ecessity, they say, is the mother of invention. There is no problem without solution, except death. The local he-goat is known for its dwarf nature. Once upon a time, the kindred of the he-goat gathered at its home to pray for it to grow up like the other animals. The he-goat stood before them and said, "My brethren, you are all welcome. Do not pray for me to grow up, rather pray for me to live, because whoever lives shall grow up some time and some day." The prayer assembly started murmuring and dismissed unceremoniously.

During the Nigeria - Biafra civil war I was still a child. As the soldiers were shooting at the battle field, I and other Biafran children were chasing grasshoppers, rats and lizards for meat as protein supplements due to hunger in the land and an outbreak of a terminal disease called kwashiorkor. In those days lizards and rats became scarce. God shielded us from Lassa fever disease carried by rats. We also ate leaves of most green plants as vegetables. That was how we survived hunger and the dreaded kwashiorkor ailment.

Indeed, no condition is permanent. Nothing lasts forever. We survived the harsh Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) during General Ibrahim Babangida military junta. Also we survived the life-threatening military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. When he suddenly died mysteriously, we heaved a sigh of relief. President Muhammadu Buhari's eight years of suffering came and was gone. Between 2019 and 2021 the Corona Virus Pandemic (Covid-19) came on air. It was a very contagious and terminal disease. The world stood still. Nigeria was in a state of quagmire. We lived in isolation to avoid bodily contact. We were asked to stay at home. Anyone caught walking about aimlessly was arrested for breach of Covid-19 law and order. It happened that a certain masquerade was accosted by the police somewhere for not staying at home. The masquerade categorically stated before the red-eyed policemen, "I have no home because I am a spirit." Contrarily, when the policemen angrily tore the mask off, they saw a man behind it. Hence they slapped nonsense out of him. He pleaded for leniency and then was ordered to run home. He ran home with bruised face. He lied to his wife that he was hit by a moving vehicle.

The Corona virus caused great human, religious and economic havoc. It crumbled church worship. Schools were shut down. Businesses suffered immensely. The fear of the unknown and hunger mesmerized all and sundry. It was so bad that everybody became a semi-masquerade by wearing of face masks. Debtors walked about freely because their creditors could no longer identity their faces. Shaking of hands, embracing and kissing became taboos. It seemed that the world was about to end. Many people, especially from Europe and America, died as a result of the pandemic. God shielded Nigerians and Africans from dying en mass during the pandemic. With time it came and was gone. We survived.

There is a saying in my area that if an animal is being hunted and it runs away anyhow, then hunters will shoot it mercilessly. In addition, a bird known as Eleke says that since men have learnt to shoot without aiming, it has learnt to fly without perching. In all, if a proverb is put before you and you do not understand it, it entails that the bride-price paid over your mother is useless. Let him or her, who has ears, listen and act accordingly.

In my most recent write-up, I stated categorically that our country Nigeria is in hell fire. It is consuming everybody except those in the corridors of power, the cabals and the rich. The poor masses are being roasted in the raging inferno. Since the federal government under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is looking the other way, then we must find ways to save ourselves.

We have to fight against hunger by farming extensively, despite the danger posed by bandits, terrorists and kidnappers who are laying ambush in the farmlands. Since the stomach does not allow the legs to rest, we must do anything possible to satisfy it, except stealing and fraud. In the face of money scarcity and high cost of basic commodities, we should reintroduce trade by Barter, whereby we exchange those foodstuffs we have with the ones we don't have. Also we can resort to vegetarianism by consuming those plants which animals eat daily. For meat we should resort to rodents, reptiles and insects as we did during the civil war. Just as God commanded Peter in the vision, "Rise Peter; Kill and eat" (Acts 10:13), we should do likewise. After all, God makes it clear that there is nothing like unclean animals.

As petrol is now scarce and costly, we must device other ways to survive it. The cost of transportation is also exorbitant. Therefore we should resort to the use of bicycle, wheel-barrow and trekking. Bicycle and wheel-barrow do not require petrol but human energy. Cycling is also medicinal. It can be used as means of transportation by the use of the carrier and mudguard to convey passengers and goods. Few days ago, I saw a well-dressed lady being transported to her destination on wheel-barrow. Passersby were laughing at her and the driver (pusher), but they didn't mind. She reached her destination peacefully and paid a cheaper transport fare. The wheel-barrow pusher also collected his fare with which he bought food for himself and his family. Experts should construct wheel-barrows with three or four legs to make transportation of passengers and goods easier.

At creation, the All-knowing and Almighty God endowed human beings with two hands and two legs to make movement possible and easy. It does not require petrol. Hence trekking to our destinations nowadays is highly encouraged. Brisk walking is a good exercise to stay strong and healthy. Running is also good in order to reach our destinations quicker. If it is a far distance, we trek and run the much we can before boarding a commercial vehicle to reduce cost of transportation. The mobile phone also is to be used to make calls in order to reduce unnecessary travels. Many business men and women nowadays use phone calls to do transactions. In sum, in order to minimize fuel and transport cost, we should embark only on important and inevitable travels by cars or motorcycles. These measures are temporary until we come out of the present man-made hell fire ignited by corruption, election malpractice, bad governance, greed and bad policies.

In his Open Letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams, on the State of the Nation written on September 10, 2024 among other things said, "Obviously, your administration is becoming indifferent, insensitive and unresponsive to the plights of millions of Nigerians who can no longer meet their daily needs. This is a brutal assault on the sensibility of Nigerians." As things stand, fellow Nigerians, we ought to cut our coats, not according to our sizes, but rather according to our cloths. No condition is permanent. In God we trust!