cindyrella:
Keys to which heart?
When u have spare keys everywhere

k2039: I dont understand,do you mean my most liked comment

OLAADEGBU:

Since you cannot describe the aroma of coffee should we then conclude that coffee doesn't exist?

k2039: [size=15pt]My defintion of insanity is simple.
Insanity can be define as the acquisition of three private jets by a single individual
[/size]

gree-die:
           REMARK
The debate was an eye-opener for me. Initially, I was of the view that a man shouldn't assert his authority in a relationship but now..... I'm not so sure. A very big well done to the participants, you all did well, thanks for your input. to my fellow judges, it's been nice working with you all, thank you and to the moderator, putting this debate together couldn't have been easy, thanks for your time, effort..... And for appreciating us 

I want to share a few things I learnt about debating ... Simple logic is rarely sufficent in a debate. The trick is to strike a proper balance between appeals to logic & emotion. One shouldn't lose touch with her rational argument amidst the anecdotes, impassioned exhortation and other attempts to win the hearts of the audience and judges. I think the 7 points below will help a debater immensely-

1: avoid innuendo, it's rude and a poor way to debate. You are guilty of this when you insult someone without specifically stating your insult.

2: know when to cede a point with grace and courtesy, debating when your point is no longer valid will make you look petty & ignorant

3: agree to disagree when a debate turns into an argument. U don't need to tear out your opponent's jugular to win when her opinion opposes yours besides, doing so won't earn you more points

4: avoid emotionally charged words, they twist debates into chaotic argument

5: be respectful, don't lose repect for the other person just because you have opposing viewpoints.

6: have solid data to backup your argument, do not be so engrossed in countering your opponent that you forget to back your claim/ view with facts

7: if the opposition make an error in reasoning, point out the logical fallacy, give a simple and really obvious reason why the fallacy is incorrect and discard it. When you counter-argue, you only succeed in weakening the fallacy, making it less persuasive but still valid.

These little things adds to or subtracts from ones points so always be careful.

Finally, debating should be a means to understand an alternate point of view & hopefully shed some light on a situation so that better solutions can be discovered.... It shouldn't be a means to silence someone.

Gree-die  

ogugua88: "Instead of President Goodluck Jonathan to be watching this debate he's eating amala n watching African magic." LOL

born2fuck: Three friends Akpors, Rukewe and Oghene decided to go for a picnic.
Rukewe packs the picnic basket with
drinks and sandwiches. Oghene carried the basket and they set out for
the park 10km away.
It takes them 2 hours to get there.
When they arrived, Rukewe quickly spread the mat and set out the sandwiches. After checking around, Oghene found out that Rukewe did
not pack the bottle opener. They then begged Akpos to make the 4 hour trip
to and fro for the opener. He disagreed. ''You'll finish the sandwiches before I return,'' Akpos protested.
''No we won't'', assured Rukewe.
After some more cajoling from them, Akpos reluctantly sets out for the opener.

After 5 hours, there was no sign of Akpors. They decided to wait for another 3 hours. Still no sign of Akpors.
Oghene and Rukewe after waiting on Akpors for more than 8 hours were by
now very hungry so they decided to
take one sandwich each.
As they were about to eat, Akpors pops
out from behind a rock screaming: ''I
KNEW IT! I'M NOT GOING AGAIN''!!!

Rooneyboy: @ayobase u know what;
Let's both get this thread going.......till infinity perhaps, I'm in love with it.

I do see some very nice write-up's but I most times bookmark them.

So I will see if I can lay my hands on some fantastic write up's now

BRB.

Kslib:
Why are you doing this nah? Is there anything wrong in typing like a normal person..??

Nuezha:
FROM EXPERIENCE, a girl can only talk shamelessly like that when you've CLIMBED her. You're a disgrace if you ever did that.
As charming as I was 7yrs ago, I didn't date a female corp member let alone descending so low to mingle with underage.

Ramcie: *Don't always change the station from E! to Style Tv, MTV and Fashion TV. Take time to find out what is bothering him and how you can help out*

This is the best part . A lot of girls spend time these days knowing all about KIM K and RIHANNA instead of thinking about the future. All they do is try to wear a replica of Kim K's dress or make the type of Hair style Rihanna has on.

"Girls instead of trying to look and act like KIM K and RIHANNA, let's aspire to be like AUNG SAN SUU KYI and OKONJO IWEALA"

coninse: My name is Nigeria, I need Re-Building and not Re-Branding!! (A MUST READ)



Few days ago, I spent 10 billion Naira to celebrate my 52nd birthday! I am Nigeria!!!.
I am divided into 36 unequal states, plus my capital territory, christened ABUJA . I have millions of acres of arable land and billions of cubic litres of water, but I cannot feed myself. So I spend $1 billion to import rice and another $2 billion to import milk. I produce rice, but don’t eat it. I have 60 million cattle but no milk. I have the capacity to feed the whole of Africa but I import most food instead.

I am hungry, please help and re-build me.

