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Tag: tired

  • We are tired of begging –Beggars cry out

    Kabiru, a beggar in Ajegunle in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos recently dumped begging for noodles vending. He had been a beggar for decades, relying on handouts from passersby in the densely populated Ajegunle ghetto, for survival. But he always wished he could quit. The grant of cartons of noodles from YEGI Foundation therefore came timely. Although he hardly sells up to a carton in a day, he says he is okay with it.

    Founded by youthful Abel Usim, YEGI means Youth Empowerment and Growth Initiative; it is a non government organisation aimed at empowering youth and turning beggars into employers. Kabiru was empowered under the organisation’s ‘Beggar to Boss’project.

    “It is better than begging. It has actually been challenging because I sell in the open and sales can be really poor some days. But I believe things will change for the better once I get a kiosk.

    Since quitting begging, Kabiru, who has been crippled by polio from childhood, said people have become nicer to him. He believes they now see him in new light. But feeding has been a challenge due to the poor sales. Sometimes when it is raining, he finds it hard to escape the rain due to his mobility challenge.

    Speaking to The Nation, the head of the visually impaired people in the area ‘Yakubu, otherwise known as the Seriki said he is happy that his people are willing to stop begging and start a business. The Seriki who claims to have been in Lagos for more than 50 years said he feels bad and unhappy seeing his people begging, especially when people throw insults at them before helping them or when people just look away instead of helping.

    “The major reason we beg is because we don’t have money, food or even clothes to wear. Most of us had to leave our villages to the cities in other not to die of starvation.

    “We want the children we are giving birth to now to be educated and get a job, so that they can support us. That is why some of us are sending our children to public schools, using the little money we make to buy books and other writing materials.”

    He therefore called on the government to empower them so that they can stop begging.

    The Seriki also hinted that he would like his people to go back to their various states when they are empowered so that they can be with their families again.

    Shaibu, son to one of the beggars, told this reporter that he has finished his secondary education and is hoping to further his education. He however said he needs a job to achieve this, become accomplished and be able to assist his people.

    “Since I came to Lagos I have never joined them in begging; even they take care of me with the proceeds. I don’t like begging at all, even Seriki doesn’t beg. He sits here every day waiting for people to come and collect prayers from him. Even governors come to Seriki for prayers.

    “I prefer to have a tricycle that I can use as commercial transport so that I can support myself and my family.”

    One of the beggars who is visually impaired said he never wanted to be a beggar, but was left with no choice.

    “Anybody you see begging does it because he doesn’t have a choice. If we decide not to beg, what will we eat?”He asked.

    He said he would like to have a shop where he can trade, assisted by his grown up son, whom he pointed to within the vicinity.

     

    Our mission is to turn beggars

    to employers -Abel Usim

    Speaking to The Nation about his inspiration, founder of YEGI, Abel Usim said he started project Beggar to Boss in October last year to empower beggars to become bosses. “We give them training in different skills and then give them start-up materials,” he said.

    “We started with building relationship with them, trying to know their different challenges- whether blind, deaf, physically challenged etc.

    “We met one of the beggars named Kabiru who became physically challenged as a result of the Polio disease. He told us that he didn’t like begging, so we asked him what he would like to do if he wasn’t begging and he said business. So we bought him a carton of noodles to selling while we solicit for money to build him a kiosk.

    “Last weekend, we had a meeting which we call Special Session with the beggars. We got an interpreter, because most of the beggars are Hausas. We told them our plans, our vision and what they stand to benefit. This got them happy and expectant.”

    After taking their data, Usim said they made enquiries about the kind of business they would like to go into. This was followed by a free medical checkup, and a seminar to teach them the importance of eating fruits. This they tagged ‘the fruits fun fair.’

    Usim continued: “We are excited that these beggars are willing to leave begging and become entrepreneurs, so we are doing everything to change their mentality and welcome them into the world of entrepreneurs.”

    To do this, Usim said his foundation needed to first build a relationship with the beggars and earn their trust completely. “That way, when we have all the start up materials to distribute, they will willingly embrace it and leave begging.”

    He said the Christmas party YEGI held for their children last December was part of the trust-building process. “The king of the Hausa people in Ajeromi Local Government, Alhaji Saki is so happy with what we are doing and he has been making our job very easy. He is a retired naval officer and understands that going into business is better than begging.

    “He has been involved from the beginning, and helps us summon them when we need to see them. Sometimes, he goes out of his way to help us interpret.”

