SECTIONS

Thursday, May 28, 2015

MANAGING YOUR GESTATIONAL DIABETES

Thursday, May 28, 2015

MANAGING YOUR GESTATIONAL DIABETES

In (Medicine | Health | Wellness) by Suheir Kilani


Finding out that you have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes can be a frightening experience for a pregnant woman, especially if you haven’t had diabetes or other medical conditions prior to your pregnancy. Fortunately, gestational diabetes is a condition that can be easily diagnosed and treated, and you can still experience a healthy pregnancy and deliver a healthy child.

OR

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

GENESIS [in A SET OF RANDOM THOUGHTS]

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

GENESIS

In A Set of Random Thoughts by Hugo Naijaman


In the beginning, after the deformation that was called the Transformation Agenda, the country was without form, the people groveled among the ruins, and the spirit of change hovered over the waters.

And Buhari said... 

OR

Sunday, May 24, 2015

JONATHAN: BUILDER OF A MODERN FAILED STATE

Sunday, May 24, 2015

JONATHAN: BUILDER OF A MODERN FAILED STATE

In: ON THE WALL

In a series of tweets on his Twitter handle, Jibrin Ibrahim assesses the Nigeria that President Jonathan will be passing to his successor (title mine).



Thursday, May 21, 2015

Day Four-Zero-Two

Thursday, May 21, 2015

FOUR-ZERO-TWO

Hugo Naijaman


This fictional character from Chibok counts the days as the lives through the horrors of her captivity.

Four-Zero-Two

Thursday, May 21, 2015

FOUR-ZERO-TWO

Hugo Naijaman


This fictional character from Chibok counts the days as the lives through the horrors of her captivity.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

THIS PLACE IS NOTHING (in A SET OF RANDOM THOUGHTS)

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

THIS PLACE IS NOTHING

A Set of Random Thoughts

The inspiration for this piece was a contest by some others, elsewhere on Facebook, to write a 50-word story centering on the theme "Eternity".

Having never written a story before, and being seriously maladroit at writing less than 50 words per post, I decided to try nonetheless.


Needless to say, I exceeded the word count, but not by much.


Tuesday, May 19, 2015

TREK FOR THE NATION (in A SET OF RANDOM THOUGHTS)

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

TREK FOR THE NATION


(A Set of Random Thoughts)
by Hugo Naijaman



OK! Ah dey vex. I am angry. Yea...I got hackles on the back of my neck, a growl in my throat, fire in my heart, and cold water in my plastic Coke bottle. Imagine ... continue reading

Sunday, May 17, 2015

FICTION: OBIAGBAOSO - SISTER BEATRICE [UPDATE ep 8]: EXPLOSIVES

Sunday, May 17, 2015

SISTER BEATRICE

BY: CHIAMAKA OBIAGBAOSO

In this update:
Sister Beatrice 8 - Explosives

Uloma finally leaves the Camp Clinic, but then comes face to face with the first tidbits of what will become her new reality, her new predicament.


START READING LATEST UPDATE TO SISTER BEATRICE BY CHIAMAKA OBIAGBAOSO


A young lady sets out for Delta State to begin her National Youth Service Corps programme, and instead gets an exciting ride on an adventure through life. 

Chiamaka Obiagbaoso is a social media activist who writes on a range of issues that cover society and lifestyle. She also writes fiction. Many of her write-ups can be found as posts on her Facebook Wall.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

[STORY UPDATE ep.6n7] FICTION: OBIAGBAOSO - SISTER BEATRICE

Thursday, May 14, 2015

SISTER BEATRICE

BY: CHIAMAKA OBIAGBAOSO

In this update:
Sister Beatrice 6 - Confusion
Sister Beatrice 7 - Discovery Begins



START READING UPDATE TO SISTER BEATRICE BY CHIAMAKA OBIAGBAOSO


A young lady sets out for Delta State to begin her National Youth Service Corps programme, and instead gets an exciting ride on an adventure through life. 

