₦airaland Forum

AjanleKoko:
^^
Actually I kind of admire the Ife clique thing.
Apart from the bonding, the guys from that school generally have a positive work attitude. Even the guys that finish with average degrees are pretty good. And I like the way they support each other.

. . even to NL here

My service year in Sokoto(Batch A 2007/2008) is one of the most memorable periods in my life.
I don't have any regrets staying back in Sokoto to serve full course rather than redeploy back to Lagos.
It was fun-filled, enlightening, adventurous, even as it was challenging with highs and lows.
The following are teh highlights:

TO SOKOTO
-The longest journey I ever made by road in my life was during my service year, from Lagos to Sokoto, 14 hours, although subsequently I travelled by air

IN CAMP
-I was the laziest corper in camp, never attended parades, only went in teh evenings to cheer my platoon in football events
-Camp very porous, used to go out to bank, to cybercafe etc, even in that white uniform
-So hot at times, that I forwent my food, as I coudn't enter that scorching sun to go and pick my food at the kitchen
-Met other Ife guys and we had a very formidable alliance in camp, including holding 'Great Ife' day, to teh astonishment of other corpers

RABAH
-From camp, I was posted to a village called Rabah, Ahmadu Bello's village. In fact the corpers lodge I was staying(called Hitlers Lodge), we learnt, was Ahmadu Bello's guest house when he was alive.
-Being an internet and newspaper person, I was on and off Rabah, always frequenting town(Sokoto)
-made few friends in Rabah(Jamilu, an indigene) and co-corpers(Goke, Kalu, Kola, etc)
-Played football, Batch A Vs Batch B
-It was fun altogether, but could be very boring at times.

CONTENTIOUS ARTICLE
-I wrote one article in Sun newspaper sometime in August 2007 that landed me into problem with NYSC and Sokoto state govt. The article was critical of the state governor and I was summoned by NYSC. I faced panels, met commissioner for education etc. It's a long story, and I was reposted from Rabah, 30 minutes from Sokoto, to a farther place, Gudu, close to Niger border, 2 hours from Sokoto.

GUDU
-The principal of that school jokingly wanted to reject me, saying if I could 'petition' a whole state governor, then he dey fear me o.
-In Gudu, no light, no good water, trek almost a mile(the whole village is less than 1 mile stretch) to buy bread etc
-Mingled with other corpers.
-Liked by the students, who were far more brilliant than those I taught in Rabah. I even wrote a letter to one's dad asking that teh boy be allowed to go to good secondary school and later University as he was very promising. The father replied me, promising to do so

SOKOTO
-Although my initial and later postings were villages, I spent 80% of my service year in Sokoto town. I used to go to the villages from town every week, and pass one night to come back the next day.
-I enjoyed Sokoto town, mixing with other corpers. In fact it was in Sokoto I met the guy that currently stays with me. I still speak on phone with friends I made during service year
-Made a lot of friends from residents and indigenes, used to go to their Medical students campus to read, so mixed with their students, some of whom we still talk on phone till today

DADDY SMART & MCAN LODGE
-These were two of the places taht made my service year enjoyable. MCAN lodge is Muslim corpers lodge and that is where we mingled, enjoyed, joked, gisted etc. Very interesting place, meeting grads of otehr schools across the country, gisting. It was a place I enjoyed.
-Daddy smart is one relaxation centre in front of MCAN lodge. Bankers and other professionals do go their to relax, take snacks, drink(only soft drinks o), play games, watch football, relax and talk. It was the hub of activities in Sokoto, and I used to go there to watch ball, eat snacks, take Zobo, kunnu, play table tennis etc. It added fun to my service year

Other places I know include: Yakoyo(where I eat Amala & eba), they know me in almost all the cybercafes in Sokoto(city campus, emir yahaya, opposite teaching hospital etc, thanks to NL), newspapers stand at roundabout, Offa road, Sultan Bello college, dogondaji,

I really enjoyed my service year, and still want to visit Sokoto one day, just for memories sake.

funsoo:
4, Asa street,
Ikeja Lagos.
Ist June,2006.

