Nigerians.....Go Green

Have you been walking on a street lately and wished you had an umbrella? Sure bet I guess; I haven’t met someone who savors the intense heat but that depends on the nature of the street anyway. And have you wondered why this heat has been on the increase over the years? Maybe you have an idea.
These are but a few of the effects of the rays and heat from the sun on our planet earth. This is being referred to as the Greenhouse effect resulting to global warming.

When we look closely at the diagrammatic representation of this heat cycle, we notice that the heat from the sun is primarily absorbed by the earth’s surface which heats up the surrounding air closer to the ground which then rises and makes life uncomfortable for us.
Generations past loathed this phenomenon which led to the invention of electric fans. This was not comforting in certain circumstances and air conditioning was birthed which was a much welcomed idea. What they however failed to recognize then was that increased patronization of this technology meant increased use of refrigerants which meant more release of CFC’s to the atmosphere which wasn’t friendly to the ozone layer. Although improvements have been made to address the CFC issue but running a functioning air conditioning device doesn’t come cheap.
With little incomes, how do we then go about this sun/heat issue? Should we design portable umbrella’s we can always carry along? Should the government subsidize the cost of purchasing fans and air conditioners as well as reduce the per unit rate of electricity consumption? These manner of approaches can be likened to someone in his or her room who is uncomfortable with the loud music precipitating from his/her boom box and resorts to burying his/her head under a pillow to mitigate the noise level instead of simply turning down the volume.
How about we try the fire fighting approach? At least we understand that this heat source is the sun and its receptor is the earth’s surface. How about shielding the earth’s surface from this heat, more like an umbrella above us that we need not hold with our hands or heads when moving about? How about we plant some trees?
I’m not suggesting we eliminate this heat source, for it is very much needed by us for our survival, but the God who made it also made enough trees available to consume its excesses. This created balance in our ecosystem but we ourselves caused imbalance by destroying these trees, thus making the heat to become excessive.
Yes we need trees and plenty of them at that. Our country was once filled with them which was as the creator designed to create balance but as ‘development’ ensued, these trees were felled insouciantly and no one paid any attention. Today, trees like the iroko and mahogany are now meant for tales and have been replaced in the wood industry by gmelina.
These trees absorb the heat from the sun and utilize it for the benefit of all. They also help in purifying our polluted air by ingesting the poisonous oxides we emit and vomiting oxygen which is essential for our survival. My thoughts on this purification process met the conclusion that the creator was indeed good in redox reaction. These trees also serve as windbreaks which comes handy in a windstorm, they beautify our environment, provide food, income and shelter to some animals, fast track the healing process of the sick, provides jobs and income, absorbs dust and other particles, enriches our top soil for planting, prevents soil erosion et cetera. These benefits have rendered some of the disadvantages of having trees around negligible, but all the same, simple precautions should be adhered to when planting them in our houses and on the streets.
We would be doing ourselves and our environment a great deal of good by planting a tree. I have joined the crusade by planting mine as shown below.

Let’s go green and clothe our ‘nakeding’ environment. God bless Nigeria. 

