It's a pleasure to join you all this fine morning for yet again we're blessed with another opportunity to serve our Creator and live life with a purpose. I must say that this isn't a lecture, nor a one-way communication. I'm tasked to discuss about the plight of the IDPs.The IDPs like everyone of us are people and they deserve a fair chance in life to live with dignity and respect. The 2.2 million IDPs could've been anyone of us. It's likely that everyone in this group know someone who's an IDP. It's possible that we have first hand experience with the IDPs. Thus, it's paramount that the solutions of their plight come from us. It's commendable that everyone is chipping in from home and abroad to help proffer solutions but solutions must come from us. Therefore, I'll save us time from discussions about the problems - we all know what they are. Is it hunger? Is it jobless? Is it economic? Is it homelessness? Is it the mass orphans that we have or the widows we have roaming the streets? Is it lack of schools and access to healthcare? We all know what the problems are. Therefore, in my humble opinion, the solutions are not only financial and governance. The solutions lie within each and everyone of us. We must change we must GET INVOLVED and start asking the right questions of our leaders. What are they doing to make sure IDPs gain skills needed to work when they go back? What are we doing to make sure we help the IDPs who are our neighbours?There are many ways to kill a rat just like their are many ways to solve our problems. To allow us time to reflect and think through this discussion, I'll discuss one solution to the plight of IDPs. If I were given the audience to sit with President Buhari, this is what I'll tell him: Your Excellency, I urge you to reject international aid in the form of MOUs and written numbers on paper and cash transfers. Your Excellency, I urge you to tell all who committed to help rebuild northeast that they're welcome to come in with their plans to build hospitals, mass housing, schools and roads and modern agriculture machines and technology and computer. Bring their reputable staff and plans and use the money they want to donate to build directly for us. We have the human capital but lack the vision and foresight so the money will end up in individual pockets. Let's do the Chinese style but hire locally. I want the Caterpillars of America and the Berger of Germany to work side by side with the unemployed youth ready to work and learn. Let's put what's on paper in physical form. Enough with the committees and the discussions. Enough with talking, it's time to build schools and hospitals not as plans but in structures .We can't deny the fact that we lack sustainable solutions. Some of the federal roads we enjoy today are the same roads the colonial masters built. Who are we deceiving? We don't have the will power necessary to fight our Nafs from taking what's not ours. Therefore, e want a mass housing unit in Maiduguri like those built by habitat for humanity. We want community Heath centres built like those built in North Carolina after Katrina. We lack the vision but have the manpower. Mr President doesn't steal but the same can't be said about the people around him. The 2.2 million people don't care about politics and committees, they want to eat and go to school. We have individual and collective responsibilities as people. Are we doing enough to educate ourselves about our rights and responsibilities in society? We complain about our leaders but who elevated then to that ranking? Who voted them in? Are we sure we're educated enough about our leaders? Why are they still leading us when we know they're syphoning public funds? Why are we too afraid to speak up? Are us the media so afraid to protect the masses?Can we individually say we're doing enough to help IDPs? How many of us have changed our material consumption to accommodate and help IDPs in our neighbourhood? Yes, we all have our responsibilities to ourselves and our immediate family. But how have we changed our behaviour to help our neighbours? My income may not have increased but I can decrease my intake. Can I help feed the IDPs next door if I limit my household consumption of meats and eggs and substitute it with beans and fish instead? Perhaps. Every little count s.In the end, I urge everyone to reflect on the story of the bee from the Quran. I live by this story. I was told about the story when I was getting married and I reflect on it often. Allah SWT, in His infinite mercy uses story to teach us lessons but often times we hold on to the frivolous elements and neglect the gems.
The bee only pollinates the pure and fragrant flower and leaves behind honey. The bee does not pollinate where another bee has been, it looks elsewhere, subhanAllah. The bee works tirelessly and Allah rewards it with honey. Honey is used as a medicine and in a thousand other things.
Lesson: how do we expect to make honey when we pollinated in filth?To recap, my solution to the plight of IDPs is to reject foreign aid and ask for the foreigners to come in physically and work with us to rebuild northeast. We ask them to bring in their vision, their technology, their capacity, their experience, and their devotion and commitment to come in and work with us, the locals in the community to lay down one brick at a time and build schools and housings and roads and hospitals . let them come in with education materials in the container and teachers to teach us and engineers to work with our engineers, those who'd gone to school and those inherently talented and gifted ones who didn't go to school. let them keep their dollars and pound sterling and euros and buy materials and pay their staff while they work with us and pay us our naira but let us learn from them. let us work with them. let us learn from them . foreign aid is aiding corruption and keeping us stagnant .so many people are getting rich out of our misfortune. I still remember in the early days of Boko Haram how many Nigerians claim how it's just an issue affecting one side of nigeria, yet today, everyone from the south is setting up NGO and hiring our northern locals to work on their NGOs while they collect commitments from foreign agencies .we lack structure and we lack vision. it's nothing to be ashamed of. we've been brutally beaten in this fight. we've been beaten by each other and our leaders, we've been deceived, bamboozled, and shamed. what we have right know does not work any more. it's a laudable task to have the committee of elders once again proferring solutions to our problems, but our problems need 21st century solutions. we need fresh ideas but most importantly selfless people. We need people living a purpose driven life to answer to their calling not to their political party of godfather. If at all someone want to help us rebuild, we need to say no to accepting cash and ask for them to come in physically and get the work done. we need doers, thinkers, strategist, no matter who they are and they're from, we need them to believe in humanity. we must find sustainable solutions to help 2.2 million IDPs live life with respect and dignity.Thank you all for your time. I hope this conversation bring about lasting solution. Thanks Abdulaziz for your patience. Jamila kabiru Fagge
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