The Human resources Manager,
ABC Nigeria Limited.
4, Tom street, Ibadan
Oyo state

Dear sir,

APPLICATION FOR THE POST OF A CHIEF ACCOUNTANT
I read with extreme interest your advertisement in The Guardian Newspaper of May 30th 2006 for the post of a Chief Accountant. My second class upper grade in Accounting,proffessional qualification (ACA), Master degree in finance and many years cognate experience seems to
fit me well for this position.

I understand this post requires a candidate with strong analytical mind,a self starter ,who must be able to work with lesser supervision.
All this attributes are already part of me as evidenced by my rapid promotion in the past.

Kindly contact me at the above address or through my telephone number 08038363655 for an interview where my ability
to add value to ABC Nigeria limited can be assessed.

Thank you for your time and considration

Yours faithfully,
Adekunle Olufunso
ATT'D
CV

I DECIDED TO POST A SAMPLE OF JOB APPLICATION LETTER TO GUIDE OUR JOB SEEKERS IN THE FUTURE.YOUR COMMENTS PLS.

Omo Unifasiti wa, daddy has went out, eebo repete

xchanger:
This is not an attempt to criticize you in anyway Funsho cause you're doing a great job here. I made a few changes to your letter, to make it sound better grammatically.


4, Asa street,
Ikeja Lagos.
Ist June,2006.

The Human resources Manager,
ABC Nigeria Limited.
4, Tom street, Ibadan
Oyo state

Dear sir,

APPLICATION FOR THE POST OF CHIEF ACCOUNTANT

I read with extreme interest your advertisement in The Guardian Newspaper of May 30th 2006 for the post of Chief Accountant. I graduated from XYZ University with a degree in Accounting (2nd Class Honours, Upper Division). In addition I have a Masters degree in finance, proffessional qualification (ACA), and many years of cognate experience.

I understand that this post requires a candidate with a strong analytical mind, a self starter who must be able to work with little supervision. I possess these attributes and they have served me well in the past - ensuring my rapid promotion by my previous employers.

I would appreciate an opportunity to interview with you and demonstrate to you first hand that i am an excellent fit for this position. You may contact me at the above address or through my telephone number 08038363655. I have also attached my resume for your perusal. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Good attempt, but for the wrong spelling of 'professional'

mbulela:
In line with my school of thought, i do not expect Steve to be a saint.
He probably just got outfoxed in the brown envelope business and decided to spill the bean while throwing away all his toys from the pram.

Of course, it was very glaring from Steve's bombshell that he too was guilty. He knew all these was going on and he kept silent until he was sacked. Also, he narrated instances when he had to do the unethical bidding of Azu. I even learnt Musikilu Mojeed resigned because of the disappearance of his investigative reports. That was an honourable thing to do, and he's now with NEXT. So I'm not saying Steve was a saint too.

On Azu, I'm not very convinced as he still did not answer many other questions raised by Steve:
-Did he truly personally distribute money to invited journalists at the parley with Rockson in Sheraton?
-Did he receiev bribe(ok, let's call it money) from Aondoakaa?
and many other allegations contained in Steve's outburst, but which he never replied in his response.

Anyway, we are still waiting, as, to borrow his words, the story is just beginning. . .

Is it that thug governor that descends so low as to beating citizens or another person?

Speechless

aniiseg:
@Ajanlekoko, I wonder why u keep emphasizing that your days as a graduate/corper was not too long ago, makes me tink u are a little bit on the rusty side (age wise) which you are trying to deny by your emphasis
Back to your post, i guess there is a difference between today’s graduates and those of yesteryears cos back then your brain was the only ticket to be successful thus everyone had to strive for excellence in order to be noticed or rewarded but the case is different now as society has been structured (thanks to corruption) in such a way that  most young grads now believe that its who you know and how you play your cards that gets you to where you want and trust me there are living examples of street smart folks who are successful (which rubbishes the essence of  learning and striving for excellence) so a lot of young grads just want to tread that path which they perceive as the ‘easy path’ instead of slowly climbing the ladder thru hard work and discipline.

OW11 makes a lot of sense in his post and raised some critical questions that we ask ourselves when it comes to making career decisions.

I think its all based on our convictions, do you keep on acquiring Knowledge and striving for excellence  when there is little guarantee that you get paid for it or do you just play smart or do you do both and try to strike a balance?

