It was with sadness that Nigerians woke up to the news of the gruesome murder of Favour Seun Daley-Oladele, a promising 22-year-old final year Theatre Arts student of the Lagos State University by her boyfriend and his mother allegedly for money making rituals. They were allegedly aided in this sinister act by a supposed pastor who they allegedly paid the paltry sum of N210,000.
The late Indian nationalist and liberation fighter, Mahatma Ghandi, once talked about the seven deadly sins among which is wealth without work. The duo wanted wealth but didn’t want to put in the required efforts to legitimately acquire it. To imagine that a mother could aid and abet such a heinous crime? It goes to show the moral bankruptcy and dysfunctional parenting by some parents who lead their children and offspring to avoidable ruin.
The rest of the world has advanced greatly with the aid of science and technology which has made life better for their citizens while we are still stuck with beliefs which were reminiscent of the middle ages where people were burnt at the stake at the mere suspicion of being witches.
These acts are so rampant where materialism has taken roots. This malady started during the military rule where the economy collapsed and many people sought instant relief in get-rich quick schemes. The incentive to work is lost in a society that prefers to honour crooks and people of questionable character and hold them up as her heroes. Hard work is shunned since it doesn’t pay as it is not uncommon to see honest civil servants who work hard for 35 years but cannot live a peaceful life of retirement as their pensions cannot take them home; many of them even die waiting for the mirage called pension as the government cruelly withholds it from them in the twilight of their lives. What about honest workers in the private and even public sector whose salaries and entitlements are denied them at the end of the month? These toilers who toil for their slave masters day and night are unable to meet their obligations to their families.
The government should embark on a massive re-orientation of the minds of her citizens on the futility of these so-called ritual riches. It is a waste of time and lives. The orientation should be done in the indigenous languages as well as there is the urgent need to purge the minds of the majority of the populace against this nauseating myth. The religious houses should also join this effort. They should live by example and stop honouring crooks with front seats and accepting funds from questionable sources for their never ending projects.
There must be national rebirth. This can only be possible if the government intervenes to make opportunities available to those who are willing to put their nose to the grindstone to legitimately work it out.
Tony Ademiluyi,
Lagos.
