₦airaland Forum

I am certain that the author's wife was a one time Headmistress at my primary school, University of Calabar staff school. Do you know the family? One of the sons was my classmate in primary school. The man (I think he is late) wrote another book about the Ibibios. He sucessfully showcased certain aspects of our culture, which I thought were rich. They were others that I disagreed with though.

Nature itself, an attestation of the splendid Power of God Almighty.

Love and fellowship in the human race.

The birth of a baby, as someone else observed.

Peace and tranquility, take time to exhale.

This topic again?

Congrats@my2cents. Are yu considering promoting your book at the Akwa Ibom convention this summer? More grease to your elbow. Nna, I go read that book of yours, when I get time. Just curious, did you ever address the subject of "IMAN" in your book? It is a relationship shared between villages in certain parts of Uyo (cant speak for the rest of Akwa Ibom state).

Revenge belongs to the Lord@davidyland, and the rest of the folks. You cant just support the maiming of muslims in Anambra State who had nothing to do with the riot. How would you feel, if you were turned down for a job, or a credit card, because some unscrupulous Nigerians are engaged in fraud?

You can load on baskets of fruits, and make endless trips to the plastic surgeon, but eventually, wrinkles will inevitably make its way on your body. Best advice, just embrace old age.

I dont know about Yaradua, but e be like say Nigerians have learnt nothing from the past decades, and as such, will continue to be in this conundrum. Are those 2, Yaradua and Buhari, the only presidential candidates in the country? Whatever happened to Pat Utomi?

Has anybody ever been a victim or survivor of office politics? It could be the 'misplacement' of your file by your company's secretary, because you had rubbed her the wrong way. At times, race is a factor in getting you booted from a company. As the slogan goes in America, "Blacks are the last to be hired, and the first to be fired". So, in today's competitive economy, with jobs outsourced to India, in the name of globalization and corporate greed, a lot of candidates are applying for jobs that may be out of their reach. Even when you get hired, you have to watch your back, another person may be plotting your downfall. Below is my experience:

My supervisor at one law firm that I worked for, was a pain in the neck. Everyday, she was always on my case, that, finally, I gave up, and yelled at her. It was always one petty stuff in the office, or so. Once, she accused me of not wearing designers to work, and then proceeded to showcase her name brand. Another time, she warned me from having a conversation with one of the female secretaries at work, and even spied on me, to check if I was talking to the lady. From time to time, we would get into a major confrontation, and finally, she reported me to the office manager. Five months later, I lost my job. But I took it in stride, since I know that God, as usual would open another door for me.

The lady, turns out, quit her job, because the new office manager, made life, unbearable to her at the workforce. She joined my former law firm, where my friend was above her. That night, asked me, "Do you know "Claire"? I answered in the affirmative, and, the guy then told me that the girl was acting all scared (because she knew that I worked at the law firm earlier), and was asking him, "Hey, do you know "Ndipe"? Several days later, the woman kept asking him, "Did "Ndipe" say anything about him? I admitted the whole drama to my friend, but urged him not to fire her, based on that, but should accomodate her at the job, based on her work ethics.

We live in a small world indeed!!!.

10k for a price of a suit? How's the quality?

Man is the head of the family. They cant be 2 captains in one ship. One has to submit to the other, it is this equality notion that has led to the breakdown of marriages in the world. I am not advocating that the man should rule his house with a heavy hand, no, Jesus Christ did not command us to do so. As for women who are up in arms against men, being the house, I have to ask this question, "Why take up your husband's last name when you get married? What about the kids, does their last name bear that of their father, or do they also retain your maiden name?

And for any man who is totally up for equality in the marital home, I'd have to ask, "Would you let your future bride come to your parent's house and ask for their hand in marriage? Would the traditional marriage ceremony take place in your compound, so that at the end of the event, you will be squired to your father in-law's house? Would you gladly relinquish your rights as head of the family to your wife, so that not only you would bear her last name, but also your kids.

Any "No" to my answer would perhaps reveal to us, that you are just paying mere lip service to "women's rights" and are also keen on maintaining the status quo in the household.

Cant both co-exist without any issues? From the Biblical viewpoint, a man must choose his wife overall others. However, that should not excuse you from taking care of your mom when the need arises.

This topic itself is appalling.

May her soul rest in peace. I feel sorry for the little baby who is just an infant. What a life it would be for her? How would she be raised without the comforts of her mother? Very tragic story.

