I read it somewhere that ‘if you not satisfied with your current situation, create the kind of situation you want‘. In otherwords, take charge of your life and create your own future.  Often times, I have griped on this blog about the unnecessary politics and ass licking within the organization I work for. Honestly, I have had it up to here with such a superficial set up. So in 2009, I had one or two objectives I hoped to accomplish. One of these was to start my own business, conclude my MBA program and move on to other personal issues such as starting a family. So, this is eleven months down the line, and I was just thinking how time has gone and how closer I have come to accomplishing these goals.

One of the few things I did was to stick a post-it-note on the walls of my wardrobe or closet, itemising those things I wanted to accomplish. The business idea I started out with eventually did not sail through because I did not have the kind of money I actually required. Which left me thinking of other things I could do. I still intend to resurrect that particular business idea in the long term. One of the few people who really inspired me is my blogger friend Nan,  cos she has gone through a lot of emotional upheavals during the year and was able to start her design business. You can click on the link above to place orders (she resides in the U.K and can only take orders within).

I have always been interested in manufacturing and therefore, went in search of a product that could give me the leverage I needed. I was successful and stumbled on a Canadian company that was manufacturing a product that every woman needs on a daily basis. I approached them and was lucky enough to have been given the distribution rights for Africa. This did not happen overnight, it involved a series of relationship and trust building between the supplier and myself over a period of 12 months (since October 2008). It’s a new product and I was involved throughout the design process. The first set of products have been shipped and I’m expecting it by next week hopefully.

While we were going through the design process, I approached Shoprite Nigeria and South Africa, selling the benefits and huge margins on this brand. I sent in a proposal and Shoprite Nigeria has agreed to start stocking the brand come January 2010 while talks are still ongoing with Shoprite South Africa.

Why am I saying all these? Are you unhappy with your present job or is it a family situation you need to get out of?Please believe in yourself cos no one will ever do if you doubt your God-given abilities. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do anything cos you can. Just refuse to give in and accept all the negative comments from family and friends. Stand up on a daily basis, look at yourself in the mirror and demand from Life what you want. If  you don’t demand and believe, you just might not get it. But if you do, then the sky is just the beginning.

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!

The West African Health Organisation (WAHO), the Health Agency of ECOWAS, and its Partners announce its Young Professional Internship Programme for 2010 – 2011, which will commence in March 2010, and hereby invite applications from citizens of member countires of ECOWAS.
Goal: The goal of the programme is to equip young professionals with knowledge, skills and experience for effective management of health problems in West Africa.

Structure: The 12month programme is divided into 6 Stages. Stages 1 and 4 will take place at the headquarters of WAHO in Burkina Faso, during which the Interns will acquire knowledge and competence in basic principles of public health, a second official language of ECOWAS, computer and new information technology as well as basic principles of management and leadership. During stages 2 and 5, the interns would be posted to host institutions in different countries in West Africa to acquire practical skills and competencies in their technical areas of interest or professional specialisation. The technical areas should respond to the health needs of the sub-region and the priority domains of WAHO.

Priority Domains for 2010 – 2011:
The applicants for the internship should have interest in one or more of the following priority technical areas:
1. HIV/AIDS
2. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
3. CHILD SURVIVAL
4. NUTRITION
5. PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS
6. MALARIA

Benefits:
The Interns would be provided with accomodation and would receive a monthly allowance during the period. All travel costs related to the Internship would be paid for and learning materials would be provided free.

