#Nigeria – A Better Nigeria is Our Aim!!

The last presidential elections generated so much buzz and kept everyone on their toes as Nigerians stayed glued to their TV sets until all the results were read and INEC declared GMB the winner. Even though there were 14 political parties which equals to 14 political aspirants for the seat of the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There were two major players; the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan and his rival, Mohammed Buhari. Among my clique of friends, out of 100%, GEJ has 20% supporters while GMB has 70% supporters, while the remaining 10% are indifferent. Nigerians were torn between Change (GMB), and Continuity (GEJ). The aftermath – GMB aka Sai Baba, won the Presidency and there was jubilation everywhere, we even had and I hear still have people trekking from one far distance to another to show their solidarity to the various winners of the past election, and some for the Losers.

So yesterday, May 29^th was a special day in Naija, GMB was sworn in as the President, Chief-In-Command of the Armed Forces for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is now referred to as PMB. GEJ on the other hand, has done the best he could do for the country and is now in retirement. Am happy for GEJ, now some peace should prevail, the ridicules, complaints, and curses rained on GEJ would reduce. Public opinion says the masses are happy to see him go, they are more than delighted. In my own opinion, I believe GEJ should at least get a simple thank you. But no, anyone thanking him right now would be heavily criticized. I would still say thank you to GEJ though. I want to believe he has something to say for himself, so please #GEJ, contact me when you are ready to write your #biography.

A friend of mine speaks my mind better on her Facebook post yesterday, she said; “I remember clearly in 2011 when people came out en masse to vote in GEJ because they thought he was the 'much different kind of person' they needed to see as President. They sang songs of victory and couldn't wait to see him perform. Then what happened???? I wish GMB well, and really hope that the songs of victory people are singing about him today will not end up in cries of woes in the end as it did in the last dispensation. There seems to be a trend now going on in Naija, but let me leave that for now. I believe in a Better Nigeria and it is a COLLECTIVE EFFORT. For those who want him to wipe out corruption, ask yourselves what will happen if you are stripped down. Last I checked, corruption isn't just politicians embezzling money. Parents buying results for their kids is part of it, asking someone to 'sort' you to do your job is part of it. CHANGE isn't overnight. Shout about it all you want, it is not just the job of a President. At least some of the politicians have enough sense and conscience to want to start giving back what they stole. Maybe the rest of us should start doing some soul searching as well and see where we ALL need to make adjustments to make this Nation the truly GREAT country that it really is. Long Live Nigeria and Congratulations again to GMB, and well done also to H. E, GEJ!”

Another Facebook friend had this to say; “To my out-going president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Sir in ur time you granted national awards to many Nigerians and no one bothers to hang one on you, today Sir, I am awarding to you, GCOFN (Grand Commander of the Federation of Nigeria) your legacy for peace and humility will always be remembered, anyone who says you are corrupt, that person is the number one corruption-ist.”

Another friend also said this today; “May God forgive all those quietly or openly praying for the new government to fail and eagerly waiting to condemn PMB and his team at any slight chance. I wonder if these people are Nigerians and I'm sure these people don't have the good of these country at heart. ‪#‎GODbless Nigeria ‪#‎changehascome ‪#‎togetherwecanmakeourcountrybetter.”

To this last post I replied; “Is there any government that won't be criticized? Is there anything we do in life that isn't critiqued? While there may be some people praying this new gov't fails. I don't see anything wrong with those waiting to criticize their every move. If as humans, we get no negativity then we won't get better n become great at what we do. So yes let the critiques start rolling in, but let those praying for failure for selfish reasons known to them have a change of heart because at the end of it all 'a better Naija should be our aim.”

Hence, congratulations once again to PMB, you have shown your commitment towards your country by succeeding in your dream of becoming our president. And just like you highlighted a weak revenue base and lack of competent and committed political office holders as the major problem we have in Nigeria, we pray with you and give you all our support at solving these problems. I look forward to voting for you in #2019 when you give me every reason to. I also observed that the difference in the number of registered voters and the number of accredited voters had a very high margin, sometimes over half. We should plan to do better come next election in 2019.

