Dear Dad
The prices of oil & gas are soaring. That means that buyers are "groaning but paying"...for NOW! And it also means that sellers are "reaping and smiling"...RIGHT NOW!!
Don't be deceived, both sides know the costs and the consequences. New, especially renewable, sources and alternatives are being explored, developed and WILL be exploited and deployed in due course. SOONER than later!!!
My concern, dad, is that Nigeria is doing absolutely NOTHING about it! We are looting our oil & gas earnings, and have not sorted out our domestic energy & NEPA/PHCN-doom, but most of all, have ignored the global race towards renewable energy sources and resources!!!
This government seems to be oblivious to the crises. It baffles all and sundry!!!
If oil money reduces and dries up, NIGERIA will be in dire straits faster, deeper and sooner than anywhere else that I know!!!
We wait on these comedians and conspicuous consumptionists in government!!!
Your worried son
Dayo
Monday, December 17, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Year-End Yuletide: Nigerian "Roads and Foods" from HELL!
Dear Mom
2007 is virtually over. And the masses' pains aren't ending! Homes upon homes are nowhere near what will resemble either Sallah or Christmas celebrations.
The politicians have paid themselves huge perquisites and privileges while the voters are groping for solutions to the penury being perpetuated and projected by the same political class! It is very pathetic.
Nigerian roads are so bad that they strangle food security and delivery. Pocket-friendly prices are gone! Then the roads proceed to gulp innocent blood in an orgy of avoidable angst. Ember months accidents have taken new dimensions such that not many contemplate the traditional home-going with da usual excitement this year. So troubling indeed.
Now what do we do? Even electricity has virtually left the plants, the poles and the gas pipelines in the land!
Barka Da Sallah? Well, yes...spiritually.
Merry Christmas? Oh yes.....habitually.
With your prayers, and our persistence, I trust 2008 will be Happy and Prosperous!!!
Love
Dayo
2007 is virtually over. And the masses' pains aren't ending! Homes upon homes are nowhere near what will resemble either Sallah or Christmas celebrations.
The politicians have paid themselves huge perquisites and privileges while the voters are groping for solutions to the penury being perpetuated and projected by the same political class! It is very pathetic.
Nigerian roads are so bad that they strangle food security and delivery. Pocket-friendly prices are gone! Then the roads proceed to gulp innocent blood in an orgy of avoidable angst. Ember months accidents have taken new dimensions such that not many contemplate the traditional home-going with da usual excitement this year. So troubling indeed.
Now what do we do? Even electricity has virtually left the plants, the poles and the gas pipelines in the land!
Barka Da Sallah? Well, yes...spiritually.
Merry Christmas? Oh yes.....habitually.
With your prayers, and our persistence, I trust 2008 will be Happy and Prosperous!!!
Love
Dayo
Anti-Corruption: Where is JUSTICE?
Papa
There was fire on the mountain before, ba? Now there is inferno! This corruption monster is all alive and well o! In fact, it is kicking and punching and dribbling and straddling both here and abroad.
My concern this day is that JUSTICE is hardly done both in the search and solution of the matter, both home and abroad.
If you steal a goat you will go to longer prison term than if you plunder the public till to the tune of billions! Then they have this legal wonder called "plea bargain". It allows you to negotiate your terms and conditions as a rogue by NEGOTIATIONS!!! It is a worldwide practice which is now being thoroughly abused both here and abroad.
But the real wonder is how it seems our bigmen are having a field day looting, shooting and not giving a hoot about name, fame and shame! They don't care about their children or their village or their place of worship. History? Forget it! Posterity? Pass!
They made the laws and the constitution for their class convenience and cult perpetuation. They know no other way. Which is why we have no farms, no factories, no fisheries, no oil rigs, yet the guys are stinking rich and the foreign lands are embracing them with glee!
Papa, na so we see am o! Just thought I should share with you, the figures are so mind-boggling
that one is simply perplexed at what they need such gargantuan loot for.
God help us.
In trepidation
Dayo
There was fire on the mountain before, ba? Now there is inferno! This corruption monster is all alive and well o! In fact, it is kicking and punching and dribbling and straddling both here and abroad.
My concern this day is that JUSTICE is hardly done both in the search and solution of the matter, both home and abroad.
If you steal a goat you will go to longer prison term than if you plunder the public till to the tune of billions! Then they have this legal wonder called "plea bargain". It allows you to negotiate your terms and conditions as a rogue by NEGOTIATIONS!!! It is a worldwide practice which is now being thoroughly abused both here and abroad.
But the real wonder is how it seems our bigmen are having a field day looting, shooting and not giving a hoot about name, fame and shame! They don't care about their children or their village or their place of worship. History? Forget it! Posterity? Pass!
They made the laws and the constitution for their class convenience and cult perpetuation. They know no other way. Which is why we have no farms, no factories, no fisheries, no oil rigs, yet the guys are stinking rich and the foreign lands are embracing them with glee!
Papa, na so we see am o! Just thought I should share with you, the figures are so mind-boggling
that one is simply perplexed at what they need such gargantuan loot for.
God help us.
In trepidation
Dayo
Friday, October 19, 2007
Dem Say....We BLACKS are....Daft!
Dear Dad
Not for the first - nor will it be da last - time, one top white American scientist to one top British newspaper that BLACKS are less intelligent than WHITES. Alarmed? You should be. Rightly. He has apologised, and is suspended at work. Rightly.
Fazed? We can't be. Deceived? We are not. The world knows better.
Dr James Watson is a 1962 Nobel Laureate and DNA pioneer. He has been contradicted by Dr Craig Venter who led the private efforts to decode the human genome....40 years after. And the disowning and criticisms have been pouring in. Rightly.
This man is 79 years old. We must really ponder what he has done with such views or beliefs, especially with his high status and professional standing, access and outreach all these years!
Let's shudder.
Why I write to you on this matter is that we, in Africa, have ourselves and our so-called leaders to blame for such gratuitous insults. Sure it hurts, but it is a slur we may carry for a while. Yes. Until...we wake up to the fullness of our POTENTIAL.
After all, they said so about the Indians and the Chinese before...didn't they?
In less than 30 years, they are eating their words!
We won't need that long. No.
Love
Dayo
Not for the first - nor will it be da last - time, one top white American scientist to one top British newspaper that BLACKS are less intelligent than WHITES. Alarmed? You should be. Rightly. He has apologised, and is suspended at work. Rightly.
Fazed? We can't be. Deceived? We are not. The world knows better.
Dr James Watson is a 1962 Nobel Laureate and DNA pioneer. He has been contradicted by Dr Craig Venter who led the private efforts to decode the human genome....40 years after. And the disowning and criticisms have been pouring in. Rightly.
This man is 79 years old. We must really ponder what he has done with such views or beliefs, especially with his high status and professional standing, access and outreach all these years!
Let's shudder.
Why I write to you on this matter is that we, in Africa, have ourselves and our so-called leaders to blame for such gratuitous insults. Sure it hurts, but it is a slur we may carry for a while. Yes. Until...we wake up to the fullness of our POTENTIAL.
