Thursday, 27 October 2016
The Blood!
THE BLOOD
One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart.
She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution.
But, the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church.
She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children.
It was not very long until this
faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor's son..
The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans.
This is when the problems began.
You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter.
So they decided to have a meeting.
As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand.
The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past.
As she began to cry the pastor's son stood to speak.
He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife to be. He began to speak and his statement was this:
"My fiancee's past is not what is on trial here.
What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin.
Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not?"
The whole church began to weep as they realized that they had been slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Too often, even as Christians, we bring up the past and use it as a weapon against our brothers and sisters.
Forgiveness is a very foundational part of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely then it cannot cleanse us completely.
If that is the case, then we are all in a lot of trouble.
What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus! End of case!!!!
"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."
Psalm 55:23
This prayer is powerful and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive.
There is no cost but a lot of rewards, let's continue to pray for one another.
Here is the prayer:
"Father, I ask you to bless my friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now.
Show them a new revelation of your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask you to minister to their spirit at this very moment.
Where there is pain, give them your peace and mercy. Where there is self doubt, release a renewed confidence through your grace.
In Jesus' precious name.
Amen
Tuesday, 30 August 2016
Your Vehicle Catalytic Converter. "Indomie"
About a vehicle's catalytic converter "indomie"
A catalytic converter is a large metal box, bolted to the underside of your car, that has two pipes coming out of it. One of them (the converter's "input") is connected to the engine and brings in hot, polluted fumes from the engine's cylinders (where the fuel burns and produces power). The second pipe (the converter's "output") is connected to the tailpipe (exhaust). As the gases from the engine fumes blow over the catalyst, chemical reactions take place on its surface, breaking apart the pollutant gases and converting them into other gases that are safe enough to blow harmlessly out into the air.
WHY IS THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER EXPENSIVE
The catalytic converter is constantly being targeted by thieves is because the catalyst is made up of a mix of precious metals.
Platinum is the most active catalyst and is widely used in the manufacture of the catalytic converter including Palladium and Rhodium. Copper, Cerium, Manganese and Nickel are also used.
These are very expensive precious metals and are highly sought after around the world. The average price for the content of a catalytic converter in the metal black market ranges from 2000 naira to 10,000 naira. Replacing them could cost between 20,000 naira to 150,000 naira depending on your car model.
SYMPTOMS OF A FAILING CATALYTIC CONVERTER
1. Misfiring.
2. Reduced Performance.
3. Low Fuel Economy.
4. Low Performance of the Exhaust System
5. Increase emission
V6 or Four?
V6 or Four-Cylinder Engine?
An engine cylinder is where the combustion process occurs. Inside each cylinder is a piston, which moves up and down inside the cylinder (or side to side, as we will learn). Each cylinder is connected to a crankshaft. The crankshaft delivers the energy created by the combustion process to the transmission and, ultimately, to the wheels that drive the vehicle. Generally speaking, the more cylinders an engine has, the more horsepower and torque an engine makes
Engine cylinders are typically arranged in a vertical orientation, lined up one after another from the front to the rear of the engine, or in a V-shaped orientation with an equal number of cylinders on each side. When engine cylinders are vertically oriented, the engine has an "inline" configuration, which is used in conjunction with 4, 5, or 6 cylinders. When engine cylinders are V-oriented, the engine has a "V" configuration, which is used in conjunction with 6 or more cylinders. If an engine is mounted transversely, which is common for front-wheel-drive vehicles, the cylinders and crankshaft are oriented from side-to-side rather than front-to-back.
Inline engines (I) are taller and narrower, and when they are mounted transversely, allow designers to create a vehicle with a smaller front end. V-type engines (V) sit lower with an improved center of gravity, and this design is more space-efficient with a greater numbers of cylinders. Horizontally opposed engines (H) sit very low and wide, producing a low center of gravity and improved handling.
A 6-cylinder engine features six pistons and produces a theoretical 50% more power than the same 4-cylinder engine. While a 4-cylinder engine might hesitate when you press on the gas, a 6-cylinder will tend to be more responsive, with greater get-up-and-go.
