₦airaland Forum

Like, seriously? So he told you to F off and so what, he doesn't get the job for that reason? Dude, get your god-complex-induced ego out of the way and conduct a fair interview for the guy. If he's good for the job, blasted hire him. The job is NOT about you. Get an apology later, if you will, but please don't mess an organisation up because of your personal (petty) concerns!

So he doesn't get the job because of what he told you. What do you get for what you told him? The boot, if I had my way. Nobody is supposed to worship you because they're looking for a job.

P.S. It's interesting how everyone believes in karma even where no one believes in God. Who presides over the administration of that ish, anyway? Must be the devil. At least we all seem to agree he exists - we see him in us all the time!

I couldn't help but come in here to comment. Anyone saying anything nice about Konga hasn't yet experienced just how inefficient and clumsy they can be. My very first online shopping experience was with Konga. I ordered an Infinix Hot phone, black, and after six days of waiting, they delivered a red phone which I was willing to tolerate. It turned out that the phone was also dysfunctional and wouldn't charge. This marked the beginning of what was to be the longest period of frustration for me.

I called customer care forever and each time I got the same meaningless prattle: "We are really sorry. We are working on it. Thank you for shopping with Konga." Mind you, the calls aren't free.

After about three weeks of trying to get my money back - by now I had given up on the product - I got a message informing me that my account with Konga had been credited and that I may use the money to reorder the product. I thanked them and immediately sent my account details for a refund of my money. They replied and informed me that they needed three to four working days to effect the transfer. That didn't go down well with me, yet I waited. After one week I called them again and again. At some point the agent I was speaking with asked me to go to my bank to check whether I had been credited. I was simply livid! When I pressed her to produce evidence of payment on their part, she hung up.

Meanwhile, I reordered the same phone from Jumia while waiting for the refund from Konga. I ordered on Sunday afternoon and they delivered on the morning of the very next day. And, yes, they delivered to specification. Konga was yet to effect my refund and so I had to raise the cash to pay Jumia from elsewhere. Another week passed before I finally got the refund from Konga.

And by the way, I got the phone for 16K from Jumia without delivery charges while Konga had charged me 22K including shipping and only refunded the cost of the phone and withheld the rest of my money.

I have since had several other transactions with Jumia and they are yet to fail me. I have sworn never to use Konga ever again and that is not about to change. The most annoying aspect of my experience with Konga is the realisation that these guys don't have any physical shop that you can walk into and demand to see whoever the heck is running that house of chaos.

So, if you think Konga is cool, it's because luck is on your side yet.

CR77:

Enough of this stu.pidity already! It's just not funny!

I have read people talk about freedom of speech and press freedom and freedom of information in relation to this issue. There is such a thing as ethics of broadcasting and one fundamental tenet of that ethics is truth. If the intense hate documentaries broadcast by AIT were done in the service of truth, then this is not a fight against the AIT but a fight against truth.

However, considering the rather crass and unprofessional nature of those broadcasts which constituted an embarrassment to us as a people in the global sphere, this is a step in the right direction. AIT violated the ethics of its profession and BON stood by while it happened. The man in the eye of the storm therefore has a right to defend himself and to protect his right to a good name. There is such a thing as calumny and the intensity with which AIT indulged in the act of character assassination would scare even me if I were in Buhari's shoes. They showed so much hate that it was no longer a matter of just doing your professional duty. Anyone who hates you that much may harm you physically and certainly constitutes a security risk near you.

All men have a right to a good name and any deliberate attempt by any media outfit to violate that right constitutes slander which is itself a crime that cannot be excused on the grounds of freedom of speech or press freedom.

Buhari has not proscribed AIT - and should not, on this count. He has merely said, "I don't want your cameras on me." And everyone has a right to say that.

The problem with feminism is feminists. They come across as bitter, reactionary, intolerant and rude - sometimes. Ask them what feminism is and they tell you it's a crusade for the equality of the sexes. But then what is equality? Before I am misunderstood let me say this: men and women are equal. Men are not more human than women. And fundamental human rights are men and women rights. But again, what is equality?

