Articles

Change, Politics

Saving Nigeria Through Resource Control

Jilomes

Of all the myriad issues that have plagued Nigeria since its independence in 1960, resource control is one of the biggest, arguably resent-laced issues that straddles everything from equity, political control, to plain expropriation. Nigeria is currently in the process of another piecemeal constitutional amendment, with resource control being a recurring demand from the oil producing region, while an affiliated demand seems to have contributed to delaying the Petroleum Industry Bill. Is there a way to redefine the pie and allow all stakeholders to go home happy?

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Inspiration

Father, Behold Thy Child

Jilomes

In an era of a myriad of re-definitions, where ancient landmarks are being removed, and the operating manual of humanity seems to be undergoing a major revision, it would seem that fathers are unnecessary vestiges of a world left behind; a time when humans thought it took two and a village to raise a child. But as a son who is father of a son, I look at the world around with a knowing that a father, if he truly be one, would always have a place in a child’s heart.

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Randoms

Nigeria is Better than America

Jilomes

Prologue: There is a message purportedly written by a Nigerian living in the US, that is being shared across WhatsApp groups. The following is a response to the points raised by the purported author.
It is adapted from a reply I posted when the message was forwarded to one group where I belong.
Note: My responses are italicised, and preceded by “Response”. The original message (by the American resident) has not been changed in any way.

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Change, Inspiration

The Big Man in Us

Jilomes

Do you know any person who used to complain about an alcoholic father, but is now an alcoholic? Or, maybe it’s someone who complained about a terrible boss, but is now competing for that title? Maybe you know a woman who always complained about her mother-in-law, but is now doing to her daughter-in-law the very things she used to whine about. I have seen a quote that says “we become what we hate”. However, I disagree. Maybe it’s not that we become what we hate, but that what we hate might be the default “normal” for humans, and we ought to actively seek to be different rather than merely complain.

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Randoms

He was Golden

Jilomes

“Jonah, daddy is dead”. With just four words on the phone, my younger brother informed me that our father had moved on. It had been a fast-paced day from collapsing in church in the morning, to resuscitation, admission in one hospital, referral to a teaching hospital, admission in the tertiary care hospital, and death just before 5pm. Lacking the emotional make-up of most humans, the only time I would shed tears would be as I fell to my knees to tell God He would be responsible for funding the burial and I had no intention of burying two parents in one year, as I worried about my mom. Less than thirty minutes after hearing my father was dead, my mind switched to burial planning mode, and I would come to realise that it takes a village to bury their child.

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Change

When Healthcare Is Not Healthy

Jilomes

Imagine being chased by a pissed-off grizzly bear and you run into a small cabin and shut the doors. You see a cute polar bear chilling in the cabin, and you feel all is well, but as exhaustion sends you sleeping, the polar bear pounces on you and tears you apart with the agility of a hunter; nothing else seeming amiss except for your warm blood splattered across its cute face. Now, that’s a really horrible nightmare to preface this article.

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Change

Thou Shalt Not Undertake Research

Jilomes

As I picked up my laptop to draft this article, a thought crossed my mind whether the Nigerian antipathy to research and development is in obedience to some religious instruction, or if a fatwa had been declared on any government in Nigeria that dares pay any attention to funding and facilitating research efforts. This thought inspired the title as the best excuse I can conjure for what might be intellectual laziness on a national scale.

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Politics

Of a Food Blockade and Common Sense

Jilomes

“Babe, the market is scanty. Many fresh food sellers did not show up, and those around said food supplies are limited.” My wife’s voice on the phone finally made it personal. I had been following reports online of a “food blockade” on Southern Nigeria by Northern Nigeria, but now it had gone beyond mere news reports to something that would make our family spend more on food this month. Fortunately, we could stomach the higher cost of limited supplies at the market, but I wondered about the infamous pyrrhic victory and a seemingly maniacal drive by some persons to cut off their nose to spite their face.

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Person being beat up
Change, Politics

Frustration 601: When Brethren Fight

Jilomes

They say the grasses suffer when two elephants fight, but I wonder what happens to the elephants when the grasses fight over their lowly state. While you may cringe at the impossible metaphor of grasses fighting themselves, I have chosen it to highlight a paradoxical happening in society where one group of oppressed persons would take out their frustrations on another group of oppressed persons, while the oppressors pick out pieces of meat stuck in their fortunate teeth from a continuous meal of oppression.

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Change, Politics

A Litany of Bad Choices

Jilomes

If you had to choose between eating your cake and having it, what would you choose, and how would you make this choice? Would your choice be logical, emotional, a blend of the two, or a clean random pick? Whichever you choose, you would be aware that every choice has a consequence one way or the other. However, looking at the national development angle in Nigeria, it looks like we make weird choices and later wonder why things took a wrong turn. Whereas there are several factors behind our woes in Nigeria, one common denominator for our dysfunctional state is a litany of imprudent choices.

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