My Headache Over Nigeria...

Dateline was Saturday, October 8, 2011:  The place was the National Stadium in the heart of Abuja, Nigeria's sprawling capital city.  The occasion was the make or mar African Nations Cup qualifier between Nigeria's Super Eagles and the Syli Stars of Guinea.  The stakes were high and much was expected from the Nigerian team.  They needed a slim win of 1 goal to nothing and they would be through to the Nations Cup starting in Equitorial Guinea/Gabon on January 12, 2012.

As expected, Nigerian fans came out in their numbers to support their home team.  The world outside was watching on cable TV as the event was being beamed live to every Nigerian home and those in the Diaspora.  At the end of 90 minutes, the result was Nigeria 2, Guinea 2.  Verdict:  Guinea has qualified ahead of Nigeria to play at the bi-annual soccer fiesta.  For records:  This is the first time in 25 years that the National Team of Nigeria has failed to qualify for the Nations Cup.

The Nigerian fans who went into the stadium expecting to come out celebrating were so frustrated some of them who could not stomach the defeat had to resort to damaging some of the stadium facilities.  As much as such venting of anger is unnecessary, one can understand the frustration in the land not just only in the area of football but also in every sphere of our national life.

After a thoughtful reflection time on the ouster of Nigeria from the Nations Cup, I got out of my angry mood and suddenly I was no longer surprised that Nigeria would not be at the soccer fiesta.  Why should we single out football administration and artistry from the many troubles we are having as a country. Is the country not one?  Are the players and soccer administrators not part of the corporate entity called Nigeria?  The rot we have in the nation is inclusive of the sports realm.

Our national institutions are collapsing right before our eyes and our so-called leaders are busy speaking English and giving press statements.  The reality on the street is a far cry from the "reality" in the laptops they carry out in the different state houses and Aso Rock proclaiming a drop in inflation.  There are more people out of jobs than those in any gainful employment.  Our educational institutions are bereft of any standards.  Many Nigerians who can now afford it are sending their kids by road through the Lagos axis to Accra where the standard of education in Ghana surpasses all of ours here.  Our children who get out of secondary schools number over a million every year yet our Universities can only support the admission of a little over 150,000.  No provision exists for the remaining 850,000 even if they are qualified.  While we struggle with that, the rate of failure in the secondary school WAEC examinations is a national embarrassment.  To worsen the situation, they are not issuing conflicting results on the internet and in hard papers!

Are we this daft as a nation not to be able to produce a leadership that can fix things in record time?  We have been giving President Goodluck Jonathan a benefit of the doubt for the past 2 years.  Yes, he won a fresh mandate in April, but he has been in the saddle for nearly 2 years.  Where is the impact of his being there?  The power situation improves only on the pages of newspapers and our hospitals are national morgues of repute!  Recently, I took a personal war with Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano where patients are treated worse than animals.  No wonder, the rate of deaths in that hospital is alarming.  I have lost two kids to the lacklustre attitude of their personnel and consultants.  A family friend who was about to be delivered of her first baby was so delayed because there was "no bed" for two straight days and when she went in for a CS, she could not come around neither was the baby alive!  Yet she undertook all her ante-natal sessions in that same hospital.

The other madness that has entered the head of the leaders is the issue of the  quarrelling over the Sovereign Wealth Fund which was set up to inculcate into the consciousness of the nation the culture of savings.  The State Governors who have refused to think up other revenue generating activities within their respective states are clamouring for the scrapping of the fund to enable them continue their looting spree.  The immediate past Governors now being queezed by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) were all part of the ones who opposed former President Obasanjo for starting the Excess Crude Oil Fund back in 2003.  We now know why they wanted the money.  They claimed the wanted to alleviate poverty but the poverty was actually in their pockets.  How can a single individual loot over 20 billion Naira?  Can you imagine what that amount can do in alleviating poverty and providing gainful employments to our teeming youths?

If the situation continues this way, like many people have alluded to which I do not have the evidence to prove otherwise, we are headed for the precipice and a failed state stares us all in the face.

That is my headache about Nigeria and it is getting me really worried.  

You Can Survive Anything Thrown @ You!

