A different prespective to Life

Recent developments in Nigeria have once again drawn attention to the Yoruba as a people who, despite their internal differences, are often perceived by other Nigerians as a relatively united political and economic bloc. Many people believe the Yoruba speak with one voice. However, when we look more closely at the numbers, a different picture emerges. We have many voices. Politically, election results frequently reveal divisions that are almost 50–50. Religiously, Christianity and Islam coexist in virtually every Yoruba community, village and, in many cases, within the same family. We also have traditionalists who continue to practise and preserve indigenous Yoruba beliefs. Our political differences are not new. Shortly before independence, and particularly in 1962, the Action Group split sharply between factions loyal to Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola. That division became one of the defining political crises of the First Republic. Yet, something appears to bin...

  The Yoruba differ from many other ethnic groups in southern Nigeria because respect for elders and people in positions of authority is deeply embedded in everyday culture. While outsiders may sometimes see this as excessive, pretentious, or even cowardly, in Yorubaland disrespecting an elder or other people reflects not only on the individual but also on their parents, family, community, friends, and peers. It can suggest that the person was not properly brought up. Yoruba take character, moral conduct, and existence, and being called ìwà, very seriously.  I have seen this repeatedly in the UK. I have visited numerous homes of Yoruba friends and families, and parents often ensure their children, even when born and raised in Britain, greet an older Yoruba visitor properly. For a girl, this means kneeling; for a boy, prostrating. I have never asked or demanded that anyone do this. Many Yoruba parents regard it as an essential cultural courtesy. The thinking is that if a child ...

Every year, those of us who graduated from our medical school in a particular year set meet in different parts of the world for reunions, and occasionally we have an international reunion. This year's meeting was in Toronto, Canada, and I was asked to give a virtual presentation. I have given presentations at previous reunions and usually try to make them light, enjoyable and memorable. I intended to do the same this year, especially since I spoke about AI and its dangers at a previous meeting. However, as I prepared this presentation, something had changed. The people developing AI, including senior executives and researchers in the technology industry, were increasingly issuing warnings. Various whistleblowers, almost as if on cue, raised concerns about AI's dangers and called for strict, enforceable regulations and safeguards. Many of us might dismiss this as the usual scaremongering that accompanies technological advances. But this time, one cannot help wondering whether th...

  Mike Judge wrote, produced, and directed Idiocracy , a 2006 science-fiction comedy that was meant to be an absurd satire of what America might look like 500 years in the future. The premise is deliberately outrageous. Natural selection, combined with changing reproductive patterns, supposedly causes intelligence to decline. Humans no longer have significant natural predators, while the more intelligent and highly educated increasingly have fewer children. Meanwhile, the less intelligent reproduce in enormous numbers. The film begins with  Joe Bauers,  played by Luke Wilson, an American soldier described as "remarkably average" in virtually every category; he works as a librarian in the USA Army. He is unmarried, has no children, is an only child, and both his parents are dead. As a result, he is considered an ideal candidate for the Human Hibernation Experiment. The Army cannot find a suitable female participant, so it turns to the private sector and recruits Rita,...

Some stories become family legends—not because they are true in every detail, but because they are too good not to be retold. Growing up in Bacita, near the River Niger, I saw my father travel constantly between our home and Lagos. As Chief Accountant and Company Secretary, he seemed to spend as much time on the road as he did in the office. Acquisitions, shareholder meetings, board meetings—you name it, he was there. In those days, despite the occasional danger, people routinely drove through the night. The journey took five or six hours, depending on the roads and how many relatives, friends, or roadside food stalls tempted him to stop. If I happened to be at secondary school in Offa, he might decide on a whim to branch off and see me. He never travelled alone. One of his favourite drivers was a cheerful fellow called Abiodun. Spend that many hours together on Nigeria's roads, and your driver soon becomes more than an employee. They became family—our unofficial uncles and older b...

One of the books I have read more times than I probably should have is 1984 by George Orwell. Orwell was deeply concerned about the dangers of authoritarian government, and that concern runs through much of his writings. An earlier novel, Animal Farm, explores the same theme through political allegory. The animals overthrow their owner, Mr Jones, and establish a society based on equality. Their vision is that every animal should be treated with dignity and that none should be exploited for labour or slaughter. At first, the new society is full of hope. However, the animals lack the knowledge and experience needed to manage the farm effectively. Over time, the pigs assume leadership, claiming they are best suited to make decisions. Through propaganda, slogans, and the gradual rewriting of history, they consolidate power while convincing the other animals that every sacrifice is for the common good. By the novel's conclusion, the revolution has come full circle. The pigs have become ...