    Usim said Youth Empowerment and Growth Initiative is a non government organisation that primarily focuses on helping youths discover their purpose. They visit schools and give talks to the students. The Beggar to Boss idea came about on October 25, 2017, two days after YEGI held its shared experience programmes

    “I was taking a walk down a route and noticed a beggar sweeping the spot where he plied his ‘trade;’ and as I walked by, I heard a voice say ‘you can empower this beggar;’ and that was how it started.

    “I turned back, walked up to the beggar and exchanged pleasantries with him; I then asked for his name which he gave as Saliu. I told him I like what he was doing (begging) but apart from begging, what else would he like to do? He said he would like to go into fashion designing; so I took his pictures and the environment and went away. I sent the pictures to YEGI WhatsApp group and shared my experience. I told them we could begin to empower beggars, so they can start adding value to the society and become employers of labour. Thereafter, we had a four-hour face-to-face meeting and drafted a plan on how to go about it; which is what we are doing now.”

  • ‘I’m tired of enduring’

    A middle age woman, Iyabo Ogungbemi, has prayed an Agege Customary Court in Lagos, to dissolve her 15-year-old marriage with Kazeem.

    The petitioner, who lives atAfeez Lawal  Street, Agege, a Lagos suburb, accused him of his non-challant attitude towards their children.

    She also said her husband rarely comes home from his place of work.

    “Whenever I request money from him, he won’t come home. He doesn’t cater four children’s needs,” she said.

    Mrs Ogungbemi said are children are not in school.

    She said: “None of our children are in school. He shirks his responsibility and it is really unfair. For over 15 years, I have been enduring his attitude. He beats me like I never mattered to him. I want dissloution as I am tired of enduring.”

    The respondent, Kazeem Ogungbemi, a panel beater, in his defence said he has tried his best as a father adding that he doesn’t like to go home whenever he is broke.

    “At times I am forced to sleep in a bus at my place of work because I know there will be trouble if I return home without money,” he said.

    Mr Ogungbemi said the only reason he beats his wife is because she doesn’t listen to his orders.

    He said: “My wife thinks I am not responsible but she also has her ugly side. There was a day I decided to relax in a hotel and to my surprise I saw my wife coming out of the hotel with another man.  Since then, I left the house.”

    Ogungbemi further said he could only afford two children’s school fees.

    “Two of our children are in government schools while the other two are at home. It’s not my wish; I am not just buoyant,” he said.

    The court’s President, Pa Adekunle Williams fixed a chamber discussion for the couple and adjourned the case till July 30.

     

  • ‘I’m tired of my wife’s troubles’

    A 35-year-old man, Tony Okafor, has sought  to divorce his wife, Ijeoma, at a Customary Court in Agege, a Lagos suburb. He is accusing her of embarrassing him at his office and being disrespectful of his siblings.

    Okafor said he left their Abule-Egba, Lagos home when his wife’s troubles became unbearable, adding that his boss threatened to sack him if Ijeoma didn’t stop coming to his office.

    Okafor, who said the 12-year-old union has produced two children, added:”I am always scared of going home. The landlord of the new house we rented has threatened to eject me at the expiration of my rent because of my wife.

    Mrs Okafor, however, told the court: “I love my husband and he loves me too. Each time my husband visits his brother and returns home, his attitude changes towards me. My brother-in-law is my husband’s mouth piece. We still live in the same room and do everything expected of a couple.

    “I prepared his meal this morning and we ate together. Our three-year-old son is dimwitted; we have never gone separately to visit him at the hospital. I married Tony because he has a very good character. With him, my mind is at peace. He is too shy to kill a fly let alone hurt me. The problem starts when his brother intervenes. If he wants a divorce, he should pay me off with N10million.”

    It was learnt during mediation that Okafor’s brother’s grouse is that they have children out of wedlock.

    The court president, Mr Adekunle Wiiliams, advised Okafor to handle his marriage and not allow his brother to control him. The case was adjourned till September 4 for judgment.

  • Tired Wings? (2)

    There is crisis with Arik Air. It is a crisis of confidence, customer rights and public trust. Arik Air’s current state could be likened to a sacred infirmity, a dilemma that defies redemption – as theologians might say – and attempts to investigate it are necessarily obscene and socio-politically incorrect.

