By Segun Durowaiye

The richness of colour green
Sir: Have you ever paused to wonder why green should be considered the colour of Hope?

Perhaps, it is because of the perennial miracle of the tiny shoots of life bursting through the earth at the beginning of each season of growth.

People who live in well-watered lands where the earth keeps her soft covering of green all the year round cannot appreciate the miracle in quite the same way as a man or woman in an arid or dry clime where the first shoot, tentatively pushes its delicate spear through sandy soil and brings new life and hope – the promise of an end to leanness and hunger, the prospect of well-filled barns and food for beasts and men.

What power this springing life has! A shoot so delicate that the touch of a rough finger can destroy it, but so strong, determined and irresistible that it can force its way through something as seemingly impermeable as tarmac – the eternally living, shattering the inner mass of dead matter, like the violets breaking the rocks in the mountains.

Poets like to celebrate this great resurgence of life. Dag Hammarskjold spoke about the meadow’s massive strength:

“Green wave which rises
Over the rolling ridge
Crested with the white foam
Of a thousand ox-eyed daises.” Or Mamman Vatsa in his poem, “Song Of Green Power.” tells us to:
“Till the land
By turning the ground
Till the land
And become the tower
Of green power.”

The green colour on Nigeria’s national flag equally stands for luscious vegetation, agriculture, hope, progress and strength. The green colour also stands for life, growth and renewal.

This is a country blessed with flourishing, humongous and abundant natural and human resources that are lacking in most countries of the world. From the East, to the West and the South to the North, Nigeria is greatly endowed with galaxy of natural and human resources!

However, it is sad, shocking, painful and bewildering to know that the masses of the people still suffer untold hardship and wallow in debilitating hunger in a country so richly blessed!

The excruciating poverty, penury and lack in the nation and the general hopelessness among the people equally baffle and mystify me even as I type this!

When all hopes and great ambition seem lost in this part of the world, we hinge all our faith, desires and hope on the Almighty God and Creator who has the ultimate power to heal and to bless humans by His awesome grace. We believe our desires and hopes definitely would not be in vain.

God Almighty oversees how the masses of the people, the rabble and the hoipolloi eke out a living with nothing in their pockets and stomachs, in a country so greatly and richly blessed.

May the good Lord answer all our prayers, touch the hearts of our leaders speedily and quickly crown our efforts with amazing success so we would not beg for food from our enemies.

Owo epo ni omo araye m ba ni laa, won ki n la ti eje is a powerful Yoruba proverb, deep in the people’s mythology and also cosmology, meaning: “Human beings do not celebrate failure but only success; you are on your own with your God.”

Think about it.

Segun Durowaiye can be reached via 08055356855.