After all, they said so about the Indians and the Chinese before...didn't they?
In less than 30 years, they are eating their words!
We won't need that long. No.
Love
Dayo
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
The Future of Healthcare and Wellness
Dear Mom
This memo is just my quiet thoughts on the ways of nature and our return to nature, inexorably.
There is growing awareness and acceptance of herbal medicine and nature cure around the globe. Heartwarming.
My joy is in the huge potential that this reality holds for us in Africa as the most unpolluted and largely free territories for growing most of the ingredients for this awesome renaissance! It is a big multi-billion dollars business. It is more or less food-based, being that most of the science and supplements are nutrition-centred. The emerging literature and delivery mechanisms are simply breath-taking. Thankfully, Nigerian practitioners are also cued in.
If all goes well, the world will soon be fully fed on organic foods and drinks. Africa, again, has first class comparative advantages in this sphere. In time, we will be rightly playing our nature-given role in the wellness and wellbeing of our planet! I'm excited.
Mom, but are our leaders? Only heaven knows.
Can you kindly check up there?!
Love
Dayo
This memo is just my quiet thoughts on the ways of nature and our return to nature, inexorably.
There is growing awareness and acceptance of herbal medicine and nature cure around the globe. Heartwarming.
My joy is in the huge potential that this reality holds for us in Africa as the most unpolluted and largely free territories for growing most of the ingredients for this awesome renaissance! It is a big multi-billion dollars business. It is more or less food-based, being that most of the science and supplements are nutrition-centred. The emerging literature and delivery mechanisms are simply breath-taking. Thankfully, Nigerian practitioners are also cued in.
If all goes well, the world will soon be fully fed on organic foods and drinks. Africa, again, has first class comparative advantages in this sphere. In time, we will be rightly playing our nature-given role in the wellness and wellbeing of our planet! I'm excited.
Mom, but are our leaders? Only heaven knows.
Can you kindly check up there?!
Love
Dayo
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Postponed Riches
Dad
Broda Sola (my late first cousin) once told me about a visiting Italian scientist who took a long hard look at our landscape and soil, shook his head slowly but intermittently, and wondered what was wrong with Nigeria! He was visibly emotional about the sheer madness in abandoning the huge opportunities and guaranteed wealth in solid minerals, while we underutilised our oil & gas assets, and stayed proudly in the league of pathetic nations!!
Leadership, leadership, leadership.
I have met bankers in Europe who wondered why we under-invested our oil earnings in crude and unimaginative ways! Then, we, in the same breath, went a-borrowing!! That was amazing to them, even mesmerising. They pointed to the loads of well-educated and well-travelled leaders and citizens this country had, and shook their heads in disbelief.
Leadership, leadership, leadership.
Give the devil his due, President Obasanjo finally paid off our foreign debts - at huge costs - to somewhat redeem that stigma. But we still are doing nothing concrete about value added and creative exploitation of our natural resources! And Nigerians are perplexed.
Leadership, leadership, leadership.
Me, I worry little now. Thank goodness they didn't fully extract these resources before now! Why? Dem for don chop am finish well well!! The shameless lot have no scruples about looting. They can steal their mom's chain and pendant without batting an eyelid!
Corruption, corruption, corruption.
So, I call it Postponed Riches...in...Deferred Wealth. We will claim it ALL soon, pretty soon.
Nigeria is set. Our Diaspora is awesome. Our friends are growing. Our people are primed and yearning. And the tide is turning. The time be NOW.
Papa, believe.
I am...
Your upbeat son
Dayo
Broda Sola (my late first cousin) once told me about a visiting Italian scientist who took a long hard look at our landscape and soil, shook his head slowly but intermittently, and wondered what was wrong with Nigeria! He was visibly emotional about the sheer madness in abandoning the huge opportunities and guaranteed wealth in solid minerals, while we underutilised our oil & gas assets, and stayed proudly in the league of pathetic nations!!
Leadership, leadership, leadership.
I have met bankers in Europe who wondered why we under-invested our oil earnings in crude and unimaginative ways! Then, we, in the same breath, went a-borrowing!! That was amazing to them, even mesmerising. They pointed to the loads of well-educated and well-travelled leaders and citizens this country had, and shook their heads in disbelief.
Leadership, leadership, leadership.
Give the devil his due, President Obasanjo finally paid off our foreign debts - at huge costs - to somewhat redeem that stigma. But we still are doing nothing concrete about value added and creative exploitation of our natural resources! And Nigerians are perplexed.
Leadership, leadership, leadership.
Me, I worry little now. Thank goodness they didn't fully extract these resources before now! Why? Dem for don chop am finish well well!! The shameless lot have no scruples about looting. They can steal their mom's chain and pendant without batting an eyelid!
Corruption, corruption, corruption.
So, I call it Postponed Riches...in...Deferred Wealth. We will claim it ALL soon, pretty soon.
Nigeria is set. Our Diaspora is awesome. Our friends are growing. Our people are primed and yearning. And the tide is turning. The time be NOW.
Papa, believe.
I am...
Your upbeat son
Dayo
Monday, September 03, 2007
ICT Wonders
Dear Mom
Before you left us I was unable to get a telephone. I wonder what you and all our "Elders Gone" would say or do today when you see and use and hear and behold what we now enjoy! It is called Information and Computing or Communications Technology, ICT. By the way, this revolution happened upon us with inputs - believe it or not - from several geniuses, including our very own Phillip Emeagwali. He is your son too o!, because he and I are age-mates: for, while you had me in Warri, his mother soon did in Onitsha side - down the road, from River Niger!! This very great Nigerian has been described as one of the "Fathers of the Internet" - that network of powerful super-computers which makes it easy and breezy, secure and obscure, tricky and prickly, snazzy and sleazy for the whole wide world to interact, trade, invent, fight and commune in a web!!!
Before I forget, ma, I got my first telephone line sometime in 1980/1 - not too long after your 1979 departure. That happened by a combination of time & place: I was transfered to Falomo in Ikoyi as a lending officer, in what was then our "elite" branch at the United Bank for Africa. That was where several top expatriates, powerful Nigerians, diplomats & their missions, as well as the new wave politicians, especially the federal legislators, banked. Not to put too fine a point on it, I must affirm that I made some of my best and life-changing contacts and friendships, including some career-threatening envy and "bad-belle", from that strategic posting. Because of the good values you planted in us, painfully and dutifully from after Papa's translation in 1963, and my good fortune in being identified early for special grooming by my bosses (both whites & blacks!), Falomo was where to be!
Customers and colleagues saw through my innocence and innovativeness. They trusted and taunted me. They loved me. This was the era of forex deals, crowded banking halls, TV stars and the first political transition...from Obasanjo to Shagari, etc. Bankers were powerful, and some got particularly "prosperous"! But, Mama, I stayed with my pay, with staff official loans, with my faith, and what some of you called my "charm" - I say, my humanity! No magomago, no wuruwuru!!! And it forever paid off. It still does....
