₦airaland Forum

President Trump told his guests, which included the leaders of Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda, "I have so many friends going to your countries trying to get rich. I congratulate you, they're spending a lot of money."
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/09/25/553496462/trump-s-friends-are-going-to-africa-to-get-rich-that-s-not-a-bad-idea

The reason people from the richest countries leave and come to Nigeria we hate so much, is because Nigeria is the easiest place in the world to make money; as long as you can hold your nose, they say. Those of us who think otherwise must accept we are cowards that cannot face the Vagabonds in Power and vultures sucking our blood, deny us riches of our land in exchange with Europeans, Americans, Asians and Arab for mirrors. Aided by Apologists of Crime Culture.

“Africa has tremendous business potential. I’ve so many friends going to your countries, trying to get rich,”
https://time.com/4951006/trump-africa-get-rich/

Mass Murderers Encouraged By Our Apologists Of Crime Culture


The reason people from the richest countries leave and come to Nigeria we hate so much, is because Nigeria is the easiest place in the world to make money; as long as you can hold your nose, they say. Those of us who think otherwise must accept we are cowards that cannot face the Vagabonds in Power and vultures sucking our blood, deny us riches of our land in exchange with Europeans, Americans, Asians and Arab for mirrors. Aided by Apologists of Crime Culture.

People have always known Political Pen Robbers as Mass Murderers. They kill more people daily by denying them access to food, salaries, hospitals, schools, while giving access to dangerous (or inadequate) roads and other infrastructure because they are indifferent. Yet, the same masses they are killing daily, glorify them. They deserve the worst punishment since they neglect youths to cross the desert and sea, but send their families or children to study in Europe or America while killing more communities and folks than drugs, armed robbers or Yahoo boys.

It was sad to see Nigerians maimed or killed before evacuation from South Africa just as it was regretful when we decided on Ghana Must Go. Irrespective of the reason for using crimes to paint innocent men trying to make an honest living around the world, many Africans are guilty of self-hate. We cry for casualties across the sea to Europe or America just as we sob for victims of crimes at home. Kicking out criminals can be justified, but painting majority of migrants with the same brush, solve no problem in any country. It only gives us a false sense of security.

Fortunately, most Africans still have countries they can go back to. Remember your path back home and do not burn bridges. But once we started normalizing crimes because you were not the first and not going to be the last criminal, we are lost. We should have known it was going to get worse for us at home. Crimes develop wings of their own and if they are not frown upon or stamped out by proportional deterrent, crimes perpetuates into 419, drugs and rituals.

Fellow Africans used to wonder: how many millions were there to steal in Nigeria before billion came into imagination? A few Nigerians celebrated becoming billionaires when the budget was still in millions, without any visible means of livelihood. After all, cronies, political contractors and middle men were selling their acquired licenses to import anything from used goods, pins to pencils in the name of liberalization, leading to the introduction of austerity measures.

Nigerians were happy that as long as they could source the money, anyone could import whatever they want without thinking about how their Country were going to pay. Forex market traders grew at the expense of petty traders. Shehu Shagari liberalization policy was just a sugar high then, we still cannot let go today because it increased food imports sharply as it relaxed bans, driving down prices for local farmers and enriching political and business elites .

Awolowo, a shrewd technocrat that managed the country Finance through a war without borrowing a penny, had warned them loudly that Nigeria could not sustain spending forex like drunken sailors. Richard Akinjide led in calling him: Prophet of Doom. Political Mass Murderers were encouraged by a fundamental change in the crime culture where Apologists normalized what was known mildly as dishonesty to the point of abomination into 419, drugs and rituals.

These Political Mass murderers became billionaires when Nigeria’s budget was in millions or millionaires when state or local budget was less. They were worse than armed robbers put to death but it never makes sense venting that anger by jungle justice on the poor hungry bellies for stealing food in our markets. Parents started turning a blind eye to the misdeeds of their own children after they have been reported for drugs or stealing: shey na your money he steal!

Forex market traders became billionaires rather than jubilating poor traders celebrating liberalization of market. The reason Buhari overthrew Shehu Shagari was that within his first 4 years, the Country went from a trade surplus, even with huge investment in the capital City of Abuja, to a deficit in two years. We forgot that Buhari had jailed Dr. Shodipo and Fela Kuti among others, for much less access to foreign currency than the petty traders of used goods, pins and pencils have today. Buhari even tried to smuggle Umaru Dikko back home.

Falana, the human rights lawyer is still looking for and wondering where is the same Buhari today and why the anti-graft agencies have not investigated the $16 billion purportedly spent on generating electricity in the country. The disappearance of the sum of $12.2 billion under the Babangida's military junta that overthrew Buhari to cover up his own blemishes.

Since 1983 that the country went bankrupt we could not pay our bills and had to borrow.
Buhari was elected based on another spending spree by Jonathan Government that he was supposed to correct. We are wondering how long it is going to take to turn Nigeria around after Buhari four years without the fear of Babangida palace coup d'etat of 1983 lurking behind him.

A deal struck by Shell and Eni for one of Africa’s most promising oil blocks reduced Nigeria’s expected revenue by an estimated $6bn, new analysis from world-class oil experts revealed. The projected lost revenue could fund Nigeria’s combined annual federal health and education budgets twice over.

* It was established that Abacha the late dictator stole over $5 billion from the vaults of the CBN through his National Security Adviser (NSA), Mohammed Gwazo.

*The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) “failed to pay” about $16 billion in revenue owed to the state’s treasury, according to an audit.

*Even more depressing is enumerating how many billions in US dollars have been stolen and transferred to the richest countries in the world that claim Nigeria is the best place to make easy money. We already have the names of those who looted money into foreign banks.
When Abdulsalami Abubakar replaced Abacha after his death, he went wild and depleted our foreign reserve from $9.7 billion to $7.17 billion.

*An estimated $37bn of stolen Nigerian money is believed to be in London.

*Nigeria’s anti-corruption Tsar Ibrahim Magu said Nigeria wants to extradite Ms. Alison-Madueke because “no prosecution” was progressing in Britain.

*Dezeani jewelry alone is about $40m while farmers in Niger Delta are hungry and cannot feed their families.

Buhari how market nah?

Farouk Martins Aresa @oomoaresa
https://www.modernghana.com/news/955109/mass-murderers-encouraged-by-our-apologists-of.html

if politicians can flaunt looted wealth in front of those they stole it from, so can kidnappers and armed robbers. They are all looking for praises from the dispossessed. The fools give it to them.

Until they get the same treatment as the poor people stealing in the market or the German treatment when they flaunt their power overseas, we will never solve the problem. Silence is as good as acceptance.

Emeka Ojukwu: The President Nigeria Never Had



Farouk Martins Aresa - November 2010

As we pray for the recovery of Ikemba for the good old days just before the war, the man is a leader amongst equals in and outside the military. It has been said and written many times that we should not wait until a man is dying before rushing them abroad for treatment when we can provide a suitable hospital in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country specializing in different areas. The wear and tear of taking them abroad only make their situations worse since they must have some stability to make the journey. Let us hope this is not a goodbye as others.

Children tend to have certain memories adults forget or care little about; and for those children in the Eastern Region then, it was when Ojukwu became a military Governor that he abolished differential treatment on scholarships for non indigenes. Fair to say, school fees in the East was not waived or free for indigene and scholarships had to be reserved. No matter how long it lasted, that temporary relief gave many Nigerians a head start. Yes, Western Region had the same thing in place, but that did not take away the intention of Ojukwu as a dedicated Nigerian.

When Ojukwu had a master, it did not make a difference in what but it came from some far place like Oxford in England when many of his cohorts were happy with high school education. Many of them got to the height of their careers in private businesses and government while this man settled for the Army. In those days, the caliber of children going into the Army was those from poor homes and with no opportunities. Asking us to go into the military is like forsaking your dearest. The only exceptions were doctors and nurses because their humanitarian services were not limited. In the case of Ikemba, we just could not wait to hear him speak wondering about the vocabularies that would come out of his mouth.

It must be quickly pointed out that in the North, the royals go into Army and many of them were highly educated in Arabic. The problem is transferring Arabic training which was geared to prayers into English practical adaptation of everyday life. In other words, most Arabic scholars were Muslims religious men while most English scholars may not even be Christian religious men and women. Indeed, some of those that went into the Army from both the South and North had political power in sight, as some would later say of Ojukwu.

There was this aunt of ours that told us if she had known that Ojukwu was going to be the rebel leader, she had the power to crush the little kid with her foot on his way to primary school in those days. She never suspected that the little tiny kid would become Ojukwu the war hero to many of us. The way she talked, you would think she had that power herself. Ojukwu later gave us his own story about growing up in Lagos and how he had to be sent home to Nnewi because he was behaving badly with difficulty identifying with Igbotic ways.

Don't blame our aunt, she must have heard us singing the praises of Ojukwu just before the war as secret lovers of that young handsome man.