The 4-cylinder engine is standard in smaller cars, as the relatively light weight of the vehicle makes it an economical choice with plenty of power for average motoring needs.
The smaller engine will be less expensive and should get slightly better gas mileage, just on gas. And the disadvantage of a 4 cylinder is a lack of power that might factor in more for commuters and travelers. For hilly or mountainous areas, the 6-cylinder engine would likely be a better choice.
Saturday, 25 June 2016
European Unity & Bible Prophecy, Part 1
History forcefully reveals that you can stake your life on the Bible.
I was 18 and remember the moment well. I had recently made my decision to serve God and was poring over a Bible study lesson on the second chapter of Daniel. Each verse I read engaged me as I learned about an ancient Babylonian king who was given a description and explanation of a troubling dream by a God-fearing Hebrew youth. The details of this dream and its interpretation are impressive and important!
King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a great image that had a head of fine gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet and toes of iron mixed with clay. It was an imposing statue which brought pride to the king when he realized his kingdom was symbolized by the head of gold. Yet his vanity became bitter disappointment as he discovered that this prophecy described successive kingdoms that would rule after Babylon. History confirms that the joint kingdom of Medo-Persia, pictured by the arms of silver, conquered Babylon in 538 BC. Medo-Persia fell to Alexander the Great and his Greco-Macedonian Empire in 331 BC, depicted by the belly and thighs of brass. But the Greeks were overthrown by the iron monarchy of Rome, which occurred in 168 BC.
Daniel’s prophecy didn’t end there. Rome was to be divided into partly strong and partly weak nations represented by the feet and ten toes of the image. From 351 to 476 AD the dismemberment of Rome was done by ten leading tribes – the Alamanni, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians, Heruli, Anglo-Saxons, and Lombards. With an accuracy that cannot be equaled, God, through the prophet Daniel, revealed world history hundreds of years before it happened. Today nearly all of these nations comprise most of Western Europe.
Then Daniel shared with Nebuchadnezzar something important about those nations represented by the ten toes of the great image: “As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men: but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.” (Daniel 2:43) The iron was mixed with clay and therefore had no ability to stick together. According to this prophecy, no man or army of men could ever hope to consolidate these nations, but that hasn’t prevented them from trying.
More than three centuries after the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne, king of the Franks, had himself crowned in Rome by the pope. His new empire stretched from the Pyrenees to the Danube and from Hamburg to Sicily; and his imperial seal bore the words Renovatio Imperii Romani, “the Renewal of the Roman Empire.” Charlemagne’s empire fell apart fairly swiftly after his death, but the desire for the re-establishment of an over-arching political structure for Europe wasn’t abandoned.
Charles V tried, yet failed. Louis XIV tried, and he failed. Napoleon created the Legion of Honour in 1802 on the model of the Roman Legio Honoratorum and invoked Charlemagne at his imperial coronation in 1804. The battle of Waterloo was his demise. Then came Hitler. Hitler’s loyalists gave the Roman salute and their cry “Heil Hitler!” was modeled after “Hail Caesar!” Hitler’s vain aspiration for the triumph of culture and a union born of racial superiority, ensuring a thousand years of peace, ended in utter disaster.
Queen Victoria was known as the grandmother of Europe due to intermarriage in multiple attempts to reinstate the Roman Empire. It is believed that by the turn of the twentieth century every ranking hereditary ruler of Europe was related to the British royal family. The result of all that intermarriage was World War I. Through all these failed attemptsthe words of the Bible, “they will not adhere” held true.
It is my contention that we can believe the Bible. Even if you’re a skeptic, you need to be seriously considering the Bible. If your faith is wavering, don’t doubt anymore. Not only can you trust the Bible - you can
Tuesday, 15 March 2016
Break it or Accept it!
First Nigerian Governor to Drink Palm wine in Public
First Nigerian Governor to eat at a public Alamala joint (Buka)
First Nigerian Governor to park his convoy at the road side to buy and eat Boli and Epa.
