The Nation Newspaper

Tag: life

  • Life is tough and hard

    SIR: Ever since Nigeria gained independence in 1960, the road to self-reliance and development has been messy to say the least. We’ve had corrupt leaders influencing the people, unqualified personnel in charge of ministries and agencies, politicians who only made it to high school. Right from time when the colonial masters granted us independence, there has always been the issue of maladministration-power in the wrong hands. Every new leader comes with his own batch of problems which would later have a direct effect on the citizens. When the late General Sani Abacha came on board in 1993, several Nigerians who were in opposition to his rule were locked up. Diverse human rights organizations wrote letters asking for the release of these citizens but Abacha turned a deaf ear. Many were assassinated. Talk about dreams and aspirations cut short. The then citizens passed through a lot of pain, distress and restriction of human rights. Yet our future leaders haven’t learnt that the welfare of the citizens is paramount and key to the success of any administration. The present-day Nigeria is in a state of mishap, neglect and hardship. Only few can afford to eat the legendary three meals per day.

    Ever since the recession, income and sources of revenue for individuals and families have been cut short. Fatal incidences and calamitous events have taken place which has changed the way citizens live and it’s a battle to survive in Nigeria. Downsizing by firms has increased the rate of unemployment and thrown more people in to the labour market that is already filled up. There has been a rise in the crime rates ever since. Petty thefts, kidnapping, armed robbery and cyber crime have topped the crime charts. This tough life has also made parents to withdraw their wards studying in private schools to register them in the sub-standard government schools where the quality of education is low and there aren’t enough facilities to cater for the needs of the students.

    Suicide which is always frowned at by members of the public seems to be the way out of this tough and hard life.  A recent case of suicide occurred in Lagos where a medical doctor jumped into the Lagoon and several days later, two women were prevented from doing the same. When they were interrogated, they cited their financial misery as the reason for wanting to commit suicide.

    Everyone have a tale to tell about the standard of living. To the common man, we all don’t know when prices of food crops will reduce. It’s surprising to hear that Nigeria which has the ability to grow virtually all food crops is affected by scarcity of the same food crops.

    We all wish we could wake up one day and all these suffering would come to an end-ultimate end. But alas, that could be a dream even for future generations to come.

     

    • Otolorin Olabode, otolorinolabode@gmail.com

  • Life without a high goal promotes disease

    RAMADAN 2017 has slipped into history. But, in many souls, the memory should linger for a while. It was a month filled with opportunities to cast off the dross of earthly life, clean the physical body of nutritional, environmental and emotional poisons and free the soul for more nurture with the bread of life, so often missing in the hurly burly experiences of material pursuits.

    The two-day holiday bridge between the end of the Ramadan and the return to man and mammon offered me and some of my friends an opportunity to refresh and deepen some concepts of the Laws of Nature in which we have been schooled since the 1970s or 80s. I’d always known, for example, that some diseases may be incurable, try as the patient and the physician may try to heal them. For these diseases may be karmaic. A woman may have flushed out of her womb an unwanted pregnancy. A human soul hovering around her, who may have given rise to the formation of that body for his or her use on earth, may be an unforgiving soul who, in his or her disappointment and bitterness, may decide to wreak vengeance by making the intended mother become infertile. Stigmatists all over the earth who bear the wound marks of Jesus Christ during the celebration of Easter find that no medication or healing protocol helps them. In fact, their conditions often get worse on medicaments. Their fate is a testimonial of a grave misdeed of old (“Let His blood be upon us and our children”) from which they would be freed only when they come to the appropriate recognitions of these misdeeds and make the necessary atonement for them. One of the refreshing lessons I learned anew during the Ramadan holiday came from the Law of Motion, one of the Laws of Nature.

    The Law of Motion

    We encounter this law everyday, but maybe so inwardly obtuse that it may make little or no meaning to us. Yet it is one of the great keys, which unlocks the door to the understanding of many concepts in the Universe. When a river is flowing, that is the Law of Motion at work. It compels everything that exists to be on the move or, if it would not, to wither and then collapse. That is why a baby in the womb begins to kick from about the middle of pregnancy when it is taken over by the human soul, who would inhabit that forming body on earth. A motion of muscles in the womb could be needed later to expel the baby in the birthing process. And this new entrant to the earth would have to cry to get its lungs to begin that life-long motion, which brings about the inhalation of fresh air and the exhalation of spent air, without which life on earth would be impossible.

    The heart, like other organs, must similarly work without fail. I enjoy watching the clouds. This minute, they may fuse to form the map of Nigeria. The next minute, it could be that of Canada. It is sometimes as if they forge our impressions on them. If that is correct, and it isn’t that we are seeing what we would like to see or what we believe we are seeing, it takes nothing away from the possibility that our thoughts, nay our spirits, are in flight, in motion, expressing “mind over matter”.

    In the last century, a gentleman named YURI GELLER caused a stir on British television whenever he came on a “mind over matter” programme. He would ask his viewers to hold metalic objects. He, too, would hold one. With his mind, he would bend the metallic object in his hand. Simultaneously, the objects in the hands of his viewers would begin to bend. Obviously, he had transferred something from him through the medium of the air into the homes of his viewers. So scary was this for many women that, I believe, the programme was stopped!

    If we pay more attention, we would see the Law of Motion at work in the waves of the sea, the gently flowing wind, the whirlwind, the earthquakes and minor earth movements, in the circulation of blood in our bodies, in food intake and voiding of the waste of the food and of the water we drink. We would remember that, even when we go to bed at night, lying on one side of the body, we often find ourselves in the morning lying on another. Scientists have discovered that even the small atom is not a still entity. Electrons are moving round its central core, the nucleus, as planets are moving round the sun in our solar system, and as our solar systems, along with billions and billions and billions of others in our galaxy, are moving round the central core of our galaxy. It is a world of wonders without end in the Law of Motion, which makes our galaxy and uncountable others move around their control center, and all the gigantic universes to also be in motion.