I drive the latest cars in the world but have no roads, neither can I boast of manufacturing a bicycle’s tyre. I lose family and friends everyday on my roads for which funds have been allocated to build and rehabilitate but the fund has been looted. I lose my young, my old, and my most brainy and productive people to the potholes, craters and crevasses they travel on everyday. I am in permanent mourning, please re-build me.

My school has no teacher and my classroom has no roof. I take lecture notes through the window and live with 15 others in a single room. All my professors have gone abroad, some of the rest are awaiting visas. Those that remain, depend on money raked from the sales of hand-outs to students. My students receive lectures for a maximum of 3 months in a year due to lecturers’ strike or students’ boycott of lectures because of lack of better condition of service and deplorable condition on campus. That explains why I have university graduates, who are semi- illiterates.
I want a future, please re-build me.

Malaria, typhoid and many other preventable diseases send me to hospitals which have no doctors, no medicines and no electric power. So my wife gives birth by candle light and surgery is performed by quacks. All the nurses have gone abroad and the rest are also waiting to go. I have the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world and future generations are dying before me.
I am hopeless, hapless and helpless, please re-build me.

I wanted change so I stood all day long to cast my vote. But even before I could vote, the results had been announced. When I dared to speak out, silence was enthroned by bullets. My rulers are my oppressors, and my policemen are my terrors. I am ruled by men in mufti, but I am not a democracy. I have no verve, no vote, no voice, please re-build me.

I have over 50 million youths with no jobs, no present and no future. So my sons in the North have become street urchins and their brothers in the South have become militants. My nephews die of thirst in the Sahara and their cousins drown in the waters of the Mediterranean . My daughters walk the streets of Lagos , Abuja and Port Harcourt , while their sisters parade the streets of Rome and Amsterdam. I am inconsolable, please re-build me.

My people cannot sleep at night and cannot relax by day. They cannot use ATM machines, nor use cheques. My children sleep through the staccato of AK 47′s, see through the mist of tear gas, while we all inhale Carbon Monoxide, poisonous CO-2 from popular ‘I better pass my neighbour’ (portable generators) and ‘Okada’ (motorbike taxis) The leaders have looted everything on ground and below. They walk the land with haughty strides and fly the skies with private jets (28 of which were bought in the last 12 months). They have stolen the future of generations yet unborn and have money they cannot spend in several lifetimes, but their brothers die of hunger. I want justice, please re-build me.

I can produce anything, but import everything. So my toothpick is made in China; my toothpaste is made in South Africa; my salt is made in Ghana; my butter is made in Ireland; my milk is made in Holland; my shoe is made in Italy; my vegetable oil is made in Malaysia; my biscuit is made in Indonesia; my chocolate is made in Turkey and my table water made in France. My taste is far-flung and foreign. I no longer cook at home but take pride in eating at take-away outlets fashioned after the Western style of living.
Anything made in my land is inferior; I prefer those made in England, America or Europe . To crown it all, items made in my land but specifically sent abroad with made in England labels are brought back from ‘Oyinbo’ land at 5 times the original price it would have gone for had it been sold as home made, please re-brand me.

My people are cancerous from the greed of their friends who bleach palm oil with chemicals; my children died because they drank ‘My Pikin’ with NAFDAC numbers; my poor die because kerosene explodes in their faces; my land is dead because all the trees have been cut down; flood kills my people yearly because the drainage is clogged; my fish are dead because the oil companies dump waste in my rivers; my communities are vanishing into the huge yawns of gully erosion, and nothing is being done. My livelihood is in jeopardy, and I am in the uttermost depths of despondence, please re-build me.

I have genuine leather but choose to eat it.. So I spend a billion dollars to import fake leather. I have four (4) refineries, but prefer to import fuel, so I waste more billions to import petrol and diesel. I have no security in my country, but would rather send troops to keep the peace in another man’s land. I have 160 dams, but cannot get water to drink, so I buy ‘pure’ water that broils my inwards. I have a million children waiting to enter universities, but my ivory dungeons can only take a tenth (10 %). I have no power (electricity) , but choose to flare gas, and vote billion of dollars every year to generate electricity but not a single watt has come from it. So, my people have learnt to see in the dark and stare at
the glare of naked flares. I have no direction, please re-build me.

My people pray to God every morning and every night, but commit every crime known to man because re-branded identities will never alter the tunes of inbred rhythms. Just as the drums of heritage heralds the frenzied jingles, remember – the Nigerian soul can only be Nigerian – fighting free from the cold embrace of a government that has no spring, no sense, no shame. So we watch the possessed, frenzied dance, drenched in silent tears as freedom is locked up in democracy’s empty cellars. I need guidance, please re-build me.

But then, why can I not simply be me, without being re-branded?
Or does my complexion cloud the colour of my character?
Does my location limit the lengths of my liberty?
Does the spirit of my conviction shackle my soul?
Does my mien maim the mine of my mind?
And is this life worth re-branding?
Is it re-branding that I need or complete re-building?

Others blame my calamities on the colonial master that has left my shore some 51 years ago. Without deceiving myself, I know I have problems, who will deliver me? May be what I need is to be re-born, Christians call it being born-again. Turning to a higher authority or changing direction. I mean to sincerely own up and turn to the man up-stairs, may be, just maybe solution will come from there.

