Written by Odimegwu Onwumere
The affirmation by Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State that Mercy Chinwo, the conqueror of the Nigerian Idol season 2, should anticipate the state government’s support towards her education and music career, is a hope given in good faith that must be lauded.
In his eulogies, Amaechi said that Chinwo is a good ambassador of the state, when she paid him a polite visit at the government house in Port Harcourt recently. His advise that she should not find any middle-ground on her education or have a swollen-head because of her win, is rationally. And Chinwo’s expression of gratitude to the government and people of Rivers State for being their sister’s keeper during the competition, is praiseworthy.
Now that we have seen that Chinwo emerged the winner of the Nigerian Idol 2012, it should remind us of the many people in the state who also have talents that have not been harnessed, not because they don’t want, but because they are financially incapacitated to do so, and there are dearth of platforms where their talents could be explored. Feedback mechanism from any government when a citizen wins in a renowned competition is good, but would have been better if the citizens can earnestly boast of government’s owned competitions where they have to go and showcase their talents and hence have support from the government to further their career whether they won or not, after all, not every winner in a competition would be a success by tomorrow, and winners are always not the best.
Such initiative, if instituted by the government, would re-structure the mindset of the people, and they wouldn’t develop High Blood Pressure (HBP), while thinking the way forward to their talents and how to bring them to limelight, and make them go beyond the despair of not knowing what to do, they will have a clear report of where they are and a business plan concerning where they are going. Mercy Chinwo’s explanation that her success demonstrates that Rivers youths are blessed with enormous talents and prospective, should spur the government to begin now to harvest these talents; even though that the government has been doing its best to train people in education abroad, we still need moral talents to be developed, just as are done to technical education.
The government should always do its part to better the lots of the citizens and shun any iota of promise and fail, just as Chinwo has called on youths to shun violence and pursue their goals. It is erroneous for anyone to support people with talents selflessly. This will provide a training ground and a ground for residence. Money should be released for the rehabilitation and renovation of the talented people and the cultures. People should be trained for leadership skills and talents acquisition. Let funds be deployed and assistance rendered to establish them to own their individual businesses.
Despite the dazzling performance by Governor Amaechi in many sectors of the economy, the deplorable condition of most talented people have caused untold hardship to even the non-indigenes in the state with talents that would also have been good ambassadors of Rivers State if supported. The Nigerian Government supported Amnesty, why can’t talents be supported?
We wish Amaechi the best.
Odimegwu Onwumere, Poet/Author, Media/Writing Consultant and Motivator, is the Coordinator, Concerned Non-Indigenes In Rivers State (CONIRIV); and Founder, Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Rivers State. Mobile: +2348032552855. Email: apoet_25@yahoo.com