    Our thoughts, too, are in motion. More and more theories about motion have been propounded since Isaac Newton observed the apple fall from its mother tree. What I knew about death in 1959 when my mother died is not what I understand it to be today, almost 60 years ago. If my concept about death has not evolved, become deeper and richer, then I haven’t grown up inwardly, that is in spirit, all those intervening years. A growing or evolving soul learns, also, in time that marriage is not a merger of souls, but a union. The author Gibran says of this in his book, THE PROPHET, that, in marriage, couples can drink together, but not from the same cup. Of children, he educates us that they are like arrows we fire from a bow. Once the arrow is fired, you cannot call it back. Many marital and parenting problems arise because these concepts are not well understood. A marriage, for example, is a union in which two complementary persons are expected to share their lives in the bid to help each other achieve the sole purpose of existence, namely spiritual maturity for admittance to Paradise after earthly sojourn. Such marriages are peaceful and it is in them you find those proverbial bed of roses.

    Where we are heading is the impact of the Law of Motion on health. We need not be reminded that glaucoma is inadequate evacuation of fluid from the rear of the eye ball through drainage channels in the front. This condition is an infringement of the Law of Motion. The same goes for constipation. When enlarged prostate or prostate cancer inhibits the flow of urine, isn’t this life threatening?

    These days, many people suffer from one type of stroke or the other. In a stroke, it is either a clot has blocked free flow of blood in the brain, causing some blood vessels under pressure to burst or depriving some cells of blood and oxygen and, thus, impairing their lives or functions. A heart attack, in like manner, suggests that enough blood did not flow into the heart, causing it to stop working. All of these are peripheral to our goal. We are back again to what we may call mind-over-matter in health and in disease states.

    As my friends remembered during the Sallah holiday, the spirit of man, the ego or the I in the “language” forms the human body. That process is not the subject for today. But it is necessary to say that when I refer to “my body”,  “I” am talking about something “I” own. For the human spirit to experience life on earth, in a plane of existence different from its own, it has to have a material covering to anchor itself there. Astronauts and divers do the same with protective paraphernalia. The earth or clay body is lifeless. It bursts into life and begins to make the first kicks of life in the womb as evidence of this only after the coming soul has incarnated in it. The soul is distinguishable from the spirit. The spirit is the core descended from the spiritual world. Between that world and the earth are various planes of existence it travelled through to arrive on earth. The spirit, wrapped in the coverings of all these planes minus the earth body, is known as soul. When the soul acquires the earth body, the spirit and all its coverings, including the earth body, become the earth-man. The light and heat of the spirit glow through them all to keep them alive. That is why the spirit is always called the “animating core.”

    Now, this is where we are going. The spirit is on earth to sprout, flower and fruit. It is like a seed planted in the soil. Friction with forces of the soil causes the seed to come alive and unfold its potentials. Likewise is it with the human seed germ, which came to this earth, the most suitable place in Creation for it to come alive like the seed of mango or maize planted in the earth soil.

    A human spirit on earth, striving to come alive, sprout, flower and fruit must have a spiritual goal. This goal must be evident in its activities. It is the striving towards this goal, which makes it gain connection with spiritual forces from higher regions which imbue it with more power in accordance with its strength. The more power it receives, the more the strengthening of  the glow of this power it dispenses to its coverings, including the earthly clay body. Quite naturally, therefore, a dormant spirit will glow less and this would mean less strengthening for the coverings, including the clay, earthly body. I always mention these other “coverings” because any impairment on them may glow on the earth body and affect it also. We should be reminded of this in what happens during dreams. Some people say they are shot by assailants and, soon after, they develop ailments at the sites of the dream gun shot injuries. They call this “spiritual attack.” This is another subject for another day. What I am saying is that, if the spirit does not recharge the physical body adequately, the body would become suboptimaly animated by the spirit and, overtime, the body will become self-consuming. It does not take too long for the tell-tale signals to reveal themselves. What happens to people so soon after they retire from employment and have no engaging pre-occupation? They become bored with life, tire easily, lack focus, deteriorate in thought and physical fitness and probably die prematurely. Many people, who are still active in work may fare no better if what they do has no spiritual content or goal. It is not sufficient to work to become so inwardly glowing as to become homogeneous with those spiritual forces from On High mentioned earlier.

    To understand this concept of “forces” above us which “pull” to themselves forces on earth homogeneous with them, I was once asked to wonder how, against the forces of gravity as we still understand them in science today, a seed immersed in the soil, sprouts, pushes the soil aside, comes to top soil and begins to seek energy from sunlight as in phototropism. Actually it is now being recognised that gravity pushes down from above rather than pulling down to the center of the earth from below. Everything precipitates at the level of the density of its mass.

    Thus, a lighter soul soars and a heavier one sinks. Not all work imbues the soul with such lightness as pulls it aloft. The work that does has such spiritual value as fashions for the soul a dignifying garment for further experiences in the worlds beyond the earthly. Of what value will it be for a man who builds, say, 100 housing estates all over Nigeria with no spiritual content in this work? If there is nothing in it all which adds something to the value of his soul when he steps into the beyond, then all those pre-occupations on earth may be deemed useless or valueless. If we thoroughly examine ourselves, we may discover that much of our work or those things we strive or hanker after are empty chaff when it comes to the bottom line of life after this earth life. We can say the same for people who are depressed. In their state of depression, these people are often lethargic, have no focus and implode or recoil into themselves. Often, they suffer a personality change in their state of being before their state of depression. They no longer glow with the virtues of a human soul who swings in the Law of Motion. They seem no longer to recognise love and do not give it. They do not express gratitude for any gift or show of love. They are selfish, hardened, defiant, irritable, aggressive and short tempered among many other traits observable in the dull side of existence. They are not vibrant because the spirit, the animating core, is no longer bright.

