Antivirus contra-Mental Deformity

News generally can be depressing, especially going by their general maxim where it's not news until it smells and by their knowledge of people's proclivity for the sensational. There's also the aspect of wanting to please their paymasters. You can't resent that. The dictate of the payer is law for the piper.

Books on the other hand, can be more  beneficial. They, to a large extent, inform. If you can see beyond the author's biases and "partial" perspectives, they have the inherent potency to expand your mind and the vistas of knowledge with the caveat that you'd need to protect this same mind from being too receptive of the lies some authors peddle for personal and patriotic intents and purposes.

Thus, the mind requires that it be regularly fed with information that makes it actualise its potency for expansion while that information is confronted with a mental antivirus that prevents it from poisoning the mind with half-truths, pseudo-truths and outright falsifications.

You get informed. Not deformed.

Parenting the Digital Adolescent

For adolescents who ace the use of digital devices in today's rapidly evolving tech space, the dangers of being victims of perverse adults and twisted peers is exponential. Caution for everyone responsible for their growth and development is paramount.

There are several key duties expected of those in charge of these adolescents. Monitor their use of digital tech all the time. Observe enough to notice behavioural changes. Do not hesitate to apply the rod. Explain plainly what right and wrong is with clear examples of why one is right and another wrong. Above all, let them know they're always free to come to you with any Any ANY issues or problems whatsoever.

And don't forget to pray for God's wisdom on you and your adolescent and for the light to guide them aright. Pray for them daily. May God help us raise children who will make us proud in an age where the very moral fibre of society is threatened.

Local League Over the EPL?

Some small talk about the local league in Nigeria, the EPL and fan loyalty to clubs got to me earlier today. I've had this argument with a couple of friends before over suya and some drinks. Football grows on the Nigerian, we start kicking stuff even before we can stand straight, we play it on the streets, knock that round object everywhere around the house and given the opportunity, some of us have played footie in the rain. So, when chanced, we'd go at lengths to see a good game.

A "well-packaged" EPL season attracts such following in this country that "a trip to watch your fav team live" can be the major attraction of a Nigerian promo. It's that intense. They didn't get that magnetism over night. It was based on careful and meticulous planning and a media programme (read "propaganda") that ensures that there's an audience for the EPL in every continent of the world. Sure, being a British invention helped much but are there lessons to learn from them? Of course, plenty.

I will not begin to itemise those lessons here, it's an overflogged media issue as it stands but what I will reiterate now is that should those lessons be imbibed and with the budgetary allocation applied as judiciously as possible, talks like it's a shock local boys from Nigeria will wallop what was basically the full SA squad will not even arise (an insult I'd rather not deliberate on).

As bad as things stand today, I know some die-hard, hardcore local league fans in Ibadan who swear by their allegiance to their teams and bet on matches by the week. They need no encouragement, they need no enticements. Think about what exponential multiplicator effect a repackaged league will beget. It will be explosive, to say the least.

It should come as no surprise that there are fans that can't remain loyal for any extended periods of time. There's one born every minute. They are not local to any country or continent. People switch loyalties at different levels of endurance. Just as there are those for whom loyalty is a badge of honour, those who walk the talk of respect and stay till the end. These two types exist wherever you turn, from the Liga to the Bundesliga, from the Serie A to the Championnat, in the EPL and even in the NFL.

The point remains that, as was displayed by the Super Eagles, home and away, your best will always be determined by what you do behind the scenes to gun for the top and remain there.

Ask Bayern Munich, they'd tell you this is the truth.

Personal Irresponsibility vs Societal Change

Apart from government's insensitivity, what part does personal irresponsibility play to prevent change? I replied my brother thus...

(... just in case it's not seen elsewhere, here is my general response)

I will be answering all the comments you made about these Fashola quotes in one reply, since they more or less are related. I crave your indulgence, pls. Thank you, bruv.

For a minute, allow me to leave my regular turf of government bashing to beam the light on how we haven't been our own best friends when it comes to the kind of change we seek.

Flaunting wealth hasn't been the sole preserve of the extremely wealthy. It seems the culture of the Ovation magazine extravagance has ensconced itself deep in society's fabric at all levels, bruv. The poorest of the poor do not consider their immiseration when they elect to hold parties to commemorate birthdays and burials, weddings and funerals, naming ceremonies and "freedom" festivities. No! Instead, what do you find? They secure loans, break the bank, borrow from friends and foes alike to make sure everyone else and their dog know that they have arrived.

And how about all the Aso Ebi they are compelled to buy, with matching accessories and shoes, for one event or the other at almost every weekend? They have their bags and boxes bursting at the seams and joints with enough of these native attires they've sewn in the past to start a small boutique (and earn money) and they have incurred enough debt buying them all to be listed among the most indebted countries in the world (viz a viz, income:debt ratio), yet, let them hear tomorrow that their colleague's uncle's father's brother-in-law's niece's mother's sister's nephew's aunty's brother's sister-in-law's dog's puppy died and there's an Aso to go with the lying in state, they forget that they have not eaten since last week, that their rent is due, that school fees haven't been paid for last term before Christmas, and that they are categorised under the column "Living in Abject Poverty, Hunger and Illiteracy". They only want to be AMONG those who will SHAKE the ground and grace the occasion in STYLE.

