₦airaland Forum

While I don't subscribe to hate speeches that seem to denigrate the office of the President, I am worried that the presidency is more bothered about hate speeches but passive about extensive killings by Fulani herds men; unchecked killings in Kaduna; and recent killings in Benue. That is what has aggravated the mass killings till now, not hate speeches. Nigerians have been pushed to the wall because her government appears to be a bias umpire!

SPARE THESE THINGS A THOUGHT

"Ease is a greater threat to progress," says famous Hollywood actor, Denzel Washington. God did not promise you an easy ride; He promised a possible ride! That a task or a project isn't easy does not imply that it is impossible! "With God,"scriptures exhort,"ALL THINGS are POSSIBLE" [Matt. 19:26] Notice that it didn't say all things are easy!

One reason for life's obvious failure is to wait till all circumstances are favourable. Since the scriptures encourage that the time things are better accomplished is now; irrespective of the odds—sometimes these odds aren't as big as we think they are—start out now, not later.

If life is not purpose driven, it will be wishful driven, and no creative force nor accomplishment, no matter how little, has ever been ascribed to wishes till date! Wishes invent or accomplish absolutely nothing! Isn't this the motivation for the famed axiom: if wishes were horses, beggars would ride? Misery is always the reward for a wishful thinker. Stop wishing and get down to work! You will have a nice week ahead of you.

http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2018/01/week-starter.html?m=0

When euphemism is mentioned, it is thought to be merely taught as one of the literary terms. However, for those that don't even love literature, it forms part of their daily conversation.

The term euphemism refers to polite, indirect expressions which replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite or which suggest something unpleasant. In other words, any word or expression intended to avoid being harsh, disrepectful or offensive is euphemism.

Why euphemism? Euphemisms can be conventional. That is, they are generally acceptable based on norms, cultural practices and beliefs in a given society. Writers or speakers can also deliberately choose to use euphemism to avoid embarrassing a portion of their audience. When this is the case, the context must be understood to unravel the intended meaning of the writer or speaker's use of euphemism.

Functions of Euphemism
1. Euphemism helps writers to convey those ideas which have become a social taboo and are too embarrassing to mention directly.

2. Writers skillfully choose appropriate words to refer to and discuss a subject indirectly which otherwise are not published due to strict social censorship e.g. religious fanaticism, political theories, sexuality, death etc.

3. Euphemism is a useful tool that allows writers to write figuratively about the libelous issues. (These functions were gleaned from online sources)

Euphemisms are employed in various forms.

1. They may be in form of abbreviations. Examples include:
BO (body odour)
WC (water closet)
PLHA (People Living With HIV)
IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons)
LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender)
CD (condom)

2. Substitution of impolite words or phrases for polite ones.
...My uncle forced himself into the secrecy of my being (to imply being raped)

[He] patted women's rears (to imply touching women's buttocks)

Punctually challenged (to imply late-comers)

Commercial sex workers (to imply prostitutes)

Special children/children with special needs (to imply children with disabilities)

Visually impaired (to imply people who are blind)

Carnal knowledge (to imply illicit sexual intercourse)

Mentally challenged (to imply people with mental problems)

Restrooms—gents and ladies (to imply toilets)

Downsizing (to imply mass sacking)

Adult beverages (to imply alcohol or alcoholic drinks)

Adult movies (to imply pornography)

Ethnic cleansing (to imply mass killing of an ethnic group)

He has a rare attribute of managing the truth (to imply lying)

He has an unusual affinity for truth management (to imply lying)

Accidental discharge (to imply shooting by mistake)

Domestic staff (to imply workers like drivers, cooks, cleaners, etc)

3. Coinages or semantic extensions (i.e. a word is forced to take up another meaning)
404 (to imply dog meat)

Round about (used by patrons of food vendors to imply an inner part a bull or goat meat)

The Lord is my barber (to reference a bald man)

4. Deliberately replacing certain words for another
Rather than say, Haye is fat or obese (which can be embarrassing to mean Haye has excessive body fat), you can say, Haye is robust.
Rather than say, Kunle is thin (which can be embarrassing to mean Kunle is malnourished), you can say, Kunle is slim.

