“Things Fall Apart” and we are “No Longer At Ease”, an Unworthy tribute to the Iroko of African Literature

By Noel Ihebuzor

The titles of Chinua Achebe’s early works “Things Fall Apart” and “No Longer At Ease” (borrowed from the works of WB Yeats and TS Eliot respectively) aptly describe the condition of things in our dear country. I try to play with these titles in my observations on why things are the way they are as my unworthy tribute to this literary giant. I have also proposed a few initial suggestions as to how we can begin to move forward and beyond our present morass.

Please read and let me have the benefits of your comments.

1. Things fall apart when…corruption overruns the land and the souls of men are at the soles of their feet.
2. Things fall apart when…chaos and anarchy become normal
3. Things fall apart when alienation and a sense of anomie invade and overpower the land
4. Things fall apart when…expediency and opportunism become elevated to state religions.
5. Things fall apart ….when “agbero” culture and violence install and become the determinants of social engagement.
6. Things fall apart …when thugs become agenda setters for political discourse.
7. Things fall apart …when the noisiest and the rowdiest struggle to seize the centre stage and set the agenda.
8. Things fall apart …the voices of moderation and balance are dimmed and drowned in the angry howls of the crowd.
9. Things fall apart when destructive tension replace creative tension and wreak havoc on the polity.
10. Things fall apart when ambitions bind us and blind us to the truths.
11. Things fall apart when ambitions make us inflexible.
12. Things fall apart …the best have lost all their conviction and found solace in silence
13. Things fall apart…ethnic considerations have displaced professional ethics in choices and decision making.
14. Things fall into place for good when all pull together.
15. Things fall into place for good when a culture of positive and constructive engagement replaces our predilection for destructive discourse.
16. Things fall into place for good when an ethos of deeds replaces our compulsive greed and grab mentality.
17. Things fall into place for good when personal pride and loyalty to tribe cede places to love of others and nation.
18. Things fall into place for good when we renounce and defeat alienation from our nation.
19. No longer at ease in a country marred by corruption, nepotism, graft and “egunje”.
20. No longer at ease in a country that celebrates mediocrity and eviscerates excellence.
21. No longer at ease in a country that spawns mediocrity and spurns excellence.
22. No longer at ease in a country where religious bigotry and extremism are described by some as crusades for social justice!
23. No longer at ease in a country where violence and insecurity cripple the economy
24. No longer at ease in a country where fear stifles and chokes the population
25. No longer at ease when “black is white and white is black” depending on who is looking.
26. No longer at ease…when all political parties share a common ethos of exploitation and people expropriation.
27. Ease and contentment will return when we say “No” to greed.
28. Ease and comfort will return when we enthrone virtue and renounce vice.
29. Ease and comfort will return when we create incentives to reward virtue and punish vice.
30. Ease and comfort will return when we embrace positive values.
31. Ease and contentment will return when we all come together to foster cohesion and rebuild social capital.
32. Ease and comfort will return when we replace destructive with creative tension
33. Ease and comfort will return when we abandon hate and discord and seek courses that advance our common cause.
34. Ease and comfort will return when we live as people of conscience.

Noel @naitwt