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Saturday, August 23, 2008

Possible solution to Nigeria's problem

It is quite possible that the solution to Nigeria's problem lies in her break up! Oooops! Some people are gonna call me all sort of names now! It does not matter, but let's look at this issue objectively.

What has Nigeria achieved by remaining as one? Well let us enumerate our achievements:

1. Corruption. Well there is corruption everywhere, but Nigeria has achieved so much in this field that we have been named as one of the MOST corrupt nations on earth. A great achievement certainly, since this has made Nigeria and her citizens well known all over the world. With this achievement, even Nigerian leaders are subjected to all sorts of humiliation these days at major airports, just in case they are carrying loads of money to launder abroad.

2. Crime. Well, of course, where there is so much corruption (which is in itself a crime), it only follows that there would be so much crime on the land. This can be regarded as one of Nigeria's monumental achievement, since nobody is safe from criminals anymore. Even government officials are being targeted these days. Just the other day, there were reports that dare-devil armed robbers broke their way into the residence of the Honourable Governor of Delta State. Wicked! There were also reports, which I have been unable to confirm, that the President's mother or mother-in-law was robbed or attacked, I don't know if that is true, but it is an indication of the future lawless which faces Nigeria and her citizens. There is no security in the land anymore. The boys in the Niger-Delta are not even helping matters. I mean, they were supposed to be fighting for the liberation of the land, but the 'liberation struggle' has been turned into a travesty. Now all we hear about are kidnappings and the payment of ransoms. How ridiculous, how stupid! These criminals aim to take over the land and drive away the government. May God help us then.

3. Black-outs. As an achievement, this is certainly worth mentioning. Those who can afford it, spend at least 2,000 naira everyday on diesel or petrol for their generators. We are so good together as a nation, that we are content or rather our leaders are content to leave the nation in constant darkness. I just can't understand this but it is something to be proud of, a great achievement. With this our children can continue to study with kerosene lanterns or candles. Even if they come out of it with bad sight, who cares?

4. Decline in Education. This is one which I like a lot. Education is so bad in Nigeria that employers quake to employ graduates. A spokesperson for MAN once said that the graduates produced these days do not even know what they are talking about. I believe him. As a result of the decline, our graduates who go to the western nations are made to go through a re-education as Nigerian certificates are not much recognised anywhere. This is a great achievement of our togetherness and it is very commendable. A UN report recently stated that at least 10 million Nigerian children are not going to school. THey have started on the part of idleness. I wish they would remain like that, but that is wishful thinking o! These 10 million represent a potential 10 million armed robbers, 419 and the likes. I wonder what will be happening in 5 to 10 years because of these 10 million. Anyway, let's move on. There is still much to yap about.

5. Brain drain. Well, everybody knows this one. As a direct consequence of the decline in education, everybody who can afford it, sends their kids abroad to get a better education. I hear they even send their children to Ghana. Hahaha! Ghana! Na wa o! Jokes apart, this is pretty cool. Our children get to get a good education abroad and then remain there and contribute valiantly to the foreign economies while our own economy suffers back home. This is good because, the few people in government can then afford to continue on the 'rankandede' or 'bros' tip. You know, 'bros, find me small thing now, things hard o!', and the 'bros' will 'demo' a little and then give the supplicant a 'little something' to hold him and his family till the next time.

I could go on and on and on. There is so much we have achieved in the 40 years or so of our independence, and you know what? It has all been CRAP. Yes, CRAP. That is what our so-called leaders have dished out to us for over 40 years and it seems we like it. We have perfected the 'e go better' attitude. Take whatever life throws your way, look up and say ' God go do am' and then continue to take more nonsense, more insults, more suffering and smiling.

Our children can't go to school anymore. Schooling is the prerogative of the rich. So if you cannot afford the enormous school fees of the private universities, then tough!

I just don't understand the Nigerian psyche. We possess everything in our power to force these imbeciles, these people who call themselves rulers, to make things better, yet we just fold our hands and wait for manna to fall from heaven. Well, let me tell you, manna is already there, but if we are so stupid as to not realise that, then we will continue on this path. This path of self-destruction. Nigeria might end up imploding, not from war but from suffering, from hunger, from dejection, from poverty.

