Do all Nigerian men cheat on their wives?

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The title of this post may seem strange to people that know me quite well. I'm not one to generalise about groups of people. A more appropriate title would have had most or some in the title. It's no more appropriate than "why are all Nigerians criminals"?, "why are all Americans ignoramuses"?, or "why are all Australians knife-wielding, crocodile hunters"? But I couldn't resist the urge for a little bit of sensationalism and attention grabbing! So on with the post. This topic is borne out of my personal experience over a few years of marriage and of course my interaction with people. Just today, someone asked me if a "babe" was trying to seduce me. Another colleague keeps trying to become my infidelity buddy. Of course I rebuke the two of them in a non-threatening way. These men can't fathom the fact that there are people who just don't do these things. After a trip to Brazil two years ago, someone asked me what I got up to while I was there. I avoid these types of people like a plague of course.

When I was growing up I was quite naive and believed that men are naturally faithful to their wives. I recollect a conversation with two very close relatives of mine when I was just 19. I told them would never cheat on my wife. One of them said he doesn't plan to as well but as a man, these things happen. The second one said he will definitely do it. After all body no be wood. Don't ask me if they have been true to their promises.

Quite a few Nigerian men, even those who have some strong religious profession or the other do it. More than you can even imagine. It's sometimes "accidental" but most often premeditated. And once it has happened, it becomes difficult to stop.

The problem is not helped by Nigerian women who have been conditioned to believe that their husbands will cheat on them no matter what they do. They have bought the lie that it's okay as long as he provides for the children, comes home regularly and doesn't flaunt his extra-marital affairs in her face. The truth is that most of them know about their husband's philandering ways before marriage but assume they can change after marriage. Some of them are so tired of people asking when the big day is going to happen they settle for the worst guy in town. I have even heard that women too now do it. Some of them do it in retaliation for their husband's cheating ways and possibly to get more excitement into their marriage.

As a Christian, the major reason I won't do it is not because I love my wife to bits, but because I fear God!

So I ask, if you have ever cheated on your wife or husband, please tell me why you did it. I'd really like to know.

And if you know anybody that has, do you know why they did it?

If you have never done it and don't want to ever do it, how have you managed to stay faithful?

If you have done it in the past and repented, should you tell your spouse?

Any opinions on why people cheat?

Inverters - a solution to Nigeria's power problem?

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The last few months have been really dreadful with the near closure of PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) in my estate. It has gotten so bad that we barely have two hours of light everyday. My small Elemax generator was so overworked that is finally gave up in April. We used to switch it on at 7pm and switch it off at 12 midnight. At a time the heat at night was so terrible, my kids would wake up crying and itching from the heat rash. Sometimes I would wake up at 2am and wouldn't be able to sleep. Some of my estate people alleged that PHCN was diverting power to other neighbourhoods that were paying bribes. We hoped the situation would improve but alas it only got worse. So what did I do? I got an inverter.

"An inverter is a power conversion and conservation device. It converts electricity, which essentially comes in form of alternating current (A/Current) into a stable form of current known as direct current (D/Current) so that the D/Current can be stored in batteries for use during power outages. The system works by converting the A/Current which is the normal current supplied by PHCN (or a secondary source i.e. generating sets) into direct current which is a more stable form of electricity that can be preserved in batteries. During outages, the inverter converts the stored current back into A/Current for use in the home, office or business place. " (Culled from Top-M Nigeria)

I had planned to buy one for a while so I called a couple of companies to find out about the cost of their inverters.

Su-Kam inverters are made in India while Xantrex and Outback are American. I decided on the Budtron inverter which is made in Nigeria because of the low cost and also the ability of the manufacturers to provide after-sales service. I wasn't convinced that the other vendors had the technical know how to provide the required support. Installation took about 2 hours while the initial charging took about 8 hours.