    Several encounters with the bumbling airline have thought me to expect the worst every time I patronize its local and international air services. And no doubt, the passengers who travelled on the airline’s flight W3107 (from Lagos, Nigeria to JFK, New York) on March 31, 2014, would have colourful fright stories to tell about the horridness and discomfort inflicted on them by the airline’s “55-minute” or “one hour” delay of its flight departure and the failure of the aircraft’s air-conditioning system prior to departure. Although the management of Arik Air issued a statement to tender unreserved apology to the maltreated passengers, such apology pales in significance in the face of Arik Air’s institutional inefficiency and disregard for its teeming customers.

    Despite the airline’s boastful dedication to customer satisfaction on its website; “Excellent customer care is the core philosophy of Arik Air’s business. Our commitment to our customers is reflected in how we have built our network, the product range we offer, the services we provide and how quickly we respond to customers’ feedback.

    “In the air and on the ground, online and on the telephone, our guests can expect respect, courtesy, fairness and honesty from the airline at all times,” the airline claims. However, this claim by Arik Air presents a glaring disconnect with reality as my several encounters with the airline – as indicated in first part of this article – acutely contradicts the airline’s claims.

    Arik Air goes further to claim that: “We exceed our guests’ expectations through the continuous pursuit of excellence and are considerate and respectful of, and responsive to, the needs of our guests…”

    The rancidness of the airline’s claims to honour and graceful corporate citizenship, as quoted in preceding paragraphs, rankles an ominous note; it accentuates the failure or non-existence – if you like – of a resilient and dependable value system within the mercantile circuits of corporate Nigeria. Arik Air brazenly dresses itself in oversized robes and apportions to itself unearned greatness by claiming that it satisfies and exceeds its customers’ expectations while being “respectful” of its customers and “responsive to their needs.”

    By perpetuating such frivolous reality, the airline barefacedly abuses the core values by which it ought to mature and evolve — respect for its customers rights, the pursuit and safeguarding of customer satisfaction, the preservation of customer dignity, fiscal integrity and discipline.

    Rather than engage in conscious pursuits indicative of its dedication to these crucial values, Arik Air clings desperately during the long nightmare of its aviation venture to an unrealistic corporate goal: “To make Nigeria proud of its aviation industry” by offering “a superior level of customer service” while delivering “on all promises made” to the airline’s customers.

    This moral and value fragmentation—using a highfaluting claim to honour and distinction to define its aviation practice, while ignoring its vast corporate assault on its numerous and often helpless customers, symbolizes moral and corporate value capitulation. It fails to confront and address the organisation’s glaring inefficiencies and the blundering boor it has become.

    The Arik Air dream has run out of gas. Its touted machinery sputters like a vehicle engine in excruciating spells of devastating wear. Today, it fails to deliver to its customers, that superior, quality service it blatantly arrogates to itself on its corporate website. Is it over? Is Arik Air gradually preparing our minds for the baleful notes of that proverbial devastation characteristic of the Nigerian aviation sector? What is wrong with Arik Air?

    While I lay no claim to accurate answers to the questions, I dare say that Arik Air has become grossly insensitive to its customers’ needs. The airline, contrary to its grand claims of excellence in service delivery and commitment to customer satisfaction, actually perpetuates a corporate service culture which intent it seems, is to alienate its prospective patrons and further reduce its customers to disposable integers in its pursuit of a lush and supple entrepreneurial bottom-line. How could this be beneficial to its enterprise?

    Arik Air deserves to encounter stronger competition; the lack of a formidable aviation enterprise and competitor (s) apparently enables its unforgivable arrogance and descent the steep slope customer satisfaction. Arik Air currently suffers no challenge; the airline currently enjoys the monopoly of plying certain routes, like the Lagos to Abuja to Gombe air route for instance. This fosters its several incapacities, like its refusal to improve on quality of its service delivery in such region. Due to the absence of competition in such zone, the airline feels no pressure to review its performance and initiate strategies for reform and improvement in service delivery in the areas.

    The airline will do well to improve the quality of in-house training it gives its staff; there is no greater ugliness than encountering a pretty or handsome ill-mannered ticketing officer or station manager at the airline’s numerous transaction points within and outside the country. Arik Air staff members need to be retrained and habituated with core competencies required of their jobs as staff of an airline of its magnitude.

    Arik Air also needs to check the excesses of airport touts working in connivance with its ticketing staff to fleece its helpless customers of hard-earned money. It has become an eyesore to see Arik Air staff connive with airport touts to close the ticketing counter before due time often in calculated bid to inflate price of air travel tickets for those customers who are forced by circumstance to purchase their tickets off the counter.