First Nigerian Governor to beat a talking drum in public without caring who is looking at him.
First Nigerian Governor to declare on a National television that 'mum wear pampers'
First Nigerian Governor to appoint a 72 years old carpenter as Local Government Chairman.
First Nigerian Governor to act as UNOFFICIAL SPOKESMAN of the opposition , party PDP.
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
That's What's inside of you!
I hope u ll find it as useful as I did A SURPRISE LESSON FROM SQUEEZING AN ORANGE
As told by the late Dr. Wayne W. Dyer:
I was preparing to speak at an I Can Do It conference and I decided to bring an orange on stage with me as a prop for my lecture. I opened a conversation with a bright young fellow of about twelve who was sitting in the front row.
“If I were to squeeze this orange as hard as I could, what would come out?” I asked him.
He looked at me like I was a little crazy and said, “Juice, of course.”
“Do you think apple juice could come out of it?”
“No!” he laughed.
“What about grapefruit juice?”
“No!”
“What would come out of it?”
“Orange juice, of course.”
“Why? Why when you squeeze an orange does orange juice come out?”
He may have been getting a little exasperated with me at this point.
“Well, it’s an orange and that’s what’s inside.”
I nodded. “Let’s assume that this orange isn’t an orange, but it’s you. And someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, says something you don’t like, offends you. And out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, fear. Why? The answer, as our young friend has told us, is because that’s what’s inside.”
It’s one of the great lessons of life. What comes out when life squeezes you? When someone hurts or offends you? If anger, pain and fear come out of you, it’s because that’s what’s inside. It doesn’t matter who does the squeezing—your mother, your brother, your children, your boss, the government. If someone says something about you that you don’t like, what comes out of you is what’s inside. And what’s inside is up to you, it’s your choice.
When someone puts the pressure on you and out of you comes anything other than love, it’s because that’s what you’ve allowed to be inside. Once you take away all those negative things you don’t want in your life and replace them with love, you’ll find yourself living a highly functioning life.
Thanks, and here is an orange for you 🍊
Monday, 22 February 2016
Wednesday, 17 February 2016
THE BLACK FRIDAY - 40 YEARS AFTER
THE BLACK FRIDAY - 40 YEARS AFTER
We were in school one Friday morning, indeed we had just resumed from the 'Ijade ijeun' (lunch break) when the school bell rang unusually. We were all perplexed by this oddity and were still trying to figure who the august visitor we were summoned for was, when teachers hurriedly shooed us out of our classrooms and told us to go home immediately. To compound an already chaotic situation, there was an unusual movement in the adjoining army barracks which was separated by the barbed wire mesh. Guns were being corked and we could see soldiers running helter-skelter while some soldiers were assembled seated on the football field. We were still busy watching them when Mr. Olaniyan and Mr. Farinde came from behind and gave us generous lashes of 'pankere' cane on our buttocks. We were warned to proceed to our respective homes immediately because there was a fight among the soldiers. We managed to get home but met the same apprehension while some adults crowded a battery-powered transistor radio to listen to a broadcast that seemed to come intermittently. We were confined indoors and the Friday Jummat prayer for that day was attended only by my grandfather - we did not follow him as it was the norm. We were told there was 'ko-nile-o-gbe-le' (curfew) by those who overthrew the six-month old Murtala Ramat Mohammed government whose leader, Lieutenant Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka, had been talking to us over the radio all day.
By evening, the situation appeared clearer as the assassination of the Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed was confirmed alongside his Aide-de-Camp, Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa. Their Mercedes Benz limousine was ambushed at a road intersection on their way to the seat of government in Dodan Barracks from the Ikoyi residence of General Murtala. They were aged 38 and 31 years old respectively; the date was Friday, February 13, 1976. The Head of State’s driver, Sergeant Adamu Minchika as well as the Orderly, Sergeant Michael Otuwe were also victims of the ambush although Otuwe survived with gunshot injuries on his right arm. The initial position was that the Military Governor of Kwara State, Colonel Ibrahim Adetunji Taiwo was abducted and his whereabouts was unknown. By the following day, a new Head of State was announced as Lieutenant General Olusegun Obasanjo while the assassination of Colonel Taiwo was confirmed and his corpse was recovered in a shallow grave on a cassava plantation off the Ajase-Ipo/Offa highway and taken to his Ogbomoso hometown for a decent burial. The remains of General Murtala Mohammed had earlier been taken to Kano for interment. Colonel George Agbazikah Innih was later named the new Military Governor of Kwara State.
