If not Prayer, What Else?
I have seen a lot of people complain about how so many Nigerians rely on prayers for almost every situation they find themselves and I am sometimes a part of the people screaming from the back ‘Not every time prayer’.
I have recently had some time to myself and I started thinking and asking myself that asides prayer and faith what else do Nigerians have? Who can we run to? Who can help us? I am still struggling with that answer? We are in interesting times with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus also known as COVID 19 and this period has shown me that prayer is part of the reason Nigeria still stands as a country.
Ventilators are a key part of the management of the coronavirus problem because a ventilator is a machine that ‘assists’ the lungs by delivering air in and out of the lungs in cases of distress. Since the virus attacks the lungs, ventilators are a critical part of the management of coronavirus infections. Some reports state that the US has about 160,000 to 170,000 ventilators across the country. A Financial Times report states that the UK has over 8,000 ventilators in use. If you bother to check the number of ventilators in the top 5 economies in Nigeria, you will understand why we pray so much in Nigeria.
There are so many other examples, people pray they come back home safe when they leave the house because the level of insecurity is high, people pray for a job opportunity and job security. We pray for almost everything and anything because, for us, prayer represents us reaching out a superior power that can help us in times like this because there is no one else to look to. Prayer restores that hope that someday, sometime, someone will come to our rescue. Prayer reassures us that we are not alone because even in a country of over 170 million people, it seems like we are on our own. Prayer gives us something to look forward to.
So I ask again, If not Prayer, What Else?
