chuksvoice:
(3) Massai costumes

The Massai community was represented in the Black Panther movie. Many of the costumes have unique and futuristic ornamentation and details. The Maasai people of East Africa live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.

These ones are called Minos,or the Amazons of Dahomey. The Maasai people of Tanzania or Kenya are always in colour wrappers with long and wide earrings.

The reasons he gave are not genuine enough not to have a girl child. A girl child has every right just as a male child. Besides, no human, when coming into the world,has the power to chose his/her gender. We all come into the world to find ourselves as males and females. A girl child is a human created in the image of God. She is not a lesser being. She deserves quality life and every good in life. The issues the writers raised are based on individual interest and can never be generalised. A girl child remains one of the beautiful things God bless humanity with.

The writer's postulations lack merit,as they're only based on emotional thoughts and not logic.

psallmuel:
*its Fire that makes diamond much harder than gold

*You can't win a war without a few strategic losses, no matter how regrettable they may be.

*on the road to success, there are few collateral damages, the best u could do is cut your losses, set your eyes on the price and move on
!

MY POINT.
Lagos is getting somewhere can you not see it or would you rather live under the covering of woods?? How long before the flood comes and take you along with it??

Thank Ambode

You need to know that government developmental projects must always reflect human face,which is not the case in Lagos. Government is existence for the good of the people,and not just in the interest of privileged few.

Angeldemivida:

Your post above is a bit contradictory, friend.

Point out the contradiction(s).

Angeldemivida:

I am an African woman that loves my Africanness so much that I carry my natural African hair proudly with no weaves and weavons. I also proudly rock my natural skin colour because I love who I am and don't need to look like some other people that call themselves "white". You know why? Because I have looked deeply into our Africanness and where some see nothing beautiful, I see exotic beauty.
You are all are getting on Black is this and that, my opinion in all these never had to do with not appreciating my Africanness. I simply don't like that our Africanness/soulful beauty is branded Black. Aren't there plenty Africans that are light complexioned? Using the colour Black to brand us all is belittling, we are worth more than the colour black. I am sure that if you calmly think about my point that what I am driving at will hit home.
Unlike the Africans in Argentina that refused to be recognised as having African origin, I am proud of my Africanness, I love that I am an African. Should Africans be called to stand up to be counted, I will gladly want to be recognized with my people. In other words, call me an African. Don't call me black. I don't wanna be limited and placed in a level the world has set with the colour-branding-snobbism. End of discussion.

Young lady,as long as English Language remains our generally accepted language and your skin colour remains as black as charcoal,you will always be referred to as black woman. Until you coin another language that will be generally accepted to communicate with the imperialists,just consider yourself to still be addressed as black woman. The word 'black' should not demean you in any way! You didn't create yourself in to this part of the world,so the colour of your skin should not be used to determine who you are or what you can do.

traware: I am very sure your pastor told you this garbage.I love the colour Black,I love the darkness of the night,I love being a Black African and the colour Black is my favourite colour.If you don't share my sentiments then its too bad for you.I repeat,there is nothing wrong with the colour Black.Don't let anyone convince you that there is.Acquire some knowledge about your ancestry man.'Goosebaba' has already stated it all

Thank you for that beautiful reply. You spoke my mind. The fellow inscribed as if he created himself or the same God that created the white is not the one who created us. Some people are dumb! God has created us in His own image,whether black or white. NOBODY is superior to the other! The only thing that makes difference in people's lives,is the education you acquire to impact humanity positively. Where you come from or the colour of your skin does not really matter(if at all you are a discerning mind) ,but what you do as individual to avail humanity from its numerous predicaments. The grey materials in an African man's head is 99.9% the white man's own;what is then the problem? As Africans,we can build Rockets,we can build space craft;it's the kind of the leaders we elect to represent us are the bane of our development. Black Africans are not in any way lesser human beings to anyone. Our so called Leaders bastardized our educational system and chose to send their children and wards abroad to acquire quality education with our common wealth (the same quality education that can as well be acquired here,if the system runs properly),so that we can as well serve their children the same way we have been serving their parochial interests. The worse of us leading the best of us. Africans need to wake up from their age long sleep and stop being lazy. Ask your leaders questions! Demand for your fundamental human rights. It's high time we stopped playing the second fiddle to other races.

