₦airaland Forum

Introduction

I want to set the stage for a thread that I hope to write
exploring APC vs PDP ideolgy and the band of unpaid e-warriors
by introducing the change management concept.

You'll find this cocept useful in your management life,
and understanding happenings around you (including the doctors strike

An example of a report showing how callous we can be.

http://saharareporters.com/2014/08/15/family-nurse-killed-ebola-faces-public-humiliation-and-stigma

ruffhandu: ......Suddenly, Iron Dome (which calculates wind speeds, among other things) shows a major wind coming from the east, a strong wind that … sends the missile into the sea. We were all stunned. I stood up and shouted, ‘There is a God!”

Here’s the thing: If Hamas would have succeeded, it would have been the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history. And whether you believe in God or not, this sure felt like a “miracle” to the hundreds of people who would have been killed, if it weren’t for a perfectly timed gust of wind…

Source: http://www.ijreview.com/2014/08/167229-rocket-cause-worst-terror-attack-israels-history-miracle-happened/


If it is our person that said "there is God" everywhere goes agog.

I don't know if the story is factual,
but I'll go ahead to recalibrate your thinking


the bolded statement when reasoned in English sound like a cry from one that previously doubted the existence of God
and so he planned
an built an iron dome that has done a lot of protection so far

however, when the protection failed
and doom lurked
something (luck, God, or whatever) stepped in
and saved the day
only then (after the miracle) did the commander cry out "there is a God"

...so if our person says "there is God", YES we will go agog
simply because we know that that means that if God delivers us from the first problem he expects us to deliver ourselves from the next
not to only eat fufu and and pray

tosh26: @ OP. Please can you recommend an institute where I can learn more about excel?

try dataville
http://www.data-ville.com/sitemap/


i think they organise Excel lessons

hifaif: That he is not proud of this country doesn't mean he doesn't love this country or that he wishes to change citizenship. If you had a bad child, would you be proud of him?

I think those who shout their unrelenting love for this country in spite of the mess she is in are the real enemies we need to do away with if we ever hope to make this country great again.

I love my country and I hope to be her president one day but the fact remains that there is not much to be proud of yet.

Now that ^^ is wisdom
Wisdom cries out in the market place
hear her and buy of her wares

Ishilove: Esere darling, believe me when I say this little metaphor will be completely lost on majority of Nairalanders

lol
i'll be surprised if it is

THE DINOSUAR STORY


FATHER: "My son, I'll tell you a story. Listen attentively"

"By whatever fluke of nature
a prehistoric dinosaur egg hatched in the thick forrests of Africa

The lurch unchartted greens of the wild provided a nuturing canopy for the Dinosaur to grow undisturbed by man
With the passing of time, now standing over 10 foot, the dinosaur became obvious to the human eye

seeking some adventure, it wondered away from the wild into a village

When the villagers saw him they were first seized with fear
what manner of monster was this?

The villagers soon overcame fear, and all they could see was a massive meat on two legs
they banded together with clubs, stones and sticks
determined to make a carving off this new delicacy that must have been sent by the Gods

There was one in the village that had some knowledge
He recognised at once that this was a rare happening.
This beast standing before them was more valuable than being mere meat
he pleaded with them to stop and sought to share this nugget of information with them
the villagers would have none of this
...this was meat on two legs provided by the Gods for their contentment.

And so they killed the dinosaur, roasted and ate it
and with this, they roasted an oppurtunity to be in the annals of great kingdoms."

SON: "father, what does this story mean?"


FATHER: "Son, look around you. The villagers are armed with their clubs"

An0nimus: @esere826 the end?

The end of the article ..yes
hopefully the beginning of more empathy for those facing the present challenge

I look forward to being proud of Nigeria

Now I ask you,
If your mum was a known prostitute
Would you sincerely say that you are proud to be her son
No matter how you much you love her??,
.. I bet you wont

You'd only be proud of something that fills others with a glorious awe
For example, when you go to a Nigerian airport with your green passport,
and are harrased by your own Nigerian officials
while the queue with holders of British and American passports are treated with deference
Are you proud to be a Nigerian at that moment?
.....I doubt you are



So I repeat,
...i'm not proud to be a Nigerian
but I'm extremely proud to be someone who wishes my country Nigeria well