I have not been too faithful to postings and updating my blog of late, but it is not unconnected with the huge demands on my time in the last couple of weeks.  In some random thought processes which I tried to streamline over the last couple of days, I want to share a few thoughts on the significance of your remaining steadfast in the midst of the storms you might be going through right now because inside you is a capacity to survive anything thrown at you.


It is critical to know that nature and even the devil (for the spiritually conscious) will always try to prevent any change that is set to produce better results in your life.  Take the life of a corn sown in a soil for instance.  The first reaction of the earth is to squeeze and muzzle the corn by killing it.  But in the killing of the seed of corn is its life for replication!  What the earth was trying to kill springs up with a stronger force from inside the seed itself and defies the earth and grows to be a blessing - fulfilling its original purpose!


In the same vein, whenever you as an individual try your hand on anything new that has the tendency to change the course of your life, nature and the devil (even using human beings and those close to you) will conspire and gang up against you to stop you.  But I have good news for you:  any time you come against a very strong opposition whenever you set your heart to do what is right, you must immediately realize that whatever it is you activated yourself to do is a good thing and will bless you and the society around you.


Having a mindset of a victor from the outset of any venture is very critical to your winning.  If you believe you can win, then you will win.  If you think you are not up to the task and will not win, then the situation will respond with an appropriate reaction of defeat.  You must remember that the law of attraction is always at play.  You attract whatever you constantly dwell and think about.


There are so many things that will distract you from moving ahead in whatever you have your hand upon.  They include people who speak down on your dreams - stating that you do not have to it takes to succeed, or that your time is past or you are too young; situations that will prevent you from taking necessary steps because of public opinion - by all means die to public opinion and develop a person opinion by which to live. As long as that opinion is unique to you and not inimical to sound godly principles, you are on track.


I just feel like encouraging you today.  Stay focused, don't fret over the mountains you see - if you get closer and walk towards it, it will reduce to a size you can overcome.  If you stay afar off, you will never overcome the obstacles you see.  Some of these obstacles are mere mirages that do not really exist - when you move towards them, they disappear.  You are equipped to be a consistent and natural winner.  Live with that mentality today!

Of the Nigerian Cross-roads, Libya's Fugitive Dictator & Myself...

Nigeria is obviously at a crossroads... besides the alarming security situation which has further degenerated over the last couple of weeks, the economy is barely holding together in spite of Government's claim of reduction in inflation figures.  I believe that is the workings of some paper and computer calculations which is not having a direct bearing on the man on the street.  Our government has continued to reel out the thousands of megawatts of electricity it has continued to generate on paper too.  In the house where I live, I have not seen electricity for nearly one year... we have had to depend on generators.  Transformers are bad and we are left to our fate.  Yet, how do you want me to believe that the megawatts of electricity has increased?

At state government levels, our workers have been going on strike on account of fully legislated minimum wage amount.  State Governors are prevaricating on payment of the wage benchmark which has already been signed into law.  In Kano State for instance, throughout last week, as the State Government Civil Servants downed tools, banks in the commercial city also joined in the fray to stop depositors and customers from depositing funds or withdrawing money.  Corporate organizations who have no access to ATM cards are left to suffer.  What is the relationship between privately run banks and the State Government employees?  Is this some form of solidarity?  Businesses in states involved are suffering huge losses.

Security situation in Jos and on our highways are begging for serious attention.  Jos is almost heading for a Somalia-like brigade where no real government can be felt because as it were in the days of old in Israel, there was no king and every one did what was right in his own eyes.  That anarchy level must not be allowed to prevail on the Plateau.  

While all these and many more happening, we need an active, responsive and proactive government to proffer solutions to the myriads of problems.  We must be careful to note that we have a huge population of educated youths who are roaming the streets without jobs.  We should not allow their frustrations to become filled to overflowing level.  The Arab Spring is still fresh in our consciousness and we must not make the mistake of thinking "it can never happen in Nigeria".  Nobody ever contemplated suicide bombing in Nigeria in the last 2 years; but today, we have joined the league of nations that have groomed within its territory internal terrorists ready to die for a cause (even if such causes are ironically not right - at least by our rationale judgement).

Col. Gaddafi in Northern Nigeria?