We used to listen to Radio Biafra and sometimes got carried away with Ojukwu propaganda.

You come by road we finish una

You come by sea we finish una

You come by air we finish una

What did we know until Ojukwu bombed Rowe Park and our eyes become wide opened that this war was for real and could have taken many of us as it did many people that lost their lives as the war itself progressed or degenerated.

The man Ojukwu hardly talked. In those days, men that attended universities had so much knowledge, only God has more. The fact that he was a soldier did not diminish any of his polished or imagined sophistication. So it is strange that some of us will grow up to disagree with this man in any area of his philosophies. Could that be the same Ojukwu or we just grew up and become educated like him?

Our point was made when he took those soldiers to Aburi. It was a mismatch from the start. An Oxford educated hero taking some soldiers to Aburi. We actually forgot that he was a soldier too or refuse to accept that he belonged in that khaki uniform. Even when we see him as a military governor, this one has a touch of class and decency. If it has to do with his father and upbringing, children like us cared very little about those. The man himself is a dignified hero.

As we waited for the result from Aburi, we knew he had them by his fingers. When they brought the agreement to bureaucrats they yelled and threw their hands in the air. He had them real good. It could not be implemented as it stood and had to be renegotiated. He must have known that he took advantage of their soldier mentality and low caliber of class and education. On Aburi we stand, declared Ojukwu.

Therefore no matter what our differences is with Ojukwu later in life, that awe we had for him never disappeared completely because it actually inspired many of us as children. Some of us rationalized that if Ojukwu had not gone into politics after he returned from exile, he could have remained bigger than life. When he returned, Lagos was at a standstill no matter what part of Nigeria we came from. Everyone wanted a glimpse of him. He remained majestic, quiet and thoughtful or so we imagined.

So the first mistake was joining the National Party of Nigeria. Though many of us might have been greatly disappointed, we still gave him the benefit of doubt. That was, if he had not agreed to their terms he would still be in exile. Knowing Ojukwu as we did some thought that would not be him. Nobody dictates to Ojukwu. No way!

As Ojukwu went further into politics, he fell from grace of a national hero loved or respected for his stand no matter which part we sided with during the war to a regional hero. Even then, there was no agreement on him within his region. In retrospect, many wondered if it could have been better for the Igbo Nation if he had accepted compromised Aburi agreement instead of insisting on everything.

Farouk Martins Aresa November 27, 2011
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/odumegwu-ojukwu/emeka-ojukwu-the-president-nigeria-never-had.html

Go Back To Fix Your Wretched Communities: If So Smart And Rich

Nobody provided enabling an environment for African billionaires when they establish schools, factories or manufacturing plants in the middle of nowhere and in the face of discrimination against all odds outside Africa. More Africans could have made it at home but for greed, self-hatred, pulling down one another and distaste for locally-made products and services for preferences encouraged by foreign fraud and deceptive trade practices.

"Go back" is not new as it has been used against Irish, Polish, Jews in Europe and even German socialists in early America. But the only people it is still stuck with are Africans or people of color no matter how many generations have lived in Europe and the Americas. Our looters and those who joined in putting down their own countries are put on notice that you and your family even if you escape from home, would remain second class citizens, killed on the street like dogs but given due process as the last rite in a court of law; regardless of how highly placed or how much money you stashed in their banks.

On the other hand, if foreigners are so rich, why are they so mean spirited, afraid to compete on an equal playing field and scared of their shadows? But for the rich environment and good connections, most were lucky to be born into, they would have degenerated into wretchedness worse than Africans. Rich communities save many of us while poor environment retards the development of the gifted but unfortunate, without the opportunity to use God-given talents.

It does not mean that since a man is born in poverty, wretchedness is born in him. Talents come from unexpected diversified communities, even from the most deprived and environmental dumps. If foreigners were not in our communities sucking every living cell out of life in Africa, acquiring cheap resources and free labor to build their empires, there would be no need for a few of us to get out in order to make it. Meaning: If You Were Not Here We Will Not Be There.

If Africans wretched their countries hoping to escape to greener pastures, you have no place to hide or run to. Those that returned found our countries worse than how we left it, different to countries built by Herbert Macauley, Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ernest Ekoli, Obafemi Awolowo, Albert Luthuli or Jomo Kenyatta. Those that want to return are stuck as economic refugees because of the wishful thinking of ingrates expecting to create paradise outside Africa.

Unlike Independence fighters that returned home to wrestle in order to make Africa a better place. By their labor, most of us could not wait to get back home. If you do not come back when you finish your studies, folks would say: you wan kill your mama. Later, Military and vagabonds in power turned Africa into forsaken countries. These vagabonds became foreign cronies (costoma dada ni) patronizing foreign institutions, Structural Adjustment, and Devaluations for plundering our resources, waste talents and vandalized Africa into poverty never imagined.

Yet, we celebrate fake success at home or abroad where you are constantly told to "go back" and rescue your ancestral countries? Those on the land of American Indians before Columbus are told to "go back" by immigrants that met them there. A reminder that none of us, Africans at home or in Diaspora will be respected anywhere in the world until one or more African communities can be successfully ruled and managed in their own countries economically and politically. Your acquired accents, education and hospitals can't save you from hell – “Go Back”!

Stokely Carmichael reminded us that West Indian countries were not built to be self-sufficient or successful but used as a sugar cane plantation. It is up to us to change Africa into a sustainable place that can trade within and negotiate fair and equal trade with the rest of the world. We cannot cry over the ways others protect their self-interest anywhere if we do not protect assets and talents at home. There is nothing wrong with loving yourself or your own people as others do, but everything wrong with self-hating and justifying their policies and insults against you.

Therefore when Africans celebrate their riches at home on social media and brag about just landing from “civilized climes”; you may want to know at whose expense they are celebrating. Indeed, some of these Africans would drive a hot shaft through their mothers and throw her under the bus like their colleagues at home to make money and gain fame. Some of them blame “natives of color” and Africans victims in Diaspora for their own predicament.

Even worse are Africans and minorities who champion, excuse and echo the derogatory slurs of their tormentors to elevate themselves, wishing that they will be accepted or accommodated. You can call them wannabe, traitors or Uncle Tom but they do it for selfish interest since they have lost all respect for one another. When Africans in Italy and Alberta Canada were elected, did you check out the platform of the parties that gave them the “opportunity”?

These are extreme right-wing parties looking for minorities to enforce hatred they have for Africans and minorities like them. History books and Libya exposed those Africans allowed to discipline other African slaves. They were brutal and worse than the “Massa” of the slaves.

Nevertheless, self-aggrandizing in the midst of poverty is nauseating. It is a curse to get high in the midst of want. Those of us that are lucky enough to “jam luck” with or without blood and sweat, must invest our wealth in productive endeavors that bring returns not only for our families but to our communities. Enough celebration on depreciating vanities. It does not profit a man to gain riches while leaving his people poorer. Invest that money in progressive ventures.

There are some honest hard-working middle-class Africans like Godwin Maduka, the Texas-based anesthesiologist that turned a little village in Igbo land around in Nigeria. He has a place to proudly call home. So if you are ridiculed and told to “go back” to your impoverished invested ancestral homes, show them the village you come from. Abi you dey shame?

The best way to illustrate the familiar “go back” to your ancestral land is to look at Libya and Congo as more recent cases. They bombed the heck out of Libya and dislocated the “paradise” Libyans now realized they had under Gadhafi. Subsidized education, health care, housing, first car, and first weddings. Libyans gave all these up for "democracy and freedom". Gadhafi was humiliated to death by his own people just as Lumumba in Congo. Na democracy we go chop?

When Libya became engulfed in a civil war, even guest workers and non-Libyans from neighboring Arab and African countries lost all their contracts and means of survival. As Libyans fled the dear country and tried to cross into Europe and the Americas followed by other Arabs and Africans, you guess it right. They were told to “go back” to their countries. The plight of Africans drowning in the sea, dying in the desert and enslaved; another story.

The point remains that if they were not in our Continent to exploit, destroy and subjugate people they consider disposable, there was no reason so many people would have fled their homelands to seek democracy and freedom branded in their countries as their human right. These are the same people that denied the same democratic rights for their minorities to vote. Anyway and anyhow they could: to suppress their votes.

African countries head the poverty list with most children used to beg for arms and foreign aid. We need to wake up and help ourselves, confront our exploiters and negotiate terms of trade as a United Continent, not play up as the small colonial divided ethnic nations. Apoda, who cares about which foreign hospital you die in or the foreign school your children graduated from when the poverty you created to get the money at home cries out loud to your Massa?