PS: you forgot to add Nairaland to your list of sites fresh grads are heavily into

I agree with you on the issue at hand, but I take slight exception to the bolded statement.
Ajanlekoko is in his mid-thirties and that's not 'rusty' an age for a Manager. If anything, if he finished school not long ago, say less than 10 years ago, and has risen to his position of today within that period, then he's not on the rusty side.

In any case, Ajanlekoko is truly on a mission to entrench a culture of real, rather than false personal growth. This is well evidenced in his concerns for topics that deal with workplaces, youths, self development etc, part of which is this topic.

AjanleKoko:
Would be interesting to know what you think of SEFAGO's submission that it's not necessarily a good thing.

I think we are talking about same thing here:

Jarus:
In the late 80's to early 90's, there was the Oladele Olasore (then CEO of First Bank), Femi Adekanye (then CEO of Commerce bank), Abioye Oyeleke(NSE President) and a few other top shots in Corporate Nigeria then, all products of this school, who, through a vibrant old boys network, put on track some of their guys from the school, and even at corporate decision making level in the nation's financial sector, the spirit of 'old boys' came to play. Far more technical and sophisticated moves exist among boys from Kings College, Christ School Ado -Ekiti(Erastus Akingbola finished from this school), GCI, and few other top secondary schools with strong old boys networks, in which decisions were finished on 'old boys' table or phone calls.

I also remember the famous 'Insight 82' group, made up of 1982 Economics class of Ife. The guys were so strong they, behind the scene, moved the nation's banking scene some years ago and bond together only by being classmates. Among them was Ibrahim Dosunmu, late MD of Wema bank, who died in December 2000. One of them was also an ED in Access Bank then, and a number were also EDs and GMs in other top banks I can't recall. Those guys effectively made use of old boys network to do a lot of things.

I guess what SEFAGO meant is that undue favouritism and unhealthy cover-up may come in.
In the case of Adekanye and co I mentioned above, when Adekanye's bank ran into troubled waters, the Judge to decide on the case was also an 'old boy' and I think the judge withdrew from teh case or something when a national issue that affaected the economy was turning into old boys issue.

In essence, promotions and appointment, investigations, national decisions, etc may be less than transparent or altruistic when the bond of old boys is given too much strenght.

But much as I agree this should be a cause for concern, I think this is also exaggerated. I don't think any executive, especially if he's part of the ownership or leadership, will sacrifice corporate ethics, in the name of old boys bond. I mentioned the case of the Judge that withdrew because the CEO involved was an ex-boy.

[quote author=Had_one link=topic=433193.msg5922802#msg5922802 date=1271761338][size=18pt]And you now make it 6. What can we call you?[/size][/quote]Exactly. See his life outside

Kobojunkie:
@Poster, have you considered what could follow if he were to resign?

At this point, what could follow should not matter to the family. We are talking about someone gravely ill here.

Question is: Are the front page stories pro-IBB?

IBB is the issue now, go to any serious forum or online media, Nigeria Village square, sahara reporters etc and you will see IBB on its front page too.

Jakumo:
Much has been said about the DRAMATIC improvement in the supply of grid electrical power to Nigeria over the past few months, but a new thread is still in order, since Jonathan Goodluck has slayed a monster that NO OTHER Nigerian head of state DARED tackle at any time over the past 30 years.

It began virtually the instant President Goodluck took over from the long dead and entirely worthless Ex-President Yar Adua, with lights and electrical appliances flickering to life all over Nigeria for the first time in the living memory of any person less than 30 years old, and now, there flows near 24-hour stable electrical power over vast, long forgotten swathes of a land formerly condemned to permanent darkness.

Evidently, President Goodluck single handedly confronted, defeated and uprooted that profoundly evil gang of criminals who held on to key jobs in the national electrical utility company, exploiting their access to the key equipment for the devious purpose of profiteering from Nigeria's electrical blackout by making sure all electrical outlets remained permanently dead. With President Goodluck now DIRECTLY running Nigeria's electrical power sector, all the worn-out excuses for the perennial blackout have miraculously vanished overnight. This accomplishent is almost beyond comprehension, and is without equal in Nigeria's entire history.

