Archive for October, 2009

The danger behind a single story

October 29, 2009 at 7:44 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

The above named title was coined from a recent interview Chimamanda Adichie granted ( I think it’s all over YouTube). I have not watched the video clip but from the title, it is safe to assume that she was talking of the need to project our own stories and not one woven around Famous Five, Barbie, Fawlty Towers and others.

While reading an article on Oprah’s website last week, I came across her book of the month. The title was ‘Say You Are One of Them’, written by Uwem Akpan, a Nigerian author. Anyway, while reading through its’ synopsis, I discovered that the story revolves around genocide and war issues in Africa. If Chimamanda Adichie thinks that there is a danger in projecting stories from a particular race, I agree.

However, the danger behind the single story our African writers are projecting is a continent of despair, famine, inter tribal wars, communal strife, voodooism, witchcraft, female subjugation and other dark things you can associate with Africa. No wonder, it is referred to as ‘the dark continent’. Is it just me or am I biased in thinking that for every burgeoning African writer, there’s this urge to centralize their story themes around one war or the other to continually project dark stories to be a potential winner of ‘The Pulitzer Prize, The Caine Prize and other international awards available. I’ve often wondered why books such as ‘A Man of the People’, ‘No Longer at Ease’ or ‘Jagua Nana’ never won international acclaim. Guess, we’ve been feeding the world wrongly.

Why can’t we weave our stories around more positive elements? Why must it be the usual suspects? I am looking forward to the day, an African writer will win the Pulitzer prize for stories woven around more central positive themes than what is prevalent now.

I realize we need to tell our stories and keep it for future generations yet unborn, so they can have an idea of how we waded through the storms to finally find heaven (this is assuming and hoping we do make something bright out of Africa).

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Say No

October 15, 2009 at 8:10 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , ,

I listened to an interactive programme on 101.5FM (Star FM), on my way to the office this morning. It was anchored by Moyo Oyatogun and the topic for discussion was concerning ritual rites performed, when a king passes onto the great beyond. A particular Erelu spoke on this issue extensively for about 10 minutes highlighting the age long tradition (which I believe must be repudiated), involving incision on the body of the late king, hanging the body (like a common criminal)to hydrate, while the heart and some other parts are taken out for preservation for the next king, who is expected to consume these parts upon ascending the throne.

It was ‘Tales of Horror by Daylight’ at its’ best if you ask me. We would be deceiving ourselves if we deny that this hideous practise is not prevalent within most parts of Africa. She also gave some startling revelations about what was done to the late body of Funsho Adeolu (if you ever watched ‘The Village Headmaster’), you’ll know who I’m talking about. She said, his body was hung to dry, while several incisions were made on his body, and some vital organs were removed for rituals and preservation for the next king. This was done before she assumed the title (just in case you’re wondering, what she was doing there). According to her, upon assuming the title of Erelu, the late king appeared to her in a vision, and told her of what was done to his body, and how he was finding it pretty difficult to rest in perfect peace. He led her to the people who committed such atrocities and she demanded for a release of his body parts, so a proper burial could be conducted for the late king.

It was as a result of this, she decided to start a campaign against ritualism and cannibalism. If you are wondering why such a traditionalist should be speardheading this campaign, she spent most of her years outside this country, acquiring education, skills and knowledge before coming back to assume this title. From my own point of view, I find it reprehensible that we are still engaging in such dark practices while the rest of the world (who are saner), are thinking of improving the welfare of their people. This is why Africa will never develop where such people abound. I shudder to think of the innocent souls that have been wasted. I support this campign wholeheartedly, and so did a lot of people who called into the programme to contribute to this topical issue.

My people, we can only get better. Please if you’ve got a blog, discuss this issue and raise more awareness. If you’d like to be involved in the campaign, you can get in touch with the Erelu via: saynotocannibalism2009@yahoo.co.uk (I hope I got it right)  and if I did not, do let me know so I can get in touch with the radio station, to obtain the correct email address.

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So much for Financial Freedom

October 8, 2009 at 8:12 am · Filed under Bad Spending Habits, Entrepreneur, Financial Independence, Getting Started, Nigeria, Travel, Women and Money ·Tagged ,

While I was away for summer school at the University of Leicester, a friend of mine had casually mentioned that she belonged to a travel club, that catered to individuals who had a love for travel. She offered to give them my number and I agreed. Last week, I received a call from the organisation (Reality Vacation Innovation), inviting me to a presentation at the Premier Hotel, Mokola, Ibadan on the 4th of September.

After church service, I found my way to the venue. The event was suppossed to commence by 3.30p.m but it eventually commenced around 4.30p.m. I was already frothing at the mouth, but I decided to watch things unravel. The presentation was conducted by a man (who I suspect is a South African national), who spent an hour expatiating on the wonderful benefits of becoming a member of this organization. Upon listening to the presentation, I came to the following conclusions:

  • This is another ponzi scheme (if you don’t know what a ponzi scheme is, please google or Wikipedia it).
  • This is another case of ‘baboon dey work, monkey dey chop’ thingy.
  • We are a bunch of greedy people with short memories ( I like to think we are suffering from permanent amnesia).

From his explanation, a prospective member is expected to pay a membership fee of $7,500, to gain free hotel accomodation access for the next 25years, to any exotic travel destination of their choice. Why invest you might ask? According to him, for such a member to recoup his/her investment, such a person needs to recruit two more people. Once these people pay up their fees, the host gets a total of $350 ($175/person) and the recruitment cycle continues. He kept on reiterating how it was imperative to invest such an amount, to reap $56,000 in six months. Now you see where I am heading to. While the presentation was going on, I kept staring at the faces of the attendees (it was plain greed I saw).

I have always known that hard work has never killed. Where I began to get angry, was when he (the presenter) started saying that everyone can attain financial freedom and get to a situation, where you can virtually buy anything and still have great financial reserves (duh!!! you wish, in your dreams perhaps?). For heaven’s sake, even the richest celebrity knows that this is hogwash at its’ very best. Yeah, financial freedom my foot, if that is the world’s order, Michael Jackson wouldn’t have ended up with so much debts and I would be somewhere on the Tahiti island, in my one piece bikini, sipping on rum juice, running wild and free, emptying Manolo Blahnik’s shoe stores (why? because I believe some dumb fools are racking up wealth for me, by joining a travel club). How low can we get?

The saddening aspect of this was, when the presenter asked each of them, what they would do with this huge sum upon redemption. They promptly touted ” i’ll reinvest it in my business; i’ll reinvest it in this scheme”. Not one person with my exception, said anything about taking a trip with the money. I wonder why we are enslaving our lives to the money god if we cannot enjoy it. Around 5.50p.m, the presentation ended, and as I got up to leave, I observed that yours truly was the only person, who declined such an offer. I left that room, with people who had a glazed greedy expression, thinking of how much money they could amass within six months. Phew!!! the things we do for money.

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New Direction

October 6, 2009 at 8:12 am · Filed under Getting Started, Nigeria, Women and Money ·Tagged , ,

I have been screaming all week and I am done with screaming. I have thought about how I am going to change things about what I do not like. I will be doing this via this blog. If you happen to stop by and observe that, I no longer disscuss financial issues, it’s because I am done with nonentities ruling us in this country.

There’s a need to sensitize our youths on the need to be actively involved in deciding who rules this country. The reason why we have not moved an inch, is because of nonentities who are parading themselves as leaders, within the corridors of power. I am done with mediocrity.

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