By Farouk Martins Aresa
https://www.modernghana.com/news/945919/go-back-to-fix-your-wretched-communities-if-so-smart-and-ri.html

It may be too late. The seed of discord may have reached its peak while Bihari stayed indifferent

During the 18th and 19th centuries when the British were dispossessing the natives of their land by vesting their control in the hand and mercy of the Queen of England. Chief Oluwa Amodu Tijani, one of the prominent sons of Awori fought them all the way to the highest Court in England represented by no other than Herbert Macauley and won in 1921. The significant of Tijani courage cannot be lost as the pioneer of assertion of land rights to native land-owners throughout Africa.

Another Pastor?

Oh another and another!

From most studies, rich countries have more depressed people with higher suicide rate than poor countries.

It does not heal the increasing poverty in developing countries especially in Nigeria that had oil windfall. Those that did not share in the oil wealth are mad as hell leading to depression.

helinues:
Depression is only accumulations of unsolved problems.

Whether you are poor or rich, as long as you have I dont care attitudes to important issues, depression may be near by

[quote]Therefore, do not be surprised that the countries we are obsessed with have more depression and suicide than African countries. /quote]

If only Africans improve and built on their civilization, selective in their embrace of others religions that shape our lives. But more importantly, refine and clean up our fetishes, we would not be so dependent on anything foreign.

Depression Killing The Rich, Poor, Young & Old Africans Than Ever

People are committing suicide in greater number than we have ever witnessed. It cuts across all spectra regardless of income and age. Sanctity, value and respect for lives matter despite data of our population explosion. History demonstrated that Africans are very resilient, withstood a great deal of adversities from one continent to another and survived against all odds. Africans outlive homicide and suicide even in Europe or America, despite disproportional number in jail.

The saying that it takes a village to raise children in Africa has a deeper implication. While the poor have more children, the rich prefer more money. Our community used to interact more around children for them to experience and grow in a rich cultural and safe environment. The loss of this rich cultural environment creates immoral behavior, crimes, and vagabonds leading to more depression in African communities where suicide used to be an abomination.


In the attempt to retrace or rectify our failures, we break our necks pursuing money beyond our reach to acquire foreign vanities. Usually for no other reason than to prove on social media that we can be better than expectations. This is not necessarily a bad pursuit except in communities where losers are trying to outdo one another, so create unhappiness. Not because we are poor or lack but because we want to overtake others without knowing how they made their money.

What is the cause of depression despite more oil money within the rich? The Spirits of masses the rich condemned into abject poverty, village folks with curses pouring on their heads must be haunting the oppressors. This is too mythical, we must examine a curse we can substantiate with evidence. We all know that once children take to foreign media, immoral cultures at home or outside Africa, they cannot be easily cultured the way Africans were in the past.
https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/print/279384/1/depression-killing-the-rich-poor-young-old-africans-than-ever.html

Greed kills faster than poverty. Poverty is mainly pointed to as the culprit but we were happier before oil money used by oppressors to enrich one another at the expense of the masses that have been denied basic necessities of life as food, shelter and education. Unfortunately, those that take the basic necessities for granted because they find it easily obtainable are also taking their own lives or in jail. So it is not just having the means to survive alone, there is more to life.

It's like pursuing Dangote, Odetola, Danjuma the Niger Delta oil owner, Evans the kidnapper or Tinubu the godfather and Lagos premium landowner but not privileged to their sources of income. Not all of the Africans that want to be billionaires or International players, succeed! The same way businessman compete, politicians and armed robbers compete. Failure to secure contract, loss of relationship or inability to reach a goal even when rich, conjure depression.

While Western billionaires finally realized that they cannot take the money with them, African billionaires are still hustling preparing their Pharoah’s graves loaded with gold, silver and ordinary paper decorated as 100 British or American promissory notes that cost a few cents to print. They have exhausted means of happiness in their self-worth at home, their destinations overseas where they realize that their riches level them, no greater than a “neegga” that can be thrown into jails like dogs. Until Africa is respected, no Blackman will be respected anywhere.

You make money, do not let the money make you miserable. There are better ways to relieve stress leading to depression that degenerate to suicidal thoughts. Take up gardening, farming, rear cattle or chickens, exercise your brain and body parts. You can also bond with pets of your choice and comfort free. It can be a cat, dog or a horse depending on your means. The way our fathers and mothers relax and play “Ayo” in the farm are still valid today to relieve stress.

What about those families that gave their children everything and still have more left to share? They should not fall into depression like the poor parents. Having money to train your children these days means giving them an education that is devoid of our upbringing, culture, and environment. The education is not tailored to our benefit but for the benefit of the world’s international markets, to assimilate outside tastes but isolated and ignorant of African culture.

All the investment on their children have not paid off. When parents spent all their savings on the education of their children, only to find out that they could not find jobs in the new market culture of get rich quick, aim for greener pasture of no return or crimes. Disappointment can be devastating on both poor and rich families, causing loss of confidants and depression.

After all, we now have rich parents complaining that most of their children are trained overseas and they only come back to Africa on vacations for special events. If anything happens to them at home or die, the children would come back home alright, but only for burial and may never come back again since they have not bonded. Their grandkids are total strangers at home and abroad. If their children do not speak the language to their parents, how could grandkids?

There are children longing for someone to call a parent, either poor or wealthy. Yet, we have heard stories of children kidnapping themselves or getting someone to extort money from their own parents. On the other hand are house-helps that have taken to their employers as parents. Nobody has to be childless or deserted in a country where the population of kids is exploding.

The poor may dismissed this as the problem of the rich while they have more genuine problem and would gladly switch places with the children of the rich. When the rich think about how they have isolated themselves from their families with their own money, they wish they could replace the money with loving close families. Many regretted how they spent educational fees abroad instead of investing in local schools at home to increase quality. No, they want to brag O.

Relationship matters but can be a double edge sword. Indeed, toxic relationship is worse than none. The point here is to find a comfortable choice within a variety of options instead of taking the worst option, either we are poor or wealthy. Even homeless folks enjoy their independence than staying with hostile relatives. Unfortunately, we have more women homeless today than ever because of ungrateful children. Still better than fathers that are mostly deserted when old.

New and modern challenges deserve new approaches which the old way may not be able to adapt to. The dissonance is even more pronounced outside Africa between parents and their children. The loss of control and inability to shape the lives of their children is just as depressing as those that think they have lost most of their investment on their kids. While those at home wish they are abroad, those in Diaspora wish they can be home to recreate Africa they grew up.

Therefore, do not be surprised that the countries we are obsessed with have more depression and suicide than African countries. The main causes of depression are from loneliness, lack of family’s support, broken hearts from love relationships in a community that has lost control and that is not as supportive and creative as the one our parents grew up in.

Whatever happened to our - It takes a village to raise African children!
Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Published: Friday, June 28, 2019

Nobody is immune to depression, rich or poor. People are different and like any treatment, what may work for one may not work for another. People who were poor all their lives until they won lottery do commit suicide.

While money may work for some temporarily, it is irrelevant to others. One of the cures have always been family and friends support but these days even those can turn against you. The reason some people withdraw and become happier.

Whatever the depression, exercise and outdoor activities help. Believe it or not, some people use parties and club-ing without drinking for temporary cure of depression. Another is watching people from a distance enjoying themselves without getting involved. This is why we watch movies and entertainment.

If it is caused by loss of friendship or loved ones dis-engage-ment, looking for a replacement may help as long as you are not looking for ideal or exact replica. Do not make depression last, take it as a passing phase and move on.

I am kind of rusty now. Somebody can please correct me.

Doctors used to be on level 10 with those that obtained advanced degree like PhD to start. I think master was level 9 or 10. But since doctors union have become aggressive comparing themselves to USA and Canada MDs, they have been elevated for peace sake.

Even then, they still waste their talents and training trying to pass exams overseas. Many of them leave.

Until engineers are respected and given their due respect, we will remain a developing country forever. All the experts brought into the country for infrastructure as in bridges and Eko Atlantic are engineers. Nigerian engineers are not exposed to local development just as doctors do not know a thing about tropical medicine where they live. All our graduates are trained according to western curriculum. (To be international).

Doctors (except the children of babalawo that are well versed in tropical medicine) can be easily replaced by physician assistant train in schools of medical technology. Saying doctors are ready to go on their first day on the job unlike engineer is nothing but bull. Even after ten years, a good doctor always consult and refer to specialist. Not Nigerian doctors.

Yet, doctors trained abroad drop big salaries and good life to come back here and work. It paid off during Ebola outbreak. Remember, junior doctors were on strike!

BTW, tell your children to study anything engineering. It is the future. I wish I did.

When are we going to accept that the bad eggs among us are increasing and infecting more and more people across the board regardless of regions.

Racoon:
There is still some trepidation by the Aresa man that pen down this writeup.He doesnt have the boldness to call the "those trying to usurp their land from North, South and Center." the marauding & killer fulanis that they are.
Abeg direct your lamentation toward Tinubu & some of your SW brethren who are ever ready to sacrifice the political existence of the region just to eat the crumbs of power.

