I, upper middle class

What a lovely day it is outside.. Just perfect for a glass of wine in the garden… Wouldn’t it be nice to just do that this evening – sit in my garden with a glass (certainly, not much more than a glass) of decent wine – none of that cheap, nasty Sainsbury’s stuff. I think I’ll pop into Waitrose or John Lewis later on, and get some decent wine. Probably a Merlot, or a Sauvignon Blanc to go with my dinner. Speaking of dinner, I wonder what to have tonight…. As I don’t know what the son’s doing, I might just have to cook for myself. Oh well, at least I can make myself a nice salad with nothing nasty, or full of fat like what she had for lunch. I couldn’t stand the sight of it. I actually smelt pungent, and I ended up having to open the windows for fresh air. Not without first telling her it reeked, though. Why should have to put up with other people’s nauseating eating habits? Why anyone would want to have such a fatty bacon sandwich in the first place is beyond me. But then again, you know what these folks are like. They can’t cultivate simple eating habits, and that’s why they have all these problems. You know what I mean – that’s why I never gave my kids Ribena growing up. How dare she even mention her affiliation with the bloody stuff? What makes her think I’ll approve? It’s nasty, and full of sugar, and I wouldn’t give it to my kids, not even if I had a gun to my head. I made sure they had fruit juices instead. That’s why one of them is brilliant. I made sure I breastfed, and fed her all the right stuff. Now, she’s doing me proud by not only learning a second language, but she achieved a 2:1 degree. She’s such a little high-flyer, my pumpkin. If only the other one would do as well. With him, it’s a constant struggle. I wonder why the fruit juices didn’t help him. The e-husband keeps blaming me for his problems, and puts it down to me not breastfeeding him as a child. Well, I think that’s bollocks, because how could I have, when I didn’t get any support from him? Men.. I’d advice everyone to give up on them, I tell you. They are all the same, and are all nothing but trouble.

They never grow up, and I’m not going to put up with any rubbish anymore. If only my son’s anger wasn’t so intimidating. I would say something, but I’m too scared to. I’m worried he might throw something at me, during one of his mood swings, and leave e there. I shudder at the thought. But it’s ok. I needn’t worry. I’m at work now, where I feel safe, and since I can’t show y son who’s boss, I can show these people aka who’s boss. It doesn’t matter that they are all qualified in their respective fields – some things just require life eperience to circumvent. Like the patient the other day,  for instance. They were having a hycosy scan done, so I simply used my gumption and slotted the appointment in. It doesn’t matter that I don’t know what a hycosy means, or what it involves, (Google is a bit of a fraud, anyway) any odd fool can see that it’s a procedure that needs to be done by a radiologist. Yes, agreed, I don’t know what length of time to commit to the procedure, but worst case scenario, the entire list runs a little bit later. It’s all right though, because I can make up something clever to tell the patients and all will be well. It will be all right see, I do it all the time.

Of course they’ll never know I’m telling fibs. Well, look at me. Would you think  I was telling you a lie? Of course not. Our sort don’t tell lies. Ok, we might tell little white ones here and there, but look at me. Honest eyes, hair of the right consistency and colour, honest skin, right age. Look at me. Not at her, or her, or her. Look at me. I understand you, and you understand me (because I speak clearly). I speak you language, with the right accent, and I’m completely against anything that’s not of us.

You know, us, the best, cream of the crop, top of the range, the best of the best. Us. We made this country (well, our fathers fathers fathers fathers did, but that’s irrelevant) what it is, and it’s such a shame it’s going to the dogs. Why do they all want to come here? Even the best of them is no  match for us – we’re the best, make no mistake about that. I’ll teach you a simple trick: whwnever there is something negative in the media, purported by someone, just ask the newsbearer “What nationality are they?” Nine times out of 10, you’ll see that it’s one of them (save for the three recent events where some low-lives – probably hanging around with the like of them – decided to mess up).  Put it this way, forget the fact that I never progressed past secondary school, and I have never created anything in my life (well, apart from children), I’m the best. Just look at my hair and eyes. Try

All this talk is starting to take its toll on me. I should watch some tv to rela. I hope there’s something decent on tonight. Oh, I remember the days of decent acting – not all the rubbish that’s on these days.. The likes of Judth Cornwell and Patricia Routledge, not the tomfoolery that they are always talking about. Half of them don’t even know who I’m talking about.

