Posts

Showing posts from August, 2016

Why Ikale Is Really Underdeveloped

Editor’s Note: Ikale, one of the major tribes of Yoruba race, is located in the southern region of Ondo state. As one of the leading towns of the state, Ikale land is also one of the most endowed lands in Nigeria. Yet, relative to her vast potentials, the community remains underdeveloped. In this report by AANU ADEGUN, NAIJ.com traces the source of the challenges facing the great people of Ikale  Omotosho power plant. Located on their land, yet the people last enjoined electricity over two years ago. Witches and wizards are widely recognized as agents of destruction in this clime of Africa. They are alleged to be notoriously averse to success and development. For every category of misfortunes, witches and wizards are mostly purported to be involved. And it is these dreaded extra-terrestrial beings who have been accused of having a greater influence in the injured growth of one of the most blessed lands in Nigeria, Ikale. A heated argument on the roles of witches and wizards

In Remembrance Of Nigeria's Ebola Heroine

Lorenz Ayoola Ola There’s a statue in Yaba, Lagos, of a man, whom many in Nigeria have forgotten. His family never have. And now, we all have a chance to remember him, and in a way, to honour him. He is the man on our one Naira coin. Herbert Olayinka Samuel Heelas Badmus Macaulay, had a daughter, Sarah Idowu Abigail, who would get married and give birth to a son, Babatunde Kwaku Adadevoh. Babatunde would grow up to become a doctor, and have kids of his own. One of these children, Stella Ameyo, became, like her father, a doctor. She would go on to work at a hospital in Obalende, Lagos, First Consultant Hospital, not very far from where her famous ancestor was once imprisoned by the British. It was to be at that that place of work that Stella Ameyo was to perform an act that would save the lives of possibly hundreds of thousands, and sacrifice her own in return. On July 20, 2014, a patient was wheeled in from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. Patrick Sawyer, the patient, h

The Tragedy of A Youth Corp Member

Image
THE TREASURY IS VIRTUALLY EMPTY; The Tragedy of A Youth Corp Member Let me expressly espouse you in the opinion that "There is nothing wrong in request for money/gift from your relative or friend that just finish service(NYSC)" I will need to remind you of his/her income and expenditure in that 1 year programme before you start requesting for a car or mansion from somebody. INCOME #19800 x 11months = #217800 Note: that first allawee was paid right in camp. EXPENDITURE Tithes : #1980×11=#21780 (for those dat do pay) First bank charges:#105x11=#1155 Food:- #10000 (at least) x 11=#110000 Call card:- 1k (at least in a month) x 11= #11000 Phone subscription:- #1200 (at least in a month) x11 = #13200 Transport to CDS/Clearance:- #500 (at least in a month) x 11 =#5500 Cream, tooth paste, bathing and washing soap:- #5000 (at least in 11months) Cloths and shoe:- #22000 (at least for 11months) Transport back home:- 6000 (for far north like Daura, Katsina.)

Wise Up Nigerians Or Be Doomed

You could be financially screwed if this is your situation #NigerianRec Nigeria is right about neck-deep in a pit of recession and strangled in a hard to get out of stagflation. Interest rates are on the rise, jobs are being lost and the Federal government is broke. It’s a tough ordeal for everyone including policy makers and the government. Even the rich are feeling the heat as they see the value of their investments plummet nearly every day. Some people are however between a rock and a hard place and they probably do not know it yet. We believe that the earlier you find out or understand how precarious your situation is, the better for you. You can start to fix a bad situation by first acknowledging how bad it is and what can be done to remedy it. Who then could be financially screwed and why is this so? Here is what we think… You don’t have savings or investments Earning a kobo in this tough economy has never been harder. People who even earn are struggling to keep up wi

Daddy's Eyeballs

Image
Daddy's Eyeballs The year Kunle was to leave for another secondary school in Ondo town, Bukola, his mother felt as if a dark cloud has fallen upon her roof. It was a strange year, the year that a moon suddenly descended on the land in the middle of the afternoon, and when Kunle suddenly felt the deep-seated ache in his cervical spine on a Sunday morning preceding the Monday he would resume school, he thought the end was near. He lay on the bed gasping for breath while the nurses at St Peter's clinic pleaded with him to be calm as the doctor's syringe might tore the vein of his buttock. All he wanted to do was to see Churchill, his father, get well and leave Moribodo College for the yet - unknown school in Ondo but fate was not having any of that. And he came, in his white garment. Kunle saw in his father's eyes; uncertainties and fears, and for reasons unknown, he kept mute. It was Kunle who, would later read about the educational practice in ancient Greece, uni

The Ondo Aspirant--To What Extent Can We Trust Him?

