AS we welcome 2017 with fanfare in our groovy culture of extravagance, spending more than what we earn, many spend new year in wasteful ventures. In celebrations, we indulge in unethical conducts that sometimes  lead to death. Every new year comes with its pattern of celebrations that attracts hoodlums who are lured to rape, steal and maim innocent citizens. New Year celebrations have become a season prostitutes lure men to slaughter abattoirs in quest of fleecing vanity.

Only few see new year as a time for stock taking and correct mistakes, to live in love, peace and prosperity. A new year for some individuals, communities and governments may mean different things. A government looks at the past year to take stock and decide to meet the hopes and aspirations of her people. In doing this, it takes hard decisions which may be unpopular. The end result is to salvage an already bad situation. For a community, the aims maybe to sustain communal love and solidarity but for an individual it’s to address personal faults and avoiding similar pitfalls. The absence of this is the pogrom stench ravaging society today.

January is the beginning of every Year. It is named after Roman god Janus who has two faces, one looking forward and the other backwards. Janus tells the past and the future. The myth of Janus was so strong that people came to consult, presenting newly born babies before it to tell their future. The Greeks too have this culture and this was explanatory in Oedipus Rex, a child destined to kill his father and unknowingly marry his mother. January is important because it is a window to look backward to examine our faults, failures and accomplishments in order to avoid similar pitfalls in future.

Greed fuels ostentatious lifestyle and unknowingly destroys destiny. Wealth without honour, character without conscience is idolised by many including religious groups! We love pleasure without hard work. This accounts for the indecent dressing among girls and women. Values are thrown to the dogs in quest for monetary gain. Many lack character but how can we sustain knowledge without character? We indulge in business without morality, we seek science without human consideration. Society is castrated and we act without principles.

As we welcome 2017, several questions should agitate our minds. Why should a young man who earns N30,000.00  monthly, borrow N2m to celebrate a birthday or marriage and chain himself in debts? Why should a young man spend more than his monthly earnings in drinking and frolicking with women, if he is not involved in corrupt practices? Why do we live in deception, above our means? A people who seek prosperity do not live this way. Our lives are driven in recklessness, corruption and deceit even though we are inherently poor.

Poverty of ideas drives us, hence elders cannot convince youths to tread the path of honour. Illiterates and criminals become billionaires while those educated are servants of society misfits. These are difficult times. Many who celebrate birthdays or New Year may have reasons to do so but they are unaware that in every New Year it’s a minus from their years on earth, in essence it is a warning bell that you are getting nearer to your grave. A man who celebrates fifty years on earth should know that his number of years on earth is shrinking. What this means is that we are sojourners on earth and as each year counts we get closer to our graves though we celebrate in gratitude and thanksgiving.

Our wish or prayers of more years, good health won’t change anything. Eternity belongs to God, man must make every day count in good deeds, our actions and inactions are responsible for our woes as individuals and nation. We need celebrations that remind us we are birds of passage, our memory should be to uplift humanity in present economic pains because we must avoid the bad past life and embrace a new life of obedience to law and be good citizens. repository of knowledge.

We must begin a life of planning to avoid waste. Parents must be edifices of honour, pride, morals and values to children. We must shun corruption and sabotage to key into government plans because people make government.

As Janus with two faces looks backward and ahead,  in January we must do same so that we can correct past mistakes. There is no wealth without work, there is no harvest without planting, and success is planning in sweat, toil and burning the night candle. We must avoid deceit because without self denial we achieve nothing. Welcome to 2017, the year we must face reality in sustaining our expectations. May your 2017 not be wasteful.

Prince Abugo, is SA , Social Advocacy to the Delta State Governor.