Tinubu fought the autocratic govt of late Gen.Sanni Abacha only for him to become another tyrannt himself
VP Osinbajo that legally fought for restructuring have long jettison the concept because of the inordinate quest for political power.

kanubiafra:
none of the above they are on the verge of confusion

Yeah, right.

Their best weapon worked when you and others underestimated them. Do not come crying when you are caught by surprise.

Western Nigeria on the verge of submission or secession

Kidnapping for ransom with impunity and ethnic suzerainty has divided brothers and sisters into different hamlets and villages turning their Chiefs, Emir or Igwe into President of nations. People are calling for regional police to check incessant deadly assaults across state lines. We already have Sharia Police, so regional police cannot be a big deal. Indeed, Nigeria used to have Special Constables locally years back.

Yet, if left on their own, states cannot generate enough revenue to sustain their police and pay workers within. Imagine local police without pay. Right now, some states have not paid government workers for months. While everyone runs to Abuja to collect their share of foreign oil income from the homes of poor fishermen and farmers: remain environmental disaster dump. No matter who the Presidents are. This is a lesson to all.

However, the bleeding, looting, the corruption of thoughts and thoughtless conspicuous extravaganza have destroyed the moral fiber of the Country including the West. There is no way these outlandish senseless corruption can escape even the most decent folks gasping for moral courage. Western Nigeria has been backed into a corner, attacked from all sides; to the point where they have to defend notorious leaders and their vigilantes for no other reason than to send their own fire to fight fire!

Go West Young Man Go West was a popular phrase used as far back as 1851 in the United States urging young people looking for opportunities to go West. Before that same time, the Western Nigeria was booming from Ilesha to Lagos where locals and returning freed slaves from Europe and the Americas traded in foreign, local goods and services. Ibadan has never gotten enough credit for its prowess, nor had Ijebu traders. First foreign schools were established by Christians: Wesleyan Methodist Primary in 1843 and CMS Secondary in 1859. Muslim schools came later but each family has both

There were many firsts too many to mention from engineers, iron workers, plumbers, carpenters that built Lagos Brazilian quarters, Iju Water Works, churches, mosques, roads gutters and boats used not only for recreation but for serious business of fishermen. Complimenting these strategic professions on other lanes were the first lawyers, doctors, teachers and accountants under their father’s or their own “Petesi”. They traded gold, silver, exotic materials of damask and aso-Matin.


Aso-Matin and damask were worn by the rich and famous. One of the most famous traders that imported Aso-Matin also had the main street named after him right in the middle of Lagos – Martins Street. Three Lagosians’ tombstones were moved close to one another to make way for the widening of the streets at Ita Akani. They were Ogun Ojo Martins, Taiwo Olowo, Dr. Akiola Maja around Breadfruit Street at Garber Square.

During the 18th and 19th centuries when the British were dispossessing the natives of their land by vesting their control in the hand and mercy of the Queen of England. Chief Oluwa Amodu Tijani, one of the prominent sons of Awori fought them all the way to the highest Court in England represented by no other than Herbert Macauley and won in 1921. The significant of Tijani courage cannot be lost as the pioneer of assertion of land rights to native land-owners throughout Africa.

Though Bishop Ajayi Crowther, born in 1809 was captured as a child slave, the ship got intercepted by the Abolitionists on the high seas and returned back to shore. His education at Oxford and Fourah Bay College benefitted many Africans from Sierra Leone to Cameroon in West Africa. He was mostly known for translating the Bible from English to Yoruba, Igbo and other local languages where he served as Christian clergy.

This background history established the foundation of Nigeria today and explain the reason Western Region stands as a pioneering foundation for the modernization of Nigeria. It was not by accident, but by hard work, selflessness and the understanding that one individual must not rest until he takes his people along in the successful pursuit of political independence, economic salvation and psychosocial happiness of most.

If we do not know where we are going, let us think about where we were coming from. The individual sacrifices made by our regional fathers from Herbert Macaulay, Ekoli, Azikiwe, Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and Aminu Kano must never be forgotten in a country so rich in history and formidable activists. Like most countries, our country has many problems but we compounded it with the curse of oil income that reduces us to the poverty capital of the world.

Though Lagos, Ijebu and Abeokuta became the germination ground for progress, the Country would not have survived without the backing of towns and villages throughout Nigeria that supported their sons and daughters during the time of struggle for political survival before they finally obtain Independence. We must not forget that these were babies just out of colleges and universities forming Youth Movement in their 20s.

The notion that the West has finally had enough of Nigeria may be chilling to some of our collective memories because of its strategic historical roles. It was a fertile ground not only for Nigerians but for Africans; many of who went back home, like Nelson Mandela, telling their folks about their formative years in Western Nigeria of their days.

Western Nigeria is now preparing its citizens for deadly attacks and those trying to usurp their land from North, South and Center. They are not giving up an inch of land to anyone or soul, no matter where they come from. They want the West so badly as if their survival in this world depend on it. Otherwise break Nigeria into pieces to recapture it piece by piece. Sorry, the West is neither on the auction block nor rolling over for roaming scavengers.

The irony of all these, is that no other region accommodate and tolerated strangers within them than the West. No other region extend such accommodation or tolerance for others or even their own neighbors. It has got to a point where many people are suggesting curtailment or outright cut back of privileges if it is not appreciated or if it is just taken for granted in the West. It is where many people hide from their own people and visit home states unnoticed. It does not make the West the refugee region.

Unfortunately, migration, environment and politics have divided people that were the same early in the early centuries into tribes and ethnic groups. Sadly to the point where “my People Are Killing My People” within Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw. Everyone wants to be the tribal President in his village or town making their place impenetrable for their neighbors. The only place that welcomed strangers within them are abused in their own land.

By Farouk Martins Aresa -June 14, 2019
https://thenews-chronicle.com/western-nigeria-on-the-verge-of-submission-or-secession/

I do not believe that some Nigerians lack any sense of history, even recent history. The real "painment, as in e pain am" is alignment with Israel no matter what, along the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

All you need to know is what Africans, not Palestinians, go through in Israel. Actually they just dropped one of the most racist deportation program of Africans after a deal with a few countries and UN for "ransom". Sooner or later, they will revive it again.

Some of you think Netanyahu just came on the scene as PM. Check out his political leaning before he became PM, how he did and his utterances against African countries.

I am not your teacher, Google is your friend.

Africans supporting right wing parties either in the Middle East or Western world are in for personal shockers. I know some of you support our brothers and sisters that have joined right wing parties in Canada, Italy and Britain (I think). These parties are using them to carry out the most vicious policies against immigrants like themselves. And they are being congratulated in Nigeria.

As we say, Iyam sori for you.

Please can someone show them the place politicians gather in Abuja and state capitals to invoke jungle justice.

There is hope O! Some youths, at the risk of their lives, belled the cat. They invaded a police station with petrol cans demanding the release of their colleagues unjustly detained. Police relented for fear of their dear lives. These are not armed robbers, hooligans or thugs, they are just as mad as hell as in Arab Spring. Why not your Looters in the States and Capital Houses?

Economic Salvation Is In Your Pockets Not In Foreign Land

There is hope O! Some youths, at the risk of their lives, belled the cat. They invaded a police station with petrol cans demanding the release of their colleagues unjustly detained. Police relented for fear of their dear lives. These are not armed robbers, hooligans or thugs, they are just as mad as hell as in Arab Spring. Why not your Looters in the States and Capital Houses?

It is unproductive telling youth: colonization of 50 years ago crippled their future. Yet, the first million most Africans make today, find ways out into foreign countries to “blow”. Even those without a million borrow money from friends and relatives to check out of their countries.

The truth is Africa, is the place to make a great deal of money. Get this straight. Any Foreigner comes to Africa to make money, Africans go outside to spend money. Got it! Since we have been conditioned to think that Africans can’t achieve within, some of us have accepted that only foreign investments can save us. So, why not try “civilized climes” honeypots?

American/European without central sewage still proud. If we complain that there is no enabling environment in Africa, we must then wonder why people leave their place of comfort and come to hostile environment in Africa to make money. Stop fooling yourself, they are not Foreign Portfolio Investors looking to develop your countries. They are in Africa to make a kill and get out as soon as they can, in order to spend the fortune made, turning their lives around.


When you hear about their Foreign Partners and Foreign Shareholder, dig deeper! There are no foreign investors anywhere that would invest money in the so called emerging/poor economy without guarantees that they would make, double, triple or more on their investment. But local businesses cannot borrow at 20% rate and make a profit. If you think that is normal, point to loans anywhere except in developing countries where the interest rate is 20% or more.

Foreign investors hardly lose money in Africa because they are guaranteed by Governments. If their investment is not returned, they owned the projects, as in Zambia. These are real genuine projects, not odious loans where the borrowers representing African countries pocket half and the lenders pocket the other half leaving African Governments holding empty bags. On top of that are interests and penalties ballooning initial loan as demonstrated by Paris Club loans.

