Tag: Choices

Randoms

Wicked Doctors Leaving Nigeria in Droves

Jilomes

There was a time when Nigerians were so proud of their country that they would hurry back home to build their careers, preferring the simplicity of their homeland to the ill-gotten wealth of yonder. But what do we have today? A young Nigerian is admitted to an ultra-subsidised university, merely suffers a little sprinkling of strike actions, gets awarded a MBBS degree, begins the stipulated medical internship and immediately starts plotting to leave the land that trained him. How much more wicked can we be?

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Energy

When a Right-of-Way Becomes No Man’s Land

Jilomes

There are a lot of things that happen in Nigeria, that if this were the proverbial saner climes, we would be debating whether to commit people to a sanatorium or a penitentiary. Or, if we wanted to spice things up a bit, we would haggle over how many neck-ward strokes with a USB cord would suffice. But before you accuse me of brutal intent, can we explain why anyone is building a petrol station above a high-pressure gas pipeline when suicide is still illegal in Nigeria?

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Change, Politics

Nigeria and a Season of Tough Decisions

Jilomes

We start today with three strong assertions. First, “Nigeria is in a mess”. Secondly, “There is no Messiah to fix Nigeria”. Thirdly, “Nigeria can be fixed”. We would go further to amend the third to say, “Nigeria can be fixed with good leadership that can make politically-ruinous choices and citizens willing to allow the necessary compromises”. If you understand the import of those twenty words, we can continue the rest of this article.

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Randoms

To Japa or Not to Japa

Jilomes

Life is a potpourri of numerous choices we make, of which some decisions are key because of their overreaching impact on how our lives shape up from that point. In today’s Nigeria, especially among people who fit certain criteria, one such decision is whether to leave Naija (“to japa”) or stay back within its territory. As social media continues to be regaled with a nouveau popular meme announcing a glassy welcome to a new dispensation, we may draw some wisdom from an adaptation of author Julie Kagawa’s writing that “there are no good choices …only those you can live with, and those you can work to change”.

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Inspiration

The Parents We Do Not Want

Jilomes

“As we grow, we’ll realise that pushing our kids to start learning how to code from a young age or pick interests in sports is not different from our parents wanting us to become doctors, lawyers, or engineers back then.”

~ T. O.

Seeing this view on a friend’s WhatsApp status, it resonated well with my thinking that I decided to share a screenshot with a simple caption: “Care (Concern) or Selfishness?” It would appear that limiting the conversation to WhatsApp just would not cut it, so here is a full article inspired by T. O.

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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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Politics

Nigerian Politics: The Façade of Political Parties

Jilomes

I have a friend who has formed the habit of typing “John 8:7” as a reply whenever we have any discussion that hovers around politics, especially when the context is about the rightness or wrongness of a given view. I would usually argue with him on my fundamental human right to judge others but today I would take his side as I write about an issue for which I have also been guilty.  Continue reading “Nigerian Politics: The Façade of Political Parties” →

Change, Politics

None of Two Evils

Jilomes

Let me begin with a quote attributed to Howard Dean: “I’m just disappointed that once again, we may have to settle for the lesser of two evils.” This quote was issued with respect to the 2004 US Elections. Applying this quote to Nigeria, especially in light of the fast-approaching general elections, a reader would be forgiven for quickly linking it to the presidential election. However, that is not my intention here. The presidential election, unlike some would argue, is not a choice between two evils.  Continue reading “None of Two Evils” →

Randoms

Rushing to Nowhere

Jilomes

At the end of every academic session, primary and secondary school students look forward to moving a step upwards—to the next class. Except for those whose performance recommends that they stay put for another year, most students move one step up the academic ladder. However, for some, the increase is double, as they move from Class M to Class O. Continue reading “Rushing to Nowhere” →

Randoms

A Tale of Two Fortunes

Jilomes

When I started this blog, my creed was to describe “the world as I see it”. Looking at the over hundred posts since then, it appears that from my viewpoint, the world is political—very political. Most articles have been inspired by happenings in the political landscape. Today, I take an apolitical route. I write about two persons, or rather, two groups of persons, as each person represents more than one person’s experience. Continue reading “A Tale of Two Fortunes” →