I later read in the Daily Times and other newspapers that some soldiers had been declared wanted while others had been arrested and taken to Lagos. I saw some familiar faces of soldiers from the Offa Barracks of the Nigerian Army 2 Division Training School on the list. It confirmed what I earlier heard from some adults that those who assassinated the Kwara State Governor, Colonel Taiwo were mainly from the Offa barracks. The names of my friend, the Land Rover man, Major Gagara, the mustachioed Lieutenant Wayah, Lieutenant Zagmi, Sergeant Bala Javan (O pari patapata), Sergeant Ahmadu Rege and one other soldier who usually wore a large wristwatch on his right wrist which I was told was his own army rank, were splattered on the pages of newspapers and public notices. Indeed, Sergeant Rege was said to be the one who fired the shot that took the life of Governor Taiwo. At the court martial that followed their arrest, Rege reportedly confessed ‘Na Oga say make I shoot am and I shoot’. The Oga (Master) was Major Gagara.
Three weeks after the botched putsch, Colonel Dimka was arrested on March 5, 1976 by a policeman at a roadblock in Abakaliki allegedly in company of a prostitute. Ten days later, the coup plotters were executed in two batches which saw about forty of them facing the firing squad in Lagos. The gory pictures of these adorned the pages of newspapers and Almanacs were made of these pictures. I could not stand the sight of the soldiers I had seen and interacted with at close quarters in that horrendous state. That singular experience yanked off totally from my mind the notion of taking a career in the army as I had previously nursed. Thus, when the army authority decided to relocate its 2 Division Training School from Offa following the 1976 abortive coup, I did not miss anything. I welcomed the development in my juvenile mind because I had lost all interest in whatever was going on in that barracks since I saw those pictures. Two years later in 1978, the new Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo introduced a new national anthem to replace the ‘Nigeria we hail thee…’ that we used to sing. There was also another one they called the ‘National Pledge’ which was to be sung immediately after the new National Anthem; but unlike the national anthem which we sang standing at attention and clasping our hands by our sides, the National Pledge was to be sung with our right hand palm on our chest. Suddenly, we had two items of several lines to memorize within a short period.
(Culled from ITAFA: THE FORMATIVE YEARS by Oloye Olayemi Mutiu Olaboye - Page 111- 113)
Sunday, 7 February 2016
NIGERIA MOTHERS AND REPLIES...
1) When you say, "Mummy, I'm Sorry!" And she replies, "Sorry for yourself!"
2) When you ask her where you should drop something and she says, “Drop it on my head."
3) When she brings food
wrapped in a nylon bag from a party.
4) When you say, ''Mummy, I have fever.” And she replies you, “Why won't you have fever when you press phone every night”
5) When you say, “Mummy I took 2nd in my class.” and she replies, “So the person that took
first has two heads abi?”
6) When she takes the DSTV remote to work, just to punish you.
7) When you are watching television with her and then she sleeps off and still doesn’t want you to change the
channel.
8) When you tell her you are going to a friend's place to play and she asks, ''When last did that friend come here to play with you?
9) When she asks you if the food she served you is enough, and you reply no, and she says, come and eat my own with yours.
10) When she tells you, if I hear Peem, you will hear Ween.
11) When she touches hot pot comfortably without a cloth or
paper.
12) When she tells you, ''I didn't kill my mother, so you will not kill me''.
13) When she calls you from your room upstairs and then sends you back upstairs to bring her purse.
14) When you ask her to refund the money you borrowed her and she tells you, "All the food you have been eating in the house nko? Which money did you think was used in buying them?''
