NYSC VS BOKO HARAM:

A SLAUGHTER IN THE MAKING

 





I feel disappointment in the proposed postings of graduates for the NYSC scheme to northern Nigerian in the face of the sectarian unrest ravaging that part of the country. 

So I ask, Should there be an argument?

Why should anyone who is not a military personnel be sent to a troubled region in the name of a scheme that is been rubbished because a few can flaunt money and influence postings?  Can anyone in the NYSC establishment give statistics on how the posting of unarmed youths that just finished their studies can arrest the slaughter been perpetrated by the terror groups in the north?  How does the likely murder of these posted corp members to these troubled region justify the course for unity when revenge would be uttermost in the mind of the bereaved? 

And I dare ask, why can’t this be a burning priority on the table of Mr. President rather than the idea of birth control?   

I listened to a part of Nigeria’s presidential media chat, that is the part that I could compose myself to listen to, about Mr. President’s response to why he has not visited the troubled northern region of our country and the most relevant excuse given: SECURITY REASON. 

If Mr. President and his avalanche of security personnel can give this as an excuse is the NYSC not making preparations for a slaughter?

BOKO HARAM:
THE POLITICIANS MADE A BOMB 

The group was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 in the city of Maiduguri with the aim of establishing a Shari'a government in Borno State under former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff. (In the year 2002 Ali Modu Sheriff was not a governor then; he was a senator). He established a religious complex that included a mosque and a school where many poor families from across Nigeria and from neighboring countries enrolled their children.

The centre had ulterior political goals and soon it was also working as a recruiting ground for future jihadis to fight the state. The group includes members who come from neighbouring Chad and Niger and speak only Arabic.  In 2004, the complex was relocated to Yusuf's home state of Yobe in the village Kanamma near the Niger border.

“Boko Haram has become a franchise that anyone can buy into,” said Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima.

In a 2009 BBC interview, Muhammad Yusuf, then leader of the group, stated his belief that the concept of a spherical Earth is contrary to Islamic teaching and should be rejected, along with Darwinian evolution and the concept of rain originating from water evaporated by the sun. Before his death, Yusuf reiterated the group's objective of changing the current education system and rejecting democracy. Nigerian academic Hussain Zakaria told BBC News that the controversial cleric had a graduate education, spoke proficient English, lived a lavish lifestyle and drove a Mercedes Benz.

(Excerpt from wikipedia on Boko Haram)

And so I'm thinking:








If western education is such a sin, how would they have translated... 

And for every time someone dares to be different or beg to differ, do we make a bomb?



AMBASSADOR SEGUN OLUSOLA:

A TRIBUTE



Segun Olusola

OUR VILLAGE HEADMASTER

A Village needed a new headmaster

The series’ creator made us a grandmaster

I remember Kabiyesi’s mechanical laugh

And when he “swags” to his throne bent in half

I forget not Chief Eleyinmi’s flowing regalia

Something that can never be made in Italia

Who would dare Councillor Balogun, Chief Antagonist

When he beats his chest and dares the protagonist

With Chief Dagbolu, his fellow conspirator

Breathing in the palace would require a respirator

What would the episodes be without “Amebo’s” roles

There had to be a radio without battery rolls

Teacher Garuba, the grumpy

His ambitions would always make him jumpy

“Gorimapa,” Sisi Clara, Doyin

Made the series more glowing

Screen characters that cannot all be quantified

Childhood memories that cannot be qualified

I do miss The New Village Headmaster

Its creator, a former embassy headmaster

He who had to play god

With Oja village and its mud

Passes on to the great yonder

His life, a beautiful wonder

Of which posterity ponders

Can we duplicate his wonders

Ambassador segun Olusola

Our Village Headmaster

- by Alex

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO LAGOS

Statue of Lagos High Chiefs, One of the State's Prominent Landmarks at the outskirts of the state

If you have not heard, then hear it now:

Gov. Fashola of Lagos State

Third Mainland Bridge

Information coming from the Lagos state government is that the Third Mainland Bridge is going to be closed between Sunday, first of July and Tuesday, sixth of November 2012!

 

Reason?          

OVERHAULING! 

For 4 MONTHS!