Koolmexxi: And so.... What's d essence of dis post OP...? Let me guess, U were rooting against dem yesterday and most especially against Lionel....

Hello young man,the post is meant for those who want to learn in order to increase their knowledge base and not really for folks like you... I'm sure you know what I mean. Thanks

Tens of millions of black Africans were forcibly removed from their homelands from the 16th century to the 19th century to toil on the plantations and farms of the New World. This so-called “Middle Passage” accounted for one of the greatest forced migrations of people in human history, as well as one of the greatest tragedies the world has ever witnessed.

Millions of these helpless Africans washed ashore in Brazil -- indeed, in the present-day, roughly one-half of the Brazilian population trace their lineage directly to Africa. African culture has imbued Brazil permanently and profoundly, in terms of music, dance, food and in many other tangible ways.

But what about Brazil's neighbor, Argentina? Hundreds of thousands of Africans were brought there as well – yet, the black presence in Argentina has virtually vanished from the country’s records and consciousness.

According to historical accounts, Africans first arrived in Argentina in the late 16th century in the region now called the Rio de la Plata, which includes Buenos Aires, primarily to work in agriculture and as domestic servants. By the late 18th century and early 19th century, black Africans were numerous in parts of Argentina, accounting for up to half the population in some provinces, including Santiago del Estero, Catamarca, Salta and Córdoba.

In Buenos Aires, neighborhoods like Monserrat and San Telmo housed many black slaves, some of whom were engaged in craft-making for their masters. Indeed, blacks accounted for an estimated one-third of the city’s population, according to surveys taken in the early  1800s.

Slavery was officially abolished in 1813, but the practice remained in place until about 1853. Ironically, at about this time, the black population of Argentina began to plunge.

Historians generally attribute two major factors to this sudden “mass disappearance” of black Africans from the country – the deadly war against Paraguay from 1865-1870 (in which thousands of blacks fought on the frontlines for the Argentine military) as well as various other wars; and the onset of yellow fever in Buenos Aires in 1871.

The heavy casualties suffered by black Argentines in military combat created a huge gender gap among the African population – a circumstance that appears to have led black women to mate with whites, further diluting the black population. Many other black Argentines fled to neighboring Brazil and Uruguay, which were viewed as somewhat more hospitable to them.

Others claim something more nefarious at work.

It has been alleged that the president of Argentina from 1868 to 1874, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, sought to wipe out blacks from the country in a policy of covert genocide through extremely repressive policies (including possibly the forced recruitment of Africans into the army and by forcing blacks to remain in neighborhoods where disease would decimate them in the absence of adequate health care).

Tellingly, Sarmiento wrote in his diary in 1848: “In the United States… 4 million are black, and within 20 years will be 8 [million]…. What is [to be] done with such blacks, hated by the white race? Slavery is a parasite that the vegetation of English colonization has left attached to leafy tree of freedom.”

By 1895, there were reportedly so few blacks left in Argentina that the government did not even bother registering African-descended people in the national census.

The CIA World Factbook currently notes that Argentina is 97 percent white (primarily comprising people descended from Spanish and Italian immigrants), thereby making it the “whitest” nation in Latin America.

But blacks did not really vanish from Argentina – despite attempts by the government to eliminate them (partially by encouraging large-scale immigration in the late 19th and 20th century from Europe and the Near East). Rather, they remain a hidden and forgotten part of Argentine society.

Hisham Aidi, a lecturer at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, wrote on Planete Afrique that in the 1950s, when the black American entertainer Josephine Baker arrived in Argentina, she asked the mixed-race minister of public health, Ramon Carilio: “Where are the Negroes?” In response, Carilio joked: “There are only two -- you and I.”

As in virtually all Latin American societies where blacks mixed with whites and with local Indians, the question of race is extremely complex and contentious.

“People of mixed ancestry are often not considered ‘black’ in Argentina, historically, because having black ancestry was not considered proper,” said Alejandro Frigerio, an anthropologist at the Universidad Catolica de Buenos Aires, according to Planete Afrique.

“Today the term ‘negro’ is used loosely on anyone with slightly darker skin, but they can be descendants of indigenous Indians [or] Middle Eastern immigrants.”

AfricaVive, a black empowerment group founded in Buenos Aires in the late 1990s, claimed that there are 1 million Argentines of black African descent in the country (out of a total population of about 41 million). A report in the Washington Post even suggested that 10 percent of Buenos Aires’ population may have African blood (even if they are classified as “whites” by the census).