Euphemisms are diversely used in the Bible too. Examples include:
And he [Saul] came to...where there was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet. (I Sam. 24:3)

...Adam knew Eve his wife. (Gen. 4:1)

...Abimelech...looked out of a window, and saw [that] Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. (Gen. 26:

David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. (2 Sam. 1:15)

When he [Onan] went in unto his brother's wife,...he spilled it on the ground. (Gen. 38:9)

We take some examples in Yoruba.
A witty definition of euphemism in Yourba is expressed in the expression, a kin fi gbogbo enu soro (meaning, rather than being excessively vocal, one can spare certain details)

Awon too wo ju Oluwa (to imply those who are barren)
O n fe wo/o n se afowora (to imply someone steals)
O ti se alaisi (to imply someone is dead)
Oba ti waja (to imply the king is dead)
Nnkan omo kurin/nnkan omo birin (to imply male and female genitals)
Owo po lowo mi (to imply someone is not financially buoyant)

Source: http://olabanjititles..com.ng

I will never cease to wonder why such a moving and an inspiring speech never make the front page.

fasty:
#Moment_with_Delightz

I found one of the answer that is bedeviling my thinking faculty for making decision. ..
Join me as I peruse through this speech delivered by Prof Yemi osinbajo at the 10th convocation anniversary of Lead City University.

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

PRESS RELEASE

**#Success is more easily attainable than #greatness. You may be a successful businessman, politician, or professional but greatness is not for everyone. But I think I learnt the secret of greatness, you will only be great if you devote your life, and your efforts, to serving others.

REMARKS BY THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, AT THE 10TH CONVOCATION OF LEAD CITY UNIVERSITY IN IBADAN, OYO STATE, ON NOVEMBER 9, 2017.

PROTOCOL

I am honoured to have been invited to celebrate this special day with you. The 10th Convocation ceremony of the Lead City University.

In celebrating the past, we honour the selflessness and enterprising spirit of the founder and all those who not only dared to envision this great institution, but turned it to a dream, to this city of great edifices to nurture the great minds of the imminent future.

So today we must honour the founder of this place of creativity and learning, Prof. Jide Owoeye; a man whose life and times have proved that with vision, hard work, and the courage of your convictions, you can achieve practically anything.

By establishing this University and before it, several other educational institutions, he has shown that securing the future of the following generations is the most important service that we owe the present.

As we do this, we also celebrate the great scholars, and the fine academics who make up the faculties here at the Lead City University. You are the thought leaders at a pivotal time in our national history, whose enormous task is to guide the present and inspire the future. And as we celebrate also and perhaps most importantly, the reason why we are gathered, the graduating class of 2017, congratulations and many congratulations also to the parents, family, guardians, sponsors, and loved ones of the graduands.

I was 60 years old in March this year, and I must confess that it was one of the greatest surprises I ever experienced! I just suddenly became 60. I can clearly remember when I graduated when I was 21 years old. How time flies. One of the most important lessons you will learn is that time flies. Whether you are wasting it or using it well, it simply flies by.

There are a few other lessons I learnt along the way. And at the age of 60 I’m entitled to give some advice, and l will share some of them with you. Some you might agree with, others you may not, but I would be most flattered if you remember them and whenever you meet me in life’s journey, somewhere down the line, you will tell me whether I was right or wrong.

First I learnt is that talent, an excellent degree, even coming from a well-off family, does not mean success and certainly does not mean greatness. The most talented people, those who get the best degrees, and even from a well-known family, do not necessarily become the most successful in life.

The difference between success and failure, mediocrity or excellence, is character. Along with character is the importance of opportunity, but perhaps most crucial, is the grace of God.

So what is character? And l will define it my own way; character is a set of values that shapes the conduct of an individual. It is the set of principles, spoken and unspoken, that a person observes and lives by.

I will speak about some aspects of character that I have learnt would make the crucial difference in life. These are, trustworthiness, courage, hard work especially (innovation) and self-discipline. Let us take trustworthiness, the currency of business, commerce and social interaction is trust. If you can be trusted, if people find you trustworthy, your class of degree or what your family name is will not matter. You will be successful.