To cut the long story short, I got my Post Office Box 51389 and eventually my first telephone 524936. These two "blessings" - as they were, then - came to be because of my being in Ikoyi. First, by location, and by motivation, and by my status/contacts. Things were pretty tough those days, and these "post & telecommunications" assets became real ASSETS to me and my siblings: Like when Ibukun (Arthur Onoviran) was involved in the oil workers and civil rights battles against the brutal Abacha dictatorship, and the June 12 struggles, or Funmi (Phoebe Onoviran, now Molokwu) as a student traded in "essential/scare commodities! The telephone was a hot line for local and international media at the height of the workers revolt - the Days of the Trenches! Mama, you should be proud of the courage and commitment of your son, Arthur in those annals. He was with the Kokoris, Tinubus, Adeniji-Adeles, Gani Fawehinmis, Falanas, Agbakobas, the Ojos, the Utomis, the toughest Nigerian journalists, et al. He also ended up in exile! That story is for another day.
Today however, the story be different. In just six years of doing the right thing (okay, of almost doing the right things), almost anyone can now own or have access to a phone. Yes, mostly cell or mobile...but that will change: The next wave will be land-lines, on optic fibre and satellite networks. How times change!
But the most exciting part of the ICT Wonders is how we now communicate, educate and even entertain "globally & instantly" - warts and all. We gain and pain at once! For example, there is so much good stuff on the internet you want to stay online forever! And, pray, there is so much OTHER stuff there too you want to shut it down (hahaha!), or at least police da super-highway: CyberCop!!! Recently I was forced to outline my thoughts on the growing content and contempt of the so-called "Adult" sites. They are heavy audacious, Mama, I dare not tell you what be on! I am still struggling to continue/conclude my piece on it. Tough. We must praise ALL the cops and crusaders that try to sensitize the world to the huge and heinous dangers that bad guys/bad stuff pose to our kids and the vulnerable...on da world wide web! Kudos.
I like to say, however, that the good overwhelms the bad. Besides, the internet is HERE! Let's make it swell.
Love
Dayo
Before you left us I was unable to get a telephone. I wonder what you and all our "Elders Gone" would say or do today when you see and use and hear and behold what we now enjoy! It is called Information and Computing or Communications Technology, ICT. By the way, this revolution happened upon us with inputs - believe it or not - from several geniuses, including our very own Phillip Emeagwali. He is your son too o!, because he and I are age-mates: for, while you had me in Warri, his mother soon did in Onitsha side - down the road, from River Niger!! This very great Nigerian has been described as one of the "Fathers of the Internet" - that network of powerful super-computers which makes it easy and breezy, secure and obscure, tricky and prickly, snazzy and sleazy for the whole wide world to interact, trade, invent, fight and commune in a web!!!
Before I forget, ma, I got my first telephone line sometime in 1980/1 - not too long after your 1979 departure. That happened by a combination of time & place: I was transfered to Falomo in Ikoyi as a lending officer, in what was then our "elite" branch at the United Bank for Africa. That was where several top expatriates, powerful Nigerians, diplomats & their missions, as well as the new wave politicians, especially the federal legislators, banked. Not to put too fine a point on it, I must affirm that I made some of my best and life-changing contacts and friendships, including some career-threatening envy and "bad-belle", from that strategic posting. Because of the good values you planted in us, painfully and dutifully from after Papa's translation in 1963, and my good fortune in being identified early for special grooming by my bosses (both whites & blacks!), Falomo was where to be!
Customers and colleagues saw through my innocence and innovativeness. They trusted and taunted me. They loved me. This was the era of forex deals, crowded banking halls, TV stars and the first political transition...from Obasanjo to Shagari, etc. Bankers were powerful, and some got particularly "prosperous"! But, Mama, I stayed with my pay, with staff official loans, with my faith, and what some of you called my "charm" - I say, my humanity! No magomago, no wuruwuru!!! And it forever paid off. It still does....
To cut the long story short, I got my Post Office Box 51389 and eventually my first telephone 524936. These two "blessings" - as they were, then - came to be because of my being in Ikoyi. First, by location, and by motivation, and by my status/contacts. Things were pretty tough those days, and these "post & telecommunications" assets became real ASSETS to me and my siblings: Like when Ibukun (Arthur Onoviran) was involved in the oil workers and civil rights battles against the brutal Abacha dictatorship, and the June 12 struggles, or Funmi (Phoebe Onoviran, now Molokwu) as a student traded in "essential/scare commodities! The telephone was a hot line for local and international media at the height of the workers revolt - the Days of the Trenches! Mama, you should be proud of the courage and commitment of your son, Arthur in those annals. He was with the Kokoris, Tinubus, Adeniji-Adeles, Gani Fawehinmis, Falanas, Agbakobas, the Ojos, the Utomis, the toughest Nigerian journalists, et al. He also ended up in exile! That story is for another day.
Today however, the story be different. In just six years of doing the right thing (okay, of almost doing the right things), almost anyone can now own or have access to a phone. Yes, mostly cell or mobile...but that will change: The next wave will be land-lines, on optic fibre and satellite networks. How times change!
But the most exciting part of the ICT Wonders is how we now communicate, educate and even entertain "globally & instantly" - warts and all. We gain and pain at once! For example, there is so much good stuff on the internet you want to stay online forever! And, pray, there is so much OTHER stuff there too you want to shut it down (hahaha!), or at least police da super-highway: CyberCop!!! Recently I was forced to outline my thoughts on the growing content and contempt of the so-called "Adult" sites. They are heavy audacious, Mama, I dare not tell you what be on! I am still struggling to continue/conclude my piece on it. Tough. We must praise ALL the cops and crusaders that try to sensitize the world to the huge and heinous dangers that bad guys/bad stuff pose to our kids and the vulnerable...on da world wide web! Kudos.
I like to say, however, that the good overwhelms the bad. Besides, the internet is HERE! Let's make it swell.
Love
Dayo
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Dem don Start Again o!
Papa
Na you do politics small before you come leave us go for YONDER! Please, one small question: Where are POLITICIANS from? Is it heaven...or...is it hell???
This memo is a "top secret" o! Don't let them here or see it o, abeg! Don't even discuss it with Mama because part of the crises down here now concerns or are caused by Madam Speaker!!
And you know, they seem to thrive on rumours, these politicians. So, this is Strictly Confidential.
The reason I asked in this season of "begin again" governance is because we had thought that our political class will dump the crass ways of the past, and become "born again" leaders and rulers. Alas, like many lip-service believers, they seem to have returned to their vomit! And it is a very stenching, very putrefied vomit!
One quick and so far good point is that they will soon "re-consume" and be consumed by this smearing vomit. Why? Na because the Umaru Yar'Adua wey dem rig put for office no be dem gang-mate! Dem don misfire, mis-rig, mis-calculate, sotey......dem mis-CHOP! The president no go save dem, lailai....forever and ever, fa!!!
Okay, back to my question, Dad: where da hell or heaven; abi is it heaven or hell; are politicians from? And I mean ALL politicians o! Not just them African lot - they have Siamese counterparts elsewhere in da third world. I mean especially, particularly, specifically and pin-pointedly our NIGERIAN politicians - da unique breed from, well.....???