Taboo subject? “Going crazy” in Nigeria aka mental illness

I won’t lie – the decision to write this post came into my head after finding out that #teamyabaleft was trending on Twitter. I confess that it’s not something that’s been on my mind, I’m not running a campaign, neither am I “saintlyly” giving my life to advocate for the cause. However, I will gladly take a stand with the poor people who did not choose to be mentally ill.

I read a story about a medical doctor who developed a mental illness, and ended up on the streets of Lagos. This brought so many questions to mind, which I’ll share after sharing the story.

The case of a medical doctor
 Seven years after rigorous medical training, Sandra was set to take the world as a brilliant student, a glorious medical practice laid ahead of her, her family was overjoyed during her graduation, not just because of the prospects associated with her field of studies, her colleagues at the University of Lagos described her as a promising doctor; because of her academic exploit.
 She was exceptional and stood out among the pack, so there was no doubt she had a great professional life ahead of her, one of them recalls.
Things started looking up for Sandra as soon as she finished the mandatory one-year National Service, while her colleagues were praying and hoping for employment by the General Hospital, Broad Street Lagos as a general practitioner.
At work, Sandral continued with her strong, impressive showing, she was darling to patients and colleagues, winning accolades and applause. For a year, she distinguished herself until sometimes in 1994, when she collapsed on duty at the casualty unit that fateful afternoon, those around rallied to her help and she was immediately placed on medical treatment.
But diagnosis revealed she was a victim of stress. Subsequent test showed she also had mental disorder. Before much could be done, a young, promising doctor had already hit the streets totally insane.
For years, she walked half naked on the streets of Lagos before relations managed to take her to Psychiatric Hospital in Lagos, where she received treatment for seven years. Despite her coveted medical qualification, she is today unproductive and a strain on the society. Her certificate lies somehow in a cabinet as useless as one that was never obtained, her medical skill and training are untapped at the privately owned center for mentally ill and destitute persons, in Ajegunle, an uptown district in Lagos where the team of mental heath foundation met Sandral’s pitiable sight but she is lucky to be alive.
Looking dishevled with her hair showing years of insanity, she says; I found home here, I found love and that is why I am able to come back to my senses. This is the only place where I feel like a human being, she adds in the midst of over 140 fellow inmates.
Sandra is just one out of many Nigerians increasingly succumbing to mental disorder for so many reasons.
There is no denying the facts that millions of Nigerians are under mental siege. Seeing naked, mad people on the streets is now a common sight.  In Lagos and the parts of the country, most of them take refuge under bridge and public places, living in a world of their own, not a few of them constitute serious menace of the public, especially when they become wild. It is all so easy to dismiss them as;’ undesirable elements; who probably inflicted the condition on themselves through wicked or unhealthy habits, but psychiatrists say many Nigerians are on their way to joining them on the streets if serious efforts are not taken.
- Culled from The National Life
After reading this story, I am touched for several reasons.
  • I am touched because Sandra is a young lady, just like me. In what way is she different from you and I? Could she have been “targeted” by some strange twist of fate? Was it something she did? Was it “something” “someone” did, “somewhere”? Yes, I’m talking jazz.
  • I am also touched because not only is she your average ambitious young lady, but she went above and beyond the demands of basic university education and became a doctor. By way of education, Sandra has put more effort in and has achieved more than I and many others have. If as a doctor – a general practitioner for that matter, she couldn’t recognise the “signs”, then who are we to talk?
  • Sandra’s demise seem to have began (according to the article) while she was under pressure from work. A situation which is not unique to anyone from any country, religion, race or intellect. Everyone gets stressed sometimes.

All in all, Sandra could have been anybody at all.  Some of us might develop mental illnesses in the course of our lifetime, some of us might not. Let us at least take that shoe into consideration, and make a note of where it pinches people.