"People for years have accepted the idea that there are no black people in Argentina," Miriam Gomes, a professor of literature at the University of Buenos Aires, who is part black herself, told the Post.

"Even the schoolbooks here accepted this as a fact. But where did that leave me?"

She also explained that almost no one in Argentina with black blood in their veins will admit to it.

"Without a doubt, racial prejudice is great in this society, and people want to believe that they are white," she said. "Here, if someone has one drop of white blood, they call themselves white."

Gomes also told the San Francisco Chronicle that after many decades of white immigration into Argentina, people with African blood have been able to blend in and conceal their origins.

"Argentina's history books have been partly responsible for misinformation regarding Africans in Argentine society," she said. "Argentines say there are no blacks here. If you're looking for traditional African people with very black skin, you won't find it. African people in Argentina are of mixed heritage."

Ironically, Argentina’s most famous cultural gift to the world – the tango – came from the African influence.

"The first paintings of people dancing the tango are of people of African descent," Gomes added.

On a broader scale, the “elimination” of blacks from the country’s history and consciousness reflected the long-cherished desire of successive Argentine governments to imagine the country as an “all-white” extension of Western Europe in Latin America.

“There is a silence about the participation of Afro-Argentines in the history and building of Argentina, a silence about the enslavement and poverty,” said Paula Brufman, an Argentine law student and researcher, according to Planete Afrique.

“The denial and disdain for the Afro community shows the racism of an elite that sees Africans as undeveloped and uncivilized.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/blackout-how-argentina-eliminated-africans-its-history-conscience-1289381#.U6MW2KOhIz0.facebook

That sends the right signal to some terrorist elements but Angola should also be prepared for attaches in any form. *itjustmylittlepieceofadvice*

Have you ever noticed how some unscrupulous elements called NANS have denigrated the Nigerian university system by canvassing support for the government against ASUU?. Their height of insanity is better imagined than seeing in reality.
How on earth could any sane person reel out support for the present political leaders who have never care about Nigerians well being neither ameliorate their suffering. These are characters who never see anything good in funding the Nigerian universities to the world standard rather,they siphon the monies meant those vital projects in the university for their personal use. They milk our collective wealth to send their children/wards abroad to school while they leave ours in total comatose. Each time they have common headache,they fly abroad for treatment and leave Nigerians to die of avoidable diseases because of under funding of our hospitals. The so called leaders see Nigeria as a business center where they make their money and spend it abroad.
I pity this generation of simpletons parading themselves as NANS,who have been induced with the crumbles from the master's table.

To those of you who are in the known,where does Banky W hails from? He looks more like an Ijebu boy.

What an irony! A country engulfed with poverty,high rate of unemployment,diseases,people dying avoidable deaths because lack of drugs and equipment in its hospitals, where people are living below $2 per day and per capital income is nothing to write home about,that is same country you'll see individuals buying private jets worth millions of dollar? It's now crystal clear that this country is really in the reverse gear and something very urgent needs to ‎​be done to stem the slide if not,the end might not ‎​be sighted.

With Anti-Christ tendencies, can Barack Obama be trusted?
Written by Femi Fani-Kayode.

You guys need to read this. Written by Femi Fani-Kayode, a two time former Minister and Special Adviser under the Olusegun Obasanjo government.