    It is also a very ugly sight to see Arik Air staff condone several excesses from the airport touts; for instance, it has become the norm at Arik Air’s Lagos ticketing counter for airport touts to jump the queue and march to the front to indulge in backdoor transactions with Arik Air staff on behalf of certain customers who are “too big” or “too high society” to queue like other law-abiding travelers. Consequently, Arik Air counters consistently present a raucous and chaotic sight particularly during peak periods of very busy mornings – it’s supposed to be an elite airline operation not a chaotic enterprise reminiscent of mad scrambles for the now outlawed Lagos Molue bus.

    Arik Air by virtue of the privileged position it occupies should endeavour to create and efficiently marshal and sustain its “Blue Ocean” to advantage amid Nigerian aviation sector’s “Red Ocean.” But that would require visionary corporate strategy and scenario planning; areas Arik Air needs to shore up its staff competencies and so on.

    No degree of frenzied or premeditated public relations campaign and advertising strategy will compensate for Arik Air’s current shoddy operations and crappy service. Advertisement placements in major mainstream media, carefully designed and sponsored PR feature articles in local and international newspapers or an ignore-the-gadfly approach will never correct imagery of the airline’s lackluster performance in the memories and minds of its teeming customers. Arik Air should do better. Could this be tantamount to seeking raindrops in the ocean?

  • ‘Deltans are tired of PDP’

    ‘Deltans are tired of PDP’

    Delta State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship aspirant Navy Commander Uche Onabu (rtd) spoke with JEREMIAH OKE on his ambition, the clamour for power shift in the state and other issues.

    What is the political situation in the Delta State?

    So far, the People Democratic Party (PDP) has been ruling the state for 14 years, From the era of Chief James Ibori to Dr. Uduagahan. Currently, Deltans are yearning for a drastic political change This is because our people are fed up with the PDP. Our people need a change and that is why we think that the change cannot come from any other party, except the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), considering the fact that ACN as a party has been able to proved that they can govern very well. We want to replicate what we see in the states like Lagos, Edo, Osun, Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti in our own state. Politically, right now, in Delta, the wind of change is blowing. Everybody is thinking of how to restructure the state in terms of infrastructural facilities, security, industrial development, employment generation, and other areas. But the most important thing is that, if you interview an average man on the street or in the bus or in the market, they will tell you that they are fed up with the PDP, which is just sharing the money, and not using it for developmental projects.. That is the present situation of things in Delta State.

    Is the ACN hail and hearty in Delta State?

    Yes, we are. So far, we were not the main opposition. Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) is the main opposition in Delta State and that is Great Ogboru’s party, but at the national level, we know that ACN is a strong force. That is why we decided to stay in the party in our state. Personally, I decided to stay and be loyal to the party, despite the fact that I lost against a PDP candidate when I contested for the House of Representatives in 2011. They offered me an appointment in the PDP after the election, but I refused. I stay with the ACN because of the good governance we are preaching to our people and I am still there preaching the good governance gospel. At the state level, our major challenge is funding because the national body of our party did not have trust in Delta State in 2011, but now the elders of ACN and the youths are prepared to restore the party in the state

    You are a solder. How have you been able to adjust to the civil politics?

    As a military officer who has been in the navy, I was privileged to participate in the political life of the country. I was the ADC to the former Lagos State Governor under the Babangida regime. I was the ADC to Governor Ukiwe and that had exposed me to political life. I was the Security Officer to Ukiwe and Aikhomu. I was also Security Officer to Maduekwe. I was also the Security Officer in Abacha’s office. That exposed me to politics because I was in a key position in the Ministry of Defence for a while. Since I retired, I was also privileged to work with Shell as an adviser. I have been in the fence ,until 2010 when I came home from abroad and that made me to witness the rerun of Ogboru and Uduaghan. That was the event that spot my interest to start having the passion to see what I can do to contribute to governance in my community. That was what led me to participate in the House of Representatives race in 2011. I won the primary with a very wide margin. I won in Warri and other areas. That was what made me the flag bearer of our party, ACN, for the House of Representatives. But unfortunately, when we went for the election, the PDP won. I accepted the victory without going to court. I started preparing for 2015. That was my first time in politics. I quickly adjusted and moved ahead with my life because I have learned how to adjust my political career. That was a good experience for me because it was the first time and it was a baptismal of fire in a political terrain. That exactly is what gives me the confidence to say that I want to come out for the governorship in 2015 to bail my people out of the abject poverty, despite the resources available in the state.

    Why do you want to become the governor of Delta state?