Chiamaka Obiagbaoso is a social media activist who writes on a range of issues that cover society and lifestyle. She also writes fiction. Many of her write-ups can be found as posts on her Facebook Wall.

FICTION: ALANEME - JUDAS

Thursday, May 14, 2015

JUDAS is the fascinating story of a young seminarian whose brief romance leads to a string of events which send him hurtling through an intense flurry of bizarre experiences - and which have had me hanging on to the very last drop of every word that has fallen from the writer's, well, keyboard. 

CLICK HERE TO START READING JUDAS



The writer, Kelvin U Alaneme, is a relatively new addition to my Reading List. But ever since the first day I stumbled across one of his Judas series on Facebook, I have not had cause for regret. Each succeeding episode has been more intriguing than the previous - and has left me waiting impatiently for the next. 

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

FICTION: OBIAGBAOSO - SISTER BEATRICE

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

SISTER BEATRICE

BY: CHIAMAKA OBIAGBAOSO

A young lady sets out for Delta State to begin her National Youth Service Corps programme, and instead gets an exciting ride on an adventure through life. Click the link below to start reading.

START READING SISTER BEATRICE BY CHIAMAKA OBIAGBAOSO


Chiamaka Obiagbaoso is a social media activist who writes on a range of issues that cover society and lifestyle. She also writes fiction. Many of her write-ups can be found as posts on her Facebook Wall.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

PLO LUMUMBA: AFRICA - THEIR BEAUTIFUL DREAM, OUR LIVING NIGHTMARE

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

When I look at Africa, many questions come to mind. Many times, I ask myself what would happen if Mwalimu were to rise up and see what is happening. Many times, I ask myself what would happen if Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Émery Lumumba were to rise up and see what is happening.

Because what they would be confronted with is an Africa where the Democratic Republic of Congo is unsettled – there is a war going on there, but it is not on the front pages of our newspapers because we don’t even control our newspapers and the media. As I speak to you, the Central African Republic is at war, but we talk of it only mutedly.

As I speak to you now, in South Sudan – the youngest nation in Africa – the Nuer have risen against the Dinka. As I speak to you now, Eritrea is unsettled. As I speak to you now, there is unease in Egypt as there is unease in Libya. In Niger, it is not better; in Senegal it is not better; in Somalia, it is not better – Africa is at war with ourselves. This is what they would be confronted with.

They would be confronted with an Africa which statisticians and romantic economies say is growing, but which in truth is stagnated; that is the Africa that they would be confronted with.

They would be confronted with an Africa, which, as Professor Mlama intimated in her presentation here, is an Africa which is suffering from schizophrenia. She does not know herself.

They would be confronted with an Africa whose young men and women have no interest and no love for their continent.

They would be confronted with an Africa where young men and young women are constantly humiliated at the embassies of European countries and of the United States of America, as they seek the almighty green card. They would be confronted with an Africa where young men and women from Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania drown in the Mediterranean as they seek to be enslaved in Europe – this time around, Africans are not wailing and kicking as they are taken away to be enslaved; they are being seen wailing and kicking as they seek to be enslaved in Europe and America. This is the tragedy of Africa.

They will be confronted with an Africa where people have lost their self-pride, an Africa where Africans are not proud of their things; an Africa where, in the hotels of Dar-es-Salaam or Nairobi, even food has foreign names. When we fry potatoes, we call them French fries – even when they are fried in Dar-es-Salaam! That is the Africa that they would be confronted with.

They would be confronted with another Africa – an Africa which does not tell her story; an Africa whose story is told by Europe and America – the CNN, Radio Deutschewelle, Radio France – that is the Africa they would be confronted with.

They would be confronted with young men and women who have no pride in Africa; when they want to enjoy themselves, they sing the praises of football teams from Europe and America – it is Manchester United, it is Arsenal, it is Real Madrid,…and Barcelona – not Yanga, not Mvulira Wanderers, not Gormaiah, and not FC Leopards…no! That is the Africa that they would be confronted with.