Xantrex Inverter/Charger and Auto-Switch

SuKam Inverter

So basically what I do is to run my generator for 3-4 hours between 7pm and 11pm at night if there is no power from PHCN. At 11pm we shut down the generator and the inverter automatically takes over. If at any point in time PHCN restores light, the inverter's in built change over switch changes back to PHCN. So we use two or three fans throughout the night and pretty much swithc eveything else off. During the day it powers the TV, decoder, home theatre and s few low power electronics. The wiring is done such that the inverter does not power the ACs and iron. On a full charge and depending on what is switched on, we have power for the next 20-22 hours. However, if the fridge and/or all the lights are switched on, it lasts only 8 hours. An alternative setup can be to add solar panels to the installation. This means that during the day, if there is no power supply from PHCN, you can still charge the inverter.

With the cost of diesel at N135/litre it it certainly has its advantages. If I were to run my generator without shutting it down and assuming PHCN stopped working altogether it would cost an additional N270,000 to enjoy constant power supply. It is also noiseless and doesn't require starting up, oil, water or plugs. It is almost zero maintenance. The disadvantage is that if you use wet cell batteries, you have to top up the distilled water every 6 months. Even with dry cell batteries, you have to replace the batteries every 3-5 years depending on the level of usage. I suspect mine will need replacement in 3 years because of the poor power supply from PHCN. The initial cost is also quite high when compared with a generator of comparable power rating.

Overall I have enjoyed using it for the last three months and highly recommend getting one. Now my kids don't wake up crying in the middle of the night and my wife is cheerier!

NITEL cripples Nigeria

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I've been out of the blogosphere for a while due to a combination of the NITEL strike, a personal crisis and the loss of a friend. NITEL has called off the strike, I've largely resolved the crisis but my friend is still gone. Her name was Bunmi Ebiwonjumi, aged 34. Her death really hit her family, her husband Funmi especially and me of course . She had gone to the US for a conference and was on the last leg of her trip. She was returning a friend's borrowed car when someone bumped her from behind. She got down to assess the damage and pulled over to a side street. While she was discussing with the person who hit her on how to repair the car, another car driving at a breakneck speed hit her, killing her instantly. Ironically, the person who initially hit her car saw the car coming and quickly jumped away. Bunmi was backing the car so she didn't see it coming.

The loss of my friend has I've been thinking about death and Heaven quite a bit in the last one week. Although I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour six years ago, the need for a close walk hit me even more. No one knows when, how or where he/she will go so we need to be ready everyday. The day for salvation is now! I encourage people to sort out their relationship with God so that when the trumpet sounds, you won't be surprised to find yourself in Hell.

____________________________________________________________________

The NITEL strike has once again shown how vulnerable we are in Nigeria. Entrusting our major communications link to the outside world to a moribund, inept and crisis-ridden carrier like NITEL. Every time some disgruntled employee gets angry all he has to do is shut down SAT-3. This undersea cable that connects Nigeria to the rest of the world is of such importance that it should be protected by some sort of law to ensure shutting it down is a crime. Several businesses lost money throughout the strike and could not communicate with their customers. Irresponsible of NITEL workers I say.

I only hope Globacom and other networks will rise to the challenge and develop alternatives to SAT-3.

RIP Bunmi Ebiwonjumi

The art of regifting

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Wikipedia defines regifting as the act of taking a gift that has been received and giving it to somebody else, sometimes in the guise of a new gift. I haven't regifted before but I know someone who is quite adept at this art. I call it an art because she has managed to remain a closet regifter. There are some rules to regifting though:

1. Don't use the gift before regifting
2. Rewrap the gift
3. Don't give the gift back to the original giver

I've always wondered what would happen if you gave a gift back to the original giver or if the original giver saw his or her gift with someone else. Or perhaps the person could ask you about the gift some months or years later. What do you tell the person? I didn't like the gift you gave me so I gave it to someone else?

Why do people regift anyway? You forget someone's birthday or wedding and there's no time to go to the shops to buy something? You need to decongest your house of all those wedding crockery that you are never going to use. Why does everyone give plates, cups, spoons and coolers? I think more imaginative and thoughtful gifts would be appreciated.

Someone I know recently created what I'm sure is a world record for regifting. This person was invited to her relative's 40th birthday party and stopped by somewhere to see a friend before going to the party. Now it was her birthday the week before so another friend who had forgotten to give her a gift and who had been keeping the gift in the car with the hope of giving it to her whenever she ran into her decided to give her gift.

