Archive for the ‘Nigeria’ Category
Sex: An Interesting Topic
Lets talk about sex again. I know I have discussed it before and I promised a part 2.
I said in my last post that the secret of great sex is listening, and yes, I still stand by that statement. To have and enjoy great sex, you need to listen. To your partner and to yourself. Yes, you read right. You have to listen to yourself.
No, I am not crazy. You are probably asking why you need to listen to yourself, don’t you know what you are experiencing. Yes you do. But does your partner know? Ahh, makes some sense now. You need to listen to yourself because whatever “information” you give is what your partner works with. Do no forget that to truly enjoy sex, you both have to enjoy it. You and your partner. While you make effort to ensure that your partner enjoys sex, your partner needs to reciprocate the favour and ensure that you also enjoy the sex.
You need to listen to yourself and ensure that your pass along the information that your partner needs to know to enable he/she act such that you enjoy the sex. You like something done in a way, let it be known. You don’t like the way something is done, let it be known. Whatever message you pass across is what your partner uses.
And please, not this kind of sexual feedback. Happy Sexing.
If you have any ideas on sex, comments please!
The Death of Mobile Signature?
This is one of the painful posts I have had to write in my life, but it is a post that must be written.
In 2004, I started utilising the services of the company to host some of my clients websites. The service was ok. Then it started degrading. As a believer in giving people opportunities, I persisted. After all, this was a young man trying to make a living in this difficult country.
But, it seems Mobile Signature could not manage its success. They expanded. Moved to bigger offices. Employed more personnel. But their service did not improve. Support calls not being answered. Services paid for not activated. Customer care officers just being rude.
Now all contact numbers are switched off. Emails delivered, not replied. Now, am on a man hunt for members of staff of Mobile Signature Ltd. Not to cause them harm, but to find a way of retrieving my domains which are locked in with them. I have lost a number of customers because of their poor lack of service.
Update: removed the name of one of the founding members of the company because he requested I remove it.
Trending #lightupnigeria on Twitter
This is not my article. Culled from http://temi.info/2009/08/20/how-to-make-lightupnigeria-a-trending-topic-on-twitter
The #lightupnigeria campaign started sometime in July on Twitter. According to wthastag.com, it is:
A viral movement of Nigerians demanding action to solve the chronic electricity crisis in the country.
Nigerians are frustrated, and this is just a way to express dissatisfaction and frustration at the situation of things.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest nation. One major problem facing Nigeria is unstable power supply. The erratic power supply is almost a bigger hindrance to the country’s progress than corruption. With stable power supply, Nigeria could easily join (and probably pass) countries like Brazil, India, China, Mexico and South Africa as a Newly Industrialised Country.
I grew up in Nigeria and even though I don’t live there right now, I’ve spent about 3 months there this year and still experienced almost zero power supply in Lagos and Abuja. I was lucky to have stayed with an aunt who had the generator on every night all through till the morning. Once the gen went off I had to get my butt out of the house as quick as possible and I usually spent most of the day at the Silverbird Galleria just because there was steady power there (or at least a steady gen) and fast internet. All my work is on the internet. I CAN NOT function without it! I cant get business done in Nigeria and I’m here sitting abroad getting as much done as I can while I’m here cos there’s no power in Nigeria, even though most of my clientele is in Nigeria! I know how much money my parents spend on generators and diesel.
Ok so back to #lightupnigeria. I, personally, have not been typing that hashtag on Twitter. I probably haven’t typed it more than 10 times in total. I’m sorry! Now it’s not that I don’t support the movement, and it’s not that I’m a hater, but maybe I’m just too lazy to type #lightupnigeria after every tweet, or after every other tweet. I’m an “as little stress as possible” type of guy. I’m very hard working don’t get me wrong, in fact people who know me well know I’m a workaholic, but I want that hard work to be as efficient as possible. There’s hard work, and there’s smart work. To all those who are typing it though, more grease to your fingers!
What I dont support though, is how some people diss or express disapointment in others not taking part in this hashtag campaign. Some people have even started seeing me differently just because I don’t type the hashtag. You can afford internet or a blackberry and you’re calling youself patriotic because you’re typing a hashtag? Some Nigerians have never held a blackberry or used the internet in their lives! You for go carry ladder dey pull power cable now. If you don’t like the fact that I don’t type the #lightupnigeria hashtag, please feel free to go and hug a transformer. LOL. We all had frustrations about the power crisis in Nigeria before there was twitter! And I don’t think there’s anybody who is completely pleased with the situation cos it affects us all. So nobody should tell me any BS about not being patriotic or being a hater cos I dont type #lightupnigeria 1000 times a day.
