Exploring beyond Imaginations

DISCOVERING WHO WE REALLY ARE!!!

By Emmanuel Bright OBI Chigozie

According to one scientist, Dr Bernie Siegel; he tell us if we want to know who we are that we should go look at one of our own baby pictures. What we see is a little human being who is loving and lovable. That’s you off course, before you were corrupt with concepts and other socialization. And that’s very true.
I am not suggesting that we should grow up having a utopian view of what life is all about. After all, on the path through any rose garden we have to watch out for the thorns. Adults in our lives tell us things for a reason, such as, don’t trust everyone, don’t take candy from strangers and so forth. No matter what our upbringing, our socialization is manifested and quite often what we are taught, did us far more harm than good. This lead us to some very complex explorations into why we are far more likely to feel more lost than found whenever we ask ourselves the simple question: WHO AM I?…
Most children are raised being told that they need to be different-to believe that if we don’t work hard enough, if we don’t try hard enough, we have to be better and different than what we are. Caring parents and other concerned adults believe they are installing within us greater responsibility and ambition. These well-intended instructions are typically symbolized in our minds giving us doubts about our worth in the present; giving us to think things like “who and what I am isn’t enough”, I need to be something else, something more in the future than I am right now. These seeds our insecurity of being okay in and of ourselves. We begin to repress who we are and create a personality of who we want to be.
OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THIS÷
1) We stop being motivated by what makes us happy in the present and begin dwelling on a happier future, on some unforeseen horizon where we always better, smarter, more heroic, successful and wonderful than we are right now. And, we always have more and better stuff in this mental projection.
2) We are very apt to stop thinking about what we want for ourselves, but rather what others expect from us. We bury even more of our own unique personalities and lean even more on our personal selves and simply become more and more of the mask we are wearing…
3) As a result, we begin seeking rebels to tell us who and what we are. If we’ve responded in a positives way to the goals of our becoming better, more and different, we may have gained acknowledgment for being that good student, the excellent athlete, popular, productive, etc..
If we have responded in a negative way of being told that we have to be better, more and different, we may have instead gain a reputation of being a lousy student, rebellious, troubled and more.
MY POINT÷
We struggle with knowing who we are because we have replaced who we are with what we think those significant others in our lives told us we ought to be. Better, more and different! True one person may respond in the negative and decide to become worse and less, while even his own siblings- raised in the same environment by the same parents , may excel and achieve greatness and wealth. In their private moments, both will from time to time, confront the proposition that they don’t feel as whole and complete as they would like; that they somehow feel less than fully themselves.
This is why we identify with what we do- our job title, our club membership, our diplomas, our wealth or our poverty, our rank or rebel. We begin living out the myths of these things and we walk and talk the image- no matter our jobs. This is who we are, we say, and yet, a whisper within reminds us that this is merely what we do.
CONCLUSION÷
We all can get lost in our persona-selves and to a greater or lesser degree, lose of sight of who we truly are behind the mask we wear.
How do you regain self-realization?..
First of all, you need to realize and believe you are not what other have said you are. You are not what your parents, teachers, peers, friends or any other significant other told you. You are not Daddy’s little helper, Mommy’s perfect little angel, you are not ugly duckling, the bad seed, the loveliest blossom in the garden or boy wonder. You are not everyone’s charmer, a wall-flower or life of every party. So be wise..

THANKS TO GOD
YOUR’S lOVELY
BRIGHT

Obama backs same-sex marriage
AFP – Wed, 9th May 2012 07:57 PM

“As blacks, am sure we all are aware it is not just abominable but as well a taboo for one to be engaged in same sex; but maybe for political calculations as the American election comes up by November, Mr. Obama became the first serving U.S. President to publicly support same sex marriages, which the church is strictly against, especially Rome, but is been addressed as a part of fundamental human rights in America ”

For your digest:

Barack Obama became the first US president Wednesday to say publicly he was in favor of same-sex marriage, in a high-stakes intervention in a pre-election debate roiling American politics.

In what supporters will hail as a historic moment in civil rights history, Obama changed his stance, after previously saying he was “evolving” on gay marriage, a fiercely divisive issue in US politics.

“I’ve just concluded, for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama said in an interview with ABC News.

The president said however that a decision on whether to legalize gay marriage should be left to individual states. He also talked about how he and his wife Michelle had squared his decision with their faith.

“We are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others,” he said.

“But it’s also the Golden Rule, you know — treat others the way you would want to be treated.”

Obama, who previously backed strong protections for gay and lesbian couples but not full marriage, said his position had evolved after talking to his two daughters Malia and Sasha who had friends who had same-sex parents.

“It wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective,” Obama said in the interview.

Obama came under increasing political pressure on gay marriage after Vice President Joe Biden said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage.

Some political analysts have warned that Obama could be entering a political minefield, with some key voting blocs in swing states that he hopes to court in November’s election opposing gay marriage.

On Tuesday, voters in North Carolina, a state Obama narrowly carried in the 2008 election, approved a state constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships.

The measure was passed by 61 percent to 39 percent after similar state constitutional amendments had been approved in some 30 US states.

The amendment solidifies and expands already enacted North Carolina law forbidding same-sex marriage.

Religious conservatives will likely condemn Obama for his move, which will set up an interesting bout with Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney for the affections of independent voters on the issue.

Romney said on Wednesday he did not “favor marriage between people of the same gender,” and also opposed civil unions.

Republican strategists have in the past used gay marriage as a “wedge issue” to inject cultural issues into narrow elections in swing states.

But there are signs that broader public opinion on gay marriage is moderating, though conservative groups are redoubling efforts to thwart the pro-gay lobby, seeking constitutional bans on gay marriage.

In a Gallup poll conducted between May 3 and 6, 50 percent of Americans said they backed gay marriage, while 48 percent said it should not be legalized.

Gay rights supporters praised Obama for his move, which may have the potential to fire up his political base, which had been less excited about his reelection bid than it was about his first candidacy four years ago.

“President Obama made history by boldly stating that gay and lesbian Americans should be fully and equally part of the fabric of American society,” said Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign.

“His presidency has shown that our nation can move beyond its shameful history of discrimination and injustice.

“President Obama extends that message of hope to a generation of young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, helping them understand that they too can be who they are and flourish as part of the American community.”

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also praised Obama’s move.

“This is a major turning point in the history of American civil rights,” Bloomberg said.

“No American president has ever supported a major expansion of civil rights that has not ultimately been adopted by the American people — and I have no doubt that this will be no exception.”

Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said: “Congratulations, Mr. President, for making history today by becoming the first sitting president to explicitly support marriage for same-sex couples.”

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Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!

They call the Third World the lazy man’s purview; the sluggishly slothful and languorous prefecture. In this realm people are sleepy, dreamy, torpid, lethargic, and therefore indigent—totally penniless, needy, destitute, poverty-stricken, disfavored, and impoverished. In this demesne, as they call it, there are hardly any discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Africa is the trailblazer. Some still call it “the dark continent” for the light that flickers under the tunnel is not that of hope, but an approaching train. And because countless keep waiting in the way of the train, millions die and many more remain decapitated by the day.