Papa, if these folks are from heaven, then they really just make themselves, family, fronts and friends...really have heaven-on-earth, at our full expense! Now, Dad, if they be from hell, wow!, their testimonial is one long endless stretch of hellish looting (not leading) and ruining (not ruling) misrule!!
I don't like joining the traducers of former president Obasanjo. Not because his eight years in office favoured me, or that I can understand how the Niger Delta fared & flared under his rule, or agree with his blatant disobedience of court orders (including the supreme court!), or his do-or-die April 07 electioneering - especially when you count the actual deaths! It is just that his own party members - including those who he rigged into office - are already washing their benefactor's dirty linen in the market square! And they have only just begun o. Watch out!
As I was saying, sir, these politicians came from that...okay, make I kuku call am im name... very rotten era, promised to NOT be business as usual, are still fighting legitimacy at election tribunals, and begged to be given a chance/time to correct/change things. The citizens mellowed things to give peace a chance.
Now, what do we hear and see? Business as usual. Arrogance of power. Contractgate. Endless and senseless travels. Connivance. Fraudulent-compromise. Refusal to declare & publish their assets as the president has admirably done. Looting-by-corner-corner-style, Lies and dodging.
The saddest part is that the system is rotting from the head: Our PARLIAMENT in Abuja! The folks seem quite determined to live in opulence, in a do-or-die manner and primitively greedy fashion. They are awarding obscene contracts for the renovation of official quarters in sums that will make you stomach churn and coil and curl in puke! They thought they had it all wrapped up before the dutiful Nigeria press - yes o, the same hell-raisers that helped killed their Baba's third term/tenure elongation agenda! - railed against them. Yet, we are still no nearer to the truth, the WHOLE truth.
They are at once confused and contemptuous. Dem dey dodge!
Papa, that's why I really want to know a little about where these incorrigible class graduated or emerged or evolved or mutated or emigrated from. Is it heaven or hell? No mind my long, big grammar, abeg sir, I don tire for this kine people, jare...haba...ki lo de?!
Okay Dad, see what I mean: EFCC is everywhere. Even the hitherto sleepy ICPC has woken up from its slumber. The Code of Conduct Bureau that was buried in its own bunker during the last law-disobeying regime now issues threats, day and night. By the way, Papa, na dem advise Mr President sey make im no publish im asset declaration form o! At least they seem now to have finally remembered that many many public officials have yet to or really never declared their assets in the first place!!! Thank God for the president's stern rebuff.
Then, we have the "stench" of the rigged elections hanging in the air. Plus the close attention of the international community, especially the anti-corruption agencies. And, hallo hallo o, the fearless and angry Nigerian Press which rightly feels that the politicians - reaping power from where they did not sow (as in actively colluding with, rather than fighting, military dictatorship cum enslavement in the blighted past!) - must be closely tracked from now on.
Papa, with ALL these forces arraigned and arrayed AGAINST them, how could the politicians go on as usual??? Me, I want to know.
And, as one old song says: everybody wants to know!
I remain your curious son
Dayo
Na you do politics small before you come leave us go for YONDER! Please, one small question: Where are POLITICIANS from? Is it heaven...or...is it hell???
This memo is a "top secret" o! Don't let them here or see it o, abeg! Don't even discuss it with Mama because part of the crises down here now concerns or are caused by Madam Speaker!!
And you know, they seem to thrive on rumours, these politicians. So, this is Strictly Confidential.
The reason I asked in this season of "begin again" governance is because we had thought that our political class will dump the crass ways of the past, and become "born again" leaders and rulers. Alas, like many lip-service believers, they seem to have returned to their vomit! And it is a very stenching, very putrefied vomit!
One quick and so far good point is that they will soon "re-consume" and be consumed by this smearing vomit. Why? Na because the Umaru Yar'Adua wey dem rig put for office no be dem gang-mate! Dem don misfire, mis-rig, mis-calculate, sotey......dem mis-CHOP! The president no go save dem, lailai....forever and ever, fa!!!
Okay, back to my question, Dad: where da hell or heaven; abi is it heaven or hell; are politicians from? And I mean ALL politicians o! Not just them African lot - they have Siamese counterparts elsewhere in da third world. I mean especially, particularly, specifically and pin-pointedly our NIGERIAN politicians - da unique breed from, well.....???
Papa, if these folks are from heaven, then they really just make themselves, family, fronts and friends...really have heaven-on-earth, at our full expense! Now, Dad, if they be from hell, wow!, their testimonial is one long endless stretch of hellish looting (not leading) and ruining (not ruling) misrule!!
I don't like joining the traducers of former president Obasanjo. Not because his eight years in office favoured me, or that I can understand how the Niger Delta fared & flared under his rule, or agree with his blatant disobedience of court orders (including the supreme court!), or his do-or-die April 07 electioneering - especially when you count the actual deaths! It is just that his own party members - including those who he rigged into office - are already washing their benefactor's dirty linen in the market square! And they have only just begun o. Watch out!
As I was saying, sir, these politicians came from that...okay, make I kuku call am im name... very rotten era, promised to NOT be business as usual, are still fighting legitimacy at election tribunals, and begged to be given a chance/time to correct/change things. The citizens mellowed things to give peace a chance.
Now, what do we hear and see? Business as usual. Arrogance of power. Contractgate. Endless and senseless travels. Connivance. Fraudulent-compromise. Refusal to declare & publish their assets as the president has admirably done. Looting-by-corner-corner-style, Lies and dodging.
The saddest part is that the system is rotting from the head: Our PARLIAMENT in Abuja! The folks seem quite determined to live in opulence, in a do-or-die manner and primitively greedy fashion. They are awarding obscene contracts for the renovation of official quarters in sums that will make you stomach churn and coil and curl in puke! They thought they had it all wrapped up before the dutiful Nigeria press - yes o, the same hell-raisers that helped killed their Baba's third term/tenure elongation agenda! - railed against them. Yet, we are still no nearer to the truth, the WHOLE truth.
They are at once confused and contemptuous. Dem dey dodge!
Papa, that's why I really want to know a little about where these incorrigible class graduated or emerged or evolved or mutated or emigrated from. Is it heaven or hell? No mind my long, big grammar, abeg sir, I don tire for this kine people, jare...haba...ki lo de?!
Okay Dad, see what I mean: EFCC is everywhere. Even the hitherto sleepy ICPC has woken up from its slumber. The Code of Conduct Bureau that was buried in its own bunker during the last law-disobeying regime now issues threats, day and night. By the way, Papa, na dem advise Mr President sey make im no publish im asset declaration form o! At least they seem now to have finally remembered that many many public officials have yet to or really never declared their assets in the first place!!! Thank God for the president's stern rebuff.
Then, we have the "stench" of the rigged elections hanging in the air. Plus the close attention of the international community, especially the anti-corruption agencies. And, hallo hallo o, the fearless and angry Nigerian Press which rightly feels that the politicians - reaping power from where they did not sow (as in actively colluding with, rather than fighting, military dictatorship cum enslavement in the blighted past!) - must be closely tracked from now on.
