Seasons come, and seasons go. A little while ago, we were screaming “Happy New Year”, basking in the euphoria of a recently introduced year known as 2014. It’s already 365 days since fireworks illuminated the night sky in various countries, heralding the arrival of the Year 2014.
2014 has been quite an interesting year. Globally, and nationally, several events have marked this year. Some events gladdened the world; others caused sadness. Some countries have been in the news for good reasons, some for bad reasons, others managed to completely stay away from the newsroom.
In one year, the world has witnessed and is still witnessing lots of crises. Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States are staging an eye-popping play that has led to questions as to whether another cold war has begun. Fighting, allegations of direct interference, ceasefire agreements, promises and lots of sanctions have made world headlines.
In the Middle East, the conflicts in Syria and Libya have shown no signs of ending. The Israelis and the Palestinians (or Hamas to be more precise) entered the theatre of war, and entertained the world with gruesome images of death and destruction. Pakistan and Afghanistan are facing violence fostered by Islamist terrorists. Egypt is in political turmoil. The entire region is literally on fire.
2014 saw ISIL stepping up their game. In a lightning sweep, aided by military incapacity, the murderous group captured large swathes of territory in Iraq, adding to their holdings in Syria. ISIL now controls their dreamland utopian caliphate. Iraq was forced to change to a less sectarian-minded government. Hopefully, the Sunnis would join the Shias in getting ISIL off this planet.
The world has come to know how easy it is for a civilian plane to disappear from radar detection. We thought only military stealth planes could do that. Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 has educated us. Until now, the plane has not been found. Thankfully, the recent Air Asia Flight QZ8501 has been found. In this same year, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down in Ukraine. It’s been quite a terrible year for air travel.
Enough of the evil! 2014 witnessed the Sochi Winter Games in Russia, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and the drastic drop in crude oil price (bad for some countries). There were lots of other good events globally, but thanks to the news media, only the bad ones seem to have easily stuck in my memory. I can easily remember much of the bad events, but I will have to surf the net for good events.
In Nigeria, 2014 has been all about preparations for the 2015 general elections. Ebola came and left, thanks to Dr. Stella Adadevoh and others who worked to keep the ravaging disease under check. Gubernatorial elections were held in Adamawa, Ekiti, and Osun States. Politicians changed parties like trousers. It’s been quite a year for Africa’s most populous country with her rebased gross domestic product and new dictionary phrase—austerity measures.
I wish I could keep on writing, but this is a blog post, not a newspaper article. It would not be nice if Google’s web crawlers are the only ones not bothered by the article’s length.
It’s been a great year. It’s been an awesome year filled with ups and downs. In a few hours, it will be over. We look forward at 2015 with optimism.
Here’s to a great passing year.
Going! Going!! 2014!!!
Jilomes 