“It’s amazing how you all sit there and watch yourselves die,” the man next to me said. “Get up and do something about it.”

Brawny, fully bald-headed, with intense, steely eyes, he was as cold as they come. When I first discovered I was going to spend my New Year’s Eve next to him on a non-stop JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Boston I was angst-ridden. I associate marble-shaven Caucasians with iconoclastic skin-heads, most of who are racist.

“My name is Walter,” he extended his hand as soon as I settled in my seat.

I told him mine with a precautious smile.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

“Zambia.”

“Zambia!” he exclaimed, “Kaunda’s country.”

“Yes,” I said, “Now Sata’s.”

“But of course,” he responded. “You just elected King Cobra as your president.”

My face lit up at the mention of Sata’s moniker. Walter smiled, and in those cold eyes I saw an amenable fellow, one of those American highbrows who shuttle between Africa and the U.S.

“I spent three years in Zambia in the 1980s,” he continued. “I wined and dined with Luke Mwananshiku, Willa Mungomba, Dr. Siteke Mwale, and many other highly intelligent Zambians.” He lowered his voice. “I was part of the IMF group that came to rip you guys off.” He smirked. “Your government put me in a million dollar mansion overlooking a shanty called Kalingalinga. From my patio I saw it all—the rich and the poor, the ailing, the dead, and the healthy.”

“Are you still with the IMF?” I asked.

“I have since moved to yet another group with similar intentions. In the next few months my colleagues and I will be in Lusaka to hypnotize the cobra. I work for the broker that has acquired a chunk of your debt. Your government owes not the World Bank, but us millions of dollars. We’ll be in Lusaka to offer your president a couple of millions and fly back with a check twenty times greater.”

“No, you won’t,” I said. “King Cobra is incorruptible. He is …”

He was laughing. “Says who? Give me an African president, just one, who has not fallen for the carrot and stick.”

Quett Masire’s name popped up.

“Oh, him, well, we never got to him because he turned down the IMF and the World Bank. It was perhaps the smartest thing for him to do.”

At midnight we were airborne. The captain wished us a happy 2012 and urged us to watch the fireworks across Los Angeles.

“Isn’t that beautiful,” Walter said looking down.

From my middle seat, I took a glance and nodded admirably.

“That’s white man’s country,” he said. “We came here on Mayflower and turned Indian land into a paradise and now the most powerful nation on earth. We discovered the bulb, and built this aircraft to fly us to pleasure resorts like Lake Zambia.”

I grinned. “There is no Lake Zambia.”

He curled his lips into a smug smile. “That’s what we call your country. You guys are as stagnant as the water in the lake. We come in with our large boats and fish your minerals and your wildlife and leave morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs. That corn-meal you eat, that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Kapenta is crumbs. We the Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are the Muntu. I get what I want and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what lazy people get—Zambians, Africans, the entire Third World.”

The smile vanished from my face.

“I see you are getting pissed off,” Walter said and lowered his voice. “You are thinking this Bwana is a racist. That’s how most Zambians respond when I tell them the truth. They go ballistic. Okay. Let’s for a moment put our skin pigmentations, this black and white crap, aside. Tell me, my friend, what is the difference between you and me?”

“There’s no difference.”

“Absolutely none,” he exclaimed. “Scientists in the Human Genome Project have proved that. It took them thirteen years to determine the complete sequence of the three billion DNA subunits. After they

were all done it was clear that 99.9% nucleotide bases were exactly the same in you and me. We are the same people. All white, Asian, Latino, and black people on this aircraft are the same.”

I gladly nodded.

“And yet I feel superior,” he smiled fatalistically. “Every white person on this plane feels superior to a black person. The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff. Tell me why my angry friend.”

For a moment I was wordless.

“Please don’t blame it on slavery like the African Americans do, or colonialism, or some psychological impact or some kind of stigmatization. And don’t give me the brainwash poppycock. Give me a better answer.”

I was thinking.

He continued. “Excuse what I am about to say. Please do not take offense.”

I felt a slap of blood rush to my head and prepared for the worst.

“You my friend flying with me and all your kind are lazy,” he said. “When you rest your head on the pillow you don’t dream big. You and other so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. It is you, and not those poor starving people, who is the reason Africa is in such a deplorable state.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say,” I protested.

He was implacable. “Oh yes it is and I will say it again, you are lazy. Poor and uneducated Africans are the most hardworking people on earth. I saw them in the Lusaka markets and on the street selling merchandise. I saw them in villages toiling away. I saw women on Kafue Road crushing stones for sell and I wept. I said to myself where are the Zambian intellectuals? Are the Zambian engineers so imperceptive they cannot invent a simple stone crusher, or a simple water filter to purify well water for those poor villagers? Are you telling me that after thirty-seven years of independence your university school of engineering has not produced a scientist or an engineer who can make simple small machines for mass use? What is the school there for?”

I held my breath.

“Do you know where I found your intellectuals? They were in bars quaffing. They were at the Lusaka Golf Club, Lusaka Central Club, Lusaka Playhouse, and Lusaka Flying Club. I saw with my own eyes a bunch of alcoholic graduates. Zambian intellectuals work from eight to five and spend the evening drinking. We don’t. We reserve the evening for brainstorming.”

He looked me in the eye.

“And you flying to Boston and all of you Zambians in the Diaspora are just as lazy and apathetic to your country. You don’t care about your country and yet your very own parents, brothers and sisters are in Mtendere, Chawama, and in villages, all of them living in squalor. Many have died or are dying of neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because you cannot come up with your own cure. You are here calling yourselves graduates, researchers and scientists and are fast at articulating your credentials once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this and that—PhD my foot!”

I was deflated.

“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby passengers. “You should be busy lifting ideas, formulae, recipes, and diagrams from American manufacturing factories and sending them to your own factories. All those research findings and dissertation papers you compile should be your country’s treasure. Why do you think the Asians are a force to reckon with? They stole our ideas and turned them into their own. Look at Japan, China, India, just look at them.”

He paused. “The Bwana has spoken,” he said and grinned. “As long as you are dependent on my plane, I shall feel superior and you my friend shall remain inferior, how about that? The Chinese, Japanese, Indians, even Latinos are a notch better. You Africans are at the bottom of the totem pole.”

He tempered his voice. “Get over this white skin syndrome and begin to feel confident. Become innovative and make your own stuff for god’s sake.”

At 8 a.m. the plane touched down at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Walter reached for my hand.

“I know I was too strong, but I don’t give it a damn. I have been to Zambia and have seen too much poverty.” He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something. “Here, read this. It was written by a friend.”

He had written only the title: “Lords of Poverty.”