Papa, with ALL these forces arraigned and arrayed AGAINST them, how could the politicians go on as usual??? Me, I want to know.
And, as one old song says: everybody wants to know!
I remain your curious son
Dayo
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Prayer Works!
Dear Papa & Mama
This is my first joint note/memo to you. Why? Because I'm upbeat. Why? Because Prayer does WORK!
You remember how you put us firmly on the narrow path of Faith & Belief? Right from infancy?
I can still affirm that me and my siblings are there o! We are rooted on the route of unfailing faith and unwavering hope. We are assured in the grace of our God - The Almighty.
Now, I write this confession this day because things, many good things, are unfolding in Nigeria! Not unexpected alright but nice that they are, and many bad things are unraveling as well. What a double-barreled blessing!
Speaking with friends, contacts and colleagues home and abroad the mood is bated-assurance. We can all see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, da silver lining.
We don't know how things will proceed as such, but the end-game has begun! Yes. God has now taken over. HE has answered our prayers. HE is supplying mesmerising results to our flowing supplications. HE is simply awesome! Repeat, the end-GAME has surely begun...
And it will be messy on many fronts.
I'll post.
Love
Dayo
This is my first joint note/memo to you. Why? Because I'm upbeat. Why? Because Prayer does WORK!
You remember how you put us firmly on the narrow path of Faith & Belief? Right from infancy?
I can still affirm that me and my siblings are there o! We are rooted on the route of unfailing faith and unwavering hope. We are assured in the grace of our God - The Almighty.
Now, I write this confession this day because things, many good things, are unfolding in Nigeria! Not unexpected alright but nice that they are, and many bad things are unraveling as well. What a double-barreled blessing!
Speaking with friends, contacts and colleagues home and abroad the mood is bated-assurance. We can all see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, da silver lining.
We don't know how things will proceed as such, but the end-game has begun! Yes. God has now taken over. HE has answered our prayers. HE is supplying mesmerising results to our flowing supplications. HE is simply awesome! Repeat, the end-GAME has surely begun...
And it will be messy on many fronts.
I'll post.
Love
Dayo
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Lagos-Benin Expressway
Dear Dad
How now? Long time no post! Please bear with me. I will post you on that subject fully and surely later. Just a few talk points this day:
a) The road to your dear Niger Delta is now completely muddy, muddled, mangled and thoroughly mismanaged. It is a crying shame!
b) The business lives of our Igbo brethren have been dealt a huge blow by the deadly potholes, gashes and gullies on that road. Movement of their goods and merchandise is so tortuous and traumatic that they are now regular sitting ducks/targets for men of the underworld!
c) Well, there is some hope. Apologies have pour out to Nigerians from both the president and his minister of transportation. This is a welcome departure from the past "state of denial" that pervaded and characterised the previous regime! They are now heavily mobilising palliative measures/intervention.
Be that as it may, I hope that they will kindly and promptly take stock of the huge loss of lives and livelihood with a view to comforting/compensating the victims. We need to.
By the way, the new minister is a daughter of the Niger Delta o! So, we keep our fingers crossed.
I love you Dad, especially now that men are hardly men.
Stay well, and pray for us.
Dayo
How now? Long time no post! Please bear with me. I will post you on that subject fully and surely later. Just a few talk points this day:
a) The road to your dear Niger Delta is now completely muddy, muddled, mangled and thoroughly mismanaged. It is a crying shame!
b) The business lives of our Igbo brethren have been dealt a huge blow by the deadly potholes, gashes and gullies on that road. Movement of their goods and merchandise is so tortuous and traumatic that they are now regular sitting ducks/targets for men of the underworld!
c) Well, there is some hope. Apologies have pour out to Nigerians from both the president and his minister of transportation. This is a welcome departure from the past "state of denial" that pervaded and characterised the previous regime! They are now heavily mobilising palliative measures/intervention.
Be that as it may, I hope that they will kindly and promptly take stock of the huge loss of lives and livelihood with a view to comforting/compensating the victims. We need to.
By the way, the new minister is a daughter of the Niger Delta o! So, we keep our fingers crossed.
I love you Dad, especially now that men are hardly men.
Stay well, and pray for us.
Dayo
(S)ELECTIONS 2007
Dearest Mom,
Dem say dem do election o! But na selection we see. Dem praise themselves tire. But almost the whole world don damn dem finish! True true, dem pursue "do or die" election, come land with moon-slide victory wey dem no gree/fit celebrate!!!
Anyway, make we leave matter for mathaias today. Plenty case dey for court and tribunal. Make God abeg help all de judge wey e go JUDGE de matter, amen.
Mama, how are you doing up there? I miss you and Papa so much, and can now understand why man looks up to Heaven in prayers...and for peace.
If you were down here in April, you will almost change nationality! Our people really disgraced us in the eyes and ears of the world!!!
More later.
Love
Dayo
Dem say dem do election o! But na selection we see. Dem praise themselves tire. But almost the whole world don damn dem finish! True true, dem pursue "do or die" election, come land with moon-slide victory wey dem no gree/fit celebrate!!!
Anyway, make we leave matter for mathaias today. Plenty case dey for court and tribunal. Make God abeg help all de judge wey e go JUDGE de matter, amen.
Mama, how are you doing up there? I miss you and Papa so much, and can now understand why man looks up to Heaven in prayers...and for peace.
If you were down here in April, you will almost change nationality! Our people really disgraced us in the eyes and ears of the world!!!
More later.
Love
Dayo
I Apologise
My absence was caused by problems at our ISP. I regret the inconvenience and blackout visited on all my readers and patrons.
Well, I am back!
I intend to do catch-up work in humble and token compensation.
Kindly bear with me.
Well, I am back!
I intend to do catch-up work in humble and token compensation.
Kindly bear with me.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
I need plenty ADVICE!
Papa
Matter dey o! Please come advise me. These days, our president is using special language and scary words. We need to know if it has to do with office, age (he just made 70, praise God!) or too much success. We need to know if his friends, freaks, family and fanatics hear and see what all others are witnessing. We need to... Oh, yes.
Which language? Both English and Yoruba; plus including pidgin, when it fits.
What words? Ha! Plenty. But in phrases. E.g: That the April Elections are a do-or-die affair! That his party, PDP, must not lose the elections!! That it is either PDP or nothing!!!
How scary? That he will NOT handover to a "corrupt" person!!!!
He has also been abusing (and cursing) people and parties like hell, at each hustings-stop and by words, gestures and songs!!!!!
Happily, Nigerians seem to understand and are amusing themselves to nuts with the spectacle. Mercifully, also, they call and treat him as Baba - even before he told us (though his son doubts) that he turned 70 some days ago. They know we will overcome. Oh, Dad, you need to see the kind of cartoons, editorials and opinion pieces in our media: sumptuous! Hilarious. Sad. Pity.
My worry is that there is something wrong, very wrong, for certified elders to descend and so condescend to such levels of desperation and unAfricanness. Which is why I need your help.
