tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24566967545045529892024-02-20T22:40:31.084-08:00Adejoh'sReal Stories.
Fresh Perspectives.
Original Writing.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-86512316508584763222016-08-30T06:27:00.000-07:002016-08-30T06:27:25.360-07:00the Painting, this Boy and his Love for the Artist<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RINr1ihmzsCrJivl39ocsc7LN_B694TqxPyGVxoKRSLyu9mydLGj2GndBJgvP96Ethr7-C3Ck7XCC0Z-BT01_iwbwFk1JrPjSB_kLphlnLDMt4bi7zvg0Mf6HYjcDRqmY97nCHA7FPk/s1600/paint-brushes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RINr1ihmzsCrJivl39ocsc7LN_B694TqxPyGVxoKRSLyu9mydLGj2GndBJgvP96Ethr7-C3Ck7XCC0Z-BT01_iwbwFk1JrPjSB_kLphlnLDMt4bi7zvg0Mf6HYjcDRqmY97nCHA7FPk/s320/paint-brushes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It started with a tweet. A
guy named Murphy with whom I had attended an arts show months earlier. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Artist needed. I look to
commission a painting’ then trails of short direct messages ensued; ‘I know a
guy, who knows a guy, who can hook you up’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was Sunday when I first
met Yemi. I remember particularly that the sun shone bright and hot. And my
head ached, the kind of head ache that said clearly you didn’t belong in the
sun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My car lazily pulled into First Bank’s parking lot. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This has to be the
smallest bank branch I thought as she came into the front passenger’s seat;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Good Afternoon’ she said
without saying her name as though being nameless was a show of respect. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I nodded and said ‘Just give me
directions’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I remember her smell as it
filled the space in the air conditioned car. I first thought cinnamon and later
changed my mind and agreed she just smelt of paint; that icky combination of
paint and dried up sweat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was not until we got to
her studio that she took off her headscarf and I saw her hair: uneven, ruffled
and all natural. She wore no make-up; like she made no effort whatsoever, like
there was no reason to make an effort. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now it is close to a month
and she is ready to deliver my painting. She sends me a photo of it first to
let me know what I am expecting. I send her a message saying it is crooked. We
go back and forth and she tries to justify its crookedness. I insist it is
crooked but for the sake of what may be a friendship, I let it slide. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Please deliver it
promptly and in good condition’ I reply.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As she hangs it on the
wall I step back and look. Wondering, admiring, I have never doubted her talent
and this painting proved that any doubt would have been misplaced. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For the first time, I
notice the smooth skin on her arms, her full lips and I wonder what they would
feel like if I kissed them. Instead, I say ‘Thank you’ and point to some blemishes on the frame
‘You have to polish these up’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I will do that when next
I come’ she says and I am pleased. This is indicative of her want to return, of
her want to see me again. It is proof that the slight chemistry between us was
not felt by me alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She returns as promised and I wish she did not just present herself only as an artist
delivering a commissioned painting. I
wished she saw herself as a friend, or someone who was at least welcome in my
house. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I had demonstrated this on
the two occasions when I offered her a drink or a snack or just a seat or that
other time when I sent her a message asking her to stop by at will. All those
offerings, she refused.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After she left we
exchanged messages again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Thanks’ I say. ‘You’re
Welcome. Regards to your mum and dad’ she replies and I wish she would not be
so professional; only focused on her art and never saying anything personal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘They’d hear. They both
live out of town’ surely that ought to lure her into conversation, I thought.
It didn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
sigh a heavy sigh and feel dispirited. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
remember Murphy saying to me in a message ‘This artist is professional’ and I
wonder why he pointed that out. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I look back to the painting, there’s a woman
seated cross-legged with purity bursting out of her chest. I say to myself </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘At
least I will always have a piece of her’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<i>Have any stories where you tried to blur the lines between professionalism and leisure? By all means, share in the comments... </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com3Kaduna, Nigeria10.5104642 7.4165053000000410.2606662 7.0937818000000394 10.7602622 7.73922880000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-49277749591853840312016-02-17T15:10:00.002-08:002016-02-17T15:17:23.802-08:00How She Left<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJuYPQscsmCWhTkxR07WsPIktDlVf6vGk8TQsmwsRaP_VlhYfBHPcgzo8VmGkaGk1Iif2AEpLUnJ8Yws1qM_D3bT2LAns3lExfy5skNwzmlF4BoJ1BzxDcoOemnWRC8of6ck3T3Vwk8s/s1600/breaking-up-laurie-lipton-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJuYPQscsmCWhTkxR07WsPIktDlVf6vGk8TQsmwsRaP_VlhYfBHPcgzo8VmGkaGk1Iif2AEpLUnJ8Yws1qM_D3bT2LAns3lExfy5skNwzmlF4BoJ1BzxDcoOemnWRC8of6ck3T3Vwk8s/s320/breaking-up-laurie-lipton-15.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I notice it even as I eat,
or sit or walk; my motions are getting slower, more deliberate, purposeful
even. I hear the door handle twist violently, almost like the person who twists
it expects it to swing open. When it did not open, I hear an even louder knock.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I lay still in bed,
allowing whoever it is the pleasure of a second knock. All the while I imagine
who I must have given the right to knock on my door that hard. After the second knock I lazily pull myself
up from the bed, in the distance from room to door, I hear even louder knocks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Did you not hear me honk
at the gate?’ she asked as I opened the door and I hoped the question came out
as a joke. It wasn’t until I turned towards her and saw her awaiting response
that I sighed defeated-ly and said,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Was I supposed to hear?’
a response that didn’t really mean anything, but seeing as it answered a
senseless question to begin with, I did not mind. I probably should have asked
if I was the gate keeper or if people stayed in their houses and listened for
honks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We sat for minutes in
silence, I thought of offering a cold drink from the fridge but I did not just
get myself to. Instead I sat there, willing to say much and actually not saying
anything. We both stared, it was uncomfortable at first but it quickly got
better. She pulled herself up abruptly, grabbed her car keys and said,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Let me quickly drop
someone off and return’, I smiled wide. She had outdone herself. I didn’t think
she could stand our silence for thirty minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is ten minutes before she
sends me a message,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I might run a little
late’, I smile and think to myself ‘Learner’…. ‘this is how she finally leaves my life’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Have similar stories of partners who craftily leave just before valentine so they can avoid gifting? Please share in the comments or leave me a mail.... </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-65047022564079900642015-07-19T12:20:00.002-07:002015-07-19T12:20:57.533-07:00#ShapersCONNECT review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1JXcfyswdb3uCK0Dto9JWNn8mnop8boEDtL620a9fmVVN_ioXXYoqMLgh6X7tlWAm4t2dxRRppV-eC93I-ydm9TLvxaZNXsatrht9M1YnnV71Ses379Wk4PVLXRUMRbO8jl2uk-qizo/s1600/Shapers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1JXcfyswdb3uCK0Dto9JWNn8mnop8boEDtL620a9fmVVN_ioXXYoqMLgh6X7tlWAm4t2dxRRppV-eC93I-ydm9TLvxaZNXsatrht9M1YnnV71Ses379Wk4PVLXRUMRbO8jl2uk-qizo/s320/Shapers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">by<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adejoh Idoko Momoh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For
anyone who knows me, they know I’d never pass up on an opportunity to hear
<a href="http://elnathanjohn.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">El-Nathan </a>speak. He isn’t just a phenomenal writer, he is also true; his
honesty is brutal in an ‘I-don’t-care-if-it-hurts’ kind of way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When
I got the #ShapersCONNECT invite and it pointed out that one of my favorite
people, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Okechukwu_Effoduh" target="_blank">Jake Okechukwu Effoduh</a> will compere and El-Nathan John will speak on
social media usage and its consequences, attendance was a no brainer for me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You
see, there are certain social circles in Abuja and the Abuja <a href="https://www.globalshapers.org/" target="_blank">Global Shapers</a> is
one comprised of leaders under the age of 30 who are exceptional in their
potential, achievement and drive to make a contribution to their communities. At
least that’s what it says on the website. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Being
there at the event and seeing all the people, I could tell this was no ordinary
crop. It </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio-iS_umW0sXek049-IUENEbtCl7SFZpZOrlgav-LFAMecKdHfBM9PbpPAeU9HTSsOsCO0YDyPcvCYuSBFHK5wWvOCRzYQHQTjjr4WAZUZmZuZvC_AHwTDFSEmrISDdq4jn0ZoIfLV2B8/s1600/Shapers+Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio-iS_umW0sXek049-IUENEbtCl7SFZpZOrlgav-LFAMecKdHfBM9PbpPAeU9HTSsOsCO0YDyPcvCYuSBFHK5wWvOCRzYQHQTjjr4WAZUZmZuZvC_AHwTDFSEmrISDdq4jn0ZoIfLV2B8/s320/Shapers+Logo.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">was evident in the way they spoke; the ease with which words bounced
off their lips, the delicacy with which they held their glasses, how they
gently rubbed on your forearm as they complimented you, I was glad to be there.
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The
theme itself was fitting- ‘the role of youths in an Evolving Nigeria’ and 3
entrepreneurs shared their perspectives. I do not remember names and all, but I
remember the feeling that came with the first entrepreneur. She had this
‘our-society-is-plagued-with-ills-look-and-i-am-here-to-correct-it’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I
believed this, at least until she started speaking. She began a sermon on
financial lessons she learnt from reading the Financial Times and continued
with the fact that she relocated from the United States in 2010 and started her
Nigerian business in 2011. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She
spoke on poverty, talked about discipline and savings and the fact that she was
21 years old when she bought her first house in Maryland. She now owns two
homes in the United States. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">‘I
hardly think she is qualified to talk on poverty’ I said to the stranger who
sat next to me. He grinned. The sort that suggested he didn’t want to be spoken
to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Talks
of poverty are important in the sense that they create awareness around the
issue and the urgent need to end it, but her views were very elitist,
unrealistic even. How do you weigh poverty by the capacity to buy houses? In
America no less? How many middle class Nigerians even own homes in Nigeria? How
many Nigerians have even heard of the Financial Times? Or seen a copy? Or read
its words?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Home
ownership is important, but it hardly is one of the issues poor people in
Nigeria concern themselves with. Poor people usually have issues that surround
survival: feeding, access to water, shelter even if make shift or temporary,
they hardly are concerned about saving up to buy a home, it’s the least of
their priorities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The
second entrepreneur who is the founder of <a href="http://www.dmpworld.com.ng/" target="_blank">Designers Market Place</a> spoke on
innovation in business and youth participation. I honestly have no recollection
of her talk. DMP is an event that holds on the last Saturday of every month in
Abuja. Designers showcase fancy clothes and prospective buyers come to
occasionally make purchase. The DMP is a terrific idea in the sense that it
provides common ground for designers and buyers to interact and achieve
patronage. For most, it is simply a social hangout, one where you wear your
finest clothing, meet up with friends and pose for selfies with mostly red disposable cups. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The
close was the most interesting for me; El-Nathan gave a fantastic talk on
social media and responsible journalism. He spoke of the lack of social
consequences for misuse of media power and the responsibility for free speech.
He closed with what to me was sheer genius and I quote, ‘Everyone can choose to
assert his right to free speech, but ask yourself, what end does your assertion
serve?’ Pure brilliance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While
El-Nathan spoke, I saw <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohimai_Godwin_Amaize" target="_blank">Ohimai Godwin Amaize</a> more known as <a href="https://twitter.com/mrfixnigeria" target="_blank">@MrFixNigeria</a> on
twitter adjust in his seat, seeing as he has been irresponsible with social
media usage, I was almost sure hearing El-Nathan speak mostly rebuked him. I
thought to myself, </span></span><br />
<span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">'there’s someone finally facing the consequences for misuse
of social influence'.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Got reviews you'd like to share? Mail me at momoh.adejoh@gmail.com. If you've enjoyed reading this, consider sharing and recommending it within your personal networks.</span> </i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-25669144344615786732015-06-12T17:51:00.000-07:002015-06-12T17:51:39.454-07:00The WAIT<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioOwGRNxqF0hZr5uNT5C_PXNWoNqLsYS1onSPkbnURPb16VfND0Jgxp6SGvxy-Sb8MRzF-PhNtNmYwplAVmGJxk-tY3PtTmT0fNJnMtvtPzWbnhdwB389o-v5vfn-e5b_diuwb1zoXq1g/s1600/the+wait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioOwGRNxqF0hZr5uNT5C_PXNWoNqLsYS1onSPkbnURPb16VfND0Jgxp6SGvxy-Sb8MRzF-PhNtNmYwplAVmGJxk-tY3PtTmT0fNJnMtvtPzWbnhdwB389o-v5vfn-e5b_diuwb1zoXq1g/s320/the+wait.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>www.doctorschannel.com</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Adejoh Idoko Momoh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘The hardest part… the most difficult part of anything really
is the wait’ It makes you see things, think things you have no business
thinking. For me it was a lump in the back, slightly beneath my right shoulder
blade that disappeared and appeared at will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As I sat at the radiologist’s awaiting confirmation of
ailment my mind wandered: cancer; typically associated with lumps. It made the
most sense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If it’s true what they say and cancers have life, wouldn’t
the cancer cells in me be constantly struggling to stay alive? Isn’t my body
the most conducive environment within which they can grow? Will taking the lump
out not amount to killing it? Killing a living, growing thing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And then the thought hit me, as much as I will try to fight
this if it was diagnosed as cancer, wouldn’t it also fight back? Wouldn’t it
want to continually survive in an environment that is conducive for its
survival?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I quickly think to activism: we fight for fetuses and animals
and plants, all living things. Perhaps we should fight for diseases like cancer
or bacterial infections which live as well. Shouldn’t they have rights as well?
