English and Mathematics; Pre-requisite For Entry into Higher Institutions

We are all familiar with the “five credit passes, including English and Maths” that accompany the terms & conditions of admission that must be satisfied in virtually all the tertiary institutions in the country. This has been an age long tradition whose relevance in our country today ought to be re-examined. I have a brief example to share.

I took four SS1 students private lessons on science courses and one of these students happen to be very poor in arithmetic, so poor in anything involving numbers to the extent that ‘ten’ divided by ‘two’ has proven on several occasions to be an arduous challenge for him. Let’s not discuss how he managed to even get to SS1 in the first place, but this boy is very bright in other subjects and was capable of reasoning and thinking real wide. I know that he definitely would get better in arithmetic (he already is), but what about others out there who might be facing similar challenges?

English language is merely a type of language. The fundamental essence of every language is communication. Inasmuch as one is capable of reading, writing and speaking a language, the primary objective of studying that language has been accomplished —save for those who choose to advance their knowledge in the field — and every other thing that follows is secondary.  What we study in English in our schools is quite disorienting. 

Likewise maths, research and survey have shown that several people possess an inherent ‘phobia’ for mathematics and thus find it extremely difficult to cope in an ‘arithmetic weather’. Others on the other hand are naturally endowed with the ability to effortlessly tackle mathematical problems.

For the English, since it has been adopted as our official language, I’ll say that it will do well for everyone to master its use. For mathematics however, someone who has been gifted in painting or athletics ought not to be unnecessarily punished or denied the opportunity of advancing in his/her career simply because he/she is not good in maths.

It’s high time we begin to evaluate certain norms/laws that no longer yield desired results. For one not to credit maths and English does not mean such a person has nothing to offer — I think that those who benefit from such student’s failures are the examination bodies themselves — even though these subjects are believed to be functional skills.

By now, some of our higher institutions ought to have been converted to specialized vocational schools if we truly believe that SME’s have a role to play in contributing to the nation’s GDP and help alleviate the soaring rate of unemployment.

God bless Nigeria.

A Lesson From The Ese Oruru Saga

Ese Oruru is a teenager who according to reports, sells food in Bayelsa.
As it is with every business, you have to be cheerful and all with your customers and she was cheerful with Yunusa, a regular customer. One thing led to another and Ese found herself in Kano with Yunusa and according to reports, it was without the knowledge of her parents. It wasn't even to her own knowledge she claimed.....
Fellow Nigerians, you all know the rest of the story, but what i am interested in is the aftermath of this entire episode.
I was moved to write this when I heard a radio presenter saying; "we have to put a restriction to the people we allow our children to mingle with, especially those who are not family members you know, close relatives." This drove me to begin questioning the definition of family.
In my humble opinion, what such school of thought would achieve is a divided nation. If we begin to think or directly/indirectly instruct our children that they are to mingle only with so and so and keep their distances from so and so. How can we then live together and proclaim one Nigeria?
Have we not learnt from the Tower of Babel story? When the people worked in one accord, the building of the tower moved with progress until division was created amongst them. As soon as this happened, work on the tower stopped. As long as we continue to define unnecessary boundaries that stifle unity, we will never make meaningful progress as a nation.
This is where the media pains me the most. Everyday, many Nigerians do perform superb and heroic deeds which are swept under the carpet, but as soon as something demeaning occurs, it gets a hash tag hence filling the minds of our people with resentment and negativity.
What I would suggest in the Ese Oruru saga is a public punishment of all the offenders. Let the masses be reassured of the credibility of our judiciary.
It is better we say to parents; "keep a watchful eye over your children's movement" rather than trailing on the path of our dear reporter above.
God bless Nigeria. 

Palm Oil or Pam Oyel?