Uncemented prices of cement

I’m finding it quite difficult to understand why one company would control the cement market in Nigeria, using solely a cost-based strategy. It’s no coincidence that in the last 4 months (December 2010 – April 2011), the cost of cement has nearly doubled – from N1500 to N2500 while the major player in the cement industry realised almost N28b in profit in the first quarter of this year alone. This obviously has an impact on the building industry in Nigeria. It means that the average “Johnny just come” into the property industry in Nigeria needs a lot more capital to find their way around. It means that the number of investment builders, and those building-to-let would shrink to a very small number (possibly consisting solely of ex-politicians, and their relatives). I’m not sure what this means for house prices, but my guess is be an upward trend. It also means that it would be even harder to realise ones property investment in ones lifetime. On the other hand, if the trend remains, it means that the best time to build is yesterday.

Now, with tears in my eyes, I shall proceed to do some research on the cement industry in Nigeria.

May hard work, and justice, always cement our bonds of unity that we may get our country back to production.
Mwai Kibaki

My people

The funny thing about life is that the rich get everythingg for free, and those that need these things the most cannot afford them. I can bet my last dollar that Pricess Catherine (as she is now to be known) didn’t have to pay a dime for her beautiful dress… I mean, for a designer, isn’t the opportunity for royalty to wear your creation in full view and knowledge of the whole world worth more than a million costs of the dress?

Moussa Koussa wants to give me money!

I got an e-mail from the man himself… “Moussa Koussa”! #Saynotounemploymentinnigeria

MSG From: Frm. Libyan Foreign Minister

Greetings…

I am Moussa Koussa the Libyan Foreign Minister, a former
head of Libyan intelligence and one-time member of leader
Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle who defected to Britian
on wenesday 30th March 2011 due to the massacre of innocent
Libyan civilians by leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi which I
believed you are fully aware of.

I honestly apologize and hope I do not cause you much
embarrassment by contacting you through this means but this
is due to confidentiality and prompt access reposed on this
medium, sorry my English is not too good. However, due to
the issue on my hands now, it became necessary for me to
seek your assistance, and it is important for me to know
your opinion urgently.

I defected to Britain to seek refuge following the fact
that, I am fully sure the International Criminal Court
(ICC) will come after Col. Muammar Gaddafi for crime against
humanity following the rate of massacre since the Libyan
uprising which started February 17th 2011.

Unfortunately, getting to Britain I have been implicated in
the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988,
which killed 270 people and a number of other atrocities
conducted by the regime of Col. Muammar Gaddafi. The
Scottish prosecutors have requested an interview with me.
Please view the link below
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8419389/Libya-Scottish-prosecutors-seek-Moussa-Koussa-interview.html

Now, I have no doubt that, they will go to any length to
make sure they are able to get details information from me
which will definitely implicate me and also lead to the
freezing of my assets which is already happening to our
leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi and his family as you are quite
aware of my reputation and all I have labored for my whole
life.

Therefore, I want to be very sure you are the kind of person
I can trust with what i am about to disclose before I can
give details information. I have been very careful in my
selection and have taken pains to ensure I will be dealing
with a person that has the intelligence to understand what I
am getting myself into. From the little I have been able to
deduce, I cannot make you agree to partner with me on this
but I can assume that, when you are in, I can trust you
completely.

I will bear the full brunt of any risk involved in this
proposal which I cannot do alone and you can be rest assured
that you will be duly compensated
financially for your involvement. The least I ask of you, is
for you, after hearing the proposal to honestly tell  me if
you are up for it or not, without acting maliciously due to
my present status as i do not want the world to be aware of
this.

If you give me positive signals, I will give you detailed
information about everything. You do not have to nurse any
fear in mind since I will not leave you in the dark.

Please get back to me personally via this email:
mkoussa@ymail.com

I am waiting for your urgent reply.

Peace be unto you

Moussa Koussa
Fmr. Libyan Foreign Minister

Peace be unto you too, Mr Koussa! Didn’t realise you had converted to Catholicsm… What would Allah say?

e-ChineseWhispers. Case study:Nigerian fuel scarcity

For the Nigerian situation, the morning after pill following the night of the Presidential debate looks more like Petrol Scarcity.

