The beauty of the New Year

Few days to `the beginning of a New Year you find people rushing; Doing things which they had every opportunity to do during the year in running, but choose to ignore. Why is a new year so special? After all it is just another day. For me I think what makes the New Year special is the opportunity to start all over again. Irrespective of how bad you feel you have behaved in the presiding year. The New Year brings with it an opportunity to start all over again. So the key to a successful New Year then is the New Year resolution. Unfortunately I think most of us already offended the gods of New Year resolution. How do you explain abiding by your own brand new resolution for only 10 hours into the New Year, and then consoling yourself with the immortal words “After all I am only human” Well for me I think every year brings with it an opportunity for change. A change that guarantees a better tomorrow. It is my hope that for the New Year the foundations for true growth which I laid this year will finally bear fruit. Life is never easy, most especially when that critical foundation that will catapult you to the heights was not laid by your parents. But that should not be an excuse; God’s grace is available to all as such your own opportunities will be given to you. It is in your hands now to follow through. The resolutions of the New Year present an opportunity for you not just as a plan to guide your actions but also as a corrective measure when you stray. Take hold of it, and 2010 might just be that beautiful year that you pray never end.

The season called Christmas

I am not a Christmas person by nature. That is the whole ‘hula halo’ about Christmas has little or no effect on me. Infact I am almost neutral in my perception of it. But the irony here is that my favourite movies during festive periods like these are those where the heroin of the movie does not believe in the festivity and is then forced to go through a life changing experience which now makes him a believer. Movies like these tend to capture my imagination but still fail to make a believer out of me. Now it is not that I am anti Christmas; Infact the opposite holds true. As a Christian I feel the need to acknowledge those special occasions in my faith. My problem, I think, springs out from the fact that I just don’t feel Christmas. But it was not always like these, there were those times growing up, when I used to wait longingly, breathe abated, for Christmas day. All because I wanted to put on that Christmas clothe bought by my parents. Back in those days there was a burning desire to celebrate Christmas. These days all Christmas means is an opportunity to be absent from work. I miss those good days when we could not afford knockouts and had to prepare our local variation. I miss those days when we snuck up our neighbors windows so we could shoot our locally made knockouts. I miss those good old days when Christmas day signified going house to house to collect money and eat free food. Back in those days in Ondo state very few people had videos. So Christmas was the day no body drove you out when you came to watch film. Christmas was the day we all looked our best and got to eat chicken meat. Oh! How I miss those days. Christmas now holds no joy for me. I don’t travel home, don’t have to, my parents are right here in the city. If I go to the village on my own my people are bound to be surprised. Since I neither know anybody nor can I speak my language. I am a modern Nigerian, a true product of the system. The child of mixed parenthood, hence I bear allegiance to no state or region. My village is where I reside at any point in time. Unfortunately it leaves you lonely as there are very few of us. The only pastime left to do therefore is to get drunk, chase girls and party all night. The unfortunate part is that I don’t need Christmas to do these as I can do it any time of the week. Christmas is a special occasion where special things are done. But for me I can’t seem to find anything special to do. So I am not a Christmas person as it always tends to be my most boring day.

The evil that men do Part 3

On getting back to portharcourt the police claimed those in lagos were already investigating as such they can do nothing more. The irony is that the police in lagos were investigating in lagos a crime committed in portharcourt a town 3000km away from lagos, and have not bothered even once to come to portharcourt and view the crime scene. Do you smell a rat? It gets worse. On arrival in portharcourt the police handed over the phone number of the investigating officer in lagos. The workers called him to know when he would be coming to portharcourt. He told them he was waiting for the company lawyer to give him his transportation fare ( 300,000). He dropped the name and number of the lawyer whom the workers promptly called. The lawyer told them he was not the company's lawyer but the director's personal lawyer and he was waiting for the director to release money. For pete sake are we fools in this country? Where in the world is a man under investigation for embezzeling 60 million naira going to release money to aid in his investigation. It is a sad day when people ride on other people's intelligence simply because they know they can.

The Evil that men do Part 2

As I write this I am seating with anger at the extent lawlessness can be taken to in Nigeria.The fact that evil will always triump over good in these country and that the common man is indeed common and nothing more, with justice being the last thing he finds in a country where injustice has eating deep into the fabric of the nation. A country rot deep in corruption whose solution to evil is greater evil. A country where they claim religiousness but they are really pagan worshippers as they neither subscribe nor adder to the doctrine of there faith. Money being the new god they worship with zeal, passion and love. My friend whom I wrote about earlier with a group of friends finally gathered N100,000 to give to the DPO of police in order to effect the arrest of these evil men without concience. They undertook the journey from portharcourt to lagos. On getting to lagos they traced the manager of the financial house who along with the Director already flew portharcourt. On arresting the manager she claimed to have reported the case to police headquarters in lagos on confirmation of these she was promptly released as the police in lagos superseded the one in portharcourt.

