Realities of Today Blog: A Nigerian Initiative for Enlightenment

Twitter was literally banned by the Federal Government of Nigeria yesterday the 4th June 2021 owing to the removal of the genocidal posts made by the Presidency on his official Twitter page. Correspondingly, Facebook also removed the post from the Presidency page too due to its incitement of violent threats towards average Nigerians. We really do not know if the Federal Government will ban Facebook too. It's very funny and unexpected that Nigerian government placed a ban on Twitter in the country and also used the same app to make such post. As at today, 5th June 2021, the Twitter app is still working without the use of VPN and I wonder what a ban it is and when it's going to take its full effect. To think a press conference was organized immediately after the removal of the Presidency's post on an app against many heinous acts going on in the country without receiving such attention is telling us many things. One, this government has chose to prioritize comedy against the ...

The workplace and the work itself is jointly an important aspect of every human endeavour. We all need to work to make ends meet. Whether we run our own businesses, engage in a government-owned institution, work under a private organisation or even a family business. The end result of it all should be happiness, satisfaction as a committed person. How committed are you to your work? Are you happy doing what you are doing? Can you proudly represent the organisation publicly without receiving any inducement? Do you feel happy going to work every day? A genuine answer to all these questions are enough reasons to determine an engaged employee or a disengaged one. For more clarity, there is a need to highlight and discuss few signs of a disengaged employee. Entry-Exit Time This is simply talking about the clock in and clock out time for every employee. I remembered I worked in an organisation where employees were writing 8:65, 8:77, and 8:89 as entry time. This is implying that most of them...

Travelling around the world is one of the beautiful things that can ever happen to someone who loves feeding his eyes with new things. Naturally, the creator of the universe made this world with no specific border until men tried to draw boundaries among themselves. This is why some nations have mandated the need for an international passport to gain access to their country which isn't a bad idea. Although as a Nigerian, we are entitled to free access to some countries in our region but definitely not outside of it. From the former point of view, it became a necessity to have an international passport to travel around the world as a Nigerian for study, leisure or relocation purposes. To think the so-called giant of Africa does not have booklets to provide for interested citizens in international activities for the first quarter of the year 2021 is highly regrettable. Information from friends outside the nation confirmed the scarcity of booklets for Nigerian citizens in diaspora esp...

The central idea of this post was curled from one of the Facebook live session of popular multiple Amazon Bestselling Author, an award-winning Entrepreneur, and International Speaker " Edirin Edewor ". The theme of the session was: so you want to go viral? In the session, I learnt the importance of being ready for the future we calling to come. How we get set before it happens? All credit goes to her for continually shunning out values every now and then. From the session, I saw that preparedness is the mother of success. Your preparedness now determines your future when it finally comes. How prepared are you for the journey? Edirin shared three stories in the live session but I will share one here. One of the stories she shared was about Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate at the age of 22years. Her story got to me because of how hardwork and persistence pay within a twinkle of an eye. Note, you only need one person, one moment, one event, one idea, one pla...

We all want to make money and live happily, right? It's a good thing. The path to get riches and happiness is what separates us. Some of us are so heady about getting rich through the fast route while some people are so calm and strategic to delay the gratification towards getting rich. Whichever way you sought, it usually comes with consequences. Fast-illegal routes can be so sweet at first, burning and painful eventually while the long elongated routes might be stressful and worth it at the end of the day.  Ponzi schemes from MMM down to the recent one "RACKSTERLY" came to teach us lessons. I was once a victim too but the loss was well calculated and prepared for in my own case. Let me tell you my story. For a very long time, my clique knows I don't believe and deal in money doubling schemes no matter who is selling the idea to me. Fortunately, I keyed into Tradera's educational plan to learn how to make money through FOREX. In the midst of work and familial eng...

almost everything from the beginning to the end? I will be so unfair if I say that. However, what exactly can we say makes us happy under this current administration? Food, Electricity, Roads, Healthcare, Security, just name it. The list is so long that we can't even look into it holistically in this post.  As for me, my major worry about this country right now is the state of the road. The roads are bad at least from what I have seen down south; Lagos-Ogun axis. What a pity to see humans ply such roads in the 21st century! Normally, that roads are not friendly for animals of all categories, how much more us. I cannot imagine the way and manner the agencies in charge of road management does their things. Damn! It's so crazy to think big-big granites could be dumped on the roads to fill the potholes without using machines to run it over before use. Unfortunately, this is our reality in Nigeria which has therefore caused a lot of accidents for both the users and the car itself. I...

Security of lives and properties is indeed a vital aspect of human endeavour in the course of running day-day activities. Removing security naturally turns everything upside down which is simply  the situation of the country, Nigeria. How did we get here under President Muhammadu Buhari's administration? And how can we edge over existing odds as an average Nigerian brothers and sisters? I think we are in this mess due to our recklessness as a country or say our reactive approach to important things. The government played their role by being too lackadaisical about security matters at its utmost beginning. This is why a lot of rural farmers and dwellers have lost their lives without any succor to quench the roaring fire before it gets out of hand. Now that it is out of hand, security operatives are not fully backed by the incumbency to pull down the strongholds. What do we do as average Nigerians? The ball is in our court and we must play it to our favour. We are meant to thread sof...

