Efiko

Last weekend fizzled out before my eyes even though I was involved in endless physically/mentally challenging tasks. I had to travel many hours on an airline carrier whose plane must have celebrated its golden jubilee a few years back. The noise of the engine and the annoyingly obvious re-engineered upholstery exposed its ailing health.

 The uncertainty of safe landing coupled with the poor on-air service ensured the consistency of sweat beads all over my face till I de-planed at Ouagadougou Airport, Burkina Faso. On a second look at my ticket, I felt like a hypocrite; the return ticket I purchased during a promo cost me barely $250 and I was expecting VIP treatment? As if the rigours of the flight was not enough, my ordeal in the bus to Gaoua was horrendous; I honestly don't have the knowledge of words that would adequately capture my emotions.

 Notwithstanding, I arrived at the venue of the conference as flesh and blood. After securing the poorest accommodation available, I hurriedly took a bath and dashed towards the banquet hall hoping to get a choice designation for the conference. I was later told the sessions were to hold in a wasteland nearby. For 2 days, we spent most of our time listening to the erudite Prof Lazarus Bance in the forest as he cried out passionately to his fellow African compatriots.

 Though he often pontificated, his words were true and he drove his point home with hilarious illustrations that sent all the delegates into raptures. Prof. Bance was able to explain to us the relationship between wisdom and development as he constantly made comparison between Africa and the Western hemisphere.

 He explained the benefits of wisdom and lashed out at its misconceptions. He humorously claimed that "If wisdom was indeed really beneficial on its own, Africa should be the 'Golden Goose' of the universe. He suggested that we all recommend to our home governments and people to take wisdom beyond mere rhetoric, then a reciprocal relationship between wisdom and constructive development would kick-off.

 At the end of the conference, we were all handed a 50-paged manual containing African proverbs, adages and sayings. I was fascinated by the following:

 •When the right hand washes the left hand and the left hand washes the right hand, both hands become clean.

 •Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far in life.

 •He who cannot dance will always say: The drum is bad.

 •Even over cold pap the coward says: “It will burn my mouth".

 •If you're hiding, do not light a fire.

 •If you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk with others.

 •Confiding a secret to an unworthy person is like carrying grain in a bag with a hole.

 •A hunter who has only one arrow does not shoot with careless aim.

 •It is from a small seed that the giant Iroko tree has its beginning. 

•The failure to catch the thief in a farm is what leads the thief to catch the owner in his barn.

 •Bathing yourself with garri does not satisfy your hunger.

 •You can't beat your chest with 1 finger. You need them all.

 •If you don't want to see evil. Talk to your legs

 •We asked him to work, he was murmuring and grumbling, has he not done more than work?

 After reading over 1000 African proverbs and sayings, the appendix listed the continents of the world, showed the number of great empires they had in the past, ranked their philosophical depth and showed their cummulative GDP (per capita income). Africa ranked top in alphabetical order, past glory and philosophical depth but sat comfortably at the bottom when it came to developmental economic indices.

 On my flight back to Lagos, I thought to myself; If Prof. Bance's research finding was anything to go by, then "to know is never enough, we must apply". I vowed not to go in the way of Africa who is loaded with so much but suffers greatly due to under-utilisation and misappropriation of resources. What about you?