Leaders and even judges claimed they got the money hidden inside sewage tank for outlandish expenses from fake businesses. There must be free money in foreign countries to realize their tastes even after life. Any living African that has ever worked in foreign countries, if they are sincere, would tell you how supervisors worked the last penny out of them before they could earn a dime. In view of how they spend recklessly abroad and conspicuously at home; it makes no sense. We can never make the kind of money overseas foreigners make in Africa. Never!

Good schools, hospitals and jobs only exist in foreign countries, why not in Africa! If that is not the case, our leaders and the wealthy would not be sending their children to schools outside Africa. Even when they are sick with headache, they rush out of Africa to foreign hospitals. God forbid, if they die, the name of the hospitals or mortuaries in some foreign countries must be displayed conspicuous in their local obituaries. Putin: Africa is only good as their burial ground.

Education is not just programming, it is ideas from our brain, courage from the heart and dream from the mind. So there is no reason our educational system, hospitals and industrial estates would be suitable for our development since we abandoned, never explore or innovate within. Conditioned, we appreciate only what foreigners establish for us at home or seek it abroad so that we can patronize them forever. It is only logical that it would not be in foreigners’ interest to adapt our education and workforce, in order to compete them.

Africans generally and Nigerians in particular are called high achievers overseas. We hear about them every day, making money abroad. Indeed, Nigerians are known as the richest single ethnic group in America. Richer than whites and the Jews in many foreign countries. Statistical raw data can be deceitful and manipulative. What they do not tell you is that Africans work to death for less in one job: do two or three jobs, hardly at home to spend valuable time with families.

While it is true that there are highly qualified Africans, they never make the same salary or accorded the same privileges as their colleagues abroad. Many of them have to work overtime or second jobs as their fellow Africans work professional job in the day and jobs they will not do in Africa, at night. Even well qualified doctors trained in these foreign countries, rush to Emergency duties after a very busy schedule. Pity foreign doctors that gave up trying to make set-marks western examiners use to block or preserve limited space for their own students.

Nevertheless, there are those making good money and living comfortably but disrespected and disdained. If some of them dare tout their ingenuity, they are told to go to Africa and save their countries. If you-Africans cannot produce a single country most black people can be proud of, you’ve lost bragging rights in a foreign country. Yet some Africans echo the derogatory names they call our countries: it’s like a “neegga” calling others “neegga” their Massa labelled them.

Do not come out blaming your desperation on others, change it at home! Yes, it gets to you after a while. Find out why highly qualified Africans go back home where they make less money but are gratified for the respect and appreciation for their accomplishment. One gets to realize after a while, that there is more to life than money. It is true that one has to make that money first. Until then: please do not preach the unhappiness or evil that money brings. Even after juju men warnings, they insist on the imaginary money first and damn the consequences later.

Unfortunately, we never heard about those in reckless pursuit overseas that fail to make it or those that die out of pressure and depression. It does not help if those that are lucky to make it flaunt the money they got by hard work, hook or crook in the face of those still struggling. Some look at it as desperation to surpass and if foreign countries are the place to make a great deal of money, so be it! Heedless and oblivious since: Slave organ donor farms in Libya is no deterrent. Didn't they claim any country, even Libya, is better than other African countries?

Only to find themselves in slave camps actioned as organ donor throughout the world. They start begging African countries to rescue them. Make Africa livable so that other blacks can be proud of a place to call home. Charity begins where?

African American/European struggle to rediscover their African history: that they were children of wealthy Kings and Queens before Arabs and Europeans came to disrupt our civilization: trying to knock down stereotypes that they were saved from “sheetass” Africa. Now African youths call their place of birth worse, echoing their “disdain-ers”.

Foreigners never liked Nkrumah but they respected him. He was so respected, Asians invited him to negotiate peace treaty with them. While in Asia, Africans overthrew him at home. Another one bit the dust for trying to save Africa. We only worship looters that find foreign investors that make it easier to launder African foreign reserves.

Christian and Arab religions or culture failed to capture Japanese, China and Russia that have mastered their Arts and Sciences in their own local languages and successfully competed with them by been innovative on top of what they gained from the Western world. Africans are still following, tracing their steps by claiming Rome was not built in a day. Yet we had African history, Arts and Sciences that they learned from us as Barbarians, later disguised as theirs!

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Published: Thursday, May 23, 2019
https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/278437/economic-salvation-is-in-your-pockets-not-in-foreign-land.html#

Government Of The Privileged Rigged For The Privileged Ignored Poverty

How do we break the increasing number of African population in poverty with our Ethnic political system? Africans always model political system to western countries that gave us Independence. But there are different types of democracy from that practiced in the United States to Scandinavian countries. Their capitalism only varies by the amount of socialism embedded to smooth the harsh reality of the survival of the fittest.

Social safety nets were needed to avoid revolts within live free or die states and cushion the hungry workforce. Yet, corruption is in every political system. Check, balance and in China’s case dire consequences up to and including death might have brought down poverty drastically. Unfortunately, in Africa where corruption is shielded by the cry of due process, rule of law and democracy; tolerance emboldened and increased poverty with unplanned population growth.

Scarcity of basic needs perpetuate poverty and it is the road to mass revolt. Bread and butter imported into our communities have become basic needs. Tell an African that in another 10 to 20 years they are going to produce the greatest number of poor people in the world. He would claim not in his family, village or state. Actually, right now while China and India have reduced the number of poor people in the world by planning ahead, Africans are still in denial.

While poverty has decreased in Asia, especially in China and India, Africa the so called richest Continent now harbors most of the poorest people and Nigeria with most people in Africa leading the way. Yet Nigeria is the place where the most expensive imported luxuries are celebrated everyday on the social media as gifts to spite others.

The only role this insensitive and outrageous taunting of the poor does is incitement, rushing and goading the poor to strike riches any means, known as do or die. It is now the leading cause of making money without sweat, by prayers, drug peddling; as long as there are victims for rituals and fetish sacrifices including their own relatives. So when you see guys spraying money with machines or turn the roof to money rain, you must wonder!

The difference between democracy and dictatorship is the oppression of the poor by the rich on one hand. On the other hand, is the oppression of the rich by the poor. But do not be fooled, each becomes a privileged class and entrench themselves in power until the table turns. The exceptions are those that have been kept out of power for centuries but given token representations on the table of the privileged to justify their goodwill.

African countries have tried each of these political systems except modifying their traditional rule like the Cabinet system of Oyo Empire. Since we have not got it right, regardless, instability and poverty are created within our Ethnic politics. Think of Sudan, South Sudan and Ethnic Parties within each. United States is where Electoral College decides who is the President and in Britain Party chooses Prime Minister. Even then, communist countries like China and Russia call themselves democracy because of direct election of presidents by their people.

Democracy has never been all that it was meant to be. While giving the downtrodden and the dispossessed some relief of choice, there are people that prefer money or security to the freedom offered by democracy. Freedom itself is nebulous since it is not practiced in the capitalist market. Their goal is to make maximum profit for shareholders that comes before common good. So as the rights of the majority become subservient to the minority shareholders, it trumps democracy of one man one vote. Markets does not give equal opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

One can then make the argument that the reason poverty and the number of poor people has increase in Africa and decrease in Asia has more to do with individual greed that can attract death penalty, not so much the party they join. A perfect example is the way individual members cross from one party to another in Nigeria. The fact that their followers continued to vote for their own enslavement indicated ethnic following, not the interest of masses.

Other people prefer security to freedom. As strange as dictatorship is to democracy, it takes strong iron hand to restore peace and security even in a democratic setting. No matter the method of governance between dictatorship and democracy, the will of the privileged in both communities prevails. One is the oppression of the masses by the upper class while the other is the oppression of the upper class by the lower class.

There is this disconnect between Democracy and Capitalism that people assuming freedom fail to understand. While Democracy deals with equal rights and access to privileges, nothing guarantees those in a capitalist society. Not even communist and socialist societies guarantee access to capital for production or investments. The drug companies typified the greed of capitalism by the difference in pay between those at the bottom and the top, their obscene profit to Chief Executive Officers and shareholders.

The rulers, whether from capitalist or socialist countries become the privileged. After all, it was the workers that overthrew the bourgeoisie in socialist countries and the bourgeoisie in capitalist countries rule over the people. Either way, the rulers further their own interest before that of the workers or the people by indoctrination and lately by info media war. The costs are borne by money that is donated for campaign and stomach infrastructure to shape personal interest disguised as national interest or ethnic.
only factor that matters to our politicians, is individual interest. The party you chose is the one that satisfy your maximum individual interest. African politicians can actually shop around comparing contracts like a job or soccer salary offer before deciding which political party to pitch his tent. Ideology, class and manifestoes have become irrelevant. World’s largest population in poverty cannot be divorced from Party discipline that has broken down in many African countries in general and Nigeria particularly.