For years now, some parts of the North has not been a safe haven for dwellers and immigrants due to the rising spate of terrorism and insurgency. This has been majorly propagated by the activities of Boko Haram groups, Shilla boys, herders and some other violent groups in the North.  With the look of happening in the Northern part of the country, it shows a wide range of insecurity threats for dwellers, travelers, immigrants, and business owners. All these threats has been linked to the bandits who some people claimed to be indigenous Fulanis while others see them as international mercenaries hired from neighbouring countries to disrupt the activities of the state. Why did our North become so unsecured overnight? This article will reveal few reasons why Banditry issue persists in the North today. READ ALSO: What are the Chances of Achieving Secession in Nigeria? Firstly, the approach of the Northern leaders in the affected states has made it much more easier for the activities to p...

The word drugs means different things to different people in different settings. Drugs as used in this article doesn't refer to the medicine prescribed by the medical doctors for one ailment or the other. It is simply the element used by an individual to energize, slow down, pump action, get high, cool off e.t.c. Examples of these drugs are; Colorado, Loud, Marijuana, Gum, Codeine, Refnol to mention but a few. These drugs are sniffed, drank or smoked which naturally comes with its side-effects. READ ALSO: How to Make the New Nigeria Possible What worries me more is the rate of drugs use by youths in this present age as against my days as a teenager. These youths now do drugs excessively with the notion of enjoying themselves. What happens to family gatherings? What happens to friends get-together? What happens to the midnight calls? What happens to tourism? What a shame we find ourself in this mess of excessive drug abuse! Some parents are contributors by being reckless in raising ...

Getting things right under any administration is the best approach to ensure the achievement of desired growth and development. In this path to achieve development, there are many decisions that the government must either be proactive or reactive about. At the extreme, where the government in power neglect the important things for the unimportant ones, it becomes worrisome how the nation wants to move forward. The latter is just the experience of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari with the indicators presented below in no particular order.  Call to Arrest Sunday Igboho To think there will be a call to arrest Sunday Igboho which is nowhere connected to receiving a national honour like MON, MFR is rather shocking. The call to arrest Sunday Igboho by the Federal Government of Nigeria is the least of the unexpected things where bandits are gallivanting all around town, Shekau is celebrating the kidnapping and killings of Nigerians on cameras, herders killing farmers and d...

It is good to dream dreams of a better state of things but it is rather rewarding when such dreams become reality in one's lifetime. The dream of Martin Luther King Jr. referencing a Black man rising up the ladder to rule a white nation became a reality in his afterlife. I hope this dream of ours to make Nigeria work, better and great won't be after our demise. On this basis, I foresee many possible threats to the actualization of this dream of ours as conscious driven youths in Nigeria. These threats are youths-centered, state-centered, ethnic-centered, cabal-centered, elders-centered. Invariably, all these stakeholders and activities would force the abortion of 2023 dreams. Youths, the frontline agitators of this new life, are to an extent the first to throw away the baby with the bathe water. It's funny you think, but that is what it is because large number of these youths lost fate in the country after the events of October 20, 2020. A whole lot of these people are emig...

Technology no doubt brought good tidings to the world by making the world closer and making things easier to do. On the other end, this same technology has been successfully interrupting existing status quo, especially cultural standards. In some nations where they preach and practice liberalism, it isn't a worry for them but a continent like Africa naturally despise such behavioural displays in the public arena. Although, what Nigerians have traditionally frowned at is gradually becoming the order of the day, today. All these can be publicly seen in dress codes, hair styles/cut, music genre and all, thanks to the internet.  The internet no doubt quite useful but it's porosity is gradually becoming a major issue, especially through the #onlinechallenges rolled out every now and then. There are good online challenges (on food, health, exercises...) put together by celebrities for cultural enrichment. However, there are those online challenges threatening to pluck out one's e...

A big thanks to all and sundry that made the delivery of nine months pregnancy a success in Nigeria. This is just to acknowledge the prolonged strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) against the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in the year 2020. It wasn't an easy tussle though. During these times, a lot of events unfolded: some students drifted towards entrepreneurship, some were victims of sexual violence, some began their marital journey unexpectedly, while most lecturers were financially unstable. To rekindle the nation's academic activities, physical reopening of public schools shut down since March 2020 was slated for 18th January, 2021 by the FGN. To think this is not feasible on the count of meeting up with COVID-19 guidelines is debatable. First and foremost, to physically open tertiary institutions in Nigeria is easy-difficult considering some situational factors around the clarion call. It's indeed very easy to open the gate to the four...