Feminists tell you that equality means treating men and women the same. And I say that is injustice. Men and women are equal but certainly different - and difference here is not a bad thing or a superiority contest for no man can be a woman and no woman can be a man. So let each be proud of what they are.

Equality as defined by feminists is unjust and no one (not even men among themselves or women among themselves for that matter) is equal in that sense. For example, if you have kids and they are all boys, will you for the sake of equality serve each of them exactly the same portion of food? It is not rational to do that because obviously their needs vary where quantity of food is concerned. Some naturally require more food than others and it is only fair that each person is served according to his need. Because the kids are different, they must be treated differently. So it is also with men and women.

It is rational to reserve physically demanding tasks for men not because they are better than women but simply because they are naturally wired to cope with such tasks. Why? I don't have the answer. Perhaps nature is to blame. In the same vein women are more naturally suited for certain roles. For instance, I am personally more at peace with a female nurse than a male nurse - their touch is unparalleled.

Being a woman has its challenges but don't be fooled into thinking that being a man is a joy ride either. A woman who is fed up with being a woman has the option of becoming a feminist at least. What option does a man who is fed up with being a man have?

I once heard a man lament that if the challenge he was facing was what it meant to be the head of a family, he wishes to declare the headship of his family vacant and any woman was welcome to apply.

How can you possibly know what it's like to be a man except you are one? Remember, the grass is greener on the other side - until you cross over. A woman's life is hard; a man's life isn't any easier. If you don't agree, please show me where in this world men may have an easy life just because they are men and I'll send more than a few male friends there to find peace.

Your spec indicates Windows 7 as the OS but the first picture shows Windows 8 on the display. It is actually ethical and proper that the picture you post depict the very item you purport to have for sale.

Google rhymes with doodle and noodle. It doesn't rhyme with goggle.

When exactly did we sell our sovereignty to the US? I guess they are a bit confused as to what we want to use the military hardware for. First of all we started by describing boko haram as our sons and brothers. Then, when the US designated them a terrorist organization we said they are not. And now we want clearance from the US to buy arms to fight them. Question: at what point did we realize we were not dealing with our sons and brothers? When did it dawn on us that boko haram is a terror group?

I strongly detest the hopelessness of our rant against the US. But I guess this is what you get when we think political leadership is about self aggrandizement.

Dude, I'm interested in the watch and would like to own one. What's your best price for me and how soon can you deliver to the Island if we agree a deal?

Good move. We hope this helps to stem senseless stigmatisation of EVD survivors. How can anyone not know that these are the safest people to associate with right now? They survived a viral infection; they have immunity. The rest of us don't.

@OP: I bet if you were around when Western education first hit the shores of Africa you would have objected to receiving an education in your bid to preserve your culture. People like you make boko haram look good. The surest way to keep from imbibing Western culture and language is to shun Western education in the first place. But I see you have some Western education and you don't mind that you do. And then I wonder whether the Western education you received is a product of your African culture.

Seriously, the best way to judge a culture is to look at the finest products of that culture. The Chinese had Mao, the Greeks gave us Socrates, Aristotle, etc.; the Americans have a long list of fine gentlemen as past presidents. Please, name two outstanding individuals in your country, Nigeria, that are shining examples of what your culture can make of men.

Culture is made to serve man and not man to serve culture. Any culture that does not guarantee the advancement of the individual dies for that individual. And if it fails a generation, it ceases to exist for that generation. No amount of romanticizing can make an irrelevant culture relevant. All cultures must fight for relevance and the way to win is to show to the individual what he stands to gain by imbibing a given culture.

If academic culture were African, for instance, no young person would ever refute the theory propounded by an elder no matter how knowledgeable that young person is and no matter how wrong the elder's theory is. Why is this? Simple: Nigerian culture is a culture where the youth owe the elders everything and the elders owe the youth nothing - the same culture that your political elders exhibit in the present day.

Quit ranting about losing your culture and recognize which culture makes life and living in the present tense possible and exciting. The West was only able to take you as slaves because they came to you with a superior culture. And don't forget, it was the same Western culture that triggered the abolitionists' move. By the way, where were your gods when strangers plundered their shrines?