As a young student at the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, in 1980 my school fees were delayed in a particular term. There were problems with the remitting from the Central Bank in Nigeria. So I spoke to the student’s counsellor in my faculty who asked me to go to the bank and ask for a loan. I asked how? How do l go for a loan when I don’t have any money? I owe over 600 pounds and I probably have only 50 pounds in the bank, where would I get the collateral to take the loan?

Anyway, I got to the bank and l explained the problem to the lady across the counter that I needed to pay 600 pounds for my fees, and she simply asked the name, and l brought out my ledger, she looked at it and found out I had no money in there. She asked me when I thought I could repay, I said maybe 6weeks. She then gave me a document I signed and she gave me 600pounds.

I paid my fees and I paid back when my cheque came. But in the same United Kingdom, a few years after, if you carried a Nigerian passport, the banks would not even open an account for you. Why? Some Nigerians abused the trust that financial transactions require. They thought, how foolish these oyinbo people are, they used credit cards to buy cars, furniture, electronics and ran back to Nigeria and hampered the opportunity of others in getting a loan from the bank account.

And if you look at the past few years, many foreign banks have closed accounts of Nigerians because of the numerous attempts to defraud on those accounts. So no matter how much money you have in your account, they just say we don't want your business because it's just too much trouble to do business with people who cannot be trusted. So because of the untrustworthiness of a few, a whole nation is painted black. But there is an opportunity here, because so many Nigerians and foreigners must do business in Nigeria.

The world is in search of the Nigerian of integrity, the trustworthy Nigerian to do business with, to employ. Everyone wants faithful partners or employees. Even thieves are in search of trustworthy people to keep their money with.

The other lesson is that you must repay when you borrow, whether it is from a friend, relation or a bank. Credit is the lifeblood of business, the life blood of commerce. You are dead if your credit sources dry up. And let me just go on quickly, l think it is important for us to just look at one or two other issues along the lines of character and hard work. But just before l go into that, let me recall a story, a story of a friend of mine, while a we are talking about trustworthiness.

I have a friend, Remi Morgan; he owns perhaps the largest Christian bookstore in Nigeria. Possibly the largest bookstore in Nigeria. When he wanted to start his business of importing bibles and Christian books from the US, no publisher in the US wanted to give him credit. Why? Many Nigerians who they had done business with in the past had taken credit and simply disappeared. So he had to pay cash for everything.

Now if you want to have a profitable business, you must have credit line. But if you don't have credit, you can't do profitable business. But gradually, he began to build trust, as time went on he began to show that he could be trustworthy. They gave him credit for 30 days, then 60, then 120, and he made sure he paid back, so everybody wanted to do business with him.

Suddenly every Christian and business book publisher around the world want to do business with this honest Nigerian. So later on, his bookstore company possibly became the largest bookshop in Nigeria because he showed that he could be trusted.

The moment you show that you can be trusted, everything changes. Simple as it may sound, hard work and diligence is one of those character attributes that will set you apart. And let me dwell on this point; from here on, it really doesn't matter what you are hired as at your first job, whether you are hired as lowly as a receptionist, or as a personal assistant, no matter how lowly it may be, what is important is how much hard work and diligence you put to it. This is what will recommend you in the future, and l want you to remember that it doesn’t really matter how that job is, it does not matter whether it’s an important job or not, but what will recommend you is hard work and diligence.

While I was teaching at the University of Lagos, as a young lecturer, in the department of Public Law in the Faculty of Law, there were 3 typists in the department. The chief typist, senior typist, and the junior typist. Because in those days before laptops and personal computers, typists in universities had to do a lot of work and they were very important because you always needed to type all your materials.

When there was work to do, what l discovered was that the chief typist would disappear. He works only till 4 pm. The senior typist would be nowhere to be found. But a gentleman called Adereni the junior typist, who only had his school certificate, was remarkably hardworking. Sometimes I would drop him off at his home at 1am.