    For me, this is a take-away from Ramadan 2017, not the simplistic assumption that, by observing the fast, I have done my Creator a favour and He is obliged to rain His blessings upon me. It is wrong to assume that the Ramadan is over, there is no harm in returning to the old obtuse ways, which Ramadan sought to correct in us. We should go on expanding and deepening the lessons we took away from the Ramadan and incorporating them in daily life activities. That is when our observance of Ramadan would not be in vain.

  • ‘How magnetic field influences our life’

    ‘How magnetic field influences our life’

    Living organisms have a magnetic field

    To understand how a living organism may have magnetic field of its own, we only have to consider the fact that a magnetic field is created every time a current is passed through an electric wire. The nervous system, too, transmits scientifically measurable electrical impulses. In so doing, it sets up its own magnetic field. As a matter of fact, electricity is a relatively negligible aspect of this energy-flow, an almost physical effect (gross enough for physical instruments to detect) of energies far subtler, and far stronger.

    The essential feature of magnetism is its power of attraction and repulsion. The material manifestation of this force in the behavior of magnetised pieces of metal is only the most outwardly observable effect of a power that is essentially divine—like the janitor in an office, whose function is limited to the simple act of cleaning, and who, in this function, acts only on behalf of the office head.

    Divine love, too, is a kind of magnetism. So also, on grosser levels, are human love, happiness, hatred, and fear—in fact, every state of consciousness in active manifestation. For energy, as a vehicle for different kinds of awareness, assumes innumerable aspects, and thereby generates innumerable kinds of magnetism. Love attracts love. Fear excites more fear.

    If one’s energy-flow is directed towards a particular person, and if there exists on any level in that person a similar state of awareness (and therefore, of magnetism), one can attract or repel him, depending on whether the interchange is sympathetic or antipathetic. Thus, while hatred is negative and might therefore, seem to exert only a repelling force, if it is reciprocated in the other person the magnetism between them becomes attractive.

    Love, on the other hand, although apparently purely attractive in its influence, if in no way reciprocated, can become a repulsive force, causing mutual separation.

    Magnetism can influence others positively or negatively

    We influence others by our magnetism, and are in turn influenced by them. It is possible by negative thoughts to harm them, and similarly, in turn, to be harmed by them. To think negatively about another person, especially if one does so with magnetic power, constitutes a grave misuse of the law, and invariably results in far greater harm to oneself as the instrument of such in harmony. (Similarly, to bless others attracts to oneself the greatest blessings.)

    Nothing would be gained from teaching anybody how to harm others by magnetic power. Yet much good may come from knowing how to protect oneself against possible harmful influences from others, and this knowledge demands some understanding, at least, of how magnetism can be operated for evil.

    Remember, there must be an openness to magnetism of any kind before one can receive it. For this reason, black magicians in various cultures try to instill fear in their audience, or try in other ways to find a vibrational opening for their harmful energies. It is important, then, to know how to close oneself against the wrong kinds of magnetism.

    Protecting yourself from negative magnetism

    Magnetic self-protection may be accomplished by refusing, on the one hand, to respond on a negative level (for example, with fear, anger, or hatred), and by surrounding oneself, on the other hand, with strong positive magnetism. It may help you to surround your self-styled enemy mentally with divine light. It is possible, however, if his influence is strong, that your very desire to help him will only constitute an emotional opening through which his vibrations can harm you.

    Remember, the desire to help must be truly impersonal. Unless it is so, you may find it better to place a cross of light mentally upon your ill wisher. Imagine that you are using your thumb for this purpose. (Of all the fingers the thumb is the most related to will power.) If you practice this technique with great will and strong faith, any evil coming toward you from others will be arrested at its source, and only good vibrations will be able to reach you. In this way also, while protecting yourself you will not in any way be harming your opponent, though his own negative thoughts may indeed rebound upon him since they cannot reach their intended goal in you.

    It may sometimes be necessary by specific thoughts to seal individual chinks, so to speak, in your magnetic armor (for example, to break any attachment that you feel towards a particular individual whose influence you fear). Generally speaking, however, what is most needed is simply to surround yourself on all levels with harmonious vibrations. Remember, no negative energy will be able to penetrate a powerful positive force field, unless indeed you make yourself vulnerable in some particular, to a specific ray of thought or emotion.

    Strengthening your magnetic ‘Armor’

    It is emotions,  especially that create weakness in one’s magnetic “armor.” Harmonise your emotions, therefore, by deep meditation. Then, with a conscious effort of will, radiate harmonious feelings outward from your heart centre in all directions to the world around you.

    Remember also that it is wise always to remain open and receptive to good magnetic influences. Do not, therefore, seek to protect yourself against the harmful thoughts of others by assuming an attitude of coldness or indifference to them. Indifference, though it may indeed protect you, will also deaden you to the finer vibrations in the world around you; it will make you less divinely receptive.

    It is better always to respond with a consciousness of light and of impersonal, divine love. Remember, the good thoughts that others send you must also find an opening in you, to influence you. Therefore, is it said that spiritual healing requires not only power on the part of the healer, but also dynamic, receptive faith on the part of the person to be healed.