For weeks now, I have been shouting myself hoarse about the possibility of the Libyan crisis spilling over our borders because of the proximity of our northern neighbours to Libya and the fact that Niger as it were is a vast expanse of empty desert land that can be traversed by any group of people with less than noble ambitions.  In the wake of the NATO bombings over Libya to help the rebels opposed to Gaddafi topple the dictator, I remember sounding a note of warning via my facebook page that the Nigerian authorities should watch her northern borders for possible infiltrations.  Obviously, these warnings were ignored.  Gaddafi was toppled and he is on the run.  Latest reports indicate that his sons were among the convey of his military people who entered Niger, specifically spotted in the desert town of Agadez.  I again warned through facebook that we should take note of these happenings.  Just yesterday, I discovered the Nigerian authorities, through some media reports are putting security on high alert across the Northern cities of Kano and Kaduna as rumours filled the air of the possibility of Gaddafi being in the area!  What a shame!  How long are we going to continue to be taken for a ride?

Myself

I have not updated this blogspot for weeks now.  I have been busy with a lot.  LoveHouse International Gospel Center, my Church has been helping Singles in the North Western city of Kano to understand purpose of relationship and marriage.  We have had 3 sessions already and heading for Week 4 meetings.  Its been an incisive time all through and its joyful for me to see singles rejoice on account of receiving new information and correct one at that to help them make informed and result-oriented decisions in respect of their relationships.

I have been on the road a lot of late.  Having some work to do at Gwagwalada in Abuja and making new friends in the process.  Attended to issues in Zaria and Kaduna on media purposes.  I have discovered that in the midst of great personal conflicts, if you engage your mind on purposes issues, light will shine through and keep you through to the top.

Final Note

I am a passionate Nigerian and a patriot.  I make these statements on our situation as above based on true patriotism.  Our leaders must not lead like in the 1990s and early 2000s.  This is a new era with changing tides across the world.  We must be up and about.  Leadership is about seizing the initiative.  That we lack in quantum and we must cover lost grounds in good time before we are left behind by the rest of the world.  This is our moment, it is our time, we cannot fail this generation and the generations yet unborn.  Nigerian Leaders Arise!  I REST MY CASE...

An Attempt to Define True Love

            The word love is about the most misunderstood word the world over today.    From the perspective of Hollywood, love is presented to the world in movies as a sexual relationship between a male and a female.  They do not have the perception that these movies project the female gender as basically a sex symbol and that the real motive of the male in these movies portend an exploitative attitude.  Most of the story lines present run contrary to the concept of what true love is.  This is a skewed presentation of what love is.  Hollywood therefore presents sex to the world and calls it love.

            Many of us today have accepted this narrow-minded definition of love and the mere mention of this four-letter word immediately evokes sexual thoughts and inclinations in our minds.  Generally, we have allowed a lot of things to be explained and defined for us from the wrong source and perspective.  In the same manner, we have consigned the understanding of a concept as deep as love to the warped and immoral mind-set of Hollywood movie-makers.

            You may not be among those with the kind of tunnel-vision understanding of love and might even be a Christian with a good standing in the Church and with God.  What difference does that really make?  Many Church folks are as guilty as those who have the understanding of love from corrupt-minded movie-makers.  Once you talk about love in the midst of the believers, they immediately raise their holy antennas and question the rationale for love relationship between the brethren especially if they are of the opposite sex!  They have also bought into the Hollywood concept that consign love to mean immorality and sex!  “God is love”, we affirm.  But what is the result of this belief and affirmation if the people for which Christ died are alienated and not shown the love in practice?  They attest to love in mere words and deny the power that it brings when put into action.

            The object of God’s love is people.  If people cease to matter when love is concerned, even if God’s name were to be dragged in, it will amount to nothing.  Today’s religious people have erroneously overshadowed the purpose of God’s love for mankind with so many meaningless activities that only feeds our over-bloated egos.  We are more willing to testify of being on our kneels praying for ten hours rather than seek for opportunities to be able to testify that we spent a whole day with a friend who needed our company to overcome a serious fear or emotional stress in his or her life.