Now what am I getting at? What’s my point? Well it seems different people have different reasons and motives for supporting the movement as much as they do. Of course we are all unhappy with the unstable power supply and want to play our own little roles in making a change blah blah all that good Obama-sounding stuff. People have designed numerous flyers and graphics, there have been numerous media mentions, a Facebook group, t-shirts and all that. There’s even a website up at www.lightupnigeria.org, a very impressive one too. But are there any other targets (or sub-targets) we’re tryna reach here? Apart from the ultimate one which is fixing our power problems. Personal goal or a common goal? For fame or popularity? Genuine motive or ulterior motive? Or just for general awareness? Do you just type it cos everyone else is and its kinda “cool” right now? Well whichever way that goes one target or goal that I’ve heard about is to make the #lightupnigeria hastag a trending topic on Twitter, which is what I’m tryna address in this blog post. That sounds like a good target doesnt it? Well yeah it does but the only problem is ITS NOT POSSIBLE! At least not anytime soon. I’m sorry but I’m just tellin it as it is. You see, there are not enough Nigerians on Twitter just yet to make this happen, even if every single one of us put #lightupnigeria at the end of every tweet. I mean I know celebrities like @iamdiddy, @aplusk and @souljaboytellem dont find it hard at all to make the trending topics list but these people have over 1 million followers. I mean if 5% of their followers type a hashtag that’s still at least 50,000 people. Now I dont think there’s 50,000 active Nigerians on Twitter yet (keyword: yet, before people bite me). But there soon will be the way I see it. The fact that there’s still a somewhat close circle or at least loose ring of the same Nigerians tweeting back and forth on Twitter means there’s not yet that many Nigerians on there.
So what’s the way forward with #lightupnigeria? How in the world can this hashtag ever make it on to the Trending Topics list before there are enough Nigerians on Twitter to do so? Afterall #iranelection made it right? Well the Iran Election was international news and people from all over the world were talking about it and typing that hashtag. But we’re Nigerians now, aren’t we? We always find a way around everything (LOL). So here are a few ways to do ojoro and make #lightupnigeria a trending topic on Twitter:
Cause a big scene and do something news-worthy. Remember the old women from Ekiti who walked through the streets topless? Well all our female #lightupnigeria fighters should feel free to try this route. Maybe if we had younger women doing it CNN just might drop in to cover the story and #lightupnigeria goes worldwide! Even though this still doesn’t fix our power issues.
Rally the support of Twitter celebrities. Imagine @souljaboytellem or @iamdiddy or @aplusk or @oprah asking everyone to type in #lightupnigeria? Their “followers” are sure to follow. This will probably trigger option#1 above too and attract international media coverage. So think of it as a 2-in-1 without the need to take any clothes off. One way of getting this done without actually knowing any of these celebs is for everyone who types in #lightupnigeria right now to add @iamdiddy to it to attract Diddy’s attention and maybe if in 1 day he gets 500 @ replies with #ligthtupnigeria in them, he’d get a bit curious. Oprah is probably the best celeb to target with this but I’m not sure she checks her Twitter herself.
Continue the current hustle and hope a miracle happens or Twitter’s servers erroneously make #lightupnigeria a trending topic. The problem with this option is that it’s human nature for people to get tired. The longer it takes for #lightupnigeria to trend the fewer mentions there will be. Even though every time power goes off I’m sure those fingers will start itching again to type #lightupnigeria. It’s kinda like the modern way to say “UP NEPA” isn’t it? LOL. That’s why I would recommend option #2 above to save you all some resultless finger-muscle-building. At least if your finger’s will get stronger over #lightupnigeria lets see results abi?
Right now the #lightupnigeria campaign (both on and off Twitter) is already gaining momentum and going strong. But option #2 above will be a smart way to make it grow a lot faster. Now how will all this translate into stable power supply? Well we all know our President is already on the matter, even though he has made promise after promise, maybe this will speed things up a bit even if its by a few days. Maybe the campaign can also gather international pressure on the Nigerian government to fix the issue.Now I don’t want to go into how much of corruption is involved in the current power crisis, how much money is being made from diesel and generator sales in Nigeria or discourage anybody’s efforts, but the power issue is a lot more serious than many Nigerians can ever imagine. I’m just keeping it 100% here. The level of corruption is absurd and Nigeria is not exactly a country where public voice is ever heard (yet, keyword: yet). America just had historic elections in which the first ever black president was elected. How it happened we don’t know but we all hope Nigeria will get there someday, where the voice of the people can and will make real impact in the direction of the country. That’s why whoever is currently actively involved in this campaign should keep doing whatever he/she is doing, because if nobody decides to do something, nothing will happen.
Peace y’all!
Nigerian police kills unarmed civilian man in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria
Is this the Nigeria that we are looking forward to?
GTB’s Theme Song by Asa
I can not deny that I love banking with Guaranty Trust Bank. They do their best to make me happy. Even, commissioning Asa to sing their theme song, and its a lovely song.
You can get the song from here.
Wouldn’t you rather take my hand and let me lead. Wont you rather trust me?