Thunderstruck, I had a sinking feeling. I watched Walter walk through the airport doors to a waiting car. He had left a huge dust devil twirling in my mind, stirring up sad memories of home. I could see Zambia’s literati—the cognoscente, intelligentsia, academics, highbrows, and scholars in the places he had mentioned guzzling and talking irrelevancies. I remembered some who have since passed—how they got the highest grades in mathematics and the sciences and attained the highest education on the planet. They had been to Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), only to leave us with not a single invention or discovery. I knew some by name and drunk with them at the Lusaka Playhouse and Central Sports.

Walter is right. It is true that since independence we have failed to nurture creativity and collective orientations. We as a nation lack a workhorse mentality and behave like 13 million civil servants dependent on a government pay cheque. We believe that development is generated 8-to-5 behind a desk wearing a tie with our degrees hanging on the wall. Such a working environment does not offer the opportunity for fellowship, the excitement of competition, and the spectacle of innovative rituals.

But the intelligentsia is not solely, or even mainly, to blame. The larger failure is due to political circumstances over which they have had little control. The past governments failed to create an environment of possibility that fosters camaraderie, rewards innovative ideas and encourages resilience. KK, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, and Banda embraced orthodox ideas and therefore failed to offer many opportunities for drawing outside the line.

I believe King Cobra’s reset has been cast in the same faculties as those of his predecessors. If today I told him that we can build our own car, he would throw me out.

“Naupena? Fuma apa.” (Are you mad? Get out of here)

Knowing well that King Cobra will not embody innovation at Walter’s level let’s begin to look for a technologically active-positive leader who can succeed him after a term or two. That way we can make our own stone crushers, water filters, water pumps, razor blades, and harvesters. Let’s dream big and make tractors, cars, and planes, or, like Walter said, forever remain inferior.

A fundamental transformation of our country from what is essentially non-innovative to a strategic superior African country requires a bold risk-taking educated leader with a triumphalist attitude and we have one in YOU. Don’t be highly strung and feel insulted by Walter. Take a moment and think about our country. Our journey from 1964 has been marked by tears. It has been an emotionally overwhelming experience. Each one of us has lost a loved one to poverty, hunger, and disease. The number of graves is catching up with the population. It’s time to change our political culture. It’s time for Zambian intellectuals to cultivate an active-positive progressive movement that will change our lives forever. Don’t be afraid or dispirited, rise to the challenge and salvage the remaining few of your beloved ones.

Source: Mind of Malaka Blog

Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner and author. He is a PhD candidate with a B.A. in Mass Communication and Journalism, and an M.A. in History.

Courtesy:

TOBENNA OBIANO

CHAIRMAN / CEO EXPLORER MAGAZINE

www.explorermagazine.net

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A VOTE OF THANKS FOR AND ONBEHALF OF THE 2011 “ACHIEVERS’ AWARD” RECEPIENTS TO THE ANAMBRA STATE GOVERNMENT AND NDI-ANAMBRA. – By Paschal Kyrian Tobenna Obiano.

Your Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi, Executive Governor of Anambra State

Your Excellency, Mr. Emeka Sibeudu, Deputy Governor of Anambra State

The Speaker Anambra State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Princess. Chinwe Nwebili

The Anambra State Chief. Judge, Hon. Justice P. N. C. Umeadi

The Secretary to the state Government, Chief. Paul Odenigbo

The Head of Service, Mr. Chidi Ezeoke mni

The Honorable Commissioners here present,

Heads of State statutory Commissions and Parastatals.

Permanent Secretaries,

Fellow Youth,

Members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm,

Ladies and gentlemen

The award winning television series “Super Story”, at the end of each day’s show writes, “we are nothing but pencils in the hands of the Creator”. Again, man is widely believed to be a glorified dust on a journey, yet I do see it that every man on earth is a unique being , a unique personality with a unique mission to accomplish for God and for humanity. Nobody therefore is a biological accident.

On behalf of myself and my fellow award recipients of the “2011 Achievers’ Award”, we sincerely wish to start by appreciating God, for we are well aware that the secrets for sustainable greatness, joy and contentment in life is in Him, and in Him alone.

All around, young people are celebrated in different fields of human endeavour, the most celebrated and widely used social network: facebook, is solely owned and managed by Mark Zukerberg, a young American of about 26 years, our own Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is being celebrated world over as a literary giant, and many others too numerous to mention, even among the Nigerian youth especially when given a level playing ground, advanced guidance and tutelage. We sincerely appreciate the Anambra State Government led by our own most amiable, loving, caring, listening, hardworking, disciplined, quintessential, friendly, achievement loving and above all sincere Governor – the humble Mr. Peter Obi {Okwute Ndi-Igbo}.

“Sir, I wish to have it on record that by the time you get old, the generation yet unborn would attest to the fact that Your Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi remains an achievatron, having been a disciplined and fine gentleman, who introduced decency into our polity. It is on record that you remain the first Governor in Nigeria who obediently to the rule of law followed to a successful end his gubernatorial election and furthermore, the interpretation of his tenure as a duly elected Governor – that is first in the history of our country, Nigeria.

Some months ago, the Governor of Osun State, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola celebrated his birthday, he publicly stated during that birthday celebration that our own Mr. Peter Obi, remains the only Chief State Executive he invited to his birthday to showcase his high regards for him; he further said that in the sitting room of the Osun State Governors lodge, there is a giant portrait of our own Governor – still for that same regards. He is also trust worthy, that is why upon serving as the Chairman of Eastern Governors forum, the vice-chairman Nigerian Governors forum, the Nigerian President also appointed him his adviser on the nation’s economy and a member of Nigeria’s economic team and was towards the end of last year awarded the Commander on the Niger. “Ndi Igbo siri na ahia oma na ere onwe ya”, Sir,between the time you came into office and now, the difference is clear. Fellow young people and indeed entire ndi Anambra, I believe this is worthy of emulation. Anambra State has never in the past since its creation in 1991 had it any better. We do not know what we have until we lose it, so sir, I or rather, we most sincerely appreciate and unequivocally wish to let you know that “we love you!”

To the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development led by the able and capable Honorable Mrs. Chinwe Anowai – Ma, I wish to state that the recorded achievements of this ministry and all the ministry’s officials are novel. I wish to commend the initiative and the effort that were put together in appreciating the Anambra Youth for an Igbo adage says, “eto o dike na nke omere, o mekwa ozo”, this award would propel us to work harder and make others to try something to make a positive mark and maybe subsequently win the award – thanks a million!

It is a general understanding that, “Anambra adiba go nma, anyi bu umu ndi Anambra na ri  agbakwa mbo nke ukwu u, ijiri mee ka odiri nma na aga n’ ihu”.

Most of us, from the Ministry’s report excelled in writing, creativity, arts, designs, athletics and games. The Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has joined in the campaign to uphold our reading culture which has been going down with his introduction of “Bring Back the Books” and his continuous and educative write-ups in his group chat on facebook, “My friends and I”. We young people have listened to our President’s call and taken on the art of writing, which according to Colonel Ben Gbulie, everyone can do, once there is discipline. We also want to clear the notion that once you want to hide a thing from a blackman, place it inside a book. Athletics and games generally is celebrated world over, so it is one of the aspects of our life that aids in unity, and Anambra youth are generally represented in all. In the world of football, we have Mikel Obi of Chealsea, England; in the Music industry, we have the duo of Peter and Paul of P-Square, in literature, we have Chimamanda Adichie and many more.