To re-build a wobbling structure, there is need for dismantling of existing one (remember, if the foundation can be destroyed, what can the
righteous do?).. Shall I then consider the idea muted by some of my own who have fled abroad?
Some call for ‘Separation for Co-operation’ , others call for true Federalism – while others are yet asking for the return to Parliamentary system.
Which way do I go? on October 1, 2009, I celebrated my 50th birthday and my 52nd was just celebrated.
I do not want to carry on in my golden age without direction, … so, please, help me God. Re-mould and Re-Build me.

PLEASE PRAY PERSISTENTLY FOR NIGERIA!

Feraz: WOW!!!!! This is a clear case of taking the food from the children and giving it to the dogs!

Next2Bezee: Nothing person will not see in this world, very soon now she will start breastfeeding hyenas.

oluomad:

you tok too much.... Cho cho cho

yuzedo: I look left
I look right
I look left again
I lock the door
I bring out my vaseline/soap
I unzip my d(ic)k
I rubbbbbbbbbbbb
I c(u)m
I rest

I look left again...
I look right again...

asemota2012: The UK economy productive sector has gradually been on the down side,they import so much from China and other stronger economies like Germany and label it made in England or wherever I am an eye witness to this.

Over the years The UK Economy realize billions of pounds from the international students,with Nigeria,China India carrying the highest figure of these and of course many other countries.

Well their major reason for immigration policies review is to check the excesses and abuse in the system,such as people overstaying,increase in population and the likes.But the fact remains that the UK economic benefit from these annual exercise in no small way out ways the cost.very soon they will realize this hard truth.

I think the British still have this colonial mentality of wanting to benefit so much from others without giving out a dime or loosing anything.

The present British government is in my opinion indirectly destroying the British economy,very very soon the adverse impact of these their policies will be so obvious.
I also believe this is an opportunity for the other countries particularly those in Asia and Africa to put their house in order.

Gabriel_sylar: The summary of the advice is UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD U MAKE WOMAN OR WOMEN AN ISSUE........When u take women issue too emotional u start becoming irrational and opening countless threads on nairaland....if she says friends...FINITO JUST DO FRIENDS.....The biggest problem is acting like a wussbag and losing out completely with the chick...train ur mind to be able to like plenty girls without oversampling a woman...that's why a guy should have a time consuming career it helps him boost his immunity against women emotional complicatioins that renders him weak and lacking authority oer his life

the_ripper:

Wetin u expect from girl wey dem born for beer parlour,use broken beer bottle cut d placenta, she fit no sabi him papa like dat. Na small pikin dey worry am, she get diarrhoea for mouth. Allow am to dey happy for her foolishness.

pato405: Nigerians are naturally rude. it's innate in them. it's a problem with the society in general. it's not any different when you visit civil service parastatals, General hospitals (you need to see how rude nurses are), board public/commercial buses - conductors & drivers hurl insults indescriminately, ask a lady out or simply call her attention to ask a simple question - she's rude not minding that first impression lasts long, University lecturers despise their students and treat them with disdain, My prof & other lecturers in UK are never comfortable when I address them by their titles like 'Dr' or Prof', rather, then insist on being called by their first names. NO NIGERIAN prof will tell his student to call him by first name! try it and forget about graduating, politicians are demi-gods, pastors even slap church members e.t.c Nigerians are rude by nature, proud, haughty, pompous and VERY RUDE. take it or leave it.

pato405: Nigerians are naturally rude. it's innate in them. it's a problem with the society in general. it's not any different when you visit civil service parastatals, General hospitals (you need to see how rude nurses are), board public/commercial buses - conductors & drivers hurl insults indescriminately, ask a lady out or simply call her attention to ask a simple question - she's rude not minding that first impression lasts long, University lecturers despise their students and treat them with disdain, My prof & other lecturers in UK are never comfortable when I address them by their titles like 'Dr' or Prof', rather, then insist on being called by their first names. NO NIGERIAN prof will tell his student to call him by first name! try it and forget about graduating, politicians are demi-gods, pastors even slap church members e.t.c Nigerians are rude by nature, proud, haughty, pompous and VERY RUDE. take it or leave it.

pato405:

even if you pay Nigerians Jumbo salary, they'll remain rude. your national assembly members earn almost the highest in he world yet, very rude to the common man. being polite has nothing to do with wealth. it's simply a thing of upbringing, humility and respect for others irrespective of their background. wear a cheerful smile, say 'hello', using the words 'please', 'do you mind if..' , 'thank you', etc, isn't just the Nigerian thing. it's in the UK I saw people boarding buses and saying thank you to the driver before they alight. how many times do you board danfo in Lagos and say 'thank you' before alighting? you'll rather rain insults like

Driver: Oga come down joor

Passenger: Na here I suppose come down? you dey craze

Driver: Boole joor, weere, oloshi buruku

Passesger: Iyaee oloriburuku (your mother)

Driver: Babbaee oloshi (your father)

Insults and fight on daily basis. aggressive and very rude set of people everywhere. that society has a lot to deal with.

modicum: When I received the email from my friend Allyce Pinchback informing me of an opportunity to volunteer for the Obama campaign, I was thoroughly excited. My excitement stemmed from two reasons: first, I wanted President Obama to win a much-deserved second term as I believe he has the heart to do what is right by all Americans; second, as a Nigerian social activist who just recently moved to the United States of America, I knew I had a golden opportunity to learn some new lessons about electioneering and democracy, in its most pristine state.