Tanzania is an example of a country that tried Ujama to be self-sufficient. This was contrary to world economic order that dictates where raw materials must come from and countries that must purchase or patronize finished goods. Even food that could be locally available must be refined, repackaged and distributed widely by making them appealing. The appeal could be by reorientation, baptism or outright capture of minds.

Bread, even in countries that do not produce wheat has become international measure of poverty. Capitalist countries need patronage of their goods and services. Therefore, they used every means to promote their brands for world consumption at higher prices as finished goods that can be produced with cheap labor and raw imported materials. Wheat bread has replaced stable food in most countries where they do not grow wheat.

How much ingenuity does it take to refine enough petrol in oil producing countries, produce corn beef, sardines, toilet papers or pencils locally? Venezuela is the new poster country for the poison of socialism. It used to be China, Soviet Union and little Cuba. What is common in each of these countries is the push for egalitarianism that is subject to check, balance and abuse. Yet, the real problem is the lack of motivation, not only to produce more locally for consumption but reliance on outside goods and services creating scarcity of locally produced goods; poverty!

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Published: Saturday, April 13, 2019
https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/277313/government-of-the-privileged-rigged-for-the.html#

Body & Mouth Odor Silently Destroy Some Relationships

Many people have experienced mouth or body odor at some point in their life, from friends and strangers, even worse right at home from somebody very close. As we get older, another form of body odor creeps in, not because of improper care or hygiene but as a natural part of getting older. The worst part of both mouth and body odor is that it may silently break relationships. People may limit or avoid contact without telling you why.

Some of those very close to you may let you know, especially your spouse, children and grandkids. But the further away the relationship, if it is not paved in stone, the more likely they would politely stay away or break intimate relationships. The fear of telling someone about mouth or body odor is not out of meanness but out of respect, not to hurt other people’s feelings, loss of gratuities or different advantages.

The reason unpleasant odor is common among men and less so among women has to do with enculturation from the days they were little girls. Parents sometimes let more boys get away with untidiness and many mothers clean up after their boys. Compare how neat most girls’ space are, to those of most boys at home with the same parents. It shows that not all privileges boys enjoy are positive. A few privileges may actually pose problem later in life.

Mouth odor or halitosis is much easier to prevent and deal with medically than body odor or older person’s smell (2-nonenal). Mouth odor can be prevented through good oral hygiene and visit to the dentist at least once a year. African parents are very strict about oral hygiene. Even in the villages, there are different types of chewing sticks with neutral to different tastes, from bitter to peppery plants that can kill bacteria causing bad mouth odor. There is also mouthwash (Ogun efu) in various flavors in cities and villages.

Unfortunately, many people without the help of dentist wait too long until their gums start irritating, bleeding and swelling (gingivitis). It does not have to get to that stage with good oral hygiene. We have to understand that our mouth is a reservoir for flora colony of bacteria useful for the food we eat, just like the rest of our guts (intestines and stomach) down to excretion after food is processed or bowel movement into waste.

We can help our teeth with digestion by cooking meat softer, cutting them into pieces on the plate into a bunch and staying away from bones as we get older. There is no need to create a fight between your fingers and your teeth trying to pull and cut meat to size.

This pathway from our mouth down, needs regular movement and cleaning. If food stick to our teeth too long, it gets rotten and starts to smell like anywhere else we notice spoilt food. In our mouth, spoilt food invite bacteria growth that weakens gums and damages our teeth. If they are not regularly cleaned, we develop sore gums that start bleeding. Sooner than later, our teeth coloration change, get damaged with holes (cavity).

Flossing after every meal cannot be overemphasized. Kola and bitter kola are also used as antibacterial agents by our elders. As kids after eating agbalumo we turned the skin into chewing gum. Fortunately, both guava fruit and its leaves are considered excellent antiplaque agents to help remove plaque accumulated on the teeth and gums. Plus, they have anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties that help reduce swelling and pain in the gum.

African students, Eveshorhema Sophia Samuel-Alli and Ibukunoluwa Ruth Oladeinde got worldwide recognition when they discovered in an experiment that African walnut (coula edulis) killed bad bacteria and cured mouth odor.

Plague is a pale yellow layer of bacteria that forms on teeth naturally. When combined in multiple layers with minerals and bacteria in saliva, they harden into white calcified substance called tartar. Tartar is a dental buildup of plague into calculus. Another 2008 study published in The Journal of Clinical Dentistry analyzed five clinical studies and concluded that baking soda paste or powder can efficiently remove plaque.

Restoration and cure can be very painful and expensive. Of course dentists have done better with anesthetics to make it less painful. The point here is that it does not have to get to that stage especially in our younger days. So as always, prevention is better than cure. Another 2015 study published in the Nigerian Medical Journal suggests that oil pulling with coconut oil is effective at reducing plaque formation.

Body odor may not be easily distinguished from mouth odor by friends and relative during contact. Sweat glands perspiration function to maintain constant body temperature level. So, the skin is cooled as perspiration evaporates. Perspiration itself actually has no odor. It’s only when sweat encounters bacteria on the skin that the smell radiates. Therefore, body odor (bromhidrosis) is a result of excessive secretion from our sweat glands (apocrine or eccrine) that becomes foul on contact with bacteria on the skin.

Old People Body Odor (2-nonenal) is the tough, unavoidable one in our advanced age around 40s. However, if nursing home can control and bring the smell to a minimum, so can individuals. We have to realize that as we get older, more cleaning-up than ever becomes the rule.

Again older women are better at smelling good than men. It is not just a matter of using good perfumes, they clean up more frequently. They also use deodorant, attractive and sweet perfumes that are hard to ignore. Well, they want to look good and attractive. So should men!

Of course, people’s bodily scents can also vary depending on their individual diets and lifestyle choices. One Japanese source provides a list of tips for those self-conscious readers who wish to decrease their unpleasant natural scents:

•For protein, eat more fish than meat, and even more soy products than fish.

•Get plenty of antioxidants by eating dark-colored vegetables, sesame seeds, nuts, and citrus fruits.

•Eat more brown rice.
•Try to get at least six hours of sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, your sebaceous glands will go into overdrive and production of the chemical 2-nonenal will increase.

Japanese persimmons and Southern Africa persimmons found throughout Africa from Senegal and the Sudan to Namibia and into northern Transvaal may accomplish the same magic in eliminating old person smell. The best natural body odor comes from babies and manufacturers capitalize on many baby powder and perfumes products. Hausa perfumes may be too strong for some but cover any unpleasant body odors. There are also incense and traditional body robs to attract opposite sex and convey messages to animals or enemies like mosquitoes; to keep off!

Farouk Martins Aresa
https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/277013/body-mouth-odor-silently-destroy-some-relationships.html

Body & Mouth Odor Silently Destroy Some Relationships

Many people have experienced mouth or body odor at some point in their life, from friends and strangers, even worse right at home from somebody very close. As we get older, another form of body odor creeps in, not because of improper care or hygiene but as a natural part of getting older. The worst part of both mouth and body odor is that it may silently break relationships. People may limit or avoid contact without telling you why.

Some of those very close to you may let you know, especially your spouse, children and grandkids. But the further away the relationship, if it is not paved in stone, the more likely they would politely stay away or break intimate relationships. The fear of telling someone about mouth or body odor is not out of meanness but out of respect, not to hurt other people’s feelings, loss of gratuities or different advantages.

The reason unpleasant odor is common among men and less so among women has to do with enculturation from the days they were little girls. Parents sometimes let more boys get away with untidiness and many mothers clean up after their boys. Compare how neat most girls’ space are, to those of most boys at home with the same parents. It shows that not all privileges boys enjoy are positive. A few privileges may actually pose problem later in life.

Mouth odor or halitosis is much easier to prevent and deal with medically than body odor or older person’s smell (2-nonenal). Mouth odor can be prevented through good oral hygiene and visit to the dentist at least once a year. African parents are very strict about oral hygiene. Even in the villages, there are different types of chewing sticks with neutral to different tastes, from bitter to peppery plants that can kill bacteria causing bad mouth odor. There is also mouthwash (Ogun efu) in various flavors in cities and villages.

Unfortunately, many people without the help of dentist wait too long until their gums start irritating, bleeding and swelling (gingivitis). It does not have to get to that stage with good oral hygiene. We have to understand that our mouth is a reservoir for flora colony of bacteria useful for the food we eat, just like the rest of our guts (intestines and stomach) down to excretion after food is processed or bowel movement into waste.

We can help our teeth with digestion by cooking meat softer, cutting them into pieces on the plate into a bunch and staying away from bones as we get older. There is no need to create a fight between your fingers and your teeth trying to pull and cut meat to size.

This pathway from our mouth down, needs regular movement and cleaning. If food stick to our teeth too long, it gets rotten and starts to smell like anywhere else we notice spoilt food. In our mouth, spoilt food invite bacteria growth that weakens gums and damages our teeth. If they are not regularly cleaned, we develop sore gums that start bleeding. Sooner than later, our teeth coloration change, get damaged with holes (cavity).