So she smiled and said a big thank you to her friend for remembering her birthday and giving her a gift. So she sets off for the birthday and realized that she didn't have a gift for her relative. So what does this ingenious person do? She quickly opens the gift she just got to see what was inside, decides it's appropriate for her relative and gives it to him at his party. Make sense? She might have well have just asked her friend to give her relative the gift directly. The thing didn't even land her house before she regifted it.

I laughed so hard and wondered what her friend would do if she realized what she did.

Where can I find a good carpenter..

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...or a plumber, electrician, tailor, welder or whatever artisan I need to get work done. This is one of the most agonising things about Nigeria these days. I remember trying to fix a curtain pole and the carpenter down my street started to hammer one side into the wall. Before I could inspect what he had done he almost started fixing the other side. All this without a single tape rule! By the time he was done one side was lower than the other. I mean, what can be so difficult about fixing a curtain pole. Baba whatever he was called had no idea why I should be fretting so much. After all it was almost straight.

The same thing happened when I tried to do a mosquito net for the front door. So I'm thinking, a wooden frame knocked together with wire mesh should keep the blood suckers out. So I asked my wife to get a carpenter from down the road. Nine hours later, the Frankenstein's monster he put together was already falling apart. The guy was sweating so profusely and commending himself for a job well done. The thing lasted a few weeks before we had to take it down.

The same thing must have happened with other artisans in the past. What about the guy that did the plumbing for the house I moved into about a year ago. The shower in my bedroom has never ever worked. Why would the plumber fix a shower that doesn't work, get paid and then tell the owner of the house that the job is done. What about the electrician? It is only the Grace of God that has prevented my house from barbecuing to a crisp. I've had dealings with just about every type of artisan and they are all the same.

I could go on and on about my experiences with artisans in this country as I'm sure most people have. My point is that there are no standards for artisans in this country. Anybody can get up and set up a shop and do whatever trade they so please. A guy my sister introduced to me to make curtains has been holding on to the last leg of the job for two months. I called him and asked him how far he had gone and he told me he was in Ibadan doing some plumbing work. Did I hear right? A tailor was dabbling into plumbing! He proudly told me that he is also a builder, foreman and every known artisan rolled into one. Of course he still hasn't delivered.

The UK has the NVQs (National Vocational Qualifications) for artisans and other technical professions while vocational education in the US is typically offered through community colleges. The system isn't perfect but it ensures people are sure of what they're getting when they hire an artisan. What do we have in Nigeria? A centuries old apprenticeship system that doesn't work anymore. Nobody wants to spend 5 to 10 years as an apprentice and not get paid for it. The period of apprenticeship has gotten so short that not enough skills are passed on to make a meaningful impact

So how do we ensure that the quality of artisans improves?

1. By setting up proper training institutes for different professions


2. Developing standards for workmanship, materials and professional conduct


3. Certifying artisans depending on the level of skill and experience


4. Regular auditing and assessment of artisans to ensure consistency


5. Continuing professional development


6. Setting up a consumer complaints commission and ensuring compensation for defective work done by artisans

Maybe then I can stop my heart palpitations every time I hire a carpenter.

Five Things - I miss from my childhood

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1. 
   
2. Remember the days of innocence when you thought you could fly to the moon. Your first time at the beach. For some reason today I remembered my younger days. I've attempted to compile a random list of five things I remember with nostalgia.
   
   
   
3. 
   

