…Two Shelves And A Broken Chair !

BY OLUFUNMILAYO HABIBAT OBADOFIN

Ever since the end of my National Youth Service, one of the things that gave me profound joy was counting down to the holidays (yuletide period). It was always a temporary break-away from hustle.

It’s 2019. After about 10 hours of journeying, with two full packed luggage bags and a hand bag; I threw my face out to a cold evening in the Kogi state capital (Lokoja) on Friday, December 20.

I employed the service of a tricyclist to convey me from the park to my house. As I came down from the tricycle ( keke napep), I braced myself for the rib-cracking hugs that awaits me. I am always welcomed at home!

I opened up to the love, joy, peace and silly fights at home with a lurking task in my head: Dr. Omojuyigbe’s assignment. Dr. Omojuyigbe is my communication lecturer who has been kind enough to give us an assignment for three weeks, to be submitted just after the yuletide break.

Since I planned to enjoy a guilt-free holiday, I settled to starting his assignment two days after my arrival. To this backdrop, I visited the state Library to source for materials.

The entrance brought reminiscent feelings from 9 years ago when I last entered the library. At that time, I was preparing for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination.

Alhaji Yahaya Bello, Kogi State Governor

I proceeded to the main building when I planned to earn every mark Dr. Omojuyigbe could award for the assignment.

Alas! I was mocked by a room of furniture lightly kissed by the dust from the harmattan, 2 shelves of scanty books and a broken chair.

I wasn’t going to be discouraged by that, so I went on to check the books for whatever piece I could use. A few minutes of futile search wisely informed me that I would not find anything worthwhile there.

I began to walk out and caught a glimpse of the broken chair again. At a second look, I saw more than a broken chair.

I saw a part of home that was broken. And with an audacity of shamelessness everyone strode by deliberately or indeliberately oblivious to it.

I saw an hypocritical layout of a losing strategy to fix a deformed educational system without cementing the foundation few minutes to a stormy rainfall.

I saw a peck of dust highlighting why we breed lickers rather than leaders.

I walked out of the library with one truth in mind; until we rise for a reform, or become reformers, we will be keeping ‘2 shelves and a broken chair’.