The Evil that men do Part 1

Adam Smith when establising the theory of SELF INTREST wrote that "it is not from the benevolence of the bucher, the brewer or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but fom there regard to there own intrest. We address ourself not to there humanity but to there self love,and never talk to them of our own neccessities but of there advantages". The theory here emphasises that by people following there own self intrest,and by doing what seems best and profitable for themselves, people produce a spontaneous social order in the economy.
The problem with these theory is that Adam Smith probably never thought a country like Nigeria will ever exist, because self intrest is killing these country.
Three days ago a friend of mines blessing became a curse within a twinkle of an eye.How come? What happened? To answer the question one must go back in time, 4 months ago to be precise. Four months ago my friend was among the army of millions of unemployed graduates roaming the streets of Nigeria, seaching for the ever illusive job.Then God put a smile on her face,she got employed by a brand new financial house.God did not only use this new entrepreneur to help her, but also 54 other people. He gave them the honorary title of "marketers" of CONTINENTAL FINANCE HOUSE (No relation to intercontinental bank). He gave them the super large sum of N40,000 as there monthly take home.All that was expected of them to enjoy these benefits was to bring in deposits. The finance house will return the deposits after three months with a 3% intrest.Nigerian graduates being graduates starved off oppurtunities, were overzealous to show there abilities. They outperformed themselves, bringing in millions after millions, raiding every family connections to maximise there turnover. Alas! God's blessing was really the Devil's curse. The owner was bidding his time, waiting for the cash to get larger. His stategy was simple.Remove some for enjoyment,use Peter's money to pay Paul when Paul's money matures,while waiting patiently for the big pay day.The big pay day was 3 days ago when it was discovered that there account was now reading Zero naira. Over 59 million naira was missing. My friend was among the lurky once, she collected a little over 2 million naira and distributed to her clients a week ago. Her loss was only about 700 thousand naira. But the unfortunate part is that even though her loss is small compared to others, the owners are hell bent on getting there back money.
Now my grouse is with the authorities; these poor, newly jobless, unemployed debtors pooled there funds together and got a lawyer. They went with the lawyer to report the case to the police. After the DPO finished listening,the only suggestion that came out of his mouth was that he should be settled with 200 thouisand naira to enable him pursue the case. What kind of country is this? Where selfish self intrest has ruined. Instead of taking pity on these workers who were being hoarded and threatened with all kind of evil machinations. These son of the devil, whose duty it is to enforce the law sees it as an oppurtunity to further exploit and impoverish these people.But should I be surprised? Honestly should I? Just these week Fani Kayode was rewarded with a 2 year jail sentence for stealing 84 billion naira. Yet we have armed robbers sitting in jail, being held without bail or trial for upward of 20 years and yet not one of them has stolen one billion naira let alone 84 billion naira. It is high time Nigerian's ask themselves wether we intend practicing the law or lawlessness.

Nigeria at 49

As I write this I am listening to fact file on Radio, one feeling that gets across from listening to the contributors to the program is that Nigerians are a bunch of negative thinkers. I mean is it so hard to see just one good thing happening in the country. Yes we know that from primary to tertiary institutions are on strike, yes we know inflation and kidnaping is increasing, yes we know the government is inepth and corrupt. We already know these things, what we need is hope for tomorrow not the apportioning of blame.

Bye bye July

This july has been one of my most eventfull period in recent memory. It was the month I celebrated my birthday, the period I started work in an Event management firm. Amazingly it was the period I finally committed my life to christ and reduced all those bad things I use to do by 90%. It was also the month I finally narrowed down all those girls to one, unfortunately it doesn't feel like a good idea. July is also the month I surfered my most embarrassing moment. I was sick and in public transport trying to get to a clinic fast, you can imagine the embarrassment when I started vomiting not just on myself but also on the passenger sitting beside me. So bye bye July hope to see you next year again.

UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA PT2

that serve as performance indices. The question is wether these cash could have been better spent to create more value, as we economist say "the opportunity cost of the venture". Does the Nigerian economy posses the potential for new job creation? Undoubtedly yes. The nigerian economy today function far below maximum output, as such unemployed resources exist within the country. The Nigeria of today has about one medical doctor to five thousand people. Imagine if every local government were to build at lest two primary health center in there locality instead of employing there political cronies into the local government. Even though they have absolutely nothing to do in there. These alone can creat over ten thousand direct employment and at lest fifty thousand indirect employment. Another option would be to put our national reserve in our commercial banks, these will push down the cost of borrowing and just maybe intrest rate can go into single digit. The government can also engage in direct investment, that is build industries and put them on the stock exchange after three to four yes. My believe is that these measures if applied will go a long way in solving the problem.

UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA PT 1

How do you define failure? Is it a failure to achieve? An inability to do your best? Or just plain inactivity? The biggest macro economic problem facing Nigeria today is that of massive unemployment. To me the problem is more political than economical. It appears to be more of a failure of political will than an economic one. I know many will disagree with me as the Nigerian problem is seen by many as that of corruption. I do agree corruption has its part to play, but then I see corruption as the failure in the application of the law and can not necessarily be blamed a hundred percent for the present state of unemployment we find ourself. The fact is that even with corruption projects are still being executed by the government. My argument is the relevance of most of these projects in solving the problem of unemployment. In the Northern part of Nigeria today a performing governor is one who shares motorcycles and cars for transportation purposes to the citizenry at little or no intrest rate. I am not disputting the relevance or irrelevance of such ventures, my argument is that the best it can do is provide underemployment and increase the crime rate in the case of cycles. In the west and south it is road network and the beautification of the enviroment

ADIEU NNE

Yesterday night my neighbor's 8 year old daughter died of leukaemia. What grief; what sorrow; what pain the girl had to undergo. The parents are not rich but they spent everything they had in the hope of her recovery. Her siblings all stopped going to school so that all available cash could be directed towards her recovery. Alas it was not to be. What did they not try spiritual, traditional, medical, in the end all came to nothing. In my own way I prayed and prayed for God's intervention but nothing came out of it. And the girl herself, oh! what a girl. I have never seen anybody who loves life like her. Always playing, always joyous ever ready to assist. Not in a million years could you have found a better child. I ask myself whose fault is her death, the doctors or God. But the truth must be told I live in a part of the world where any desease other than malaria or typhod is a death sentence.

THE CHURCH, THE HOSPITAL, WHICH IS THE HOME OF THE SICK

Last night at about 2am I saw someone drive at breakneck speed into the church beside my house. He was carrying a fainted woman. A week ago I witness the same thing. In conversations anytime a sick person is mentioned they are adviced to go to the church. The real question is which is the home of the sick the church or the hospital? Why do Nigerians think of the church first before the hospital? Is it poverty induced? Is it a lack of faith in our hospitals? Or maybe it is a sign of faith that you believe in the existence of an omnipotent loving God. The reality on the other hand might just be plain illiteracy. Whatever the reason the fact is that Nigerians attach a spiritual angle to every illness. The World Health Organisation claims that over a million die yearly in Africa from malaria as a result of lack of access to drugs. But it is high time they checked how many of the deaths had access to drugs but choosed to attribute the illness to the supernatural. The answer they get might surprise them.

succesful life

To laugh often and much;To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children,to earn the appreciation of honest critics and the betrayal of false friends;To appreciate beauty and to find the best in others.To leave the world a bit better;wheather by a healthy child,a garden patch,or a redemed social condition;to know even one life has breathed easier because you live; This is to have succeeded. -Ralp Waldo Emerson

The Relationship Kingdom

Relationships are like Rome, difficult to start out, incredible during the prosperity of the golden age, and unbearable during the fall. Then a new kingdom will come along and the whole process will repeat itself until you come across a kingdom like Egypt that thrives and continues to flourish. This kingdom will become your best friend, your soulmate, and your love.- Helen Kelly

Understanding Relationships

There comes a point in every man's life when he gets tired of jumping into a new relationship. A point where he realises that the only joy in a new relationship is its novelty. A new relationship is special simply because you have not seen the bad behaviour / habits of these new person. You then idolise these new person hoping they will be different, but the truth is that they are only human like you trying to overcome there own fault and inadequacies, sonner or later you will realise this and then the circle will start all over again. The truth is that in any relationship you will see what you set out to find. If you search for imperfections in your partner you will find them because those imperfections really do exist. But what good are they to you if all it does is make you unhappy. In every ones life there is that special person that it all boils down to. The key to knowing these person is very simple. Who out of the girls don't you get tired of, whom do you break up with and still struggle to get back to.Who cares for you the most and you take her love for granted believing she will always be there. Who is it you don't think of much but you miss the most when you are on that long trip. When you answer this question you have your answer.