1. Television: In the good old days before cable and DSTV, ignorance was bliss. I just loved NTA 2 Channel 5. From children's shows like Sesame Street, SuperTed, The Munch Bunch, Banana Split, Animal Crackers, Voltron and the other five team show (I've forgotten the name now) to British imports like Some Mother's do Ave em, Mind Your Language and of course American Sitcoms like the Jeffersons and Good times,; it was always a blast to come back home at 2pm and wait/play outside till TV started at 4 and closed at 10. Of course during school days, I had to sleep by 8. On Saturdays and Fridays I could stay up all night if I wanted to. The locally produced shows like the Adio family, Winds against my Soul, Cockrow at Dawn really made my day at night. Weekends were also fun with the Saturday Matinee on NTA 2. Sundays were soap opera days with some of the best locally produced shows especially from NTA Jos. And who can forget the lipsynched German shows from Transtel. My favourite movies were martial arts and Indian ones. Bruce Lee was so cool in Enter the Dragon. James Bond movies were always a pleasure to watch. I could go on and on. When I think about it now what we were watching were really old shows but we didn't know any better. But we still enjoyed TV. Now kids have so many other things to keep them occupied; the Internet, DSTV, Video Games etc. I miss the days of having little yet appreciating so much.



2. Playing outside/Games: I remember how much I used to want to play outside, inside, infact everywhere. Playing and fighting with my twin and cousin was a daily affair. I remember "Police and Thief", Mummy and Daddy, Ten Ten for the girls, football, table tennis, table soccer and Subuteo table football. I definitely remember the first time I ever played PacMan on an Amstrad Computer. Who would have thought that three dots on a screen could excite so much. By the time my Dad bought a Commodore 64 computer (so named because it had 64kilobytes of memory!) games had become more sophisticated. You now had more dots on the screen making for interesting game play. Toys? I remember my first action figure. I think it was one of the characters from the A-Team. Not quite sure which one. We could make toys from almost anything. Cans, tins, broomsticks. Do kids still make kites? All you needed was old newspapers, broomsticks and some eba. My first Raleigh bicycle which I used for years brought much pleasure. I better stop before I get teary eyed.



3. Asking questions: I used to be so curious about the world around me. Everything was a mystery. How does television work? When will I be as big as Daddy? Where do babies come from? Where does the tooth fairy come from? Who created God? My parents were always patient enough to answer my questions. Some questions remained a mystery for many years. I smile when I see things that used to baffle me. Some are still unanswered. Don't ask me which ones!



4. Going out: I always looked forward to going out. It didn't matter where. The Bar Beach was the in spot in those days. At least we Mainland kids got to see Victoria Island in all it's splendour. The beach used to be so lovely. And then of course I remember Apapa Club on Saturdays. Swimming, suya and sand! I also got to buy comics at the bookstore. If I remember well, they stocked DC and Marvel Comics, Beano, Dandy and some British war comics (those were my favourites really). Going out also meant parties! The richer kids always had better presents as we used to call them. I got to see how some of my Corona friends lived. Along with parties came music. Michael Jackson, The Gap Band, Shalamar, Cool and the Gang...we mimed to all the cool songs back then. If I had such a retentive memory for songs how come I forgot my times table?



5. Nigeria: Most of all I remember when things weren't so bad in Nigeria. A brand new 505 was 10,000, bread was 10k; a coke was less than 50k. My first trip to the UK in 1984 cost my Mum less than N500 for each of us. The ticket was expensive then but my Mum, God bless her heart just had to sacrifice for us. Things were so much easier then. NEPA wasn't great in the 70s and 80s but it was much better than now. Potholes were a rarity and everywhere was clean. At least from a child's perspective. I remember the two coups that brought in Buhari and Babangida. I was forced to grow up a bit and become a bit politically aware after these events. It was then that names like Umaru Dikko, Joseph Wayas, Olu Olunloyo, Awo and Zik became part of my consciousness. This coincided with my teenaage years and a time when things became a little bit rough for everyone. My folks still managed to keep us happy but even as a kid I knew things were not the same. I miss those days...

What do you miss most about being a kid. Go on, try to remember. For some people it feels like just yesterday, for some it's a distant memory. What stories will you tell your children when they begin to grow?

Why I have a problem with Yahooze

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Throughout last year, I heard the Yahooze song by Olu Maintain everywhere I went. Everybody was singing the song and doing the dance. I should have written about this a while ago but never got round to it. I came across a couple of websites that provide information about the "Nigerian Scam". A lot of these websites such as Nigeria, The 419 Coalition Website, Scambusters, Scamorama are devoted to exposing Nigerians as fraudsters. One of them even claims that the Nigerian government is on it and makes money from it since it's the 3rd largest industry in the country. Akin to Nevada and Casinos or Norway and fishing.