The American Presidential elections will take place in a few days time andfrankly some questions still need to be answered. I wish that Governor Mitt Romney had put one of those questions particularly to President Barack Hussein Obama during their last Presidential debate which was onforeign policy. Permit me to put that question here and it is as follows. Why did the President bow so low before Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah four years ago during his first state visit to the Arab Gulf state and why did he feel the need to almost touch his toes with his forehead when he did so. It is a matter of historical record that no American President in the last 200 years has ever bowed so low before any foreign leader, Prime Minister, Head of State, President or monarch. It appears to me to be rather strange that Obama, on his first trip to the Middle East as President of the most powerful country on the planet, should literally prostrate before an Arab King whose country has an abominable record onhuman rights, civil liberties, the rightsof women and religious minorities and where the system of government is a totalitarian and absolute monarchy. Luckily a picture was taken of that celebrated event and that picture really does tell us something about the American President’s mindset. Yet it does not stop there.
On that same trip four years ago, after leaving Saudi Arabia, Obama toured the greater part of the Middle East and Egypt and in speech after speech he apologised to the Arabs forAmerican policy in the Middle East over the previous 50 years. He did this despite the fact that in most of those countries christians,shia muslims and ethnic minorities have no rights at all and even though they have been killed, persecuted and supressed for many decades. Again he did this even though none of those countries were democracies and eventhough all of them, except for two, have refused to acknowledge the right of the Jewish State of Israel to even exist.This left a bad taste in the mouth of many at the time and the question that came to my mind was whether the ”Hussein” was coming out of the ”Barak Hussein Obama” more than the ”Barak” itself was. Yet whatever anyone may feel about the issue of his touching his toes with his head and his bowing before the Saudiking, as far as I am concerned, President Obama is not what he appears to be. There is far more to him than meets the eye. A couple more questions will suffice to illustrate this point.
Why is it that each time Barak Obamais about to submit himself for a Presidential election and seek a mandate from his people there is a raging, monuemental, earth-shattering and record-breaking freak of a storm which kills numerous people in America? It happened a fewdays before his Presidential election in 2008 and it is has just happened again a few days before his Presidential election in 2012. Again why is it that on the first day of the convention of the opposition Republican party, both in 2008 and again this year, yet another violent and dangerous killer storm hit the towns in which the two conventions were held causing them both to be partially disrupted? What is Obama’s relationship with the elemental forces? What is his relationship with God or some lesser deity? What is his source of power and what is his spiritual foundation? There is no doubt that he is a powerful orator and that he delivers brilliant speechesthat mesmerises his audience. Yet so did Adolf Hitler and we all know whathe was. I ask these questions becausePresident Obama has supported everyanti-christian and anti-faith policy that the American permissive state has thrown up and endorsed in recentyears. The violation and literal denunciation of these religious core values, in my view, betrays the unfolding of an illicit,dark, sinister and subterranean anti-Christ agenda which must be rejected by all true men and women of faith. They must be renounced by every christian, every jew and every muslim and indeed all those that truly espouse thenoble values and virtues of any of the three Abrahamic faiths. They must berejected by all those that believe in the supremacy and efficacy of a monotheic God whose core values and holistic principles and standards are worthy of emulation and of being respected and cherished. There are many examples of these gross violations of our core religious valuesbut permit me to share just four of them with you here. Firstly, PresidentObama has endorsed a woman’s rightto have an abortion and he has publically denounced ”the right to life” of unborn babies. Secondly, he has endorsed same-sex marriages. Thirdly, he has consistently supportedhomosexuality and the rights of homosexuals and lesbians. And fourthly, and perhaps the most disturbing of all, he has endorsed the right of same-sex couples to adopt and raise children. Quite apart from these four Obama has also endorsed all manner of social perversions and deviant behaviour in the name of humanism, ”new age” liberalism and the permissive American state. No true believer or person of faith can possibly accept such practices, endorse such values and still stand right before God.
To put the cake on the icing let me make one more point. Rev. Jene Robinson, a vocal and practising homosexual, whose ordination as a Bishop split the Anglican Church in America into two, was specially selected by Obama to deliver the invocation of the name of God and prayers at the beginning of the inaugral weekend of his inauguration ceremony as President in 2008. What message was Obama trying to send toAmerica and to the world by insisting on this?
Outside of the area of social and religious values President Obama hasalso failed in the area of foreign and domestic policy. A few examples will suffice. The unprecedented number ofdrone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan which has led to record highs in the number of deaths of innocent muslim civilians, women andchildren in both countries. The alienation of Pakistan and Afghanistan as key allies in the war against terror. The destabilization of north Africa and the opening of the door for Islamist insurgents in the north African Arab Sahel states and the west African sub-region. The display of weakness and procrastination before Iran and its covert agenda to build a nuclear bomb. The display of double standards in the State of Bahrain andthe over-pampering of the Arab Gulf states. The sheer mess that has been created in Syria and the indecision and procrastination of the Obama administration who have abandoned the opposition forces in that country even as thousands of innocent people are being slaughtered by Assad’s brutal regime.The insincerity of purpose and sheer coldness being displayed towards Israel and the indifference to her dangerous and existential plight. The disdain and contempt shown to all people of faith,the evangelical movement, the christian far-right and the vision of the old Pilgrim Fathers that founded the great country that is known as theUnited States of America.
The removal of the words “God” and “Israel” from the Democratic Party Convention. The disastrous handling of the American economy that has acquired a five trillion dollar deficit inthe last four years. The rise of Islamicfundamentalism in Mali and Nigeria due to a shortsighted and reckless policy in Libya. The taking of power by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the rise in power of Al Shabbab in Somalia and East Africa. The inexplicable refusal to declare Boko Haram (the Islamist terror group that is bombing and killing thousands in northern Nigeria)as a terrorist organisation.The gradual turning of America into a quasi- welfarist state where ”big government” reigns and in which the traditional engine room of growth that is known as the American middleclass is being systematically weakened and destroyed. The desecration of the traditional family unit and good old fashioned christian values by the adoption of strange andliberal “new age” practices, values and philosophies. The inability to protect the lives of American diplomats living abroad and the lack of firm reprisals after the killing of the American Ambassador and other Americans by terrorists in Libya. The massive foreign debt that America has acquired in the last four years. The huge quantum of cash that America is is now owing China and soon and so forth.
These are just some of Obama’s disastarous legacies and sadly the mistakes he has made in his foreign policy in north Africa particularly impacts on us directly in Nigeria and in Weet Africa. Let me give you just one example of that. Had it not been for the fall-out of the mess in Libya and the brutal way in which Muammar Ghadaffi, the Libyan leader, was murdered in cold blood one year ago, his Taureg friends and allies in north Africa would not have been inspired and driven to take over northern Mali and create a Taliban-style islamic fundamentalist state there and northern Nigeria would nothave been flooded with jihadist footsoldiers and all manner of sophisticated arms and bombing devices for usage by Boko Haram.
With Obama all we see and hear are beautiful and inspirational speeches, a good deal of doublespeak, a failed economic policy and a weak, dangerous and thoroughly uninspiring foreign policy. Worst still all we see in Obama’s African policy is unpredictability, chaos, the appeasement of terrorists and utter confusion. Given this I cannot come to any other conclusion than the fact that President Barrack Hussein Obama cannot be trusted with America or indeed the world for the next four years. In my view he is a very mysterious, strange and complexman and sadly he has proved to be a thoroughly disappointing President. Consequently my prayer is that Governor Mitt Romney defeats him inthe Presidential election which will hold Tuesday 6th November. If he does not I fear that the much predicted “beginning of the end” of America as a world economic power may have just begun. With China on the rise, Russia waxing strong, Brazil,India and Japan flexing their muscles and the European Union finally beginning to take shape and find her feet, in the next twenty years the world will be a very different place and America may no longer be “prima inter pares” (the first amongstequals). Only Romney can stop that downward trend. I am aware of the fact that, given Obama’s ancestry, this may not be a popular position to previoustake amongst those of us that are people of colour and that are Africans but nevertheless it is still my position. I may be wrong but at least Ihave provided some food for thought.God bless America.

