A Word is enough for the Unwise.

Those who have come across my blog, can confirm my love of quotes. I revel and swim in the delightful waters of a great quote. Something that has occured to a great mind and they have in turn, been generous to share it. As I view the world around me and cast a critical eye on events in some of the world's most challeneged regions, namely Africa and Nigeria in particular, I did some research and came up with these pearls aimed solely at those who navigate our political vehicle:

It's impossible to be loyal to your family, your friends, your country, and your principles, all at the same time. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960


If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless, since their chief purpose is to make us bear with patience the injustice of our fellows. ~Jean Baptiste Molière, Le Misanthrope


If honor be your clothing, the suit will last a lifetime; but if clothing be your honor, it will soon be worn threadbare. ~William Arnot


Conscience warns us before it reproaches us. ~Comtesse Diane (Marie Josephine de Suin de Beausacq), Maximes de la vie, 1908


If a man is not rising upwards to be an angel, depend upon it, he is sinking downwards to be a devil. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge


Every wrong seems possible today, and is accepted. I don't accept it. ~Pablo Casals


Are you not ashamed of heaping up the greatest amount of money and honour and reputation, and caring so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul? ~Socrates


Every human being has... an attendant spirit.... If it does not always tell us what to do, it always cautions us what not to do. ~Lydia M. Child


To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves. ~Will Durant


Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. ~William Faulkner


There is no man so good that if he placed all his actions and thought under the scrutiny of the laws, he would not deserve hanging ten times in his life. ~Michel de Montaigne, Essays, 1595


Nuff said.....

Hope Don't Live Here Anymore

I have just come off the phone, after having what I can only describe as a sad, sad conversation with a long-lost friend of mine. She is embedded (how else can you describe it?) in the Ekiti State election 'war' that is currently soiling the name and political fabric of Nigeria.

She came across as crestfallen, soul-crushed and utterly befuddled, with the ongoing crisis and searched unsuccessfully for answers to age-old questions. I guess what really affected her, was the complete lack of humanity that seemed to have overtaken events around her and the loss of lives, resources and promise that cruelly accompanied.

"Do you know that I am watching a protest of half-naked women at the moment," she asked with each syllable drenched in pain.

Being of Yoruba descent, I instantly understood the symbolism therein and sighed in desperation. It seemed our governments were not prepared to do the right thing until it was literally shamed into doing so.

How an election which was so clearly seen as a potential theatre of violence, could be allowed to degenerate into that exact thing, is simply beyond belief! The only option one seems left with, is to assume those who are charged with keeping the peace, must be the same ones at the centre of the ongoing chaos. Truly unbelievable!

As I attempted to regurgitate century-old excuses for our decadent situation, I realised that our longing to be loyal disciples of Barack Obama's message of Hope, had all gone wrong. Nigerians peddle, posture and hope for Hope. We are just not prepared to do anything to facilitate it!

We live all our lives in Hope and make decisions based on Hope, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

We know we have never had the luxury of ethical governance or transparent leadership, but we hope that ONE DAY, it will all come to pass......well, guess what happens when there is no action behind the hope?

It is called Hopelessness!

A Serious Case Of Myopia!

Wow.....so we still have Nigerian public officials with a human face? 

We still possess people whom when given a hefty responsibility, actually understand what that weight signifies and are prepared in the face of corruption and ugly threats, to pursue the truth and damn the consequences? 

Sorry that I keep going on, but I just believed such individuals were virtually non-existent in our troubled polity. Sure, I know a lot of people who swear to having a bank of ethics, from which they will unfailingly withdraw once faced with any degree of responsibility, but it is also my experience that once given such office, their bank seems to go bankrupt faster than Northern Rock.

So, Mrs Ayoka Olusola Adebayo, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Ekiti State, truly resigned her post, due to what she saw as an almighty debacle of an election? 

Can I say wow again? Of course, in true Nigerian style, a few hours after her resignation, the Independent (please pull the other one!) National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Maurice Iwu , the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro and the Minister of Information, Dora Akinyuli, or shall I say the three musketeers, addressed a press conference in Abuja at which they declared the honourable woman, wanted. They even went further and questioned her ability to cope under the pressure.

Don't you just love Nigeria?