....as much as a dad will wish well for his erring son so that he can someday be proud of him

How we project Nigeria to the world

I'll move on to the Character of Nigeria
I'll avoid being intellectually gibberish here
I love my fellow Nigerians -whatever that means
I seek to bring out our best narratives in public spaces, especially foreign ones
but when I sit back to objectively appraise who we are,
or rather what the world says we are because of our extremely visible few I recoil
I'm not talking about the crooks -every country has them
I'm talking about our official representatives and their supporters

...I mean if a critical mass of our leaders are world reknown fraudsters
then that is our real character no matter how saintly you are.
I'll stop there to keep this short

And Our national vision is...

Let's start with its aspirations
the over-arching aspiration of Nigeria is plain:
"that the country remains one no matter the cost to its individuals"
The pursuit of our eternal unity is why each state produces a minister,
and why we have a federal character charter devoid of the need of a meritocratic character.

Obasanjo, IBB and other political elites might like that
..it serves their purpose
...it doesnt serve mine

Now, don't get me wrong. I do not wish for a disintegration
but, I'd rather that our primary aspirations be for values that are globally enduring
I mean there is a difference between marrying a wife for love and companionship
rather than the primal need for a cook.

Choose the second, and you'd be extremely lucky to get the first
choose the first, and the other things will be added unto you.

What does Nigeria represent?

Look
I am not proud of being a Nigerian
if you are, well, that's good for you
as for me, I choose to be pragmatic


But why do I say that am I not "proud to be a Nigerian"
well, it boils down to my interpretation of that phrase
For me, it means that I should take delight in the character of the coutry
or its aspirations

A good place to start
From what I've read in the media so far, the hospital "First consultant" were Patrick Sawyer
was treated is presently feeling the pain of our betrayal
can you imagine that!!


...those guys were sensible and nice enough to alert the authories of Patient zero
This has so far prevented what would have otherwise been an epidemic
that could have snuffed the lifes out of many of us


Please let's be sensible
First consultant management staff (especially the doctor presently in Quarantine who
insisted that Sawyer should not be discharged) deserve a national award.
I hope that her name features on the next list whether dead or alive.


...I hope it is alive

Love yourself if not your neighbour

OK, if we have no qualms about the treatment we mete to these unfortunate ebola cases
at least for the sake of self preservation, we need to be sensible


With our present systemic disposition, do we honestly think that any Nigerian who suspects
that he's got Ebola will turn himself over to the Nigerian authorities
Well, ...honestly,....I know that I won't.
I'm not sure that you would either.


I'd be nice enough to avoid contact with others (much like Patrick Sawyer did initially),
but I'll desperately try to get myself accross to a Western world and declare the disease there.
Over there, I'm confident that I'll be treated with some dignity even if the disease kills me.

You,
...some of you might not have the financial resources for such trip
nor have empathy or the discipline to keep off contact with others.
You'd probably run to the church, prayer house or village thearapist
and infect loads of people along the way.

We're are also human

Go read electronic comments in the foreign media....
The intersting paradox is that an unschooled lot outside our shores
also treat us in the same way as we have treated our own
they'd rather that we all (you and I included) be zipped up in a continental bag and burned
to eradicate any risk of this becoming a global epidemic

And guess what,... some countries are treating our nationals like outcasts too
that is why we had to pull out from the China games

Love thine neighbour as thine self


Those quarantined are still humans
Have you seen the way a lot of Nigerians have reacted to the story
of people and nations battling the ebola scourge.

I read a comment by someone in Thisday website were he said all Liberians cannot be trusted
all because of Patrick Sawyer and another Liberian that defrauded him


Such ranters filled the e-space and other communication spaces
spewing stuff that imply that victims (both those with Ebola and those quarantined)
should be treated as outcasts, without any personality requiring at least some miniscule empathy

I even hear that the officials directly handling the cases of those that have been quarantined in Lagos
treat them as sub-humans that are marked for no greater glory than a countdown to a cremated grave.

The whole thing almost sounds like the stories of yore, when folks with perceived terminal illness
were considered as an abomination to community and cast into an evil forrest filled with wild beasts
until they met their demise (which ever tool that death chose to wield to accomplish this).

DueTime: @esere826, what happened? It's over 1 year since you last enlightened us.