If there is a minor regret most Nigerians may quietly harbor in the wake of this astonishing development, it would probably be that those squalid, greedy saboteurs of the country's power supply capability cannot simply be lined up against a wall and shot to pieces in a hail of machinegun fire before an exultant crowd.

All in all, Jonathan Goodluck ALREADY qualifies as Nigeria's MIRACLE MAN, for he has accomplished the seemingly impossible in virtually no time at all. Bravo Johnny ! You is da MAN ! Take my wife, please ! I would be greatly honored.

. . . . only that for the first time since moving to my area, I have not had electricity for three days running. Miracle man indeed!!!

[b]Assalamu alaikum, Hajia, picking my pen to scribble this letter, I wasn't sure of whom to direct it to: you or the Yar'Adua family in general. In most families, the decisions I want to advise you to take are made by the family, but from what I have read in papers and heard from other sources, and very close to being true if not totally true, you are the one that takes all the decisions concerning your husband's health and other matters. Pardon me if that sounds disrespectful, especially as I'm only a mate to your daughter, Zainab, that is just what I heard, I may be wrong.


Hajia, despite my knack for contributing to every national issue in the past few years, I have remained silent on the issue of your husband's health purely because of emotions. In African tradition, you don't speak ill of the dead, but to me, you don't even speak ill of the one in trial. The only thing I have done was briefly carpeting those cartoonists that draw all sorts of grotesque caricatures of your husband and criticising the manner he was brought back to Nigeria. And this was just a matter by the way in one of my recent commentaries.


Ma, until I read the accounts of the pastors that saw your husband, I had thought all the talks about Alhaji's condition were exaggerated. This belief was basically premised on the hearing of his voice over BBC a couple of months ago. Motionless, vegetarian state, groaning, staring blank. These were the words contained in the accounts of the people that saw him, and they are no funny words. So strong that they made me break my silence on this issue after four months.


Mummy Zainab, what exactly is happening? What is in the presidency that, despite his critical condition, you still want Alhaji to continue ruling? Is it the power or the perks? By now I want to believe that the only reason why Alhaji has not resigned is because he is not capable of signing resignation letter, because I can't think of any other plausible reason why somebody in such condition will still want to hold on to power. It's just beyond my imagination.


Hajia, my simple advice to you is that you should please facilitate the resignation of Alhaji as president. I am saying this without any regard to the politics that will follow this action, because at this state, the last thing that comes to my mind is politics. How much more you, his better half. In my part of the country, there is saying that 'being without position is sometimes better than being with one'. I strongly believe in this.


Hajia, do not misconstrue my advising you to walk the path of resignation as expecting the worse to happen or Alhaji not being fit to rule again. It is my sincere prayers that Alhaji gets well, but doing that, he becomes Yar'adua family's private property again as against being accountable to all Nigerians as he is now. The implication of this is that you will have only his state of health to worry about, as against having to battle other politics that currently surround his state of health. It will no longer be compulsory for anybody to demand seeing him. Nobody dare ask you for report on his state of health. And the avalanche of attacks you receive on daily basis from different quarters is expected to subside.


Power is transient. No matter how long we cling to it, it will soon leave us. After all, before 2006, you never thought you were going to occupy the exalted office. Why then do we have to sacrifice more important things on the altar of power. I believe Alhaji's health should be more important than anything now. Or, ma, do you have anything to fear after leaving office?


My heart seriously goes out to Daddy Nafisat. He is surely a good man, and as far as I can see, he has good intentions for this country. But such good intentions, unfortunately, are being spoiled by the shoddy turn of things since he took ill. Resigning now may not be as honourable as if it had been done months earlier, but you will still curry some respect, as opposed to being disgraced out of office which may be inevitable if the situation continues.[/b]

http://thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=170883

I carry 16 for class out of I think 19, go erase the 1 in front and changed it to 6. I ate big meat that day until they checked my result next day and detected I carry 16. 

Poor small boy. It was in primary 2 in 1989.

[quote author=J.Ijaya link=topic=422563.msg5917398#msg5917398 date=1271681014]I need a girl to share my innerself wit,im a guy of 20 yrs,schooling in kadpoly and very humble,my dialect is yoruba,native of kwara.Any interested lady can reach me on my email jamo.ijaya@yahoo.com[/quote]Bawo ni Omo Offa. Na your senior brodas' friend be ds.

