LINES AND VERSES

Growing up in the eighties and nineties, teachers where generally addressed as ‘teacher’. And, yes, at some point it was ‘master’ or ‘Mr. A’ and miss or Mrs. B, as it may have applied, but somewhere along the line all that vanished. One cannot say for sure when, but this phenomenon fashioned and championed by, I think, the burgeoning private schools in Nigeria prevailed, and the dwindling public schools eagerly toed in line as the government establishment lost its value system. Animated Graphics Firesale Upsell Pack - PLR It is a subtle, seemingly well-intended gesture that is quickly translated to respect for elders, but one that realistically amounts to mis-education in all appropriate senses. How do you make a child call total strangers ‘uncle’ and ‘auntie’ in schools of all places –  the very  first place where they are expected to be properly educated? Also read: Need for vibrant opposition When you address any individual as such, they must be related to ...

Africa will never grow if her nations continue to act the scripts written and directed by the industrialized economies of the West and the East and keep swallowing their economic prescriptions. It is common knowledge that every writer designs the fate of his characters. What is Africa’s fate? From the colonialists of the past, to the world’s new economic power houses, the story is the same. More machineries are digging in, more hoses are sucking up the very soul of Africa, what is left of its value is washed down the sea. The role of Africa has always been limited to the extractive level; the farmhouse of the industrialists. Yet these nations rarely own or control these productive forces on their land after they are signed off. Even with colonialism gone, African nations still do not control their destinies. Many are African nations that beat their chests over decades old independence, yet their leaders jostle to become blue-eyed boys of the West and East. The years are the onl...

  Photo credit Give, not to people who can give back to you; not to people who will become subservient in their honest efforts to show gratitude. And not to sycophants, men whose tongue can't taste their heart. Give to people who will think you an angel because they'll never see you again. Give to someone who will feel divinity in your act and call it that singular deed a miracle. They don't see you, they see the love. Though it is rare for man to truly help another without helping his own interest(s). But giving can only be true when we give out virtue and expect nothing. Be wary of them who, though may not expect money for their money: they ride on the wings of adulation; their reward is indeed paid in praise, and nothing more. Besides worship, what can man of dust give to God who enriches man to give to his fellows? How do you call it giving when you are only building a mansion for your self in heav...

There are a few people walking this planet who can maintain a form for long; one moment they want be like the latest pop sensation, the next moment they wish they had their neighbor's charm or luck or possessions. To maintain a form, one must learn to look inward rather than outward. One must learn to look inward without becoming self-obsessed, self-righteous, or judgmental of the choices others make. Though one may be non-conforming to ideas that do not agree with their innermost, or proven, philosophies of life; one must learn to avoid being contemptuous. Being able to develop an internal sieve that enables one to separate facts from fiction, fancied rights from frivolous notions becomes imperative. However, one must be able to look wrongfulness in the eyes and call it by its name, even if it is coming from within oneself or someone within one's circle of interest. To maintain a form is to have character, which is the consolidation of habit. This c...

The things that appeal to us the most are those we never had. That lover that didn’t stay. That child we couldn’t raise. The union we had and lost; and when we do grow old, we tend to miss most of all the things we never did, while the ones we did once do and cherished are sometimes carelessly relegated to the background. We do desire - sometimes to a point obsession -  those things we never had mostly because they didn’t get the chance to disappoint us just as the ones we have had our hands wrapped around did. Just because we never got to familiarize with them, we tend to live on considering them perfect and most worthy. That love you never had could have made you perfect; the promising chap who died young could have changed the world; if you ever did harken to your desire to leave where you are now you could have become rich and famous or happier: yes, you 'could' have. But you could also have died or been imprisoned, or even c...