So, they go out of their way to get the Aso and blame government for not doing enough to put food on their tables, clothes on their backs (forget their Aso for now) a roof over their heads and sense in their brains (and perhaps for not locking their door so that their neighbour's dog could enter their kitchen and eat the fish they've been drying over their charcoal fire for two weeks now)

Because you know what? It's comfortable putting the blame on government, it's easier to shift the blame, it's better to argue that it's not my fault the situation is what it is. Don't worry, we have the Moore Numentals and the Saka Gbolahans of this world to raise their voices in our favour should things get worse for us and government tries to get too factual.

Look around your hood. You see these fellas without jobs? Some have the best phones in the market. No problem with that if they utilise all the functions that set these devices apart so that it gives them value for money. But again, no! They chat, chat, chat and maybe do some light browsing or other basic stuff. If these brought money for them, well and good but for the most part, it takes money away from them. They're poor but always have the cheddar for internet data and BIS, always for the purposes of unproductive engagements that add little or no value to their impoverished statuses. But oh no. We must rile the government for not doing enough for us.

You're right about Fashola trying and that he can't undo the wrongs of years past. But the truth that is also worth knowing about what you said is that people will always suffer in any attempts at righting the wrongs of the past. Are people ready for that? My honest opinion, even I am not as I find that every once in a while I have to caution myself. Will you endure the pain of inconvenience in movement while the road leading to or from your house of residence undergoes repairs? I find myself complaining to no end. But it's necessary for change, yes?

These are sacrifices that need to be endured for change but we, Nigerians, you and I, have become too accustomed to the way things are done to give change a chance. Yet no one complains more than the one unwilling to shift a little for such changes to take place.

Let all buses henceforth only park at designated stops to allow passengers board, if not such buses will be impounded. It's you and I who will ask why, why and accuse Fashola of only being interested in punishing us, as if he knows how difficult it is and how far my house is from the designated stop. Yet, we say why can't this country be like others in Africa, talkless of those in the West.

Let all building plans be approved by government else they'd be demolished to prevent incessant cases of building collapse, you and I will complain unceasingly about government's insensitivity towards the poor who only wish to have their own roof over their heads accusing government of not wanting the poor to be their own landlords. You and I.

Granted the corporate and general dearth of irresponsibility on the government's side but there is no nation worth its name with such abject lack of personal responsibility that  has progressed to any tremendous length. To think that Nigerians were deemed the happiest with all these is a testimony of how terribly abysmal our personal sense of responsibility has plummeted.

Where is the wisdom in accepting peanuts from politicians to help them rig elections and mortgage the future for ourselves and children? Where? Is it not Nigerians - flesh and blood - that perpetuate such evil? And when these riggers get into power, they serve to make life difficult for us, while we grovel in self pity. Where's the abnegation that is necessary for the general good? Doing something worthwhile for my country today so that tomorrow it will be better? Where is it? Oh, I shouldn't be the one, yea? It has to always be someone else to sacrifice but hell will let loose if it's time for gain and they scheme me out of it. No pain but gain must not pass me by.

It is not always the case but even if we can't excuse governments irresponsibility, personal irresponsibility is just as evil.

Footnote
The advantage of having invested time, effort and sweat into studying logic and politics is that it can also be vehemently argued in favour of the people against the government for every point so far raised but I do that more often on these here pages. The truth is, that perspective only looks at the issue from one dimension which is jaundiced 'cos it is lacking and imbalanced.

Ok, twas more than a minute, I know. Forgive me.

Thanking the President for CAR evacuations, why?

Based on my reply to a friend on why I thanked the GEJ government for evacuating Nigerians from the Central African Republic (for if Nigeria was habitable, what will they have been looking for in CAR)

No matter how good the country becomes tomorrow, there'd still be Nigerians in different parts of the world from the richest to the poorest countries. Who'd would've thought there'd be Americans, non-Muslims even, living and working in Afghanistan prior to the Bush-led War on Terror in the Axis of Evil? The truth is, as citizens of any nation, there ordinarily are no restrictions to where you can live and work. So, good or bad, Nigerians will still roam the earth for reasons best known to them.

However, it is the responsibility of their governments to protect their interests everywhere, irrespective of where they are. It promotes the status of the citizen in International Relations when the government of the country in which the citizen is a foreign resident understands that that citizen's home government will go to any length to protect the life of every of their citizen resident in that foreign country. It'd reflect in the manner in which that foreign government relates with and treats the citizen of that country's resident in their terrain.

There's a second point. It also gives that citizen residing in a foreign country a sense of patriotism of his or her home country. Imagine if all Nigerians resident outside our shores were to believe that Nigeria truly cared for their welfare? They would do all in their power to promote Nigeria's growth and development wherever they are. They will wish to come back home and make Nigeria progress and be proud representatives of the country's interests abroad. It will make them refrain from anything that will ultimately malign their country's image and so will do their best to avoid untoward practices.

These are just two of many points of the import of this singular action of the Nigerian government's aim to evacuate her citizens from the warring Central African Republic, CAR. It's not as if this evacuation means things have changed or that Nigeria now has a better image in International Politics or that respect for every Nigerian life is of paramount interest to this administration (as there are too many instances to the contrary) but it is admirable that it was conceived (based on whatever warped intentions were behind it), planned and executed.

The two positives that made me thank Mr. President were that, no matter what selfish interests were behind the execution and irrespective of the fact that he was doing what was expected of his administration, lives of Nigerians were saved at government's expense and secondly, hopefully, the planning will be followed to the letter, which included resettlements for those evacuated.

It's one big step, albeit shaky, but one step all the same in the right direct for our Foreign Policy and Nigeria's image in the international arena.