Nigeria: is it about the now, the past or the future

Ok Guys, I’m sure you would be wondering what I’m about to write again this time, but I insist that it is worth your two minutes and I promise to try to be of good behaviour  without hiding the obvious truths.

I kinda found myself working part time at one of the largest courier companies in the world about three weeks ago and I made my first pound yaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!! But that’s not the ish, because I now go to this place I currently call work  , I have met a few more people in my lifetime but believe me I have never had people take a piss at me this much for being a Nigerian, unfortunately everything they said was true.

I’ll start with Bob, Bob is one hell of an energetic man in his late 40’s and the only way you’ll k now he I that old is because of his Papa Ajasco characteristics (Bald head), but believe me he is fun.

First day at work Bob came to me and said hey you must be a Nigerian right, and I smiled and said yes, I then proceeded to ask him how he knew and he said two things, one you guys are the best looking Africans by miles then secondly he said one out of every five black man in the U.K is a Nigerian, I smiled but before my lips could form a perfect letter U he said why is your country so messed up. I know some Nigerians reading this would be saying you should have told him that the U.K is more messed up than Nigeria and that was exactly what I told him cos I am extremely proudly Nigerian, I did not know I had made a big mistake because Bob started to pour it on me. He said first of all forget the fact that you were colonised England and you where enslaved because that’s like eternity in the reverse, began to tell me how much of a coward we were as Nigerians, he explained that we never take charge of our future, when I tried to put a defence Bob said to me if the U.K had the resource Nigeria had the queen of England would probably become the god of the world, he however stated that Nigeria was a much better country in the 60’s and 70’s, he explained that the country was probably the most promising country in the world at the time, but he quickly took away the complement when he said that ever since then everything about the country had been on  a downward slope.

Guys believe me Bob spoke from the heart and with a lot of knowledge he probably had more knowledge of Nigeria than I did, more so it was difficult to argue with truth when it stares right at you so I keep quiet and allowed it pass.

Bob’s analysis of Nigeria’s past glory, epileptic present and not so certain future had been long forgotten by me until the Sunday after the supper eagles embarrassed the nation as they drew 2-2 with Guinea, to be honest I’m not the biggest sport fan moreover the only team I have really ever supported have been embarrassing me all season talking about Arsenal FC however I remain a die-hard Gunner when I intend to piss my girlfriend off, but this Sunday I had to take the heat for the bloody super eagles, and I did not even watch the match cos I couldn’t even be bothered, however what interested me was that this guy from Somalia was analysing Nigerian football history, in my mind I was wondering what right does the f***** Somalian have talking about Nigerian football, he talked about how everybody in Somalia always felt excited to watch Nigeria play, he told me that him and his ifriend used to wear Nigerian Jerseys  he then asked me what has happened to Nigerian football, he ended saying that Nigerian no longer has claim of its “Giant of Africa status”.

In conclusion I’ll like to state that I did not make this story up, this is not the perspective of this Lagos boy, however I cannot argue with the truth, I will however settle that Nigeria at the moment is full of shit, and it’s hard to see the future in every area of the country, but I am optimistic that the future is bright a change is going to come but there is a price to pay watch this space soon as I talk about the price Nigeria has to pay in order to ensure a bright future after all they say nothing goes for nothing, Till the next time I blog I would like to say thanks for reading this annoying epistle.

*******************************CHEERS GUYS**********************************

WHEN ARE YOU COMING BACK HOME

When I woke up on the 2^nd of August 2011 I did not expect that I would be sitting in front of my laptop and actually writing this piece, however as the day unfolded it became inevitable that I let out my mind on the issues discussed here.

Waking up this morning was just like every other Tuesday when I had to travel from Northampton to Coventry (a 30 min journey) for a physiotherapy class and a meeting with my project supervisor, it was supposed to be regular. As usual, I got to the physio class pretty early and I sat down in the lobby waiting for my session to commence and just there and then it sounded; the fire alarm.

The sound of the alarm was extremely loud I’m sure people who are 300 miles away from the hospital could have heard it, but as a naija boy, this was quite alien to me, I just thought it was just a routine meant for just the hospital staff and there was nothing to worry about, but right there before me I saw an evacuation team so I said to myself this must be very serious. Everybody in the building were hurriedly escorted out in to an open ground called a fire assembly and in roughly two minutes I started to hear the sirens of the fire services, then I sighed in relief because I had thought I would probably take about 45 minutes before they get there.

This little incidence left me thinking and wondering why the Oduala’s residence and the Osusanya’s residence were burnt down beyond recognition.