In the face of a watershed moment that has inspired Nigerians and non-Nigerians in their millions, our government's response is to threaten persecution and employ derision. It would be funny if it wasn't true, but unfortunately, it is really happening and I guess it makes sense when you consider that this is the same government, that recently came up with the decision to withdraw police orderlies from judges.

The juggernaut tragicomedy that is Nigeria, moves on precariously with no regard for decency and upholding the rule of law. Surely, we cannot continue down this path without the juggernaut seriously damaging the lives of millions of decent Nigerians (yes, the majority are decent!) and impairing the set of values we all stand for.

My earnest hope, is that those in power reflect on how they are perceived and admit the pain being unleashed on the country's people.

To paraphrase one of my favourite Nigerian artistes; 

Abi, you need glasses?

The Rocky selfish road to Greatness.

I am a Natural Born Cynic! I view most things with suspicion and I am aware that it keeps my world a lot more shruken than it should be. For instance, on the one hand, I realise that in order for Nigeria to grow and become a force to be reckoned with, she needs to open up her economy for foreign investment and instill a feeling of stability on ground to attract the right interest.

Unfortunately, on the other hand, I cannot see how we can open up our markets without becoming satellites for countries like the United States, China and Russia. History will show that the countries most successful with rampant economic growth (Singapore and Malaysia, to name just two)in the last three decades or so, are those that have a strong sense of self and an even stronger cultural base, cast iron enough to withold the inevitable 'watering down' exercise which always accompanies 'progress'.

The Chinese thrived largely because of the territorial nature of their language and their ability to keep to their kind, hence the ridiculous practice of bringing everything, including their drinking water, whenever they get into 'economic partnerships' with the likes of Nigeria, Sudan and Niger. This is in direct contrast to Nigerians, who have a more embracing spirit and would interact, sometimes to the detriment of their values.

Maybe, it's time to do less embracing and understanding......maybe it's time to start being proud of who we are and what our nation represents - A force that should be reckoned with!

When Age is not just a Number...

Sitting at home on my favourite sofa, with my laptop lazing away due to a very long period of inaction, it began to occur to me that life is nothing but a culmination of the seconds, minutes and hours we live, and how those units are spent determines whether we are regarded as a success or failure. I have spent the last 30 minutes jogging thoughts in my head, but essentially I have produced nothing and as the world goes on by and the TV drones on in the background, I realise I am 42 years old and seriously wondering; how many more of these wasted units that I can afford?

This type of self-examination happens from time to time, but today's has occured due to a political discussion from the night before, in which I was asked by an acquaintance; 'You seem to be impatient with progress in Nigeria, but if we are being clinical, the country is only 7 years older than you. Can you honestly say that year for year, you have achieved as much as she has?'

It was an unexpected poser and the sheer weight of the surprise, seems to have galvanised me into writing today's blog entry and it has got me wondering whether commentators are ever fair when lampooning a government, especially when that country is relatively young? Let's consider the USA and Nigeria; one got its independence in 1776 and the other in 1960, so, is it balanced to draw comparisons between both in terms of progress, advancement or governance? Do we expect too much from young countries or is Age, truly just a number? Actually, let us take this to the next level and ask; is the United States 5 times more advanced than Nigeria? I guess I know the answer to that.....

But looking through history, one can still find evidence in history books of a time in Britain (despite it's maturity as nation), when the King thought nothing of spending the wealth of the nation, just as if it was part of his private coffers! America's long history of independence, does not exclude it from dark episodes, like the Mccarthy years, during which people were persecuted just because they had different beliefs. Also, I doubt anyone watching the desperate scenes during Hurricane Katrina, could swear they never, not even for a second, thought of the so-called Third World!

Please do not mistake moi for an apologist of mismanagement and poor governance, all I ask is that from time to time, to be measured in our observations. After all, irrespective of what most might think, an attack on our country is really an attack on ourselves!

Happy sniping....

The Unsettling Truth.

For those of us whose soujourn in the diaspora has been long and eventful, it is often commonplace for relatives and friends who remained in Africa, to ask the inevitable question; 'what has he achieved since he has been there?' It is a natural question and one that emanates from being part of a culture that earmarks an indivdual against a brutal 'success chart' that has items like 'built a house, has money in the bank, member of a renowed social club and connected to political power,' as de rigueur.