After all they are smart enough to grow and adapt. To manifest in lumps and
tumors that can disappear and reappear at will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Momoh’… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Is there an Adejoh Momoh here?’ It wasn’t until he called a
second time that I slowly walked up from my seat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Take off your shirt and lie there on your stomach’ I do not
quite remember but a question came to mind. I didn’t ask it though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He spewed a really cold gel on the lump site and ran
something that felt like a mouse pad over it. It didn’t take thirty seconds
before he wiped the gel off and instructed that I get up. As I stood, he looked
at me very weirdly, almost with disappointment in his eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘It’s just fatty tissue. Lipoma… there’s a store of fat
underneath the skin, yours is simply an unusual gathering of this fat. Not
harmful’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Do you advise I have it removed?’ …. ‘Only for the
aesthetics’ I ran my hand over it, felt it and decided I didn’t like the
feeling. I thanked him as I turned to leave<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>if you've found this interesting, please feel free to share as widely as you can. Join in the conversation as well: share in the comments stories of thoughts you had no business thinking. </i><i>Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh.</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-78514671797367469382015-04-02T14:53:00.002-07:002015-04-02T14:53:39.214-07:00A patient’s tale<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8pM6SQZMNFEz17Mbqcsem4F7YaCi4eyeHfqQ0sZurIpzWbRtgmKFNTPafAydy2hqNBT9k8T-PLt0aKbSKmjmhwIUf7NjBr9Z5UMon6cUNBMOdjsBQ271Mkt_-5YKDc-eYk1NcqEIHzRI/s1600/Surgery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8pM6SQZMNFEz17Mbqcsem4F7YaCi4eyeHfqQ0sZurIpzWbRtgmKFNTPafAydy2hqNBT9k8T-PLt0aKbSKmjmhwIUf7NjBr9Z5UMon6cUNBMOdjsBQ271Mkt_-5YKDc-eYk1NcqEIHzRI/s1600/Surgery.jpg" height="185" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Source: www.abujatimes.com</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Adejoh Idoko Momoh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">‘It was a little harder this time’,
most people don’t understand this when I tell it and there’s good reason not
to. After all, I always wore a smile, was first to assure I’d be fine in no
time and was out of the hospital two days after surgery. I shared with no one
the horrid tales of how I thought I’d not survive the procedure, not even with
my partner or family; it’s this not being able to tell that hurt the most: Just
knowing that everyone has his problems and not wanting to burden anyone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">They didn’t see and I didn’t tell
them of the nausea that wouldn’t let me sleep for all my recovery. Or that constantly
lingering pain that made me pause even as I tried to do seemingly normal
things. How waking from the anesthesia felt like an out-of-body experience and
how I could hear the doctors call my name even as I struggled to respond. Every
time I formed words in my head they never came out of my mouth. When they
finally came the first thing I said was something so inappropriate the doctors
cringed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The thing about surgery and recovery is
that even when no one pressures you to take strides or expects you to make a
full recovery immediately; you put the pressure on yourself. Like proving the
point that you are strong and can beat the weakness associated with
recuperating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For me, the pressure begins with the
very origins of illness; they say an inguinal hernia is mostly caused by
pressure to the abdominal wall; it typically presents in patients as they are
young and keeps increasing in size as they do things that further weaken the
wall. However irrational some guilt starts to prick at you; afterall this pressure is
brought about by your own acts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For most people who suffer hernia or
will suffer it, I say this; hernias are typically non threatening and there is
the temptation to save yourself the needless procedure that fixes it because it
poses no harm. Know that in all these, there is the very slim chance that it gets strangulated and from
reduced blood supply to severe pain and possibly a fever there are many
downsides to this. My advice, if you start to see signs of a hernia, have it fixed before it
becomes an emergency. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Please feel free to share if you enjoy reading this post. If you need to
talk, please leave me a mail at <a href="mailto:momoh.adejoh@gmail.com">momoh.adejoh@gmail.com</a>
and I promise to respond immediately. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com4Abuja, Nigeria9.0666669999999989 7.4833330000000168.8144184999999986 7.1592365000000164 9.3189155 7.8074295000000156tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-21684955542565974722015-03-10T04:18:00.000-07:002015-03-10T04:18:02.049-07:00It is a Woman Thing<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Adejoh Idoko Momoh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_t6YV9HJRJSqjnWoI6ekVpy8V5rZrwqmbXbFOl6JSKAvQCIs4HaN7w4L06JFBryNmZcWyj7HFHbcw4E6ph2A7kBFCvxOIeF6tCkLUA4vYp9rJ4fSbQoXhoFSXnt-jK7ZvWZp720Tsbc/s1600/Winnie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_t6YV9HJRJSqjnWoI6ekVpy8V5rZrwqmbXbFOl6JSKAvQCIs4HaN7w4L06JFBryNmZcWyj7HFHbcw4E6ph2A7kBFCvxOIeF6tCkLUA4vYp9rJ4fSbQoXhoFSXnt-jK7ZvWZp720Tsbc/s1600/Winnie.jpg" height="181" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I started out this month watching Selma: ‘the Martin Luther
Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights’ movie and I found it fitting that
I write about lessons from it. This and the fact that it is women’s history month
informs the fact that this piece is about women. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Without Winnie Mandela there will be no Nelson Mandela,
without Coretta Scott King there will be no Martin Luther King, at least not to
the extent we know both men. In Mandela’s case, he probably would have stayed
in prison long enough and returned to meet an uninspired population: people who
were content with the status quo and thought it was too difficult, violent even
to change it. But no, Winnie kept them inspired, held forte for him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nelson Mandela had his shortcomings: he smoked, there were
allegations he cheated on his wife, according to most people including Winnie
he came out of jail half the man who went in, he accepted a soft landing
instead of asking hard for his demands and then he came out and divorced the
very same wife who kept his vision alive when he couldn’t do that himself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This piece does not serve to taint the memory of this man,
who quite easily is Africa’s most progressive leader, but this piece serves to
celebrate the often unsung heroes who come into our lives and complement our
weaknesses, those who help us see life in perspective and encourage us when we
choose to carry on in our fights. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You’ve ever heard the saying ‘behind every great man is a
great woman’? This saying mostly is true and for Nelson Mandela, Winnie was
that woman. And only when you begin to acknowledge her many roles in South
Africa’s anti apartheid struggle will you begin to understand how movements are
built. How they succeed, how they never happen in isolation: by one man or woman’s
efforts. They always occur in the context of community and family, and for Mandela,
that community was led and nurtured by his wife. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Surely, she made a few misguided decisions largely
surrounding the Mandela United football club and allegations of infidelity,
even as I do not aim to justify these things they contributed immensely to
keeping her alive. She could have taken the easy route; simply leave him as he
went to jail or give up the struggle as she faced persecution, torture, exile
and multiple death attempts. She could have remarried just as soon as he was
taken away but she didn’t, she raised his two daughters herself on very lean
resources, largely alone and without complaints. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps there should be a day in her honor; a day when we
give thanks to all the supportive women who keep our dreams alive. A day when
we say achievements most times are about the person behind the person. The person
who encourages the achiever, that person for Nelson Mandela was Winnie, and for
Martin Luther, Coretta. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Please feel free to
share, leave comments on how your dreams have been encouraged by someone else,
leave stories celebrating the wonderful women who make your world what it is. </span>Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-72665076164162961962015-01-06T06:40:00.000-08:002015-01-06T06:40:28.747-08:00Nigeria’s Broken Children<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0sKsrIJrQ23DKl4RmrgKudypH-KawFEHtNWeHJDbjPq9_41-04zro2y-PpSIsMo5c9gKCYyG2aoBkkIudLiNQ8L_FToeAv_Gq7pTF7OQY-hSzR3guf_1tPIl4wkShJ-i_xhGzsb0YHA4/s1600/Broken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0sKsrIJrQ23DKl4RmrgKudypH-KawFEHtNWeHJDbjPq9_41-04zro2y-PpSIsMo5c9gKCYyG2aoBkkIudLiNQ8L_FToeAv_Gq7pTF7OQY-hSzR3guf_1tPIl4wkShJ-i_xhGzsb0YHA4/s1600/Broken.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SOURCE: www.marcusbleasdale.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By
Adejoh Idoko Momoh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you
know Nigeria has an internally displaced population of 3.3million? And most of
these displaced people are women and children? As things are these 3.3 million
people are only the officially registered internally displaced persons and many
other unregistered internally displaced persons may exist. About 850,000 people
in Nigeria’s North East region are internally displaced and the National
Emergency Management Agency has set up only 23 camps to cater for them. What
this means is that this agency expects an average of about 36,956 people to live
in any one of these 23 camps which are mostly National Youth Service Corp camps
or secondary schools that do not have the facilities to deal with such a
population. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes,
I wonder what it means to be displaced. What it means to abandon your home, to
run from the certainty of all that is familiar into the uncertainty of
mountains and bushes. In all my questing, I have asked a few people what that
all important thing they will take is: when they hear bombs in distance and the
sound of gunfire approach, what is that one thing they take as they leave, of
all the people I have asked two variables kept recurring; certificates and
cash. A few people said things like iPads and travel documents, but those were
really few.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
justification of the choice of their certificates, most people say that when
the insurgents eventually are conquered and there is relative security, only
their certificates will help them rebuild their lives. Considering that since
the civil war in 1960 at no point have Nigerians been forced to leave their
houses such as now and when there is a constant threat of death education mostly
becomes secondary, it is encouraging that people still believe in the capacity
of education to get them out of hopelessness and into opportunity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In all
of these, children are perhaps the worst hit as they are most times pulled from
schools and develop an unwillingness to return to education. It is not hard to
imagine why. The insurgents who terrorize them serve to fight and banish
Western education, the psychological effects of this is in time schools begin
to remind these children of horror, of death and bombs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps
to alleviate this, in addition to clothing and food drives we carry out for
displaced persons, we should provide these camps with teachers and mentors.
