thing is crazy. And if they are all gainfully employed, why don’t they do something better with their time than counting millet. Just look at how dirty their town is, even the majlisi, the meeting point where they troop to every evening to while away their time, is an eyesore. If they were to use the many weeks spent in this worthless pursuit to clean the town, that would give them something to be proud of. It won’t only make their town clean but also keep dangerous diseases at bay. In this part of the world where we have annual recurrences of cholera, meningitis and flood, aren’t all these phenomena not related to dirty environments and blocked drainages?

When we were growing up, environmetal sanitation was almost exclusively the preserve of self help groups. You’ll wake up one day and just see them all over the streets and alleyways, cleaning drainages, clearing up rubbish heaps as well as singing and dancing. Why won’t these youths look back to those days and think of doing something beneficial? But it’s also the fault of the elders in their midst. I’m sure the elders in Yawuri are aware of this mad waste of time, they should call these youths to order and ask them to do something worthwhile.’ I suggested.

‘You’ll be surprised at what the elders think. When asked what he thought about the whole exercise, the traditional ruler of the area said that he was skeptical about it at first but now he believes that what the grain-counting youths were doing was worth encouraging.’ Maryam disclosed.

‘Did he really say this? The youths in your domain spend over two months in an exercise which benefits no one, and instead of scolding them you announce that you approve of their nonsense? Meanwhile your town is dirty and prone to any kind of water or air borne disease, yet you do not see the need to have these youths channel their energy where it is needed. How unfortunate.’ I complained.

‘Maybe he’s hoping the exercise will take his town into the Guinness book of records, you know as the one town which discovered how many millet grains are in a 50 kg sack.’ Maryam observed, jokingly.

‘Believe me if that town ever makes it to the Guiness book of records, it will be for the most aimless quest in history.’ I replied with disgust.