  • Project ‘Touch a life today’ launched

    Project ‘Touch a life today’ launched

    Project ‘Touch a life’ visited Ughelli General Hospital and Kiagbodo General Hospital in Delta State on May 2.  131 patients, including children, women and men had their medical bills subsidised.

    It is the brainchild of the Global Initiative for Peace, Love and Care (GIPLC), which was launched a new initiative which will be taking place from April 25 to May 17. Project ‘Touch a life’ will reach 1000 patients in three states in three weeks.

    The non-governmental, not-for-profit charity organisation, which was founded in 2006 to cater for orphans and vulnerable children in Nigeria, has launched this new project as part of Igho Charles Sanomi II’s birthday celebrations and to commemorate the GIPLC’s 11th anniversary. 1000 identified vulnerable Nigerians in Abuja, Delta and Benue States will receive financial support to subsidize and assist their medical bills. Visits will be made to patients to follow up on their progress.

    A full professional team of GIPLC staff, doctors and nurses will be deployed to ensure the desired impact is met and lives are touched and saved.

    Sanomi, founder and chairman of Taleveras, and past recipient of a Dr Martin Luther King Legacy Award for Philanthropy and International Service, said: “Supporting the work of the GIPLC is something I have done for many years, in many ways. This year I wanted to do something which would help even more of the vulnerable people who have been at the core of the GIPLC activities. This unique initiative seeks to touch the lives of the most needy members of our communities at a time when they need it the most. This is something I believe in wholeheartedly and to which I am pleased to have been able to lend my support.”

    Nuhu Kwajafa, GIPLC Co-ordinator, said: “We give God all the glory for His blessings and the capacity and the will, for people like Igho Sanomi to give back to those in need.  We pray that by this gesture, ICS II will endear others to do same, so we may sustain this practice on a yearly basis. Ultimately, the goal is to stimulate the mobilisation of resources and raise awareness on the plight of those living in especially difficult circumstances. GIPLC will coordinate and share this experience daily. God bless you all.”

    The initiative was founded in 2006 to cater for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Nigeria by providing food, medical assistance and learning materials for their development.  It also aims to stimulate sustainable, participatory, community based projects, which will help to meet the needs of vulnerable children and other persons living in especially difficult circumstances.

    “Life has been interesting since I started GIPLC because I look at it like a cash register, in that every account, every thought, every deed, like every sale is registered and recorded. The best use of life is to spend it for something that will outlive life itself. I believe at my age I have lived half my life for myself. Right now I am dedicating the remaining half for humanity,” Kwajafa.

    Sanomi II was born in 1975 in Agbor Delta State, the fifth child (and first son) of a devout Catholic family. His father, the late Dickens Oghenereumu Patrick Sanomi hailed from Delta State and was a retired Assistant Inspector General of the Nigerian Police. Mr Sanomi’s mother, Mabel Iyabo Sanomi holds a Royal title of Yeye Jemo of Isotun Ijesha Kingdom in Osun State. She was a renowned nurse and medical entrepreneur from Osun State in South Western Nigeria.

    Sanomi entered the world of business shortly after completing his Bachelor’s Degree in Geology and Mining at the University of Jos in Northern Nigeria. Mr Sanomi is the Chairman of Taleveras which he founded in 2004. He is also Chairman of the Dickens Sanomi Foundation board of Trustees. He also sits as Chairman and co-chairman of various companies which he founded or co-founded. These companies’ activities span from Telecom to Shipping, Aviation and Real Estate Investments worldwide.

  • How The Nation’s story changed girl’s life

    How The Nation’s story changed girl’s life

    Miss Òpémipó Ogunséyé, an orphan who will be 20 on April 12, thought she would never use her legs again.  But a story in this newspaper titled Please, help me to make something out of my life changed all that.

    A Belgian and Managing Director, World Telecom Labs, Mr. Leigh Smith, was in Nigeria when the story was published. Smith, who almost had his leg amputated several years ago, read the story and decided to help.

    All thanks to Smith, Miss Ogunseye now has her legs backs and also has money in an account to fund her education.

    He said: “Whenever I am in Nigeria, I always stayed in the same hotel in Abuja. I liked to swim but the hotel swimming pool was closed off because they were building a new wing on the hotel next door. So, I met with the general manager and explained that I wanted to use the pool to get some exercise. There-and-then, he gave me special permission to use the pool. Everytime I made a booking, the pool would be cleaned and I used it regularly while there.

    “This set up worked well for about seven visits before I read about Òpémipó’s story in The Nation. That November, when I arrived the reception, the officials were happy to see me and promptly, they gave me the key to the swimming pool. Unknown to me, the GM had not seen my request that while at the hotel, I would use the swimming pool. So, he did not instruct for the pool to be cleaned.

    “The next night, I went for a swim. I was already in the water before I realised that it was not cleaned as before. I accidentally had a very small cut on my knee but didn’t know that bacteria entered through this cut into my lower leg. Within the next three days, my left leg had gotten swollen. Fortunately, on the Friday night I had to fly to Cape Town to attend a telecoms conference. I arrived early Saturday morning and went straight to Christian Barnard Hospital next to my hotel for a check up.

    “The doctors immediately explained that the issue with my leg looked serious and that I needed to be checked in. Immediately, they started series of checks and later told me that they found few serious complications as they found Strepicoccous bacteria in my system. Then, they moved me into the intensive care as I had stopped breathing at some point and my kidneys stopped working.