Lest I forget, there is a petition going on at: https://www.change.org/p/yale-university-withdraw-the-honorary-doctorate-degree-given-to-ngozi-iweala-of-nigeria?recruiter=302816665&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-no_msg&fb_ref=Default calling on people to sign a petition for Yale University to withdraw the Honorary Award given to Finance Minister, Okonjo Iweala, while I think this is another matter entirely, I read the petition and this statement caught my attention, “The true picture that Yale University missed is the fact that the economy of Nigeria has almost grounded to its final halt today which will makes its a daunting task for the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari to meet its campaign promises.” E ma je ko ribe o….For you to make those kind of promises, you must have a game plan, a backup plan, and another backup plan for your backup plan and another, and another…anyway you get my point. PMB administration, please don’t let your enemies triumph over you o!! God bless PMB, God bless Naija!!

image created by maryojob.

Are you Open-minded??

Have you ever made the decision to do something you normally would not do? How did it feel like afterwards? Did you like or enjoy it? Or did you regret your decision? Often times I have discovered that we tend to have rigid principles on various topics, unconsciously most of the time, and this limits our ability to explore, discover and find out new and interesting things. We even believe we are open-minded when in reality we are not.

Open mindedness is defined thus by http:www.yourdictionary.com online: "Open minded. [ō′pən mīn′did] adjective. The definition of open minded is a willingness to try new things or to hear and consider new ideas. An example of an open minded person is one who listens to her opponent in a debate to see if the information makes sense or if she can change her mind."

Note that it indicates that an open-minded person is one who listens to another to see if the information will make him or her change the mind-set they already have. It is often said that the best habit to imbibe when communicating, is to listen to understand, not listen to simply give a reply. Take for instance, oatmeal is one type of food I never thought I could take, I couldn’t stand the slippery taste in my mouth. In-fact, severally, I had attempted to take it in different ways to see if I would love it, I would add lots of sugar or I would add plenty milk, thinking if it is very sweet, I wouldn’t mind the slippery taste, and I would enjoy it. It never worked. But earlier this year in January, I made up my mind to have oatmeal for breakfast every morning, although I find that I prefer it without sugar, I must say I have fallen in love with it. It’s been 5 months, and I absolutely love my oatmeal every morning, this morning for instance, I woke up late and was in quite a hurry to get to work, I still made cooked my oats, but then I thought, to sit and consume it would waste more time, so I packed it and brought it to the office where I had my tasty oatmeal for breakfast.

What am I saying in essence? I have realized that persistence and determination goes a long way to assist one in having an open-minded personality. Just imagine the numerous success stories that failed lots of times before succeeding. Here are some quotes and thoughts from some great people to put you on the right track:

• "Failure provides the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently." ~ Henry Ford (An example is having my oatmeal without sugar and enjoying it more).
• "Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly."  ~ Robert F. Kennedy (I dared to consume oatmeal over and over again, eventually i succeeded).
• "I don't believe I have special talents, I have persistence … After the first failure, second failure, third failure, I kept trying." ~ Carlo Rubbia, Nobel Prize winning Physicist (I kept trying to consume oatmeal over and over again until i could).
• "There is something to be said for keeping at a thing, isn't there?"  ~ Frank Sinatra (I kept at it - my oatmeal i mean).
• 12 publishers rejected J.K. Rowling's book about a boy wizard before a small London house picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
• 27 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss's first book, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
• English crime novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.
  

My favourite quote for the day is thus: If you don't have the time to do it right, you must have time to do it over!! (Just imagine all these years i battled with oatmeals). I finally got it right at 28years old. Hmmm!!

Reference

http://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Pajares/OnFailingG.html

You Take My Breath Away!!

Have you ever felt a sudden tightness in your chest area, or sudden rapid heartbeats, or felt like your heart paused for some seconds all because you stumbled on something, or you saw something that took your breath away? I have. It’s an effervescent experience that makes me feel like my blood pressure shot up instantly. It might be a happy experience or a not too happy one!