Guaranteed to take the lead. Guaranteed to be the best in all that I do.
Cool. Relaxing. Asa, damn girl, you are good.
Reeds – Upscale Thai themed restaurant
Saturday night. My mind was set on spending a great part of it at Swe Bar and Lounge (primarily because I had heard that it is a cool place to while away time in the midst of drinks and flat screen TVs). But, sometime in the day, I lost the urge to give my liver the prime job of filtering alcohol, so I convinced my friend, Wale, to chauffeur me around town.
First, we visited the e-center at Sabo, but for a Saturday night, it was unusually dull. Sorry, it was UNUSUALLY DULL. (Emphasis intended). He received a call from a client to come to Victoria Island, so off we headed to the Island. In our characteristic manner, he called the client and postponed the appointment to Sunday. Perfection.
Still we were headed to the Island, so we agreed to just pop in to Swe Bar, but he doesn’t drink. Mind changed. Again. How about Feeds? He asked. I replied, no problem. We got there and I corrected him, its called Reeds and not Feeds. Correction taken.
We tried strutting in. Yes, I said tried. The security man wouldn’t let us in. My friend was in shorts. I was in leather slippers. I was ok, he wasn’t. Still we convinced him to let us in. And no, we did not bribe him.
Inside, I experienced some kind of serenity that was worth every kobo I spent there. You need to have a business dinner? This is the place for it. You need to impress that lady? (note: I did not use the word chick) This is the place for it. You just feel like lazing about? This is not the place for it.
I ordered a shot of Remy Martin VSOP. Needed something to start the night with. I called a lady friend of mine and she advised me not the get drunk. I gave a simple reply…with their prices, its going to have to be a very expensive drunkenness. Wale doesn’t drink, so we had to order food. ![]()
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Nice looking menu. Then again, I am not used to restaurants of this class. All the items on the menu looked the same (save for the description of what was contained – which all still looked very similar). Good waiter, he helped me make a decision. I chose the Gai Pad Med.
(i didnt take any pictures, found these on the web. got’em from here and here. my order was similar to that in the distance)
It was a lovely meal. Period. Ordered a Fruit Punch. Wale ordered a Milkshake and a Chapman. I ordered the bill.
We left and headed for home. We spent about 2 hours there and enjoyed every bit of it. Now, I heard All Roads Lead to Bacchus down the road. Tomorrow?
re: A Nation’s Identity Crisis
A Nation’s Identity Crisis
By Reuben Abati
You may not have noticed it: Nigeria is suffering from an identity crisis imposed on it in part by an emergent generation of irreverent and creative young Nigerians who are revising old norms and patterns. And for me nothing demonstrates this more frontally than the gradual change of the name of the country. When Flora Shaw, Lord Lugard’s consort came up with the name, Nigeria in 1914, she meant to define the new country by the strategic importance of the Niger River. And indeed, River Niger used to be as important to this country as the Nile was/is to Egypt. We grew up as school children imagining stories about how Lugard in one special romantic moment, asked his mistress to have the honour of naming a new country in Africa. Something like: “Hello, sweetheart, what name would you rather give the new country that I am creating?”
“Let me give it a thought? , Awright, how about Ni-ge-ria darling?”
“That would do. That would do. How thoughtful, my fair lady? You are forever so dependable”
And the name stuck and it has become our history and identity. But these days, the name Nigeria is gradually being replaced by so many variants, that I am afraid a new set of Nigerians may in the immediate future not even know the correct spelling of the name of their country. For these Nigerians whose lives revolve mostly around the internet and the blogosphere, the name Nigeria has been thrown out of the window. Our dear country is now “naija” or “nija”. What happened to the “-eria” that Ms Shaw must have thoughtfully included? The new referents for Nigeria are now creeping into writings, conversations, and internet discourse. I am beaten flat by the increasing re-writing of the country’s name not only as naija or nija, but consider this: “9ja”. Or this other name for Nigeria: “gidi”. There is even a television programme that is titled “Nigerzie”. In addiiton, Etisalat, a telecom company has since adopted a marketing platform that is titled: “0809ja.” Such mainstreaming of these new labels is alarming.
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Glo, no pride in this
I was reading an article about the Bayelsa Biometrics project on Sun News Online, a project I am part of. My intention was to copy the article for our website, when I saw the Glo advert. For some funny reason, I clicked on the advert (something I am strangely wondering why I did it), to visit gloworld.com.
I left the page to get busy on some other things and came back to meet a Plesk Landing Page.
Glo, or rather, Glo Webmasters. Wake up.
Shell agrees to settle Ken Saro-Wiwa’s family
On Eve of Trial, Settlement Agreements Provide $15.5 Million for Compensation to Nigerian Human Rights Activists and to Establish Trust Fund
http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=africa&item=090609090934.08u6m1hy.php
Twollow on http://twitter.com/ShellGuilty