    “By the third day, the medical team thought I was going to die and the next option for them was to amputate my left leg. They were still deliberating on the process of cutting off my leg when fortunately, the antibiotics earlier administered started killing off the bacteria by the fourth day. Eventually, I ended up being in the intensive care for eight days and lasted three whole weeks in hospital. That was how I was saved from losing my leg simply because I swam in dirty swimming pool. I think I might have wanted to end my life. So, when I read Òpémipó’s story in your newspaper, it really touched my heart because what happened to her very, very nearly happened to me.

    “This episode took me about three months before I began walking short distances. Gradually, it improved but the infection and the treatment affected the lymphatic circulation in my leg. Once monthly, I still get some physiotherapy treatment to massage out the swelling. But I am largely fine and my leg is very much okay.”

    Smith, for about two years, ensured that Òpémipó got treated medically at the Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State, where she had her crushed leg replaced with Prosthesis, an artificial cast.

    Last week, Smith accompanied by this reporter, Òpémipó’s uncle, Michael, her elder sister, Elizabeth and Miss Ogunseye, was at a Sterling Banks branch on Victoria Island to open an account to fund her education. Smith had made prior arrangements with the bank to open the account.

    Explaining why he opened an account for Òpémipó, the benefactor said: “As a first step to helping her, I wanted to set up a bank account so that if and when I want to I can give her some financial support. I will like to support her to be educated and if she wants to go to university, all well. As you reported in the initial story, she was appealing to someone to help her as she said: ‘I still want to make something out of my life’. Yes, she needed to be on her feet. And now that she is back up, I am also prepared to give her some financial assistance to get a good education to actually make something out of her life. By the way, her Uncle Mike has been kindly supporting her and paying her school fees. In fact, his magnanimity towards his late sister’s two daughters should not go unrecognised. All I am doing is just helping Òpémipó to get started with an opportunity to have a better life, not anything to be sensationalised.”

    An elated Miss Ogunseye told the reporter: “From the beginning, I felt my world had come to a sudden end. I had dreams I was hoping to pursue. In fact, I was about sitting for my WAEC back then. But that was truncated by the accident and the fact that I was seriously in pains and on hospital admission. In short, I went through a lot for my young age. But I thank God and I really want to appreciate my uncle, Mr. Michael and aunty, his wife, Mr. Leigh, my elder sister, Elizabeth and several others I can’t mention here.

    “I am grateful, because they kept me going and that is why I can, and indeed, I am preparing for the upcoming WAEC this year 2017. Ordinarily by now, I should be in about 300 or 400level in the university. But I thank God who allowed the story to be written on me and made Mr. Smith to read and he contacted us.

    “After I was discharged from the hospital, Mr. Smith came over to our place and that was it. Since then, he has been an angel that God sent to my life. He has helped out in so many ways that if I counting, I won’t finish anytime soon.

    “I want to be a journalist. I want to go around the world. I want to be the voice for people who are going through similar situation I had been through. I want people who have given up to see that there will always be a better tomorrow. They just have to be patient and always believe in God.”

  • Jide Kosoko, Mercy Johnson, others depict life in police barracks

    Jide Kosoko, Mercy Johnson, others depict life in police barracks

    With the mischief of two notorious police officers, Austin and Vincent, making viewers to laugh and laugh, new comedy movie, ‘Kondo Game’, features an A-list of cast who have made the film a total package.

    Producer Maryam Harris said the need to create a film at par with Hollywood necessitated the huge investment and quality cast put into the production.

    Played by Francis Odega and Funnybone, the two police officers would later be faced with controversial tasks. With a sloppy boss, Jide Kosoko to contend with, Austin and Vincent are locked in between crime busting and bursting a romantic fling with a voluptuous mistress, played by Cossy Ojiakor, who runs a beer parlour in the neighborhood. Cossy’s exploit heightens the rib-cracking comic adventure.

    Directed by Charles Uwagbai, other actors in the suspense-filled storyline include, Mercy Johnson, Uche Jombo Rodriguez, Mercy Aigbe and Funny Bone.

     

  • ‘Fiction is my life’

    ‘Fiction is my life’

    Dr Lola Akande is a senior lecturer in the department of English, University of Lagos, and the author of What It Takes and In Our Place. In this interaction with Dorcas Egede, she discusses the thematic thrust of her new book, her zeal to create fictional works and more things to expect from her, among other things

    How long have you been writing?

    I started writing in 2011. This is not my first novel; actually I started by writing short stories by 2010, and by 2011, I completed a collection of short stories. I haven’t published it even as we speak, but in 2012, I got to know that Evans Publishers were calling for submission of short stories for an anthology. I submitted three stories from my collection. They wrote to say they accepted my story, and it was published in an anthology.

    I published my first book in 2012, “In Our Place” and it was published by Macmillan. Sadly however, it never entered the market. Even though it got reviewed in virtually every newspaper, I didn’t like the presentation. I remember I personally made the effort to take the book to media houses and a reporter would look at it and say, “This is children’s book.” The Guardian in reviewing it described it as a novella. I couldn’t blame them because the presentation of the book made them view it that way.

    So, I had a meeting with the managing director of Macmillan and expressed my displeasure about the way they presented the book. He apologised and explained to me that it was so packaged to make it affordable for their target readers – secondary school students; which I understood. But then it wasn’t going to serve my own purpose. So, I asked if there was a way they could upgrade it until it became a recommended text for secondary school students, then they could start producing it to suit that purpose. After several meetings, we couldn’t reach an agreement, so I had to ask them to return my right.

    What inspired your new book, what it takes?

    I had a very difficult PhD from the University of Ibadan. One of the reasons it was very difficult would be that I also had my own problems before I went in for the programme. I had recently lost my job owing to a government decision to liberalise the pension industry and created the pension reform act of 2004, which allowed for employees to contribute to their pension, alongside their employers. Prior to this time, we were private sector pension managers, employed by the federal government to compel employers in the private sector to save mandatorily for their employees.