Why is Mandela different?
Why is Kofi Annan different?
Why is Desmond Tutu different?
I don't want to quote from other continents, so that I can narrow it close to home. Is anything the matter with leaving office and power, especially in a democracy? After EIGHT years?!
Hey, Dad, Bill Clinton left office - with his party losing to the Republicans - and launched his Clinton Global Initiative to great acclaim and success! He is today the most popular politician in America!! And the Democrats have just regained control of Congress, with bright prospects of winning the White House in 2008!!! Isn't that cool, and instructive?
Why is Baba Obasanjo doing his own like one kind do-or-die thing, now? Haba.
I am surprised, intrigued and depressed. Come talk to me in my dreams o! Abeg, Papa, dis one pass ordinary matter!
Love
Dayo
Matter dey o! Please come advise me. These days, our president is using special language and scary words. We need to know if it has to do with office, age (he just made 70, praise God!) or too much success. We need to know if his friends, freaks, family and fanatics hear and see what all others are witnessing. We need to... Oh, yes.
Which language? Both English and Yoruba; plus including pidgin, when it fits.
What words? Ha! Plenty. But in phrases. E.g: That the April Elections are a do-or-die affair! That his party, PDP, must not lose the elections!! That it is either PDP or nothing!!!
How scary? That he will NOT handover to a "corrupt" person!!!!
He has also been abusing (and cursing) people and parties like hell, at each hustings-stop and by words, gestures and songs!!!!!
Happily, Nigerians seem to understand and are amusing themselves to nuts with the spectacle. Mercifully, also, they call and treat him as Baba - even before he told us (though his son doubts) that he turned 70 some days ago. They know we will overcome. Oh, Dad, you need to see the kind of cartoons, editorials and opinion pieces in our media: sumptuous! Hilarious. Sad. Pity.
My worry is that there is something wrong, very wrong, for certified elders to descend and so condescend to such levels of desperation and unAfricanness. Which is why I need your help.
Why is Mandela different?
Why is Kofi Annan different?
Why is Desmond Tutu different?
I don't want to quote from other continents, so that I can narrow it close to home. Is anything the matter with leaving office and power, especially in a democracy? After EIGHT years?!
Hey, Dad, Bill Clinton left office - with his party losing to the Republicans - and launched his Clinton Global Initiative to great acclaim and success! He is today the most popular politician in America!! And the Democrats have just regained control of Congress, with bright prospects of winning the White House in 2008!!! Isn't that cool, and instructive?
Why is Baba Obasanjo doing his own like one kind do-or-die thing, now? Haba.
I am surprised, intrigued and depressed. Come talk to me in my dreams o! Abeg, Papa, dis one pass ordinary matter!
Love
Dayo
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Do Politicians Pray?
Dear Dad
I am not being alarmist. No. But if you arrive on our planet today, it will be so hot, so strange, so red and so inhumane you will be off in a jiffy...I swear! Around the world, things are depressing.
My worry is that we are daily preaching peace but fighting wars! We call for democracy but are busing constricting the public space! We say education is THE key to everything but our kids are getting more illiterate, less numerate, and cheating in exams, lacking rigour and substance!
Now, Dad, we under-invest where it matters most: humanity, and over-invest where it harms most: arms! World Poverty is so high you wonder how we got here - despite huge and growing World Resources!!
Yet our politicians profess faiths and project morality! They pray publicly and pontificate ever so piously!
I am extremely reluctant to ask the question. But, Dad, won't you...if you were me, us and the media? God is truly patient. Quite tough to make that stretch, isn't it?
Just wondering aloud, I suppose.
Still yours
Dayo
Technorati Profile
I am not being alarmist. No. But if you arrive on our planet today, it will be so hot, so strange, so red and so inhumane you will be off in a jiffy...I swear! Around the world, things are depressing.
My worry is that we are daily preaching peace but fighting wars! We call for democracy but are busing constricting the public space! We say education is THE key to everything but our kids are getting more illiterate, less numerate, and cheating in exams, lacking rigour and substance!
Now, Dad, we under-invest where it matters most: humanity, and over-invest where it harms most: arms! World Poverty is so high you wonder how we got here - despite huge and growing World Resources!!
Yet our politicians profess faiths and project morality! They pray publicly and pontificate ever so piously!
I am extremely reluctant to ask the question. But, Dad, won't you...if you were me, us and the media? God is truly patient. Quite tough to make that stretch, isn't it?
Just wondering aloud, I suppose.
Still yours
Dayo
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Sunday, February 11, 2007
Homes and Corruption
Mama
Things are happening o!
These days we don't know who is pushing who in the business of corrupt practices any more. So many parents are aiding their kids in exam malpractices worldwide. Many wives are apparently acquiescent over, if not outrightly aiding and abetting , their spouses or partners or relations in frauds, crimes and political or religious heist. Frightening.
Why I write about it today is because we are can make history this year. As you know, we're in a civilian-to-civilian democratic transition. By May 29, please God, the present leaders will hand over to new and reelected ones. It is a thrilling prospect, and we're all looking forward to Inauguration Day!
Now my point: Who does one vote for these days? The campaigns are building momentum. We shall be promised heaven-on-earth! If the past be any guide, we do need heavenly wisdom and celestial guidance. The corruption in town is monumental. And there is little remorse in their ranks. In truth, the masses are skeptical. Very very skeptical. Me, I know it will be well with us.
My plea: Since you and Dad are up there, please pray for Nigeria and Nigerian Voters. Pray that we have the conscience and courage to vote right, and to stay firm on our votes. Pray for change. Sea change in the land. We need that direly.
Most important, pray that God Almighty will kindly ensure that our votes not only count, but must be counted! Halleluya.
Always
Dayo
Technorati Profile
Things are happening o!
These days we don't know who is pushing who in the business of corrupt practices any more. So many parents are aiding their kids in exam malpractices worldwide. Many wives are apparently acquiescent over, if not outrightly aiding and abetting , their spouses or partners or relations in frauds, crimes and political or religious heist. Frightening.
Why I write about it today is because we are can make history this year. As you know, we're in a civilian-to-civilian democratic transition. By May 29, please God, the present leaders will hand over to new and reelected ones. It is a thrilling prospect, and we're all looking forward to Inauguration Day!
Now my point: Who does one vote for these days? The campaigns are building momentum. We shall be promised heaven-on-earth! If the past be any guide, we do need heavenly wisdom and celestial guidance. The corruption in town is monumental. And there is little remorse in their ranks. In truth, the masses are skeptical. Very very skeptical. Me, I know it will be well with us.
My plea: Since you and Dad are up there, please pray for Nigeria and Nigerian Voters. Pray that we have the conscience and courage to vote right, and to stay firm on our votes. Pray for change. Sea change in the land. We need that direly.
Most important, pray that God Almighty will kindly ensure that our votes not only count, but must be counted! Halleluya.
Always
Dayo
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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Elders Seem Resigned!
Dad
One of the high reasons I stayed out of partisan politics is the dog-eat-dog nastiness, the rabid hypocrisy and that queer winner-takes-all mentality which pervade its sinking domain. These days, Dad, friends easily become fiends overnight, and you won't know what hit you! Horrors.