Hence, I signed up to volunteer as a neighborhood canvasser for three days leading into the election. However, the day I was billed to start canvassing, I was knocked down by a terrible cold. So I had only two days to work with, but within those two days, a period during which I knocked on about two hundred doors in the neighborhood I was assigned to, canvassing for President Obama, I did enjoy myself, I was very happy, for community service and citizen engagement is my passion, and of course I learnt a few lessons, and these lessons, I wish to share with my readers:

Democracy is a way of life: On the day of the election November 6th, owing to my experience of the nature of elections, I expected that something really different was going to mark that day apart. Alas! I was pleasantly disappointed! First, there was no public holiday; people went about their businesses as though it was just another day with nothing special going on. There were no policemen wearing combat uniforms on the streets, totting AK 47s like I was used to. Individuals walked their dogs around their neighborhoods as they did normally. There was no tension at all, no report of fighting, or ballot snatching or any form of violence in any way. As I drove to my station for the last day of my neighborhood canvassing, and throughout the hours I knocked on people’s doors, I thought about electioneering in Nigeria. I thought about all the tension that came with election days, the fighting, accusations and counter-accusations, the deployment of Armored Personnel Carriers and Military combatants brandishing dangerous weapons in the full glare of the hapless citizenry. I came to see that the difference was simple, here in America, electioneering and the democratic culture is a way of life, its nothing different from what every average American has experienced all through his or her life. However in Nigeria, because our democracy is still young, and we have gone through long years of instability and uncertainty, elections are treated as a do-or-die affair, as no one is sure what tomorrow would bring. In our sub-conscious, the Election Day is a day to compete for the spoil while it is available, and our politicians and people would spare no expense in their desperate desire to win anyhow, and at any cost. Politicians consort with thugs and give them arms across both party divides, and election days are usually score-settling days. I saw that this was because we are yet to mature really into the democratic culture, it would definitely take some time, hopefully, we would get there, I mused.

True Democracy, the participation of a willing people: The energy, raw passion and deep interest of the average American in this election was very clear. Even though, one was not likely to see this passion leading to arguments and debates between supporters of the two candidates, nevertheless, the election was passionately contested, not just by both candidates, but by their supporters as well. For Obama, the passion was demonstrated in the number of volunteers willing to leave their comfort zones to go out and canvass for him. A Nigerian friend of mine who lives in Maryland had taken a break from work, relocated to Virginia on her own expenses to spend the last week running into the elections canvassing and campaigning for President Obama. And as I drove from street to street in my canvassing operation, I ran into other canvassers, I saw them by the side of the road, on people’s porches, talking to people, encouraging them to come out and vote. I recognized them by the stickers on their chests and the flyers they carried. These were willing people, by choice, not by inducement. They believed in a cause and would go all the way to work for it.

I thought about our electioneering in Nigeria and the culture of inducement that politicians have introduced with it. The sharing of money to the electorate; the giving out of free gifts such as clothes, bags of rice, etc. just to entice people to vote for particular candidates and parties. In the recent gubernatorial elections in Ondo State, it was widely reported that a party had doled out money to the voters just to ensure they voted for that party, but were disappointed when the voters collected the party’s largesse but did not vote for them. The culture of cash and gift inducement during elections in Nigeria must be condemned and discouraged. This “jeun s’oke” culture will never birth real democracy; neither will it lead to fast development of the people. It is an insult to the Nigerian people as a whole, that a man’s vote can be purchased for as low as N500. Four years of a man’s life for N500, that is $3! Our people also must rise above petty greed, and learn to be ideological when it matters. Yes, there is poverty in the land, but N500 will not alleviate poverty, it will only amount to a quick fix, for a meal, or a bottle of beer. This for a four-year term of political leadership! Real democracy starts, when people express themselves freely and conscientiously without the influence of cash or gift inducements.