    With this new act, we were all told to go home. I’m a widow and have two children. When I had this job, I used to tell people that I would die if I should lose my job, because I couldn’t think of how I was going to survive without it. I depended solely on my salary, and then I lost the job. Many of my colleagues went into business, some were so traumatized that they died from the shock and maybe the thought of how they would continue living without a source of income.

    I had to start thinking of a way out; then I recalled that during my first degree at the University of Ilorin, many of my course mates used to call me professor, because I used to read a lot, even at home, they used to say, “Lola is so academic.” Recalling these things, I decided to go back to school; so I registered for an MA in English at the University of Ibadan. This was between 2004 and 2006. There was no break for me, for as soon as I finished the Masters programme in 2006, the University wrote to me that they wanted me to continue with my PhD. And that’s what happened.

    However, I found out that it wasn’t so much about how much effort I made or how good I was, there were other factors, politics, intrigues I didn’t really reckon with. Now, before I started the programme, my children were in secondary school, and I was hoping that I would be able to finish and get a job, and then be able to see them through the University. But then, they finished from the university and I was still running my PhD programme.

    It took me six years to finish the programme, and that was even because of the system we have in UI; the system saw that every PhD programme terminates at the sixth year. So, I didn’t register for the seventh year because my supervisor and I would have been queried. It didn’t need to have dragged on for so long. Besides, I wanted to do a full time programme, but my supervisor didn’t allow me, even after I told him that I didn’t have a job and all I wanted to do was study.

    It was very difficult. I suffered humiliations that I didn’t imagine possible. I can’t begin to describe it. Frankly, if I saw half of what I went through before the programme, I wouldn’t have gone for it. In the end, the end did not justify the means. I nearly lost my life. Do you know what it means not to know how you’re going to feed, yet you have a programme you’re running? You continue to pay fees. This programme is about writing, and you’re writing without anybody reading it; you don’t know if you’re making progress or writing nonsense. My supervisor did not touch my thesis until five years after I started the programme. Do you know that can make one go crazy?

    So, when I eventually finished, I had to sit and ask myself questions, “Did I go through all this suffering just to get a PhD and apply for a job? There had to be more than just getting a job with the certificate. Through the programme, I had grown accustomed to being hungry, to not having money, to begging for my daily bread, crying before my children because I didn’t know how I was going to get their school fees, to my children playing the role of mother and telling me not to worry. My chidren also attended the same university. They had seen me being humiliated many times. I needed to find out why, I concluded that maybe I was wrong thinking the PhD was to give me a meal ticket and help me take care of my children. Maybe God wanted to use me to conscientise the system; maybe – just maybe God just wanted to use me to use my writing to correct the ills in the system; and see how much impact my writing would have.

    How much of your personal experience formed material for the book?

    I was never sexually harassed by any lecturer. Anything about sexual harassment in the novel is fiction and a little bit of other’s experiences. So, it’s not all about my experience, I also asked questions from colleagues. In fact, some of the experiences were from my first degree.

    How would you bring your unpleasant experiences to bear in your relationship with your students, now that you’re also a lecturer?

    I put down my experiences from my bachelors degree to my masters, you know, while I was in the civil service, I did a masters degree in public administration to further enhance my career. Little did I know I was going to lose my job. So, what I have in the book is my experience and those of other colleagues over the years.

    How will your bitter experiences, as it were, affect your relationship with your students?

    Well, first I have to acknowledge that we’re all human beings and therefore, we’re all flawed and we tend to react differently to pressure. Now, as a lecturer, I understand some of the pressures my own lecturers were going through at the time in terms of workload, which I also tried to put into the book. They are under pressure with so much to do. Therefore, even when they do not intend to act badly to students, they could. A student just came in to see me, but he can’t because I’m busy. But then, he may not understand what we’re doing is important; to him, we may just be chattering away. Sometimes the student doesn’t know what the lecturer is going through. The story is actually told from the perspective of a student and the way he sees the system, it may not necessarily represent the entire truth. But having said that, I have also seen cases where people finish their PhD programme and become lecturers in the same department with their supervisors. Now, because of what their supervisors made them go through, they become enemies. This is one of the problems we have in the university. Having had a rough PhD programme myself, I’m able to appreciate more what students go through, so I try as much as possible not to behave or act in ways that will frustrate them. I can only say that I try; my students will be in a better position to say how I’m faring in that regard.

    How long did it take to put the book together?

    It took about a year, because I didn’t have a job. When I came to the realisation that I needed to write, I told myself I didn’t need to look for a job immediately.

    What has been the response so far and how far do you see this work going?

    The response has been encouraging so far. I sent it to some universities’ heads of department of English, as at yesterday, I had received messages from four of them, telling me that they had recommended the text for their students and they will call me next week to tell me the number of copies. While one university’s HOD said to me, “I have your book in my hand; I’ve read it and I’m not comfortable with this. Why will someone in the system write a thing like this? I’ve also read about it in the media and I don’t like what I’ve read. Most of my colleagues have read the book and their responses have been encouraging. About how far I see the book going, I want to trust God to help take it far, and that those who are concerned will accept it in good fate, and not see it as someone trying to criticise the system, because literature is not public relations; it’s supposed to be about praising. It is supposed to teach the truth, and value and reform a society till it becomes better. I hope it gains universal appraisal, such that universities across the globe, Africa especially will adopt the text. This is so that we can use the powers that we have as lecturers with caution and compassion.