Nigeria has such a bad name that we've become like Italians and the Mafia. Not all Italians are mobsters/mafioso but just tell anyone you are from Sicily and they begin to shake in your presence. Which brings me to my problem with Yahooze.

Someone sings a song about scamming people out of their money and giving Nigeria a bad image and we all sing along? He goes on to glamorise the lifestyle of scam artists and we all throw fingers in the air. Come on! I've heard the argument that he doesn't condone it. He's only singing about it. I never heard a single line in the song where he talks about where 419ers end up, the damage done to victims and the bashing of Nigeria's image. He talks about it quite positively. And don't even get me started by telling me it's all satirical. If I sang a song about molesting young children would you say "he's just joking". Or if I sang a song about murdering the President, you don't think the Secret Service would knock on my door the following day? I don't care about the lyrics you say? It's still a nice song. Excerpts below from a song by So Solid Crew called 21 seconds. Note the lyrics in bold

"Some of dem are a slippin ah Some of dem begrudge me ah So Solid vampire See me on the telly ha Face gettin' popular, ha what? Some are chat ya nah No disrespect when I bus in my clique ya nah Raise up the dead an' ah Worship the devil Red is my best colour So Solid we are players, instigators Gimme a girl I'll make her famous I send her back to you she gettin' papers 21 seconds to get papers"

Here's a "good" song with a catchy beat that was popular a few years back. Would you sing a song about worshipping the devil?! Not surprised since we all sang "Why Me" by Dbanj. An excerpt of that song's lyrics are shown below

"i dont know how to say this but this girl drives me crazy cause i cruise in town with a mercedes so she said she wanna have my baby, first when i met her, she said koko master come test her, we could do it ones, twice maybe better, wanna test my skills so i let her, yes so i let her, so sexy so tempting, so pretty contemplating, how to get her love me now, make she get a taste of my heart, took her to my crib now, in my drop top, took her top off, body was a jump off, started on the floor now, to the bed now, hands on the wall, devil was the bomb now. she wouldnt leave me alone always calling my phone, feele ahh she no gree"


Singing about one night stands, promiscuity and now 419 seems to have become a national pastime. When your kids sing these songs what do you tell them?

Or maybe we all think 419 victims deserve their fate. After all, they're greedy people who should know better. If you've ever been harrassed at any airport for holding a green passport, or been asked a stupid question about Nigeria then you'll know that we all need to rid ourselves of this evil.

If a foreigner hears you listening to Yahooze and asks you what the song's about, what will you tell him? "Oh it's about scamming people out of money. You know we are all scammers in Nigeria. So much that Yahooze is now our national antherm". The foreigner asks, "so you think it's funny that people lose millions to these scammers?" What do you say? They deserve to be scammed?

We have enough problems with our image already so let's not promote things that further entrench the image of a fraudulent country.

Let's stop and think for a minute before we enjoy music just for the good tunes and beats.

PS: Just remembered this Youtube video I saw a while back of the EFCC busting some scammeers. Good to see something being done to address this scourge.

Energy drinks - marketing hype or real value?

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I have to admit that any time I see a can of Red Bull, something inside me wants to take a sip of this supposedly energy giving drink. Doesn't taste like much but there is something interesting about it. I've also tried Power Horse and Burn but that's as far as I've gone. In the last year or so, the market has been flooded with all sorts of energy drinks. The key feature of these drinks is that they promise increased energy, concentration and other medically unverifiable attributes. Another common factor is that they contain large amounts of caffeine, guarana (extracts from the guarana plant), taurine, various forms of ginseng, maltodextrin, inositol, carnitine, creatine, glucuronolactone and ginkgo biloba. Some of the energy drinks I can remember are:










Red Bull
Power Horse
911
Burn
Bomba
Boom Boom
Rhino
Rox
Commando bear
Effect

I was recently gifted over 100 cans of Red Bull leftover from a party. I drank four cans a day for some weeks. Can't say I felt any better from drinking the stuff. God knows what damage I've done to my body from drinking so much of the stuff.

