Feet Good, Wheels Bad
BY
THE suggestion of Chief Ojo Maduekwe, the Minister of Transport, that wealthy Nigerians should not discard the bicycle for cars has attracted a lot of comment from members of the public. Many up-coming Nigerians have been rebuking the minister over the advice. They believe he is trying to drag us back to the Stone Age in era of electronics and automobiles. When the chief got knocked down by a bus while riding a bicycle to his office, the incident was seen by many as a divine warning. Some interpreted it to mean that God was also against his view and his being knocked down has meant to tell him that every Nigerian was entitled to automobiles as anyone else in the world. But not everybody thinks this is true. To one school of thought, we are not entitled to even bicycles. Members of this group believe that at least for now, our slogan as a people should have been, "Feet Good, Wheels Bad" and they have several reasons to back up this assertion.
Though in a different context, the bicycle accident which the minister was involved in is also what members of this school of thought first point out to support their case that we shall be better-off if we begin to walk on our feet today instead of riding in cars or even on bikes. The incident is seen as a good warning that everything on wheels, be it automobile or bicycle, is bad because people who use these vehicles are prone to accident that could, in most cases, be fatal. The most painful thing about accidents involving wheeled transport is their selective nature. Like something bent on punishing us, it is mostly the best amongst us that often die or lose a vital limb in Road Traffic Accidents (RTA). If the minister had been a genius, it is pointed out, he would have probably died or lost a leg or a hand in the accident.
Some of the brains we have lost in road accidents, the school of thought had gone on to enumerate, include Chief Adegoke Adelabu, Segun Awolowo, Rex Jim Lawson, Pol Ndu, Onome Ibru, Brig. Dan Archibong, to mention only a few. If we had banned all wheeled transport at the beginning, it is believed that our society would have been transformed into a true paradise by some of the gifted men and women we have lost through RTA. For instance, we would have become a food paradise instead of the fools paradise we are in today if those of us untouched by the genie of RTA are not mostly morons. Do I hear you ask what have cars and bicycles got to do with diminishing foodstuff? The explanation is that if so much land was not being turned into roads for wheeled vehicles, there would have been enough for farms and foodstuff would have been in abundance, if not surplus. Also, there would have been enough bush meat if most of the game in our forests and bushes have not been frightened out of their habitats or scared out of existence by these roads and the noise from so many automobiles.
It has also been explained that what we are losing through roads is a child's play compared to our loss from conflicts arising from another thing which these automobiles also use. As you must have rightly guessed even if you are a dunce, this other item is the fuel used by these vehicles. Lingering conflicts are the order of the day in many places where fossil fuel, which is used in running these automobiles is explored. Thousands of lives have been lost and property worth billions of naira has been destroyed in such conflicts all over the globe. Our own Civil War (1967 -70) was inflamed mostly by the oil of the Niger Delta. Many parts of this area, especially Ogoni land and Warri and its environs, have known no peace for almost two decades now because of the oil found in the land. If the land is not being wantonly destroyed by the activities of the oil explorers, then it is the inhabitants destroying themselves over one claim relating to oil or the other. If there were no automobiles that guzzle this oil and make it to become a black gold, Mr. Ken Saro-Wiwa and his eight other colleagues would not have met their tragic end in 1995.
Oil exploration is not the only area where the fuel need of cars is harmful. The fume that the oil produces while being used in these automobiles has been proved to be a major cause of respiratory diseases that kill many people every year. This emission has also been proved to be ruining our ecosystem by the harm it does to animals and plants. The harm that has been worrying scientists most is that to the ozone layer. The ozone layer, which shields us all, (man, animals and plants) from the harmful rays of the sun is believed to be melting because of the carbon dioxide from cars. One way to avert the grave danger this poses to mankind is to dump our cars for our feet.
Contrary to the belief held by many that the bicycle is not guilty of the last offence; the advocates of feet have a reason why it should also be banned. They claim that four wheels evolved from two wheels and as such the latter vehicles are guilty of every crime committed by their fuel-guzzling "offspring." In addition, the bicycle is said to be guilty of inflicting injuries on anyone learning to ride it for the first time. Some even point to the scars from such injuries as an equivalent to pollution by cars. It is also claimed that bicycles and cars aid and abet crime because criminals often use them to get away fast from the scenes of crime.
The last reason for admonishing us for going after cars and bicycles instead of being on our feet is morality. It is argued that we have no moral right to own cars or even bicycles that we cannot manufacture. If modern man cannot do without these things, we should use them only when we have discarded our Stone Age brains. The fastest means of doing this is to shun all those things, especially bicycles and cars that we cannot fathom. It is believed that if we are literally on our feet today, the hardship of such a situation would rouse us from our stupor. It is also predicted that such an awakening will see us churning out our own bicycles within the next two years and our own cars within the next five years. Sounds good but who is going to be the first to dump his cars?
October 2001