This address would be incomplete if we fail to appreciate our dear parents who all in all are ever there for us and with us. Please permit me to use my parents dear parents Dr. Sir & Dr. Barr. Mrs. Dove-Edwin Obiano as contact persons in thanking every other parent of the award recipient for what they have been to us, especially for their ceaseless determination to chisel us into life models. We never for once, underestimate how incredibly lucky we are to have you as our parents. On behalf of my fellow award receipts, we pledge not to let you down or allow you to carry plates and food flasks around the walls of Awkuzu, Awka or even Kiriki maximum prisons. You won’t also visit us at zone 9, Umuahia for we would continuously remain the light of our nation, Nigeria wherever we find ourselves and also keep the profile rising.

Prayer: Your Excellency sir, it is on record that before you became the Anambra State Governor, Anambra as a state had not even a single state-owned stadium, and so, it is very important to note that you started and completed the Chuba Ikpeazu stadium, Onitsha in less than one year. Sir, as faith may have it, we are in Awka stadium, I pray you, to kindly do or rather perform the same miracle of building a state capital stadium on which ground this ceremony is being organised. Sir, if you want to, not minding the state meager resources, I am sure you would still perform this same miracle here in Awka.. It’s an appeal, awaiting your kind and fatherly action!

May God continue to bless Anambra State and her people.

Thank you for listening.

Obiano Paschal Kyrian Tobenna

For and on behalf of 2011 Anambra State Achievers’ Award winners.

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tobennaobiano@ymail.com

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Maybe God wants us to meet a
few wrong people before meeting
the right one so that when we finally
meet the right person, we will know
how to be grateful for that gift.

When the door of happiness closes,
another opens, but often times we look
so long at the closed door that we don’t
see the one which has been opened for us.

The best kind of friend is the kind you
can sit on a porch and swing with,
never say a word, and then walk away
feeling like it was the best
conversation you’ve ever had.

It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve
got until we lose it, but it’s also true
that we don’t know what we’ve been
missing until it arrives.

Giving someone all your love
is never an assurance that they’ll love you back.
Don’t expect love in return;
just wait for it to grow in their heart
but if it doesn’t,
be content it grew in yours.

It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone,
an hour to like someone,
and a day to love someone,
but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

Don’t go for looks; they can deceive.
Don’t go for wealth; even that fades away.
Go for someone who makes you smile
because it takes only a smile
to make a dark day seem bright.
Find the one that makes your heart smile.

There are moments in life
when you miss someone so much
that you just want to pick them
from your dreams and hug them for real.

Dream what you want to dream;
go where you want to go;
be what you want to be,
because you have only one life
and one chance
to do all the things you want to do.

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet,
enough trials to make you strong,
enough sorrow to keep you human,
enough hope to make you happy.

Always put yourself in others’ shoes.
If you feel that it hurts you,
it probably hurts the other person, too.

The happiest of people
don’t necessarily
have the best of everything;
they just make the most of everything
that comes along their way.

Love begins with a smile,
grows with a kiss
and ends with a tear.

The brightest future will always be based
on a forgotten past,
you can’t go on well in life
until you let go of
your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and
everyone around you was smiling.
Live your life so that when you die,
you’re the one who is smiling and
everyone around you is crying.

Please send this message to those people
who mean something to you,
to those who have touched your life
in one way or another,
to those who make you smile
when you really need it,
to those that make you see
the brighter side of things…
to let them know that
you appreciate their friendship.

And if you don’t…don’t worry,
nothing bad will happen to you,
you will just miss out on the opportunity
to brighten someone’s day with this message…

~Author unknown~

Email this page and
make someones day.

Finally, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala losses the world bank Presidency. How do we expect Mr. Barrack Obama to support an African when his own (U. S. Presidential) elections is by December! By the way, do we really understand what it means to be the President of the Bank of banks. Then again, all the Afroican countries put together, what is our grand worth in cash and shares with that bank we want our sister to head. We are really funny.

Yes, the bank needs people with the gift of ther brain and experience. But, in such cases, it does really matter who and who is supporting you. Since the establishment of that Swiss-Bank, the United States had always in one way or the other with intigues though, but have continuosly nominated with their candidates winning.

How much do African countries have in the bank or is just to continuosly borrow or cry out for help and complain of diseases and war. Heaven helps those who help themselves and so up until the US drops its veto power tussel, the dream of a black man as the banks chief, would remain only but a dream.

Many said Dr. Kim who has won the Presidency should hace returned to the hospital, yet he has won.

In case you don’t know, Barrack Obama again has crested his name in gold in the eyes of this Americans. He got at Osama Bin Laden and killed him, remember Osama who directed the moves for the 9/11 attack was in the history of America the greatest problem America has had because for ten years, no one knows his whereabouts. Again, the Libyan President Mubarack, Obama followed by U. K. and France led the attack, even the Egyptian ups and downs, America was very active. All the same, this is not just victory for Obama or Dr. Kim, but it is also for the entire Americans.
I rest my case.

Cheers!

Tobenna Obiano (EXPLORER MAGAZINE)

A friends reply

Good Evening Toby,

Your submission below on the above subject sounds informed but you should had taken time to ensure you left us with no doubts concerning your opinions. Anyway, the World Bank raises money from member nations and borrows from investors to provide low-cost loans to the developing world to improve infrastructure and create educational and healthcare programmes but to its critics the bank is an effective extension of the US government, promoting Washington’s agenda overseas by keeping developing nations in debt and i add; ‘IN CHECK’.

Please lets go through the profiles of the duo of Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and Dr. Jim Yong Kim.

1) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Former Managing Director, World Bank,Minister of Finance
Date of Birth: 13/06/1954
Place of Birth: Ogwashi Uku, Delta State
Married to Dr Ikemba Iweala, 4 children
Education: Harvard University, 1977; PhD, Regional Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States .
Career: Special Assistant to the Senior Vice-President, Operations, World Bank, 1989-91; Director of InstitutionalChange and Strategy, World Bank, 1995-97; Country Director, Malaysia , Mongolia , Laos and Cambodia , World Bank, 1997-2000; Deputy Vice-President, Middle East Region, World Bank, 2000-03; Minister of Finance and Economy, 2003-06; Minister of Foreign Affairs, June-August 2006; Managing Director, World Bank, 2007 to date.
Commentary: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala studied economics at Harvard University, then earned a PhD in regional economics and developmentfrom MIT in 1981. She joined the World Bank, where she spent 21 years as a development economist. She became intimately familiar with the economies of East Asia, putting in two tours in the region, and acting as country director for Malaysia, Mongolia,Laos and Cambodia.
She is remembered in Nigeria for the new fiscal discipline she brought to the nation’s finances. She returned to Nigeria in 2003, at the invitation of President Olesegun Obasanjo. As his Finance Minister, she arranged the cancellation of US$18 billion of Nigeria’s debt to the Paris Club, a group of creditor nations, in 2005. The remaining $12 bn. of debt was paid the following year with money saved in budget reforms she enacted.
At the same time, she attacked corruption and accelerated privatisation and liberalisation. She signed Nigeria up to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a voluntary standard for petroleum and mining industries. On her watch, Nigeria’s inflation more than halved. In June 2006, Obasanjo shook up his cabinet, giving Okonjo-Iweala the Foreign Ministry but allowing her to keep an eye on external debt. When this responsibility was taken from her a few months later, she resigned from the government.
Despite rumours that she would run in the 2007 presidential election, she took a job with Moscow-based Renaissance Capital before Robert Zoellick, World Bank President, lured her back to the organisation. From December 2007 to July 2011, she was Managing Director for Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia.
She oversaw a diverse mix of infrastructure and regional integration projects. As financial and food supply concerns grip the globe, the World Bank is preparing aid packages to vulnerable nations. On a recent trip to Delhi, she became Bangladesh ‘s advocate against India ‘s tightening of rice exports.
In July 2011, Okonjo-Iweala resumed her role in Nigeria’s cabinet as Finance Minister, leaving her post at World Bank.

2) Dr. Jim Yong Kim is a Korean-American physician, university administrator and a leading figure in global health. The 52-year-old is married to a fellow doctor, and they have two young sons.

Born in Seoul, he moved with his familyto the US at the age of five and grew up in Muscatine, Iowa. Jim Yong Kim is former director of the HIV/Aids department at the World Health Organization. In high school, he was president of his class, played quarterback for the football team and point guard for the basketball team. He attended Brown University before going on to Harvard where he earned his medical doctorate in 1991 and a PhD in anthropology in 1993.

He also co-founded the health charity Partners in Health in 1987. Though a surprise choice, he is still the favourite for the top job, given the US holds the most votes at the World Bank. He is currently president of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, one of America’s top-tier Ivy League Schools, where he was appointed in 2009.

After studing the above profiles, you would definately agree that Kim is never a rival to Iweala. Moreso, as the popular adage goes ‘its better the devil you know than the angel you don’t know’ Iweala must have stepped on many toes and must have ignored many US interests when she achieved the heculian debt freedom for Nigeria. Apart from the fact that the US is reportedly the biggest investors in the World Bank and other world financial institutions especially the IMF which is popularly known as the World Bank’s sister, i believe strongly that there are more to it than what we are all meant to believe. Most salient, is the controversies over the actual cause of the ‘Global Melt Down’ especially after the 9/11 attack (or is it not conspiracy?). The US will do everything humanly possible to ensure that the World bank’s presidency is clinched by their loyalist and not somebody with a clean profile like Iweala. Do you know that Iweala almost had serious confrontations with OBJ when she discovered that our foreign reserve was missing and this explains why she was hurriedly removed from her finance ministerial position then? The US would not risk having her as president of one of their major instrument of world oppression. In truth, i seriously supports the notion that the US and its allies has actually embezzled the Worlds funds and Washington would protect this fact with their lives.

Thanks and remain blessed.
Ifeanyi Nwoye.

If wasn’t apparent before, the 2011/12 campaign has been the one that saw Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo move into a league of their own and join the greats of the game.
Between the pair of them, no record is safe. Ronaldo became the fastest player to score 100 goals in La Liga, reaching the landmark in a paltry 92 games, eclipsing Real Madrid legend Ferenc Puskas in the process.
The former Manchester United forward didn’t stop there; his hat-trick against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday meant he became the first player to notch 40 goals in consecutive seasons in Europe’s top four leagues.
Just three days before Ronaldo broke the 100-goal mark, Messi took centre stage by breaking Barcelona’s all-time goal-scoring record with a sublime hat-trick against Granada.
The Argentinian maestro has also broken the record for most goals in a single season in the Champions League, and became the first player to score five goals in a single Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen in March.
Much of the praise this season has been directed at Messi and much of the talk has centred around whether he can stake a claim to the unofficial title of ‘the greatest of all time’.
However it is Ronaldo’s Madrid who lead the title race by four points ahead of a mouth-watering El Clasico later this month, while the Portuguese international has scored more league goals this season than his illustrious rival.
So who do the numbers suggest is the best player out of the pair across all competitions? GMF brings you all the stats you need to know in order to make your mind up on the question on everybody’s lips; who is better, Ronaldo or Messi?
La Liga
Hat-tricks: Ronaldo –  7     Messi – 6
Goals (Games):  Ronaldo – 40 (32)   Messi – 39 (31)
Assists: Ronaldo - 11    Messi – 14
Average shots/game: Ronaldo – 6.9   Messi – 5.5
Pass % completion: Ronaldo – 80.9%  Messi – 84.1%
Key Passes/game:  Ronaldo – 1.6   Messi – 2.6
Successful dribbles/game: Ronaldo – 1.8  Messi – 4.8
Average dispossessed/game: Ronaldo – 1.9  Messi – 2.7
Average passes/game: Ronaldo  - 37.6   Messi – 64.9
Accurate through balls/game: Ronaldo - 0.5 Messi – 1.5
% of team’s goals scored: Ronaldo 41.6  Messi  - 36.6
Penalties scored: Ronaldo – 11 Messi –  5
Champions League
Goals: Ronaldo –  8  Messi – 14
Assists: Ronaldo - 2 Messi – 4
MOM awards: Ronaldo - 3    Messi – 8
Shots per Game: Ronaldo - 7.4   Messi – 7.1
Attempts on target: Ronaldo - 24   Messi – 34
Dribbles per match: Ronaldo - 2.9   Messi – 3.9
Accurate long balls/game: Ronaldo - 0.8  Messi – 1.7
Accurate through balls/game: Ronaldo - 0.4  Messi – 1.4
Fouls against: Ronaldo - 14 Messi  - 23
Other Competitions/International
Goals in all competitions: Ronaldo -   52   Messi – 61Hat-tricks:  Ronaldo –   7     Messi –  8
International goals (games) Ronaldo -   6(7)     Messi –  5(7)

I’ve always had the same answer: Taiwan. “Taiwan? Why Taiwan?” people ask.

Very simple: Because Taiwan is a barren rock in a typhoon-laden sea with no natural resources to live off of — it even has to import sand and gravel from China for construction — yet it has the fourth-largest financial reserves in the world. Because rather than digging in the ground and mining whatever comes up, Taiwan has mined its 23 million people, their talent, energy and intelligence — men and women. I always tell my friends in Taiwan: “You’re the luckiest people in the world. How did you get so lucky? You have no oil, no iron ore, no forests, no diamonds, no gold, just a few small deposits of coal and natural gas — and because of that you developed the habits and culture of honing your people’s skills, which turns out to be the most valuable and only truly renewable resource in the world today. How did you get so lucky?”

That, at least, was my gut instinct. But now we have proof.