With guides and matrons, because when you live in such atrocious circumstances
there is the tendency that your world becomes small; reduced from beauty and
possibilities to the sound of shelling and gunshots. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This by
itself is a tragedy we must never allow happen: we must raise structures that
empower Internally Displace Persons (IDPs) to change their mindsets from those
of victims to survivors. As it is, we are doing dangerously little to help
child victims and it is only our help that can help them win the war against
the very same insurgents who made them leave their homes and schools in the
first place. Doing anything less will amount to the insurgents winning and the
children loosing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Most
people argue that from the United States to Kenya and Pakistan or France,
Nigeria is not the only country battling insurgency either on its shores or in
an ally nation. The thing with the Nigerian state is that we lack the
capacities these nations have demonstrated in dealing with these insurgencies
and even when we make progress in infrastructure or the economy, lives don’t
improve because the basic necessity of security is not provided. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On one
of the only times I met a displaced child; I asked her the kind of questions
you expect a concerned older person to ask. I asked her ‘what do you want to be
when you grow up?’ I half expected to hear doctor or pilot or hair dresser, but
no. Her face turned blank and she said ‘Alive’. ‘I want to be alive when I grow
up’. I did not ask any more questions. The tragedy that the Nigerian state has
become hit me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejohAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-71459917186105020742014-10-30T06:10:00.000-07:002014-10-31T00:22:13.082-07:00Television show review: How Hannibal and I are alike.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioSM51AJy6JgJOMmJT5o9By_YNJAtvdtr-fghXT2C_vcFr6smk-TsGtDv78gMJiYr20fsVHU4USmh7LGLKEGCSusXHuj4i87h3XzVQBpbtF5juqbgbU6Ktxu-XV9TJzbJIjLsSQFX5QAw/s1600/Hannibal-About-Cast-1920x1080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioSM51AJy6JgJOMmJT5o9By_YNJAtvdtr-fghXT2C_vcFr6smk-TsGtDv78gMJiYr20fsVHU4USmh7LGLKEGCSusXHuj4i87h3XzVQBpbtF5juqbgbU6Ktxu-XV9TJzbJIjLsSQFX5QAw/s1600/Hannibal-About-Cast-1920x1080.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">By Adejoh Idoko Momoh.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As someone who has had experience feasting on raw flesh, it
is hard to imagine how watching the television series 'Hannibal' upset me so
much; it is after all about a psychopath forensic psychiatrist ‘Hannibal
Lecter’ who after gruesomely murdering his victims delights himself by feeding
on their organs. My brush with flesh eating I will tell on much later in this
review. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hannibal is an amazing show, one that proves true the theory
that not all beautiful things must be explored or seen. Many things are
brilliant about the show: the conversations witty and the performances smart,
convincing even. My favorite character by far is the Professor Will Graham who
plays the part of an FBI profiler, partly because he reminds me of how fragile
humanity is; how trusting man desires to be and how guilt most times pushes us
to do things we ordinarily wouldn't do. From him, you clearly get the picture
of a man haunted by personal demons and feel the urge to push yourself further
even when that exposes you to significant risk. His analysis, observation..everything
is flawless. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV_4W5-RKApu7h8pYtT4Vk9r7Q6od51Qtx0A4kFy-Q3LIzzAEq9p9zlqiVY26eaUVgpc6JEE4CoawCxT4EYqdOY63ZzwTt8bFa19NuYg52r1iTdYXF85vP0THqmL_bLeNORwfmIZgSPQQ/s1600/Will+Graham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV_4W5-RKApu7h8pYtT4Vk9r7Q6od51Qtx0A4kFy-Q3LIzzAEq9p9zlqiVY26eaUVgpc6JEE4CoawCxT4EYqdOY63ZzwTt8bFa19NuYg52r1iTdYXF85vP0THqmL_bLeNORwfmIZgSPQQ/s1600/Will+Graham.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The most disturbing thing about this show is that as the it
progresses, the mind games get even sicker and really twisted in a good way
that it keeps you interested. Its murder scenes are very detailed and precise. You
know that edge of your seat, stomach twisting, gut wrenching gore that in the
end leaves you frightened and excited at the same time. And this is perhaps
what sets Hannibal apart from other psychological thrillers; its ability to not
hold anything back, to be bold in its presentation and imagery. Admittedly, the
early episodes of the first season seemed a little misdirected and confusing but
going forward from the third, every story line was compelling as it was
interesting, I kept thirsting for more, wondering how it was possible for the
show to progress, but it progressed in very unexpected ways. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My take on it really is simple, if you want a brilliant show
good enough for the whole family to watch, Hannibal doesn’t quite cut it; the
emotional, psychological torture you endure while watching it surely is not
worth its brilliance, but if you want bold, audacious, daring, a show that
pushes you to imagine things you never thought imaginable, then by all means
see Hannibal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As regards me eating raw flesh, it’s a very funny story
actually. After we tired from shopping my sister suggested that since we were
both hungry and probably </span><span style="line-height: 21.466667175293px;">wouldn't</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> be grabbing dinner, we buy a pack of chicken
from M&S and settle to eat it. Being someone who has a very healthy
appetite for food, I wondered what she expected chicken to do for my hunger,
but we bought it nonetheless. As we settled I immediately reached for the pack
and ripped it open, removed a thigh and bit into it, it was sheer bliss.
Perfectly seasoned lightly boiled chicken; my taste buds were excited. It
wasn’t until I took the second bite and swallowed it that my sister stopped me.
‘the chicken is raw, we have to heat it in an oven’ I looked at the thigh in my
hand and noticed its pink flesh ‘I am so sorry. I am so sorry’ she laughed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-16793272247084794272014-10-17T04:35:00.002-07:002014-10-17T04:35:40.359-07:00Airline Review: The New Spirit of Africa<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1UmB_Iqlm-lhL0MFCxXS1RVGglhqeAM8rvsTSA8b0tfmTD3IWovuUkcfb0RYlAxO3hlsUQXj0HAcUfvi7SsXk0Hg-ArVhxmQhyphenhyphenet08bCwp0K2Ccq9c767Nqfr_s1KdlyKgetBDqmd3LQ/s1600/Ethiopian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1UmB_Iqlm-lhL0MFCxXS1RVGglhqeAM8rvsTSA8b0tfmTD3IWovuUkcfb0RYlAxO3hlsUQXj0HAcUfvi7SsXk0Hg-ArVhxmQhyphenhyphenet08bCwp0K2Ccq9c767Nqfr_s1KdlyKgetBDqmd3LQ/s1600/Ethiopian.jpg" height="117" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Why Ethiopian?' </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">and I immediately knew why she
asked. I heard the gory stories too; from plane seats that had tear marks from
wear to aircrafts that made a wiggling sound just as you take off and the food;
horrible awful food. In the end of what was a long conversation, she said 'please
leave Ethiopian airlines out of it'. It was at this point I made up my mind to
fly Ethiopian, experience it for myself, see if there was any truth to all the
rumors I had heard. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The rumors began to prove true a good eight hours before my
flight; I tried to check in online and save myself the hassles of airport
queues, but no, the <a href="http://www.flyethiopian.com/" target="_blank">Ethiopian airlines web site</a> kept popping up an error
message whenever I entered my flight details. This was the only time during my
experience with the airline that I wished I had taken my sisters advice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The airline was nothing like the stories I had heard: we flew in
a very generous Boeing 787. There was very adequate leg room such that I could
stretch and even cross my legs without inconveniencing the person who sat in
front of me. The inflight entertainment was spectacular; the lineup had so many
recent movies that I was spoilt for choice, I eventually settled for Hercules
and Invictus only because I hadn't seen both of them. The music too; really
nice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">None of the warnings people gave me of Bole International
Airport were correct, to my mind it is a very decent looking airport with its
expanse of glass and very high ceilings, everything about it I liked, except of
course the bathrooms which were usually packed full and had wet floors. This is
easily explainable though, it is mostly caused by people performing ablution in
non designated areas. I used the Sheba Miles lounge and I was impressed, I had
coffee, wifi and was comfortable enough to catch up on sleep. My 5 hour layover
was an experience in itself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBQO1lp7AQ-h1N2egAwKJ847tlqwz7JK5APCgDC5bNAZyHM3b_CgS4A1fDbqiU89jNehfcq9aMnDfXuRECxxhfeEDmjBc2IFO7sLfdlz9MrPm07fAa_B9VyY1uHQ7_6vdKyj4nJ_jErs/s1600/ethiopian-bizclass-1-620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBQO1lp7AQ-h1N2egAwKJ847tlqwz7JK5APCgDC5bNAZyHM3b_CgS4A1fDbqiU89jNehfcq9aMnDfXuRECxxhfeEDmjBc2IFO7sLfdlz9MrPm07fAa_B9VyY1uHQ7_6vdKyj4nJ_jErs/s1600/ethiopian-bizclass-1-620.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The food on board was delicious, better than most bigger, more
expensive airlines. I was served an assortment of long grained rice and really
tender chicken, a bread bun with butter and cheese to compliment it, a generous
bowl of fruit salad with berries and papaya and mango, and a vegetable salad
mainly of beans, carrots, peas. All was really nice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most airline related complaints are of air hostesses, but that
wasn't my experience; I did get upset a couple of times when I pressed the call
button and no one answered, but after a few minutes a hostess came by with
apologies, a complimentary gift bag from first class and promised to constantly
refill my paper cup with fruit juice as compensation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">All in all, the Ethiopian experience was lovely, especially for
the price it flew; as I see it, the airline is both very easily affordable and
very comfortable. I will fly the airline time and again. I insisted on filling
a comment card on my way out: I am not one to get good services and not commend
the business afterwards. Perhaps we all should do this, encourage businesses
that make an effort to deliver real value. </span><br />
<br />
Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejohAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-80288744895451229122014-09-18T02:04:00.001-07:002014-09-18T02:04:17.742-07:00#BringBackOurGirls and the limits of success<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By
Adejoh Idoko Momoh</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhZX176b4fmdUWQI5OTRFPqq4yBDPB5ZTGp4lRdHtJenVq2a6xxvl-9ROwZnwg8rCw2ePJIu_NSiMvRHXrMnw7MqRBRw3wb1UnLAI90CEtrmFQ7wm_NJtgvSV7xMoUO7pJfAZ1wEmN04/s1600/bring+back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxhZX176b4fmdUWQI5OTRFPqq4yBDPB5ZTGp4lRdHtJenVq2a6xxvl-9ROwZnwg8rCw2ePJIu_NSiMvRHXrMnw7MqRBRw3wb1UnLAI90CEtrmFQ7wm_NJtgvSV7xMoUO7pJfAZ1wEmN04/s1600/bring+back.jpg" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Bookman Old Style', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">'What
if it was my younger sister’s things in the photo?' I asked as I saw photos of
personal effects belonging to the nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped from
government secondary school Chibok on the 15th of April. The touching photos
were compiled by a young American artist, Glenna Gordon with an aim to show the
nature of these girls: their very delicate, easily impressionable frame of mind
and how they are at the mostly confusing phase just before the transition to
adulthood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
events that immediately followed the abductions should give everyone some
insight as to the insincere rescue mission going on and is perhaps what
informed the formation of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First,
there was the miserable attempt by the Nigerian military to sell its citizens a
false story as regards the immediate rescue of a majority of the Chibok girls,
it did not take long for the people to uncover this story as the lie it was and
that all girls were still in captivity but for about 50 who escaped by their
own efforts. The military in swift response through one of its major generals
in a press conference said that it acted on the information available to it at
the time and apologized for deliberately misleading a grieving public. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With
the presidency, it was silence. As is the strategy with ineffective
governments, the Presidency in all its wisdom allowed rumors suggesting that
the abductions were politically motivated circulate. Cleverly ignoring the fact
that if it sincerely carried out its core function of ensuring security and
fighting insurgency, the Boko haram insurgency might not have escalated to its
current level. It is as though with these people who occupy high levels of
governance, there is no sense of right and wrong, it is all about selfish
interests and what spoils one man can gain from war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
is in midst of all these confusion that the BBOG movement was birthed by Hadiza
Bala Usman and a crop of her influential friends with the single focus of sustaining
pressure on the government till it rescues the Chibok girls. With this, they
did not demand anything out of the ordinary: they simply asked that government
fulfills the most basic of its responsibilities of providing security for its
citizens, going on rescue missions and bringing back all who have been abducted.
This as it turns out is both the blessing of this advocacy group and its curse:
the grouse was first why a single focus campaign when numerous ills take place
in Nigeria daily, many wondered why this platform could not spread its
tentacles, tackle more issues, be more inclusive of other peoples grievances. What
happens to this platform when these girls are brought back? Will it fold? Its
leaders, were they being sincere in fighting for the return of these girls or
championing some political agenda? When all that proved unsuccessful as a
strategy for bringing down the group, an attack at the integrity of its leaders
commenced. So far, that too has not stopped the group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One
thing certain of the BBOG and the good people who participate in the advocacy
is that they are all courageous, patriotic Nigerians who tragically might not
achieve their aim of pressurizing the government till it rescues the abducted
girls. On the other hand, one thing they have succeeded at though is keeping
the issue on the fore front of discourse and they might have to accept this as
far as their success can go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
have always found consolation in the truth of these words and they are apt with
the Bring Back Our Girls movement: it is true that sometimes we ask and we do
not get the appropriate response, but it is also true that if we do not ask, we
certainly do not get any sort of response. This is why I am a BBOG member: this
is why I will stay with the cause until the platform ceases to exist, because
it really is about asking the right set of questions. It is about a group of
people asking a relatively passive government to rise to its responsibilities
of protecting a citizenry and ultimately #BringBackOurGirls. It is about a
group of concerned citizens demanding #ResultsFromTheRescueOperation and one
pledging not to stop #UntilOurGirlsAreBackAndAlive, a pledge that with time has
proved much more of a commitment than we all bargained for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
<i>this article has been published in <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2014/09/15/bringbackourgirls-and-limits-success-adejoh-idoko-momoh" target="_blank">Sahara Reporters</a> and <a href="http://www.nigeriaintel.com/2014/09/16/bringbackourgirls-and-the-limits-of-success/" target="_blank">Nigeria Intel</a></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-39331919763993695512014-08-28T01:50:00.003-07:002014-08-28T01:50:43.030-07:00It’s About Colour Really.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ktituwgGXL43hSXtOA9GKmmsAgeZ3W1_UxeFm8_N16249orsXE-FGLOjoF2lBnEJ2McNTBKao-LEFKyarsWSvUaI2vlNLuHTL3Y8Rd6gg5yeIG3mV8aK00cWc6aAKhTaXjbRTRta1K0/s1600/Black+and+white.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ktituwgGXL43hSXtOA9GKmmsAgeZ3W1_UxeFm8_N16249orsXE-FGLOjoF2lBnEJ2McNTBKao-LEFKyarsWSvUaI2vlNLuHTL3Y8Rd6gg5yeIG3mV8aK00cWc6aAKhTaXjbRTRta1K0/s1600/Black+and+white.jpg" height="206" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Adejoh Idoko Momoh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The line disconnects a few times and
I remember to check my phones balance. I make the decision to go buy top up as
the call I had to make was vital to my comfort in Aberdeen. I take a short walk
in the cold to a SPAR just off George Street, a middle aged white man in
distance says something I do not hear but still I smile at him. He repeats it a
second time, this time louder and I hear,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">‘No wahala’ I do not understand what
he means and again I flash a smile. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">He hurries and catches up with me,
nudges at me lightly and then says</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">‘This is Aberdeen, not Nigeria’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At this point, I pick up my pace,
walk a little faster into the store and notice he follows behind me. He looks
at me and says again,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">‘Go back to Nigeria’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I ignore him; make my purchase and
hurry back home just in case he still follows. This is my first brush with
racism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In this situation my first reaction is a fear that I am alone, this is not familiar territory and if I did start a brawl or
some issue about this, I will most likely be on the unpopular side of the
discussion, not because my case lacked some merit but because as far as I know
people look out for their own. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The fear
quickly passes and I feel anger, my first thought is to call the police report
the incidence, the man and the store but I reconsider this. First off, I am not
with my international passport; seriously who carries his international
passport when he is going to a store just a couple blocks from where he lives?
