Jide Ojo, Asorogbayi, at 55

 

“When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Refrain:

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your blessings, see what God hath done;

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

And it will surprise you what the Lord  hath done”

-        Author: Johnson Oatman, Jr.

I am not unhappy to be alive. To have lived for fifty-five years on mother earth, especially in a challenging environment like Nigeria calls for celebration. In the last one year since I last celebrated my birthday, a new government has been inaugurated with economic policies that have seen to rising cost of living. My living standard, like those of most of my compatriots, have dropped significantly. I have never borrowed to live as I have had to do recently, no thanks to paucity of consultancy opportunities and high dependency ratio. In case you don’t know, I am Baba Baale (family head) with few biological children and many sociological off springs who call me daddy.

To be a good and responsible daddy, you have to meet needs of your dependents:  school fees, feeding, and material needs. Keeping up with these have been overwhelming for me. Yet, I soldier on! Am not only a father of many, I’m also son to my aged mother and uncles. They also have expectations they want me to meet for them. They need to feed and pay other bills. More often than not, they turn to me for assistance. Me, only me with one life, is expected to meet needs of many children, mother and ‘fathers’. Friends and acquaintances are also waiting in the wing with their laundry list of demands. How many can I meet?

My case is like that of a boat driver who wants to help passengers in a capsized boat. My boat has maximum capacity of 10 and I already have seven passengers and could only help additional three else my boat too will capsize. However, there are eight passengers in the capsized boat and all of them appealing to me to save them from dying. What a dilemma. If you have asked me for support and I turned you down, don’t be angry with me, I also need help to pay off my huge debts and stave off imminent shame.

To those organisations who continue to patronise me, I say thank you on this auspicious occasion of my birthday. To friends who have invested in me through loans and gifts, I appreciate you a great deal. Your investments in me have saved several other lives that I cater for. I pray for better years ahead for myself.

I am very excited to witness another birthday in the land of the living. I have more health than sickness, am not starving as I can still eat, though not necessarily what I want but what is available. More importantly, I thank God and my media partners for the enlargement of my fame. As at today, I have over two thousand published commentaries in 73 Nigerian newspapers, magazines and newsletters and has been a columnist with The PUNCH newspapers (the most widely read and influential Nigerian newspapers since 2012). I have been interviewed by 56 Television Stations and 67 Radio Stations both nationally and internationally. This made me one of the most interviewed Nigerians in history. To God alone be the glory!