When Providence Intervenes

A time often comes in the life of a person or nation when providence provides a stabilising force and signals the end of a long spell of bad occurrences. Such scenario is shrouded in mystery and is a welcome, soothing balm to many years of suffering and pain. It is such act of providence that Ninivanga, an imaginary third world country, so desperately yearned for when all hope appeared to be lost.

Ninivanga was plagued by a seemingly endless succession of inept, corrupt and bloodthirsty governments, both civilian and military, with the citizenry sinking into alarming social indiscipline. Due to some reasons beyond human comprehension, however, the country overcomes its woes and eases into an era of peace and progress. This is the main theme of the exciting drama, The New Day in Ninivaga.

In writing the play, a trilogy, the author, Donne A. Chikere, presents happenings in both the spirit and real worlds to illustrate the different phases in the life of the nation. A particular scene in the book presents a gathering of dead politicians of the country reviewing the problems confronting it. Acknowledging that most of the problems resulted from their misdeeds, they decide to return to earth to redress the situation. Their planning and mode of execution is quite ingenious but its eventual success or failure is dependent on humans. The book aptly reflects the problems hindering the growth of many developing – or underdeveloped – countries, particularly in Africa. The writer posits that such problems are caused by greed, lust and loss of contact with spirituality, especially by so-called leaders. Though he is generally able to hold the reader’s attention, Chikere’s characters are sometimes verbose and, therefore, boring. While the storyline is quite captivating, the same cannot be said about the production of the book. Apart from several typographical errors, the grammage of the paper used is low, with text on a page visible on the flip side, which can be distracting. The stitching of the book is another minus as on many pages one would have to almost tear the book to read the text on the left side; and on some pages the text has been chopped off when the book was being trimmed. Again, the cover is not aesthetically appealing. These are anomalies the publishers, Don-Bili-Cons, should take care of when a reprint is done.