AjanleKoko:
debosky wins it for me - The Man Who Invented Grammar.

Yeah, shows confidence

Don't you belong to some kind of subgroup? If not then you agree that your ethnicity was created by Abacha.

fl gator - state of origin is not ethnicity.

Ekiti is a sub-Yoruba group, a dialect. The state was named after it.

Jarus is a full blooded Yoruba national, if nation is strictly defined, but as it is, I'm a Nigerian by nationality and Yoruba of Ibolo stock by ethnic group.

@justfash,
Hope u've seen Nanai's emaill addy I PMed to you?

Welcome, back Abu, okunrin meta

@Toba: chai, sorry to disappoint you, i didn't finish my jamb english o, i suspect i go fail , this na my 8th jamb, i guess it was your curse, you always curse me with jamb now the jamb don jam me, hehehe, go consult the holy ghost to shade the remaining paper i didn't finish. I'm tired of sitting at home with women, don't get naughty, i mean our hajiya , sisters and da members of the extended family.

Abu, so u get sense of humour like this.

Sure, today's grads are younger, have more information, better-looking, etc, etc. But are they really smarter than graduates of 10, 15, 20, 25 years ago?

On the average, NO. 70% of today's grads are surely only good-looking, younger, more informed(about IT and football, not success skills or managing dynamics of life!)

1. They seem to know a lot less than older grads about the fundamentals of the course they studied. For example, I have corpers in my team, who are supposed to be 1st class or 2.1 graduates of electronic engineering. They don't even understand the fundamentals of telecoms.

Very, very correct.  One of the reasons I personally want to move to an economic analysis and policy-based outfit, to sharpen my knowledge.  It's basically the product of the system we were made to go through.

2. They don't seem to have the discipline required for the work environment. They are kind of conditioned for the 'easy life'. They complain about every task you assign to them.

Agreed, but this appears to me a little overgeneralized. Almost half of them(or is it us?), especially those that struggled through the thick and thin to finish school, pass this criteria. In my organizations for example, most guys and gals that fall into 'fresh grads' category, even the buttie among them, easily do well in the discipline criteria.

3. They are a lot more focused on office politics, which is surprising for their level and age. In my day, which wasn't that far off, fresh grads who were into politics stood out sharply like a sore thumb. Most of us were just naive, and wanted to learn.

henhen, strange
Too bad, if it's true.

4. They're heavily into Facebook, and Twitter. Not to mention the EPL, Nollywood, Nigezie, and Sound City. I mean, full-time.

Very correct. And now black berry.

5. They are 100% sold on the Quick Fix. Young people nowadays don't just say 'I wanna be a pilot, because I love flying'. Nowadays, what you hear is 'I heard that pilots are paid N1m a month, and they are in high demand. Can you tell me which certification (sic) I can quickly do that would make me a pilot in 1 week?'

Most correct. I must admit I also find myself somewhere around here. I like easy money, even though I try not to sacrifice interest and passion.

Now I'm not generalizing. A lot of them still have good values. I'm just saying that the majority don't.

Oh, why am I just seeing this statement? This sums it up.

5. They are 100% sold on the Quick Fix. Young people nowadays don't just say 'I wanna be a pilot, because I love flying'. Nowadays, what you hear is 'I heard that pilots are paid N1m a month, and they are in high demand. Can you tell me which certification (sic) I can quickly do that would make me a pilot in 1 week?'

Oga, eeeee


Hmmmnnnn, graduating less than four years ago, with just 2 years post NYSC experience, I'm not sure I'm also not among the 'fresh grads of today' being flogged here. I'm not sure whether I'll not be flogging myself if I also join the flogging

I will say I'm also in this class of 'today's grads', because there is hardly any difference between those of us that graduated four years ago and those that graduated last year, after all they met us in school, and we are all of same generation. So I'm not passing this comment as an outsider.