What is your take on this?

You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!
“…Some still call it “the dark continent”…the light that flickers under
the tunnel is not that of hope, but an approaching train. And because
countless keep waiting in the way of the train, millions die...”

CONVERSATION BETWEEN A CAUCASIAN AND FIELD RUWE (a US-based Zambian media
practitioner and author. He is a PhD candidate with a B.A. in Mass
Communication and Journalism, and an M.A. in History).

“It’s amazing how you all sit there and watch yourselves die,” the man
next to me said. “Get up and do something about it.”

..He was as cold as they come. When I first discovered I was going to
spend my New Year’s Eve next to him on a non-stop JetBlue flight from Los
Angeles to Boston, I was angst-ridden. I associate marble-shaven
Caucasians with (racism).

“My name is Walter,” he extended his hand as soon as I settled in my seat.
I told him mine with a precautious smile.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

“Zambia.”

“Zambia!” he exclaimed, “Kaunda’s country.”

“Yes,” I said, “Now Sata’s.”

“But of course,” he responded. “You just elected King Cobra as your
president.” (a Zambian opposition leader and critic of Chinese investment,
Michael Sata, who emerged champion of the working class in Zambia's
elections last September)

My face lit up at the mention of Sata’s moniker. Walter smiled, and in
those cold eyes I saw an amenable fellow, one of those American highbrows
who shuttle between Africa and the U.S.

