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Nigerians call for prayers after the inferno last night in Lagos. 9 lives were reported lost and 54 cars burnt to ashes following an inferno from a petrol tanker explosion along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway. This prayer mentality in the face of imperatives and matters that would spur other nations to a collective outcry and protests for change and radical transformation of systems is the bane of our society. Nigerians will rather pray, pray and build places of worship rather than act to bring about a change in the context of their existence.
Someone said to me this morning: “let’s pray to avert the disaster that has been predicted by some preacher and going viral all over the place since yesterday...prayer will avert the disaster”. I got that viral message from like 30 persons the last 2 days. Coincidentally the inferno in Lagos happened on one of the dates (June 28) as contained in the viral audio message.
This was my response “I don’t believe in that sh*t...sorry. Just my take in life. What’s gonna be’s gonna be. What goes up must come down and ain’t nothing we can do about it (that's a line from a Bongos Ikwe song but don't worry if u don't know him). True, there is God but we all will die someday. A Fact of life. Millions die every day...let’s just pray to have lived our lives to the fullest and not die untimely...but somebody will die today (millions actually)...and millions will be born today and there’s nothing we can do about it..” Somebody please tell me who decides how we die or when, to think that we can stop how or when someone dies with a prayer or prayers. We have an appointed day to leave this earth...let’s direct prayers meaningfully. Let’s work to improve systems that prevent untimely deaths, let’s improve our safety awareness and consciousness of dangers. Let’s live a healthy and balanced life, let’s shun mediocrity in governance and create safety social nets for people...let’s build better infrastructures.
All these things are not gotten by prayer but dedication, skillfulness and meaningful hard work. Those lives could have been saved and property loss also avoided if we have proper systems, all within our powers. God fixes things in our lives like joy, happiness, love etc...things you do not see but experience...God will not put money in your pocket or make a lion not eat you up if you stupidly go put your head in its mouth (untimely death will hit you like craze!). Let’s pray for the spirit of discernment and gifts of the spirit, and stop being gullible to think that when our time to meet our creator has come, we can pray to Him to stop it. We shall all die...live your life to be one that created legacies that will be remembered when you are gone and stop disturbing my ears with senseless calls for meaningless prayers.
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