've been busy
hope ur doing good

Ishilove: Bitter kola, salt and Akpu. No Liberian virus can withstand that kind of deadly combo. Nigeria sufferhead has built up our immune system.

I pray for their full recovery.

...umhh
^^^ reminds me of a certain thread opened by a certain person
wondering why people make light of issues or something like that

....umhh

In conclusion

There is a strong likelihood that if the Ebola Virus spreads further in Nigeria
Countries who understand the threat the size and mobility of Nigerians pose will be hostile towards Nigerians

US AND UK
These countries are a major tourist destination receiving milions of visitors yearly. This means they can potentially easilly recive 100's of infected cases. Thankfully, they have good healthcare facilities

SOUTH AFRICA
This is a melting point of Africans and other races and a popular tourist destination. The mixing of races here provides an opportunity for cross racial infection

SAUDI ARABIA
Receives millions of pilgrims yearly to Mecca who move together in close proximity when carryoing out their religious rites. This is a potential hotspot

Now that we have an idea of what the tipping point is all about
I'll share my concerns

There are some 6 countries that I believe would be in the UN watch list because they are the biggest threats to the initiation of the epidemic worlwide:
They include:
1 Nigeria
2 India
3 US & UK
4 Saudi Arabia
5 South Africa

NIGERIA
We have a huge population that can be a breeding ground for the Ebola virus especially with our porr health care. Plus we travel alot, and are in almost every country in the world.

INDIA
Chares the same attributes as Nigeria

A se.xually promiscous corper called Mandigo was posted from lagos state to Yobe state
He had se.x with 2 infected people in Yobe, and at the end of his service year travelled back to Lagos

On his way back to Lagos he stopped by in 10 brothels in transit states, and infected 10 girls there
When he got to Lagos, within 4 months, he had slept with 20 runs girls, 5 official ashies and 3 of his girlfriends and infected all of them them with the STD

He dumped two of his girlfriends who went on to have new boyfriends
one a musician who lives in Calabar and the other who lives in Kano
-both guys are also very promiscous

The runs girls went on to infect their boyfriends and politicians
the ashis went on to infect the tipper drivers and armed robbers that patronize them


.......with this narrative, I bet you can easilly visualize how the infection would have spread from 100 to a million people in 2 years
especially if their country is a none caring one

..TBC

Let's start our small lesson

Imagine that 10 years ago there was a deadly STD contained only in Yobe state, with only a few 100's of people catching it
then suddenly 2 yrs ago there was an epidemic of the same STD in the whole of Nigeria, with millions of people getting infected

Gladwell provides an interesting theory to explain how this could have happened. It would go something like this:

Sadly, we're in an Ebola season
typical of me, i'll apply myself to the situation and create narratives that are informative and can be consumed as the reader deems fit

Today I remembered the book called tipping point (written by Gladwell) that I read some years ago
it sets out a theory behind the spread of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS and innovations that have shaken the world
I advice you read it

DRealGeesam1: My confession and apology

Dear nairalanders and everyone who have heard of the ebola Prevention "News", My name is Adesewa, I am coming out clean because what started has a joke has escalated into the unprecedented.
How it started
Yesterday i was with friend in her hostel, we were talking about this Ebola out break, when one of my friends, Funke (she introduced me to nairaland) brought the idea of Us playing a prank on our friends. The first suggestion was to tell people that aloe very could cure Ebola, but we thought it would sound too ridiculous so we forgot about it.

Later that even an idea came to me (i now regret that i did it).
I decided to send a BBM broadcast message to my friends, telling them that the Ministry of Health has asked everyone to bathe with salt and warm water and drink some of it.
I sent the message 7:08pm yesterday

Later this midnight i started getting calls and messages that i should drink salt water and bath with it.

All efforts to tell people that i was the one who started the joke failed. Only my friends who i mentioned earlier believed me. Even my mum could me this morning, i did not know what to tell her.

I am using this medium to beg you all to warn and tell everyone, before they drink salt and damage their health.

Please dont be hash on me. I know this has gone out of hand. I never knew it will be this serious. Some have even added to the original message i sent.