Years after I was working as an adviser to the then Attorney-General of the Federation Hon. Bola Ajibola, who later became a judge of the World Court. While in the court at The Hague, in the Netherlands, one day he called me and asked if I could recommend a good secretary who is hard working and could do long judgments. I had three options, chief typist, senior or this junior typist, but the junior typist at a time had only school certificate, he didn’t have any other qualification but l choose him. He got to the Hague, and typically worked hard and diligently. Every judge in the court wanted him to work with them. He later moved his family over to the Hague and got degrees and made a good living for himself. One day he remembered me and actually sent me a car.

I just want to say that it was so apparent that all that this man had to proof, despite the fact that he had no qualifications at all, all he had to proof was diligence and hard work.

Solomon in the bible, the wisest man on earth, said these very wise words; the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all.

Time and chance is another way of saying opportunity is crucial to success. And I’m sure many of us are familiar with that saying, opportunity knocks once as they say. But I think it's probably more true to say that sometimes opportunity whispers. Besides, as Ravenhill an intellectual said, “the opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity.” In order words, opportunity itself has a lifespan and you must seize it within that lifespan.

But to seize opportunity, you must be prepared. Most people have great hopes and dreams. But they are hardly ready for the opportunity when it comes.

Let me tell you another story. A lady worked with me many years ago. One of her greatest ambitions was to do a Master’s degree in law in the US. She prayed hard about it. And everyone in the department knew of her desire. One day out of the blues, we got an offer from a US foundation through the embassy to nominate a candidate preferably female, to do a Master’s degree and fellowship in a US University.

Wow the rejoicing that day. We were all so excited. We had only two days to the deadline. We had to submit her passport that afternoon. Then the bombshell, she didn't have a passport! We desperately tried the next day to obtain a passport but it didn't work. To cut a long story short. She lost the opportunity. She had everything else but missed her moment.

So there are some here who will say I want to work in an international organization, may be the United Nations, and you know that to stand a good chance, you need a second language apart from English. So if you haven't started yet, now is the time to learn French, Spanish, or even Chinese. So you won't be like the young man who was asked if he spoke a second language and he said yes, English and Itsekiri.

I think that aside from hard work, innovation will be very important. Here in Nigeria, many young people are using technology to disrupt existing assumptions and create new opportunities, new markets for themselves. Nollywood film industry, Jason Njoku is not an actor or movie producer, but he has used technology to create a new line of business in the Nollywood film industry. He is the proprietor of the Iroko brand TV; he made the Iroko brand the largest mainstream licensors and distributors of over 5,000 Nollywood films and African Music. Iroko has attracted $20 million in equity. So is the story of Jobberman, which was listed in the Forbes Magazine Top 10 Tech start-ups in Africa.

Jobberman's story is a fascinating one. In 2009, Olalekan Elude, Ayodeji Adewunmi and Opeyemi Awoyemi at that time, students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, started a site called Jobberman in their hostel to help connect people looking for work with companies looking to hire. Now Jobberman is one of the top 100 websites in Nigeria, and it gets 5,000 applications every day.

Just last May, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook mentioned them as one of the major technology innovators in Nigeria. They have grown the company into a multimillion-dollar company. The young founders have now divested their interests in the company and are investing in other young Nigerian start-ups themselves. Jobberman follows the same principle as the others, they simply linked supply and demand.

There is a Venture Garden Group, a group of young people, another story of creating new markets and opportunities within existing markets. Venture Garden is a data driven Automation Company founded by three young Nigerians average age of 28, the company focuses on big data, automation and revenue assurance systems and has taken innovation to new levels.

For example, one of the subsidiaries, PowerTech, provides automation for the National power grid which now allows real-time monitoring of energy flow from generation to distribution and payment to all parties, to promote transparency and sustainability of the electricity market.

Social Media is possibly the internet's most outstanding phenomenon. It has created its own economy, and the only limits of opportunity are those of your imagination. For example, see how many young people have taken advantage of it to innovatively redefine the press, journalism and communication.

Today bloggers such as BellaNaija, Linda Ikeji, and news aggregators, like Nairaland command larger readership than regular print newspapers. Linda Ikeji alone has more people reading her blog than any Nigerian newspaper. Nairaland, founded in 2003 by 20 year old Seun Osewa, claims about 1.6 million subscribers, several times more readers than the combined number of readers of all Nigerian papers put together.