Our Mothers are wonderful.
True or false
Please don't forget to like.
Sunday, 31 January 2016
Angry Letter to the Nigerian Youth
My dear Nigerian Youth,
I am very angry and that is why I am addressing you. You are the source of my anger and I want to vent my spleen- maybe not at you directly- but at the arrogance of your ignorance. Of all nations of the world, you are to be most pitied. Do you still wonder what you have done?
You don’t have an Ivy League education but with the little below-standard education you got, all you could do with it is to write a petition against someone with the benefit of an Ivy League education. You can’t even run your personal economy as you’re almost always and perpetually broke yet you arrogate to yourself superior knowledge about the nation’s economy.
You sit in front of a computer and rant all day through social media but with every click, you make money- not for yourself- but for Mark Zuckerberg. With every megabyte of data you spend complaining and maligning, you make stupendous bucks for Etisalat, Glo and Airtel.
Over the next two years, the number of Nigerian millionaires will jump by 47% but most likely you will not be among because you are too busy whining and complaining. And yet about 60% of Nigeria’s 170m population are below 35 years. Oh, what a waste!
By the way, Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he started facebook. Africa’s youngest billionaire, Ashish Thakkar, is 31. He escaped from the Rwandan genocide and relocated to Uganda where he started an IT business. Collin Thornton, who made his millions by fixing bad computers and setting up Dial-a-Nerd, is 35. Adam Horowitz, an 18-year-old entrepreneur, started 30 websites in 3 years before he became successful.
The only thing you have ever started is an online petition. Have you heard of Jason Njoku? He’s 33 and the founder of Iroko TV. He received $8m investment into his company just a few years ago. What he does? Sharing the same Nollywood films that you spend hours to watch online. He didn’t just hang around waiting for Buhari to make something happen or blaming Jonathan for not making anything happen.
Kamal Budhabhatti was deported from Kenya but while on the flight, he thought of the opportunities in Kenya. He found his way back after 6 months and today his company is valued at $30m. He’s 36. Have you heard of Chinedu Echeruo? Apple just paid $1b for his app. He’s a Nigerian like you and all he did was attempt to fix a problem.
But for you, the only thing you attempt to fix are your nails- and your hairdo! Chinedu moved to New York in 1995 and found it difficult to navigate the city with ease so he developed HopStop to fix the problem. Stop listing all the problems- we know them already but what are you doing about them?
Awolowo was 37, Akintola was 36, Ahmadu Bello was 36, Tafawa Balewa was 34, Okotie-Eboh was 27 and Enahoro was 27 at the time of independence of Nigeria. In 1966, the first coup was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu (29) and stopped by Murtala Mohammed (28), TY Danjuma (28), IBB (25), Sanni Abacha (23) and Shehu Yaradua (23). It brought in Yakubu Gowon as Head of State at 32 and Obasanjo at 29. You are in your 40s and you still sag your trousers.
Of course you know Linda Ikeji. You’ve spent hundreds of hours on her blog laughing and commenting while she smiles her way to the bank. She’s just built a house for her father in the village- just by you clicking on her gossip and sharing. Your day is not complete without a stop by at her blog. She was as broke as you are but she turned a hobby into a business. Are you that void of understanding?
You think the politicians have any regard for you? That is why I referred to the arrogance of your ignorance at the beginning of this diatribe. You have a false estimation of yourself. You have an over bloated ego. You are only as good as an election ticket- pure and simple.
You are only good to used and discarded like a used ballot paper. Who keeps a used ballot paper anyway? That is why they only remember you every four years. You are like a menstrual pad that is only useful during the menstrual period. Are you hurt? Okay, let me help you. Have you heard of Prof Olusola Adeyeye before?
He is a Senator of the Federal Republic at the moment. But before he became a senator, he was popular on facebook. Even more popular than so many latter day facebookivists. I was one of his many followers. He put up posts after posts and pander to populist thinking. Then he wast elected and one of the first things he did was to deactivate his facebook account. Yes, you read me right. Deactivate. How many times do you still see El-Rufai’s tweets? No longer regular? That is how it will dwindle until he disappears totally. I’m not limiting it to the aforementioned alone and this is not about any party. They are all the same.