More than twenty years ago, Yoruba Musician, Ebenezer Obey, lamenting the rotten education system of Nigeria then, sang: 'Omo University wa, daddy has went out, eebo repete', literally meaning, "Hear our University students of today: 'daddy has went out', hmmnn, wonderful grammar".
And that was 20 years ago. The generation of the 60's and 70's then were pitying the then current generation(of the 1980's) of their poverty of knowledge, so low that they can't speak simple English correctly: Daddy has gone out.

If I may digress a little further. People of 'previous' generations easily remind us of 'good old days' at the slightest undoing of anybody from the current generation, as if all the old days were good. They easily say our social, economic, political and education systems of today had fallen to teh abyss, as if it was not that social system, in their generation, that produced an Anini or Dr Oyenusi, whose records in social crime remain unbeaten till today, as if it was not the education system of their generation that produced a Turai Yar'adua(she's a Uni grad) that can hardly speak better English than a primary school pupil of our own generation, as if it was not the political system of their generation that produced the second republic governors that, laid side by side with the Iboris and Saminu Turakis of today, the latter guys may come out saintly.

In essence, my point is that the issue of generational decay in systems, though real, is a bit exaggerated. I'm saying this, not because I'm defending my generation(which has been tagged the facebook generation by Sociologists), but it's an important point we need to put at the back of our mind while analysing the generational drift.

In the next post, I'll address the specifics, but it is important to hint here that I fully agree with Ajanlekoko in all the specific points he outlined up there.

Old boys network does exist in Nigeria, but as has been mentioned up there, not so strong as we have in top schools in top countries.

It appears more organized at the high school level, although that is also dwindling now. Hence, schools like KC, QC, Christ School Ado Ekiti, Barewa(of old) and few others all have an organized, effective old boys network and a conscious, concerted way of bringing up products of their schools. Even my own alma mater, Offa Grammar school, Offa, less known as it is, also has a very strong old boys network that has been very beneficial. In the late 80's to early 90's, there was the Oladele Olasore (then CEO of First Bank), Femi Adekanye (then CEO of Commerce bank), Abioye Oyeleke(NSE President) and a few other top shots in Corporate Nigeria then, all products of this school, who, through a vibrant old boys network, put on track some of their guys from the school, and even at corporate decision making level in the nation's financial sector, the spirit of 'old boys' came to play. Far more technical and sophisticated moves exist among boys from Kings College, Christ School Ado -Ekiti(Erastus Akingbola finished from this school), GCI, and few other top secondary schools with strong old boys networks, in which decisions were finished on 'old boys' table or phone calls.

I also remember the famous 'Insight 82' group, made up of 1982 Economics class of Ife. The guys were so strong they, behind the scene, moved the nation's banking scene some years ago and bond together only by being classmates. Among them was Ibrahim Dosunmu, late MD of Wema bank, who died in December 2000. One of them was also an ED in Access Bank then, and a number were also EDs and GMs in other top banks I can't recall. Those guys effectively made use of old boys network to do a lot of things.

Although not as organized and conscious, as it used to be, it still exists in some fashion, usually through sharing of valuable information. In my Ife clique of friends for example, we still make use of it, and it has been every helpful. In my current coy example, I have been able to bring forward my room mate to join us(I brought him from GTB), another one is resuming this week(coming from Zenith) and I just spoke with our HR on another's bahalf, and he will also be joining any time from now, subject to doing well in interview. One rejected an offer to join us because of pay package issue(should have come from P&G). Three others fluffed the opportunity by not being satisfactory enough in selection process(would have come from Mobil, Zenith and GTB). So if all of them had come, that means my company would have been parading at least 10 staff from my Ife clique alone, all through me. Any info I get I pass across among guys. Others also do it. I remember when, two years ago, a GM in UBA put a call to me to come and join him in his unit, having lost my classmate to another company. I wasn't interested and I introduced another classmate of mine to him, but he wasn't too keen at taking him. This friend of mine ended in GTB, courtesy another ex-room mate of ours in Ife, now a GT big boy.

I think Ife guys are trying in this regard. They have that strong bond after school, and it has been very beneficial, at least for flow of useful information. Ife Economics dominate the whole of Merristem Research dept, from HOD to NYSC. The entire research dept of that investment banking is filled with my senior, mate and juniors in Ife, although some just use it as a stop-gap before moving to bigger coys. It is also very common to have a network of Ife engineering guys in Schlumberger, Shell, Chevron etc.