Nairaland creates no content of its own. To start off, it cost Seun Osewa less than N10,000 a month and Internet access, to build this multi-million Naira business and it’s so incredible when you hear about these young people. I remember a young friend of mine too, who at some point used to sell videos and gift items after we left university. This young man became an entrepreneur who owned the biggest marketing company in our country today. The young man is seated here today, his name is Bolade Osibodu

Finally, I have learnt that success is more easily attainable than greatness. You may be a successful businessman, politician, or professional but greatness is not for everyone. But I think I learnt the secret of greatness, you will only be great if you devote your life, and your efforts, to serving others.

The path to greatness is self-sacrifice for the good of others. Mandela is great because he gave his youth and his professional practice as a lawyer, in the struggle against apartheid and a South Africa that would treat all citizens as equals.

Martin Luther King is imprinted in history because gave up everything for the dream of a nation where none would be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. But most importantly, he taught the world like Ghandi did, that you can overcome evil with good, Mother Theresa the catholic nun, became great because of the many years she spent in leprosy settlements in Calcutta taking care of lepers, the forgotten and untouchable.

Let me end by telling the last lesson I have learnt, it is that courage and determination is the answer to the tyranny of history. A history of personal failure can cripple your hope, limit your scope and frighten you into a small vision.

Our family history, the misery and deprivations of our beginnings, the shame and disgrace of the past, sometimes the spectacular failures of the past are the tyrannical weapons of history. They whip us in line when we are thinking big, cutting us down to size as our self-esteem rises. Our past, yelling unworthy, unworthy, unworthy, at us as we struggle to do right, live right, and act with dignity.

But history we must remember, is not only a record of the past, it is the past, it is gone! Our future is not determined by history or the past unless we allow it. Your history is not your destiny. You have a chance to make your destiny.

I pray for you that the Almighty God will help you, the grace of God will support you, that the coming years will be easy and exciting and that your journey will be smooth.

Thank you.

Released by
Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President
10 November, 2017

A moving and an inspiring speech!

MuttleyLaff:
https://gifyu.com/images/muttleythatsbait.gif
You're going to need more bait than that this for anyone to click on your blog
Why instead of baiting, wouldnt you spare the thought of sharing the info here
and then let readers decide after reading it, if to check out your blog for more interesting and other enthralling stuff you might have

Thanks for your submission.

Methuselah's name and longevity of life is one that many Christians have criticized. But can his name and existence be spared a second thought? Find out why at http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2017/11/sunday-special.html?m=1

vivie01:
E ku apero (deliberations)
E ku igbiyanju
Orgzeyn, E ku adaje (chop alone things)

E ku adaje (COPIED)
Thanks!
I still hope to have more.

Thanks for checking up the thread. Please don't forget to leave any Yoruba greeting that you know on this thread. Earlier today, somebody told me one, funny though—e ku osi! I was also told of e ku ajedi (to hail someone who is perceived as selfish) I still need more!
Whom shall I copy to have this thread on the front page/thread?

shervydman:
........na Yoruba get greeting pass for this world, abeg.....I remember that subsidy period in 2013 or so, u'll hear things like 'e ku subsidy yi o' . I was like . some coded greetings like ' e ku oro eyan o'. funny ones like 'e ku environmental yi o'. every situation determines the kind of greeting u get, as long as it starts with "e ku". we too get greetings jor with a lot of respect. u must teriba/dobale if u be male n kun'le if u be female. I too gbadun our culture!!!

v.v.... e ku ojumo o.

As you are chatting here too. E ku chatting o!
They also greet based on the government in power. Something like e ku ijoba to wa lode yi o!
Lol

Yoruba seems to have readily available greetings in and for every given situation. You stand, it is e ku duro; you sit, it is e ku ijoko; you are at work and it is e ku ise; you are at meal and it is e ku jije. Find more of these greetings at http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2017/10/saturday-feature_28.html?m=1

It just amazes one how every circumstance elicits greetings among Yourbas. You stand and you are told, e ku iduro; you sit and you are told e ku ijoko or e ku ikale; you sleep and wake up, and you are told e ku oju orun; you pollute the air and you are told e ku itadi. Oh my God! I mean you pray and you are told e ku adura; you are on a fast and you are told e ku ogben; and you want to break the fast and you are told e ku isyinu. Find out more of these greetings at
http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2017/10/saturday-feature_28.html?m=1.
You can also supply any other greeting not available in the list.
Thanks!

macmiral:
This one weak me abeg!
A white man asked a Nigerian what do you mean by your village people are doing you? The man said, you see that man? He has exam by 8:00am he woke up by 7:50am and start cooking beans....