Yet you falsely believe your future is in the hands of one politician. You will grow grey hair with that belief. And by the time you wise up, you’re on your way to the grave- not with a life expectancy of less than 60 years in this clime. Can you see you have wasted your time? And possibly your life? See, people have been complaining since independence. And they will still complain in 4 years. Will you be among them?
I agree with my friend who said Nigerian youth need mental detoxification. And maybe I should add that you need a brain transplant. Let me give you another example. I’ve watched you try to pull some people down when you don’t like their face- or their comments. You report them to facebook. And they get pulled down. Momentarily. Just momentarily.
Do you know why? Facebook knows those people draw traffic. Their posts get huge numbers of comments. And with every comment and click, someone is making money. Will you allow your best customers to leave? That is why though facebook pulled down Adeyinka Grandson’s page, he was given a facebook fan page in return. Yes, a fan page. You need to get a job and you need to get a life. There is life away from facebook or social media.
If you’re not making money from social media and you sleep on it, you’re merely existing- you’re not living. I have seen some of you take selfies and pose in all manner of ways as you paste your photos on social media. Are you a photographer or are you selling something that we don’t know? You’re unemployed because you’re unemployable. You don’t have skills. Sorry, the major skill you have is that of pointing out the problems and debating about them. That’s a no brainer! You can’t even diagnose the problems properly.
You think Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala is your problem? You are a self-inflicted problem. You are afflicted with yourself and by yourself. If you’re looking for the reason why you are the way you are- look no further than your mirror. Instead of occupying Nigeria, you should occupy your brain. The only witch chasing you from your village is you. It’s time to stop bewitching yourself.
Stop whining about lack of electricity or fuel. Do something about it. Every adversity has a seed of opportunity embedded in it. Create something. Invent something. Start something. Read up a book. Write a book. Take advantage of the present situation. Nigeria is a huge market. Nigeria is a virgin market. Waiting for you. Unleash yourself. Release your passion. Follow your potential. Invent your way to prosperity. Stop waiting for government- government only needs you when they need your taxes. Don’t depend on welfare. People who depend on welfare don’t fare well.
You think you lack capital? No, the problem is not lack of capital but lack of ideas. Just today, two men stepped into my wife’s office selling the new portraits of Buhari and Osinbajo. That’s someone grabbing an opportunity and seizing the moment. I have a friend who started out by offering after-school lessons to kids on her street- now she has a school.
I know a lady who was indigent and self-sponsored on campus. Each night, she soaked beans and made ‘moin-moin’ in the morning for sale on campus. I bought out of the moin moin as well as some other students and that was how she paid her way through University. Not prostitution. Have you heard of Ayodeji Megbope? She started her business with the last N1,000 she had on her by making moin moin. She is the CEO of No Leftovers.
I have shared the story of ‘Akara Ayo’ and invited him to talk to us before. He left his banking job to start a business frying Akara (bean cake) in Ibadan. And added some innovation to it.
Start a snail farm. You can start it with less than N100,000. I started it with nothing- I just picked up snails in my compound and raised them. In a couple of months, I had raised close to a thousand. You have a car and you are complaining you don’t have a job? Convert it for car hire. Take it to the airports and see how people will hire it for the day. Liase with good hotels and place it at their disposal. I met a young man in Calabar who charges N1,500 per hour for the use of his car. There is something in your hand that can give you the future you want. The best moment to start is now.
For God’s sake, just do something!
I am very angry and that is why I am addressing you. You are the source of my anger and I want to vent my spleen- maybe not at you directly- but at the arrogance of your ignorance. Of all nations of the world, you are to be most pitied. Do you still wonder what you have done?
You don’t have an Ivy League education but with the little below-standard education you got, all you could do with it is to write a petition against someone with the benefit of an Ivy League education. You can’t even run your personal economy as you’re almost always and perpetually broke yet you arrogate to yourself superior knowledge about the nation’s economy.
