Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day is on February 14. It is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other; sending Valentine's cards or candy. It is very common to present flowers on Valentine's Day. The holiday is named after two men, both Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Wikipedia

Commercialization and high mass consumerism are the hallmarks of contemporary Valentine's day.

Happy Valentine's day.

A White Elephant painted red?

Lagos State government in conjunction with the private sector 'appears' to have launched a bus service called LAGBUS.


Dedicated lanes have been marked out on certain major roads to support this service.


Communication to the public is that lanes marked BRT is designated only to be used by LAGBUS' buses.


Questions:


1. Where is the sensibility in reducing by one the already inadequate number of lanes that exists on Lagos roads?


2. How will compliance be enforced?


3. Who does LAGBUS intend to serve?


4. As a supposed well thought out initiative, why isn't there any communication encouraging Lagosians to leave their cars at home and join the bus? In the scheme of things, it would appear that this is a requirement for this service to be successful.


5. How and where does a commuter purchase tickets?


6. Security? Will this business be controlled by touts, agberos and the likes?

http://www.lagbusonline.com/




That LAGBUS will serve regular public commuters is a given, however to add value, the LAGBUS service must also convince/ encourage Lagosians who commute to work in their personal cars to leave their cars at home and hop on the bus.

Another white elephant, but this time painted red in Lagos?

Lagosians live on grandfathers' wastes

http://odili.net/news/source/2007/feb/4/300.html

This is an extract from a Vangaurd Online article.

Febraury 4,2007.

SOMEWHERE in Lagos, a girl has just had a baby and she does not want the child. Secretly, she does something against the baby and snuffs life out of her. She moves without being noticed and dumps the dead child into the waste bin. In yet another development, an adult dies. Because of the economic crunch, the family lacks money to procure land to bury their dead. Under the cover of darkness, they carry the body to a canal, or wetland and dump the body amongst discarded household and industrial wastes. In a dramatic fashion, waste management operators move to clear rubbish from a wetland or piece of land. Some residents of the area appear.


Residents (angrily): Who sent you to come and carry those wastes? Ta lo ran yin nise?

Waste managers: It's our job to clear refuse.

Residents: Did we invite you? Leave our waste o! That’s how they run errands not meant for them.

Within few minutes, both parties begin to wrestle over the ownership of the waste. For the residents, the wastes are meant to fill up some open land or reclaim swampy areas. Lagos is a city of contradictions; and ironically, some local government officials are even responsible for the construction of market stalls and other structures on dump sites. The Orile Iganmu market was constructed on a reclaimed dumpsite in 1991.

In the past three decades, Lagos has been labelled as one of the dirtiest cities in the world. The large population, the small land mass, bureaucratic bottlenecks and inappropriate environmental technologies, have been identified as some of the key factors that make Lagos the city of garbage.

Lagos appears helpless on how to manage her wastes over the years.......

\Author, not identified

HiTV, another clueless Nigerian business?

It is in the news.

http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=10259

HiTV run by Mr Toyin Subair is live.
Launched a week ago by Information and Communications Minister, Mr Frank Nweke(jnr).
It's value proposition is value for money with regards to content and localization.

Several days after, no public communication has been made by HiTV to it's addressable market.
The market is clueless about it's corporate identity, services offered, prices, point of sales, etc.

For a company that expects to upturn the dominance of a sub saharan giant like Multichoice, HiTV appears to have come to the marktet the 'Proudly Nigerian' way, all bark and no bite.

HiTV, another clueless Nigerian business?
Or maybe the market is missing something.............

What do you know about the crisis?

Company Town

Photograph by Ed Kashi



Oil leaves its mark in Okrika, from a company umbrella to a trail of pipelines coiling through town. Since oil started flowing, most communities have seen living standards fall, betraying the hope that oil once brought to Nigeria.






It is important that a person's opinion is formed from experiences, knowledge and exposure.



In the light of previously not known information, intelligent and smart people do not hesitate to change thier point of view.



Many Nigerians either do not have an opinion or are clueless about the Niger Delta situtation.


Most of us are quick to judge although we have neither been to, lived nor interacted with the people who live in the creeks, islands, swamps and rural areas where Nigeria's wealth is generated.


We may have bad road and poor electricity all over the country and wonder what manner of government is unable to manage the vast wealth generated form oil exploration to provide basic utilities like good roads, power, etc.


For most of the Niger Delta, the are neither roads, schools, nor electricity to complain about.









Village Life

Photograph by Ed KashiEbia


Amakadou, 18, watches over her sleeping two-year-old son in the village of Oweikorogba. Like most delta settlements, the village has no power or clean water.





The crisis in the Niger Delta is only the begining.


Unless the Nigerian state gets off the road it is on -the road of indifference to the Niger Delta.

It will definitely end up where it is headed, disruption creek.



Inspired by an article from the National Geographic

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/nvs/curse-of-the-black-gold.html

Saddam is dead

Saddam is dead, and gone to his grave
(Incline head to right, rest headon hands pressed together on right cheek)

Hm, ha,
(Hands down, head erect,nod head forward on 'hm', backward on 'ha')

And gone to his grave
(Incline head to right, rest head on hands pressed together on right cheek)

They tossed a hangman’s noose over his head
(Clasp hands over head)

Hm, ha,
(Hands down, head erect,nod head forward on 'hm', backward on 'ha')

Over his head.
(Clasp hands over head)

The hangman was ready and eager to kill
(Unclasp hands and droop over head)

Hm, ha
(Hands down, head erect,nod head forward on 'hm', backward on 'ha')

Ready to kill
(Unclasp hands and droop over head)

The world couldn’t wait to take another life
(Use hand as knife across throat)

Hm, ha
(Hands down, head erect,nod head forward on 'hm', backward on 'ha')

Take another life
(Use hand as knife across throat)

Then came the outcry against a punishment so crude
(Imitate a gesture of shock and disgust)

Hm, ha
(Hands down, head erect,nod head forward on 'hm', backward on 'ha')

A punishment so crude
(Imitate a gesture of shock and disgust)

Saddam is dead and now he rests
(Incline head to left, rest headon hands pressed together on left cheek)

Hm, ha
(Hands down, head erect,nod head forward on 'hm', backward on 'ha')

And now he rests
(Incline head to left, rest head on hands pressed together on left cheek)

And this made the world go hip! hip! hurray!
(Make fist and jerk in the air)

Hm, ha
(Hands down, head erect,nod head forward on 'hm', backward on 'ha')

Hip hip hurray!
(Make fist and jerk in the air)

No man or society should have to right to take a life.

The philosophy An eye for an eye is a failure of the human society.

The Death Penalty

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments.Amnesty International works for an end to executions and the abolition of the death penalty everywhere. Progress has been dramatic. In 1977 only 16 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Today the figure stands at 88.

From the Amnesty International homepage

Men convicted of abducting, raping

and robbing women are hanged,

© APGraphicsBank Tehran, Iran. ©

An Unfinished Life

Main Entry: death
Function: noun
a : a permanent cessation of all vital functions : the end of life
b : the cause or occasion of loss of life

We are still in shock from your death a few days ago.
Now our days are spent coming to terms with this reality.

There will no longer be opportunites to ask how life is treating you.
No more good or bad times to share.
No more annoying nor cheerful moments with you.

Our memories of your life consoles us.
Your death reminds us to live a good life everyday because tommorow isn't promised.

Emmanuel, we take consolation in knowing that God wanted you back because yours was an unfinished life.

Emmanuel Udom passed away on December 2nd, 2006.