Often, these items keeps the average diaspora guy in a non-stop whirlwind of clocking inhuman hours at the workplace and in some cases a hellbent desire to be wealthy, by any means neccesary. In the ensuing chaos, those who have not managed to secure their immigration status, spend copious amount of money and time to attain the holy grail of settlement and in the process, watch from afar as those with citizenship or settlement status, 'fritter away' their oppoprtunities! Of course, this is how it appears when you are the one seeking to be regularised, although it is clear that slackers exist on both sides of the immigration fence.

Inevitably, the unregularised like the everyone else begin to raise families and in essence children, who then become a viable vehicle to reach the promised land. This then puts in motion an urgent need, to sort things out before the reverse occurs. Now, hold that thought and view below the horrible plight of a Filipino couple, who illegally entered Japan in the 90's and settled (not officially)enough to have a daughter and begin to earn a decent living. The problem though, was that the Japanese Immigration Service was still investigating their viability for entry and invariably decided they did not qualify to settle, setting a deportation date in the process. With all legal avenues expired, the couple were faced with an unbelievable choice; take the whole family back to the Phillipines or exit Japan and leave their daughter behind. View link to understand the anguish involved:

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So, having seen the above, can you ever doubt the scenario occuring in likes of UK and the US? And if it does, how many of your friends, relatives and neighbours do you think will be affected? Answers on a post card please.....

Every Little Helps....

As someone who has often been accused of never saying anything positive about Nigeria, I decided sometime last week, to go in search of all things good that are also Nigerian. Furthermore, I decided to publicise those things as far as my blog would take them.

So, there I was at my favourite bookstore (my main source of information), browsing through every thing that caught my fancy, when all of a sudden I came across a very interesting book. 

'A Brief History of the Future' by Jacques Attali, is basically predictions for the next 50 years. So, you can imagine my delighted surprise when it has some good news about Naija! 




I will do my best to summarise the relevant core of the provocative and courageous book:

Fall of the US empire

Apparently, this would take place before the end of the ninth form of capitalism, estimated to take place around 2035. It would be followed by a polycentric world, with nine dominating nations on all continents: the USA, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Russia, the European Union, Egypt and Nigeria. Some of them, notably China, India and Nigeria, as well as other countries artificially created after colonisation, could undertake an explosion process similar to that of USSR in 1991, with as many as 100 new countries emerging. Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Australia, Canada and South Africa would also play important roles as major regional powers.
A process of "nomadisation" would stem from technological factors, like the Internet; from demographic factors, like aging of developed populations which would entail massive immigration from Southern countries to pay retirements; and from development of megapoles. Increase of world population would entail a doubling of global farming production.

HyperEmpire

The "nomadisation" process would make nation-States irrelevant, transforming the world into a chaotic market called "hyperempire". The entire planet would work according to an ultra-liberal economy and a form of democracy with "revisited" standards.

The ruling class, called "hypernomads", would ground its power on a middle class of 4 billion "virtual nomads" comprising technicians, scientists, managers, engineers, etc. The "virtual nomads" would live a sedentary life, but work in networks for companies without a central location. 3.5 billion "infranomads" would subsist in misery.

"Infranomads" are expected to revolt violently against their condition, stemming a resurgence of national entities and cristalising conflicts around traditional borders of ethnicities, religions, etc. Technologicial improvements in weaponry would put Humanity at risk of destroying intself in this conflict.

HyperDemocracy

Opportunities of more constructive developments are detailed under the term "Hyperdemocracy", based on solidarity networks, participative democracy, "responsible companies", NGOs, micro-credits and collective intelligence.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Attali's words filled me with dread; "Now pointed at Japan, North Korea's missiles will one day target the United States and China. The missiles of Pakistan fallen into the hands of fundamentalists will threaten first India, then Europe. Those of Hezbollah — in other words, Iran — that now target Israel will one day be pointed at Cairo, Riyadh, Algiers, Tunis, Casablanca, Istanbul, then at Rome, Madrid, London and Paris. Should the battle lines harden and the country be threatened with annihilation, China's missiles could one day target Japan and the United States."

Okay, maybe the Nigerian bits were clearly minuscule and not as cheery as I previously suggested, but hey, bite me! Any mention of Nigeria in a future world order, has to be comforting. There are times when things have gotten so bad, most of us have thought the country will not last the night. So every little bit of news helps.

As for Attali's book, to read more, you will need to get a copy at all good bookstores.