The feuds between numbers one and two at all levels of power play out like fiction-on-wheels! For example, some governors and their deputies are so sworn to enmity that we must ask what brought them together in the first place! At the local government levels, the dramas are all so bizarre and outlandish you begin to moan for Nigeria. The tales are blood-chilling. Why would the lust for power push people to these depths? Where is the service they openly professed and gleefully promised the voters! Questions, questions...
Papa, the most worrisome part is at the presidency. In the last few days, both Numbers one and two have granted extensive press interviews to visiting editors from the United States. It was pure venom! Not that their own presidency is smelling of roses at the moment o! What with the Iraq and Afghanistan crises, the rejection by American voters, the hostile bipartisan Congress, increasing international isolation and the depressing opinion polls cum approval ratings? Bleak.
But we speak of Nigeria. The bottom line is that these leaders have now gone beyond the Elders' Court; no one motions, moderates or mends anymore! The Elders have simply given up, alas! It is now a season-for-all with reason in willful bondage! All is now fair, all be fair game, at last!!
What be next, who be next? Questions, questions, questions...
The next 100 Days will tell.
Yours in thoughts
Dayo
One of the high reasons I stayed out of partisan politics is the dog-eat-dog nastiness, the rabid hypocrisy and that queer winner-takes-all mentality which pervade its sinking domain. These days, Dad, friends easily become fiends overnight, and you won't know what hit you! Horrors.
The feuds between numbers one and two at all levels of power play out like fiction-on-wheels! For example, some governors and their deputies are so sworn to enmity that we must ask what brought them together in the first place! At the local government levels, the dramas are all so bizarre and outlandish you begin to moan for Nigeria. The tales are blood-chilling. Why would the lust for power push people to these depths? Where is the service they openly professed and gleefully promised the voters! Questions, questions...
Papa, the most worrisome part is at the presidency. In the last few days, both Numbers one and two have granted extensive press interviews to visiting editors from the United States. It was pure venom! Not that their own presidency is smelling of roses at the moment o! What with the Iraq and Afghanistan crises, the rejection by American voters, the hostile bipartisan Congress, increasing international isolation and the depressing opinion polls cum approval ratings? Bleak.
But we speak of Nigeria. The bottom line is that these leaders have now gone beyond the Elders' Court; no one motions, moderates or mends anymore! The Elders have simply given up, alas! It is now a season-for-all with reason in willful bondage! All is now fair, all be fair game, at last!!
What be next, who be next? Questions, questions, questions...
The next 100 Days will tell.
Yours in thoughts
Dayo
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Laugh Therapy
Dear Mum
I just thought that you folks need some laughter this season, to facilitate your consumption of the bizarre news that ooze from this land. We are presently gripped in the vicious vice of acute fuel shortages nationwide. This, after eight years of the president himself holding the oil and gas portfolio as petroleum minister! Now we are told that the shortages are caused by pipelines' vandalism, militants-actions, products-diversion, non-importation by licensed agents, etc. The cruel jokes in town are that people living next to refineries see no products; government is owing the so-called agents billions of naira yet was publicly offering them credit lines; and many touts brazenly hawk fuel around town while filling stations are empty!!!
Our roads have been nightmares over the years, yet the government promised to fix them for the 2006 end-of-year travel season. When that failed and we screamed, we were told there was no money; yet Nigeria has billions of dollars in foreign reserves!!!
They said they had refurbished and updated several of our university teaching hospitals, even as the president lavishly praised and inaugurated them as world class facilities. Same goes for the National Hospital. Yet, we keep flying patients, including government functionaries, abroad for tests and treatment!!!
They now say the president, by his endless junkets and extensive globe-trotting escapades, has restored our country's image within the international community, yet our citizens are routinely humiliated and denied legitimate visa requests at home, and immigration clearance cum entry abroad! Worse still is that our government does absolutely nothing about it!! And the worst part is that even African countries, including those which had enjoyed or still routinely benefit from our help and generousity, have become deeply entrenched in Nigeria-bashing!!!
I don't want to exhaust the Bag of Jokes in this post. Next time, mum, next time.
The final piece is, President Obasanjo, present and future Life-Leader of the PDP, and by the grace of God the post-May 29 chair of their board of trustees, publicly proclaimed that it will be a disaster if the party did not return to power in the 2007 General Elections!!!
Those who know and follow the president avow that his sense of humour is legendary.
Well, well...
Love you, Mom
Dayo
I just thought that you folks need some laughter this season, to facilitate your consumption of the bizarre news that ooze from this land. We are presently gripped in the vicious vice of acute fuel shortages nationwide. This, after eight years of the president himself holding the oil and gas portfolio as petroleum minister! Now we are told that the shortages are caused by pipelines' vandalism, militants-actions, products-diversion, non-importation by licensed agents, etc. The cruel jokes in town are that people living next to refineries see no products; government is owing the so-called agents billions of naira yet was publicly offering them credit lines; and many touts brazenly hawk fuel around town while filling stations are empty!!!
Our roads have been nightmares over the years, yet the government promised to fix them for the 2006 end-of-year travel season. When that failed and we screamed, we were told there was no money; yet Nigeria has billions of dollars in foreign reserves!!!
They said they had refurbished and updated several of our university teaching hospitals, even as the president lavishly praised and inaugurated them as world class facilities. Same goes for the National Hospital. Yet, we keep flying patients, including government functionaries, abroad for tests and treatment!!!
They now say the president, by his endless junkets and extensive globe-trotting escapades, has restored our country's image within the international community, yet our citizens are routinely humiliated and denied legitimate visa requests at home, and immigration clearance cum entry abroad! Worse still is that our government does absolutely nothing about it!! And the worst part is that even African countries, including those which had enjoyed or still routinely benefit from our help and generousity, have become deeply entrenched in Nigeria-bashing!!!
I don't want to exhaust the Bag of Jokes in this post. Next time, mum, next time.
The final piece is, President Obasanjo, present and future Life-Leader of the PDP, and by the grace of God the post-May 29 chair of their board of trustees, publicly proclaimed that it will be a disaster if the party did not return to power in the 2007 General Elections!!!
Those who know and follow the president avow that his sense of humour is legendary.
Well, well...
Love you, Mom
Dayo
Friday, January 19, 2007
Being Nigerian
Dear Dad
Every time I look back at being a Nigerian, I have mixed feelings. I wonder how I would have fared if I came from some other country. Depending on which part of the world, it may have been fun or furnace! So, I give thanks to God for creating me, and to you and mum for having me here. Thank you.
Each time I look ahead, I am happy being a Nigerian. I have no doubts about that. Never! My love for this country surpasses all the trials and tribulations, treasures and trivialities that we endure today. It is rooted in the certainty of Nigeria's greatness, a point attested to by all the discerning souls that have seen and spoken from before your own time. The reality is a given, and it ripens this year as we head for the real transition: 2007 General Elections.