    Our people need a change.There is a general trend now that the governorship in the state has been zoned to the Delta North, regardless of the party affiliation. Since the state was created 22 years ago, nobody from the Delta North has been governor. Although, we had two deputy governors; one under Ibru Administration and one under former Governor James Ibori. They both tried their best, but as we all know, they are just political stooges. They could not properly fix the Delta North to the political power control of the state because the Delta Central and the South, which comprise of the Urhobo felt that we have the capital, therefore, no way for us to produce the governor. The late Mrs. Mariam Babangida was able to secure the capital for us. So, they say they will always produce the governor. That is their mentality. But we are saying no, it is our turn. Therefore, I believe that this is the right time for us in the Delta North to produce the governor. That is one of the reasons. Secondly, with my experience, my exposure in governance, leadership and management, I think it is time for me to contribute to good governance in my state. Transparency, good governance, disciplined management will bring back our lost glory in the state. The only thing you can see in Delta today is the federal road from Benin to Warri or Benin to Asaba. No other thing. Industries are broken down completely. The little renovation that was done by Ibori, which ought to have continued by Uduaghan, has been stagnated. An average Deltan sees Ibori as a better governor because Ibori was able to provide better infrastructure than Uduaghan who has no plan to improve the standard of living of our people. By 2015, his tenure will end. He spent 50 percent of his time going to court fighting Ogboru for no reason spending 70 percent of the time fighting the militants. So, by the time we get there in 2015, I am going to focus on proper infrastructural development and bring back the failed industries. For instance; the Asaba textile mill was the best mill industry in Nigeria which can employ over 5000 workers. We had the best football team in those days comparing with the Rangers and other top football clubs in Nigeria. We have the biggest palm oil victory that can employ 7,000 workers. These two industries are dead. So, through these industries, we can create over 12,000 employment for our people and that will reduce crime. Now on the power sector, it is a shame that if you lodged in hotel in Asaba today, you can spend three or more than that without seen the power supply by PHCN. All the banks, industries, companies and even the individuals live on generator. 80 percent of the time in the state, they use generator even in the government house. Meanwhile, when I asked, I find out that we are still generating power from Onisha and we have gas in Delta.

  • Aren’t we tired?

    Aren’t we tired?

    Today, as Nigeria celebrates her 52nd Independence Day anniversary, the question I’d like to put to us as citizens of this dear country Nigeria is, “Aren’t we tired?”

    Aren’t we tired of the tick tock frequency with which bombs are going off in our country? Aren’t we tired of seeing fellow Nigerians being killed for religious and political purposes? Aren’t we tired of the perpetual fuel shortages? Aren’t we tired of the continuous threat of fuel subsidy removal? Aren’t we tired of the politics being played with the fuel subsidy report? Aren’t we tired of the brazen corruption in the oil sector? Aren’t we tired of over 40,000 people (i.e. over 100 people daily) dying on our roads every year? Aren’t we tired of the litany of air crashes? Aren’t we tired?

    Aren’t we tired, fed up, exasperated with the Nigerian situation? How can things so simple become so complicated? How can things so basic become so complex? And how can things so easy become so ridiculously hard?

    Aren’t we tired of always complaining, criticizing, and grumbling about our country and doing basically nothing about it? Aren’t we tired of consistently blaming government for anything and everything that is wrong with our country? Aren’t we tried of forgetting that we, the people of Nigeria, are the government and are therefore responsible for the present situation?

    Aren’t we tired of our children and youths not being able to get the quality education they deserve? Aren’t we tired of the mass failure of our students in their WAEC/NECO/GCE? Aren’t we tired of graduates of many years being unemployed for many more years, roaming the streets? Aren’t we tired of the fact that some of our children do not know what it is to have water flow from the taps in their homes? Aren’t we tired of parents panicking (every school year) for fear of not being able to pay their children’s school fees?

    Aren’t we tired of the stock market scams? Aren’t we tired of the free fall of the naira over the years into the dungeon of despair? Aren’t we tired of the strangulating effects of IMF and World Bank policies? Aren’t we tired of the crushing burden of the foreign debts we are now accumulating?

    Aren’t we tired of the chaos, confusion and catastrophe? Aren’t we tired of all the crises – ethnic, religious, political – and the high price we pay for each one of them? Aren’t we tired of playing the blame game; of blaming the colonialist, the West, the military, our past leaders, the present government, the politicians etc., etc. – everybody but ourselves?

    Aren’t we tired of the agents of today’s superpowers becoming prophets of doom by predicting the disintegration of Nigeria by 2015? Aren’t we tired of not taking responsibility for our destiny? Aren’t we tired of our bad image in the international community?