“I spent 3 years in Zambia in the 1980s,” he continued. “I wined and dined
with Luke Mwananshiku, Willa Mungomba, Dr. Siteke Mwale, and many other
highly intelligent Zambians.” He lowered his voice. “I was part of the IMF
group that came to rip you guys off.” He smirked. “Your government put me
in a million dollar mansion overlooking a shanty called Kalingalinga. From
my patio I saw it all—the rich and the poor, the ailing, the dead, and the
healthy.”

“Are you still with the IMF?” I asked.

“I have since moved to yet another group with similar intentions. In the
next few months, my colleagues and I will be in Lusaka to hypnotize the
cobra. I work for the broker that has acquired a chunk of your debt. Your
government owes not the World Bank, but us millions of dollars. We’ll be
in Lusaka to offer your president a couple of millions, and fly back with
a check 20 times greater.”

“No, you won’t,” I said. “King Cobra is incorruptible. He is …”

He was laughing. “Says who? Give me an African president, just one, who
has not fallen for the carrot and stick.”

Quett Masire’s name popped up (second President of Botswana from 1980 to
1998, and a leading figure in the independence movement who played a
crucial role in facilitating and protecting Botswana’s steady financial
growth and development).

“Oh, him, well, we never got to him because he turned down the IMF and the
World Bank. It was perhaps the smartest thing for him to do.”
At midnight, we were airborne. The captain wished us a happy 2012 and
urged us to watch the fireworks across Los Angeles.

“Isn’t that beautiful,” Walter said looking down.

From my middle seat, I took a glance and nodded admirably.

“That’s white man’s country,” he said. “We came here on Mayflower and
turned Indian land into a paradise and now the most powerful nation on
earth. We discovered the bulb, and built this aircraft to fly us to
pleasure resorts like Lake Zambia.”

I grinned. “There is no Lake Zambia.”

He curled his lips into a smug smile. “That’s what we call your country.
You guys are as stagnant as the water in the lake. We come in with our
large boats and fish your minerals and your wildlife and leave
morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs. That corn-meal you eat,
that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Kapenta is crumbs. We the
Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are the Muntu. I
get what I want, and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what lazy
people get—Zambians, Africans, the entire Third World.”

The smile vanished from my face.

“I see you are getting pissed off,” Walter said and lowered his voice.
“You are thinking this Bwana is a racist. That’s how most Zambians respond
when I tell them the truth. They go ballistic. Okay. Let’s for a moment
put our skin pigmentations, this black and white crap, aside. Tell me, my
friend, what is the difference between you and me?”

“There’s no difference.”

“Absolutely none,” he exclaimed. “Scientists in the Human Genome Project
have proved that. It took them thirteen years to determine the complete
sequence of the three billion DNA subunits. After they were all done it
was clear that 99.9% nucleotide bases were exactly the same in you and me.
We are the same people. All white, Asian, Latino, and black people on this
aircraft are the same.”

I gladly nodded.

“And yet I feel superior,” he smiled fatalistically. “Every white person
on this plane feels superior to a black person. The white guy who picks up
garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no
matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New
York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding
around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff. Tell me why
my angry friend.”

For a moment I was wordless.

“Please don’t blame it on slavery like the African Americans do, or
colonialism, or some psychological impact or some kind of stigmatization.
And don’t give me the brainwash poppycock. Give me a better answer.”
I was thinking.

He continued. “Excuse what I am about to say. Please do not take offense.”
I felt a slap of blood rush to my head and prepared for the worst.
“You, my friend flying with me, and all your kind, are lazy,” he said.
“When you rest your head on the pillow you don’t dream big. You and other
so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy, each one of you. It is you,
and not those poor starving people, who is the reason Africa is in such a
deplorable state.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say,” I protested.

He was implacable. “Oh yes it is and I will say it again, you are lazy.
Poor and uneducated Africans are the most hardworking people on earth. I
saw them in the Lusaka markets and on the street selling merchandise. I
saw them in villages toiling away. I saw women on Kafue Road crushing
stones for sell and I wept. I said to myself where are the Zambian
intellectuals?

Are the Zambian engineers so imperceptive they cannot invent a simple
stone crusher, or a simple water filter to purify well water for those
poor villagers? Are you telling me that after thirty-seven years of
independence your university school of engineering has not produced a
scientist or an engineer who can make simple small machines for mass use?
What is the school there for?”
I held my breath.