Redundancy

There’s this common saying that “Nobody wan die, but everybody wan go heaven” which is gradually getting obsolete, but a closer look at this aged phrase suggests it still holds water when we use it to examine our lifestyles.
You earn two hundred thousand naira every month of which you put in a lot of useful work that is beneficial to you, your community, your family, the nation et cetera and we all appreciate you for it. Suddenly you discovered that your backyard housed enough gold deposit, so bountiful you could harvest two hundred million naira daily for the next three years, all this without breaking a sweat and the next thing we know; you start preparing your resignation letter even though retirement is still residing out of sight.
This is what will happen to many Nigerian workers today (could even happen to me too) because we are after the money. We crave the pay not the work, and any opportunity that promises a better pay eventually sends us packing, never considering our impact on those who really need our services. This is the one major cause of unproductivity in our lives and subsequently our dear nation. Some persons can even shamelessly declare; “anything for the money.” Really? How about me paying you a million naira every month for sleeping? If you can successfully pull this off for a year then truly, there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for money and I will have to revisit the dictionary definition of the word ‘slavery’.
Nigeria as a country once exhibited this phenomenon. We once were dogged farmers, but with the discovery of crude oil, our farm boots got hanged. We as humans so much crave “the easy and luxurious life” that we completely lost sense of our purposes in life. The media/society has successfully convinced so many that happiness and fulfillment in life is directly proportional to your bank statement, and we get to watch movies and listen to so many testimonies buttressing the idea that only those with enough money could live in the best of houses, drive the best of cars, wear the best of clothes, marry whomever they desired, take vacations/tourism at will, eat and drink whatever they pleased…… and many of us be like “wow, this is the life”.  And we eventually disconnect ourselves from our duty post and end up fantasizing.
One thing I begin to see is that our love for pleasure might make us stop working altogether in future should we keep up this trend of not wanting to sweat. We now term it as “working smart not hard”, but someone has got to do that hard work lest the ‘ecosystem’ will lose her balance.
Talking about smart working, our smartphones now possess so many applications that can get so many things done. I recently attended a programme at a retreat, and when it got to the time of refreshments,  soft drinks were being served and there were no ‘openers’ available to disengage the corks from the bottles and a young man asked hilariously, “abeg who get android phone make e open opener app….”. Trust me, some of these apps do come in handy, but we should be wary of the fact that even marijuana is a vegetable; it all depends on how you cook it.
The excessive/unwise use of these software is gradually creeping into our lifestyles such that a little drop of sweat is considered distasteful unless we were exercising, of which some of us still prefer to stand on one Chinese mat to obtain the equivalent of a road walk or one electronic massager to help run so many errands.
Though I’m not a medical practitioner, but I do know that what we do not regularly make use of, dies gradually. Even our brain works in like manner for it develops mostly in areas we allow it to access. Get to allow your organs and muscles to perform their designated functions and not completely rely on some external machine/substance to do their work for them. Trust me, you are not ready to part with them on the long run…..
God bless Nigeria
   

Is WASSCE Still Relevant?

No, big time; I think it is now irrelevant. Once upon a time, WASSCE was a venerated hurdle to be crossed in the acquisition of the O’level certificate, a time when students had reduced priorities, when libraries ran short of oxygen during the day and the classrooms warmed by candles and lanterns at night, when books were better safeguarded than money. But that’s just what it was; once upon a time…
WASSCE has lost a great deal of her bloom and bounce as regards her indirect coercion of students to work/study harder and has now paved a gateway for laziness and corruption to thrive. It has gotten so ugly that even our school management now term malpractice as ‘aid’ to students….. What a shame.
Why do I seem lost in my flow of thoughts? The trend now in vogue gives me headache so much that I find it difficult to congratulate a successful WASSCE candidate. Let’s observe the following:
Our higher institutions clearly stipulate that without possessing a minimum of five credits in WASSCE etal (English and Mathematics inclusive) we don’t get to see their school gates, but we have undergraduates and graduates who find it difficult to spell their own names! Check their WAEC result, English is B2! In mathematics, the simplest of simplified problems in simultaneous equations may not even be understood by an A1 carrier not to talk of making an attempt to solve it. On and on it goes and I beg the government to question, what’s the essence?
The annoying chapter that gets to me is the manner WAEC is now painting its empty vessel of an examination with gold. The fees are ever soaring at a rate indirectly proportional to the substance WASSCE now bears and I wonder why everyone is cool with it. Of course the standard of the exams isn’t the issue here, and we also know that not everyone cheats in the examinations. But what’s the ratio of the ideal to reality?
When Nigerians pay billions of naira annually to obtain one nicely printed paper that adds no value to the nation, then I see no better definition of waste. Imagine, WAEC is even recently threatening not to release the no-longer-credible result in some states owing four billion naira!
Part of my bewilderment now is the demand for certification in the first place. Back then when certificates were certificates, everyone knew what it meant and took to acquire one. But now, nobody gives a bloody damn to whatever you hold in your hands. I mean, if certification were to be what it is, I wouldn’t have to be superfluously interviewed, interrogated, whipped, bathed and everything when applying for a job. A careful look at my certificate should have spoken enough.
Since we now live in a country where many certificates are no longer regarded irrespective of their high demand due to lack of trust in the credibility of the issuer and the handler, why then waste so much in acquiring them when the fact remains that our knowledge on the subject matter will be our saving grace in the long run?
It is true there are still a few certificates that beg no question whenever they are being brought to table, but for something like WASSCE, I move for the motion that it be completely scraped out of our curriculum or overhauled.
If you were to ask me what the economic importance of WASSCE in Nigeria is now, I will say that it provides job for many of her citizens as well as indirectly assist laziness and corruption to bloom. Many students without focus are no longer motivated to study knowing well that on the day of atonement, mercy will triumph over judgment. Why would they stress themselves in acquiring the required sacrificial items when the dibia has made provision for a simpler alternative?
I’m not saying that WAEC is solely responsible for the current decay in our educational system; I’m only trying to bring to her notice the need to collaborate with the ministry of education to resuscitate her dying glory.
It’s high time we begin questioning why we do certain things in this country especially when the intended results are no longer forthcoming. God bless Nigeria.