You sit in front of a computer and rant all day through social media but with every click, you make money- not for yourself- but for Mark Zuckerberg. With every megabyte of data you spend complaining and maligning, you make stupendous bucks for Etisalat, Glo and Airtel.
Over the next two years, the number of Nigerian millionaires will jump by 47% but most likely you will not be among because you are too busy whining and complaining. And yet about 60% of Nigeria’s 170m population are below 35 years. Oh, what a waste!
By the way, Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he started facebook. Africa’s youngest billionaire, Ashish Thakkar, is 31. He escaped from the Rwandan genocide and relocated to Uganda where he started an IT business. Collin Thornton, who made his millions by fixing bad computers and setting up Dial-a-Nerd, is 35. Adam Horowitz, an 18-year-old entrepreneur, started 30 websites in 3 years before he became successful.
The only thing you have ever started is an online petition. Have you heard of Jason Njoku? He’s 33 and the founder of Iroko TV. He received $8m investment into his company just a few years ago. What he does? Sharing the same Nollywood films that you spend hours to watch online. He didn’t just hang around waiting for Buhari to make something happen or blaming Jonathan for not making anything happen.
Kamal Budhabhatti was deported from Kenya but while on the flight, he thought of the opportunities in Kenya. He found his way back after 6 months and today his company is valued at $30m. He’s 36. Have you heard of Chinedu Echeruo? Apple just paid $1b for his app. He’s a Nigerian like you and all he did was attempt to fix a problem.
But for you, the only thing you attempt to fix are your nails- and your hairdo! Chinedu moved to New York in 1995 and found it difficult to navigate the city with ease so he developed HopStop to fix the problem. Stop listing all the problems- we know them already but what are you doing about them?
Awolowo was 37, Akintola was 36, Ahmadu Bello was 36, Tafawa Balewa was 34, Okotie-Eboh was 27 and Enahoro was 27 at the time of independence of Nigeria. In 1966, the first coup was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu (29) and stopped by Murtala Mohammed (28), TY Danjuma (28), IBB (25), Sanni Abacha (23) and Shehu Yaradua (23). It brought in Yakubu Gowon as Head of State at 32 and Obasanjo at 29. You are in your 40s and you still sag your trousers.
Of course you know Linda Ikeji. You’ve spent hundreds of hours on her blog laughing and commenting while she smiles her way to the bank. She’s just built a house for her father in the village- just by you clicking on her gossip and sharing. Your day is not complete without a stop by at her blog. She was as broke as you are but she turned a hobby into a business. Are you that void of understanding?
You think the politicians have any regard for you? That is why I referred to the arrogance of your ignorance at the beginning of this diatribe. You have a false estimation of yourself. You have an over bloated ego. You are only as good as an election ticket- pure and simple.
You are only good to used and discarded like a used ballot paper. Who keeps a used ballot paper anyway? That is why they only remember you every four years. You are like a menstrual pad that is only useful during the menstrual period. Are you hurt? Okay, let me help you. Have you heard of Prof Olusola Adeyeye before?
He is a Senator of the Federal Republic at the moment. But before he became a senator, he was popular on facebook. Even more popular than so many latter day facebookivists. I was one of his many followers. He put up posts after posts and pander to populist thinking. Then he wast elected and one of the first things he did was to deactivate his facebook account. Yes, you read me right. Deactivate. How many times do you still see El-Rufai’s tweets? No longer regular? That is how it will dwindle until he disappears totally. I’m not limiting it to the aforementioned alone and this is not about any party. They are all the same.
Yet you falsely believe your future is in the hands of one politician. You will grow grey hair with that belief. And by the time you wise up, you’re on your way to the grave- not with a life expectancy of less than 60 years in this clime. Can you see you have wasted your time? And possibly your life? See, people have been complaining since independence. And they will still complain in 4 years. Will you be among them?