I don’t have any qualms with the proposed overhauling.  But this is my concern:

Traffic in Lagos

Traffic in Lagos

If you live and work in Lagos and you think you have experienced heavy traffic in Lagos, then I advise you prepare for the “mother” of all heavy traffic situation ever experienced in Lagos or anywhere else for that matter.  I even want to place a bet that we are going to have "record breaking" traffic within this period.  Someone needs to alert the Guinness Book of Records. 

The Third Mainland Bridge is the major link between Victoria Island and its adjourning axis to the mainland through to Yaba, Oshodi, Ikorodu Road and beyond. 

I wish there was some other way of  doing this.  I wish I could find a lamp with a genie that would give me just one wish, just one, for this is not the time to be greedy! 

And because wishes are not horses, If you have plans of coming to do business in Lagos this proposed period…

PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE!

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO LAGOS!

SYRIA CRISIS:

O KING, KILL THEM ALL!



Clockwise: Kofi Annan, Ban Ki Moon, President Obama, President Assad and President Putin

Syria has become too political a controversy for this blog to delve into where angels like the United Nations and aid agencies dread to tread.  So, I write to implore History to still leave the chapter on “KINGS AGAINST THEIR PEOPLE” open for the ink of time bleeds with eagerness to write more.

Why more pages of this chapter of history will always emerge is that those whose names shall be mentioned in them choose to cross the Rubicon of life and claim to themselves a larger than life status forgetting that a king without a people is a dead king. 

  

I remember late President Gaddafi  when he did beat his chest with pride to tell the whole world that his people love him.  And I never will forget when that “love” would not stop his people from lynching him. 

President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad once told ABC network in an interview that it was only a “crazy person that would kill his own people.”  History did take note.  And history will tell us later if he was right. 

Someone please tell the US and NATO that China and Russia are necessary characters needed to stoke the inflated facade of President Assad.  Since the president feels playing ophthalmologist is inferior to playing the role of he who must bully a people to remain king then let him continue to talk tough at a safe distance from the killing fields of the Syrian people opposing his continual rule.    

Peace is a long way from the home of the oppressed in Syria.  If only the Kofi Annan Peace Plan had anticipated it.  Those that oppose the interest of the US and claim that their plan would unnecessarily elongate fighting should keep count of the days of fighting.     

Since President Assad still feels he is not killing his people but he only wants to squash the anti-regime uprising caused by armed gangs and terrorists, I therefore beseech him, O King of Syria, please kill them all!  And let history tell us what will happen afterwards.   

ON FATHER'S DAY

My father, my Superhero

  DAD!

(LUKE 11:11)

I WANT TO RUN AN OIL REFINERY!




JTF officer giving news briefing at Port Harcourt in May 2012

Did you see the late night news on Silverbird Television Lagos yesterday?  The one about the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta tackling oil thieves?  The report was that the JTF had destroyed 10 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta in their raid!

I decided to go online for more facts and there in my face were more stories about more raids by the JTF on illegal refineries as far back as January 2012. (Channels TV website story of Mon Jan 23, 2012 and Vanguard website story of June 8, 2012)

I SIMPLY DON'T GET IT!

MATTERS ARISING:

1. If we can have thousands of illegal functional refineries within one region of the country, operated by street boys, how is it that Nigeria, the Giant of Africa cannot run 3, just 3?!

These boys run these refineries under duress, with materials as common as aluminum drums and still have them highly functional.

When Prof. Pat Utomi mentioned during the fuel subsidy removal strike that crude oil refining is not rocket science, I never understood. Now I really know!

Thus, I recommend that those people arrested for the operation of these illegal refineries should be given special treatment and given our problem of refinery mismanagement to handle and let us see if we will not have results within a couple of months. This I recommend considering the fact that with all the money that has been sunk into the refineries maintenance, our government is still telling us that it would take another two years from now to see our refineries working. News, for those that believe!

2. Why are we still exporting crude oil only for the refined products to return to Nigerians very expensive when we can invest in these illegal refineries and make refined oil products cheap?

RECOMMENDATION:

Madam Finance Minister and her boss should know that it would be more profitable to engage these enterprising youths through their local refining technologies than the government's proposal of engaging youths and paying them N10,000! N10,000 for what? Does that qualify as minimum wage?  The youths don't need favours. They need to be given a future. Help them legally run their refineries! Don't you know how many of our countries problems would be solved? Oh, I forget. The Cabal would be out of business.

3. The oil blocks are owned by the moneybags, the oil companies own our oil and our government does not want to give us fuel subsidy.

