Thursday, December 23, 2010

This YULETIDE

Of course we must give thanks for the gift of life and the privilege of making it this far as individuals, as families, as communities and as nations. Glory to God!

We have to also reflect on our lives and our times. Today is a poor image of what our world should be, isn't it? Those who should know know. Those who should act don't. So we are ending the year 2010 with unfinished business almost willfully!

You may go round the globe in panoramic despair for all the examples you wish, and you will reap more. Not too long ago, we had long lists of hopes and expectations. Today, the lists are longer! And it is so in all nations.

World leaders, please do something!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

All Leaks - Wiki or Wanky

The great lesson from the current frenzy over the Wikileaks of US diplomatic cables is the simple fact of being true to one's conscience.

Speak and write the truth to self and employers! No sleepless nights will haunt you.

Use fine and refined language, embrace the code of conduct! No stray message will hurt you.

Give honest service to nation and nobodys! No leaks will harm you.

Inevitably we make mistakes. Just compare and repair.

Let no-one mock yet - it may be too early, and short-sighted!

All things give gains, and pains.

Beware.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Europe's Freeze

The freezing weather across Europe and its human toll must teach us all to be responsive to Climate Change and its deleterious consequences. When it freezes, it harms and kills. When it's heat-waves, it hurts and kills! Both the people and their fellow global villagers are concerned. We do deeply feel for them.

Let the Cancun Summit deliver on its promise : a safer, healthier world for us and future generations! That's the barest minimum we would accept. No more excuses, please. We are harming our planet! Are world leaders listening? Do they not see?

Now to some concrete steps by the EU-Africa Cooperation/Council: Build Holiday Camps, Homes and Resorts in Africa! Spread/locate them across the continent. Do this right away so Europeans can come over for Winter Escape & Summer Rendezvous! Make it an ambitious 10-year Intervention. It is good health, it is life-saving, it is sound business, and it is futuristic governance!

As the governments mull and pull this agenda, let the private sector and civil society bodies roll out templates and pilots. Action is overdue - long overdue.

Cote d'Ivoire, why this?

Over the years, I have been a fan of Ivory Coast (as it used to be called) for a variety of factors. The West African country had been quite stable and dependable in the past. Yes, it had a dictator in Houphet Boigney and poverty was palpable everywhere, the place was nothing near the utter chaos and brink-hugging catastrophe we now endure.

One of my most intriguing memories was the refusal of Pope John Paul II to go dedicate a huge Basilica built by the late dictator in Yamoussoukro. It mocks Christianity!, the pontiff declared. How could a nation sprawling with poverty in the midst of plenty live with such monstrous hypocrisy, demanded John Paul. It was a lesson African leaders - with the generous help of the Western (especially European) handlers/backers - have never really learnt. If anything, they are now carting the people’s patrimony to the East!

The political crises in Cote d’Ivoire are elite-generated, driven and sating. All sides have their faults. But democracy, built on a UN Peace Deal, supported by ECOWAS, AU and the international community, has spoken the people’s voice. It must be heard and obeyed.

President Laurent Gbagbo must hand over to President -elect Alassane Ouattara or be made to do so. The world and the long-suffering people of Cote d’Ivoire deserve to savour this victory! Let’s have a full UN-organized Presidential Inauguration, with the loser embracing the winner in true African brotherhood and the spirit and letter of the peace accord!

Long live Cote d’Ivoire! Thank you, the United Nations - well done!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Don't Worry....Nigeria is SAFE

There are all sorts of scenario-building games going on about Nigeria. From friends to foes of our country to those neutral observers reading events here. Then, of course, our very own citizens home and abroad - very concerned citizens - who are worried and weary! Truth be told, there is enough worry to go round.

But wait a minute, haven't we confounded ourselves before? We always dance around the precipice, and very promptly retreat - returning to sanity. Okay, but must we constantly flirt with disaster, with disunity, with snares & flares - even disintegration? That's what more and more people are asking. My answer is NO! Our collective response must be NO!

If you don't mind, I propose that no motion for separation can pass in this land. It just will not happen. We are so interwoven and intrinsically united at the peoples-level than our so-called leaders recognize or admit. Let me also suggest that the reason most regimes have failed is their failure to imbibe this reality, rather than their divide-and-rule agenda. It is the same reason West Africans stay together despite the abysmal performance (or is it non-performance?) of ECOWAS - a fact its Authority has now acknowledged by launching an "ECOWAS of People not ECOWAS of States" initiative.

Nigeria is SAFE! She is agitated but stable at core.

Nigerians are together! We are depressed but optimistic for our country.

All the worrying and wearying shall pass. We will not crumble or disappear. And we will soon show it -as early as the 2011 General Elections!

Stand by us if you really care.

Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill

We must ask the Nigerian parliament to pass the FOI Bill into law soonest - as it has done with the electoral act and constitution amendment. We must regret that civil society, Labour, the Bar Association and Nigerian students have not taken on the politicians to stop their blatant disrespect for, and total insensitivity to, our collective call for the law in the last 12 years! Now, they must.

We ask the Save Nigeria Group to place this case on the front burner. This National Assembly must not expire without passing the bill into law, and President Jonathan needs to announce his eagerness to assent today!

Though this is not a media-only law, we must call on the Nigerian Press to rise to its full height and bring this matter to either an early resolution or an early confrontation. We cannot fight for democracy and its biggest beneficiaries treat the nation with such contempt. Not allowed.

FOI is now an election issue: Vote for it and you may return; vote against and you are gone! This is the message every medium, all media, must make a banner clip each and every day - as we countdown to Election Day 2011.

Friday, November 12, 2010

The CONVERGENCE

The CONVERGENCE is here!

There is a new dawn on the horizon. It will renew the world. In its wake, dear friends, many things – both known and unknown - will change, or be changed. It is knocking on all doors! I call it "The Convergence".

The new generation of world leaders will become barriers and burdens to the old generation, thus engendering self-searching and enforcing self-immolation! I call it "The Convergence".
Women will rise in a quantum leap from Africa to Asia, with such speed and much surprise that will upset and unsettle so much in governance and economic strangleholds. Then, the sea change! I call it "The Convergence".

The media is no longer just about journalists, though the press is powerful and here to stay, New Media is about citizens and nationalists with increasing consciousness of the "Think Global, Act Local" reality. I call it "The Convergence".

World corruption is the real corruption. There are forces on the run. There are new forces on the hunt. And both forces have no hiding place! I call it "The Convergence".

The final convergence is the Children. You undermine them, dear leaders, and they know! I call it "The Convergence". It is knocking on all doors!

BANKERS and OUR ECONOMIES

Somehow, I could not believe the way things went haywire with the world economy though I kind of knew it was coming. If anyone thinks we are out of the woods yet, let them beware!

All my training and instincts tell me that our bankers, home and abroad, have learnt precious little from their heist, and are chest thumping prematurely. Turning in profits so soon enough may be good enough, but turning a new leaf be the real relief the world needs and deserves. The business of banking is, in its proper setting, the business of humanity: safekeeping, economic productivity, backbone infrastructure, reasonable risks, currency and credits, among others. We cannot have banking profits in a banging or bankrupt economy. That is paper-profit!

Jobless growth is its political flipside: Where politicians reel out GDP and other macroeconomic data to celebrate their economic prowess while their citizens can't see or feel the bounty! For graphic examples, come to Africa, especially my very own Nigeria.

These bailed-out bankers must don new suits of humility and penitence. After the trillions of dollars their cataclysmic and unprofessional practices induced/compelled as bail-outs and stimulus packages across the globe, it would be utterly unthinkable not to see some turnaround in some national economies. If we worked out the return-on-investment of the financial cum political outlay can anyone justify the euphoria? If we crank up the opportunity cost, will we be anywhere this complacent?

Okay, let's be fair: Many of the key players have gone, most of them into infamy. So, we can allow some "well done" notes for their successors. But it should be a granddad's "grunt" not a teenager's "glee" as we now see!

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Anniversary Bomb Blast

I have only one appeal: The way to stop all violence is to stop all vanity. When we study the pains of mistrust, distrust and their effect on our distraught nation, we must promptly return to TRUST. And stoutly stay there!

Let the politicians and their foot soldiers stand for NIGERIA robustly. And patriotically. Bomb away discord and bond in one accord. What else? Hmm...

Well, this phase - like all mortality - will pass away. And NIGERIA will still be here.

History? Yes. Mystery? No.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

A Beauty and A Duty

Never before have I felt this upbeat about this land. Okay, I was "too small" in 1960 to really feel anything at Independence. Then I was upbeat anytime there was some transition to another administration or government. Well, we've been up and down. The story is well-known.

This feeling is different. It is coming in the wake of many realities about our incongruity and the untenable incongruities of our current reality. Put differently, things have changed! Those who do not see it will not have long to wait. Stay tuned.

Nigeria, this Jubilee, has berthed rough and roughened, tough and toughened, wise and wizened on its predetermined shores. We have borne what needs to be borne, we will pay what must be paid. We are a proud and pantheon-people. We are through our wilderness.

What we do and how we go be the bounden duty of all, for the God-given beauty for all. This is not a mere wish but an emerging reality. I see it, I sense it, I feel it. It is here!

My congratulations - hearty and heavy - to all Nigerians and Friends of Nigeria on this Golden Jubilee of our Sovereign Motherland.