    Any other work in the offing?

    I am repackaging In Our Place, then before I took the decision to write what it takes, I’d started working on something and had written up to chapter two before the idea to write this one came up and I abandoned that. I look forward to going back to it. And of course, there’s also my collection of short stories, which I’m yet to publish.

  • Life begins for Real Drill boss @ 40

    The age-long saying that men of substance do not wear gold, but if you scratch them, you will see gold is surely true about Mr Ajani Najeemdeen Babatunde Ajikobi, the Project Director of Real Drill Hydrokonsult Nigeria Ltd, who clocked the proverbial age of 40 on the first day of February, 2017.

    Because of his company’s exploit in the area of sedimentary and basement drilling and the ability to unravel the subsurface with competent geophysicists and high dept probe of geophysical instruments with 100 percent precision, Real Drill has become a household name in the industry.

    He was born to the family of Alhaji and Alhaja Ajani Bamidele of the popular Ajikobi family of Oyo town on February 1, 1977. He started his elementary school at Adenle Primary School, Osogbo, Osun State, before proceeding to Saint James Secondary School, Osogbo. Young  Najeemdeen bagged his Higher National Diploma Certificate at The Ibadan Polytechnic, where he studied Geology.

    To celebrate his landmark birthday, he engaged the services of Islamic scholars for marathon prayer sessions. He also took time out to celebrate with the less-privileged. This is an addition to some corporate responsibility services he engages in by sinking boreholes in some selected cities across Osun State.

  • The best year of your life

    Dear friends, You are most welcome to the year 2017. A lot of us couldn’t wait till 2016 came to an end. While some were thankful for a very good year, some had bitter tales to tell and after learning from mistakes, they are determined to erase the bad memories and forge ahead hopeful of a damn good 2017. Unfortunately, some have failed yet again in achieving their dreams and appear to be knocked out by life. All they expect from this year is whatever life has to offer them- good or bad. They are emotionally-drained and this affects their vivaciousness and gusto. A lot of us tend to take life for granted, “taking life as it comes” and using that to justify inaction or lethargy. However, if we learnt to consciously make an effort to write out the script of the type of year we want, it could go a long way in shaping things our way. Although, life does not readily present to us what we want, we also have the ability to let our imagination and will power grant us our greatest heart desires. Are you still feeling bad that you couldn’t get an admission into the university in 2016 or you lost an altar-bound relationship again? Babe, you are too beautifully loaded and packaged by God to be let down by anyone or life itself. You have all it takes to pursue and recover all you’ve lost and even overtake your contemporaries. It’s all in your hands. Life’s too short to be left to time and chance, you will agree with me. And everyone is solely responsible for his/her success or failure in life. Perhaps, the previous year was an unpleasant one for you; the following tips could make 2017 the best year of your life.

    1. Self-examination

    Self-examination is the study of your own behaviour and motivations. It is essential if you want to succeed in your endeavours and if you want to attain personal excellence. You need to examine your thoughts and feelings because they more often than not define your attitude towards personal achievement and motivate you. How well you live is affected by the state of your mind. And what occupies your mind determines where you occupy eventually. You need to rid your mind of self-deprecation and other negative thoughts. When you self-deprecate, you are dismissing yourself as unimportant. You misrepresent your own abilities or achievements as being of little worth.  Each time you do that, you are making it easier for yourself to lose whatever confidence you have in your own merits and capability to become what you want to be. You must assert yourself in the most positive way and get what you want out of life this year. On the other hand, is God really on your side? Be true to yourself: have you been faithful to Him or you only call on Him when you are in trouble? Our God is faithful to those who are faithful to Him and His hands are not too short to help us but our iniquities would keep Him away. If you were far from Him last year, make amends today so He can beam His light on you and guide you on the way to go this year. You will be pleasantly amazed at what would happen even before the end of the 1st quarter. What a good God!

    1. Self-motivation

    Self-motivation is being motivated to achieve something due to your own interest without influence from other people or situations. It is the only motivation that really produces the desired result. It stems from one’s own desire, eagerness and willingness, enthusiasm or ambition. It is the most powerful force needed to succeed in anything that’s worthwhile. If you resolutely believe that you are going to achieve great success this year, you are motivated to think and behave in ways consistent with your belief and you inevitably make it come true. Likewise, if you believe unwaveringly in your blessed life and that good things are happening to you, your belief will be fulfilled and significantly improve your life this year. And if you want to perform great exploits within the shortest period, all you need is the fullness of the spirit of God. Once you climb on the wings of the Holy Spirit, you are simply unstoppable and your limit will just have to be farther than the sky. You’ll be treading on supernatural grounds and the world has no choice but to lie at your feet. Whoa!

    1. Self-control

    Self-control is the ability to control oneself, in particular one’s emotions and desires, especially in difficult situations. Almost everyone wants a dream life, but few know where to begin, and end up just taking the path which is most hassle-free. This path leads you very far from your desired destination. There’s a price to pay for every dream but not everyone is ready to pay because of the great discomfort that comes with it. A lot of people just back out and give in to their emotions. When you have self-control you have the ability to exert control over your feelings and reactions, and to conduct yourself calmly and sensibly in difficult situations. Also, self-control is being disciplined and concentrating more on that which is going to bring you to your desired state. You may have to deny yourself of a lot of pleasure and energy vamps. Be careful about misusing your time with people or situations that don’t serve your highest purpose. It may not always be possible, but value the allocation of your time wisely- every moment of this year is precious. Use it and spend it mindfully in the presence of God because He has the final say over your life. God can be with you every moment of this year as long as you can carry Him in your heart. The best year of your life is within your reach-if you are willing to allow Jesus drive the vehicle of your destiny. Surrender to him today. Have a great year!