And with the rain in Aberdeen, I’d much rather leave this all important travel
document at home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsF8rvqYAZemSVv8F9en7RCEA0KMOs0lspJ18O8HLkIglZfuKr8pJRU3AHi1DIv9ZhncLQ40EmsPAuKQ_F5fY7NcXPGwWl0cMctg5RNWgyd6QXozNsAHteJ14ePT52VFYbZPYLTkHoMng/s1600/Hands.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsF8rvqYAZemSVv8F9en7RCEA0KMOs0lspJ18O8HLkIglZfuKr8pJRU3AHi1DIv9ZhncLQ40EmsPAuKQ_F5fY7NcXPGwWl0cMctg5RNWgyd6QXozNsAHteJ14ePT52VFYbZPYLTkHoMng/s1600/Hands.png" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The thought of not calling the police
is reinforced by the Micheal Brown shooting, the Trayvon Martin murder, the
Abdul Kamal incidence and numerous other cases that go unreported and I
remember how difficult it is for a black person to get justice against a white
person in a predominantly white country. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Make no mistake; a white man asking
you to return to your country is in fact violence, because even when nothing is
done to you physically you feel like you’ve been robbed of something. Like
someone has unfairly tried to deny you the pleasure of feeling welcome in a
country you’ve expended so much in time and energy to visit- this is even worse
if you’re from Nigeria and you’ve experienced the </span></span><span style="line-height: 24.000001907348633px;">rigours</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"> associated with
getting a visa. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The thing about racial violence and
not speaking up about it or making sure there’s some form of closure for its
victim is the fact that one experience builds upon another and soon you have a
pool of unpleasant memories. As in my case, if I am repeatedly exposed to
incidences with middle aged white men at some point seeing any middle aged
white man will bring these memories to mind and I may begin to find the sight
of said white man nauseating. This in itself is some form of racism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Racism is a vicious circle, one that
goes round and round and sadly is a reality most Africans living or visiting
abroad must live with. One thing I have always thought about most Africans
abroad is that they continue to pay a price too high for living, whether it’s in taxes
or foreign fees and constant reminders that they are foreigners and probably
will be for the rest of their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejohAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com1London, UK51.5073509 -0.1277582999999822351.1895294 -0.77595179999998221 51.8251724 0.52043520000001775tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-21657950842158013672014-07-16T10:52:00.000-07:002014-07-16T10:52:02.091-07:00Why We Must Take Abductions Seriously<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlP5LDDG2MBnNPIat0yYvx-b-t_imax3YeQhOXZqMDh2RQl7jPOiCS9e6O2TvuY6AJJHa88iDEsyA_aPK6mEimorgYTB1vMi0moPrTq8CR6ucFaj_WvdNdEHbpAAvlgY-aFysumCL2ny8/s1600/Abductions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlP5LDDG2MBnNPIat0yYvx-b-t_imax3YeQhOXZqMDh2RQl7jPOiCS9e6O2TvuY6AJJHa88iDEsyA_aPK6mEimorgYTB1vMi0moPrTq8CR6ucFaj_WvdNdEHbpAAvlgY-aFysumCL2ny8/s1600/Abductions.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>By Adejoh Idoko Momoh</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the days leading up to Monday, Fatima struggled with
sleep; reconciling the need to wake at night to study and the deprivation of a
past time she really enjoyed. Ten minutes after she finally found sleep, she
was rudely awakened and forcibly loaded onto a truck.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It has been 94 days now and she is still held against her
will in the camp of dreaded Islamist sect Boko Haram. She has neither seen any family
nor a thing that is familiar to her and probably cries herself to sleep every
night. This can very easily can be the story of any one of the 300 girls that
were abducted on the night of April 14<sup>th</sup> from the Government
Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There are plenty of reasons to be angry with a system that
has for the most part been a disappointment and failed to deliver on its
principal obligation of security for its citizens. However, you cannot afford
to sit on the sidelines; put yourself in the situation of the girls or their
parents. Imagine a daughter birthed and nurtured till the age of 18, and then
she is carted away and you get no information on her wellbeing or livelihood
for close to 3 months?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Or imagine yourself going to work or the farm, a lone land
rover drives by and you are coerced into it, kidnapped for more than 93 days? The
thought that this could just have been you or a close relative should motivate
you enough to speak up. It may be a Fatima from Chibok today or an Elizabeth from
Gwoza tomorrow. It may even be your own daughter; she can be kidnapped just as
you drop her off in school.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Abductions should concern us and we should lend our voices
to causes that demand that governments everywhere fund and motivate their armed
forces adequately to go on rescue missions and bring back people who are
abducted in a timely manner and deliver them safely to their parents.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are concerned about geographical locations and you
naively think you are too much of an elite to be abducted or you live in towns
far away from where these gruesome acts take place, let me share with you the
story of a personal friend; herself a veteran Nollywood actress.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One evening as she returned from seeing her brother at
Dreams Garden in Abuja’s Wuse 2 District, she was stopped by thugs from the
Abuja Environmental Agency and the Society against Prostitution and Child Labor
who accused her of prostitution after hauling her into a bus. She was held
against her will: condoms thrown at her, her clothes torn and photos taken to
lay credence to their false allegations that she was a sex worker. She has
since been released and has sought justice. Sadly, the process is slow or
deliberately not yielding any result as people who constitute Nigeria’s ‘high
and mighty’ are the same people on whose authority this abduction and illegal
arrest was carried out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Abductions in Nigeria are thriving because of cases similar
to the above. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Consider also the
recent case of the </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">two
sisters who were kidnapped in Abuja’s Karmo district just outside their home.
It is rumored the family had to pay some N10m to secure their release two weeks
after they were taken. Who could have imagined? Two girls on a walk in a town
that is supposedly the most secure in Nigeria kidnapped just in front of their
home?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As long as people know they can carry out these dastardly acts
and not face the wrath of justice, they will keep performing them. As long as
we do not speak out, abductions will continue. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">54 years after the Federal Republic of Nigeria swore in its
constitution to protect its citizens and guaranty them the freedom of movement
amongst other fundamental human rights, people like you and I continue to be
abducted, arrested and held against our will. In other words, in every one of the
54 years we have existed as a sovereign nation, this country has continued to
betray its self imposed responsibilities to its citizens.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Be attentive. Make it a habit to avoid dark walk ways and
deserted parking lots. Or in situations similar to the above, get an escort;
except in cases of terrorism, it is more difficult to abduct two individuals as
opposed to one. Ladies can walk around with small vials of pepper spray in
their hand bags; do whatever makes you feel safe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In addition to all these, you must support movements like the
BringBackOurGirls or the Women Rights Advancement and Protection Agency, both engagements
that seek to let government know that we have had enough. We all have the right
to live in a country that is abduction free. We must demand of our government
who is the authority we voted into office to secure our lives and properties.
We must make bold and say that we cannot condone these injustices to us, women
and children. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
(<i>This article was first published on <a href="http://saharareporters.com/2014/07/16/why-we-must-take-abductions-seriously-adejoh-idoko-momoh" target="_blank">Sahara Reporters</a> and can be found at the following link)</i><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-38284116016240117762014-05-12T02:48:00.000-07:002014-05-12T02:48:50.072-07:00On Managing Peer Pressure<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXYvkDX_-sQwPQBsV6QvjFnhgiSRNIIe75d-VpKxFW7rqs1KRj6HyCWWdjY53GYTJ-KMrqWdF7aLv0CeT7Ksny_LRIccHBBS5Z9jRuNagy7GXFS_DOmnuvBvH5iaJlvBZzs_G4ZunFwq8/s1600/beer_bottles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXYvkDX_-sQwPQBsV6QvjFnhgiSRNIIe75d-VpKxFW7rqs1KRj6HyCWWdjY53GYTJ-KMrqWdF7aLv0CeT7Ksny_LRIccHBBS5Z9jRuNagy7GXFS_DOmnuvBvH5iaJlvBZzs_G4ZunFwq8/s1600/beer_bottles.jpg" height="217" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Adejoh Idoko Momoh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I today reconnected with an old
friend and I cannot recall ever being happier in recent past. Memories of him
being so helpful would flood my mind and I would think to the very first time
we went out to have drinks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After taking everyone’s order of
something alcoholic the bartender would get to me. He would lean in as though
to listen to me whisper:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I’d have a coke please’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’d say with all the confidence a very
responsible 19 year old can muster. In a few seconds, my confidence would wane
as I’d notice all the stares. First from the bartender, then from everyone else
who sat at the table; the very distinct look of hope, the hope that I was
somehow mistaken and I had not meant my order. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’d look to my friend in the corner;
his expression would be very different. Apologetic even, sort of like:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I’m sorry I put you in this
position’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With my gaze still fixed on him, I’d
say to the bartender who still stood by<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘a redbull please. I’d have a can of
redbull’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">7 years ago to this day, this would
be my first brush with peer pressure.
Okay, technically it was not peer pressure as the youngest among them
was at least 10 years older. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Peer pressure as in this case can be
negative and self destructive; however, it can be flipped by conscious action
and can become a truly positive force. When you begin to surround yourself with
positive people, their influence rubs off on you with time. I have seen this
first hand; I knew I wanted to write. I sought for and joined a couple online
writing classes, and I have seen my writing improve tremendously ever since.
The only difference between positive and negative pressure really is simply the
people you choose to surround yourself with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s make bold. Declare that we
would surround ourselves with only people whose lives are examples and are
capable of enriching ours positively as opposed to people who leave us worse
off. Let’s shun the need to fit in, which really is the foundation of negative
pressure and perhaps find that it is fashionable of some sort to stand out of
the crowd. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Please share in the comments stories of how you have dealt with peer
pressure or reconnected with old friends and classmates. Alternatively you can
send an email message to <a href="mailto:momoh.adejoh@gmail.com">momoh.adejoh@gmail.com</a>
and I promise a response. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-52706375561891975802014-03-17T09:04:00.000-07:002014-03-17T09:04:07.193-07:00On Managing Illness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl9kUw9OUg04Sk6J3dEjkDG0VeJyoNm-c5T2Q4Bx9s5JndNPBzSt73jdWyRL_HolwQBrLFd-f0a1Y5EBnYMTcvdRd0VUqCZIP_-c7_nwplzI3oMuWAoSfLc2H_xMHaPo9JYvjuL7bSrGk/s1600/IMG_4065.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl9kUw9OUg04Sk6J3dEjkDG0VeJyoNm-c5T2Q4Bx9s5JndNPBzSt73jdWyRL_HolwQBrLFd-f0a1Y5EBnYMTcvdRd0VUqCZIP_-c7_nwplzI3oMuWAoSfLc2H_xMHaPo9JYvjuL7bSrGk/s1600/IMG_4065.PNG" height="315" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">BY Adejoh Idoko Momoh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I think I have cancer Aunty’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There would be the longest ten seconds of silence and then I would
continue. ‘It was in the bathroom, I reached for my scrotum and I found a lump’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Like every other Christian I know, my aunt would break into
prayer: tell me of how cancer was not my portion and I probably was just
scared. She would advise I go see a doctor and ask me to update her after I saw
one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Seven years later I would summon the courage to tell my mother of
this lump, we would go to a clinic and discover it was a hernia. They would say
it was on the right and then as they surgically repaired the one tear, they
would see that it presented on the left as well and recommend that I had a
second surgery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My mood swung like a pendulum in the days that followed the
diagnosis; at first I felt nothing, then my mother would ask why I did not
trust her with information on the lump when I first found it and I would feel
guilt. In a few hours, I would wonder if the doctors really diagnosed me wrong
and it was cancer, then I would feel some relief it was not. At night, as I lay
to sleep I would sink my face deep in my pillow and cry really loud sobs. In
the morning I would think to surgical procedures and how expensive they can be.