Laugh out loud!
Nice one!

You should find out which of the stories and many more you believed or still believe.
The Nigeria/India football match;
Wole Soyinka made a third class. Find out more of these stories at http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2017/10/viewpoint.html?m=1

This just depiction of how the boys in that hall of residence make a mess of the hostel. They wait for cleaners to clean the dirt up, forgetting that their hygiene is their personal responsibility. Awo boys, take responsibility for your hygiene!

See how grammatical names and functions are tackled in the link below:
http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2017/10/grammar-point.html?m=1

Thanks

Find article at http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2017/10/saturday-feature.html?m=1

hurlliyu:
Are you skilled in Article writing, Academic writing, Fiction/non fiction writing? Earn an income by doing what you like.



Contact :08077544746 ( whatsapp only!)

I have left you a message on whatsapp.
Good morning!

But why this is pasted in this section defies logic reasoning!

I think I am interested too!

Certain English words can be difficult to pronounce if not properly mastered. An example is EWE. This and more are discussed at http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2017/10/we-continue-our-discussion-on-vowel-e.html?m=1

A number of the recommendations above are good, but I think it is worth mentioning that, when you start watching the foreign movies, don't be discouraged if you can't make any sense of what is said. Consistency is the key, brother.
I think you should also avoid Korean movies subtitled in English; a number of the subtitles aren't accurate. So stay with American and British movies.

Students usually have problems with Spoken English. But that can become a thing of the past with the approach adopted below.
http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2017/10/spoken-english-class-many-candidate-has.html?m=1

HILARITY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
How many remembers or knows that ATM in British English is cash point. You tell a Nigerian that you want to use of the cash point and he cannot make much meaning out of it. Sometimes, even as students, it is grammatically insulting to have 'centre', when it can simply be spelt as pronounced, 'centre'...http://olabanjititles..com.ng/2017/10/special-feature-hilarity-of-english.html?m=1

Nigerias Growing 'Industry' of Street Merchants
From Abeokuta to Lagos, to Ibadan, particularly Iwo Road (a connecting road in and out of South Western Nigeria), bodies ridden with serious health pathologies and ailments--some with jaw-breaking nomenclatures--which should be restricted to a health asylum or facility, are displayed in public space like wares to court the sympathies of the public. At motor parks, men and women with such disturbing ailments compete with one another by displaying and auctioning them for sympathies and consequently monetary gains. You dole out a small amount of money to one and others besiege you in droves.

That was not the case in the 1990s. The industry was largely dominated arguably by Northerners, particularly blind women, whom, we are told, are victims of violent sandy wind in Northern Nigeria. In fact, I grew accustomed to seeing them that I learnt from my father to tell them Allah ye ba mu sa'a (which can be translated to mean God will provide) when there is nothing to give them. However, the industry has undergone a meteoric transformation such that it has accommodated the aged, the crippled, the maimed, able-bodied, self-acclaimed representatives of some unknown and unregistered motherless children homes, the deaf and dumb, iya osun (adherents of the Osun goddess), among other industry shakers. Interestingly, it has attracted foreigners too!

An industry player, a man in his thirties, whose head should be the primary concern of the plastic surgeon--obviously his scalp narrowly survived an inferno--approached a bus enroute Oshodi in Lagos and plugged his pathetic concerns with sonorous songs, and prayers on the commuters eagerly heading to different destinations. Like an obligation for which the commuters have been mandated, zips of purses and handbags began screeching, and hands dipped and dug into pockets. In no time, different small denominations converged on his hands.