The need for Critical Infrastructure: When I arrived for the first day of my canvassing, I was given a folder that contained papers having the specific details of how my canvassing operation would be carried out. This was no blind exercise in futility; it was a properly organized, scientific canvassing. There were different folders, and each folder represented a different neighborhood. Inside each folder was a list of streets that each canvasser would visit, the address of the house, and if it was an apartment complex, the specific apartments were detailed, the name of the occupant of the house to be spoken with, the gender of the occupant and their age! It was so detailed, and I was very impressed! It was a well-researched canvassing operation that made everything so easy. I asked my Supervisor how this list was generated and how the specific people to be spoken to were chosen, and she educated me. The list was generated based on their voting pattern in previous elections. People who had voted for the Republican Party all their lives were definitely Republicans and their names were not on the list; also, people who had voted for the Democratic Party all through their voting history were definitely Democrats and there was no need to speak with them hence their names were not on the list. The list only contained the names of people whose voting patterns had been inconsistent over the years, these were the ‘swing voters’ and they were the important ones, they were the ones whose names were on the list and they were the target of this canvassing operation. A map of the neighborhood was also given to me showing the streets I would visit and the particular houses to be visited. This made things so easy, I walked straight to the houses, knocked on the doors, called the names of the occupants I desired to speak with, they would show up and I would tell them not to forget to vote and hand them an Obama flyer. In two days, during the few hours I canvassed in the morning before my work hours in the afternoon, I was able to knock on almost 200 doors and spoke with almost as many people. This wouldn’t have been possible without the list I had with me, and obtaining the list wouldn’t have been possible if the country did not have a database of people living in it, and maintaining such a database would not have been possible without stable electricity.

Again, I reflected on Nigeria, as Trade Marketing Manager II with a multi-national in Nigeria, I had worked on the compilation of the database of retail outlets across the nation, it was one of the projects I handled at the time, and I remembered how erratic and unreliable the information we gathered was, since it was gathered by hand. Only a year after the exercise, much of the data proved incorrect because people moved from one place to the other without any central authority to monitor or report such moves let alone keep trace of people. This canvassing operation I had just done reminded me of the need for critical infrastructure in Nigeria. For example, the urgent need for a national database, a live and current national database. It would greatly help in national planning in many different ways. The private sector also would benefit as corporations would find it much easier to easily and accurately pinpoint their market audiences. It would also help in our security sector, for currently Nigeria’s security sector is nothing impressive. Murders upon murders get committed and the perpetrators never get caught. I remembered when a famous politician in the South West got murdered in his bedroom a few years ago, and investigators from Scotland Yard were brought in to assist in the investigations, those investigators could not achieve anything, and they left disappointed because there was no infrastructure on ground through which they could achieve anything useful. Yes, there might have been finger prints, but where was the database of finger prints to run it against?

The same argument applies for the all-important need for stable electricity in Nigeria. The need for this cannot be over emphasized. Our development as a nation can never be fully attained without a stable grid. When experts recently announced it would take fifty years for the dream of a Nigeria with stable electricity to be achieved, I wept in my inner bowels. For that only meant one thing, my generation would never see this dream. It meant Nigerians in their thirties, and even twenties might never see a Nigeria with stable electricity. This is a serious matter, a matter worthy of a revolution. I do not want to live all my life as a Nigerian dependent on power generators.

The place of the Clergy: On Election Day morning, famous preacher Revd. Franklin Graham, son of “America’s Pastor” Billy Graham granted an interview on CNN in which he warned America against voting for Obama. He stated that the election was probably America’s last chance before an imminent judgment should Obama win the election. He made remarks that were clearly against Obama, based on his differences with Obama on issues of abortion, gay marriage, and other moral issues. When I saw the interview, I concluded that Obama might just have lost the election. For this Pastor’s clout in America is huge. If this was Nigeria, I thought to myself, this would have immediately turned the election in Romney’s favour and he would have won with a landslide. For in Nigeria, “my Pastor said…” is almost equivalent with “God said….” for many Christians. During the last Presidential elections, the incumbent President who ran on the platform of the ruling party had gotten a lot of votes from Southern Christians because they had seen the picture of a respected Pastor praying for him. They erroneously concluded that the picture was an endorsement and voted for him en masse. Less than a year into his Presidency, many of them regretted their decision after seeing how confused and ineffective the President turned out to be. Reports had it that his name popped out on Google as the most insulted President in the world! The religious hallucination being over, the harsh realities of their choice had dawned on them. While it had been clear from the beginning that this candidate had neither ideas, plans or vision for leadership, the simple picture of him being prayed for by the man of God was all they needed to make up their minds that he was God’s anointed.

After the election was over and Obama won, I reflected upon this incidence and discovered that as Nigerians, we also need to become religiously mature. We must develop and we must be able to see beyond religious sentiment. The values that are required for the leadership of a nation are neither Christian nor Muslim values, they are simply Godly values. They include vision, integrity, honesty, fairness, compassion, candor, courage, and several others. A person can possess these values notwithstanding what side of the religious divide he belongs to. The process of our development as a democracy will come hand in hand with religious maturity as a people.

These are a few of the issues I reflected upon as I participated in American electioneering for the first time. I realize that democracy is a new culture in Nigeria and it would take some time for the full impact to permeate into us as a people. I earnestly pray and wait for that day when we can really choose leaders in an environment as free and as fair as what I witnessed on November 6th in the American elections. It will take some time, but we will surely get there. I also hope that the challenges that face us as a nation in critical infrastructure will be resolved sooner than predicted. We Nigerians deserve a new lease of life too, and as the world moves ahead, we must move with it. We must not just move, we must move as champions, as the most populous black country on earth, we must justify the potentials that abide in us, one that the world sees, recognizes and stands in awe of. Nigeria must flourish again.

caseless: Since i discovered they jst dont like nice guy, i've stopped being nice. If u want to get hold of monkey, u must act like it.....

