Leadership By Bullets

On my way to church I noticed that the street to church was blocked off by the police and all the streets down the road as well and I had to turn back and park by the road side to get to church on foot. I asked why there were so many angry-trigger-happy-men-in-black blocking of 4 major streets in Lekki1 and I was told someone with a political office was in one of the houses. My informant noticed my perplexed expression and added that the politician was of the wrong party and on the wrong side of the opposition’s godfather. I laughed out loud before I could control myself and walked off smiling.

How is it possible that a politician who is not the president can block off 4 major streets in a famous neighbourhood and all we can do it stand around and watch to see if other “goons” were coming for a fight. I could see the expectation in the eyes of those standing around and it made me sad.

True leadership is service to the people anything else is terrorism.

You don’t need to bear a certain crest and blow people up to be a terrorist. The fact that those who put you in office now have to cower at your presence and suffer because you came into town is cruel and makes you undeserving of that position.

I was smiling because he was more afraid of his opponents than the man of the street. But the man on the street was his worst enemy. As someone has said, "when the poor have nothing left to eat they will eat the rich".

Leadership entails direction. If you are pointing us to decadence and disruptive behaviour you are an anarchist not a leader

I am one of the millions of Nigerians waiting for the new administration to work a miracle and praying for divine help for right decisions and protection. I didn't write about missing money, election drama, peoples opinion or fuel scarcity because I am holding out for “change” and it has to be a complete “transformation” if not we are only ‘mice on a wheel’.

God help us.



image curtsey nairaland.com

Nation Building by Mr Fantastic

If you are close to me, you'll know I have been a protegee of Fela Durotoye's (without his
knowing) for the last 8years. Guess what? I work for him now (whoop whoop...*dancing alingo*) and its been fantastic, no wonder they call him, "Mr Fantastic"

When you say nation building in Nigeria, few names come to mind and one of those names is Fela Durotoye. Popularly called FD, he has shown a passion for Nigeria that has proven to be genuine by his activities and involvements. Apart from the fact that he is a change agent, leadership, training and management consulting are his forte. This UNITED NATIONS YOUNG AMBASSADOR FOR PEACE has received so many awards for his consistency as an excellent exemplary figure and an inspiration to thousands of young people. Since 1992, Fela Durotoye has worked in various positions that ultimately prepared him for what he is currently doing now.

I Pledge

Happy independence to all Nigerians!

I am a proud Nigerian, anyone who knows me knows that and I get frustrated at the pessimists who go on and on about the issues we have. I love my country and I will keep the picture of a great country ever before me.

This morning I woke up with Nigeria on my mind and then my phone beeped and I got this rendition of the pledge from my friend and straight away I knew I had to share it with everyone.

                   

WALKING PHONES

GSM Mobile phone use came into Nigeria in 2001 with Econet. As usual, they started in Lagos as the commercial center of the country and those of us in other areas just heard about experiences of its users. We only saw it on television and heard about it on the radio. It had become one of the fantastic things that were to remain a fantasy to those of us without a lot of thousands to spend on its acquisition. Then in came MTN, then known as “your best connection”. Apart from the competition and its wider coverage, it was a little lower than Econet in cost. By 2003, a large number of Nigerians could afford mobile phones because of the flood of options from Nokia and Samsung especially. I could afford a phone too. My father bought my very first mobile phone, a Samsung R220 popularly called “blue face” and I joined the league of GSM users. However, I had to squeeze out N12,000 to get an MTN sim card.

My Condolences to Us All

A friend of mine asked me a few days ago what my take on the Dana plane crash and its resultant reactions from people was and I answered that I didn't have one. He was shocked because I'm opinionated and I often have something to say. At his expression, I said, "its a sad situation" and gingerly left the conversation. I have read posts and comments from blogs and twitter and Facebook and listened in on conversations and its sad that we don't seem to be improving in our appreciation of the situation of our country, Nigeria.
What we face from corruption, to irresponsibility and arrogance is BAD (read my post "My Nigeria"). And even though we are all educated to an extent about how our leaders decisions and inaction is depreciating to us all by ripple effect, we still blame it on others. Most of what I read was that the fault of the crash was from Indians, Indians??? How dumb are we? Can't we see that because we can not service our own industries we have to bring in expatriates and then turn around and blame them for their failures? which really is ours because we manage to go to their schools, learn to be 'world best' and then remain in their countries to work for them as we can't cope the 'backwardness' of our own. Yes we pay them the big bucks, but if we are patriotic in any sense we will double check on what they are doing and not leave our lives in their hands.