My thoughts would progress to worry induced by illness and then a lack of
finances, then guilt again and some more blame; just the thought that I may
have brought this upon myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I would go through all these privately and largely alone. I would
have the support system of family but then I would consider that everybody has
his troubles and I would not bother them. My brother would be at my side all
the time, offering to help and my mother, as though magically putting her life
on hold would constantly cater to me. I have only a handful of friends and at
the time, besides 2 dear friends, they all would be absent. I would wonder why
no one else was there and then I would think this spoke more about me and the
people I chose to surround myself with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is a terrible thing to feel alone: It is horrific to keep
family at a distance or hide the fact that you truly hurt from those who are
closest to you. For we all who have at some point experienced illness, it is
important that we get educated, know that we do not bring these things upon
ourselves and discuss them with family, friends, and doctors. Know that if we
only will, there is no illness that is too big to conquer or no situation that
is capable of breaking us beyond what we allow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Today, I met someone who would become a lifelong friend. He broke
his neck and spine last year in an accident. His lungs collapsed due to an
untreated pneumonia infection and he lost all feeling because of his broken
spine. The doctors told him he might not speak, or walk, or stand for the rest
of his life. Now following a course of therapy, even if his speech is painfully
blurred he talks. Even if his hands are slow and they constantly flail, he has
regained function in them. Even if he does not walk steady, he stands, takes a
few steps then sits again. Stories like these should give us hope; tell us that
whatever life throws at us, if we are so willed we would conquer, succeed and
that we are truly not limited by anything beyond ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Feel free to share in the comments experiences that keep you
hopeful. If you prefer, leave me a mail (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) and
I promise to respond to each one.</span></i><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-65645879811988087202014-03-04T03:54:00.000-08:002014-03-04T03:54:29.298-08:00The Red Lipstick-ed Teacher<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfO8JjVUCzAv8DYawvQg1s-bgMTWrJXH3aTDxRKBW_BzLzU6S59_nkTX-Vb0m9Xwt4iknLBzqUYSqHu2mEhoZN3YtJw0s66Ft59pBs3APPSoQmyu1o2xiq49wfV6vBLywuZizcsmhIQ3E/s1600/High+Heels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfO8JjVUCzAv8DYawvQg1s-bgMTWrJXH3aTDxRKBW_BzLzU6S59_nkTX-Vb0m9Xwt4iknLBzqUYSqHu2mEhoZN3YtJw0s66Ft59pBs3APPSoQmyu1o2xiq49wfV6vBLywuZizcsmhIQ3E/s1600/High+Heels.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">BY
Adejoh Idoko Momoh</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We’ve all had that one
teacher who was so tough on all her students that she was generally feared.
That one in her middle ages who would wear layers and layers of very bright red
lipstick and would come to school in stilettos. She mostly would teach a
subject like English and would speak it impeccably, such that she would feel
somewhat superior to fellow teachers who spoke the language averagely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">‘Take out a sheet of
paper and have your writing materials ready’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">she would say as she
cat-walked into class one morning. She would administer an impromptu test that
would form part of our continuous assessment even though she did not prepare us
for it. All through primary school as I remember it, I had never felt as much
pressure about passing a simple test as I did that day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I had written about
Kenya’s Maasai people and their distinctive, a-little-too-colorful customs. How
they believed soil was therapeutic and they buried themselves in the ground for
healing. And then I waited, held my breath as she sat at her table with cane by
her side scoring our essays. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As she passed by me
returning test scripts, I would see red circles correcting grammar on the first
page of my essay and I would think of how she now considered me a failure. How
the matron when I got back to the hostel would consider me same and my dad… His
face as he looked at the test script not saying anything but probably
contemplating if it was still a wise decision to have me in school. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I would flip three
pages and what I would see would shock me; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">97%. With a tiny gold
star next to it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The universally feared
teacher who made it a point not to ever give good grades gave me an A. She
didn’t just stop there; she stapled a tiny piece of paper just at the bottom of
my script that made me feel special, very special. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">‘Excellent
storytelling. You have an ease with words. You do us all a disservice if you do
not consider a career in writing’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The words so profound,
no one had ever said anything like that to me. Except of course for my mom who
in typical mom-like manner would say I was particularly skilled at whatever it
is I told her I was interested in and that I was a genius who would redefine
everything I set my hands on. This was when I knew I wanted to write. I knew I
would purposefully look for something to genuinely compliment about people
whenever I met them. For the sole reason that affirming words like these from
friends, mentors, teachers, family, strangers even, make us into the people we
ultimately become. They point us in the direction of a dream, make us consider
or at least contemplate it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Words carry immense
power and it’s no good trying to deny this. My very favorite quote by Nigerian
writer, Toni Kan is ‘sometimes the verbal wounds we inflict on others live with
us for the rest of our lives’. As far as our words can go to tell someone we
believe in them, they can also tear us or someone else down, make them question
the very essence of their lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This is perhaps why we
need to speak a little more kindly, a little more thoughtfully. Make conscious
efforts to have our words motivate people rather than discourage them, inspire
them as opposed to devastate them. We most often have no idea what impact a few
words stringed together can make. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Share
stories of someone who has been an inspiration to you in the comments or send
me a private mail at momoh.adejoh@gmail.com.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com2May Flower Circle Street, Ijede, Nigeria6.5766743 3.59378990000004716.5727307999999995 3.588747400000047 6.5806178 3.5988324000000471tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-5313365757757535432014-02-11T00:33:00.001-08:002014-02-11T00:33:54.197-08:0026 long years.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iccc5LabJthTFcSLmOCzM6c76TaWU4WhVMIbDkVb4oo8e6DBW48NrHD9WrnKt4xqB5ds1tYaac6hmY5ppSyfe520MQMNS1JIUWTGmy-Lz2lB44IbPeE933C7H7cllGcI5085ez6eVcI/s1600/Twenty+Six.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iccc5LabJthTFcSLmOCzM6c76TaWU4WhVMIbDkVb4oo8e6DBW48NrHD9WrnKt4xqB5ds1tYaac6hmY5ppSyfe520MQMNS1JIUWTGmy-Lz2lB44IbPeE933C7H7cllGcI5085ez6eVcI/s1600/Twenty+Six.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
My fondest memory from being 25 is
arriving at Hartsfield Jackson. I would sigh a long held sigh and whisper </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
‘I am finally in the land of the
free’, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
then my thoughts would wander and I
would ask myself if a man in Atlanta and a man in Nigeria would turn 26 at the
same time? Or if a man in Nigeria would turn 26 an hour before the man in
Ghana? I would conclude that such time zone differences were too complex for my
fragile head to decipher. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
Over the years, I have cultivated
the habit of writing a short post or poem every 12<sup>th</sup> February and it
is relatively easy to look at my previous year’s list of goals and tick most of
them as accomplished. This year however, it is different. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
Apart from two or three
accomplishments, the list stares frustrated at me. I wanted to travel more,
earn a lot more, work two or three more writing jobs but none of these has
turned out the way I planned. What I would later come to conclude is that
progress in your circumstance (wealth, title, salary) is one thing and progress
in yourself is an entirely different thing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
In the last year, I travelled for a
bit: experienced cultures I had only dreamt of. Survived surgery and believe me
when I say nothing gives you a better appreciation of life than surviving
surgery. I finally took some responsibility and know what I want to do with my
life, what steps to take that would lead me where I want to be in the next few
years. And I met a slightly muscled, hazel eyed beauty who I am determined to
have the most meaningful intimate relationship with. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
In retrospect, this list looks far more
meaningful than making a lot more friends or trying to beat deadlines. Perhaps,
the major lesson here for me is recognizing that personal progress even when I
have not made career progress is progress and every growth, no matter where it
happens counts. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
That said, I am happy, grateful
just to be where I am and I look forward to exploring all the ills and good
that come with being 26. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<i style="text-align: justify;">Please share tales on how you spent your last birthday in the comments or leave me a mail at momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) </i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-10461241470274077162014-01-23T04:39:00.000-08:002014-01-23T04:39:41.962-08:00A BIROS TALE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig_dfAnazMTSbEFg6OT62NKiVMS-DnO_slxu6td4LGljmrzENThidbVaZBQLO5LNaVC69yi1v3oBDKYCmqmVyzxopU9gQsg8_REQT0I0T6O0MZT1rzYLKgZwKGx_09xmErjZaW5lefCHk/s1600/IMG_4014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig_dfAnazMTSbEFg6OT62NKiVMS-DnO_slxu6td4LGljmrzENThidbVaZBQLO5LNaVC69yi1v3oBDKYCmqmVyzxopU9gQsg8_REQT0I0T6O0MZT1rzYLKgZwKGx_09xmErjZaW5lefCHk/s1600/IMG_4014.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Like
it is in the picture’. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
would run to my mum bellowing like a wild puppy. Pointing to the Ebony magazine
I had in my hands, I would repeat, ‘buy me a Mont Blanc pen like it is in the
photo’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My
mum would nod a nod that said something like:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘why
does a 9 year old want such a pen’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">and
then proceed on her journey. She would not buy the pen like it was in the photo
when she returned and I would not ask her about it. My brother would later say
to me that she had a budget of four hundred pounds for all of four children and
could not afford my six hundred pounds pen from the magazine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today’s
post would not be about luxury pens and all, it would be about a biro or bic-
whichever is more appropriate. One First City Monument Bank had freely given as
a New Year ‘thanks for your patronage’ gift to customers. As I received mine,
first thing I would think is:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Would
customers not appreciate improved services even more?’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
biro would go on to mean more than just biro to me. It would prove to me that
there still is some good to Nigeria. From it, I would come to sudden
realization that even when we say Nigeria is doomed because it lacks good
people, this is most often not true. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
was on Friday the 17th January, I had stopped a taxi just up the road from the
American Embassy and asked the cab driver to take me to my office, he
immediately would demand a four hundred naira fare and I would allow a smile
spread generously across my face. Three hundred I’d say and he’d look me in the
face and frown that weird frown that ultimately continues until it becomes a
smile, he would nod slightly and I would get in. Apart from pleasantries, we
would not speak until I got to my office. I paid him in complete change,
thanked him and I hurried off. He would mutter something like N300 was
inadequate and I’d simply ignore him. Thirty minutes would pass and I’d be busy
with the day’s paper when the security guard would interrupt and hand me a
biro. He would say the taxi man returned it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
single act would leave me impressed. Remind me that even in a country where
everyone is said to be corrupt or self centered and poor, a taxi man still
would expend his time and fuel to return something as basic as a biro to its
owner. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
would immediately picture God saying:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘For
as long as you are faithful with little, I would bless you with even more’ and
I would wonder what this means. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’d
say a prayer for the taxi man and say ‘thank you’ to the security guard. Seating
at her desk across from me, my colleague would look to me and ask:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘are
you sure that taxi man is Nigerian?’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’d
look back at her and smile, knowing exactly what she meant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 12pt 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Share your stories of
exceptional Nigerians here in the comments or send me a mail at
momoh.adejoh@gmail.com. </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-7917552847119189302014-01-08T15:20:00.000-08:002014-01-08T15:20:03.713-08:00In Gratitude<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6N1XfxGuLEDwg9GhOxgYtUw3rcyDMpMw0JvnokZVoRVmkCDB5iU5lc1a3OoUvOeF50gssGsBLtIpYvAPO-SbDaiWnBfd2DmGyTaefrvWX5tRTAyZ_6mARLIe-G6q_f7lGvAvb760Q2cU/s1600/Grateful+Banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6N1XfxGuLEDwg9GhOxgYtUw3rcyDMpMw0JvnokZVoRVmkCDB5iU5lc1a3OoUvOeF50gssGsBLtIpYvAPO-SbDaiWnBfd2DmGyTaefrvWX5tRTAyZ_6mARLIe-G6q_f7lGvAvb760Q2cU/s1600/Grateful+Banner.jpg" title="" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">courtesy: www.gratitude.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
By</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Adejoh Idoko Momoh</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Usually, I think through as I write my blog posts. Checking
for inaccuracies, making sure that every statement reads just as I intended it.
Today, it will be different. I would write directly as the words come to me, no
second thoughts, no corrections. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the last 5 years, I’ve gotten through the Christmas and
New Year holidays with excitement, calm and some sense of accomplishment. Why?