Massive Graduate Employment At Jabosca International

Jabosca International, a multi-billion dollar company spread across all continents and located in over 52 countries plans on establishing its regional base in West Africa with Nigeria to serve as its regional headquarter, requires the services of qualified hardworking Nigerian graduates in diverse disciplines to fill the following positions…..

Hold it right there and try not to hiss or close this page for this is not a job advert, it just resembles one of those many things that millions of Nigerian unemployed graduates are ceaselessly hoping and praying for. Some have been at it for years, others for months, others for weeks – like myself -  while for some, they’re just starting; this post might even be their first attempt.

In any case, from my resume above, I appear not to be adequately experienced in the ‘hustling game’ to be talking to the pro’s, but something struck me like an epiphany and I felt that necessity to share.

In those days, (speaking about the mid 70’s) we hear stories of how securing a job in our dear nation was more of ‘posting’ than ‘application’. That is to say after your youth service, you don’t just get to collect your discharge certificate alone but with your appointment letter as well asking you to report to duty with immediate effect. The story is all different now……why?

Dealing with the negative trend or x-raying the ambiguity associated with securing a job is not my priority here but showing you the right boat you need to surf the current tide in is.

You may think or say you do not have a job. I say you’re wrong; you already have a job! Yes, you already have a job only that you did not receive an appointment letter to get it or a monthly pay check assurance. You’re busy searching the tree and neglecting the bird in your hands! Let me elucidate…

After applying for over twenty jobs online, the first response I ever got was a scam, thanks to nairaland for the enlightenment, and this led me to hard thinking; I longed to receive an appointment letter with a sizeable monthly pay check attached, wanted to live in my own house, drive my own car, get married pretty soon…..all these and many more were responsible for sending me to overdrive on the job hunt until I finally realized that I was wasting my time.

I had some skills/talents idling away which were worth billions and I was busy searching for jobs online, jobs that may not even be existing (scams if I may put it that way), jobs that even if I did get might make me feel worse, jobs that required the services of only the experienced/experts in my field. The issue I was now having was converting these skills into its monetary equivalent which I think is your problem too.

Think about it, were you created as an empty vessel with the ability to do nothing? If you’re not catching my drift let me give you a clue. Pick up your CV and go to the hobbies section and bingo! There you have some of it…Yes your hobby…. that is if they’re truly yours.

Those things you have a natural liking for are more or less your ‘appointment letter bearers’. The beautiful part of these hobbies is that we experience intense joy and happiness anytime we do them. Remember that jobs are not all about the amount of money we are been paid to do them, but the comfort and happiness, that sense of contribution we derive while doing them is what really matters.

How can you enjoy cooking and be applying for a banking job? You know how to make hair but submit countless CV’s in marketing firms. Because an ostrich and a dove are both birds doesn’t entail that they can both fly. Look for a credible and experienced counselor/friend to enlighten you on how to channel your skills and talents into a means of livelihood and see the impact it will have in your life. Yes, enough time has been wasted, but enough of the hurry.

I’m in no way implying that you stop applying for jobs, pls do, for myself is still on the lookout, but focus more on improving these skills/talents of yours which can tremendously fast track your hunt or evolve into a cool business. Think about the time you’ve spent surfing the web for a job opening and the money you spent moving from office to office with your brown file. If you had invested these on yourself, where would you have been by now? Once your skill has been harnessed maximally, it sends out a message and before you know it, you will be sought after.

