16/10/2025
By Kabiru Haruna Mudi Sipikin
The scene you describe—a mother grinding, a husband roasting maize, children watching the empty doorway, loans crushing civil servants, families starving echoes the very “Babylon” that Bob Marley warned about in his 1977 classic Exodus.
“We know where we’re going / We know where we’re from / We’re leaving Babylon / We’re going to our Father land,” Marley chanted over a pulsating bass line, turning the song into a seven-minute call-to- positively struggled for anyone trapped in hardship.
The track was born after a 1976 assassination attempt forced Marley into exile in London, where he recorded Exodus as a rallying cry for freedom and resilience. Its lyrics “Exodus, movement of Jah people” suggest that the oppressed can break free, just as the Biblical Israelites fled Egypt.
Applying that spirit here, the Exodus refrain can become a soundtrack for Nigerian families battling poverty, debt, and hunger. Imagine the mother’s grinding machine humming to the song’s steady beat, the roasted maize stall lighting up as the chorus swells, and the civil servant hearing the line “Open your eyes (and look within)” as a reminder to seek new pathways out of despair.
In short, Bob Marley’s Exodus isn’t just a reggae hit; it’s a metaphor for every Nigerian striving to escape “Babylon” the systemic struggles that keep them waiting in vain. Let the lyrics inspire hope: “Move! Move! Move!” and let the poor man finally breathe.