Space and time would not permit me to go into the situation of this two families who happened to be one of my closest family friend, but what I can say is this incidence is another reason why Nigerians in diaspora would not come back home.

At the Oduala’s residence when the fire started a phone call was immediately made to the fire service HQ, where it was confirmed that the Alagomeji fire services (10 minutes away)had a shortage of water and as such cannot respond to them, therefore they would have to call the next available station which was somewhere on the island, however before they go there the house was no more and there was no more fire to quench.

The situation at the Osusanya’s residence was also similar, the only difference is that it is a more annoying case , because there is a fire station just at University of Lagos about three minutes away from the Osusanya’s however when they were called their response was anywhere outside the university is out of jurisdiction and then the call was forwarded to Alagomeji which is also close to the house and the same story of no water was told before it was finally forwarded to the station on the island and believe me your guess is as good as mine there was no more fire to quench when the fire men got there.

Looking at this true incidence which happened in the same year around the same environment would answer the question my friend Bisi had asked me which is when are u coming back home.

When are you coming back to the country with so much opportunities, but all can be lost in the twinkling of an eye?

When are you coming back to the country where you stand a 60% to get killed by unknown reasons (98% for those in the north).

When are you coming back to the country that has gold on the floor, but a three square meal is difficult to come by?

When are you coming to a country that has a 70% literacy rate yet 0ver 70% of the population are living below the poverty line?

The answer is I don’t know, in fact I probably wish I did not have to.

I know a lot of people would have one of two comments about this article, please kindly leave them in the space provided at the bottom.

Fighting Cancer

It’s the beginning of another month and I have to publish a new article, it’s hard to write anything since the past month has been spent doing assignments and watching Grey’s anatomy, with the months highlight coming from spending the weekend at Sanmee’s place for his barbeque party, so its kinda hard to write anything worth reading, or at least so I thought.

The human anatomy is made up of different organs all constructed together to make them function as an entire unit with the primary function of providing life. These organs have a role individually. With the advent of science and medicine, man has found a way to manipulate the laws of life and death with very advanced surgical procedures, one can comfortably say that medicine and science is not where it was 100 years ago, there have been advancements made in this field of life likewise many other fields.

We have heard of cases of kidney and heart transplants, we have heard of cases where the entire blood is completely drained and replaced with fresh blood; it seems to me that mankind has found a way to control life.

Mankind has been able to carve a niche for itself by introducing cutting edge technologies that even defies the law of gravity however with all these advancements it has been difficult or almost impossible for mankind to eradicate the cancers that eat up our societies.

Widespread hunger, poverty, hatred and war is a regular occurrence in our society, ethnic divide, racism, sexism, religious fanatism and the rest eats up our society and kills us in large numbers yet we have found no cure for it.

Need I remind us all that just like the human anatomy the ‘earth anatomy’ is made of individual beings with different task and function but designed to function as a whole unit, in other words, just like the kidney and the liver have separate task but still complement one another, we all as human beings might have different beliefs but we are designed to complement one another.

It might be impossible for mankind to invent a system or technology that can fix the decadence of our society, but with a little bit of love maybe we could at least reduce the tumour that resides in the very fabric of our society.

Love somebody this month it’s very infectious.

Happy new month folks

THE REFLECTIONS OF A LAGOS BOY 3

Ever wondered the reason for man’s behaviours, the reasons for our selfishness and greed, the reason for all the competition.

On a Sunday evening during my siesta I began to ponder on the recent happenings around the world, starting from my country were an unnecessary political crisis had erupted, I remembered the post I read about the corps that were killed and the ones that were lucky to escape, the thought that one man would raise a machete to slice another in the name of religion, politics, ethnic orientation, election mal practice and so one just bugs me.  The fact that no war has been declared and someone who was brought into the world through a woman would raise his hands to kill innocent and helpless people puts tears to my eyes, I know it’s not my burden to carry but I can’t help but ask why?

I remembered that it was only just yesterday that Saif al-Arab Gadaffi was hit down by NATO’s forces. I thought about the way this fine and intelligent but ruthless and cunning man spoke in the various interviews, the way he acted as if he was completely untouchable, he spoke like he was a god in human skin.

I also thought of the Birthter issue of Barrack Obama as propagated by Mr Donald Trump, the arrogance in his motive for raising this issue bugged my mind also.

All this things that I remembered sent me to a session of deep thinking, man has become so arrogant that we now make ourselves believe that we control our lives, every passing day as we develop in technology we have begun to believe that we invented the concept of life the same way we invented the blackberry and i-phones.

