By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: A former Governor of Cross River state, Mr Donald Duke has spoken of the greater impact music can have in the life of a nation, explaining how as governor, he was usually at his best each week after having a music rendezvous on Sunday night.

“As governor, my wife would prepare the band for me and we would play from 9 pm on Sundays and close by 4 am and then be in the office by 8 am”, Duke told his audience at the Teens Career Conference of The Everlasting Arms Parish TEAP of the Redeemed Christian Church of God RCCG, Abuja.

“After some time, I discovered that each time my commissioners came, they would ask my secretary ‘Did he play throughout the night?’ If she said no, they would try to be very careful around me because I would be grumpy throughout that week. But each time I played on Sunday nights, I get recalibrated. That is the power of music”, he added.

Duke who described the theme of the conference, “The Power of Music”, as apt, noted that when music is spiritual, it goes beyond generations, but when it is a craft, it does not last long.

Noting that what makes music is harmony, the former Governor said without harmony, the world would remain a terrible place.

“In 1974, I was in secondary school and I wrote to my father that I wanted to be a musician. In those days it took two weeks to send letters and another two weeks to receive your response. He wrote by using express service and I got his response within a week. He said music is a very good thing, that anyone who does not appreciate music is soulless. He only added that I should please finish school first.

“Music is life. Since music is all about harmony, life is always about harmony. Without harmony, there will not be peace.

“One of the pitfalls of our country is never preparing the next generation for leadership. It led us to a civil war. You have young people with incredible energy, but it is not channelled in the right direction. So you find that the major actors in the Nigerian Civil War, or in the coup that led to the Civil War, were very young people who were idealistic, who wanted the best for the country but were not exposed well enough how to go about it without a war.

“Now, each of us has something to give. We are not useless people, we are useful people. You have got to find your usefulness. You have got to ask yourself, what can I do and prosper from and others will prosper from it? And that is why the theme of this conference ‘The Power of Music’, which is the power of harmony is apt. Giving unto others as you give to yourself”, he added.