Because these past couple years have been some of the best in my life. I have
seen myself grow in love, forgiveness, skill and health. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
One of my proudest achievements of 2013 must be my blog. For
the gift of readers, I am truly grateful. I have seen my blog grow from a site
where I mostly write thoughts that are read by a few friends to one that has
more international readership than it has national. My readership has grown
from a modest 50 persons the first year it started- <i>Yes, I really had only 50 readers read my blog in a 12 month period- </i>to
about 2,000 in December 2013 alone and about 45,000 in the year. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I would get e-mails from people genuinely interested in my
posts, I fondly remember an e-mail message I got from an anonymous reader on my
post ‘Finding Fit’. I had returned from the United States and saw the obesity
crisis first hand; it encouraged me to write a post in which I referred to
certain people as fat. This is the first time I would hear from the anonymous
reader:</div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Dear Adejoh,</i></div>
<i><div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>I have read your blog
for some time but didn’t feel the need to write in until now. I found your post
‘Finding Fit’ very interesting to read. I enjoy your play with words and the
ease there is to your writing. Fascinating.</i> </div>
</i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>However, as an
overweight lady myself it is my opinion that you need sensitivity training. You
haven’t considered genetics or any other factors which can lead to weight gain
in your piece. You somehow manage to generalize and blame it on diet and a lack
of healthy choices. The sad thing is the piece in itself was so enjoyable that
despite hating its message, I stayed reading it to the end; I guess that’s good
writing.</i> </div>
</i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Anonimous.</i></div>
</i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bubB16dvDk8UhfdVKq8oY_m5-Iqsk-f6JV3Vstw3lXraykJ6rA92qg6F2vOXKYlnW2yv9UOEtztNARebsPBmMoinPrhSqc4wSiQPzXK5yDyZxLXta7CrKK-tkvQWJgdZ2ugsb4ghrh4/s1600/gratitude-rainbow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bubB16dvDk8UhfdVKq8oY_m5-Iqsk-f6JV3Vstw3lXraykJ6rA92qg6F2vOXKYlnW2yv9UOEtztNARebsPBmMoinPrhSqc4wSiQPzXK5yDyZxLXta7CrKK-tkvQWJgdZ2ugsb4ghrh4/s1600/gratitude-rainbow.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a>In all honesty, as I read this mail I smiled. Thankful that
a reader would take out time to read my blog and send me an e-mail in response.
It is at this point I would conclude that the achievement really is in my
readers, not the blog itself. After all, it really is simply personal
experience and things as I relate to them. I would realize that one of the down
sides to living in a busy society is that we tend to take things for granted.
We overlook everyday blessings; the gift of readers, the blessing of people who
freely share their opinion and the generosity of all those who offer
encouragement however they can.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is for this reason I have decided to with my first 2014
blog post just say ‘Thank You’. It is my hope that in this year, we all would
be more generous with our thankfulness. I have come to realize that one of the
reasons why we should be grateful for the seemingly small things is that it helps
us appreciate the big things in life when they come. And the other and perhaps
ultimate reason is that as we learn to appreciate the small things, we realize
that no act of kindness really is small.</div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Share your stories on gratitude as comments here or send them privately to momoh.adejoh@gmail.com <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-19036892733675053652013-12-03T03:13:00.000-08:002013-12-03T03:13:30.799-08:00Discovering ISLAM- On Separation of Sexes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflTFI47Fu05x6pSK0oyb-JJzs4eURfc6bvdl0eukBZQrCCH5IVLX3p4MKc7wdaXXNcBm8nl-58BXylBjG5Xno3Hato3rukwcBL5S7Ix0j86PirHlaRnkYQkhZcG_kyn-GPFPUE5nmCdM/s1600/Mixed+Gender+Prayer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflTFI47Fu05x6pSK0oyb-JJzs4eURfc6bvdl0eukBZQrCCH5IVLX3p4MKc7wdaXXNcBm8nl-58BXylBjG5Xno3Hato3rukwcBL5S7Ix0j86PirHlaRnkYQkhZcG_kyn-GPFPUE5nmCdM/s1600/Mixed+Gender+Prayer.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Adejoh Idoko Momoh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of my first experiences with Islam was in my mother’s
reading room; as she busied herself in the corner reading and chanting verses
from her Koran, I picked up a bright purple and yellow book. Its title startled
me: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Islam forbids the free mixing of men
and women’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I remember fondly then I wanted nothing to do with a religion
that would seek to forbid my association with my mother and sisters: the only
females I had come to see as role models at the time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was not until 2007 when I travelled to the Islamic holy
land, visited the holy shrine and stood at the foot of al-Hajar al-Aswad or the
black stone in my ritualistic dress that I realized this doctrine is tradition
at best. Adopted by a few, practiced overtime and has come to be accepted as
right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjs2GtQFQ7kTXK6PlcFMBvskWhLfAaQa2enZ9mDYzFvPShZUrpfA7hN_U-WCotqQYTGcytJ1uY8M5S1OZWz6ZFcpnp4pk-pW2nGS0mA9L6nKKUbBOnY_BAuOAkC2V1L5gTqtItsglybWQ/s1600/Holy+Mosque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjs2GtQFQ7kTXK6PlcFMBvskWhLfAaQa2enZ9mDYzFvPShZUrpfA7hN_U-WCotqQYTGcytJ1uY8M5S1OZWz6ZFcpnp4pk-pW2nGS0mA9L6nKKUbBOnY_BAuOAkC2V1L5gTqtItsglybWQ/s1600/Holy+Mosque.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First off, there is no separation of
sexes in the holy Ka’abah: I walked with and took instructions from my mother
as we performed the tawaf - the circular walk around the Ka’abah, we were together
during prayers and several other men and women prayed alongside each other.
This was particularly refreshing for me, in some way, it made me more
interested in the religion, in learning its tenets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I began to wonder, the Ka’abah and
the rituals surrounding it are relics of Islam in its purest form as observed
by the Holy Prophet (SAW), if there was any need to separate sexes in Islam
wouldn’t it be obvious in this holy mosque? Would efforts not have been made to
build a female section behind the male section in the Ka’abah?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My mum had constantly told us that
her aim was to read the Koran wholly from cover to cover inside the holy
Ka’abah before we had to return to Nigeria, so when hunger began to whirl in my
brother and I, she suggested we have lunch at a Kentucky Fried Chicken close to
the mosque. I grumbled a bit, wanting to eat some home cooked food but that
trip to KFC would eventually provoke some curiosity in me, make me interested
in the religion and its truths. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Inside the restaurant, there was a
partition with bright red labels that read ‘Men’ and another that read ‘Women’-
I sighed to myself and muttered ‘the separation of sexes Nigerian mosques are
so familiar for finally shows up here’. A giggle would later escape my lips as
we sat to eat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My brother would ask why I laughed
and in dismissing his questioning, I would simply nod and say I just remembered
something funny. In reality, I thought of the irony and hypocrisy inherent, it
is okay for men and women to mix when they prayed and it is not okay for men
and women to mix while they eat? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-24579028147302218942013-11-15T03:24:00.000-08:002013-11-15T03:24:20.298-08:00Finding Fit<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBmgDHeg-sf2IU4SP3BkrTZ9Umu87104c46s0E5N4gEbW6Iv3hLH4nYiRUvLPNzOfberxRy6sGNNr2oNrO3FdeQsAuzim3Jt4BPgxWABMVXYN37bGYphwgKiRSjcmlO2__SWe1LafMHM/s1600/Blizzard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBmgDHeg-sf2IU4SP3BkrTZ9Umu87104c46s0E5N4gEbW6Iv3hLH4nYiRUvLPNzOfberxRy6sGNNr2oNrO3FdeQsAuzim3Jt4BPgxWABMVXYN37bGYphwgKiRSjcmlO2__SWe1LafMHM/s1600/Blizzard.jpg" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
BY<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
Adejoh Idoko Momoh</div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
First
it was at the Wal-Mart, then the Premium Outlet would follow. It would be the
same thing at the local Wendy’s or Burger King: all fat people.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4QLvPmpOAI0Ij1ybjxkAOKHdYh0yefvQ5sYCCd3j-byMkXivgK1XX8owRH6DpH8cga28MVoCZnUOzXHJ9TorGCOMl9fHPp0NRMFlopwETVYUtvVVOvW5IXE6PQphKMg755PTzHulGYk/s1600/Fat+Americans+on+Scooters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4QLvPmpOAI0Ij1ybjxkAOKHdYh0yefvQ5sYCCd3j-byMkXivgK1XX8owRH6DpH8cga28MVoCZnUOzXHJ9TorGCOMl9fHPp0NRMFlopwETVYUtvVVOvW5IXE6PQphKMg755PTzHulGYk/s320/Fat+Americans+on+Scooters.jpg" width="320" /></a>Some
riding automated carts so they didn't have to walk about shopping for
their groceries or ordering the most fattening item on the menu irrespective of
their balloon-sized-weight. It wouldn’t be too long before I would ask
myself:<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Where’s
all the fitness, sexiness Hollywood has made me believe is synonymous with
America?’<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I
would go to Food Courts, look around for a snack: candy, frozen yoghurt, sugar
coated Danish and I would conclude America is a society that encourages obesity
among its young. A society that charges a higher premium on small soda packs
only so you are encouraged to purchase larger ones.<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I
would see this first hand when with a Nigerian friend training as a doctor in
Florida at the time; I would go to the Altapointe Mall in Winterpark. Tired
from seeing ‘Elysium’ and window shopping, we would settle for a blizzard. I would
ask for a mini cone and my friend a medium, the red haired server lady would
ask:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘a
mini?’ wearing that look sales people wear when they think you made the wrong
choice and can do better. ‘if you’d upgrade your mini to a medium, you could
get both cones for 99 cents each as opposed to the $1.30 cost of a mini or $2
medium’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My
friend, himself a few pounds heavier now would say;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Take
the upgrade, whatever you have left over, I’d finish’. I would look to him and smile. Run my palm
over my now slightly bulging tummy and say, ‘I’d take the upgrade’. The lady
would smile back as though I had made the wiser choice.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
She
would turn the cone up-side-down as though to show the blizzard was frozen
stiff and I would remember my friend saying to me earlier nothing is quite as
good as a blizzards frozen deliciousness. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As
we took our seats to enjoy our blizzards, I would notice a white haired lady
with her American accent bent to reach the lowest layer of a phone case booth,
her thighs about half the size of my waist and I would wonder: how in a society
with unlimited options and organic food, people still couldn’t make the simple
choice of living healthier lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com9Florida, USA27.6648274 -81.51575350000001720.4843744 -91.842902000000009 34.8452804 -71.188605000000024tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-8833584337511841742013-10-19T06:24:00.000-07:002013-10-22T01:59:06.413-07:00What Would Victoria Do?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZzav5cZe6QmzUvtHslF_edGD3Qq3d5AXCXoAtijyHuIoDmjkWh8dNGzsat2VWfEjpJ91u9l-6ZgugKQnFldaEDygvJAZHN-SPF4dxCslNdkf_-Gbj-nuJ4Ew5W4JIus8sPi_PQCUcHxg/s1600/Joel+and+Victoria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZzav5cZe6QmzUvtHslF_edGD3Qq3d5AXCXoAtijyHuIoDmjkWh8dNGzsat2VWfEjpJ91u9l-6ZgugKQnFldaEDygvJAZHN-SPF4dxCslNdkf_-Gbj-nuJ4Ew5W4JIus8sPi_PQCUcHxg/s320/Joel+and+Victoria.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
BY Adejoh Idoko Momoh</div>
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<br /></div>
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There’s something about the worship here; the church amazing
in its construction: paved rocks like waterfalls leading to doorways that in
themselves lead to a really expansive football- field -like arena with very
high ceilings of public address systems, air-condition vents and beautiful art.