The Ondo Aspirant--How Much Can We Trust Him? He had not been compromised by tyranny, and had reacted well to the reagents of the ethnic laws. He had been an opaque but reliable man in whom one could trust: and experience teaches us that just this, trust-worthiness is the most constant virtue, which is not acquired or lost with the years. One is born worthy of trust, with an open face and steady eyes, and remains such for life. He who is born contorted and lax remains that way: he who lies to you at five, lies to you at fifteen and fifty. One cannot vote just anyone to the position of a Governor. It is a delicate and complex job, not much different from that of diplomats: to perform it with success you must infuse faith in the people, and therefore it is indispensable to have faith in yourself and in the ideas you sell; it is therefore a salutary activity, which helps you to know yourself and strengthens your character. It is perhaps the most hygienic of the specialities that const

Imposition Of Candidates Is Undemocratic, Ondo APC Members Tell Tinubu

Dear Asiwaju Tinubu, THE TONIC OF DEMOCRACY IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO CHOOSE THEIR LEADERS The ignorant may not actually know our relationship. We share the struggle for democracy which conjured regard for the independent right of our people to vote and to make leaders over themselves. So close it seems, is the relationship that as you once told me you were once approached by yet another old friend President Olusegun Obasanjo to convince me to work for him. Then and for a long time, at least up to 2004, when I decided to join the Political Party AD, I opted to be a go-between the poor masses, poor because they were in truth betrayed by leadership and the powerful few that control the apparatus of power in our land. I have never hidden my appreciation for your political intelligence, accommodation of a different opinion, a great attribute you demonstrated when you accepted my totally separated and independent view, that in the struggle for the Presidency of Nigeria in 2015, wh

Sincerely, Money Can Buy Happiness

When I hear people say that money cannot buy happiness, I look at them, shake my head, and silently remind myself: That's why they'll never have enough of it. Don't just believe something because some big figure said it. Money can buy happiness! It may not buy joy or long term fulfilment but it can certainly buy momentary happiness. And that's what happiness is -- momentary, because life is lived in moments. I'm sure I'll be happier flying from Lagos to Accra than going by road. I can save time, conserve my energy and "hit the ground running". I'm sure I'll be happier doing rural missions with a powerful Range Rover than a Kia Picanto. I can reach areas that might be otherwise inaccessible. All of that take money, friends! And I'm happy to announce to you that I'm going to have more than enough of it, to fulfil my destiny, provide for my family and help people in need. Stop believing the lies that hold you back. You have a b

How My Lost Pen Came Back Finding Me

How My Lost Pen Came Back Finding Me Thus set forth, half chemistry and half teaching work, the problem attracted me. I was reconsidering it that afternoon (it was a Thursday afternoon) as one of the noisy, sooty Sienna buses of Akure lugged me to Jos en-route Abuja. Now it happened that the evening of the same day destiny reserved for me a different and unique gift: the encounter with a woman, young and made of flesh and blood, warm against my side through our overcoats, gay in the misty cold of Jos, patient, wise and sure we were walking down streets still bordered with ruins from the religious crisis of 2012. In a few hours, I felt reborn and replete with new powers, washed clean and cured of tiredness borne from the 12-hours journey, finally ready to enter life with joy and vigor; equally cured was suddenly the world around me, and exorcised the name and face of the woman who had gone down into lower depths to make Jos city a "home away from home" for me. My very wr

Ondo Polls : MY Concern

Elections are just around the corner in Ondo state and as usual, the politicians are strategizing and trying to outwit each other in the race for the coveted seat in Alagbaka Akure. The usual promises are being made and the philosopher kings amongst them have started bamboozling us with different tales of how they are going to make our dear state the next big story out of Nigeria. However, my plea goes out to whoever emerges as the next Governor of my dear Ondo state, the people of Ondo south senatorial district passionately plead with him or her to treat us like we are part of the state and not as a group of people who live on the extreme end of the state and probably should not matter when developmental projects are being discussed. Sigmund Freund once said "being honest with one's self is an entirely good exercise", the people of Ondo south have been greatly shortchanged by the PDP led government in Akure. This is despite the fact that this zone has been known to h

Destitution Of The Aged

DESTITUTION OF THE AGED I really do wonder why people see scenes in movies and shed tears of pains and sorrow. I'm always startled when I see them crying for a mere "acted" drama. As for me, apart from reading a very sensitive part of the Holy Book or by the death of a loved one; nothing more ever brings tears to my eyes than the privation of old people. You must have realised that I mostly write on personal experiences. I do reside in Ilàjẹ́ (Bariga) with friends, for the sake of schooling and inability to acquire an hostel space within campus, UNILAG; A typical "face me I slap you" apartment (as Nigerians would call it). A very old woman (Mama), most probably an octogenarian resides here; the mother of one of the tenants, clothed roughly, wrinkled scaly and whitened but dark complexioned skin, mostly barefooted, completely grey low-cut hair and brows... The sight of her alone strikes a burden of pity in my heart at every instance. Yesterday noon, at the