I wonder at the great many wonders that my compatriots are performing around the globe and I feel good. Oh, isn't there some bad egg doing their damnest worst to tarnish the nation? You bet! But I resist their lot and say, so what? Every country has its share! Just this week, I was savouring the sterling performance of our football stars in the English premiership. So sweet. Oh, those Nigerians! Sweet, Dad, so so sweet. And we have even bigger stars in other sectors and disciplines! Some sung, some unsung. Yes.
All the times that I have surveyed our debts and dues, I have never had a doubt that the net is good and solid gold. In the bosom of our deepest conquests is the slaying of the greed and rising of creed: the crest and crown of democracy. It took a while, its toll, but alas it cometh now! This land has come into its own...its Nigerian own. Alight at last! Believe.
When you were explaining the momentous 1960 Independence to me that year, it registered in my tentative psyche. This year, it blossoms in my marrow and soars in my soul. The future and the past will blend in contest and complement, and the renewal of our destiny shall be manifest in all things small and beautiful. In all things old and new. Yes, in all things far and near.
Thank you, Dad, for making me a NIGERIAN.
Love you
Dayo
Every time I look back at being a Nigerian, I have mixed feelings. I wonder how I would have fared if I came from some other country. Depending on which part of the world, it may have been fun or furnace! So, I give thanks to God for creating me, and to you and mum for having me here. Thank you.
Each time I look ahead, I am happy being a Nigerian. I have no doubts about that. Never! My love for this country surpasses all the trials and tribulations, treasures and trivialities that we endure today. It is rooted in the certainty of Nigeria's greatness, a point attested to by all the discerning souls that have seen and spoken from before your own time. The reality is a given, and it ripens this year as we head for the real transition: 2007 General Elections.
I wonder at the great many wonders that my compatriots are performing around the globe and I feel good. Oh, isn't there some bad egg doing their damnest worst to tarnish the nation? You bet! But I resist their lot and say, so what? Every country has its share! Just this week, I was savouring the sterling performance of our football stars in the English premiership. So sweet. Oh, those Nigerians! Sweet, Dad, so so sweet. And we have even bigger stars in other sectors and disciplines! Some sung, some unsung. Yes.
All the times that I have surveyed our debts and dues, I have never had a doubt that the net is good and solid gold. In the bosom of our deepest conquests is the slaying of the greed and rising of creed: the crest and crown of democracy. It took a while, its toll, but alas it cometh now! This land has come into its own...its Nigerian own. Alight at last! Believe.
When you were explaining the momentous 1960 Independence to me that year, it registered in my tentative psyche. This year, it blossoms in my marrow and soars in my soul. The future and the past will blend in contest and complement, and the renewal of our destiny shall be manifest in all things small and beautiful. In all things old and new. Yes, in all things far and near.
Thank you, Dad, for making me a NIGERIAN.
Love you
Dayo
Friday, January 12, 2007
I Am Upbeat
Dear Dad
As I survey the wide world this day, there is confidence in my strides and gait. I am happy and hopeful. I believe in the future, and in my place/role in it. I believe in the human race, and in our capacity to fulfill our nature-ordained role, including our God-given destinies as both individuals and nations. In all, I see challenges and tough measures ahead; but I see the rewards, the plain beauty of service and sacrifice...for all who persevere and prevail.
As the sage said, it's work and gain!
Pray, dad, I shall be part...a proud part...here and afar.
Love
Dayo
As I survey the wide world this day, there is confidence in my strides and gait. I am happy and hopeful. I believe in the future, and in my place/role in it. I believe in the human race, and in our capacity to fulfill our nature-ordained role, including our God-given destinies as both individuals and nations. In all, I see challenges and tough measures ahead; but I see the rewards, the plain beauty of service and sacrifice...for all who persevere and prevail.
As the sage said, it's work and gain!
Pray, dad, I shall be part...a proud part...here and afar.
Love
Dayo
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Some Quick Update
Mama dear,
I won't bore you with the loads of excuses and issues that have kept my mails to you as slow and intermittent as both our water and electricity public utilities. Nor would it be any more useful to let you know how our nation has been dispatching both distinguished and hapless souls to the great beyond, either in plane crashes, pipeline fires, pathetic roads or simple malaria: you see them up there - in droves!
If you think that things are rough or tough here, you will be stunned at how other unfortunate countries exist. In addition to bad leadership, they have to contend with frauds, strifes, diseases, famine, high oil prices and droughts. How some of those poorer countries cope is pure mystery!
Oh, the richer nations are not all glowing on beds of roses o! Floods, heat-waves, snow blizzards, wild fires, aging populations, diminishing traditional values, inelegant politics, home and foreign terror threats, resurgence of right-wing nationalists, trade wars with emerging economic powers like China, India and Brazil, and the politics of diplomatic arrogance & global intolerance. No, the rich isn't free at all. Indeed, as they say, the rich also cry!
So, I welcome you to 2007. Am I despondent? Haba mama, you know I'm a boundless optimist. How much store do I place on the new year? Oh, a store-load! Our moment of God's promise is here. By May 29, a new crop of leaders will emerge...I assure you. And I will keep you posted.
Posted, you may ask? Now, don't rub it in. I know I don't control the inefficient public ISP, but it was finally privatised late 2006. Who to, is a story for another day. Actually, the initial public offering of Transcorp, its new owners is currently on. Google has been running some of the adverts on my blogs! So, there is hope.
I apologise of course for my poor postings to you and dad in 2006. Please bear with me. It will be well in 2007.
Love you
Dayo
I won't bore you with the loads of excuses and issues that have kept my mails to you as slow and intermittent as both our water and electricity public utilities. Nor would it be any more useful to let you know how our nation has been dispatching both distinguished and hapless souls to the great beyond, either in plane crashes, pipeline fires, pathetic roads or simple malaria: you see them up there - in droves!
If you think that things are rough or tough here, you will be stunned at how other unfortunate countries exist. In addition to bad leadership, they have to contend with frauds, strifes, diseases, famine, high oil prices and droughts. How some of those poorer countries cope is pure mystery!
Oh, the richer nations are not all glowing on beds of roses o! Floods, heat-waves, snow blizzards, wild fires, aging populations, diminishing traditional values, inelegant politics, home and foreign terror threats, resurgence of right-wing nationalists, trade wars with emerging economic powers like China, India and Brazil, and the politics of diplomatic arrogance & global intolerance. No, the rich isn't free at all. Indeed, as they say, the rich also cry!
So, I welcome you to 2007. Am I despondent? Haba mama, you know I'm a boundless optimist. How much store do I place on the new year? Oh, a store-load! Our moment of God's promise is here. By May 29, a new crop of leaders will emerge...I assure you. And I will keep you posted.
Posted, you may ask? Now, don't rub it in. I know I don't control the inefficient public ISP, but it was finally privatised late 2006. Who to, is a story for another day. Actually, the initial public offering of Transcorp, its new owners is currently on. Google has been running some of the adverts on my blogs! So, there is hope.
I apologise of course for my poor postings to you and dad in 2006. Please bear with me. It will be well in 2007.
Love you
Dayo
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