Mynd_44:
Look at this pea brained-green eyed-hairy nosed-burnt tooth-donkey arsèd-tree frog.

Is it not mating season for your species yet?

modicum: When I received the email from my friend Allyce Pinchback informing me of an opportunity to volunteer for the Obama campaign, I was thoroughly excited. My excitement stemmed from two reasons: first, I wanted President Obama to win a much-deserved second term as I believe he has the heart to do what is right by all Americans; second, as a Nigerian social activist who just recently moved to the United States of America, I knew I had a golden opportunity to learn some new lessons about electioneering and democracy, in its most pristine state.

Hence, I signed up to volunteer as a neighborhood canvasser for three days leading into the election. However, the day I was billed to start canvassing, I was knocked down by a terrible cold. So I had only two days to work with, but within those two days, a period during which I knocked on about two hundred doors in the neighborhood I was assigned to, canvassing for President Obama, I did enjoy myself, I was very happy, for community service and citizen engagement is my passion, and of course I learnt a few lessons, and these lessons, I wish to share with my readers:

Democracy is a way of life: On the day of the election November 6th, owing to my experience of the nature of elections, I expected that something really different was going to mark that day apart. Alas! I was pleasantly disappointed! First, there was no public holiday; people went about their businesses as though it was just another day with nothing special going on. There were no policemen wearing combat uniforms on the streets, totting AK 47s like I was used to. Individuals walked their dogs around their neighborhoods as they did normally. There was no tension at all, no report of fighting, or ballot snatching or any form of violence in any way. As I drove to my station for the last day of my neighborhood canvassing, and throughout the hours I knocked on people’s doors, I thought about electioneering in Nigeria. I thought about all the tension that came with election days, the fighting, accusations and counter-accusations, the deployment of Armored Personnel Carriers and Military combatants brandishing dangerous weapons in the full glare of the hapless citizenry. I came to see that the difference was simple, here in America, electioneering and the democratic culture is a way of life, its nothing different from what every average American has experienced all through his or her life. However in Nigeria, because our democracy is still young, and we have gone through long years of instability and uncertainty, elections are treated as a do-or-die affair, as no one is sure what tomorrow would bring. In our sub-conscious, the Election Day is a day to compete for the spoil while it is available, and our politicians and people would spare no expense in their desperate desire to win anyhow, and at any cost. Politicians consort with thugs and give them arms across both party divides, and election days are usually score-settling days. I saw that this was because we are yet to mature really into the democratic culture, it would definitely take some time, hopefully, we would get there, I mused.

True Democracy, the participation of a willing people: The energy, raw passion and deep interest of the average American in this election was very clear. Even though, one was not likely to see this passion leading to arguments and debates between supporters of the two candidates, nevertheless, the election was passionately contested, not just by both candidates, but by their supporters as well. For Obama, the passion was demonstrated in the number of volunteers willing to leave their comfort zones to go out and canvass for him. A Nigerian friend of mine who lives in Maryland had taken a break from work, relocated to Virginia on her own expenses to spend the last week running into the elections canvassing and campaigning for President Obama. And as I drove from street to street in my canvassing operation, I ran into other canvassers, I saw them by the side of the road, on people’s porches, talking to people, encouraging them to come out and vote. I recognized them by the stickers on their chests and the flyers they carried. These were willing people, by choice, not by inducement. They believed in a cause and would go all the way to work for it.

I thought about our electioneering in Nigeria and the culture of inducement that politicians have introduced with it. The sharing of money to the electorate; the giving out of free gifts such as clothes, bags of rice, etc. just to entice people to vote for particular candidates and parties. In the recent gubernatorial elections in Ondo State, it was widely reported that a party had doled out money to the voters just to ensure they voted for that party, but were disappointed when the voters collected the party’s largesse but did not vote for them. The culture of cash and gift inducement during elections in Nigeria must be condemned and discouraged. This “jeun s’oke” culture will never birth real democracy; neither will it lead to fast development of the people. It is an insult to the Nigerian people as a whole, that a man’s vote can be purchased for as low as N500. Four years of a man’s life for N500, that is $3! Our people also must rise above petty greed, and learn to be ideological when it matters. Yes, there is poverty in the land, but N500 will not alleviate poverty, it will only amount to a quick fix, for a meal, or a bottle of beer. This for a four-year term of political leadership! Real democracy starts, when people express themselves freely and conscientiously without the influence of cash or gift inducements.