    Aren’t we tired of hearing worn-out excuses as the reasons for our country’s stagnation? Aren’t we tired of treading water and being reluctant to launch out into the deep sea of greatness? Aren’t we tired of a nation with great potential and nothing to show for it?

    Aren’t we tired of people dying in our hospitals because they did not even have N1000 for treatment? Aren’t we tired of being stressed up and stressed out from spending untold hours in traffic especially in Lagos? Aren’t we tired of seeing mountains of refuse all over our urban centres?

    Aren’t we tired of the scams and scandals in the pension funds? Aren’t we tired of pensioners dying because they had not been paid their pensions for months and years on end? Aren’t we tired of seeing people who served this land being made to look like fools because they didn’t steal our money? Aren’t we tired of people working hard to make a living in the heat of the day only to have little or nothing to show for it?

    Aren’t we tired of PHCN not providing sufficient electricity? Aren’t we tired of the noise and air pollution of our generators? Aren’t we tired of the high price we pay to fuel our generators because PHCN struck?

    Aren’t we tired of the number dropped calls we have daily on our GSM lines? Aren’t we tired of the bad network we experience almost every day? Aren’t we tired of the paying one of the highest tariff for making calls (and sending SMS) in the world?

    Aren’t we tired of wearing second –hand clothes and shoes? Aren’t we tired of driving tokunbo (secondhand) cars? Aren’t we tired of hearing stories of untold misery, hopelessness, doom and gloom?

    Aren’t we tired of the irresponsibility in high and low places? Aren’t we tired of the frivolity of men and women of ill-will and the irresponsiveness of men of goodwill? Aren’t we tired of evil men in our society playing Russian roulette with our destiny while the good men play safe, not wanting to get involved?

    Aren’t we tired of our country being described as one of the most corrupt in the world? Aren’t we tired of the unscrupulous men being extremists in their deeds? Aren’t we tired of the spirit of moderation in the few good deeds of the noble men? Aren’t we tired of seeing the passion and the zeal of corrupt men as they embezzle our billions?

    Aren’t we tired of the passivity and the apathy of men of integrity as they remain mute in times of moral crisis? Aren’t we tired of the bad men coming together aggressively to form the critical mass needed to allow evil to triumph in our society? Aren’t we tired of the good men trying timidly to come together to form the needed critical mass that could give birth to a positive change?

    Aren’t we tired of the wicked men’s well-established power blocs of oppression, repression and suppression? Aren’t we tired of looking for where the upright men hid their power blocs of liberty, freedom and emancipation?

    Aren’t we tired of evil men violently perpetrating evil? Aren’t we tired of good men sparingly sowing seeds of goodness? Aren’t we tired of us as a people not taking responsibility for our people, our country and our future? Aren’t we tired of not doing anything because we could only do so little? Aren’t we tired of groping in the dark without any clear-cut vision?

    Aren’t we tired of travelling all over the world – London, Paris, New York, Dubai – but not for one minute conceiving in our minds the possibility of having cities of greater status in our own country? Aren’t we tired of the special treatment we receive as citizens of this great country at international airports in other countries?

    Aren’t we tired of waiting for Nigeria’s Messiah when, collectively, men of goodwill ought to be the Messiahs unto our people?

    Aren’t we tired of not wanting to pay the price for a great new nation? Because whether we like it or not, sooner or later we will have to pay that price, and the later the higher; it’s just a question of time. Aren’t we tired of having our cup of endurance spilling over and not doing anything about it?

    Aren’t we tired of everybody waiting for someone else to do something even though anyone could do it but no one has been willing to?

    Aren’t we tired of the status quo and don’t we want to change it? Don’t we?

    I sure hope you are tired, simply tired and ready to change the status quo! I dare to believe that together, we can CHANGE the status quo! I dare to believe in a GREAT NEW NIGERIA!

    Change only occurs when the cost of remaining the same is higher than the cost of CHANGE!

    Is the cost of remaining the same now higher than the cost of CHANGE? Is the cost of maintaining the status quo higher than the cost of CHANGING the status quo? Is the cost of you remaining an old Nigerian higher than the cost of becoming a NEW NIGERIAN? Is the cost of holding on to the old Nigeria higher than the cost of building the NEW NIGERIA of our dreams? Is it?

    These are the questions we must NOW answer as individual Nigerian citizens and collectively as a nation. I end this by asking once more; “Aren’t we tired?”

    • Simoyan, an author and activist writes from Lagos