Flossing after every meal cannot be overemphasized. Kola and bitter kola are also used as antibacterial agents by our elders. As kids after eating agbalumo we turned the skin into chewing gum. Fortunately, both guava fruit and its leaves are considered excellent antiplaque agents to help remove plaque accumulated on the teeth and gums. Plus, they have anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties that help reduce swelling and pain in the gum.

African students, Eveshorhema Sophia Samuel-Alli and Ibukunoluwa Ruth Oladeinde got worldwide recognition when they discovered in an experiment that African walnut (coula edulis) killed bad bacteria and cured mouth odor.

Plague is a pale yellow layer of bacteria that forms on teeth naturally. When combined in multiple layers with minerals and bacteria in saliva, they harden into white calcified substance called tartar. Tartar is a dental buildup of plague into calculus. Another 2008 study published in The Journal of Clinical Dentistry analyzed five clinical studies and concluded that baking soda paste or powder can efficiently remove plaque.

Restoration and cure can be very painful and expensive. Of course dentists have done better with anesthetics to make it less painful. The point here is that it does not have to get to that stage especially in our younger days. So as always, prevention is better than cure. Another 2015 study published in the Nigerian Medical Journal suggests that oil pulling with coconut oil is effective at reducing plaque formation.

Body odor may not be easily distinguished from mouth odor by friends and relative during contact. Sweat glands perspiration function to maintain constant body temperature level. So, the skin is cooled as perspiration evaporates. Perspiration itself actually has no odor. It’s only when sweat encounters bacteria on the skin that the smell radiates. Therefore, body odor (bromhidrosis) is a result of excessive secretion from our sweat glands (apocrine or eccrine) that becomes foul on contact with bacteria on the skin.

Old People Body Odor (2-nonenal) is the tough, unavoidable one in our advanced age around 40s. However, if nursing home can control and bring the smell to a minimum, so can individuals. We have to realize that as we get older, more cleaning-up than ever becomes the rule.

Again older women are better at smelling good than men. It is not just a matter of using good perfumes, they clean up more frequently. They also use deodorant, attractive and sweet perfumes that are hard to ignore. Well, they want to look good and attractive. So should men!

Of course, people’s bodily scents can also vary depending on their individual diets and lifestyle choices. One Japanese source provides a list of tips for those self-conscious readers who wish to decrease their unpleasant natural scents:

•For protein, eat more fish than meat, and even more soy products than fish.

•Get plenty of antioxidants by eating dark-colored vegetables, sesame seeds, nuts, and citrus fruits.

•Eat more brown rice.
•Try to get at least six hours of sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, your sebaceous glands will go into overdrive and production of the chemical 2-nonenal will increase.

Japanese persimmons and Southern Africa persimmons found throughout Africa from Senegal and the Sudan to Namibia and into northern Transvaal may accomplish the same magic in eliminating old person smell. The best natural body odor comes from babies and manufacturers capitalize on many baby powder and perfumes products. Hausa perfumes may be too strong for some but cover any unpleasant body odors. There are also incense and traditional body robs to attract opposite sex and convey messages to animals or enemies like mosquitoes; to keep off!

Farouk Martins Aresa
https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/277013/body-mouth-odor-silently-destroy-some-relationships.html

So European Union have to advise Buhari to bring the country together.

I think they need to save their advise for 2023 Presidential candidates and their instigators.

Importation of a anything in the name of freedom

Or

Devaluation to sell the Country for one almighty Dollar, Euro any foreign currency

Many of you are beyond redemption. Your brains have been corrupted.

Just looking at the mirror, you hate yourselves. No wonder your ladies bleach to attract you.

Even the white skin magazines where those you worship are, now use Sudanese very dark ladies as models.

What else is more beautiful than this lady?

Can any rational African in 2019 believe this about Devaluation and Structural Adjustment imposed on foolish African countries?

How many countries despite huge gold reserve according to gold standard ever recovered from Devaluation with the help of conniving African economists only in self interest sold their countries out.

Even going by their argument that selling whatever you have for pittance, what do you have to sell in crude raw materials that you do not buy back from them 100 or 1000 times over.

Black man, your brain is dead. Intelligent black men and women need to come to your rescue.

grandstar:
Upon assumption of office he pegged the Naira at 197 to a $1. Prior to that,the country practiced a floating exchange rate, this is a rate determined by forces of demand and supply. Countries have fled fixed exchanged rates as they can led to serious economic crisis.

Buhari thought that wicked economist determined the exchange rates and did so arbitrarily. It's like saying that mathematicians determined that 1+1= 2. They are simplying interpreting what nature's says.

Likewise the exchange rate by economists.

When government could not satisfy forex needs at that rate, companies began to collapse when they had no dollars to import raw materials and so on. This led to massive layoffs and a recession started,lasting 6 quarters

Most Nigerians have reservations about Buhari and Atiku.

But they are also aware of which of them is going to loot the Treasury dry.

The same Atiku with Obasanjo sold our parastatal to themselves in the name of privatization.

Atiku said he is going to do it AGAIN.

Which sector or industry has benefited from the so called foreign private investment since 1960?

Payback Time To Prominent Black Men Some Black Ladies Lost

What is the difference between African and African American women in Diaspora? After a while, not much. If the same proportion of white women call police on their husbands and accuse their men of sexual harassment, there would be shallow depth of powerful or rich white men as there are of black men now. African men in Diaspora, from those there before or after Columbus, can be easily kicked out of their homes and positions by women.

African men new in Diaspora found this out the hard way. The same ones that complain of lack of enabling environment at home in Africa, do succeed in a worse environment against all odds faced by most blacks. Some of them even have the nerve to blame the African Americans or African Europeans they met there for being lazy and not struggling hard enough. Whereas, they were just waiting for manna from heaven when they themselves were in Africa.

Once African or African American men change the environment, most succeed against all odds. Therefore, no matter how we look at it, black men and women work very hard to succeed in the Diaspora. When you see a successful black man there, think about how he succeeds despite all the odds against him. Even then, it is harder for them to stay on top since they have to be holier than thou. This is the reason successful black men have to watch their conduct, especially in a community that is easier to fault them for anything that would not stick on others.

However, it cannot be disputed that many men generally still see women for their looks, shapes and vulnerability. Yet, black men in high or prominent positions, are more of a potential target for sexual assault or harassment allegations. Both white and black men abuse women but not often do you find black women accusing white men of sexual assault or harassment. The consequences could be damaging and could backfire, big time against them.

If you remember Tawana Glenda Brawley that alleged four white men raped her in 1987 and Crystal Mangum the North Carolina Central College student who was hired to strip for the Duke Lacrosse players alleging rape at the party in 2006. Both cases could not be proven in court. Even Professor Anita Hill famous allegation against Clarence Thomas during nomination to Supreme Court by his conservative mentors, fell short like that of Brett Kavanaugh.

If you want a sacrifice for the overbearing crime of men against women, choose very carefully, preferably a black man. The allegation against white men supported by most white women are hard to stick since ancient time. See Thomas Jefferson is the R. Kelly of the American Enlightenment by Lisa Woolfork an associate professor of English at the University of Virginia. In 1802 a writer, James Callender failed to discredit Jefferson with his African teenage sex slave, Sally Hemings.

All women still face a daunting task for complaining about sexual assault, especially black women if their harassers are white men. Vestiges of slavery still persist. Indeed, “Nearly 30 years after Jefferson’s death, the Missouri Supreme Court would rule that enslaved black women, as property, must legally submit to sexual assault by their masters.” Yep, you read it right!

No black community would defend, support or encourage the abusive black man. If anything, Africans communities at home or in Diaspora are harder on abusers than others. Check out the prominent black men brought into disrepute by black women. Some involved relationships that slipped away. From Justice Clarence Thomas to the Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, black women are paying back or pulling them down riding on the Me Too Movement.

Black women, like most women want decent successful black men like themselves to have a solid relationship with. When we deal with folks that have gone through similar stages in life, it is easier to relate and communicate. Indeed, many black ladies compromise and marry down to black men not as educated or as successful as they are. They understand the situation of black men in their communities. Sometimes more so than young successful African ladies in Africa.

However, there are not enough successful black men to pair with the number of successful black ladies in Diaspora. The competition to get a successful black man can be tough since black men have choices not only with African American ladies but a choice with other races. Black folks do not mind if a poor black is married to other race but it burns when you see a successful black man or woman married to other races. Just like Asian ladies, to the displeasure of white young women, are taking to white men too. It is like: that one should have been mine!

These days, African women face competition at home and abroad for decent African men. One should be able to find a suitable black woman to marry anywhere. If you cannot find one in Europe and the Americas, there are many in Africa or the Caribbean where “Stella Got Her Groove”. Some Africans used to return home to marry but they are more cautious these days. The incentive to come back home and marry is no longer there, it has gone sour.