They would be confronted with an Africa which does not enjoy its theatres and dramas, but Africa celebrates Leoardo di Caprio, it celebrates Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt; the Africa does not celebrate Genevieve Nnaji of Nigeria, or Rita Dominic or Olu Jacobs of Nigeria; it does not celebrate Bongowood or Nollywood or Riverwood - it celebrates Hollywood. That is the Africa with which they will be confronted. They would be confronted with African women whose greatest source of joy is cheap grade B Mexican soap opera, La Patrona, La Mujer De Mi Vida, The Rich Also Cry…

Why must we remind ourselves of these realities? 

Because throughout the ages, the battle has always been the battle of the mind. If your mind is conquered, then you are going nowhere. And that is why in the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, the great René Descartes said: “Cogito, ergo sum” - I think, therefore I am. And therefore if Africans are to begin to make a contribution in their affairs, Africans must begin to think. But the question is: 

“Are we thinking?” 

We have universities in their numbers - Tanzania has universities including Dar-es-Salaam, Nairobi has universities, as indeed Kampala, as indeed South Africa (Johannesburg) - we have all these universities. 

We have engineers, but our roads are not being made by Tanzanian civil engineers, it is the Chinese who are present in this assembly who are making our roads. So we have engineers who cannot even make roads! 

We have doctors who we have trained, but when we are sick, particularly if we are of the political class, depending on who colonized you - if you were colonized by the United Kingdom, you rush to London; if you were colonized by the French, you rush to Paris; if you were colonized by the Portuguese, you rush to Lisbo;, and if you were colonized by the Spaniards, you rush to Madrid, Spain - and recently, because the Asians are beginning to get their act together, we run to India; and very lately, because the Arabs are also beginning to get their act together, we run to Dubai, notwithstanding that we have the Kenyatta Hospitals of this country, the Muhimbilis of Tanzania, the Chris Hani Baragwanaths of South Africa, and the Mama Yemos of Kinshasa, Zaire, or the Democratic Republic of Congo...but we have no faith in our doctors! 

In the area of education, we also don’t have faith. Our political class introduced something that they call free education, that is free indeed - free of knowledge! It is because they are so suspicious of those institutions that the typical African politician would not dare take their children to those schools. Their children will be educated in the British system; in the American system; so that when they graduate, they go to the United Kingdom, to the United States, - not that there is anything wrong with those institutions, but the agenda is wrong, because our leaders long lost the script and ought to be described for who they are - our misleaders.

But we are co-authors of our own misfortune. Whenever we are given an opportunity to elect our leaders, we are given a blank cheque, and if you permit me a little latitude, and if you give me a blank cheque, and you allow me to analogize, and you say that I am given the blank cheque to buy a Mercedes Benz, what we do is that when we are called upon, having been so empowered, we buy what one calls a tuk-tuk (Nigerian readers, keke napep, other readers, tricycle) from India and expect it to behave like a Mercedes Benz. How does that happen? Because what we do is to elect thieves - we elect hyenas to take care of goats, and when the goats are consumed, we wonder why.




***
This is my transcript (from the audio) of a speech attributed to Mr Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, former director of Kenya’s Anti-Corruption Commission (Sept 2010 - Aug 2011) and currently Director, Kenya School of Laws. 

Monday, May 4, 2015

TWO AND A HALF LIES THEY TOLD YOU ABOUT YOUR HEALTH

Monday, May 04, 2015

TWO AND A HALF LIES

I had been writing something else until a few short days ago, when someone re-shared a post to a WhatsApp community to which I belong. The inaccuracies I saw in that post compelled me to jettison my earlier draft and instead undertake a clarification of the issues raised in that post.

In order to reduce the length of this post, I have only quoted selected portions of the "offending post" relevant to my rejoinder.