</div>
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With arguably the largest congregation of any American
church, Lakewood Christian Center seats a remarkable 40,000 people; the
building was once Houston’s Compaq Center before the church bought it at $7.5
million and then started an ambitious $93 million worth of renovations, the
church as it stood before me, justified every expense. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ9POOF4DTdPmnN_rCAvN3kcPuxlNf7W_DC07cgyxp2jJdSFGbsQNMrGgX53o4CMW5ctDbm7zgu0N354XKzYbptAXxqCJUwdmLQdutJHm_TaKV1_PripN3jaT-13P_J_Fw6OLL07IweOE/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ9POOF4DTdPmnN_rCAvN3kcPuxlNf7W_DC07cgyxp2jJdSFGbsQNMrGgX53o4CMW5ctDbm7zgu0N354XKzYbptAXxqCJUwdmLQdutJHm_TaKV1_PripN3jaT-13P_J_Fw6OLL07IweOE/s320/1.png" width="320" /></a>‘I am a mess sometimes. I might be a mess tomorrow… And you
know what? God-says- it- is- okay to- be- a- mess, provided- I don’t- stay-
that- way’ Victoria Osteen would say. Picking her words individually, in that
voice white people use when they are overtaken by amazement or the sudden
realization that whatever troubles they have has been mysteriously relieved. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I would loose concentration, think to my local church: Pastor
Biodun Fatoyinbo’s Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, Abuja. His church, much like
this: in branding, the motivation- like sermons, the largely youthful, hopeful
population with excellent service of songs and praises: the ideal picture of a
progressive church. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I would allow my mind wander. Ask what Victoria would do if
like Pastor Modele Fatoyinbo, Joel Osteen had an ‘Ese Walters’ leveling
allegations of a weeklong affair against him. A weeklong indulgence in
fornication which Pastor Biodun fully aware of his actions lured her into,
first by asking her to join his pastoral care unit, offering personal spiritual
counseling and encouraging her to try alcohol.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
His ‘Ese’ would probably say he spoke in his very charming
Texan accent, saying: ‘I’m gonna teach you a level of grace mankind doesn’t
understand’ his eyes sparkling with the glow of a teacher eager to school his
student. He would then threaten just like Pastor Biodun did: ‘I see premonition
in which you leak details of our affair to the press. When such a time comes,
remember that the bible requires you to hurt not Gods anointed’ </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Bringing myself back from thought, I would see her. Light
skinned and very pretty in her above-knee-length blue dress accentuated at the
waist by a metallic black belt, I imagine she would say to Joel, our marriage
is for better and for worse, but mostly she would realize that he didn’t just
sin against her, but against his church, against the part of Christ’s body he shepherds
and therefore owed more of an explanation than the ‘Leave it to God’ posture
Pastor Biodun has currently adopted with the people of COZA and the larger
public. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
For every one worker who would labor every Sunday, every
weekday making sure services run smoothly, </div>
she would demand that he apologizes.
Not because by his apology he admits some form of guilt, but because by his
actions, he has brought them embarrassment. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFFCXeIKNxXtUMu6CPVetDi6cP48RUSdpOaGJmq7DxbVuuLYckU9TeWCIiZIJWCM9JyDRv3TWUaDxYo7g0nHjpRWWUnJnnsK3V0YZI_ULsMVdttAhH450-McYsKDv6FOdo50U9IEH7U0/s1600/Pastor+Modele+Fatoyinbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFFCXeIKNxXtUMu6CPVetDi6cP48RUSdpOaGJmq7DxbVuuLYckU9TeWCIiZIJWCM9JyDRv3TWUaDxYo7g0nHjpRWWUnJnnsK3V0YZI_ULsMVdttAhH450-McYsKDv6FOdo50U9IEH7U0/s400/Pastor+Modele+Fatoyinbo.jpg" width="400" /></a>She would probably ask him to take a back seat from church
activities, let other pastors who were content with their wives and didn’t see
the need to desecrate their flesh with adultery, shepherd the church. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
She would know that he is human, probably forgive him after she
overcomes her own anger. She would know that because of this humanity, he would
make mistakes sometimes and would need the direction a good wife should
provide.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
She would pull herself together: show that she is a woman in
control and not just one who is lingering in the background, gleefully playing
the victim of a cheating husband. She would take a stand: publicly stand by her
husband, help him find God again or walk away, but all she would do, she would
do boldly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<i>Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-40727176918348863132013-10-07T08:01:00.000-07:002013-10-07T08:01:02.266-07:00LOST IN TRANSLATION<div align="center" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;">By</span></div>
<div align="center" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Adejoh Idoko Momoh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGd8SN2speh2XT7jX0ZfLELhc-rFyJtNG9MsfSCuWE-0uyN73hYVKAANqsEwKGisqIUjuL2B5TF1fqE33R7ZR0r9QCN6zABzQSMNUazwpQzxZ-FQoHEGzul6_tbKA0lGF2Kql74WND5A0/s1600/Road+Trip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGd8SN2speh2XT7jX0ZfLELhc-rFyJtNG9MsfSCuWE-0uyN73hYVKAANqsEwKGisqIUjuL2B5TF1fqE33R7ZR0r9QCN6zABzQSMNUazwpQzxZ-FQoHEGzul6_tbKA0lGF2Kql74WND5A0/s320/Road+Trip.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
do not remember the date, what I do remember is that it was on our way from
Orlando to Atlanta. The trip registers fondly not only because it was a 7 hour
drive but also because on that trip I had a fight with my sister.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">After
everyone tired of hearing my hunger complaints, we stopped at a local Wendy's
just on the highway to get a burger and a coke. I had gone in, placed and
collected my order and returned to the car when my sister in her usual calm
demeanor asked why I didn’t ask if any other person wanted to eat. I do not
remember if I did ask, what I do remember is that I was so focused on my own
hunger that I probably would have forgotten to ask.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">'Supreme
Chicken burger and a coke please'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
said to the red haired lady behind the counter. I was going to laugh at the
very silly looking bright red hat that held her hair up the middle and had the
word 'Wendy's' inscribed on it in white, but I decided not to at the thought
that she might be rude if I did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
ordered the most basic item on the menu so I didn’t have to speak a lot of
English and have the lady annoyingly say 'excuse me' intermittently in her
silly American accent that to me sounded very un-english.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">'So,
if you’d take a seat over there, your order'd be up in 5 mins'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">She
pointed to a sitting area splattered with color it looked like a child’s
playground. I didn’t sit, I felt like it would be wrong to sit there so I
stood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This
is one thing that confused me about Americans: the practice of ordering you to
do something and making it sound as though it was merely a suggestion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As
she handed me my order, she finally asked:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">'Where
are you from?' I would hesitate and she would continue 'I ask cos your accent
is so cool'. I would say Nigeria and thank her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In
about a week, I would leave Atlanta and head for Chicago where I would visit
the Northern Illinois University to consider graduate school options, I would
meet a dark skinned Cameroonian- whom I would first refer to as my African
sister and therefore think her easy to relate with. Before I would notice her
beauty. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Very
sightly both in looks and features: humbly small breasts that would fit
perfectly in the palm of my hands, healthy round hips and those kind of legs
you only see in catalogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In
the course of conversation, I would describe Igbo girls as light skinned and
pretty. My Cameroonian would say:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">'I
enjoy listening to you, Momoh'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Her
hands holding mine as we stared forward in the realization and discomfort that
it was the first time we held hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">'Here
the 'T' is blurred such that it sounds like an 'L'. The 'R' is rolled off your
tongue such that it sounds somewhere between an 'R' and a 'W'. If you’re
considering graduate school here, you really have to learn to fit in, to sound
like us'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I
tightened my grip on her palm as though signaling that it was okay to hold
hands and she tightened hers too in agreement. I looked at her and felt pity
for this green card holding African. Despite being here 10 years, I could see
she still tried to fit in. She was trapped between a country that would forever
label her foreign and one very rich in culture and hospitality that lost her 10
years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejohAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-24284174782425030682013-08-15T02:06:00.000-07:002013-08-15T02:09:02.256-07:00TEDxYouth@Maitama Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_QrkK7_IVCi_yd80znPH5dHINkuh0iNvblZZK3lg_1ds2PPpTVm1k8J04COIvsnhyphenhyphenpo6UtvO86iysj5j_DIt5mraNDjXmxdNB8lHA9CtBGlMt97cXquLPym89SgRpnThv40tDyyNcoGg/s1600/Name+Tag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_QrkK7_IVCi_yd80znPH5dHINkuh0iNvblZZK3lg_1ds2PPpTVm1k8J04COIvsnhyphenhyphenpo6UtvO86iysj5j_DIt5mraNDjXmxdNB8lHA9CtBGlMt97cXquLPym89SgRpnThv40tDyyNcoGg/s320/Name+Tag.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The odds surely were not in my favor on Friday the 19<sup>th</sup>
July, 2013. I was already running close to the 5pm submission deadline for an
NIPP bid when the internet decided to stop working, then power would follow and
like cherry atop the cake, the generator would not start. This all would leave
me in thought, if we succeeded in acquiring the desired power plant, would
Nigeria’s power situation be any better? Would we do a better job than the
government has done at managing the generating plants? Just when I thought it
could not get better, it did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I very lazily flung my drawer open and I saw it, a printed
out invitation for the 20<sup>th</sup> to an event that would compensate for
what had now become a hard-work-filled-week with no results to show. Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi, Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, Aisha Babangida, Simeon Ononubi and Okechukwu
Ofilli all people who I considered role models were going to speak. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Fmkz6cMxsDvKM_lMgSolzox7bK6_pXnB3y94jSJVTACCG-QXqsbW6BLgnadw8URegrUmwotayS_mPdc7npXwrO3iIO6YgVFwsPXH9I-X2eqC7tRLTkfnyTHJaA3YvaAcXOfL5bJgTIk/s1600/Momoh+Upwards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Fmkz6cMxsDvKM_lMgSolzox7bK6_pXnB3y94jSJVTACCG-QXqsbW6BLgnadw8URegrUmwotayS_mPdc7npXwrO3iIO6YgVFwsPXH9I-X2eqC7tRLTkfnyTHJaA3YvaAcXOfL5bJgTIk/s320/Momoh+Upwards.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dressed in smart brown pants and a slightly off-white
corporate shirt complete with cufflinks, I left at least 15 minutes early to
the Sheraton Ladi Kwali hall venue of the event- as this event would be a
gathering of people who lead twitter protests demanding change in Nigeria, I
had expected it would start on time. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My excitement quickly paled; I registered, a really nice name
tag was printed and pasted on my left breast pocket- this is how organized
events should work I thought. I took my seat and after what must have been a
good 45 minutes behind schedule the MC- very young in his demeanor, would come
with apologies, he would assure that the event would start soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The lights would go off and in a matter of seconds focus on a
projector from which the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2009 Oxford TED talk ‘Danger
of a single story’ would play. Not minding that this talk is about 5 years old
and probably is the most watched Nigerian talk by Nigerians, everyone in the
hall sat watching: knowing what would happen next, but watching nonetheless. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bringing with it relief, the very refreshing Sir Ken Robinson
talk on Education stifling Creativity would start. Just then, the MC would
rudely interrupt again; tell a tale of how time was a scarce resource and go on
to explain the video like we were not capable of watching and understanding it
for ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aisha Babangida would give the first talk. I was amazed at
her simplicity, there was humility, kindness in her voice, qualities that I
previously did not think would be present in someone who was born to a military
ruler who is said to have single handedly destroyed Nigeria’s future and
squandered all the fortune that would come with it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She went on to give a talk on values, respect and mentorship.
She would speak of her mother’s NGO Better Life program which she now runs and
is still focused on empowering women and youth. She would end her 18 minute
talk with a tale of how someone who accused her of being rich and therefore not
in touch with the poor people’s plight would later become her press officer and
co-worker on a few people oriented programs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then Sanusi Lamido Sanusi in his impeccably tailored safari
and usual humility would take the stage, give a stimulating talk on overcoming
the fear of vested interests, talk about his experience with firing bank chiefs
and how everyone was sure he would loose his job and/or life immediately
afterwards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpprq7NOfmzGnqoZ7BrbwXIfl1eGQJNmgjXhi-WzuqGXDcRMxRByEx3aqjr1Vs3XQt_NytrCKD79164dAUtSlz45a_vzsSWrYTzDediCsvfyYUaRpQ_dRrqvF_q8ljxsPe8XQMwK63H48/s1600/Sanusi+Lamido+Sanusi.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpprq7NOfmzGnqoZ7BrbwXIfl1eGQJNmgjXhi-WzuqGXDcRMxRByEx3aqjr1Vs3XQt_NytrCKD79164dAUtSlz45a_vzsSWrYTzDediCsvfyYUaRpQ_dRrqvF_q8ljxsPe8XQMwK63H48/s320/Sanusi+Lamido+Sanusi.png" width="319" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He would speak of a certain female bank chief and Usher in
her local church who stole more than a billion dollars and owned more than 200 choice
properties in Dubai. A male bank chief and pastor of his local church who was
handed over to the EFCC for prosecution and was mandated to pay back about
N47.1bn in looted funds, with the intervention of some Northern leaders he was
eventually discharged of all liabilities- At this point, I thought to myself,
if you have any thoughts that suggest that a woman cannot out perform a man, just
look to the story of the female bank chief. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He would quote really gory statistics and warn that if we do
not demand change for fear of loosing security, we should know that in a matter
of time, we surely would loose the same security we seek to preserve. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The MC who at this point sounded more like a bearer of bad
news to me would announce that Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai was not going to
come. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Simeon Ononubi who is CEO YouWin and has found start-ups
since he was 16 would give a talk on business innovation, he would tell his
experience with starting ‘Back Up My Phone’ with as little as a hundred
dollars, only to sell the application a few months later for about Twenty
thousand dollars. He would also talk of ‘Simple Pay’- Nigeria’s equivalent of
Pay Pal. His talk was easy flowing, sensible, nice. I remember leaving the
venue with new found respect for the man. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nasir K Mohammed who was Secretary General to the ‘Nigerian Model
UN’ and is just as impressive with his qualifications spoke on Entrepreneurship.
