It was in the Bible that we read: "Teach us to number our days and apply our hearts unto wisdom". It is noteworthy that wisdom is the principal thing to get. Knowledge, Wisdom and Understanding are three words of a kind, too related but distinct from another. The possession of one leads to the other.

In our school days, so many information was passed to us. Making use of those information depends on how we were able to understand and appropriate them. Those who took time to understand are few an those who applied the information they understood are fewer. Information was generally passed, few people got it, few people understood it and fewer people applied it. You see, the Bible described wisdom as proper application of knowledge (information).

When we were younger, we learned a lot of poems, rhymes, etc by heart and many of them made no meanings to us then. Growing up we began to see meanings to some of those things we sang in songs some of them badly pronounced. We began to read meanings to certain actions we took and feel very ashamed that we actually did things like that.

Many of the teachers we hated in those days will be carried above our shoulders today should we have the opportunity of seeing them again. But so unfortunate, many of them have passed on and the few that are alive cannot be located for appreciation. I still can remember going to school with my Bata Shoe (Curtina) which doesn't take a turn to get lost. I still remember being told to go to school barefoot because I was careless with my school canvas. I remember my white upon green shorts which white turns to brown after two washings.

Hmmmm, you all understand where I am coming from... Our English Readers impacted a lot to many of us. I still remember how most of the books in our school libraries were shared to us for the purpose of reading and returning same. I still remember how the government through the Universal Basic Education (UBE) stopped the supply of books to our school libraries and we were made to buy our books individually.

As an indigene of Imo State, I witnessed the building of Imo Airport under the then governor, Dr. Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe. As pupils, we were levied. We paid Airport Levy after our school fees. I also paid what the then government called Survival Levy. After payments, receipts were given to us. I can still find mine. That apart, I paid Consolidated Equipment Fee. I also paid Caution Fee, etc.

With all these payments, the schools were not made better. School children are still without the best education. Strikes are still being embarked upon. Government is not being reasonable. Quality education has been flown to the wind. In secondary schools, I witnessed a lot of rot that brought discouragements to a lot of people. They called it a quit and joined business. It's still not the solution as the business world is also corrupt. There was extortion of different sorts. During WAEC/GCE examinations, we started hearing about the word EXPO. I saw people jumping fences, climbing walls in order to DELIVER as agreed.

None of these has ended the suffering in the land. These same people graduated into the Ministries and its Parastatals. A good number of them are in politics. They are Governors, House of Assembly Members, Senators, Judicial Members, Journalists, House of Representative Members, Police, Army, Paramilitary, Presidents and Vice Presidents. They are making laws that they cannot keep or obey, but they are passing judgements on little offenders, jailing and killing them.

Today, Carpenters are heading the Education Ministries. Mechanics are working in the hospitals. With their screwdrivers and spanners they are killing their patients and dumping them in the morgues. Police, Army and other recruitments are now used to settle political friends. And so they are used against political enemies. Human life does not matter any more. Blood flows every day, and these bloods are speaking and crying against those who spill them. Old men that were in the Ministries when I was in Primary School are still there either as full time or part time workers while their graduate children are without jobs. Fake people have taken over the religious space. They no longer talk about God or how to do good.

To make matters worse, the government of the day is looking away when those who struggled individually to rise in business are left to suffer societal injustices. The petty farmers' produce are forcefully fed to the cattle and the farmer raped or killed if he/she tries to resist. The government has borrowed away the brains of its subjects and made them slaves to Shylock money lenders. Many good people have died as a result. No respite in sight. No one can receive a grant again. Every dime is a loan and you must pay back, when many of them are feeding fat from government purses.

One thing most people especially those in government failed to know is that Obi is no longer a boy, while Ada should now be a mother with children. That same Chike we read about in the Reader might no longer be the river boy. He might probably be a Marine Engineer. That same Edet might no longer live in Calabar but might have moved to Canada.

The Eze that was going to school at that time might have been a graduate by now. Today is different from yesterday. Things are changing and very fast too. My "Macmillian English" in those days must have been revised many times over to accommodate the present trend.

Whatever you're doing, be rest assured that records are kept. God is watching everyone and must pay each person according to his/her works. It's time to look back and be wise...