Eligibility:
All applicants must be citizens of ECOWAS member countries, must be available throughout the 12month period and should have:
1. obtained a university degree or equivalent within the past five years.
2. fluency in reading and writing of at least one official ECOWAS language (English, French, Portugese)
3. basic competence in Information and Communication Technologies

Application Procedures:
Interested candidates should send the following documents:
1. Letter of application to participate in the programme.
2. Up to date curriculum vitae.
3. Photocopy of the relevant pages of the National passport, National Identity Card or birth certificate.
4. Photocopies of Diplomas and Certificates.
5. Letter of motivation stating reasons for the chocie, relevant experiences and future career plans.
6. In addition, each candidate should send three letters of reference. Two of the referees must be persons who taught the applicant in the University or appropriate institution. For a candidate with work of experience, the third should be a professional with whom the candidate has worked. The letters of reference should be sent directly to the address below by the referees. All applications and letters of reference should be sent by post or e-mail to:

West African Health Organisation (WAHO/OOAS)
Young Professional Internship Programme
01 BP 153 Bobo-Dioulasso 01
Burkina Faso

Email: waho.ypip2010@yahoo.fr

Closing date: All applications must be received by the close of work on 15th November 2009.

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).

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.

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.

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.

I feel like screaming on top of my lungs today….and I really mean it. I am in the middle of recruiting promoters, for a brand campaign, and it is appalling that young people, have a hard time expressing themselves clearly. What are we doing? I have chatted with 10 young people and they couldn’t express themselves in English. For instance, I asked a young man (23 -25years) what he was engaged in, since leaving school and, his response was ‘NOTHING’. I wanted to scream at him “What do you mean by Nothing?” How can you be living within a vaccum? My colleague who noticed my expression, stopped me in time from committing a huge blunder.

Mr. President….what are you doing if you cannot move the nation forward? It is so appalling that you travelled to Saudi Arabia for an opening ceremony of a world class university, while your educational institutions are rotting and have degenerated.

What is so appalling about our situation is that, the situation is not resticted to the Nigerian youth but adults as well. I see so many people living in a vaccum on a daily basis. It is so frustrating. Phew…I am so speechless and I am thinking of how I can turn this situation around. It’s no wonder why most young people have adopted street language as an acceptable form of communication to replace English Language. So much for 7 point Agenda and 2020 vision or whatever.

This is wishing my muslim sisters and brothers “Ramaddan Kareem”.

Hey, don’t go thinking I know all the answers cos I don’t. I am actually trying to discover what everyone is investing in amidst the global financial crisis. I spoke with a friend of mine yesterday and she suggested real estate. My grouse with buying land in Nigeria is the issue of  “Omo o nile” and attendant dubious charges. I would rather buy a detached three bedroom bungalow, within the range of N5mn – N6mn (which is dependent on whether I can access mortgage facilties), located in Lagos. Since I don’t have such huge funds right now, I have to think of something else.

For the past one month, I have been trying to scout for other alternative investment options (long-term), and someone had suggested ARM Investment. Please note that I did not include the link to the website. I’d rather not cos from my own point of view, either they are yet to engage the services of a social media strategist, or someone is simply not doing their job. I filled in the forms a month ago and I am yet to be contacted by a Wealth Advisor. What is the essence of setting up a website if there’s no one capable of attending to visitor’s enquiries. I also tried calling the numbers stated on the websites and unfortunately, none seems to be working.

My question today is: If you have some funds sitting idle in your savings account, where would you invest it?

I do not know where to begin but I guess i’ll start. My laptop’s symantec subscription expired some few weeks back and I had saved all my passwords on my Norton account to safeguard sites I regularly visit from hackers. For the past three weeks, I have been trying to recover my password to this blog unsuccessfully. Today, I had to change my password to gain access and I can’t say how glad I am to be back on the blogging scene. Thanks to all who dropped one comment or the other (hey, this is a special shout out to F), I will respond to all questions as soon as possible.

So much has happened in the past one month within this country, and I begin to wonder where I will start from. However, I am not going to talk about the banking crisis or banking tsunami (according to the Nigerian media), neither am I going to talk about the ongoing ASUU strike. A lot has been said about these issues and I’d rather observe where this is all going to end. One resolution I adopted while away on vacation is the need to be a more positive thinker, dare to do the impossible and take a conscious stand on the kind of people I want in public offices. Enough is enough! We need to take our destiny into our hands if this country is to move forward. I have had it with mediocrity. Phew….