That one na common story. Throughout my ss1, I cant recall the mornings that I had breakfast. It was always during break time that we went to eat. No problem whatsoever. But a funny incident occured. We were banned from eating in the dormitory, but students took the rule for granted. One teacher was determined to enforce it. My friend and I were in our dormitory smoking garri. At another angle were some of my roommates. We finished our food, and requested to join them, but they declined our invitation. So, we left, leaving the other three students behind.

One of my teachers caught them, smoking garri, and immediately assembled them. My classmate (who later on had unsuccessfully lured me into becoming a day student) had contributed water to the 'feast'. A junior student's contribution was garri, while another student had brought in glucose. So, each of them had on their hands their contribution. A bowl of garri, a can of glucose, and a jerrycan of water. The teacher assembled them and took them to all the classes in school. It is what my people call "Abut", a show of shame for my roommates. When they walked into the class with their condiments, fitfuls of laughter rang out in the class. At the end of the 'parade', they were punished, by the teacher in addition to engaging in manual labor (cutting the grass). When they were done, the trio quarelled. One of them, the guy who had contributed glucose, proclaimed that at least, his contribution (glucose), elevated his profile in the presence of the girls on campus. It was glucose, not salt, which in his opinion would have tarnished his image.

Nna, the stories in my high school were enough to scare off some of the most bravehearted people. I used to gist my siblings during the holidays and my senior brother was always shocked by the stories. These stories are not figments of my imaginations, but stuff that actually happened on campus.

Another one. In my final year when I was preparing for my SSCE, another sensation occured in one of the dormitories in my school. I was there on the spot, to witness a diabolical act performed in my presence. Students were held in rapt attention over the performance of a certain junior student. He had wrapped some papers in his hand, and would command the paper to 'talk'. Something responded. Some students perhaps, booed, others cheered, but at the end of this magical(?) act, a few of the students were convinced that it was no ordinary act, but perhaps, existed in the spiritual realm. Immediately, my classmate, "Udo", invited him over to his spot in the dormitory, because he wanted the guy to introduce him to the spiritual realm.

I had already banned him from coming to my house, with the support of another classmate of mine/dormitory mate. This is not a joke, but rather, a long and convoluted story. My other classmate who had invited this 'magician' to his room, apparently had some unresolved grievances against a female classmate of mine, who was the ASP (Assistant Senior Prefect's) girlfriend. So, in an act of vengeance, he recruited this junior guy to create some herbal potency that could harm the girl.

The guy complied with his request, with alarming consequences -- the girl became sick. The ASP's girlfriend called my classmate, and begged him that she was sick, and she suspected that he was somewhat involved in her ailment. It was a sickness that could not really be explained in medical terminology. So, this culprit, rather than keeping quiet, immediately bragged to my classmates that he had dealt with his nemesis. The ASP got wind of this nauseating information and assembled some 'big guys' on campus to confront the guy. It was a very serious matter, that saturday, and the guy was whupped and was forced to confess to his misdeeds.

One of the teachers, who taught us agric science was alerted, and together, I mean, anybody who was a boarder, and was present on campus trooped out of the dormitory to witness the next move. Earlier, my school had assigned us (senior students)a plot of land for our Agricultural Science class, and we had tilled the soil into ridges, planting some food items, like Cassava.

The guy took us to the farm and, unbelievably, went to the girl's plot of land. From there, he dredged out something (I don't know what it was, because I took to my heels immediately) that, had been deposited on the girl's farm. He and the culprit had just finished digging it out, and when they removed it, there was a helter skelter, as students ran away from the scene. Only the brave, which comprised of some few students stood their ground to witness the next move. That evening, when school had returned to a near normalcy, the Compound Master strolled into school and rebuked us for beating up our classmate for an incident that had no bearing whatsoever. But the matter could not be ignored. After further investigations, the school authorites, finally realized that there was a malicious intent involved in the object that was buried in the girl's farm.

There was grave consequences to be paid for this incident. The junior student, who was the architect of this diabolical act, was immediately expelled for good from campus. My classmate fared better than his accomplice, he was pardoned, because he was a candidate for the SSCE. We had just about a month to leave campus, so I guess, they just thought there was no point whatsoever in expelling him.