In the church we are reminded that we were born to have dominion over the earth, and over the animals and the plants but that was were God stopped, he never gave us dominion over mankind, however what we find today is the constant pursue of dominion of our fellow mankind thereby forgetting that the breath we breathe is not a function of our much dominion we are able to muster.

For everyone who is able to read this little article, I’ll like us to think back to the day we were born and see if we can remember the smell of the hospital, if we can remember the colour of the painting in the hospital wall, if we can remember the way our mother’s womb looked like, I know it’s impossible, and that’s because we made no contribution to our existence. Let’s take a minute to think and acknowledge the fact that this world is a temporary location, whether we are religious or not, at least I am yet to meet a man that has spent a thousand years in this earth, if truth be told there is nothing, absolutely nothing invented by man worth dying for, be it a country or a lifestyle. It’s high time we started to live our lives as if each day would be the last and treat other around us with the same attitude.

Have a lovely Month

THE REFLECTIONS OF A LAGOS BOY 2

Walking to school through Far-Gosford two weeks ago, I couldn’t help but think about home, as I watched the children come out to play in the beautiful British spring weather, they ran from pillar to post kicking balls and riding bicycles then I began to reminisce about my life as a growing child.

I remember how I used to wake up on Saturday mornings to watch morning ride in as much as I thought it was boring but then they played some cool music, I remembered the 4 o’clock children’s belt on NTA every week day when we sat glued to the TV set, I remembered programmes like Family matters, Voltron, Super Ted, Tales by moon light, Story land and the likes, I remember the Saturday birthday parties where I never won a gift until I was 9 and I won the drinking competition (I must have been a glutton).

I remembered that there were no area boys in Lagos, I remembered the time I got lost and found my way home without being hurt, I remember there were no okada’s (commercial motorcycles) on the road, I remember our people could hardly mention the name of the Head of state as they feared for their lives, I smiled when I remembered how the military guys came to whisk Pastor Ayo Orijetsafor away from the podium as he preached against the atrocities of the military dictators.

All this memories brought great nostalgia to me, as I got home I tried to take a little nap but those beautiful memories could not fade away, then I decided to listen to same good old music, the sound of Orlando Owoh and Chief Ebenezer Obey began to tweet out of my laptop speakers, I listened carefully to the lyrics of their songs and the beautiful combination it had with the melody and I thought to myself oh what splendid feeling, the music was not just enough I needed something more to remind me of those days, eh eh eh eh eh I got it I only wish it would be on you tube, yes it is ,it’s there, so I began to watch the screen adaptation of one of the greatest books ever written “things fall apart” , I knew I had watched it has a child but I could not remember any scene or actor, oh my God Pete Edochie is there! As I watched it I began to feel a deep sense of country hood as the goose bumps evaded my body.

I remembered the golden voice of onyeka owenu, and I decided to listen to two of my favourite tracks “Gbemileke” and “Wait for me”, these songs had deep messages and once again I felt this awkward pride surround me as if I were “Ebubedike”.

The joy of citizenship can be found in lots of experiences such as that of growing up, the smiles I had as a little boy so bright that I did not care if NEPA gave us light or not.

Now it is time for me to ponder on my experience of the last two weeks, and I cannot but express the love for my culture, the music, the clothes, the drama, and I boldly say the porch-ness, Nigeria is a land of Happiness for me it’s a country that holds my past in its hands, I must not be found wanting in protecting its future.

God bless Nigeria 

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER????????????????????????????????????????????

THE REFLECTIONS OF A LAGOS BOY 1

Its 1 am on a Wednesday morning and thoughts have clouded my brain, it’s been ages since I     wrote a piece so I started to put this together.

It’s exactly six months since I left Africa in pursuit of an M.sc degree programme in the U.K. Although I am not new to travelling to the U.K, leaving Nigeria after different bitter experiences was something I joyfully looked forward to.

The night before my trip was similar to this night that I write this piece, it was as if I had offended the gods of sleep and they won’t bless me with their presence, I was so excited to leave the country of my birth. As I proceeded to the airport being driven by one of the greatest men I could ever meet I glanced at every part of the environment with a winning smile, a winning smile that said good bye to pain, a winning smile that said good bye to failure, a winning smile that said good bye to greed, a winning smile that said I would never miss you.

“Good day ladies and gentlemen we are now about to land into Heathrow airport” that was the voice of the Pilot, my palms began to sweat out of excitement for the newness that life has promised, my mind was open and free willing to taste and savour the sweetness of the U.K.

Getting to the house in Northampton after a three hour ride with my little brother and my mum I was completely fagged out and all I needed was the taste of my mums cooking, a nice warm bath and a sound sleep.