A team from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or O.E.C.D., has just come out with a fascinating little study mapping the correlation between performance on the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, exam — which every two years tests math, science and reading comprehension skills of 15-year-olds in 65 countries — and the total earnings on natural resources as a percentage of G.D.P. for each participating country. In short, how well do your high school kids do on math compared with how much oil you pump or how many diamonds you dig?

The results indicated that there was a “a significant negative relationship between the money countries extract from national resources and the knowledge and skills of their high school population,” said Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the PISA exams for the O.E.C.D. “This is a global pattern that holds across 65 countries that took part in the latest PISA assessment.” Oil and PISA don’t mix. (See the data map at:http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/9/49881940.pdf.)

As the Bible notes, added Schleicher, “Moses arduously led the Jews for 40 years through the desert — just to bring them to the only country in the Middle East that had no oil. But Moses may have gotten it right, after all. Today, Israel has one of the most innovative economies, and its population enjoys a standard of living most of the oil-rich countries in the region are not able to offer.”

So hold the oil, and pass the books. According to Schleicher, in the latest PISA results, students in Singapore, Finland, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan stand out as having high PISA scores and few natural resources, while Qatar and Kazakhstan stand out as having the highest oil rents and the lowest PISA scores. (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Bahrain, Iran and Syria stood out the same way in a similar 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or Timss, test, while, interestingly, students from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey — also Middle East states with few natural resources — scored better.) Also lagging in recent PISA scores, though, were students in many of the resource-rich countries of Latin America, like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Africa was not tested. Canada, Australia and Norway, also countries with high levels of natural resources, still score well on PISA, in large part, argues Schleicher, because all three countries have established deliberate policies of saving and investing these resource rents, and not just consuming them.

Add it all up and the numbers say that if you really want to know how a country is going to do in the 21st century, don’t count its oil reserves or gold mines, count its highly effective teachers, involved parents and committed students. “Today’s learning outcomes at school,” says Schleicher, “are a powerful predictor for the wealth and social outcomes that countries will reap in the long run.”

Economists have long known about “Dutch disease,” which happens when a country becomes so dependent on exporting natural resources that its currency soars in value and, as a result, its domestic manufacturing gets crushed as cheap imports flood in and exports become too expensive. What the PISA team is revealing is a related disease: societies that get addicted to their natural resources seem to develop parents and young people who lose some of the instincts, habits and incentives for doing homework and honing skills.

By, contrast, says Schleicher, “in countries with little in the way of natural resources — Finland, Singapore or Japan — education has strong outcomes and a high status, at least in part because the public at large has understood that the country must live by its knowledge and skills and that these depend on the quality of education. … Every parent and child in these countries knows that skills will decide the life chances of the child and nothing else is going to rescue them, so they build a whole culture and education system around it.”

Or as my Indian-American friend K. R. Sridhar, the founder of the Silicon Valley fuel-cell company Bloom Energy, likes to say, “When you don’t have resources, you become resourceful.”

That’s why the foreign countries with the most companies listed on the Nasdaq are Israel, China/Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, South Korea and Singapore — none of which can live off natural resources.

But there is an important message for the industrialized world in this study, too. In these difficult economic times, it is tempting to buttress our own standards of living today by incurring even greater financial liabilities for the future. To be sure, there is a role for stimulus in a prolonged recession, but “the only sustainable way is to grow our way out by giving more people the knowledge and skills to compete, collaborate and connect in a way that drives our countries forward,” argues Schleicher.

In sum, says Schleicher, “knowledge and skills have become the global currency of 21st-century economies, but there is no central bank that prints this currency. Everyone has to decide on their own how much they will print.” Sure, it’s great to have oil, gas and diamonds; they can buy jobs. But they’ll weaken your society in the long run unless they’re used to build schools and a culture of lifelong learning. “The thing that will keep you moving forward,” says Schleicher, is always “what you bring to the table yourself.”

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on March 11, 2012, on page SR1 of the New York edition with the headline: Pass the Books. Hold the Oil..

A must read:

A friend of mine Malaka, who I have always enjoyed reading his works, sent this to me few months ago, and I felt I should share it with us, cause it makes a nice piece and perhaps a must read. As we go on, on how to make Ibom-city a town of note, read on this digest. You would certainly ask too many rhetorical questions.

You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!

They call the Third World the lazy man’s purview; the sluggishly slothful and languorous prefecture. In this realm people are sleepy, dreamy, torpid, lethargic, and therefore indigent—totally penniless, needy, destitute, poverty-stricken, disfavored, and impoverished. In this demesne, as they call it, there are hardly any discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Africa is the trailblazer. Some still call it “the dark continent” for the light that flickers under the tunnel is not that of hope, but an approaching train. And because countless keep waiting in the way of the train, millions die and many more remain decapitated by the day.

“It’s amazing how you all sit there and watch yourselves die,” the man next to me said. “Get up and do something about it.”
Brawny, fully bald-headed, with intense, steely eyes, he was as cold as they come. When I first discovered I was going to spend my New Year’s Eve next to him on a non-stop JetBlue flight from Los Angeles to Boston I was angst-ridden. I associate marble-shaven Caucasians with iconoclastic skin-heads, most of who are racist.
“My name is Walter,” he extended his hand as soon as I settled in my seat.
I told him mine with a precautious smile.
“Where are you from?” he asked.
“Zambia.”
“Zambia!” he exclaimed, “Kaunda’s country.”
“Yes,” I said, “Now Sata’s.”
“But of course,” he responded. “You just elected King Cobra as your president.”
My face lit up at the mention of Sata’s moniker. Walter smiled, and in those cold eyes I saw an amenable fellow, one of those American highbrows who shuttle between Africa and the U.S.
“I spent three years in Zambia in the 1980s,” he continued. “I wined and dined with Luke Mwananshiku, Willa Mungomba, Dr. Siteke Mwale, and many other highly intelligent Zambians.” He lowered his voice. “I was part of the IMF group that came to rip you guys off.” He smirked. “Your government put me in a million dollar mansion overlooking a shanty called Kalingalinga. From my patio I saw it all—the rich and the poor, the ailing, the dead, and the healthy.”

“Are you still with the IMF?” I asked.
“I have since moved to yet another group with similar intentions. In the next few months my colleagues and I will be in Lusaka to hypnotize the cobra. I work for the broker that has acquired a chunk of your debt. Your government owes not the World Bank, but us millions of dollars. We’ll be in Lusaka to offer your president a couple of millions and fly back with a check twenty times greater.”
“No, you won’t,” I said. “King Cobra is incorruptible. He is …”
He was laughing. “Says who? Give me an African president, just one, who has not fallen for the carrot and stick.”
Quett Masire’s name popped up.
“Oh, him, well, we never got to him because he turned down the IMF and the World Bank. It was perhaps the smartest thing for him to do.”
At midnight we were airborne. The captain wished us a happy 2012 and urged us to watch the fireworks across Los Angeles.
“Isn’t that beautiful,” Walter said looking down.
From my middle seat, I took a glance and nodded admirably.