It is time for us to get off our collective backsides and decide on how tomorrow will be for us. It is time we decided that tomorrow will be better for our children, that there will be enough food to eat. It is time to think! We can either remain together as one nation and continue suffering or we split up into something that will work out well for everybody. We do not necessarily need to fight to achieve this. A breakup can be amicable as evidenced by the peacefull breakup of Czechoslovakia. We can do this or continue as we are. Suffering and smiling. Abeg, I don tire for today!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Rant on the security situation back home

The security situation back home continues to give one cause for concern. I was reading the Guardian Newspaper today and this story simply struck me as incredulous! http://odili.net/news/source/2008/aug/19/29.html It is a story about how dare-devil armed robbers found a way into the government house of the Delta State government, carting away goods worth up to 2.6 million naira in the process.

If the government house of a state governor could be burgled in this fashion and subjected to ridicule, what hope is there for the man on the street? The man who has no security officers guarding him/her?

This security situation calls for urgent redress by the Nigerian government. Something serious needs to be done to arrest a situation that has gone so out-of-hand, that the miscreants now target governors and government officials. What the criminals are invariably saying is, ' f$@k you Nigeria, there is nothing you can do to stop us, we are stronger than you now, we are above the law!'

Of course, the little man on the street should not hold his/her breath! Successive Nigerian governments have failed to take the security situation serious and this has led to the deterioration in law and order.

The Police Force is basically useless and cannot even take care of its own house. Rather than try their best to find a way out of this quagmire that we have placed ourselves, they instead, spend their time fighting stupid battles that further subject our already ridiculous image to more ridicule! They would rather spend their time demoting Nuhu Ribadu, or arresting prostitutes, than spend their time fighting crime. The only work they have to do is collect twenty naira notes from bus and okada drivers and they will kill and have killed to protect this lucrative source of livelihood. If they are not busy at that, then they are busy setting up road blocks to spread further headache for the common man.

The way the situation is now, no one even knows who to run to anymore. You could meet men dressed in uniform on the highway and they turn out to be armed robbers. Even if you meet the real policemen, they would not hesitate to rob you if they can get away with it. The way the nation is now, it is every man for himself.

The nincompoops we have running the National Assembly are another matter. Instead of fashioning bills that will help in arresting the deteriorating security situation, they spend their time fashioning bills against 'immoral dressing by women!'. How stupid! They even went to the United Nations to talk about that! If the situation on the ground was not so serious, I would be rolling on the ground with laughter and probably die of it too!

Nigerians are weighed down already by too much - poverty, corrupt officials, dead-end education systems, etc - and to compound things further, they have to be saddled with a security situation that has been left unattended by the government. Of course, there is crime everywhere, but if the State pretends as if it is not there, then it will get out of control. This security situation is affecting Nigeria in so many ways - lack of inward foreign investment, brain drain, to name but a few.

The fact remains, something urgent needs to be done by the National government as soon as possible or this will result in anarchy. The Nigerian State and the symbols that represent her should be held sacrosanct by every citizen of the country – if governors and government officials are being attacked this fashion by armed robbers, then they are sending a message to the State. That message needs to be addressed in the right fashion but these miscreants are being left alone to grow in strength, to amass dangerous weapons and if care is not taken, Nigeria being the kind of state it is, will be taken over by them. It is still not too late to tackle these guys, the government can still act now and bring order into a situation which is fast spiralling out of control

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Ranting time

What a story! Nigerian official arrested for hiring witch doctor - http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/08/nigeria.arrest.ap/index.html

I had to wake yesterday to read about this on CNN.com. It illustrates the frustrations I feel, a lot of the time, about my country. This shows the level of intelligence which the people in authority have, this same level of intelligence that will ensure that Nigeria will never leave the dark ages!

It's so sad, really. If this man was good enough to have been made head of the agency in question, why is he afraid of his subordinate ousting him from his position? I'd be willing to bet that his appointment in the first place. was based on cronyism or favoritism.

In this time and age, only in Nigeria, or other parts of Africa, will you hear about issues such as witch craft etc. If it wasn't so sad and pathetic, I would be rolling around, dying of laughter.

Every government appointment is looked upon, not as a means of helping the nation, but as way of filling individual bank accounts, siphoning millions out of the country in the process and furthering the suffering that already pervades the land. So people will go to any length to remain in power, even if it means hiring witch doctors to kill their subordinates.