I woke up this morning to find news of fuels scarcity everywhere – actually, just on Twitter. Well, in my defence, Twitter has been repeatedly cited as a source for breaking news…(Ask ZDnet if you want to take that up…) So back to my story, I decided to find out how bad this fuel scarcity was, and where the affected areas were,  purely by real-time investigation. Here’s what I found :-

Areas affected:

How much?

And the most puzzling thing ? :-)


The cause?


Our experiences:

What to do?


Our reactions :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, the gospel according to St. Vanguard…


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Culled from Vanguard Nigeria.

Less is more? I think I agree!

Still on the Facebook page topic, I’m contemplating an even simpler landing page design. I’m learning a lot about advert design, and have thus kept my eyes open for catchy adverts… It seems to me that people are saying less and less, to push more and more concepts/products/ideas.

Here’s one of the few of the most eye-catching ads I’ve seen so far during my search…

This dog would certainly as much attention on the street as it would on a page. Someone must have developed this idea while cuddling a cute pet after a quarrel with their spouse. Terrible situation, but bright idea :-)

Why do we crave all this money anyway?

This video really “touched” me, and made me re-think my motives in life. Why am I in business anyway; what am I trying to achieve; and how does this fit into my God-given goals?

What I found particularly challenging was discovering that (after reading his Wikipedia page)  : a.) He was just under 30 – The age in life where the inflow of cash begins to define a lot of things for a lot of people. Which obviously is understandable, considering all the self-evaluation journies, mid-life crises, and mothers unwaivering demands for grandchildren as the case may be. b.) He was short-listed for a job in Switzerland (aka Obodoyibo) – showing that he had what some would otherwise consider as a “bright future”. Obviously, he surrendered that career path in favour of personally feeding destitutes, and cutting their hair. If that’s not love, I don’t know what it is.

James 1:27 (New International Version)

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

No Nigerians allowed : Hindrance or business opportunity?

When it comes to Paypals’ deliberate vendetta exclusion of Nigerian IPs from their service, there are 2 ways of looking at it : the glass is either half-full or half-empty. One can understand Paypals’ reasoning behind it’s decisions, afterall even “we ourselves” dey fear “ourselves”. While it’s true that some awon boys still devise a way of opening these accounts from Nigeria for buying and selling digital products, it is when it is time to withdraw funds that katakata bursts. However, as one of the biggest online payment systems on the globe, one would have expected that Paypal would have devised a way of separating the wheat from the tares, and including honest, paying Nigerians in its target market.

Well, obviously not. Oh well, if they haven’t recognised our potential (even if it’s by virtue of size alone) then we can either sit and complain, or do something about it.  To be fair, several companies are towing this path and have created innovative solutions in response to this problem : VirtualTerminalNetwork (I forsee a name change in 10 years, but that’s not a story for now), CashEnvoy, AlertPay , OnlineNaira*, just to mention a few, which come in quite handy for purchasing goods or services from outside the country. (One blogger kindly compares the popular services.)  However, we all know that when it comes to integration with other websites and online services, Paypal trumps the rest.

So if Paypal refuses to respond to the demand of their Nigerian-based potential customers, then maybe we can do something about it? There are many Nigerian students abroad with Paypal accounts who can plug this gap, and make some extra pocket money for themselves, simply by offering a much needed service.This would be a very straight-forward business opportunity for interested people.

1. Have a Nigerian bank account on standby

2. Create a verified Paypal account. Should be pretty straight-forward provided that your IP address is outside Nigeria. (hiss)

3.  Buy a domain name , and register a catchy web domain. You can also use a free domain service, but I’m not sure many people (myself included) will be willing to part with money to patronise a “business” that cannot afford £1.99 domain name rental.

4. Create a website, and offer Paypal payment services (for customers who want to buy online services e.g subscriptions etc), and Paypal money exchange service for a fee. So for example, if someone’s website hosting was expiring and they needed to extend their subscription, you could charge the subscription fees + a payment charge. For someone who had money in their Paypal account, which they wanted to withdraw, you could charge them at your own rate + a transfer charge.

Bingo! So based on a £5 payment charge and a £15 transfer charge, in the time it would take to routinely monitor your ex on Facebook, you would have made £100/week, sitting down.

* misscanary does not personally endorse any of the listed websites.