Trip to BENtv and OHtv

Finally, excursion to Media companies, Bright Entertainment Network (BENtv) and Open Heavens Television (OHtv) was executed. This is the first phase of my project for this semester and it went WELL! as soon as I sat in the coach to return to Birmingham I felt like screaming “It’s done”, I didn’t though.

It didn’t happen without its hurdles. First of all I got a text from one of the 10 people to take off from here saying she was ill and couldn’t make it. I replied that that was fine and she should recover soon as I wondered how I would be able to afford the group ticket now 1 person short. I gave everyone their tickets and we were off to London. I suddenly realised I could ask 1 of the 2 people who were to meet us in Tottenham hale to come to Euston instead to make up our number. Ultimately it was good for him because he lives 5minutes from Euston station in London. Have I mentioned the stress in booking tickets and arranging travel?

Phlegm

I hate phlegm!

It’s not only disgusting in itself but the sound it makes trying to find its way up the walls of the throat is completely nauseating. Firstly, I can’t seem to be able to get it out of my throat whenever it manages to get all wobbly in there. I’ve heard people clear their throats or cough in order to free themselves from the clingy-ness of it but all I can do is watch. I’ve tried to copy the actions or sounds made by people around me just to get it out of its lodgings but it just wouldn’t budge from my own throat. I’ve seen people throw their heads backwards and make the weirdest sounds ever and spit it out or just grunt and there it goes. I can practically hear it grudging dislodging itself part by part from the throat walls and roll into a ball that finally comes out through the mouth with the force created by the sound made by the individual (exasperating I know). I have tried it all; coughing, clearing my throat, bending over, leaning backwards, jumping, drinking water in large gulps, swallowing food to push it down, sticking my hand in my throat, wishing it away, and trying to forget its presence… all to no effect. Phlegm just won’t come out of my throat. Fortunately, I hardly have it stuck in there but when it does I’m restless and distracted. It’s like watching a dog try to remove a tick from the base of its back. You’ll hear whimpering and sheer agony.

Blood is Thicker Than Water

I became an independent citizen about 5 years ago and it’s been both fun and the opposite. But it’s been an eye opener. Yes, the world is mean and cruel and you have make a way for yourself while using what you’ve got to get what you want. But I learnt another lesson too; “blood is thicker than water” is relative.

I have been living in Abuja for the last 4 years and in that time I’ve experienced a paradigm shift. So much so that I see appreciate the phrase, “a friend sticks closer than a brother” more than “blood is thicker than water”. I now know that family knows the right thing to say to put a smile on your face temporarily while friends know what to do to put a smile there permanently. Some of the friends I’ve made have become my greatest friends ever and have defied the “childhood” friend rule

My Playlist 1

A month ago I was asked if I would be interested in representing my campus society on radio. I am the president of the Nigerian Students Society and among all the numerous things I was supposed to get involved in, this one sounded pretty interesting and I was intrigued because part of the deal was I learn how to produce and maybe I could decide to be a DJ sometime (smiles then chuckles). I replied that I would and that increased my activities by 15% even though I wasn’t on the radio yet. The producer wanted to know what I would be talking about, how “strong” my accent is, how interesting I could be and what kind of music would be played. To the last question, I answered, “Nigerian music of course” with my left eyebrow raised. Then I was asked to bring 20 tracks that did not contain, swearing, curse words and anything that may offend the diverse range of listeners but would represent talent and Nigeria as a country.

MY NIGERIA

I am a supporter of Occupy Nigeria. I do not necessarily support the NLC but I understood the concerns of Occupy Nigeria and those were my concerns as well. In the midst of all the cries that arose from the overwhelmed emotions of Nigerians was that of corruption. The removal of fuel subsidy is not bad in itself as many of my “learned” friends tried o tell me even though I already knew that, but its all about timing and clarity.