Change – Page 4

The Lonely Road to Excellence

February 13, 2022 Jilomes

Almost six weeks have passed since I posted the introductory article for this year. In the intervening period, several writing ideas have crossed my mind, but as they say, until your fingers hit the keyboard, ideas are just wishful thinking. Technically, I was on leave, but work and family commitments ensured I always had an excuse not to write. Paradoxically, today’s article tries to encourage something that if done well, may infringe on your right to freedom to enjoy your leave.

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Change, Politics

#EndSARS: 365 Days from October the Twentieth

October 20, 2021 Jilomes

French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr declared in 1849 that “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. From a literal interpretation, if things that are changing end up being like the former state, how much more when no attempt is made at creating a change, or when such change, though promised, takes up residence in a large void filled with disclaimed promises. One year after the popular protests tagged #EndSARS, has anything really changed with Nigerian policing?

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Change, Inspiration

The Privilege Vs Responsibility Divide

September 6, 2021 Jilomes

“Privilege is when you think something is not a problem because it’s not a problem to you personally”
David Gaider

The headline quote for this article is one that I think requires some deep introspection. But even if you were to undertake the shallowest form of reflection, it is easy to see at least one area of privilege regardless of how badly you think you lost the proverbial birth lottery. For me, my mind is burdened as I try to draw a line between privilege and responsibility. Permit me to selflessly unload my burden on you.

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Change, Energy

Download Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (OCR Version)

August 19, 2021September 6, 2021 Jilomes

On Monday, 16 August 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Petroleum Industry Bill into law, potentially setting the stage for significant changes in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. I do not intend to provide any real commentary on the Act. I am merely providing a populace-friendly version of the Act that can be searched electronically.

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Change, Politics

Saving Nigeria Through Resource Control

July 3, 2021July 3, 2021 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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Change, Inspiration

The Big Man in Us

June 10, 2021 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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Change

When Healthcare Is Not Healthy

May 9, 2021May 9, 2021 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

April 8, 2021 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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Change, Politics

Frustration 601: When Brethren Fight

February 14, 2021 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

January 29, 2021 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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