I came back home yesterday evening and settled down to 'whack'  my ona g'ishkapa (tuwon shinkafa) with alakpa (gbegiri) meal. On swallowing the first ball, i felt a sharp slap on my jaws, that wrong-palm-oil kind of slap and my evening was ruined. I just had to eat because of the fish, pepper, beans etc plus the time and effort my younger sister Joy had put into the cooking, but I was vexed in spirit.
What heightened my vexation was the fact that this palm oil was bought from our neighbour who came to advertise that she now sells good palm oil. "Mummy I dey sell original palm oil now" she said, but as it turns out, she either knows not what she is selling or she simply is hungry to earn a bad reputation.
Let me iterate the experience of this 'original palm oil' in question.
Upon opening the 5 litre gallon of original palm oil, mum saw that it had congealed which made her to doubt its 'originality' but felt she should give it a try.
Mararaba district in Nasarawa state happens to be quite hot in the afternoons, hot enough to melt an exposed candle stick, but that same afternoon when Joy was preparing the soup, the oil, unlike liquids had taken its own shape inside the gallon. Placing the gallon over raw flame to melt the oil was time wasting since the gallon was filled, so she had to squeeze, shake and hit the gallon held upside down before lumps of palm oil dropped into the steaming pot of soup constituents like animal droppings which still took time and stirring to dissolve completely! Palm oil!
I then inquired on how such a bad product was processed and was alarmed to discover that the ideal palm oil is being mixed with akamu (pap) in order to boost its volume and thickness. Akamu! For some of us who believe we've never taken pap in our lives well..... I believe in miracles.....
Is it that our palm oil producers cannot process enough palm oil to satisfy the customers and hence resort to this 'health threatening' alternative or is it simply an act of greedy wickedness?
The Golden Rule asserts that everyone should be treated in equality and fairness but this rule is being observed mostly by none, myself included. These producers actually produce two brands of Palm oil. The 'family and friends' brand and the market brand. This family and friends brand was what Adam actually named 'palm oil', the market brand can and should be named something else. Like 'pam oyel'
There are certain things that manufacturers ought not to adulterate. I am okay with wristwatches, jewelry, shoes, bags and the likes being adulterated but never what is ingested into the human body. Things like food, drugs and drinks should be off limits inasmuch as adulteration is concerned. Affordability should not even be debated upon here.
As for the consumers of pam oyel, I advice you guys to stop patronizing such products at the detriment of your health. I am not an expert in the palm oil business but I hope those who are would help drop a comment or two. Here are a few tips I would like to share though :

• Never buy palm oil that feels like butter. The cold weather is not responsible but the akamu inside is. 
• Never buy oil from a boiling drum/pot at any distribution/retail outlet. It's not a post manufacturing nor a purification process but rather a technique used in keeping the oil in the second state of matter i.e. liquid. 

Confirm palm oil no dey sleep even for Jos, and the scent alone dey cure some sickness.
Let's work together and get bad palm oil out of our markets. 

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.

Annoying Advertisement on Social Media

I came out of my room on a Wednesday afternoon to stretch my legs and my aunt called my attention….
 “Which kain post you dey share for facebook these days?” she asked.
“Which one” I replied.
“Em, ‘The woman with the most expensive body’ abi na wetin again.....”
“Which day dat one happen?” I inquired.
“Three hours ago” she added
“E don reach four days wey I enter facebook last”
“Ah ah, na your timeline I see am na….wait make I show you” she said, picking up her smartphone and connecting to the World Wide Web, the domain; facebook. “See am na” she added, showing me my timeline. Lo and behold,   I saw plenty of posts that were not synonymous to my personality which were of course defaming my rectitude and I went online immediately.
I tried undoing the vile shares on my timeline but met no success, I tried reporting the abuse but there was no defendant, I was still thinking of an appropriate way of handling the situation when my timeline got updated with another sordid share! I then had to hide it, as well as its preceding versions.
I continued brainstorming on how to end this pesty intrusion…..someone must have access to my account I thought……password!, yes password…. I immediately changed my password and that was it. It never happened again. Why am I sharing this?
How can you for your selfish interest use someone else’s profile to post whatsoever you feel like without seeking his/her consent or hire others to do so on your behalf? You don’t even have the time to sit and think about the devastating aftermath of your actions. I will not be surprised to start hearing one or two reports of individuals who lost one thing or the other as a result of a wounded reputation birthed by such infamous act.
If you want to promote your web contents and don’t know how to do so, then I suggest you hire experts in the field. There are many promoters out there who understand the secrets of online advertisement, and would be very glad to render their professional services at an affordable fee. Intruding into people’s privacy is unprofessional and disgusting, plus your website/blog will forever be held in contempt in the minds of your victims, that is if you don’t get sued!
Out of professional courtesy, I choose not to mention the names of this rebarbative sites/blogs, but you know your practices yourself and are advised to change your approach before Thor’s hammer rests on your head. A word is enough for the wise…..
That’s for the bloggers anyway, but how about you guys out there, the ‘bloggees’? You can as well get so careless. How?
You visit a site to view an info, they refer you to another site which requires you register with them before gaining access to the info, you so much want to view this post so you register without even glimpsing through its TERMS AND CONDITIONS which may clearly highlight something like “by agreeing to this T & C, you allow us to make posts for you on facebook….”
Even for those that do read this, check properly for some of this web designers are smart enough to make use of smaller fonts or dull colours in order to conceal sensitive information or make the terms bulky so as to discourage you from going through.
In summary, bloggees, be wary of all “I agree” checkboxes/links you see before clicking.