I've officially sworn off Energy drinks till further notice!

I googled and found an Old CNN Article on energy drinks. If you're not sure then just stop drinking this stuff. NAFDAC is doing a great job but not much is known about the long term effects on the body of these drinks. We also don't know the effects of mixing them with othere things. Hope we don't grow extra ears and noses after some years!

Considering the N250 price tag versus N50 for a coke, am I paying more money to damage my health? For that amount of money I had better run faster and possibly fly. Trying to appear cool and hip maybe?

So can someone please tell me what value these drinks really have?

Soludo deserved what he got

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Uncle Chukwuma deserved the embarrassment he got from the President Yar'Adua. Like I mentioned in my previous post, the Naira re-denomination was an artificial way to get us back to where we were in 1985. We should ask ourselves how we got to where we are right now. It's like setting out on a journey to Ibadan and ending up in Ijebu Ode. Shouldn't you ask yourself how you got there so you can retrace your steps back to Ibadan? Should you begin to frolic at an owambe in Ijebu simply because that's where you are at that point in time.

Back to the matter at hand, Prof Soludo should have obtained permission and clarified the re-denomination matter with his boss before making the matter public. I think the man is trying to make a name for himself and build some sort of parallel government/empire. Admittedly, he has done a lot for the Nigerian banking sector. But that doesn't mean he knows it all. We just spend billions printing new N5, N10, N20 and N50 notes. The N1000 note is barely 2 years old yet he wants us to fritter away all that money and print even more notes?

Something is definitely wrong somewhere. My colleague (who is very adept at developing conspiracy theories) thinks Soludo was a scapegoat and a victim of politics. Whatever the reason, he needs to be less bullish and more humble in his approach to issues. Yes the man is smart, but humility gets you further than brilliance.

If Nigeria becomes more productive and a net exporter, the Naira to dollar exchange rate will come crashing down. Don't forget that the rate became what it is today because of the mismanagement of our economy. Reversing the trend will require sound economic management policies. The issue with a country's currency is not really what it can buy but how much of it individuals have. If I earn N1000 per month and this meets all my basic needs; food housing and shelter, is that not better than earning N10,000 and struggling just to transport myself to work? Think about it for a moment.

I really respect Soludo and think he's a whizz but on this matter, the man goofed.

Naira Redonimation: Nothing will change

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Other than the psychological effect of spending fewer note, the recently announced redenomination of the Naira doesn't mean anything. The question we should be asking is how we got here in the first place. Pre 1985, the Naira to dollar exchange rate was 1:1. It wasn't a redenomination that depreciated the Naira to this level. Our inability to generate employment, our status as a net importer of goods and services, low level of technological advancement, underinvestment in infrastructure, low level of productivity and other economic failures got us here.

If we don't address the fundamentals, we will find ourselves going back to the N125:$1 regime pretty quickly. Redenomination can't help Zimbabwe on the path to economic recovery for example. Admittedly the exchange rate has been stable over the last two or three years, but this needs to be sustained by concerted macro-economic policies.

Honestly, I don't know if this tonic will get us where we are going. If we do all the right things, the exchange rate will appreciate by itself. Don't economic experts tell us that exchange rates are determined by market forces and not executive fiat?!

Much ado about BRT (Part 2)

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Despite advice and warnings to the contrary, the Lagos State Government is hell bent on putting a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane on Ikorodu Road in Lagos State. And unlike the attempt at a BRT lane on the 3rd Mainland Bridge, this one will have a physical barrier to prevent other motorists from using the lane. But just like burglary proofing, this barrier will also prevent LAGBUS buses from leaving the lane as well.

Obviously not well thought out, a single flat tyre on one bus will hold up all the other buses coming behind it. This seems simple enough to fathom and foresee but someone in Government House is not thinking this through. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, this is a good idea on paper but as with most things Nigerian it is not being properly executed.