Indeed, you are told that if you could not find an African woman you like in your community where you are in Africa or Diaspora, be ready for trouble. There are ladies African men would never marry at home but that stand a good chance of marrying Africans returning home for a partner. Accusation fly back and forth about broke-ass men and “yesterday’s newspapers” only men from Diaspora would marry.

As soon as African ladies are brought to Europe and the Americas, it does not take long for them to adapt to their new found “freedom” claiming rights worse than their counterparts in Europe and America. There was a party where everyone was asked to serve themselves. While most people got up to do so; before African husbands got up, their wives brought them food. This African lady that came to her first party in America, insisted that her new husband must get up and serve himself. It was the first sign and not surprising that the marriage did not last.

We could see a fragile relationship coming. Before you know it, they would be telling the stories of women that kicked their husbands out of his house or the ones the father-in-law ordered the husband to look at his house for the last time; because he would not come back. Some would slap the husband daring him to hit her. The next act would be calling police on the husband. We all know Police and black men do not mix in America because it could be deadly.

Unfortunately, it is their children that suffer. Any home without a father is a broken home unless there is a woman that has what it takes to be a man and a woman at the same time. It gets worse because most of these women have to work to support their home. Once the man is kicked out, it becomes difficult to pay the mortgage, rent and other bills without working overtime or two jobs to support the family.

Consequently, children are left at home to raise themselves. Raising children with two parents in the home is hard enough, it should never fall on the shoulder of one parent. It is not an accident that white women understand the respect white men deserve in their communities. Most of their men earn enough to support the family and it gives their wives the choice to stay at home or work outside the home. If both parents are working, it gives them the leverage to hire a babysitter, send children to private schools and with more discretionary income to blow.

As a result, most white women are fiercely loyal to their boys, men or husbands and are willing to protect him at any cost than are black women. They are more willing to defend their husbands and sons in the face of an accusation of sexual or criminal abuse allegations. It is ironic that the social workers, teachers and counsellors that black women depend on, that encourage them to report black men; hardly report their own husbands.

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Published: Monday, February 18, 2019

https://www.modernghana.com/news/916498/payback-time-to-prominent-black-men-some-black-ladies-lost.html#

Same sex not new in Africa

[quote]According to historian, Professor, Kenneth Chukwuemeka Nwoko, Ph.D., women marriage or female husbands was more pronounced than might be expected in Africa where it occurred in over 30 societies, including; the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria, the Zulu of Southern Africa, the Nuer of East Africa etc. There is also strong evidence of its existence in the Nandi tribe of Kenya.

In these societies, women could be husbands without male wives. They were husbands to other women./quote]

Court Enters $16.4Million, N100.4 Million Judgement Against Stella Oduah

A Federal high court sitting in Lagos south west Nigeria has entered judgement in favour of Sterling Bank Plc jointly and severally against the former Aviation minister, Senator Stella Oduah and her company, Sea Petroleum and Gas Limited in the sum of $16,412,819.06 and N100,493,225.59 respectively.

ModernGhana.com

This googlepinkin has an incurable problem over an article that is fair and balanced. Doo


[cannot trust igbo boy yoruba girl togetherquote author=googlepikins post=74413271]Rubbish talk[/quote]

Vote Agbaje In Lagos Buhari To Abuja

There is a growing rift between Yoruba and Igbo in Lagos. It will be sheer folly to dismiss the obvious. But the way to solve it is by appealing to your intellect, not scary political tactics against your neighbors. Sincere sensible people must discuss problems openly and look for solutions. Leaving it in the hands of politicians only, will make matter worse. There are growing nationalism, ethno phobic and xenophobia sentiments worldwide.

Some parties have ridden it to power only to find out politicians are just after their selfish gains. Africa is not isolated from the rest of the world and Africans have been prosecuted and persecuted everywhere including within our own Continent. This has driven many communities to look for salvation within their own communities. At the same time, it has driven a wedge between brothers and sister that had gotten along.

https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/newsthread/273738/70442

A case in point was the enmity that sprung its ugly head around Warri where innocent folks cried that - my people are killing my people. These were families that had married into Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw families, falling apart especially during the oil and land locations. We also have the Aguleri and Umuleri just as the Ife and Modakeke clash. The North has been embroiled in tumult for years between Hausa, Fulani and minorities.

Therefore ill feeling towards other group, no matter how close is not new. But we must learn from past cases and solve our differences amicable without resorting to violence. There is no place more accommodating in Nigeria than Lagos. Any African that have lived there would tell you that. This was how we grew up and even pride ourselves on the tolerance of individuals from other areas.

It cannot be said often enough that Lagosians are taught that when a stranger enters Lagos at dawn; before dusk he would be fed, clothed and given a place to sleep. It may sound strange these days but that was Lagos. The Yoruba culture and Oriki are very strong in Lagos despite foreign influence. After all, that is their land. Indeed, some of the problems have been generated by anyone disputing this established fact sarcastically.

The difference between Lagos of those days and Lagos of today has to do with how those that were not Yoruba were humble and welcomed. It was easy for them to assimilate because they were willing and ready to work hard and further the interest of their community. Indeed, we never knew that some of our friends’ parents were Igbo, Ghanaians, Togolese or Hausa until we got older.

A friend of ours had to go to the East to pay his mother’s dowry after his father got old and passed. Boy, he paid fines, penalty and interest on his old mother for his late father. We never even knew his mother was Igbo when we were growing up. So many of the compounds from Isale-Eko to Bamgbose had Africans from different states in Nigeria and African countries living in them without any problem.

Yes, we now have population explosion and Lagos is crowded. But it is not the reason to leave solution in the hands of politicians alone. They are looking for votes and will do anything to garner the votes of the community that is receptive to their hyperbole. We have to be careful so that politicians do not project their failures over so many years of misrule on our ethnic differences. Community has to get involved in solving problems.

It will be naive to claim there are no devils on each side fermenting trouble, tormenting the other side or outright impunity in one another’s faces. There are exaggerations that cannot be backed up by factual statistics. But it works in the minds of those that want to believe them. Any party in power for several years can no longer sugar coat its abysmal failure by claiming to be one eye savior in the land of the blinds.

In the meantime, politicians are converting resources, contracts and foreign loans into their pockets and to foreign accounts while the people fight over crumbs. You have to understand that politicians are willing to drive a hot shaft through their own mother if it will satisfy their greed and avarice. The populace see this and they become desperate, willing to do anything to get rich including using their mother and children for rituals.

Please we still have decent people in our communities. Actually reasonable folks still make up the majority of the people in our states. However, the minority with evil intentions and goals are so indifferent, they are willing to do anything necessary to achieve their goals. This includes manipulating the people to their advantages. When they label their fellow citizens bogies in the same country, they have a purpose.

It has got to the stage where proud and decent people known for their integrity, legacy and achievement have suddenly succumbed to stomach infrastructure. A hungry man is an angry man, so politicians have tailored their plan into stealing from the majority while feeding a few that will be compliant with their wishes. They distribute your money to those few that obey their instructions; as kingmakers choosing who they want to crown.

People are not stupid and they know this trick very well. However, if they are left with a choice of devils, the one they know and the one they do not know, they choose the one they know. Let us be sincere with ourselves, some of these politicians have entrenched themselves into the game for a long time and they will hang on to power by any means. All they have to do is point to whoever they demonize and ask you to make a choice.

Most of us are not stupid but so many are hungry in a country that used to flow with milk and honey. The stomach infrastructure will last the poor for another day, another year or four years. Until we realize we are being taken for a ride. We repeat the same mistakes every four years. Politicians celebrate behind your back because their chicanery works every election year.

There are naming ceremonies for everything: When they read a budget full of promises, commission a road, open the same road, pay “modulated” salaries, pension after owing for months. However, their own salaries, padded allowance and loot never ceased. Nowhere, no magic or miracle can fill a basket with water, no matter how competent they claim to be. Deal with your hosts, brothers, sisters and neighbors on their merit not fear.

Do not let fear, used to scare you like bogeyman overwhelm your judgment of what they achieve during their several years in power. Do not be fooled, no government in any part of the Country or in the world for that matter, would open its community wide for others to overwhelm them. Claiming that one party would let others turn you into slaves in this days, in your own home is nothing short of hyperbolic nonsense.

Farouk Martins Aresa @oomoaresa

Ignorance and lack of knowledge, the same mother and father.

Gbajabiamila should go back and ask his elders if they are still living of the first Business Center in Surulere.

1964? Holy Cow!

The first Business Center in that area was as far back as late 50s. Right at Gbaja Street under two buildings facing one another. I think each is about four stories high across the Catholic Church.

Before that, there were private businesses along Barracks and Tejuosho before the Market was built.

Bajabiamila must or should know that or maybe he is just politiking.