“Do you know where I found your intellectuals? They were in bars quaffing.
They were at the Lusaka Golf Club, Lusaka Central Club, Lusaka Playhouse,
and Lusaka Flying Club. I saw with my own eyes a bunch of alcoholic
graduates. Zambian intellectuals work from eight to five and spend the
evening drinking. We don’t. We reserve the evening for brainstorming.”
He looked me in the eye.

“And you flying to Boston and all of you Zambians in the Diaspora are just
as lazy and apathetic to your country. You don’t care about your country
and yet your very own parents, brothers and sisters are in Mtendere,
Chawama, and in villages, all of them living in squalor. Many have died or
are dying of neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because you cannot
come up with your own cure. You are here calling yourselves graduates,
researchers and scientists and are fast at articulating your credentials
once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this and that—PhD my foot!”
I was deflated.

“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of nearby
passengers. “You should be busy lifting ideas, formulae, recipes, and
diagrams from American manufacturing factories and sending them to your
own factories. All those research findings and dissertation papers you
compile should be your country’s treasure. Why do you think the Asians are
a force to reckon with? They stole our ideas and turned them into their
own. Look at Japan, China, India, just look at them.”

He paused. “The Bwana has spoken,” he said and grinned. “As long as you
are dependent on my plane, I shall feel superior and you my friend shall
remain inferior, how about that? The Chinese, Japanese, Indians, even
Latinos are a notch better. You Africans are at the bottom of the totem
pole.”
He tempered his voice. “Get over this white skin syndrome and begin to
feel confident. Become innovative and make your own stuff for god’s sake.”
At 8 a.m. the plane touched down at Boston’s Logan International Airport.
Walter reached for my hand.

“I know I was too strong, but I don’t give it a damn. I have been to
Zambia and have seen too much poverty.” He pulled out a piece of paper and
scribbled something. “Here, read this. It was written by a friend.”
He had written only the title: “Lords of Poverty.”

Thunderstruck, I had a sinking feeling. I watched Walter walk through the
airport doors to a waiting car. He had left a huge dust devil twirling in
my mind, stirring up sad memories of home. I could see Zambia’s
literati—the cognoscente, intelligentsia, academics, highbrows, and
scholars in the places he had mentioned guzzling and talking
irrelevancies. I remembered some who have since passed—how they got the
highest grades in mathematics and the sciences and attained the highest
education on the planet. They had been to Harvard, Oxford, Yale,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), only to leave us with not a
single invention or discovery. I knew some by name and drunk with them at
the Lusaka Playhouse and Central Sports.
It’s time for African intellectuals to cultivate an active-positive
progressive movement that will change our lives forever. Don’t be afraid
or dispirited, rise to the challenge and salvage the remaining few of your
beloved ones.

‎​​I'm sure the mallam was referring to his Northern gullible youths. They (Northern elite) denied their young ones who are not their children education because they ‎​don't want them to get emancipated from mental slavery. They rather resorted to using them as violence tool because the gullible ones cannot discern the truth themselves.
‎​​I'll implore El-rufai to go and address this very topic in his Northern part of the country because they need it more than any other parts of the country.

Bloog2tooker and ACM10 have put a good argument on the subject under discussion.
Nevertheless,‎​​‎​​I'll only advise that if partners have such a strong faith or clear conviction from God to marry each other,‎​​I suggest they go ahead;and if not,they should not venture into such marriage. I think it will ‎​be good to always ‎​be at the safer side instead of tying God to some simple things we should have ordinarily use our common sense to sort out.
If partners who are both AS genotype say they have faith in God and go ahead to marry each other and at the end of the day they give birth to SS child,they shouldn't think God has changed even when their heart desires are not met that doesn't mean God is not God. He will forever remain God.
Having such faith to me is like tempting God. So try to ‎​be at the safer side. God bless you all.

Honestly,Hon. Tambuwal made ‎my day yesterday with the unreserved truths he laid bare before mr president and his kitchen cabinet members,in his vote of thanks.
‎​​I think at this very juncture,mr president needs to start getting things right in steering the boat of the great country called Nigeria. He needs to pull down his lackadaisical attitudes about things that matter and start getting his priority right in order to etch his name on gold as one of the most successful presidents of this great nation.
Mr president,let me remind you that you have everything you need to ‎​Make this country work at your very disposal,but you deliberate jettisoned and abdicated your duties as the leader of the most populous black nation in the world. However,the 2013 budget is another opportunity for your administration to have an appreciable impacts on the lives of every Nigerian provided you unclad corruption and deal with it headlong.
It's ‎my prayer that God almighty will see you through as you continue to pilot the affairs of this our great country towards the right direction of greatness.