Ikorodu Road has only three lanes on most sections so taking out one lane will leave the rest of us with only two lanes. Peradventure a trailer breaks down in the middle of the road, this will create the ever present Lagos traffic snarl. Just the other day, a rickety vehicle was trying to avoid the main lanes' traffic and decided to take the BRT lane. As expected, the car overheated and prevented other vehicles from going past (these vehicles were also illegally taking the BRT lane). I just hope we won't point at the BRT lane one day and laugh saying "remember BRT" the same way we now do with the City Bus scheme.

For now, the mad traffic continues!

Coming to Nigeria

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I haven't posted for a while because I was away on compulsory training. This last trip was my second longest time away from Nigeria. Whenever I travel out of the country (to developed countries) it usually for a week or so but this time I was out for two weeks. Ordinarily this shouldn't be an issue but the truth is that the longer you stay away from Nigeria, the more difficult it is to adjust when you get back. You get used to constant power supply, an efficient transportation system, running water all the time and everything at your finger tips. You then have to come back to Nigeria and the first thing you face is several touts offering to help carry your luggage, change forex for you and generally make you "feel at home". The last thing you want after a long trip is badgering and harrassment. You then drive out of one of the worst airports in the world and observe that the sides of the roads are littered with debris. That is if the traffic leading to Ajao Estate doesn't stop you in your tracks. You know, if you are visiting Nigeria for the first time, this is exactly what you will encocunter. Day in day out new visitors to Nigeria have their worst fears confirmed when they experience such a rowdy and mad airport.

I am happy to be back home and I have no intentions of relocating but I honestly wish our leaders will take steps to improve the lot of Nigerians. These people visit other countries and see the way things are. I don't think it is impossible for Lagos to have a mass transit system just like London, Paris or New York. It is very doable. All we need is a man with a vision and of course the tenacity to see it through. We have enough money to meet all our requirements but mismanagement, corruption and a lack of vision has kept us at this level. I'm not asking for Nigerian scientists to take us to Mars, just basic things that don't require extra brains to do.

I am confident that it will happen in my lifetime!

We can do better

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I forgot to say a Merry Christmas and a truly wonderful new year to everyone. Albeit that this Christmas wasn't at all merry for some. My cousin lost his wife in a fatal car accident two Saturdays ago. December will never be the same for him again. The realisation that he could do nothing to save her must be crushing. I pray that god will give the entire family of the Adebiyis the Grace to bear this loss. If you hear the way some men talk to their wives you would think they want them dead. If my cousin could turn back the hands of time, he would take back every put down and less than nice word he ever said to his wife. I sure will learn to appreciate mine a bit better. She's in the hospital with my son who has a respiratory infection. He's going home today though. Just in time to move to our new house. I went there this morning and saw the ghastly work that had been done. Some lout who was hired to paint the place did such a sloppy job that the entire thing has to be redone.

Makes we wonder why excellence is not celebrated in Nigeria anymore. Everybody wants to cut corners, jump queues, use substandard materials and generally do the worst they can possibly do. I remember the buildings put up in my University in the 60s and 70s are much better looking than those put up in the 90s. Are we getting worse? I don't think we need Oyinbo people to do everything for us. Nigerians are talented and industrious and honestly...we can do better. We certainly can do better. It takes discipline and rigour but it can be done.

Merry Xmas Naija style

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Xmas has come and gone with most of it spent queuing for fuel. We were all still grumbling about having to buy black market fuel when the sad sad news of how several hundred Nigerian citizens driven by poverty to commit suicide were roasted to death. Some people blame them for their deaths but I also lay the blame on poverty. If I can afford to eat three square meals, it is not likely that I will risk being burnt alive for a few thousand Naira. Honestly, this has to stop. Some touts who were interviewed said they will continue to vandalise pipelines and steal fuel because it is either they die of hunger or they face the risks inherent in carrying out such a dastardly act. I really feel for the families of the people who died in the explosion. Yet another tragedy that could have been adverted.

I spent the first two hours of today queuing for fuel and fighting some rascals who were trying to jump the fuel queue. I wonder what posseses responsible Nigerians to do such things. I asked a man at the filling station what he would say to his children if he saw them jumping a line at school. His answer? That is a completely different situation. He kept asking me "aren't you a Nigerian?" As if Nigerian and lawless lout mean the same thing. This just has to stop. Period.