Actually,
there are many things we should do which we refuse to do. Things don’t happen
themselves. It is not logic to attribute the recurrent fire disasters in Kano
and elsewhere in Northern Nigeria to divine hand of Allah as a test of our
faith. It is not plausible to assume that this is basically a punishment from
God arising from our deviation. I should not be misunderstood, Allah does not
love Muslims of the North more than other Muslims across the world nor does He
abhor them the most. And we are not the worst Muslims on earth.
A
number of fire cases happened within the range of four months. And it is not
normal. This is completely something else which human can handle. Let’s look
our ways and see where we go wrong.
When
things happen again and again, you begin to take measures. Nowhere in the world
will you have a persistent occurrence of disaster be left unchecked. It is my
belief that the fires in markets are in part due to our haphazard building
arrangement – choking up every single path and road – neglect and non-chalant
attitude toward ourselves and our safety. It hurts how people depend on
government on things they can do themselves. It is painful how people are not
aware of the need to help themselves and become less concentrated on amassing wealth
madly.
It
is not surprising for such disaster to keep happening every so often since we
have people accepting to rent buildings lacking in basic facilities such as
bathrooms. Some structures in our markets are built illegally and poorly. While
renting a shop in the market insist on well-planned environment with fire
safety kits and other facilities. It is not how much you accumulate that
matters or the car you ride or the home you sleep in or the stock you keep in
your shop, the little things you ignore go with your humanity and civilization.
Not even go far, ask if the building you’re renting a shop in has a bathroom.
Start from here to begin the process of proving your human spirit and the
process of taking control of your environment. Let us build our business
environment with all the possibility of unforeseen occurrences in mind so that
we can avoid them. Or else you spend years amassing fortune and one day it has
gone up in flames within twinkling of an eye. I am afraid, it is not my prayer
but I am forced to believe that we can hardly get out of this year without
another fire outbreak. Allah ya kyauta, though, this is not natural. Some
people voiced their fears it can be a lone jihadi operation. This view gives
reason to dig further.
Until we take God out of the picture and take
responsibility…