Some misguided Nigerians have shown Mr President no mercy with all sort of criticisms. He needs everybody's support as he cannot do it alone. Many of us need attitudinal changes so that Nigeria can ‎​be developed with our collective efforts. Let's stop playing the politics of acrimony and focus on developmental issues. There is never a good president anywhere in the world,challenges ‎​Make one. ‎​​I pray God will see Mr President through this challenging moment of the country's history.

The Boko Haram insurgency is politically motivated and infused with religion divides. I think I need to sound clear here that NOBODY fights for God. And northern youths should go and emancipate themselves from mental slavery. They should also get civilised with their elders and try to see beyond their nose.

The Boko Haram insurgency is politically motivated and infused with religion divides. I think I need to sound clear here that NOBODY fight for God. And northern youths should go and emancipate themselves from mental slavery. They should also get civilised with their elders and try to see beyond their nose.

I wouldn't want us to start playing a partisan politics here because there is always two sides to any coins. I want us to know that in every rumour,there are always some iotas of truth and there is no smoke without fire. For such a sensitive security report against Aregbesola with facts starring at us at the face,I would rather advice him (Aregbesola) to retrace his steps. I'm sure every right-thinking person knows that Aregbesola is not the only muslim governor the ACN as an opposition party has produced,and why such allegation of an extremist has not been levelled against his counterparts who are muslim and also ACN members?. Aregbesola should know that Nigeria is a secular state where anybody has the right to practise any religion he/she likes without being intimidated by any religion fanatics. And for his information,if he feels Nigeria is too infidel for him to practise his religion,he can relocate to any of these Islam practising nations;Saudi Arabia,Kuwait,Iran,Iraq,Afghanistan,Syria etc. And I will do everything in my power to make sure he secures a citizenship passport in any of those aforementioned nations,while he does not cause any religion crisis here because we've had enough of Boko Haram.

In every rumour,there are some iota of truth. But I won't want anybody to be predicting any doom for anybody's marriage. As we all know that every marriage comes with its own challenge(s). It's my prayer that God will continue to substain their marriage,in Jesus name.

Let me sound EMPHATICALLY here to the poster to tell his friend that not all virgin girl bleed at the first intercourse. The poster's friend just need to trust his wife and go ahead to enjoy his marriage. Please,the young man should spear his wife of the mental stress and take good care of his wife. Let me conclude by saying,experience is the best teacher. I won't say more than that. The young man involve should send me a message into my facebook inbox,while I tell him some facts about virginity. Here is my email address;afosam4real@yahoo.com. Thank you.

For those who are find it difficult to believe the story pls,know that in every rumour there are some iota of truth. Tinubu has remained the cancan-worm that is milky the wealth of southwest dry. I think he should be asked where he's taking the whole money to.

Marlboro1: Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Senator David Mark of Benue State

Anybody who is clamouring for David Mark to become Nigeria president,should be subjected pyschiatric diagnosis and some medical cross examination. Because I don't think any rightful think man will come to air such irritating word in public domain like this. David Mark lacks the probity to be Nigerian president.He doesn't have moral justification or any credible feature(s) to be Nigerian president. David Mark,the then minister of communication who said telephone is not meant for the poor,and now the Senate president who is taking the lion share of the jombo salary and allowance they're collecting there. Please,some people need to stop walking with their head down and get it righ up to start thinking with it

Marlboro1: Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Senator David Mark of Benue State

Anybody who is clamouring for David Mark to become Nigeria president,should be subjected pyschiatric diagnosis and some medical cross examination. Because I don't think any rightful think man will come to air such irritating words in public domain like this. David Mark lacks the probity to be Nigerian president.He doesn't have moral justification or any credible feature(s) to be Nigerian president. David Mark,the then minister of communication who said telephone is not meant for the poor,and now the Senate president who is taking the lion share of the jombo salary and allowance they're collecting there. Please,some people need to stop walking with their heads down and get it righ up to start thinking with it.