Bright Jaja followed with the story of ReDance Africa and how the organization
he founded with very modest expectations has grown beyond all he thought.
Fatima Dansamaila talked on youths in sustainable development and Engineer and
dedicated blogger, Okechukwu Ofilli who also is creator of the Okada books
application would give a very lively talk on innovation.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the end, despite its flaws, it would do what a TED talk
should do: there was a richness and abundance of ideas exchanged amongst
speakers and participants that is bound to see anyone walk away with one or two
of his or her own ideas. Personally, the event would leave me inspired,
motivated and with zeal to go break barriers, be the best I can be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-48662967161770259582013-07-27T02:47:00.001-07:002013-07-27T08:41:46.128-07:00Nigeria and the irony of it all<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis4PTfLEPuCLLoX5c7VEOiqa1wbHv_7KiR1CE3SfjdYhBnnHHcM1JKnl4ZTG3J0HddfEq0hzAcaNvKEDZXhyphenhyphenLgxUrQlQD52CzBu9pAL8vD_71Nv1JT_fhubL_xuByCiuLPIJFeenCn-0c/s1600/Irony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis4PTfLEPuCLLoX5c7VEOiqa1wbHv_7KiR1CE3SfjdYhBnnHHcM1JKnl4ZTG3J0HddfEq0hzAcaNvKEDZXhyphenhyphenLgxUrQlQD52CzBu9pAL8vD_71Nv1JT_fhubL_xuByCiuLPIJFeenCn-0c/s1600/Irony.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Iskoola Pota', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">By Adejoh Idoko Momoh.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
relationship between Nigerians and irony did not start recently as far back as
the 1970’s, Gowon came up with the ‘No Victor, no Vanquished’ slogan after receiving
the instrument of surrender from the Biafran Head of State following a Civil
War that lasted 30 months. Apparently, the phrase was supposed to appease the Biafrans
who at various times had accused Nigerians of genocide and Gowon himself of
war crimes, make them feel like they really were not defeated and that the war
only helped to re-unify the country. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
the 1980’s, a Nigerian more famous for his weed smoking, near naked dancing and
mass marriages crooned the ‘suffering and smiling’ rant. Years down the line, Nigerians would appreciate
the prophecy contained in his lyrics, look past his promiscuity, recklessness
and crown him King of Afro pop. Isn’t this in itself some form of irony for a
society that prides itself as being moral driven?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If
you are Nigerian and you still have reason to doubt our national love for
irony, let me walk you through recent events that put our obsession in
perspective. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Perhaps
you remember the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill recommended by President
Olusegun Obasanjo and first considered in the Senate in 2006? Yes,
the same one – or a variant of it- whose passage Senator David Mark has since
adopted as personal crusade. The bill would among other things prohibit the
union of persons of the same sex and public displays of affection. The irony
here is that this bill is passed at a time when there are other bills that
require urgent attention. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
example, there is the Aluu 4 Mob Justice Prohibition Bill sponsored by
Okechukwu Ofilli in the wake of the Aluu 4 killings that seeks to classify
gleefully watching or partaking in mob justice as a crime in Nigeria’s current
criminal act, this bill that would potentially protect most Nigerians has not
been debated upon. Also, the National Health Bill that would guarantee easy
access to healthcare is sitting pretty on a shelf somewhere also not attended
to. What our legislators would rather do is make it more conducive to marry
child brides.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Senate President himself is some form of irony; he would come on national
television and passionately say crude oil theft in Nigeria is alarming, robbing
the nation of much needed revenue and should be punished with the death
penalty. Funny thing is corruption does as much harm even in the bureaucracy he
presides upon, yet not once has he recommended the death penalty or expulsion
for members who have corruption charges leveled against them. If you are still
in doubt, let me say this plainly, this is the picture of a man who gets irony
completely. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Not
wanting to be left out, the Harvard/Massachusetts Institute of Technology
trained Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala outsourced in 2006 by the
Olusegun Obasanjo administration along with fellow handlers of our economy
would delude us with tales, say our economy is one of the 6 fastest growing in
the world and flaunt a Transformation Agenda while a record number of Nigerians
are out of jobs, homeless and suffer from poverty and hunger.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As
recent as the 25<sup>th</sup> June her colleague, the London School of
Economics trained Minister of National Planning Dr Shamsudeen Usman, himself a
very bright Nigerian who has at different times occupied the positions of
Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria and Minister of Finance since 1999
revealed that Nigeria moved 8 steps upwards in global G.D.P rankings. We should
ask ourselves what this means? Has it translated to a reduction in poverty
among Nigerians, or an improvement in living standards? For all we Nigerians
who remain silent amidst all these ironies, the joke would in the end be on us.
Is it not funny that all these statistics are presented glowingly, yet
Nigerians profit nothing from them? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
education, the picture is no better: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In
spite of the fact that according to a 2013 Ministerial review put together by
Thisday newspapers, education under her shows no signs of improvement, the
bright eyed Minister Professor </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ruqqayatu</span><span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Rufa’i would talk of a needs
assessment committee for universities set up by her administration and increased
budgetary allocations under her watch. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
irony is that the reality on ground and therefore measurable by Nigerians is
that an almost 11 million unschooled children population exists, a 0.0006% pass
rate of 300 and above out of a possible 400 was recorded in the 2013
Universities and Tertiary Matriculation Examinations, 1.7million Nigerians
applied this year for an inadequate 500,000 university slots, a record low
female enrollment rate and an increasing school dropout rate persists. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It
is the same irony with health, power and the petroleum sectors. Consider that
the JTF is even mandated by the government to locate and destroy illegal
refineries built by poverty stricken Niger Deltans, the irony is that the same
government would turn around to say Nigeria does not have the capacity to build
refineries. Would it not be a better alternative if the expertise of these
illegal refinery operators is exploited towards building numerous low or high
capacity refineries across oil producing states? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At
least twice in the last decade, Nigerians have been adjudged the happiest
people on earth. While it is a wonder how happiness indeces are carried out,
the thing is, an oil rich nation with the highest rate of oil theft worldwide who
losses some $8bn annually to this theft has no business being happy. A country
with about 80% arable land but still incurs an annual rice import bill of
N23trillion, or a bill of N635billion and N100 billion for wheat and fish
imports has no business being happy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A country with very large tomato belts but
is the highest importer of tomato paste worldwide is no place to be happy. A
country where you can simply go to retrieve a debt and see tyre wrapped around
your neck, have strangers mercilessly beat you and set you ablaze is no place
to be happy. Neither is a country where your young promising children or
brothers go to bed in supposedly secure schools and get burnt to death at night
a place to be happy in. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Iskoola Pota","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There
are numerous reasons to be unhappy and the international community has taken
notice, from xenophobia in South Africa to 48 Nigerians seating pretty on death
row in Indonesia and the N750,000 bond Nigerians may have to pay before
embarking on travels to the United kingdom, the sooner we end our dangerous
infatuation with hope, contentment and irony, the better it would be for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejohAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456696754504552989.post-8493601543215273362013-06-13T19:37:00.000-07:002013-06-13T19:42:38.057-07:00For Nigerians, it may be time to panic<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;">
<b style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By: Adejoh Idoko Momoh</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhd_Nusjc_dYXIPkb35zWBB4AOueWKpBT1tcdlTWnLAoWqEyOVxjHBNUxoZQvrcZhfHxTgwhO99UB7Ou5J3nVwCJEKhHvFp6D9988vqOilwNxxqtYhpx0x6b58KJAA76anoa1bZbdC8UE/s1600/For+Nigerians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhd_Nusjc_dYXIPkb35zWBB4AOueWKpBT1tcdlTWnLAoWqEyOVxjHBNUxoZQvrcZhfHxTgwhO99UB7Ou5J3nVwCJEKhHvFp6D9988vqOilwNxxqtYhpx0x6b58KJAA76anoa1bZbdC8UE/s1600/For+Nigerians.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Consider these scenarios: 50,000 teachers cannot pass a basic
test in elementary English; illiteracy rate of about 70%; only 10 out of 1.6
million candidates that sat for university entrance examinations scored a pass
mark of 300 and above out of a possible 500. Add this to a situation where 10.6
million children are out of school - the highest school aged children
out-of-school population in the entire world, then relate these to the fact that
all these take place in a nation with a GDP growth rate higher than all other
African nations except South Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">This conundrum is representative of the inherent
contradictions in Nigeria, where the government keeps brandishing largely
useless growth figures in our faces, but where people are confronted daily by
an increasingly divided citizenry, deteriorating security conditions, decaying
infrastructure, rising unemployment, unprecedented corruption, impunity and
falling standards of education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Ordinarily, the scenario depicted above would be hilarious if
it wasn’t so serious. Unfortunately, for 170 million Nigerians who normally
should set the pace for the rest of Africa in human capital development and
educational attainment terms, the reality on ground is that they are plagued
with a largely dysfunctional system that encourages an ever growing population
of young people who would constitute an uneducated, unemployable generation
with little useful roles to play in society. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">The Ministry of Education would be quick to come up with
excuses: attribute its many failures to a lack of finance and complain that it
is not allocated some 26% of Nigeria’s national budget as is recommended by the
United Nations. Yet of its dismal 8% budgetary allocation in 2012, the ministry
only expended 20% of its capital provisions as at September the same year. This
simply points to the fact that the ministry itself has no vision to accommodate
the resources they often put forward as needed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">This immediately brings questions to mind, can this ministry
that cannot implement an 8% budgetary provision wholly be trusted with 25%? Can
the government afford to fund this ministry as much as it deserves? Is it not a
fact that a former Education Minister, Dr Oby Ezekwesili admitted the above,
and included the ‘Adopt A School’ program as part of Corporate Social
Responsibility? Sadly, no sooner than she left office was her ‘Crisis’ reforms
document thrown out too. What place does alternative education have in our
current education system? How did our technical schools that served to train
experts at skilled work loose relevance?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">The truth is Nigeria’s education sector is in need of reforms
and every Nigerian should take up this responsibility, demand an education
revolution from our government. Peaceful protests like the Occupy Nigeria or
the Project Cure rallies that have been beneficial for fuel subsidy as well as
currency restructuring would do just as good for education. The creation of
specialist universities may prove to be more beneficial than universities that
aim to offer all courses. Would it not be a more informed thought if the
President considered strengthening the capacities of existing universities as
opposed to building new universities in every state? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Challenges abound with reforming our education system. Time
for one; reforms would take a little more than 4 years focused on planning,
training, implementing and some more training. Take China as example, the
country has had over 50 years of mandatory 9 year basic education and various
laws guaranteeing access to education for minorities, women and the
handicapped, yet the country has not totally attained universal basic education
coverage. Nigeria has not even started. Discouraging as this may be, it is not
reason to delay the reform process that would benefit generations of Nigerians
to come. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Yes, there is a Universal Basic Education Board and 35 other
state versions called State Universal Basic Education Board but what are these
SUBEBs doing? Take a state like Kaduna for instance with a school aged out of
school percent population of 51.6%, the state SUBEB has a zero capital
allocation for the years 2013 and 2014, while there is a recurrent expenditure
of N116.5m and N128.2m respectively. In view of the above, you decide if this
demonstrates political will to curb the education menace? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">This lack of political will to train and develop the people
we refer to as Nigeria’s future goes beyond formal education; we see it even in
the field of technical education too. The 2013 National budget has a capital
provision of N40 million set aside for the National Business and Technical
Education Board while its recurrent provision is N1.2billion, also there is a
N300million capital provision for the National Board for Technical Education Secretariat
while its recurrent expenditure is N1.3billion- about 300% above Capital
Expenditure. With miserable capital provisions as detailed above most technical
schools are shut down, the few that function do not have updated curriculums
and therefore offer training that is of very little relevance to modern trends
and realities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">For Nigerians who belong to the dwindling middle class and
are rich enough to afford foreign education or training for their children and
perhaps feel like the dearth of education infrastructure in Nigeria should not
bother them, they are sadly mistaken. I conclude with the tale as narrated
below, it is my hope that from it we all have a rethink. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">A man wise beyond his years once said, ‘the children we do
not train now would kill those we have trained.’ He then explained how a
Harvard trained student came visiting his parents in Lagos for a week and how
on a hot afternoon made worse by the failure of the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria (P.H.C.N) to provide electricity, he decided to take a walk. As he
walked, he saw a miscreant steal a lady’s purse and sought to challenge the
man. The man simply pulled out a gun, shot this foreign educated student and
rode off on his motorbike.</span></div>
<br />
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<i>Adejoh Momoh (momoh.adejoh@gmail.com) can be followed on twitter @adejoh</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08253288573908639550noreply@blogger.com11