“That’s white man’s country,” he said. “We came here on Mayflower and turned Indian land into a paradise and now the most powerful nation on earth. We discovered the bulb, and built this aircraft to fly us to pleasure resorts like Lake Zambia.”
I grinned. “There is no Lake Zambia.”
He curled his lips into a smug smile. “That’s what we call your country. You guys are as stagnant as the water in the lake. We come in with our large boats and fish your minerals and your wildlife and leave morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs. That corn-meal you eat, that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Kapenta is crumbs. We the Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are the Muntu. I get what I want and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what lazy people get—Zambians, Africans, the entire Third World.”
The smile vanished from my face.
“I see you are getting pissed off,” Walter said and lowered his voice. “You are thinking this Bwana is a racist. That’s how most Zambians respond when I tell them the truth. They go ballistic. Okay. Let’s for a moment put our skin pigmentations, this black and white crap, aside. Tell me, my friend, what is the difference between you and me?”
“There’s no difference.”
“Absolutely none,” he exclaimed. “Scientists in the Human Genome Project have proved that. It took them thirteen years to determine the complete sequence of the three billion DNA subunits. After they
were all done it was clear that 99.9% nucleotide bases were exactly the same in you and me. We are the same people. All white, Asian, Latino, and black people on this aircraft are the same.”
I gladly nodded.
“And yet I feel superior,” he smiled fatalistically. “Every white person on this plane feels superior to a black person. The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff. Tell me why my angry friend.”
For a moment I was wordless.
“Please don’t blame it on slavery like the African Americans do, or colonialism, or some psychological impact or some kind of stigmatization. And don’t give me the brainwash poppycock. Give me a better answer.”
I was thinking.
He continued. “Excuse what I am about to say. Please do not take offense.”
I felt a slap of blood rush to my head and prepared for the worst.
“You my friend flying with me and all your kind are lazy,” he said. “When you rest your head on the pillow you don’t dream big. You and other so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. It is you, and not those poor starving people, who is the reason Africa is in such a deplorable state.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say,” I protested.
He was implacable. “Oh yes it is and I will say it again, you are lazy. Poor and uneducated Africans are the most hardworking people on earth. I saw them in the Lusaka markets and on the street selling merchandise. I saw them in villages toiling away. I saw women on Kafue Road crushing stones for sell and I wept. I said to myself where are the Zambian intellectuals? Are the Zambian engineers so imperceptive they cannot invent a simple stone crusher, or a simple water filter to purify well water for those poor villagers? Are you telling me that after thirty-seven years of independence your university school of engineering has not produced a scientist or an engineer who can make simple small machines for mass use? What is the school there for?”
I held my breath.
“Do you know where I found your intellectuals? They were in bars quaffing. They were at the Lusaka Golf Club, Lusaka Central Club, Lusaka Playhouse, and Lusaka Flying Club. I saw with my own eyes a bunch of alcoholic graduates. Zambian intellectuals work from eight to five and spend the evening drinking. We don’t. We reserve the evening for brainstorming.”
He looked me in the eye.
“And you flying to Boston and all of you Zambians in the Diaspora are just as lazy and apathetic to your country. You don’t care about your country and yet your very own parents, brothers and sisters are in Mtendere, Chawama, and in villages, all of them living in squalor. Many have died or are dying of neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because you cannot come up with your own cure. You are here calling yourselves graduates, researchers and scientists and are fast at articulating your credentials once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this and that—PhD my foot!”
I was deflated.
“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby passengers. “You should be busy lifting ideas, formulae, recipes, and diagrams from American manufacturing factories and sending them to your own factories. All those research findings and dissertation papers you compile should be your country’s treasure. Why do you think the Asians are a force to reckon with? They stole our ideas and turned them into their own. Look at Japan, China, India, just look at them.”
He paused. “The Bwana has spoken,” he said and grinned. “As long as you are dependent on my plane, I shall feel superior and you my friend shall remain inferior, how about that? The Chinese, Japanese, Indians, even Latinos are a notch better. You Africans are at the bottom of the totem pole.”
He tempered his voice. “Get over this white skin syndrome and begin to feel confident. Become innovative and make your own stuff for god’s sake.”
At 8 a.m. the plane touched down at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Walter reached for my hand.
“I know I was too strong, but I don’t give it a damn. I have been to Zambia and have seen too much poverty.” He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something. “Here, read this. It was written by a friend.”
He had written only the title: “Lords of Poverty.”
Thunderstruck, I had a sinking feeling. I watched Walter walk through the airport doors to a waiting car. He had left a huge dust devil twirling in my mind, stirring up sad memories of home. I could see Zambia’s literati—the cognoscente, intelligentsia, academics, highbrows, and scholars in the places he had mentioned guzzling and talking irrelevancies. I remembered some who have since passed—how they got the highest grades in mathematics and the sciences and attained the highest education on the planet. They had been to Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), only to leave us with not a single invention or discovery. I knew some by name and drunk with them at the Lusaka Playhouse and Central Sports.
Walter is right. It is true that since independence we have failed to nurture creativity and collective orientations. We as a nation lack a workhorse mentality and behave like 13 million civil servants dependent on a government pay cheque. We believe that development is generated 8-to-5 behind a desk wearing a tie with our degrees hanging on the wall. Such a working environment does not offer the opportunity for fellowship, the excitement of competition, and the spectacle of innovative rituals.
But the intelligentsia is not solely, or even mainly, to blame. The larger failure is due to political circumstances over which they have had little control. The past governments failed to create an environment of possibility that fosters camaraderie, rewards innovative ideas and encourages resilience. KK, Chiluba, Mwanawasa, and Banda embraced orthodox ideas and therefore failed to offer many opportunities for drawing outside the line.
I believe King Cobra’s reset has been cast in the same faculties as those of his predecessors. If today I told him that we can build our own car, he would throw me out.
“Naupena? Fuma apa.” (Are you mad? Get out of here)
Knowing well that King Cobra will not embody innovation at Walter’s level let’s begin to look for a technologically active-positive leader who can succeed him after a term or two. That way we can make our own stone crushers, water filters, water pumps, razor blades, and harvesters. Let’s dream big and make tractors, cars, and planes, or, like Walter said, forever remain inferior.

A fundamental transformation of our country from what is essentially non-innovative to a strategic superior African country requires a bold risk-taking educated leader with a triumphalist attitude and we have one in YOU. Don’t be highly strung and feel insulted by Walter. Take a moment and think about our country. Our journey from 1964 has been marked by tears. It has been an emotionally overwhelming experience. Each one of us has lost a loved one to poverty, hunger, and disease. The number of graves is catching up with the population. It’s time to change our political culture. It’s time for Zambian intellectuals to cultivate an active-positive progressive movement that will change our lives forever. Don’t be afraid or dispirited, rise to the challenge and salvage the remaining few of your beloved ones.
Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner and author. He is a PhD candidate with a B.A. in Mass Communication and Journalism, and an M.A. in History

Again, dear members, am so sorry if I ended up boring you with the long easy, just that I learnt a lot from it and so …

All the same, indeed all around our continent, nation and even town the problem with Nigeria for instance can not just be leadership alone, though it contributes the chunk of our problem, but Nigerians as a people cause their problems. Same situation is applied everywhere. Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi would always say, “The society we abuse today, would take revenge on us and generations unborn.” Whatever that is going on, the younger generation do watch. Remember, legacy lives on, what would you be remembered for, the problems you solved, or those you created.