A scenario of what could happen to you
...Imagine that the Nigerian system is a smart one and want to teach you a lesson

the security agencies will do a search through all network databases to check for the first source of the rumour
this is quite easy. Its like searching for keywords using google.
When they've identified your number, they'll then use that in getting your name
They'll then search through bank records and telphone details to identify your location
They'll contact your university and so identify your department
they'll get an informant in your department to squeal on your school and house address

They'll invite the news media when they arrest you
More sales for the media when you are front page
you being handcuffed will be on TV and newspapers as the source of the rumour

You'll spend some days in the cell with loads of mosquitoes
You will then be charged to court
your defense lawyer will argue that you were remosrseful hence you alerted the public through NL
you may thereafter be discharged and acquited if there are no laws to handle your case

...However, all this would have served as a deterent to others who take jokes too far

birdman: @AK, you will find that in Nigeria at least, we already have a generation or two that has this double consciousness. Wether it is on Nairaland or blogs or twitter, you will find Nigerians (some with reputable awards) arguing points of view that are completely alien to their culture. When you ask them to explain their thought process, they invariably regurgitate life stories and examples from other cultures that they have never been to or experienced. In other words, through TV and mostly the internet, we have Nigerians that have been seduced into living the lives, values and expectations of other peoples. I think part of the reason for this double mindedness is that the same media subtly implies the unworthiness of local African thought, and a significant portion of our educated youth (me included) has absorbed this message.

Shared communication gradually leads to people developing a shared culture
This is one strength that fortified Northern Nigeria for a long time.

The mainstream media is presently pushing a mainly western communication paradigm
As long as we don't push out our own narrative, we end up being assimilated in theirs.
resistance is almost futile

So the only way to successfully engage while holding on to our own culture is to create new ones that incorporate both

For example:
1) afro pop -incorporates nigerian and western beats
2) A guy subtly permitted to have multiple girlfriends apart from his wife -incorporates monogamy and polygamy

Politics
Expect our State and Federal governments to use this as an oppurtunity to redirect and borrow funds
towards eradicating Ebola. I hope it doesn't end up in individuals pockets

Sales of Ebola defying products
This has apparently already started. My fears is that folks could feel confidient that this is the ultimate weapon, and end up becoming careless in other hygienic habits
I imagine a scenario where some after touching ebola infected materials will simply cleanse their hands with anti ebola products and then dig same fingers into into a bowl of Amala


Miracle cures
I do sincerely hope that invitations for ebola miracle cures do not end up attracting the infected to the none-infected and unwittingly unleeching mass infections if no miracles happen in those instances.
Afterall, not everyone who goes to a crusade to get healed does get healed.


The North
we are hearing of reactive but nevertheless quick interventions in the South. Hope the Nothern elites get off their bums and fight this if it gets there, not blaming Jonathan or saying its the will of God.
Fortunately, the muslim north buries their dead same day. This should limit contact with too many people.

Boko Haram
If Ebola persists and gets to the camps of Boko Haram, this would be the end of the insurgency. these guys practically bath in blood and would therefore be very susceptible to an outbreak.


...Finally, please guys stay safe and follow as much hygienic routine as possible

Ebola virus as finally berthed on our shores
not one, but 2 confirmed cases
I must commend the Lagos state government for their almost proactive approach to this issue

I hope Ebele doesn't make a broadcast where he would say that "Ebola Virus is here to stay"


I sat back to think about the impact of the virus on the country
and typical of me, I began to draw up scenarios that could play out

I hope Ebola doesn't persist, however, if it does, there is no doubt that it could bring about some scenarios that I'd wish to point out.

I wrote this in a hurry as I need to head home
I've not hard time to think it through properly to ensure it's not offensive or stuff like that

Ishilove: Why did you delete the thread before?

delete doesn't sound right in this case

@ Xenaf

Remember that the AS, SS issue is essentially about your offsprings and not you two
if you plan to tie you womb, or get impregnated by an AA sperm using artificial means
then there should be no problem apart from costs

If you choose to follow the path of faith
ensure that faith changes ur genotype before marriage

And for you,,
.. u probably shld think of moving outside the Nigerian shores, to were the healthcare facilities are modest
you might even then have local lovers that don't have the sickle cell genetic problem

i'm sure you're aware that sickle cell is common mainly in blacks
its our genetic way of fighting against malaria.

...I wish you the best