I agree with my friend who said Nigerian youth need mental detoxification. And maybe I should add that you need a brain transplant. Let me give you another example. I’ve watched you try to pull some people down when you don’t like their face- or their comments. You report them to facebook. And they get pulled down. Momentarily. Just momentarily.
Do you know why? Facebook knows those people draw traffic. Their posts get huge numbers of comments. And with every comment and click, someone is making money. Will you allow your best customers to leave? That is why though facebook pulled down Adeyinka Grandson’s page, he was given a facebook fan page in return. Yes, a fan page. You need to get a job and you need to get a life. There is life away from facebook or social media.
If you’re not making money from social media and you sleep on it, you’re merely existing- you’re not living. I have seen some of you take selfies and pose in all manner of ways as you paste your photos on social media. Are you a photographer or are you selling something that we don’t know? You’re unemployed because you’re unemployable. You don’t have skills. Sorry, the major skill you have is that of pointing out the problems and debating about them. That’s a no brainer! You can’t even diagnose the problems properly.
You think Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala is your problem? You are a self-inflicted problem. You are afflicted with yourself and by yourself. If you’re looking for the reason why you are the way you are- look no further than your mirror. Instead of occupying Nigeria, you should occupy your brain. The only witch chasing you from your village is you. It’s time to stop bewitching yourself.
Stop whining about lack of electricity or fuel. Do something about it. Every adversity has a seed of opportunity embedded in it. Create something. Invent something. Start something. Read up a book. Write a book. Take advantage of the present situation. Nigeria is a huge market. Nigeria is a virgin market. Waiting for you. Unleash yourself. Release your passion. Follow your potential. Invent your way to prosperity. Stop waiting for government- government only needs you when they need your taxes. Don’t depend on welfare. People who depend on welfare don’t fare well.
You think you lack capital? No, the problem is not lack of capital but lack of ideas. Just today, two men stepped into my wife’s office selling the new portraits of Buhari and Osinbajo. That’s someone grabbing an opportunity and seizing the moment. I have a friend who started out by offering after-school lessons to kids on her street- now she has a school.
I know a lady who was indigent and self-sponsored on campus. Each night, she soaked beans and made ‘moin-moin’ in the morning for sale on campus. I bought out of the moin moin as well as some other students and that was how she paid her way through University. Not prostitution. Have you heard of Ayodeji Megbope? She started her business with the last N1,000 she had on her by making moin moin. She is the CEO of No Leftovers.
I have shared the story of ‘Akara Ayo’ and invited him to talk to us before. He left his banking job to start a business frying Akara (bean cake) in Ibadan. And added some innovation to it.
Start a snail farm. You can start it with less than N100,000. I started it with nothing- I just picked up snails in my compound and raised them. In a couple of months, I had raised close to a thousand. You have a car and you are complaining you don’t have a job? Convert it for car hire. Take it to the airports and see how people will hire it for the day. Liase with good hotels and place it at their disposal. I met a young man in Calabar who charges N1,500 per hour for the use of his car. There is something in your hand that can give you the future you want. The best moment to start is now.
For God’s sake, just do something!
NB: This is just an article to stir up and challenge people and its intention is not derogatory in any form.
Joshua 17
The beginning of this chapter opens with Machir, the son of Manasseh, who had five daughters but no sons. This meant that they could inherit their father’s property on the condition that they married within their tribe, which they did. Therefore according to what the Lord commanded Moses, Elieazar gave the women their inheritance.
The other sons of Manasseh had been given the land of Gilead, but they did not drive out the inhabitants of the cities and the Canaanites continued to live in there. When the descendants of Manasseh got stronger, instead of driving out the Canaanites, covetousness took over, and they decided to let them stay and require them to pay taxes. The Manassehites were more interested in money than obeying the Lord and doing what was right.
It is too often the case that God’s people today look at the task that needs to be done, such as taking the gospel to the world, and hesitate to move forward in faith. The Holy Spirit will open the way for those who trust Him, and will create opportunities for this last message to overcome every obstacle and penetrate everywhere.
(c) Ralph Neall
Retired Professor and Missionary
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