The old boys network is actually in place in Nigeria, and working, even if not well coordinated or organized.

What's wrong with that inconsistent guy? Who does he he think he is?

MsTom:
Funniest post ever!

Ever heard of one man called becomrich(now becomricher)?

Beaf:
That occasion was the first time Sanusi dressed properly in my opinion. I really don't like his usual buttler outfit.
I wish he would wear traditional dress more often (but the cap should be his size sha ).

That was teh firts thing that came to my mind too

Oh, I have missed Obj. . .that man is a bag of humour!

AjanleKoko:
You go like am na. He writes soppy Nigerian political idealistic stuff

Maybe you're right. I have more interest in political happenings.

Barka Jum'ah to all my brothesr and sisters in Islam.

mbulela:
bros, that is too mysterious a definition, subjective or not.
Next thing you will tell me you use super natural powers in deducing reliability of the sources.

The reliability of a source depends on these factors:
-Credibility history of the source
-Experience with the source
-Tone and logic of the info
-Whether it corroborates with other sources or not

mbulela:
she comes across as a street wise lady.
very smart and can be witty.
she used to edit Independent and i think before that she was at Punch (Jarus, correct me if i am wrong on that last bit).

Yeah, you're very correct. She edited Independent, I think up to 2007. I rememeber her writing about the por.nography crisis in Ife in 2006 when she was maintaining a column with Independent. She was also formerly of the Punch.

AjanleKoko:
Well, I only read BusinessDay, and no other newspaper. I think it's the best business paper out there. Stopped reading all those political newspapers a long time ago.
Although BD 'falls' my hand occasionally with some silly stories like 'And The Ministers Laughed', front page material o! about how all the ministers were laughing when they should be working. That kind of nonsense belongs only in City People!

Anyway my best columnists in BD are Ogho Okiti, Prof. Ok. Jemie, and JK Randle. I like the 'old money' quality of Randle. Those men don't pour out the usual Nigerian vituperations, they write good prose, and entertain you with their experience and humour.
There's also an old interview series running, of Chinweizu. As you may have guessed. I am strongly anti-imperialist, and pro-Black.
Then of course I read the FT syndications.

I think most of those guys you mention suck. Azu right now has some issues with a former subordinate, Simon Kolawole just plays to the gallery, Reuben Abati is irrelevant, and Casmir is just whipping up sentiments, not really producing good writing. I remember someone ticking him off one time when he was gushing about Fashola's achievements, asking him how many Welsh politicians were praised so shamelessly in the papers when he was at Cardiff. I kind of liked that.


In fact, have you guys every thought about the Nigerian media and the mindset of the people that read them?

Typical columnists write like this: Nigeria is bad bad bad, leaders are bad, country is bad, everything is bad, we are dead, Lord, help us!

Typical response to the columnist: Columnist, God bless you for writing this. In fact, your children's children are blessed for ever. In fact even, come and collect my two daughters for marriage. You are too brilliant, you are too smart. You are too correct. Nigeria is truly bad bad bad, leaders are bad bad bad, everything is bad, we are dead, God help us! Thank you for writing this, and keep writing stuff like this!
See why I only read BusinessDay?

Yee, what a perfect illustration!!!
Funny but 100% true. Some respondents add: 'You are the only reason why I buy ThisDay on Monday. My Saturday is not complete without reading your column. God bless you. More grease to your elbow.', From Wale Ademakin, Ilesha.

. . and those columnists proudly publish those stupid responses


That said, Nigerian columnists still have an avid reader in me, principally because newspaper is the only material I read(I'm a lazy reader, I don't read novels etc), and if I should drop that too, then you can imagine how poor I'll be. Secondly, I'm a public affairs commentator myself, so I follow what others have to say on issue.

I must admit the quality of commentary and column writing in Nigeria has declined. I read much about the Stanley Macebuhs, Biodun Jeyifos, Daras of the 80s, but I didn't meet them. Guardian is trying in this respect, I think.

I also read BD. I like Dr. Ogho Okiti too, but my favourite is Opeyemi Agbaje.

NB: Pls I have struck out Azu's name from my list.