African culture, like Africa, needs help; and ranting isn't that help.

Your point?

It is not important that any section of the country wants to hold power and rule over the rest of us. What, to my mind, matters is what they want power for. If you have plans to give us a minimum semblance of a normal life, then please state your strategy for alleviating the sorry state in which we find ourselves and after that, please go ahead and take power in order that you might serve us and bring us benefits of good governance. If however the desire to hold power is not driven by the intent to SERVE and to bring about appreciable positive change to our collective fortune, then no section at all should hold power.

I am dog tired of sectarian political sentiments that in the end yield no result save for enriching the selfish few who kick up such sentiments. We should be wiser than to be led by parochial ethno-religious sentiments in our search for true leaders. I maintain that it does not matter where a leader is from as long as his desire to lead is born of an honest determination to serve and to bring relief to our collective suffering in the midst of plenty.

The fundamental flaw in the Nigerian traditional concept of leadership lies in the chieftaincy mentality: a mentality in which everyone owes obeisance to the chief but the chief owes nothing to anyone. Our traditional philosophy of leadership therefore can simply be summed up as UNLIMITED PRIVILEGE with NO RESPONSIBILITY whatsoever - and this is what we find at play even in our 'democracy'.

@op, one cannot but wonder what the purpose of this elaborate write-up on night life in Owerri is. I should thank you for unwittingly advertising to those of us who, until before reading your piece, did not know where to seek such entertainment. And Saturday Sun must be commended for its pristine journalism. Of the plethora of problems bedeviling us as a people, this particular correspondent considers the accurate description of clandestine sexual activity paramount in the scheme of things. Again I ask, to what end? What purpose has this write-up served and what purpose was it conceived to serve? Is this targeted at enhancing our tourism potentials or is the intention to portray us as a hapless, hopeless people whose ivory towers are famed for serving as factories for the production and supply of sex raw materials to a thriving hospitality empire?

I fail to see how this story serves us.

wonlasewonimi: So, it's bad to change jobs too knowing full well that your loyalty to one employer is till death do you part. Na wa o

What is at issue is not a mere job change - of course you should change jobs. But I'm sure not even you would employ someone who would change jobs in such a way as to sell your company secrets to your competitors and make you worse off by his departure for no apparent injustice on your part while he yet worked for you. Changing jobs is not the issue, but changing jobs in order to cripple your former employer who did you no wrong is a problem.

Jarus: So because I play for Man U, it is immoral to move to Arsenal with right price?

No, Jarus, it is not immoral because Man U also gets to make some money from the move. Why? Because they contributed to your being attractive to Arsenal. What does Etisalat gain in this case?

Jarus: Saka is a businessman. He makes no pretence about that. He sells his talent.

Abati, pre-presidency job, postured about a being principled, churning out writings to defend the masses.

Jarus, I'm just curious: will I be correct to assume that you imply that the best line of action is not to aspire to any values and to make no pretense about it? In other words, if I am a thief (excuse the strong word) and I don't pretend about it does that make me an okay person and make thieving in my case a less serious crime?

I hold the belief that there is only one moral standard for all humans irrespective of profession or circumstance of birth.

madejibo: sir, what if Saka had no contract with Etisalat, should he have rejected Mtn's offer? We all change jobs, RVP moved from Arsenal to Man Utd heaven didn't fall, let's leave sentiments aside. I am so happy for the guy, very happy, this guy started from no where yet he is a big star today.

Madejibo, your analogy is interesting. But imagine applying the bolded to Abati - and his kind. It is good to be a big star but the means to that end count also.

This is interesting. I was just wondering: why is it okay for Saka to port and wrong for Reuben Abati to do the same if the reason for Saka's action is that MTN pays more than Etisalat? Both cases involve switch of loyalty for personal (at the expense of ethical) gain.

In an effort to justify Saka's action someone on this thread referred to how a Pepsi truck driver was portrayed as drinking Coke in a Coke advert. That's different - he's just a faceless truck driver and not a brand ambassador. Which Pepsi brand ambassador have you seen advertising for Coca Cola? Do you think that Coke couldn't afford to pay them more?