It was time to go to school and begin my registration process, and on the train from Northampton to Coventry I began to shed tears, I shed tears for multiple reason one of which was because I realised the extent of the wickedness of the Nigerian leaders and the Nigerian people, I have found myself in a country with no major mineral resources, a country where majority of its populace do not have half the moral values that Nigerians could die for but yet things were working, I still had drops of tears in my eyes when I realised I had gotten to my destination immediately I did a rough calculation in my mind and discovered that that the same journey would probably have taken three times more in my country.

In my previous trips to the U.K I hardly ever left Northampton so having to go to school in Coventry was a bit of challenge for me, however I noticed the sign posts that gave direction from the train station to the school there was no missing it, this did not particularly impress me after all we had street post in Lagos but the descriptive details however marvelled me, getting to the school I started to see guys and girls living free like birds this was however strange for me as I had attended a school which was built on strong autocratic and Christian values, it was not that I expected students to attend chapel service but inhaling of cigarettes all over the campus did give me some concern.

After catching up with Casmir and Gboyega my former school mates, I was taken to the point of registration and lo and behold there was a que, and then I started to laugh I said to myself “you see even this people they que can’t they have a faster system” to my surprise I did not spend more than five minutes on that que and in 30 minutes I had in my hands an ID card of Coventry University (this would probably take two weeks in my previous school).  And instantly I remembered a similar que in Covenant where members of the student council were given preference over fellow students and my juvenility made me raise my voice in anger at such a cruel behaviour, that single action threatened the possibility of graduating.

It was September so the weather was quite cold and this in turn affected my urinary frequency, the toilet was a complete difference from what I had experienced in Covenant University where a plastic kettle and a bucket were placed in the toilet for the needful to be done in this toilet there was toilet rolls, hand driers and flowing water it was as if I was in Sheraton.

At the end of the week in the normal Nigerian custom it was time to go to church on Sunday, I could see Nigerians in the regular African regalia looking very majestic, however the white folks that I saw were either taking a walk or jogging to keep fit.

My journey to the U.K has in no doubt been a complete learning experience for me, I have been able to learn that the quality of life that people live is not exactly tied to religion or belief, rather its tied to being willing and able to do what is right.

Throughout my undergraduate days we were continuously reminded of how Covenant University was a world class institution and sometimes I bought that statement, but today I can stand on any platform to say that the school is far from being in a class talk less of being world class, we were also constantly reminded of how wealthy the school was and how the students school fees were being used to mow the lawn, but today that statement makes me laugh because I have learnt that it is not in the volume of wealth that one has that determines the quality of ones choices or life but rather it is being able and willing to do what is right, and what is needed.

While I grew up in Nigeria we were taught to have high moral standards and values, we were taught about God, we were taught to be good citizens of the country and to love our country, but now I have realised that love for nation can never be taught in theory, the lesson of love only sink in when it is taught in practical.

I have not written this to condemn my Alma-Mata, however with the current university ranking of universities in Nigeria Covenant University ranked 8^th despite the tremendous lack of quality, then the question is what goes on in the school ranked 50.

My heart bleeds to see that the older generation in Nigeria have gambled with our future, it saddens my heart to realise that the love they teach is indeed far from their hearts, it gives me great pain to realise that the most important worlds to them are SELF, ME, I and my immediate family, to the detriment of our future.

Arise; O compatriots the youths of Nigeria calls please rescue us.

who are we fooling

Its is a common saying that the a man will always reap what he sows, this is a statement that is common to people all over the world, in fact its got scriptural support across most religions, however, it is very unfortunate that in Africa most of our leaders turn a blind eye to this truth. The whole world is aware of the poverty level in the continent, in fact I like with when international media covers stories in Africa, some people might say they over exaggerate, because they only show hungry and sick children, but I believe, that is the true picture of Africa.

Its so painful when you discover the life of luxury that these leaders live, yet they show no compassion, going back to my proverb, I'll like to ask what stage our we in Africa? Are we Sowing or are we Reaping? 

Are the people who are entangled by the grip of poverty Reaping what they had sowed, or are those leaders who have embezzled money reaping Abundant wealth, are the parents of those hungry children who will do almost anything to make their children sowing, or are our leaders sowing the seeds of destruction for themselves.

I have made up my mind to try my best not to criticize the government, because I believe that every man should be a judge of himself, what hurts me is that young people have begun to follow the trend of our fathers, seeking quick wealth from politics, my friends who are we fooling.

This is my first blog ever, and i have decided to keep it short, subsequently I'll endeavour to go deeper on this topic. thanks.