A different prespective to Life

A lot of people who watched this program displayed anger, towards the fact that the BBC zeroed upon what seemed to be the worst of Nigeria. They saw the film as being “offensive, degrading, dehumanizing, patronizing and insulting”. A lot of people were seriously angry that, why show a garbage heap and the slums, when the federal government has spent a huge amount on rebranding and Lagos state government has been spending billions of Naira on improving the very infrastructure that the film has been pointing out . Some people would say that the film brands Nigeria something it is not, but others would say that it brings out the best in Nigerians. However, I am personally surprised that in the program that it is said that slums constitute about 3/4ths of Lagos. Although I have visited, slept in Lagos often, I did not know that. However, it might seem to depend to a large extend on the film producer’s definition of what a slum is. Another thing that makes a lot of people...

Colonel Gaddafi When I was younger, I loved the thought of a focused individual who had his country's interest at heart. I also liked Che Guevara, a revolutionary who I saw as someone who wanted to get rid of the inequalities in his country. "Col" Gaddafi was in that line in the 1960s and 1970s. It seemed all he wanted to do, was get rid of corruption, bureaucracy, laxity in the system, etc. I admired Colonel Gaddafi for his Revolution ideology (his brand of socialism called "popular democracy") and the way he stood against the USA, UK (anti-imperialism policy), etc. When I was younger, I liked the cool shades and the beret or cap he used to sport when facing the press.  I just like the idea of him being radical for the good of his country. Like Julius Nyerere, who tried African Socialism (Ujamaa) and ran Tanzania, I later learned that only loans and grants from the World Bank and the IMF in 1975 prevented Tanzania from going bankrupt. But now I am older, I ...

An email had been in circulation for some time now. I have received it twice now. The first time I did not pay notice to it, but now in light of recent events, I began to see it differently. It goes like this “no matter the position you are offered in ANY organisation if your deputy is named "Goodluck", please decline... in case you think I am joking: Goodluck (Acting President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan) was an assistant head boy in primary school. The head boy got expelled, he took over. Goodluck was an assistant senior prefect in secondary school. The senior prefect died, Goodluck took over. Goodluck was deputy local govt chairman, the chairman got implicated in corruption and got removed from office, Goodluck took over. Goodluck was deputy governor to Alameiseigha. We all know that story. Goodluck was vice to Yar Adua (President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua). You may say it a coincidence, an, you know. A colleague of mine just called off his church wedding. Why? His best man...

I had enjoyed Christmas Day and was preparing for the Boxing Day Sales. I always had the sneaky suspicion that most of the shops had been artificially inflating their prices to yield a maximum profit and now their wares were back to their ‘real prices’. I had tried to restrict my spending as much as possible in the run up to Christmas. Now, I would spend, spend and spend i.e. the £60 that I had managed to save. Then, I heard a piece of news that shocked me, on the BBC morning news on Boxing Day. It hit me with the full strength of a Tsunami, after hearing the news it came out as “ NIGERIAN AL-QUEDA AGENT CAUGHT TRYING TO BOMB THE US ON CHRISTMAS DAY ". What had happened is that a certain Mr Abdul Mudallad (aka. Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab), 23, a Nigerian national who is an engineering student at the student at University College London, ‘allegedly’ tried to blow up a Delta flight on route from Amsterdam to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, USA on Christma...