The Article Of Waste

Prince Henry of Portugal was called the “navigator" because of his dedication to geographical exploration. Henry developed during boyhood a thirst to know the geographical truths of the world. Each explorer he sent out reported fully on his experiences and brought back specimens of peoples, birds, plants and trade goods. Prince Henry had learn that the Sudanic peoples were neither subject to north African rulers nor in military alliance with them. Therefore, he conceived the plan of seeking a seaway to gold supplies of western Sudan (West Africa Today). Somewhere about 1419, he gathered together a group of able geographers, map-makers and astronomers. He also recruited captains capable of sailing ships into the unknown and recording their observations coastlines, so that their experiences would provide knowledge to guide and assist later voyagers. Later, Portuguese businessmen criticized Henry's expenditure of so much capital on enterprises unlikely to yield profit. The greatest result of Henry's work were not seen until after his death. After Henry's death, his widely acclaimed wasteful navigation witnessed the advent of the trans-Atlantic trade, led to the prominence of Christianity in Africa, and also served as an open-gate for Europeans, most especially the British and French into Africa.

Nothing is a waste! This is the simple reason why the western world are far above us today. They've wasted more than enough that they could fall back on and make a product.

Nigeria today, we are not too productive simply because we are not too wasteful. We look for petty that can click anytime soon, and not a great deeds that will leave a legacy. It is as bad that we fill to block an opportunity by not freeing our potentials in creating new opportunities. We love to give our all in a filled basket without thinking of how valuable it will be in a new shell. It is a great problem that we are doing one thing, and not the other.

We’re one way! We only invest ourselves in what yield first, as the best takes a test while we’re too lazy to glance through the text. Back in the 1980’s when medical science was at it prime, our parents got obsessed and all they want is the Doctor ambition. Now we have too much science students in the system, and now we’re fast putting it to a waste. Valuable heads are sorting out for it, but no valuable thing is coming out of it which expose this great art to vulnerability. To take it down to the admission level, we have too much of the science students seeking admission with no enough space, then we have the not too much Arts students seeking admission with more than enough space. This put the science students to a great disadvantage, sharing a large percentage of jambites. Now in secondary schools, the science subjects teachers are no more valuable as we have too many of them in the system. Here, schools are desperate to having Arts subjects teachers as we have just few of them in the system. Now the best is useless.

Contemporary Nigeria has witnessed a boom in artisanship denigrating the standard of having a University degree. A decade ago, a crafting called “Aluminum” witnessed it highest peak that anyone in this profession is primarily perceived rich in the society and it’s true. As usual, many of our people quit their profession and put their head in this fruitful basket till we sucked up the pleasures and leave a fruitless barrel. Then, if you’re an apprentice not under this art, you’re not doing anything good with your life. Now when people see an apprentice under this art, they tag the person to be unserious, doing nothing but wasting time. Again, with our head in one place, we’ve put the best to waste.

Another misfortune this poses on the structure of our society is seeing academic excellence a total waste. No matter how small or irrelevant a course of study might be, the life of our people depend on it. Therefore, what’s worth doing, is worth doing well.

It is a plaintiff mockery to employ graduates to the idea of artisanship, instead, use the knowledge you’ve gathered to fix a spoil in your immediate environment. Deep down, different professions have being made useless in all ramifications as a result of not understanding the essence usage is for the betterment of your society. Also, graduates that subscribed into artisanship are inconsiderate and heartless, because people in the art, that’s their only know how to survival, and then you come in with the knowledge you’ve gathered that should be in creating various opportunities, and invest this knowledge in totality into their art, and take over from them, living them out to nothing but vulnerability.

High time we create more to the little and not dwelling in devaluation to the little. As the saying goes: “The known accomplish the least by doing the most, while the unknown accomplish the most by doing the least".

This doesn't need to be fruitful, let this be fruitless way to the garbage, till the clueless future sanitize all the way to pluck a cabbage.

AdélaNí II (writer of Green Cabbage: https://kobocourse.com/course/green-cabbage/1339/).