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR

There’s this guy who was always fond of eating dinner at his friend’s place on a daily basis even though he wasn’t an orphan, and it got to a point where the friend’s kin began murmuring;

“Na everyday Kelvin dey come chop for here?”

“This people no get food for their house again?”

“Na wa for this boy oh, him no dey even pity person.” And several similar litanies of complains. There was even a day when Kelvin didn’t show up for dinner and the friend’s sister couldn’t help noticing; “Where’s Kelvin?”

The above picture seems to acquiesce with the theory that postulates that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’. This is a fact according to the world’s standard, but the Bible tells us differently. The book of 1 Peter 4:9 reads “open your homes to each other without complaining.” Would I need to elaborate on this? I don’t think so, for we can each meditate on it and get diverse insights, but I still happen to be summarizing my dimension of understanding nonetheless.

It is a thing of joy feeding someone you love right? You’re happy and smiling whenever such a person dines with you, blushing when the meal gets a good compliment, wishing and longing for a continual repetition of such moments. Now, scripture says; “whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers; that you do unto me.” Fine and good, how come you now seem to be squeezing that lovely face of yours when another person happens to relish dining consistently with you? I’ll tell you why; it’s simply because you don’t love that person.

Yes it’s true we possess different perspectives just as we do possess different personalities. You may be someone who loves privacy and definitely won’t smile to a consistent intrusion, but remember that it’s not all about you or want you want (Referencing above from the book of Peter).

“He that does not love does not know God” and if you claim to love God, then you have to see Him in your neighbour. God bless Nigeria

Progress Inhibitors

“Guys I have an idea on how to control the excessive emission of CO₂ in our country and it’s quite simple. All you have to do is……”

“Mtchwwww, go sleep, no be for dis naija wey we dey? No just waste your time for dis useless country, make I tell you the truth….”

You must have heard a similar statement(s) from someone else who has only succeeded in superfluously elaborating the obstacles in whatever plan or idea you conceived, paying no attention to whatever promises that lie beneath which may lead to your development of either a cold feet, morale loss or a total annihilation of that rare and unique chance.

Yes, I use the word chance for not every conceived idea ends up being materialised to achieving its intended purpose and of course we all know this to be true, but what most of us do fail to realize is the fact that every new idea has no shortcoming, for it either bears fruit immediately or ends up as a raw material for someone else. What do I mean?

Take a look on our modern PC’s and try juxtaposing them with the Altair 8800 of 1975 which ran on an 8 bit microprocessor and had 256 bytes of RAM! And evaluate their differences. Today’s PC’s weren’t designed overnight, but have successively evolved over the years. When it all started, it wasn’t a perfect creation and till date, it’s still not perfect. It only gets better and better of which the founders would forever be remembered.

That so called senseless idea of yours may be rejected by a thousand people, but one person may see it as a foundation upon which another stone is being laid. Ideas that keep coming to you should not be left to die because of your slothful attitude, unbelief or because someone else saw no sense in it irrespective of his or her personality. You may be jeered at, sneered at or even humiliated, but fret not, for ideas left to ruin do not only die but prevent others from coming up, and you never know which one amongst them holds the key to your transformation door.

I speak not only to the idea generators but also to the idea annihilators, whenever someone tells you of any idea he/she conceives and it seems stupid to you, probably due to your lack of understanding of the subject matter, never you discourage the person from a myopic point of view, for you may only be posing as an obstacle to another person’s ‘answering’ prayers. God bless Nigeria.     

Unacknowledged Paintings

A Nigerian secondary school teacher complained to me that he once headed an arts club in his school and of course the students were able to come up with a beautiful painting, but during the exhibition of this painting, nobody appreciated this art work save for a lone parent who gave a meagre sum of twenty naira!
This goes on to say that paintings are not appreciated in some parts of the globe. In my parents house for instance, there is no painting on the wall save for picture frames; my friends place, no painting; their friends, maybe one or two; even in most schools, no painting. The only places where i get to see paintings are banks and public organisations.
With all these in place, how can natural talents be encouraged to practice? Whenever i watch foreigners (especially whites) and see how they appreciate these art works, i get astonished as to what could be the reason for the perceptive differences? For example, i was surfing the web and stumbled upon this variability 100 by 130cm painting for sale that costs $3500, that's about N553, 000! Below is a copy of the painting in question.

You can get a full description of this painting as well as a host of others at http://www.gallerytoday.com/paint/variability-7589/

It would be a good thing for us to create an enabling environment to support the raw and upcoming talents in our country. Parents are not to discourage this talent in their wards or friends simply because they don't see its profitability in their immediate environment. David Geffen in 2006 pocketed $140 million for his painting! That's a lifetime fortune!! Who knows maybe that talent you despise or destroy may produce another globally acceptable priceless painting?