RECOMMENDATION:

Why not let us own just a little piece of this action? 

I WANT TO RUN AN OIL REFINERY!



After all, we once had a President who also doubled as Minister for Petroleum.  No one had the guts to audit his books and hell did not break loose.   

  

WE SHOULD NOT STOP CORRUPTION!

RE: HONOURABLE FAROUK LAWAN COLLECTED BRIBE

Farouk v Otedola

I don’t understand all this hullaballoo about corruption in the Nigerian society.  Why is it such a big deal when one is caught? After all, we know it is an existing and integral norm in the society Nigerians find themselves in. 

Yes, someone will read this and say “what the heck is this guy writing!”  That reaction is first class hypocrisy on display!  There is no fabric of our society today that does not condone corruption, even if it is in a small bit.  I DARE YOU TO DARE ME WITH OTHERWISE!

When the government does it, it is called “POLICY” or like Fela did call it, “GOVERNMENT MAGIC.”  When private organizations do it, it is called “BUSINESS.”  And when individuals engage in it, it is called “LIFE.”

So when you don’t have the heart or will or the money to engage yourself in the trending act of corruption in Nigeria, you wear the tag of the “BIG FOOL!”  And the question goes, “is it not what everyone is doing?”

Parents want their children to make it big.  How?  Most of them don’t care!

Teachers tell you that your child(ren) should study hard and parents should assist their wards in their studies and the parents ask, “Can I get the likely questions that you want to set for test?”  “Which area should they concentrate on for the coming exams?”

Higher institutions want to admit students into school and they introduce “Post UTME” for those that have passed the “Joint Admission and Matriculation Boards” (JAMB) examination.  Then of what use is "cut-off mark?"  And when the National Assembly decided to probe, they do some government magic, let post UTME remain thereby giving a school like UNILAG, oh sorry, MAULAG the audacity to make optional fee charges compulsory.    Put them all together, and one lecturer or professor will trot will pride and say, “If you think education is expensive, try illiteracy.”  ANOTHER VALID POINT FOR CORRUPTION!

People go out in search of jobs, with as good a result as second class upper from a “recognized” university, like they like to put it, and just because they don’t have someone close enough to someone within that organization or they don’t know someone that knows someone…, do I need to finish this statement?

The police drives a bus into our streets to conduct a raid, catches someone and ask “why you dey run?” 

They take that person to the station without any charge or rather false charges and if the person is fortunate enough to have a phone, they use it to call family members to come and “bail” their ward.  As instructed by which court?

A court Judge seats over a case of a woman that was arrested by the local council for not paying the radio and television license fee.  And when the accaused says she did not pay because she does not own a television or a radio, the Judge says something like, you are expected to have one so you are expected to pay for the license.  CORRUPTION FROM THE SEAT OF THE INTERPRETERS OF OUR LAWS!  So, is there need to talk about Ibori? How dare the British convict him after our Judiciary set him free?

A government kicks against the minimum wage of N18,500 while as much as N3 million is budgeted as daily feeding allowance for the executive or is it the presidency, which one is it?  WHO CARES!  What happens now when they add the cost of cassava bread to the budget?

A Finance Minister with all the razzmatazz of expert in world economy comes to stage with the aim to bamboozle us with figures that she cannot verify in order to justify the need for increase in the pump price of fuel.  Only for a bunch of politicians to probe the management of what is referred to as “Subsidy Fund” and discover that there is fraud in the system; WHAT A REVELATION!  Tell me who did not know.  Even the said minister had to dare Nigerians to name names.  Names have been named.  AND EVERYONE IS SHOUTING FAROUK TOOK BRIBE! HOW ABOUT OTEDOLA CLAIMING HE SET UP FAROUK? TELL THAT TO THE POPE!

I DEY BEG UNA O!  Spare us the hogwash!  Start the prosecutions!  Let heads roll even if it belongs to someone in Ota!

Until that happens, WE SHOULD NOT, NOT, AND I REPEAT, NOT STOP CORRUPTION!

 UEFA EURO 2012:

SPAIN VS ITALY

It was the first match of group c in Euro 2012.

It exuded the quality you wish to see in the final of any wonderful football tournament.

Whatever Spain had to offer, Italy had a counter offer. 

At the end of the match, I had a premonition...

SOMETHING TELLS ME THERE WILL BE A REMATCH!