My Very SPECIAL APOLOGY To You - On The Blackout!

Anyone who knows Nigeria and Nigerians knows that we are very passionate about our dear nation, and go the extra mile to mull over her. We will not be put down or held down. Ask the colonialists, ask the military, ask the Third Termists! Read up on the Nigeria vs Niger Delta conundrum. Ask the so-called "cabal" that held our late President Yar'Adua and his regime by the jugular! Just to add a more current scent, ask our soccer (mis)representatives - the Super Eagles (?) – to the just-concluded FIFA World Cup in South Africa: For earning us such a poor grade, and not rising to the challenge of making Africa proud in the first-ever mundial on African soil, they are being roasted! This, despite our criminal and incriminating absence of focus, bad and improper coordination, the palpable fraud in sports administration - not unlike everywhere else - late and inadequate preparation, and an ageing squad!!

Followers of this site may recall my passion and commitment when all was well. So, for me to be off - sort of AWOL - all these months is the most painful and depressing blow my country has dealt me thus far. Recall, dear friends, that we've had hitches and glitches before: Internet Access wahala. And the usual apologies followed. However, this time, it became very clear that there was a plot to "under-DIGITALize" the nation! The official national carrier, NITEL, had been "cornered" along with SAT-3, the submarine cable. As my preferred ISP and Nigeria's Internet backbone, we have been virtually crippled in the last 20+ months! I got very angry and decided to await the Glo-1 and Main One submarine cables being deployed by some great patriots Mike Adenuga (I told you before) and Fola Adeola (founder of GTB Bank) + Ms Opeke (a Telecoms Amazon). I will revisit this subject sometime soon.

If it cost these firms less than US$1.5bn to land their cables in West Africa, we could have wired up the Whole of Africa with US$5bn a few years back. Yet, Nigeria paid over US$15bn to exit her so-called "external debt", to the London and Paris Clubs of Creditors!! Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria & South Africa should have paid US$5bn to put their continent on a 21st Century Internet pedestal, under the proud auspices of the African Union. It would have been easier, cheaper and faster. Thank God for our conscientious compatriots and their likes around Africa, and within the African Diaspora.

Returning to my blogs, and remaining online, was my only condition for re-subscribing to any ISP. I have used most of what was on offer, and, along with other nationals, the story has been sad. So sad. Since you are reading this, it means I'm fairly confident I now have a good deal. Well, I hope!

My apologies to you all. If you had any lashes for my back for going AWOL, spare them: I've groaned under the harshest possible punishment: not being able to "speak" with you, "share" with you, in this privileged and enthralling zone of our Online Commons!!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Jubilee Knocks!

Thank God from both big and small mercies! I am writing with great gratitude myself, as with my
dear country Nigeria, for resuming my blogs on the eve of our Fiftieth Independence Anniversary.
Details will follow on why and how I've been off. But I apologize sincerely.

As I write, there is optimism in the air and in my own heart. If we cannot speak for the past, we can certainly play a worthy part in the plans for the future. These are indeed challenging times, exciting times, momentous moments.

Your humble blogger shall do his bit. May God's Plan be fulfilled for country and citizen in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

The MAN in the FALCONETS

Gender crusaders and feminists may wish to regale us afresh that, "the best man for a job is a WOMAN! Haven't our Super Falconets proven it today - at the Under20 Women's FIFA World Cup, losing narrowly to hosts and now two times champions Germany? What the Super Eagles failed to achieve in South Africa our girls did for the nation! They could have lifted the trophy. Well, they came proudly second. We are proud of them. Bravo!

We salute and celebrate the Nigerian Spirit in the girls. It reminds us of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Soccer Gold Medalists, led by Nwankwo Kanu. They, like the girls, were shabbily treated and given no chance at all of getting anywhere. Today, we have a feeling of déjà vu. There is creeping evidence that Nigeria will use these two canes to whip sanity into our football and general sports administration in this era of mandated restructuring. To do otherwise will be criminal lethargy, even suicidal.

Back to the girls: They flew the Nigerian, Ecowas and African Flag into the final. And yes they did us proud. Having stopped USA - the defending champions - many were rooting for them. Those "not-so-sure" touted the high-scoring record of the hosts to predict a routing of the Falconets. It ended 2-0; it could have been 1-0! Pray, the Germans were the better side. And they fully deserved their win.

Now, to the lessons: It is not news that most of our glory has had great lacings from our female athletes. Who can forget that glorious high jump gold - our first Olympic Gold - by Chioma Ajunwa? Or the great exploits of long-reigning queen of African tracks, Mary Onyali? Right now in Kenya the women are making us proud again! It is time to acknowledge this, and move strategically to give them full support at all levels.

Make no mistake, all of sports need transformation; what we advocate is a non-discriminatory and robust approach.