ZONING AS POLITICAL INTRIGUE

By NBF News

All the advocates of zoning may find support in nature. You must have heard of and seen the sense in having time zones? So called, because the sun and moon change positions relative to the earth such that while it may yet be morning in America, Nigerians experience afternoon. It does not however, affect time value, which is 24 hours a day anywhere in the world. In essence, what it means is that this zoning is insignificant to how much time human beings have to accomplish anything.

Pregnancy is also supposed to be the exclusive natural preserve of women, but I believe we are all aware of the scientific encroachment of this zone, in terms of surrogate mothers and test tube babies. What is more, they now have storage for ovaries and sperm bank which they even get from donors.

The sky has also not been spared; a zone meant for birds of all kinds has now been infiltrated by man using aeroplanes, rockets and missiles with all manner of navigational aids. And of course, adventurous human beings have launched into space, building mini-settlements and orbiting satellites that make it possible to perform various types of 'magic'.

How about the oceans and seas? Massive vessels and submarines are competing with sharks, whales and other water species for dominance. The amount of cargo and commerce crossing continental waters is amazing. This zone has also witnessed waterproof tunnels built, as well as marine and fiber optic cables passing through.

They did not spare our traditional farming, a zone ancestors passed on to us for which we proudly maintain large families and cumbersome implements. Today, it is some hogwash called mechanized farming and they go to school to sturdy Agricultural Science, while introducing powder in the name of fertilizer. I just wonder. Even where there is lack of water, these witches have built boreholes, dams and undertaken irrigation using pumps.

I thought lakes and rivers were natural phenomena, exclusive to the zone of divine manifestation, until I saw artificial lagoons, canals and lakes sprouting everywhere. Ordinary cooking that we use firewood or charcoal for has now become something else. Kerosene stove is even stale. The vogue now is gas or electric cooker and one juju they call microwave. The cooking utensils are strange to me, most of them are shine shine glass that reflect one's face.

There is a legion of instances too numerous to mention which clearly indicate that what we see as zones are in constant modification otherwise progress is stalled. How do you zone the rain? It falls for the rich and poor, tall and short, man and woman, white and black, sick and healthy, young and old, pretty and ugly etc. where then is the logic for the balderdash called zoning? Lazy politicians and do or die adherents want to give democracy an entirely different meaning.

If it is not democracy, it cannot be the same thing as democracy. Let all set to work either for or against the contesting candidates in an all inclusive process, period. It boils down to winning and losing.

Why will any former head of state debase himself to a zonal champion? It baffles me because it is uncomplimentary. It is more honorable to work for a pan Nigerian candidate and mandate at their level rather than carry a sectional banner, which could mean all the while they were at the helm, they pretended to believe in Nigeria .

How come except for Yakubu Gowon it so happens that the north has coincidentally only produced Muslim Heads of State, (8) and the South three Christians? Unless there is a level playing field, we may never get the best to advance our collective dream of a better country just as there would always be discontent in the mix.

MARTINS LOMBA.