Articles

Politics, Randoms

A Nation’s Love for Untrue Numbers

Jilomes

Oh, yeah! The most populous black nation just marked 63 years of overt separation from colonial strangulation. Despite some overhanging sense of despair, independence, real or faux, is surely worth celebrating, especially considering that whereas Nigeria has failed to achieve its potentials, it has surely made significant progress standing without the Union Jack. So, we can say a hearty congratulations to Nigeria and continue to hope that our nation’s story can be rewritten for good; that we may build a nation that works for the generality of its people—a nation where peace and justice reign.

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Change

A Nation of Dumb People Becoming Dumber

Jilomes

I love my country. It has taken a lot from me, but like a wicked but rich spouse, it has given me a proverbial Maybach to sit in while I wipe my eyes with a face towel self-delivered by the legendary Paul Smith himself. So, I weep in the other room wondering what it would take to change its fortunes. Why would a nation seem committed to self-destruction? Every day, we see Nigerians arguing that other nations are responsible for our underdevelopment. This makes me wonder how we have become so blind to our unforced contributions. Do walk with me as I lament my countrypeople.

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Randoms

An African’s Take on the Titanic’s Titan

Jilomes

“But wetin this oyinbo people go find for there sef”

I have long accepted my cross as an offline search engine cum facts aggregator providing value added services to my bosses. But whereas I wish I could request a salary increase attuned to the higher costs of staying current, this article is not about negotiating a raise. My boss’ question mirrored the minds of many Africans and even non-Africans wondering why anyone would pay US$250,000 (almost ₦200 million) to increase the number of persons lost to the Titanic.

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Change, Randoms

As We Are Pushed to Become Less Humane

Jilomes

Today is Father’s Day, which, bless the Lord, we are happy not to share with the other day that commemorates toilets. Here I am on Father’s Day, in a hotel far from home, but rather than reflecting on the blessedness of fatherhood, I am scribbling words on another issue that has been on my mind for a bit. I have written in the past on Father’s Day, but today, let me lament on the society’s gradual slide away from the humaneness of humanity.

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Change

Parenting and the Changing Face of Society

Jilomes

There is this common saying that “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” While I would agree that patterns, like multiples or parallel lines on a cartesian graph may repeat, effectively remaining the same, I wonder if there is truly a reality where things get worse, or the perception is just recency bias at work in our minds. But while my thinking may seem inconclusive, I still find a way to convince myself that with regards to raising children, things are not merely remaining the same.

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Change

Till Death Do Us Part, Or Not

Jilomes

“Make sure you don’t do court marriage. Girls of nowadays are terrible.”

This advice was given to me by an “aunty” in her early forties when I came home in 2018 to present my intended bride to my people. Here was a young guy seeking to start a new life with his bride and being advised to start the marriage on a foundation of distrust. More worrisome is the fact that the adviser was not some aged “misogynistic male defender of the patriarchy”, but a “young woman”, which would make some persons say “if a woman is telling you to distrust women, then, she must have a good reason”.

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Politics

Of National Development and Lying Numbers

Jilomes

Whereas every country likely has some aspects of its existence that is based on a fudged foundation, Nigeria deserves special credit for staying somewhat erect despite having a foundation underpinned by distorted facts, half-truths, and plain lies. While we joust a lot about some persons’ real names, real birth dates, real parentage, real educational history, etc., all these debates pale in consequence when compared to a fundamental question: “How many Nigerians are there in Nigeria?”  

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Politics

When the Rivers Stay Stagnant

Jilomes

How do you have so much potential, yet consistently fail to deliver? You go one step forward, then gladly take two steps backwards while smiling and beating your chest proudly. For a state called the Treasure Base of the Nation, and a capital city formerly known as the Garden City, Rivers State has disappointed on almost every developmental metric relative to the resources and potential available. Yet, just as Nigeria happily towers above its fellow underperforming African countries, Rivers State embraces the wrong peers to feel it is doing well.

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Politics

INEC and the Defenestration of Hope

Jilomes

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick…”

Proverbs 13:12a (NKJV)

There is something about broken dreams that impacts the totality of a person. Sometimes the impact is so strong that it transcends a mere emotional sink to lay hold on a person’s physical being as if the broken dream were a virus. The closest analogy that I can think of as being vile enough would be that of a couple who after waiting for two decades to have a baby, finally pool resources for an IVF trial that works, only to lose their baby in the labour room. The hopelessness that such a couple may feel is akin to how INEC has made many Nigerians feel.

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Politics

In Search of a Benevolent Dictator

Jilomes

“Since they hid their net for me without cause and without cause dug a pit for me, may ruin overtake them by surprise—may the net they hid entangle them, may they fall into the pit, to their ruin”

King David (Psalms 35:7-8 NIV)

I must confess that starting a political discourse with these two verses from the Book of Psalms may not seem normal, but then, what is normal in today’s world? This article could have been prefaced with the famous Golden Rule, but David’s outcry came to mind, and I think it suits perfectly.

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