In the industry are impoverished women who display their wards for public concern. It is not uncommon to see those with a set of twins. Arguably such children are consequences of an uncurbed sexual appetite and uncontrolled birth. Once these consequences are obvious, the commonwealth of commuters can be depended on to raise the kids and sustain the family.

A number of the industry players are pushed and hawked in wheel barrows, wheel chairs or carts. Their sector of the industry is, however, laden with some challenges. Some of which have been featured in some Nigerian dailies. Chief among these challenges is the claim that those who push them around milk them of the proceeds made. Such is the irony! Their vulnerabilities are exploited by the able-bodied men and women responsible for their mobility. Little wonder these able-bodied individuals go about pushing them diligently in temperatures sometimes exceeding 36℃!

There are those who have specific locations near markets and religious centres. There are also some with tentative locations such as long traffic congestion. The industry players in Ile-Ife, Osun State Nigeria, are largely Northerners but they are shrewd and innovative with their proceeds. After the day's business, they neatly arrange the money made in different denominations awaiting their patrons. These are mostly cab drivers and commercial motorcyclists who need small naira notes to ease transactions with commuters; and church goers who need small naira denominations for the many thanksgiving and special thanksgiving offerings on first and last Sundays of the month, and special anniversaries. They have perfected the art of profiting from this transaction, what with the administrating chairman. Depending on the amount involved, ten or twenty percent interest is charged. Such is the innovation the industry has witnessed.

Then there are the elderly ones, whose involvement in the industry is only recent. They suffer neglect from their children who, at the death of these elderly ones, expend money extravagantly on their funeral rites. These largely trade prayers for money. Their trade is often patronized because of the traditional belief that prayers from the elderly are very potent. Appealing to this sentiment, they unleash prayers--the kind Nigerians love--upon their patrons. The torrent of the prayers is barely survived. At the end, it is omo mi fun mi ni ikan kin fi jeun (My child, give me some money to get a meal). Of course that is the essence of the prayers--to get something to sustain body and soul.

In this industry are a small group of stakeholders who always accost passers-by with a single plea--they are stranded and need transport fare. Also in this category are those who always claim they have indisposed or bedridden relatives in the hospital. Their port of call is usually religious centers, where donations are called for them. Religious adherents that Nigerians are, they see such call for donations as merely humanitarian. Tertiary institutions of learning are equally their targets.

Interestingly, the unprecedented growth of the industry has attracted foreigners from neighbouring countries like Niger Republic. They are mostly seen in Ibadan, West Africa's largest city. They have perfected the art by using their children to hawk favour in return for money. Some of these kids are desperate, stubborn, and parasitic in their quest. They latch on to the clothes of passers-by who are adamant to part with at least a paltry sum. Some of them wouldn't leave their victim(s) until they are threatened. One adamant victim had said to one of them, I've got a gun on me before he was let go. To say some of these kids would have been victims of ritual killers or rapists is to say the least. That is just one of the hazards of this growing industry.

The boom being witnessed in the industry may not eclipse any time soon because Nigerians (the stakeholders in this industry included) have yet to receive the delivery of the promised change that the ruling party promised. And with some successes that the industry have reportedly afforded the stakeholders: some being able to keep four wives from the proceeds; build a house; afford daily necessities, etc., it may have come to stay.

Please you can leave your questions and you can be sure they will be attended to. Your participation is well appreciated.

Another type of pronouns that can be problematic are the demonstrative pronouns. They are just four in number and they are:
this, that, these, those
These pronouns can be grouped into two: singular and plural forms. The singular demonstrative pronouns are: this and that while 'these' and 'those' are the plural forms. The difference is marked below:
Singular Plural
this these
that those
They can be used in sentences thus:
This is my friend.
These are my friends.
That is mine.
Those are mine.
Understood?
You must, however, understand the difference between DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS (DP)and DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES (DA). Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives are the same, just four in number: this, that, these, those but the usage is what distinguishes them. E.g.
This is my friend. (DP)
This boy is my friend. (DA)
Did you notice that the difference in the two sentences is the noun 'boy'? When you use the demonstrative adjectives, immediately following it before the verb is a noun but if it is the demonstrative pronouns, it is used alone.
These are my friends. (DP)
These girls are my friends. (DA)
Understood?