The following weekend, when I went home, I told my mother about the incident. She wasnt too pleased to listen to my story, as she felt was a distraction to my studies. True, I aced my SSCE when the results were published several months later, but those six years that I spent at boarding house at Obot Idim was indeed an unforgettable experience for me, even after nearly two decades.

The proliferation of fast food joints in a particular country is no proof of a country's exposure to the western world. On the contrary, fast foods have received bad press because of their poor quality of food, and its link to fatal illness like diabetes, high cholestrol, obesity. So, I am quite surprised that a "Nigerian" who has been exposed to happenings in the Western world, and is most likely aware of the health risks of consuming fast foods would actually want their presence in Nigeria. For what? So we can be more westernized? Must we always copy the Western world? How about us, introducing our own inventions and have it established in America and London?

By the way, I would choose fufu and afang soup over greasy big mac.

A free world indeed, with consequences to pay for in the afterlife.

The fees at Private Universities in Naija is outrageous. How many people can afford it? Some guy gave the reason for their exhorbitant school fees because the Federal Govt does not provide aid to them. But even in the USA, there are some Private Universities that rely solely on grants and donations from their alumni. Some even provide a free ride to their students. Harvard just started a trend, of waiving school fees for students whose families earn below 40k a year. I don't know what 'deals' that these private universities back home offer their students, neither am I going to make comparisons, because the USA education is more advanced than the Nigerian system.

Like Naija, even in the USA, there is a remarkable difference between the state/amenities on private universities and the public ones. However, amenities are a poor substitute to a rigorous learning and prestige of the University. University of California (Berkeley and Los Angeles) are leading public institutions in the USA, and I would actually pick them over Santa Clara University, or even Rice University, a private University in Houston. So, in conclusion, being private, does not necessarily mean that it is highly rated or offers superior academic programs, when juxtaposed with their public counterparts.

I dont like moneygram. I have used their services once, and it was a disappointment. Other than a trusted fellow going home, Western Union is the next bet to send money.

Hmm, another one, and this is another true story.

A certain junior student in my high school was at the center of controversy over the whereabouts of his mother. During the school term, his father would go the bursary department to pay his school fees. But somehow, or strangely, he would find out that his son's school fees had been paid. Nobody knew who paid the school fees. Later on, the story circulated that it was his mom who had been coming to school to pay her son's school fees. Meanwhile, the gist was that the mother had passed away earlier on. So, nobody could fathom how this was possible.

Soon after, the mother would visit her son in the dormitory. Each time she came, ol'boy, students would take to their heels because they believed that these visits were conducted by an unearthly being. I never witnessed this incident, since it was in a different house, but each time, she appeared, the hostel was almost empty, as students fled the scene. The boy would clearly distance himself from his mother's visit, and even one of my classmate who knew him had sort of confirmed that boy's mother had passed away.

So, listen to gist. This woman came again to school, and as usual, same drama, people ran away. The ASP, claimed that he stood his ground and watched the woman, disappear just outside the school gate, after her departure. I dont know what to make of the story, if it was true or not. Sometimes, I wonder, if the parents could have split and the father, in a vengeful act, made up these stories that their mother had passed away, further breaking the bonds between the child and their mother.

The degradation of the African culture when Nigerians start hiring strippers in their setting. Must we adopt every western culture in our lifestyle?

Are you a member of that sect, Jehovah's Witness who profess, albeit erroneously that only 144,000 people would go to Heaven? Read your Bible for more clairificaiton on that subject, and pray to God. It is better to do your own research, via the Holy Bible, than to rely on hearsay from a controversial religious organization.

Not only the media in Naija, can you make money (I doubt it though), but you can rake in big bucks if you are heavily invested in the media in the USA. Power is entrusted on owners, likewise money, accrued from advertisements. Media in Naija? I doubt if there is money to be made from it. Our country is unstable, and all sorts of intimidation has been levelled against the Naija media, thus leading to closure. Journalist sef, how much them dey make?

Take in the baby. He is an innocent victim, and should not be blamed for his parents indiscretion

Another setback for us. How will Nigerians abroad fare if Western Union decides to blacklist us? Omo, it wont be easy.

Do you all pay taxes on the gains you have accumulated from the stock market? Just curious

Kwa Falls in Akamkpa

Obudu Cattle Ranch.

Uyo, my hometown

Calabar.

Yankari Games Reserve.

Olumo Rock.



We have a lot of tourist attraction in Nigeria.