            The question we should ask ourselves often is:  what is the result of our prayers in the lives of people?  Does God delight in activities that just satisfy our half-alive consciences on what we believe to be God’s heartbeat?  I have heard a lot of well meaning Christians say that God’s heartbeat is to be shut up with Him in prayers.  Prayers, yes!  We possibly cannot do anything without it.  But what does prayer mean when it is not focused on what lines up with God’s ultimate purpose for mankind?  Prayers as God’s heartbeat must be carried out in conjunction with actions that results in the fulfillment of the overall objective of God on earth.  This objective is basically reconciliation of mankind to God.  Imagine a scenario where our Lord Jesus Christ came and performed all the miracles and wonders we see in recorded scriptures and yet never went to the cross to die for us?  As a friend once said, that would have been “half-bread being worse than none”.

            In defining true love, I do not intend to take you through some new or strange path or to propound a new theory, but I believe that as you come along again in the unveiling of this subject with another author, your understanding will be enlightened and God’s Grace will cause you to live a meaningful life according to His purpose for mankind.

... to be continued.

Living Free

          I want to address you here on a personal level.  It is from my heart to yours.  There is such a thing as Personal Liberty.  That is my own coinage of how you can live free on the basis of your personal convictions.

          Many of us do not have personal convictions.  We do what we do not because we understand it but because of so many other considerations.  Friends, if you are not living your life based on personal liberty, you are not really living.

          This personal liberty stems from your personal knowledge.  It derives energy from the totality of who you are as a person.  This is the combination of what you know and understand and believe.  What you believe most times also stems from your background as a person and the various experiences you have garnered while growing up.  After becoming a grown up, what other things have formed your current set of values?

          Just in case you do not have any values that determine how you live, then you need an overhaul as a person.  You need to seat down, get an understanding of the characteristics of the purpose driven life and what it is specifically you are supposed to be doing.  Are you already getting confused?  A lot of people reading this right now will understand what I mean but perhaps you are not getting the idea of what I am saying.  Check out my mailing address (goba_ogwuche@yahoo.com) and phone number (+234 (0) 816 573 5746) and I can engage you in a coaching time that will enable you understand purpose for living in a matter of days.  It will be right for you to get Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life from any bookstore in your city to help you get started as well.

          Having located your vision and goal for living, and armed with a road-map to lead you down the road, you must be determined to stay on track until you hit your target.  While you are at it, you will be visited with a lot of distractions.  This is where your personal convictions will be tested and come into the fore.  People, I mean, well-meaning individuals, friends and family members will question your rationale for settling for a particular way of life; they will question your vision.  Those probing and questions are meant to test your convictions as you stay connected to your life-goal.  On many occasions, they may even think you have gone crazy, which is a normal reaction.

          Let me tell you why you must remain focused.  You are totally responsible for your destiny in life.  No one will stand guard on your behalf if you don’t hit target.  Never allow another man’s convictions to sidetrack you.  They may mean well for you, but they can never be you.  They may be older than you are, but they do not have your convictions.  They may have more than enough experience but they are not surely seeing what you see.

          Many times, it bothers me why people want me to behave like them.  Some others want me to think the way they do.  It’s practically impossible.  That is too limiting.  I was created to be unique and different and something more.  That is why my thumb print is different from yours and is not identical with any other single person on the face of the earth peopled by over 6 billion people.  If by God’s divine design and mandate, I am supposed to be different, who is man to think I am wrong?

          We owe ourselves individual responsibilities to respect the uniqueness of one another as a people created by God.  Do all that is in your power to accept people the way they are – I am not advocating a radical position where you accept people’s unwarranted morale misdemeanor.  For those of us in leadership positions, it’s always difficult to accept people for who they are especially if they are different from our own perceived “correct” way of doing certain things.  With all our good intentions, we fail when we want people to think like us, act like us, dress the way we dress and even talk the way we talk.  God through nature has decided people should be different, unique and yet able to agree on common grounds of principle and this should be done in such a way that no one is seen to be forced to agree but by total personal convictions.  Disagreement is legitimate and opinion is free.

          In my personal experience over the years, both in my capacity as a leader in the Church and as a Church growth student, I have discovered that the Church and its leaders are occasionally guilty of not appreciating or accepting people who are different from their cultural mainstream.  This results from a number of things including people’s style of worship, the way they dress, their specific doctrines and theological beliefs, etc.  I heard of someone who was asked to leave a church service because he raised his hands in worship.  In another Church, everyone dressed very nicely for church service and those who didn’t weren’t welcome.  We must learn to understand that we cannot all be the same.

          

... to be continued...