I'm not quite sure of the official ethical position of the advertising profession on Saka's action but I know that as a person of conscience, there comes a time when you have to say no to a bigger pay simply because the offer clashes with your ethics and negates what you hold to be right and good and true. Saka may make money from this move BUT I'm afraid it won't last for long because with this he has shot himself in the foot as a brand.

Think about it: if you own a business and you have a fierce rival, would you rather be the first to employ Saka in your ads or wait for your competitor to use him first so that you can reap maximum second-comer benefits as MTN is doing? We all seem to agree that the smart thing is to do as MTN has done. One more question: while you and your rival in business wait to see who will use Saka first and lose, what will Saka be surviving on? Disloyalty is a serious flaw for any public figure and Saka will have to live with that tag for the rest of his advertising career.

I have always seen adverts as entertainment and nothing more. They never influence my choice of purchase. However, any discerning consumer will understand that the move by MTN is an act of desperation which actually does, in a certain twist of irony, portray Etisalat in good light as a veritable threat to the MTN business. And so if I were to go by adverts in making a choice, I'd choose Etisalat because the crowd will go with MTN on sentiments. I mean, why didn't MTN consider Saka before the porting era?

I am more interested in the dynamics that accurately assign judgments of right and wrong to the actions of men (self included). Saka's action is similar to Abati's: both are cases of a betrayal of trust for personal gains. Saka advertising for MTN is like some Nollywood characters accepting money and advertising a presidential candidate that they cannot in conscience vouch for. That for me is just so low. I mean, there comes a time when moral conscience just has to say NO to money. And until we cross that bridge as Nigerians, there's no point blaming the politicians or anyone who ever stole from us.

I have always been fascinated about how Fela made symphony out of apparent cacophony. That said, however, one must strongly disagree with Femi Kuti's assessment of life. It is interesting how people who lack the courage to confront their personal weaknesses describe those who try and succeed as hypocrites. Femi, your life style is easy and requires no effort at all because you have opted to surrender to your base instincts than make the effort to refine your conduct. I don't judge you for this but you drew my discontent when you referred to men of character as hypocrites.

You obviously didn't enjoy growing up under the kind of family atmosphere that your father created. Why then do you try so hard to justify it by claiming that he never went to a brothel? Seriously, what's the difference between a man who visits a brothel and a man who makes his home a brothel of sorts? You think it's an issue that your father's wives cheated on him yet you don't see anything wrong with you lacking the capacity to be faithful to a woman. Please, where is it written that men have a right to be unfaithful and women do not? Calling faithful husbands (who by the way are a minority) hypocrites amounts to calling Hussein Bolt a hypocrite because he has TRAINED himself to do the hundred metres under ten seconds while the rest of us will require well over twenty seconds to cover the same distance. It amounts to calling all men who use a toilet hypocrites because the natural and easier thing to do is to squat and do your toilet business wherever the urge hits you - you only need to look to lower animals to confirm this.

The Yorubas have a saying that it is entertaining to watch a lunatic but one would rather not beget a lunatic. When we admire Fela it is for his music and his activism: he was not a shining example of family life. Imagine what our society would be like if all men followed in Fela's footsteps in family life.

Hypocrisy, Femi, is not daring to struggle to counter base human nature; hypocrisy is refusing to fight and then to cast aspersions on those who have fought and have succeeded in being different in a positive sense.

Billyonaire: You are an a clear case of borderline personality disorder. Sometimes, I am shocked that you do not even understand simple logic, irony, oxymoron and rhetoric as structures of English. You simply could not analyze the President's speech literarily, and I really doubt your capability to decode my register, hence, you chose display your wealth of ignorance of lexicology. Happy Easter.

Please note that a central tenet of formal speeches is to say exactly what you mean and to mean exactly what you say. Innuendos and metaphors are subject to a myriad of interpretations and no one could possibly claim superiority of interpretation for himself.

