By Tola
It’s amusing how we scurry about our ‘daily grind’ planning this, scheming that, plotting the other… all legitimate of course, all seemingly ‘worthwhile’, like somebody promised you tomorrow. No one said tomorrow wouldn’t come either so hey! I guess we just carry on… .

Till someone like Goldie dies… it stops you in your tracks as you consider all that energy, all that creativity, all that vibrancy… gone. Here one minute gone the next. No warnings, no goodbyes, just…gone. And suddenly your ‘grind’ no longer seems that important… once again you are forced to seek deeper meaning to life itself and (hopefully) grateful that you’re still alive to live it. There is much to be thankful for…

A new project took me back to what someone described as ‘my roots’ way up North. We (a ten-man crew) took a road trip from Abuja-Kano-Katsina-Kano-Kaduna-Abuja over a four-day period chasing stories of eminent and industrious people indigenous to the North who are making giant strides in various areas of human endeavour.

In that four day period I had my consciousness opened to whole new different environment. Bad news sells, perhaps that’s why you don’t get to hear of the bio-diesel farms that can provide an alternate source of energy, and at the same time providing multiple sources of income as well as continuous training for farmers,or the fact that their inter-state road network is fantastic.

You don’t get to hear of prominent Northern Nigerians who strongly believe in one and indivisible country and who are equally exasperated with the wanton looting going on at the centre and are doing their bit to maintaining some semblance of sanity at least within their sphere of influence.

Very rarely do you come face to face with strong vocal Northern women who refuse to be bound by oppressive cultures and laws, and dare to stand up to make a difference and empower others to do same… I came face to face with quite a few during my journey which I call the “The Adventures Of Toron Giwa”, “TORON GIWA” being the title of the Hausa TV magazine show being produced.

It wasn’t all sugar and spice. You could sense the underlying tension just beneath the surface in some parts ….

It was in the strong military presence in some areas, it was in the suspicion with which we were viewed sometimes when we stopped to ask for directions, it was in the sheer number of checkpoints in between certain states and,in fact,  the soldiers who manned these points were armed to the teeth and on the alert no matter what time of the day — oh, four major cities, countless interviews over a four -day period?

We spent many hours on the road… a lot of them late at night… and as if to underscore the fact that we were operating under a special dispensation of grace, there was a bomb blast as we left Kano, according to the report five people were killed; but we were long gone. We did not even hear about till the following morning…indeed, there is much to be grateful for…

When the Yoruba say..”ile ise yin o ni jona…” (may your workshop/office/factory in short source of income not burn)one doesn’t realise how profound a prayer that is till it actually occurs. Fire a deadly and powerful thing.

All that work, the multi million dollar investment, the infrastructure itself, the equipment, video stock… work that took blood tears and sweat to create over a five -year period all gone— in a mere 45 minutes…. disastrous you might say, a monumental tragedy; true.

But I maintain there is much to be grateful for. Imagine if the inferno had occurred at peak period with hundreds locked up inside the studio working…? We would have been telling a different story— that’s if I’m still around to tell it.

To my very short wish list for the year I add two things; I pray to appreciate life more regardless of current circumstance and to learn to count my blessings one by one, big and small because I tell you…. All told; human tragedy and setbacks aside, THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR!!