Some will say, 'Why is it that only news like this gets published in western media? They never print good news about our country'. Well tell me, when exactly has there been anything good worth reporting about? When was the last time we heard of a Nigerian invention that would go a long way in helping humanity? Even if you hear of such things, what happens to the inventors, are they encouraged to continue? Does the government give them encouragement? Of course not! They are busy lining up their pockets with ill-gotten gains.

It makes me wonder, this witch craft of a thing. There are probably witches and witch doctors everywhere. I doubt if they would be using their supernatural powers to kill each other. No! That is only the prerogative of Africans. Witches in other places are probably use their powers to further enrich mankind. Maybe that is why you see people coming up with different types of inventions in other parts of the world, people coming up with various advances in Medicine, Computing and other walks of life, but in Africa we are busy killing ourselves.

I hope someday, we will wake up to the sad fact that, Nigeria may be making a little progress in some aspects, but in the main things that matter, we are just are just not making any head way and these are the things which will get us out of the 'dark ages'.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Ode to my Bonnie

© Stani, All rights reserved

Here is to you
My Bonnie!
Without you incomplete
With you as whole as I can be
Many the nightsI pass gazing at you
Amazed, comforted by your love
Your intelligence remains unsurpassed
To know you truly is to be blessed
Incomparable beauty
Yes, here's to you for all time

In Another Life

© Stani, All rights reserved

Woke up today
Again, with dreams of another life.
Dreams so vivid, so real.

In another life
I am President of my country.
I see lots of laughter, joy everywhere.

In another life, in my country
I have marshaled all our vast resources
Everybody has food to eat
There are no wars.

In another life
I am the Don Dada! The Big Man!
I spread laughter all over the land.
I am truly at peace, in another life.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

What a man owns in this life

© Stani, All rights reserved

Occured to me the other day
I toil
I sweat
I worry.
What do I really own in this life?
Occured to me I came with nothing
So why the hassle?
Why all the stressing?
Ah! I don't know
What do I really own in this life?
Friend of mine said to me
'Stan, you got to get yourself
some nicer wheels man.
See I just got me a new Caddy'
Couple of days later
He is driven to church in a hearse
Never to ride a Caddy no more!
What does a man really own in this life?
A wise man told me, 'Nothing'
Yeah! Nothing
I guess it is time to realise
It is not what
We take away with us that matters
But the good deeds we leave behind!

Aging Gracefully

© Stani, All rights reserved

Days go by
Youth rapidly fading
Bones start to creak
Knees wobble
Memories trickle
Memories of a life well spent
Memries of fulfilment
Memories glad to have had.

In the mirror

© Stani, All rights reserved

In the mirror
It is clear
What my life has become
The path I have chosen.
In the mirror
I see deceitfulness
The path they have dragged me
The desolation they plan for me.
In the mirrorI see a reflection
Of the Wasteland
Of evil they want to leave me in.
Yet in the same mirror
I see a reflection of the
Hope that drives me
Telling me to keep the faith
It is going to be alright.

God's love

© Stani, All rights reserved

My Lord,my God
How I love you so
How I marvel
At the love you have for me.
All I ask of you Lord
Help my love for you to grow
That it may also encompass my fellow man
That it may trancend my humanity
Let your love spread through me.

Addiction

















This is a poem written as a prompt to the image!
Picture Title: Butterfly tempting
Artist: Shraphic




© Stani, All rights reserved

Addicted to you

Wishing I could be your butterfly

Make you quiver, shiver

Make your heart flutter,
Melt like butter.

Go wherever you go

Feeding off you

Suckling on sweet nectar

Flowing from you.

Nectar tasting like ambrosia!

Where will this addiction take me?

Is this madness?

Is this love?

Whatever it is, to be on you, in you, with you

That is all I crave.

Sadness

© Stani, All rights reserved

Where is the joy
you promised me
when we first met?
Where has it all gone?
Now here I am
so forlorn,so lonesome.
Wanting it all to end.
Why should it not end?
Without you, what else
is there to live for?
Without you, how can I go on?
Down, sad, lonely, crazy with grief!
Dejected, now I
wish I had never known your love!
Oh! How my heart aches
how my heart breaks
looking for a wayout of this!

Say what you think

© Stani, All rights reserved

To think and not say
What you think
Oh! what a waste!
Yet, to think
To ponder, and then say
What is on your mind
Is far better and more is
The sense you make then!

 
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