The Game of Love

When a man fights desperately
Just to hold on to what he wants
When a man fights desperately
Just to catch a glimpse of an ambission

Living a hell
Loving a greater hades
Pain a constnt reminder
I just lost in love

What did I do wrong
I treated her well
Went financially broke for her
Loved her with all my heart
Yet deep pain my reward

How do you know you just lost
How do you know you should leave
Is it when your heart tells you to
Or is it when you feel you should go

I dont want to leave her
Even though pain is my only reward
I dont want to go
Even though I lack joy

When will I get wise
And follow my heart
that tells me repeatedly
These girl is playing your intelligence

Am I a fool?
I know I am not
Am i weak
I know am strong

Then why cant I follow my own decision
Set myself free
From this shackles of chain
And once more feel joy

Making Changes

The fear of the unknown can indeed be great if one's life is not moving as one hopes for. Infact one can be so afraid to make the necessary changes that would move one forward, simply because he is afraid he will not recognise the new person. You will be surprise to hear that making changes is not the answer. Indeed, the answer is to stop. Stop those old habits and wait, and the much desired change will come naturally because they are your real nature.

THE PRICE OF PETROL AND CRUDE OIL

When the Obasanjo government proposed and forcefully implemented the deregulation of the petroleum sector against mass public opposition, it was based on the argument that demand and supply should be allowed to fix prices. Nigerians have been forced to bear successive increment in petroleum prices under the gaise of removing an unending ever increasing subsidy. All the increment coming despite the fact that income remained relatively stable in the country, while the government constantly eroded the consumer surplus, telling the masses these was for there good. I wonder who was benefiting, we the citizens facing a dying state of infrastructure, job insecurity,unemployment and rising rate of crime? Or they the elites who are getting fatter and richer.Finally God intervened in our case by dropping the price of crude oil; Yes by making Nigeria poorer and the masses richer through expected fall in prices due to deregulation. Alas the opposite has been the case,with prices unchanged and even rising in Portharcourt.

THE FAMILY

In life many of us strive for perfection and it is indeed shocking to see those we believe have achieved perfection prove us wrong. It is painfull enough to realise these individuals are human but even worse to see they are less than you the inperfect. Right from my birth I have always believed the base for perfection is the family, I have always believed that in the family one could find contentment, peace and true joy. I am a researcher and in all my time I am yet to see a person who is happy outside the base of the family, Even those that claim to have achieved satisfaction outside the base of the family have been known to prove themselves wrong by chasing after the very thing they claim not to want. It therefore surprises me to see a man willing to throw everything away just for a fling. It has always been my believe that there is no problem without a solution, all that is required is one person willing to understand and accept the inadequacy of the other, alas miracles will rain.

CHANGE

People never change they remain the same, they may bury there life over so many reasons, they may hold on to things they perceive as important, but they still will not change. Change may be constant but man is changeless. Love is the greatest beauty of life but until one realises that love is not feelings but the totality of man, one assumes that love can change. You can change a car, you can change your clothe, but you can not change love. A man can only love once in his lifetime never twice.

The Definition of love

Love is when it is alright to be a child once more, Love is when you are not ashamed to cry, to do silly things, to shout 'I love you'and to make love forgetting the demands of life. Love is when you look into someone's eye and know you are wanted. Love is when you know you are appreciate and wanted even though you are a looser. Love is when somebody believe's in you even though you do not have a reason to believe in yourself. Love is when everybody on the street looks like her, Love is when the way she looks become's your standard for true beauty. Love is when you only have one thought-her. Love is when you will run a thousand kilometer and not get tired, swim a million kilometer and get to the other side refreshed all because you want to be with her. Love is being appreciated, being understood. It is that gem you hope and pray for, some find it and can't recognise it, others recognise it but can't find it.

RELATIONSHIPS

Am I a failure when it comes to having relationships with the opposite sex? Why can't I seem to have a relationship that I can describe as growing from leaps to bounds? I know what my soul wants; I know what my body wants,it is the same thing it has been searching for from the beginning of time- the need to give and receive love. I often ask myself, why am I such a failure? Is it because of the kind of girls I ask out? Come to think of it I have always preferred the nice looking ones with an aura of innocence. The once who are reluctant to have a relationship, let alone a serious one, which is what I want. As I write now I look up and heave a sign and ask, why do nice guys have to have it rough? Is it because the girls are bent on proving to the nice guys that all girls are bad? Is it because the nice guys fail to understand that not the frail and innocent looking girls are the good once? or maybe it is because the guy just fails to understand that he is simply not lucky.

ESSAYS ON LIFE

The brain is an organ that should not be used for reckless activities like day dreaming or fantasy, rather the brain should be conserved, kept free or clear always. The reason for this is that when the brain is clear it avoids the build up of heat or the assimilation of other people's ideas or venturing into other people's consciousness. Hence maximum clarity in thought and decision making is ensured and better still a peaceful existence is guaranteed.