  It's a new year again around the world at different timeframes. What a uniqueness to understand, consider and leverage on! I must say we are privileged to be here against the mighty odds of year 2020. It was indeed an unprecedented and turbulent year for the entire world. How do we project ourselves in this new calendar year? How do we stand tall in the midst of the waves of COVID-19 ravaging the world? What do we need to do urgently now? What do we need to be proactive about? All these questions are begging for answers urgently from you and I.  With the look of things, it is crystal clear that the world is gradually shifting towards "digital everything" i.e. digital money, digital learning, digital worship, digital trade, digital meetings, digital media to mention but a few. What do we have to do as students, teachers, consumers, entrepreneurs, artisans, and professionals? Do we need to learn this new selling trade? Do we need to ignore this trade? Do we need to contra...

  Hello!  Can you pause a little bit, sit back and try to have a reflection of your achievements in the twelve (12) calendar months of the year 2020. I said pause before answering the next questions: What have you done this year? What did you overcome this year? What opportunities came your way? What opportunities did you grab this year? What were your winnings this year? These are questions begging for answers in the best way possible. Don't forget it's a great privilege to be alive, to reflect on this achievements in the midst of the ups, downs, shocks and surprises in the year 2020. A lot of people (professionals, spiritualists, artisans, freedom fighters , administrators...) died suddenly from different parts of the world through Coronavirus disease outbreak and mere illness that you have survived without having the wherewithal. Note, people who stacked up generational funds still lost their lives. Don't you think its worthwhile to be grateful by counting every bless...

Bill in a democratic setting is an important tool for achieving desired change in a given direction. Nigeria is nowhere different because of her current experience in the hands of her administrators. For now, please let’s not argue about the actual practice of democracy in Nigeria or not. We all know where we belong on a global scale of leadership and democratic governance. For decades, there has been tremendous agitations for the approval of several bills into law to enhance the efficiency of the system. Notable bill agitations in Nigeria are not but limited to police reforms, electronic voting, child marriage, and of late hate speech, social media bill. Who knows what ridiculous bill they are going to initiate to threaten us. As youths in today’s Nigeria, we have been agitating for a better Nigeria through online and offline platforms as seen this year for instance. This is in the actual sense of what we need against what we want for nation-building. What do we need, specifically...

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)  came as a shocker to many countries other than China in the year 2020 but many countries used their shock absorbers to manage the situation. This outbreak no doubt necessitated the total shutdown of so many activities across the globe, thereby, incapacitating its citizenry.  Due to this reality, many nations gave their citizens palliatives - foodstuff as at when due while some countries even gave out financial support to their citizens throughout the period of their forceful stay at home. This was nowhere near the reality of many states in Nigeria who were under lockdown from March till August 2020.  Although, some palliatives were shared at the 0.1% level while a larger share was hoarded for whatsoever reason by some state governors in Nigeria. It came as a shock to see many warehouses looted by hoodlums in Lagos, Nigeria at first to discover their entitlement. This tide, therefore, occurred at Kwara, Cross Rivers, Osun, Jos, Benin and oth...

What started as a clarion call for #EndSars and #EndPoliceBrutality in Nigeria degenerated into the call to end deeper issues affecting Nigeria as a nation. Sadly, some people had died in this short time of peaceful agitations by unarmed youths coupled with the activities of hoodlums across the state. A minute silence for the fallen heroes at the Lekki toll gate protest ground, please. Indeed after the massacre, the state witnessed devastating attacks on both private and public properties by angry youths, especially the hoodlums. Places affected were not limited to TVC Communications, Shoprite, Police Posts, Lekki Toll Gate, and other small and medium scale businesses. It has been a difficult time at Lagos, Nigeria with increasing carnage of both youths and police officers. Due to these events put together, there was a wake-up call by youths across the country to get what the heroes fought for. This is linked to the call for a new Nigeria - a Nigeria where a son of nobody can become so...

It came as a shock to me and many other Nigerians waking up to the news of some unarmed youths shot at by security officials at the most coordinated protest ground in Lagos, Nigeria. The exact figures of fatalities were unaccounted for considering some middle grounds. These were based on the controversial news spread by the protesters, the state government, the Nigerian Army and the Presidency across the mass media.  Mr Governor said, "forces beyond his direct control were responsible for the heinous act" in his speech on the 21st October 2020. He went further to say there were no fatalities recorded. The Nigerian Army denied involvement in the horrific scene while the Presidency also maintained the same ground as others making the storyline more complicated.  However, there were a series of events possibly justifying that the horrible attack on harmless protesters were deliberate actions to frustrate youths clarion call to end police brutality and bad governance in the count...

#EndSARS movement is not a new development in Nigeria as it's first call dated back to the year 2017. The movement started and usually ends by the declarations of the government that the unit Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) has been disbanded from the Nigerian Police. The same thing has been happening whenever the youths raised an eyebrow on the inhumane practices of this unit from the year 2017 up until 2019. This year's clarion call to end the brutal activities of SARS took a different shape, approaches and tactics from across the Western, Eastern, and Southern part of Nigeria while the Northerners were on the other side of the reality. What then were the keynotes from #EndSARS movement so far? Kindly feed your minds below. The acclaimed lazy youths by the President has risen in one voice regardless of their sociocultural diversities to speak against the brutal nature of the Nigerian police, especially those representing the unit SARS. The youths were so organised, well-coo...