The need for Critical Infrastructure: When I arrived for the first day of my canvassing, I was given a folder that contained papers having the specific details of how my canvassing operation would be carried out. This was no blind exercise in futility; it was a properly organized, scientific canvassing. There were different folders, and each folder represented a different neighborhood. Inside each folder was a list of streets that each canvasser would visit, the address of the house, and if it was an apartment complex, the specific apartments were detailed, the name of the occupant of the house to be spoken with, the gender of the occupant and their age! It was so detailed, and I was very impressed! It was a well-researched canvassing operation that made everything so easy. I asked my Supervisor how this list was generated and how the specific people to be spoken to were chosen, and she educated me. The list was generated based on their voting pattern in previous elections. People who had voted for the Republican Party all their lives were definitely Republicans and their names were not on the list; also, people who had voted for the Democratic Party all through their voting history were definitely Democrats and there was no need to speak with them hence their names were not on the list. The list only contained the names of people whose voting patterns had been inconsistent over the years, these were the ‘swing voters’ and they were the important ones, they were the ones whose names were on the list and they were the target of this canvassing operation. A map of the neighborhood was also given to me showing the streets I would visit and the particular houses to be visited. This made things so easy, I walked straight to the houses, knocked on the doors, called the names of the occupants I desired to speak with, they would show up and I would tell them not to forget to vote and hand them an Obama flyer. In two days, during the few hours I canvassed in the morning before my work hours in the afternoon, I was able to knock on almost 200 doors and spoke with almost as many people. This wouldn’t have been possible without the list I had with me, and obtaining the list wouldn’t have been possible if the country did not have a database of people living in it, and maintaining such a database would not have been possible without stable electricity.

Again, I reflected on Nigeria, as Trade Marketing Manager II with a multi-national in Nigeria, I had worked on the compilation of the database of retail outlets across the nation, it was one of the projects I handled at the time, and I remembered how erratic and unreliable the information we gathered was, since it was gathered by hand. Only a year after the exercise, much of the data proved incorrect because people moved from one place to the other without any central authority to monitor or report such moves let alone keep trace of people. This canvassing operation I had just done reminded me of the need for critical infrastructure in Nigeria. For example, the urgent need for a national database, a live and current national database. It would greatly help in national planning in many different ways. The private sector also would benefit as corporations would find it much easier to easily and accurately pinpoint their market audiences. It would also help in our security sector, for currently Nigeria’s security sector is nothing impressive. Murders upon murders get committed and the perpetrators never get caught. I remembered when a famous politician in the South West got murdered in his bedroom a few years ago, and investigators from Scotland Yard were brought in to assist in the investigations, those investigators could not achieve anything, and they left disappointed because there was no infrastructure on ground through which they could achieve anything useful. Yes, there might have been finger prints, but where was the database of finger prints to run it against?

The same argument applies for the all-important need for stable electricity in Nigeria. The need for this cannot be over emphasized. Our development as a nation can never be fully attained without a stable grid. When experts recently announced it would take fifty years for the dream of a Nigeria with stable electricity to be achieved, I wept in my inner bowels. For that only meant one thing, my generation would never see this dream. It meant Nigerians in their thirties, and even twenties might never see a Nigeria with stable electricity. This is a serious matter, a matter worthy of a revolution. I do not want to live all my life as a Nigerian dependent on power generators.

The place of the Clergy: On Election Day morning, famous preacher Revd. Franklin Graham, son of “America’s Pastor” Billy Graham granted an interview on CNN in which he warned America against voting for Obama. He stated that the election was probably America’s last chance before an imminent judgment should Obama win the election. He made remarks that were clearly against Obama, based on his differences with Obama on issues of abortion, gay marriage, and other moral issues. When I saw the interview, I concluded that Obama might just have lost the election. For this Pastor’s clout in America is huge. If this was Nigeria, I thought to myself, this would have immediately turned the election in Romney’s favour and he would have won with a landslide. For in Nigeria, “my Pastor said…” is almost equivalent with “God said….” for many Christians. During the last Presidential elections, the incumbent President who ran on the platform of the ruling party had gotten a lot of votes from Southern Christians because they had seen the picture of a respected Pastor praying for him. They erroneously concluded that the picture was an endorsement and voted for him en masse. Less than a year into his Presidency, many of them regretted their decision after seeing how confused and ineffective the President turned out to be. Reports had it that his name popped out on Google as the most insulted President in the world! The religious hallucination being over, the harsh realities of their choice had dawned on them. While it had been clear from the beginning that this candidate had neither ideas, plans or vision for leadership, the simple picture of him being prayed for by the man of God was all they needed to make up their minds that he was God’s anointed.

After the election was over and Obama won, I reflected upon this incidence and discovered that as Nigerians, we also need to become religiously mature. We must develop and we must be able to see beyond religious sentiment. The values that are required for the leadership of a nation are neither Christian nor Muslim values, they are simply Godly values. They include vision, integrity, honesty, fairness, compassion, candor, courage, and several others. A person can possess these values notwithstanding what side of the religious divide he belongs to. The process of our development as a democracy will come hand in hand with religious maturity as a people.

These are a few of the issues I reflected upon as I participated in American electioneering for the first time. I realize that democracy is a new culture in Nigeria and it would take some time for the full impact to permeate into us as a people. I earnestly pray and wait for that day when we can really choose leaders in an environment as free and as fair as what I witnessed on November 6th in the American elections. It will take some time, but we will surely get there. I also hope that the challenges that face us as a nation in critical infrastructure will be resolved sooner than predicted. We Nigerians deserve a new lease of life too, and as the world moves ahead, we must move with it. We must not just move, we must move as champions, as the most populous black country on earth, we must justify the potentials that abide in us, one that the world sees, recognizes and stands in awe of. Nigeria must flourish again.

