In The Cyber Cafe

Got to work tired and sick; if the truth be told, i hardly slept at night. The harmattan weather coupled with the holiday hangover seems to be affecting most people as the offices are largely empty. By midday I was quite weak as I did not have any encouragement to have breakfast in the morning. Was forced to find a restaurant to eat fried rice with moi - moi but even that is tasteless. I left the office about 4.20pm and decided to spend the evening indoors lying down to rest. What a day?

Smog is a mixture of smoke and fog which is frequent in the harmattan dry season. This evening was something else, from no where the entire university community and its surrounding evirons where surrounded with the dense material which made your eyes red and your lungs irritated. It was observable inside the houses whether the windows were locked or the air conditioners were on. Thank God, it eventually cleared after like 5 hours. Got to participate in the voter's registration because a center was located in our church premises to make use of the electricity from the generator.

Quite a lot happened this past week which reshaped my values. One of them was a visit of the sick at the university of port harcourt teaching hospital. The other was the attack by armed robbers of a friend of my director who reportedly has "taste"  The man flaunts his wealth in the name of "taste"; right now he is cooling his body in one private hospital. Riches and prosperity should be a tool for development and empowerment of a nation and not the consumption of a few. We cannot in the event of death which is sure to come take anything away with us. With the worsening fuel condition; the frequency of public electricity outtages is on the rise and its not surprising that another manufacturing company - michelin has announced its decision to leave the country.  What are our leaders doing?

My schedule has gotten so tight that my visit to nairaland is very infrequent. I have decided to allocate some time during my weekends to update my journal. This week has been very eventful. My best friend annoyed me with a statement that bothered on being positive minded and then another of my friend was threatened by student union officials at the university petrol station in the name of fuel scarcity which is still not getting better.

How time flies? 2007 which seemed like yesterday is already 1 calendar month old. Went to Mr. Biggs last night to celebrate a friend's interview with celtel at asaba (yeah, its that bad) and got hit by an "oppressor". To start with am not a fan of Mr. Biggs or night driving, i got my tongue burnt from the hot meatpie and now developing a sore throat. I have made up my mind never to enter any fast food joint to eat for the remainder of the year. Its never too late to make up a new year resolution.

Port Harcourt experienced her first rains in the past two days and the weather has been very cool so much so I took a long walk with friends from the office in the permanent site up to the east west road. Nature has a way of healing you once you appreciate its beauty; one rare specie of bird kept trying to break the sliding window in our office and enter only to run away when the cleaner opened it fully.

Have you considered the manner of promotions being done by GSM coys in Nigeria? I received an sms from glo telling me to vote african footballer of the year that the sms will cost N200 and i stand to win N200000 or so. When I sent the sms they took my N200 but now said I must recharge with at least N1000 cumulatively before a certain date to qualify for the draw; it was not funny at all.

Church service was very tight today; the pastor preached on developing a high sense of family and the illustrations used were very persuasive. How can a family that earns five hundred thousand naira a month pay their house help two thousand five hundred naira??? The sunday was very nice and I easily defeated my friend on all the football matches played in PS2.

I cannot help but comment on the marketing nature of valentine which is now linked to the bad side of capitalism. A lot of churches devised one program or the other to tap into the situation. Funnily enough some people  went to both activities in the church and shows in the clubs and hotels. Some government official in one city in Asia made the news by imposing a curfew from 10pm to dawn so that young people go home early.

Because of the warped nature of our economy, the average consumer in nigeria is a slaves messenger. There is no mechanism for feedback even in such areas as communications. The reltel network i use at home has been misbeenhaving and all calls to their helpdesk numbers have gone largely unanswered yet they are advertising in the newspapers and trying to lure by deceit more clients. In Port Harcourt for now only starcomms and mtn appear to mean business.

TrendTV has resumed test transmission with 3 channels - Silverbird Television, EWTN and Nigeria's premier home video channel - Nollywood. They said more channels will be added; where is the electricity or even time to watch TV. I wish them the best of luck because I believe they have the best structure to give DSTV a run for their money but we will have to wait till then.

This people should be in the guiness book of world records; am referring to NEPA. They just brought a bill for the cybercafe amounting to some N300 000 and the management has told them in very clear language that it does not intend to pay 1k with respect to that phantom bill. As a matter of fact, they have been asked to disconnect and take away both their poles and cables as they constitute a death trap serving as a good conductor of lightning strikes which has dealt enough havoc to our equipment and an agent of continuous darkness.

For the past three days now, making and receiving calls on my MTN line has been a challenge. The rate at which calls drop is so high and clarity of voice calls so bad I wonder what is happening. Someone said he called for less than a minute and was not charged; what is really going on? I don't know what will happen; if I should move to CELTEL but there is so much credit on that line.

There is 2 days now since glo network went down. I don't know if its the rain because celtel also went down but came up after 24 hours. Its convocation weekend in the university this week and am getting ready for the partying that accompanies it. The NEPA guys are tried to do what they do best but the authorities have made provision for enough diesel so the effect is not felt much.

This week is a lecture free for freshers to enable them complete their registration process but some lecturers it appears are not observing the arrangement. Work is quite tedious and I hear the price of petroleum products is about to rise. There is some info about political violence here and there but all is calm in this citadel of learning.

I have come to the conclusion that unionism in Nigeria is a effort in futility. The recent strike action by ASUU is an effort in futility outwardly because inwardly there has been an understanding that all educational institutions be close for the month of April during the elections to minimize the casualty rate. This do or die affair is not something you debate or meditate on.