For our upcoming generation, the root cause of this bedeviling phenomenon ought to be curbed from the roots, which I place some of the blame on the guidance and counseling unit department in our secondary schools. These counselors are meant to be expert career guides who are supposed to aid students in linking their skills/abilities to suit their career pursuit, but no; this sensitive duty is being left in the hands of the inexperienced students to make themselves or by some unenlightened parent. Some students spend six years in school and cannot tell you the meaning or significance of G&C.

Next is our tertiary institutions where a medicine candidate seeking admission is transferred to chemistry department, or someone seeking architecture is made to study fishery…destiny manipulators…. In some cases, candidates thwart their own destinies themselves by applying for less competitive courses all in the bid for securing admission, “na the kpali matter” they say to themselves or by others to them.

Let the guidance and counseling units in our schools be revived, and let our tertiary institutions respect the choices of candidates seeking admission. Changing departments for candidates in the name of ‘helping them’ is not the best of decisions. Let our talents be harnessed in every ramification of our lives and let us witness a tremendous improvement in productivity and decline in redundancy in our nation. God bless Nigeria.

Corruption In Our Agencies

I applied for my driver’s license on the 28th April, 2015 at the Gombe State Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) 0ffice. In the process (which consumed three days of my life), I had to go to Specialist Hospital Gombe for a certificate of medical fitness, presented some documents, Visited the Vehicle Inspection Officer’s (VIO) office for endorsement, Standard IBTC Bank for payment of the license fee, paid another fine in the FRSC’s office for a six month learners permit (Even if I had no car at the time) before my temporary driver’s license was processed and issued to me (with errors on my details) which was to expire in the next three month.
I went back to the FRSC office after three months to collect my permanent driver’s license. The officer in charge rummaged through the new arrivals of the permanent driver’s licenses, and mine wasn’t found and I was asked to come back later without a fixed date. I began complaining and one man standing next to me at the office asked me what date I applied.
“Since April” I told him.
“Last year or this year”
“This year” I responded.
“April this year and you’re complaining: my younger brother applied since December last year and up till now his own is yet to arrive...”
“So I have to be going about with this expired temporary license or what”
“That’s how they’ve been using it. Na normal thing, nobody will disturb you” 
What the man said so much irritated me for whatever situation many label to be the “trend in vogue” sometimes get me bored to tears. This happened during my youth service, and on travelling back home, I learnt of a guy who paid way below what I spent (a difference of about four thousand naira) to an FRSC officer and was issued his driver’s license in three days!
As we talk about positive change in our country, some systems/agencies ought to be retrained on how to be proactive in carrying out their responsibilities, devoid of the ‘African time’ mentality so that responsible citizens of our dear nation are not made to appear foolish where the “smart guys” get the standing ovation.
Why would a driving license not be ready after three good months in a computer age? Why are many government agencies aiding and abetting corruption by frustrating those who ‘knock at the front door’ and welcome those who come in through the back door with a ‘peace offering’?
The government should as well realize that this wicked phenomenon bedeviling our public and even private agencies is carting away billions of naira annually which should have gone into the government purse as revenue. The earlier this ugly trend is being curbed, the better, else patriotic Nigerians who have been driven up the wall may begin to make bullshit of every due process. Even I, have already boycotted some in recent and distant past.
God Bless Nigeria.

Making Money From Pineapple Processing

I have seen so many posts of people telling you how a particular business is highly profitable without revealing to you the crux or secrets embedded therein.
I was delighted to see someone freely share such a million naira idea which I think is pretty commendable.
You will surely agree with me that most fruit stores around your neighbourhood frequently accommodate piles of unsold spoiling/spoilt fruits which eventually end up in waste bins/bags, and when in large volumes, could be insouciantly disposed to pollute the environment.
This article presents to you how you can process excessive fruit supplies into a nutritive and preservative-free/marketable end product with emphasis on pineapple. Click on the link below to get the full gist.....

://m.successdigestonline.com/articles/view/8-simple-products-from-pineapple-that-can-make-you-rich