Mrs.Chima:


There are millions of one love relationships where one person is in love and the other is taking advantage or unaware. You do not need love back to love someone but you do need love back to have true love.

Immune#1:
It’s quite common to find most car radiators on the road today filled with just water as most motorist don’t deem it necessary to use coolants. This pattern has a little history behind it which unfortunately, is traceable to stereotypic Nigerian mechanic practices over the years. Most claim addition of these coolants to radiators is a mere waste and a huge aberration when taking account of the basic needs of a car here in Nigeria. This mistaken ideology is rooted to faulty practices like attempting to reverse engine overheating by adding this coolant and when the desired result isn’t achieved most mechanics further bolster their wrongly upheld perception about coolants
Before we go any further to disprove this, let’s delve a bit into a little chemistry and basic understanding of what a radiator coolant actually is; also, why it has to be mixed proportionately with distilled water- not just water-in the first place. Every brand new car comes with a coolant/water solution, it’s either orange or green in colour and you mostly would find it in a transparent white coloured reservoir with an expansion hose which is connected to the radiator.

Ethylene glycol/polyethylene glycol is the basic chemical composition of this compound alongside other additives to boost its properties which allows it serve other purposes like corrosion inhibition, lubrication and useful alteration of the basic property of water by making it reasonably resistant to freezing and boiling.
Ideally water and coolant solution is continuously circulated through engine jackets to trap as much heat as possible from the engine which is subsequently introduced into the radiator for this trapped heat to be swiftly exchanged with the environment. The radiator cools off this solution which is sent back to the engine for another round of heat trapping and re-circulation.

From this little scientific exposition you would agree with me that this compound is not merely an anti-freeze as it serves other purposes pertinent to extended engine life, cooling efficiency and resistance to overheating. When you use mere water alone to achieve cooling, it boils off easily that is why you keep refilling your expansion tank in between engine servicing and in no time you get this brownish water discolouration which is a clear evidence of gradual engine block degradation. This obviously, is as a result of the traditional behaviour of water around metals in the presence of the littlest amount of air. So now is it too late for you to remedy your car’s situation? I can’t answer that, but here are simple tips that will be sure helpful:

First check your radiator water level and condition.
Before introducing any coolant it’s most ideal to flush your radiator, especially if you haven’t done this for more than a year. Insist on a thorough reverse flush from underneath the radiator.
Depending on the condition of the water in the radiator,you might want to totally flush the engine block as well.
Buy the recommended coolant for your car which is to be mixed with distilled water; don’t guess! You would have to do a little research if you don’t have a manual. For some cars it’s in the ratio of 70%-30%, while for most cars its 50%-50%. The volume of radiators vary so be sure you have the right information for your specific type of car. Like we would always say, employ the services of the right technician.
Good luck![color=#000099][/color]
source:http://www.autobaseafrica.com/truth-about-radiator-coolants/

virgo: Pulling Each Other Down



How many times have you heard how safe it was to approach the males in an establishment before the females? You are warned how Mrs. Y is such a wicked woman whose highest point in a day is snarling and talking down at people. When you think that the people who have issued this warning are just meddling busybodies who hate Ms. Y and then go ahead to try to discover for yourself the angel that these “busybodies” might have missed in their “unfair” assessment you discover to your shock and horror that the “busybodies” were right and Mrs. Y is the most horrible human walking the side of your planet. You are even more surprised to find out that Mr. Z who is Mrs. Y’s superior is far more approachable and willing to help with your problems. I have been in this situation several times and every time I come out of it, I am plagued by the singular question – why?

After several “whys”, I finally decided that women are like crabs in a bucket. For many people who do not know about the crab-in-the-bucket syndrome, it is one of those syndromes used to refer to situations where people trying to escape an unfavourable situation are kept from doing so by others either out of envy or just maliciousness, so that at the end of the day, neither party gains freedom. This syndrome is the biggest problem facing women today. It is always rare to see women take a united stand on issues that affect them. From feminists who disagree on the right ideology to pursue to the mother in law who holds down her daughter in law to be beheaded to the vicious and unfriendly female exec who hates you for no apparent reason, women have become their own enemies. Some of us have become short sighted and petty and there is no hope for emancipation where members of our specie lack a constructive unified type of thinking.

While there have been obvious advantages to the women liberation struggle as can be seen in the emergence of powerful female leaders, more needs to be done as women continue to struggle on the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder. To enjoy a level playing field in all sphere of human activities, women must learn that only a unity of purpose can help them. As an advocate for gender equality, I have lost count of the number of times I have had to debate with men who quickly point out the fact that women are less sympathetic to themselves than anyone else. This is our greatest problem and we must address it.

In all, one can only hope that true emancipation of women will be realized in my time, if not, the future is indeed very bleak because like crabs in a vicious competition to nowhere, our bucket will always be our prison.

http://umariayim..com/2012/11/why-women-are-like-crabs-in-bucket.html

So a question to the ladies, how can we stop the pettiness and forge a stronger bond to achieve true emancipation? Your honest answers are highly welcome.