Cheers!

Tobenna Obiano

CEO/Editor-in-Chief (EXPLORER MAGAZINE)
www.explorermagazine.net
07030557831

Friends,
Let me add the benefit of my time as a student and then resident in the UK – and I live in Lagos now. The first thing that I discovered about UK-born, white, English undergraduates was that all of them did holiday or weekend job to support themselves – including the children of millionaires amongst them. It is the norm over there – regardless how
wealthy their parents are. And I soon discovered that virtually all other foreign students did the same – the exception being those of us status-conscious Nigerians.
I also watched Richard Branson (owner of Virgin Airline) speaking on the Biography Channel and, to my amazement; he said that his young children travel in the economy class -even when the parents (he and his wife) are in upper class. Richard Branson is a billionaire in Pound
Sterling. A quick survey would show you that only children from Nigeria fly business or upper class to commence their studies in the UK . No other foreign students do this. There is no aircraft attached to the office of the prime minister in the UK – he travels on BA. And the same goes for the Royals. The Queen does not have an aircraft for her exclusive use.
These practices simply become the culture which the next generation carries forward. Have you seen the car that Kate Middleton the lass married to Prince William drives? VW Golf or something close to it.
But there’s one core difference in them and us (generally speaking).
They – the billionaires among them work for their money, we steal ours!
If we want our children to bring about the desired change we have been
praying for on behalf of our dear country, then please, please let’s begin now and teach them to work hard so that they can stand alone and most importantly be content, and not have to “steal”. This seems to be the norm these days.
“30 is the new 18″, which seems to be the new age for testing out the world in Nigeria now. That seems to be an unspoken but widely accepted mindset among the last 2 generations of parents in Nigeria .
At age 18 years, a typical young adult in the UK leaves the clutches of his/her
parents for the University, chances are, that is the last timethose parents will ever play “landlord” to their son or daughter except of course the occasional home visits during the academic year.
At 21 years and above or below, the now fully grown and independent minded adult graduates from University, searches for employment, gets a job and shares a flat with other young people on a journey into becoming fully fledged adults.
I can hear the echo of parents saying, well, that is because the UK economy is thriving, safe, well structured and jobs are everywhere? I beg to differ and I ask that you kindly hear me out. I am UK trained Recruitment Consultant and I have been practising for the past 10 years in Nigeria. I have a broad range of experience from recruiting graduates
to executive director level of large corporations. In addition, I talk from the point of view of someone with relatively privileged upbringing.
Driven to school every day, had my clothes washed for me, was barred from taking any part-time job during my A-levels so that I could concentrate on studying for my exams?! BUT, I got the opportunity to live apart from my parents from age 18 and the only time I came back home to stay was for 3 months before I got married!
Am I saying that every parent should wash their hands off their children at age 18? No, not at all, of course, I enjoyed the savings that I made from living on and off at my parent’s house in London – indeed that is the primary reason for my being able to buy myself a 3 bedroom flat in London at age 25 with absolutely no direct financial help from my parents!
For me, pocket money stopped at age 22, not that it was ever enough for my lifestyle to compete with Paris Hilton s or Victoria Beckham’s.
Meanwhile today, we have Nigerian children who have never worked for 5 minutes in their  lives insisting on flying “only” first or business class, carrying the latest Louis Vuitton ensemble, Victoria’s Secret underwear and wearing Jimmy Chos, fully paid for by their “loving” parents.
I often get calls from anxious parents, my son graduated 2 years ago and is still looking for a job, can you please assist! Oh really! So where exactly this “child” is my usual question. Why are you the one making this call dad/mum?
I am yet to get a satisfactory answer, but between you and me, chances are that big boy is cruising around Lagos with a babe dressed to the nines, in his dad’s spanking new SUV with enough “pocket money” to put your salary to shame. It is not at all strange to have a 28 year old who has NEVER worked for a day in his or her life in Nigeria but “earns” a six figure “salary” from parents for doing absolutely nothing.
I see them in my office once in a while, 26 years old with absolutely no skills to sell, apart from a shiny CV, written by his dad’s secretary in the office. Of course, he has a driver at his beck and call and he is driven to the job interview. We have a fairly decent conversation and we get to the inevitable question – so, what salary are you looking to earn? Answer comes straight out – N250,000.00. I ask if that is per month or per annum. Of course it is per month. Oh, why do tyou think you should be earning that much on your first job? Well, because my current pocket money is N200,000.00 and I feel that an employer should be able to pay me more than my parents. I try very hard to compose myself, over parenting is in my opinion the greatest evil handicapping the Nigerian youth. It is at the root of our national malaise.
We have a youth population of tens of millions of who are being “breastfed and diapered” well into their 30s. Even though the examples I have given above are from parents of considerable affluence, similar patterns can be observed from Abeokuta to Adamawa! Wake up mum! Wake up dad! You practically love your children to death! No wonder corruption continues to thrive. We have a society of young people who have been brought up to expect something for nothing, as if it were a birth right. I want to encourage you to send your young men and women (anyone over 20 can hardly be called a child!) out into the world, maybe even consider reducing or stopping the pocket money to encourage them to think, explore and strive. Let them know that it is possible for them to succeed without your “help”. Take a moment to think back to your own time as a young man/woman, what if someone had kept spoon feeding you, would you be where you are today? No tree grows well under another tree, children that are not exposed to challenges, don’t cook well. That is why you see adults complaining, “my parents didn’t buy clothes for me this Christmas”, ask him/her how old are you? 30 years. Because of the challenges we faced in our youth, we are where and what we are today. This syndrome-my children will not suffer what I suffered is destroying our tomorrow.
Deliberately, reduce their allowance or mum-don’t cook on Saturday till late afternoon or evening-do as occasion deserve.
I learnt the children of a former Nigerian head of state with all the stolen (billions) monies in their custody, still go about with security escort as wrecks. They are on drugs, several times because of the drug, they collapse in public places. The escort will quickly pack them and off they go, what a life! No one wants to marry them.
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.- Henry Ford. Hard work does not kill; everything in Nigeria is going down, including family settings. It is time to cook our children, preparing them for tomorrow. We are approaching the season in Nigeria where only the RUGGED, will survive. How will your ward fare?
If the present generation of Nigerian pilots retires, will you fly a plane flown by a young Nigerian pilot, If trained in Nigeria ? People now have first class, who cannot spell GRADUATE or read an article without bomb blast! Which Way Nigeria ?, Which Way Nigerians!! Is this how we will ALL sit and watch this country SINK?
FROM IRENE POPOOLA