I think an interesting question would be: in whose power does it lie to determine who is (or isn't) a Muslim? In other words, which central authority are ALL Muslims answerable to here on earth that can effectively call any group claiming to work for Islam to order? If such an authority exists, what is its position concerning Boko Haram and its activities and what has it done to bring succor to victims? In the absence of such a body, I think the opinion of any individual concerning the religion of Boko Haram is immaterial - we just have to accept what Boko Haram says it is: Muslim. They could have claimed to be Christian but they didn't. Out of their free will they have said that they represent the tenets of Islam. Let the Muslims who disagree with them advise us on how to assist them in redeeming the image of their religion if they believe that Boko Haram misrepresents them.

I have no faith in Jonathan. He it was who told us that Boko Haram is not a terrorist group. He it is who tells us now that Boko Haram is an international terrorist group. If this isn't confusion, I don't know what is. There are two questions relevant in dealing with a deadly creature: What is it, and how do I kill it? This is the president's primary assignment.

The cause of academic and moral decay in Nigeria is simply the total lack of values and its corresponding lack of purpose. What is education, for instance, and why do we educate people?

Education is apprenticeship in values and we educate so as to grow in values and become master of self through knowledge and application of time-honoured virtues. A sound education informs the conscience and strengthens the will. A sound conscience and a strong will are the essential character traits of the truly educated. The will conforms the actions of the educated to the dictates of a pure and upright conscience thereby making him a harbinger of justice and an agent of positive change.

We need to totally reconsider our culture as a people.

The Man Died, the moment Abati accepted his Aso Rock appointment. But my concern is not for Abati but for the rest of us: what would we have done in Abati's position - where is the hope that we long for?

As for the president, what wisdom is this, really? When will we see the worst of your ideals? Because just when we think we've seen it all, you surprise us again.

One question, OP, have you used this product yourself? If yes, give us your personal experience with proof. Thank you.

In the final analysis, what the heck is football?

@Anvaller, If you think I'm funny then you must have an exagerated sense of humour. Traditional marriage, as we know it, obviously has no regard (or need) for anniversaries. So if you are being truly traditional then you just shouldn't bother yourself about marriage anniversaries because local tradition does not mark marriage anniversaries - at least not with any known festivity. The truth is, we no longer live in a purely traditional world and therefore, to legally declare that you are married to anybody you need some sort of proof which traditional marriage does NOT supply - except if you tell us that the parents of your bride issued you a piece of paper as evidence of your marriage to their daughter. This is why it has become necessary to either go to the church or the registry.

@Flyboy Zee, your claim that "Even Christ, the Founder of Christianity never made mention of Church wedding or partook in any such ceremony." is a bit misleading. Do you understand that Christ is not a Christian but a Jew? And that as a Jew he attended weddings conducted according to the Jewish religion? You should also note that there were no churches in Christ's time on earth but synagogues. Some times we make these rather bold assertions without giving thought to the nativity of Christ. Note also that He observed the feast of passover which is a Jewish (and not a Christian) feast.


On a final note, what's the big idea about pegging the date of our marriage for purposes of anniversaries if we are true traditionalists? Are we pegging the date so as to determine when the marriage will expire or what? How many of our fore fathers kept track of their marrieage dates?

Those of us who do so now do it because we are a little more than traditional.

But, seriously, which church needs the consent of your parents to wed you as adults? The only consent necessary for a valid wedding in church is that of the two people about to be wedded. Plus, no registry requires the presence of your family to have you legally bound to a partner. People should also note that the wedding in church is absolutely free. It is the reception you choose to stage that drains your pocket.

On the question at hand, I think it depends on who you are. If you are Christian, then of course your marriage anniversary is the date you wedded in church and if you're not Christian, you may choose any date that you please.

Also, note that the traditional union of a man and a woman is not called wedding, but marriage. So if you're talking of a wedding anniversary, then of course you're referring to the date of the solemnisation of holy matrimony and not of a marriage ceremony or ritual.

It's up to you, really.

The strangest of things happen in this world and one just has to be extra careful and also alert others to the stark realities of our world.

Atheist-D, it's interesting to see that you are actually more authentically Christian than would-be Christians on this thread. Maintian your perspective. The biggest tragedy that Christians face is that each of them is an authority in the faith unto himself. Yet all of them can't be right. How on earth do they propose to determine who among them is right?

What, in the first place, do they conceive prayer to be?