    To be continued

  • ‘My life as a cultist’

    ‘My life as a cultist’

    It was neither a fiction, nor hearsay, but a true account of the author’s foray into the dark world of cultism as an undergraduate, and the sheer vanity that climaxed his escapades and nearly despatched him to the great beyond.

    Yet, it is an account of how unsuspecting youths who gained admission to the nation’s tertiary institutions were lured with promises that seemed too tantalising to resist; but turned out to be a death sentence in the end.

    Adebayo Olurin is the author of the yet-to-be-launched book ‘I am not a cultist: Not everybody gets a second chance’, which chronicles his life as a notorious cult member who dominated his ‘territory’ with ease and ‘deleted’ those who could not genuflect or kowtow to his authority.

    Going down memory lane, the author recalls how indifference on the part of his parents led to their misconception about his true identity. He therefore warns parents to always pay attention to their children’s future as they grow, to identify their character traits.

    “If I would be honest,” Olurin begins, !i was desperately in love with power; it was this quest that made me crave power for control of everything around me. I must admit I always wanted the world to revolve around me – my comfort, pleasure and convenience. I desired that others see and interpret everything through my eyes, make me happy, meet my needs, and refrain from offending, upsetting or irritating me. I wanted to be understood, acknowledged, appreciated, praised, valued, attended to, catered for, respected admired and listened to. I love to be in absolute control.”

    And when he eventually secured admission into the polytechnic, the author began to look for individuals that would help fulfill his long-time cravings; he soon found them. His life in their company was rosy, but for a short while; until he was one day tricked, alongside other unsuspecting students, into joining a social club. They were then ferried into a jungle where they were initiated into cultism.

    However, he and others soon realised the anticipated life of bliss once dangled before them had melted into a life of discomfort. Their lives were remotely controlled by ‘superior’ colleagues; and the ‘lower ranked’ have little chances of protesting because the system is simply autocratic.

    “For instance,’’ the author says, “the superior can order a member not to appear on campus for the next one week. Such one would suddenly be given a mission to keep him busy outside campus. That could make someone fail a course. The superior can collect a junior member’s belongings for more than a semester and may not even return them. In other cases, if the member is the brilliant type, he could be asked to write exam for the superior leaving his own studies unattended to.”

    Olurin says parameters for being lured into cultism are anchored on a tripod – physical, financial, and intellectual ‘ruggedity’. Ruggedity, Olurin explains, simply means capability; noting that physical ruggedity translates to muscular or well-built individuals  who can be trusted to lead an onslaught against perceived individual or rival groups on or beyond campus. Financial ruggedity involved those with rich parental background whose resources are often deployed  to oil the group’s operations either through procurement of weapons, or providing funds for logistics in the event of an attack against rival groups or bribing security officials to get their arrested members off the hook should problem arise. Intellectually ruggedity are the eggheads who impersonate for other members during examination.

    But, generally, students who are curious about excessive or extravagant life of certain individuals on campus or rather those who simply want to ‘belong’ by associating themselves with these high spenders, are also easy targets as their curiosity lead them to what they never planned for.

    The book also highlights the organogram in cultism. A unit is charged with recruiting new members. There is another department which disseminates information to members; and still the account unit collects members’ dues and levies; the security unit spearheads attacks; it has  a sub-unit which takes care of weaponry; and another- a search unit’ usually scans new grounds for conducting initiation rituals for new entreants, to mention just a few.

    The book portrays some of the cult members, equipping themselves with ‘juju’ for spiritual protection which often makes them over confident and indulging them in more atrocities.  However, the juju sometimes boomerangs in the heat of operation, leaving the wearer with little or no chance of survival.

    Olurin warns young ladies on campus who are easily attracted to young but rich and influential males that appear to have whatever they want at the tip of their fingernails. Once a lady finds two male undergraduates threatening brims and fire against each other because of her, then its time she runs off, the author advises.

    Some cult groups also court the friendship of prominent unions and individuals across academic and non academic staff who are close to the management, and therefore can use their influence to tilt judgment in their favour whenever the need arises.

    Even though he admonishes lecturers and other senior workers to be sociable to students, Olurin warns them to desist from any secret affair or undue familiarity with them. Rather, they should be in inspiration leading students aright and pointing to them the risk involved in associating with bad company.

    During his visit at The Nation’s corporate headquarters in Mushin, Lagos, Olurin, now a social crusader, said beyond the Pyrate Confraternity, which was established in University of Ibadan in 1952, with noble goals to fight colonialism and push for equal society, there is proliferation of various anti-social groups on campus laying claim to similar goals. He listed these as: Sea Lords or Buka; Air Lords or Supreme Eiye Confraternity; Neo Black Movement a.k.a Aiye; Klu Klux Klan (KKK), Mafia, among others.

    Once a cult member, forever a member, and the reality of sudden death is just a matter of time, Olurin explains.

    He says there are some cultists who manage to survive the stormy ambience of campus cultism, only to pay the ‘supreme price’ years after they have graduated.

    According to him, some met their waterloo from rival gangs on their wedding  day or birthday, while others get killed during family vacation or old friends party.

    Recounting the inspiration behind the book, Olurin said: “This book aims to correct a very wrong notion for joining cult groups in our campuses today. With hundreds of promising individuals already killed across different campuses due to cult activities and even more thousands losing the essence of a hopeful future. A craving for power should never go overboard into ruin and damage to others and oneself. The desire for attention and control shouldn’t lead many more students to engage in vicious and destructive vice,”

    …And then “I’m not a cultist’ was born.