JONATHAN GETS AN INVITE TO ATLANTA FOR 2016

Irony of life!  Hmmm!! While many Nigerians are still busy looking for words to continue ridiculing the immediate past President of Nigeria Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, other nations are looking for him to share his experience in office with a global wider audience, which is to present the keynote address at the forthcoming 2016 Hope Global Forums conference holding in Atlanta, United States sometime in January.

For those of you who may be wondering 'what the heck is the conference all about'? The Hope Global Forum is an annual event where leaders, business professionals and public policy officials from many countries come together in their thousands to think out as ways of improving the social and economic well-being of  peoples around the world.

It's now a case of  'no matter how bad a child is, there must be something to learn from his/her bad choices'.

It will be recalled that in 2015 with over 3,000 leaders from 40 countries present at the event, former American President Bill Clinton also performed a role similar to that which Jonathan has now been designated to perform.

According to reports, the invitation letter which was jointly signed by Operation Hope Global Spokesman, Andrew Young, the mayor of Atlanta, Kasim Reed as well as Operation Hope Chief Executive, John Hope Bryant urged the former president to attend thereby lending his support to an entrepreneurship mentoring programme, even as he shares his experience in office with the large number

of attendees which will include Tim Cook, Apple chief executive; Jack Lew, US treasury secretary; Robert Rubin, former treasury secretary, and Clinton Foundation vice-chair Chelsea Clinton..

 Part of the invitation letter:

"As some one recognised for his leadership and vision in Nigeria and abroad, we are personally requesting your attendance. It is important for us that your influential voice and perspective be included as we drive a global conversation".

“We invite you to join Fortune 500 CEO’s, private investors, financial leaders and government officials to connect and collaborate on this vision.

“With the theme ‘Reimagining the Global Economy: Inclusive Economics’, the annual meeting is set against the backdrop of the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend and gathers leaders from government, community and the private sector to outline a vision for the modern global; economy.

“A vision where the undeserved, working poor and struggling middle class are viewed as untapped assets for economic growth, entrepreneurship and job creation.

“The powerful history of Atlanta as the ‘Cradle of the Civil Rights Movement’ serves as a catalyst for our gathering, highlighting the unfinished work of economic self-reliance launched by Dr. King prior to his death. We will honour that legacy with a series of activities for our guests, including ‘white glove’ viewing of Dr. King’s papers.”

Well done Jonathan, at least you still have somethings to smile about.

Again for the records, I'm no politician, still detest politics and remain non-partisan!

Andreva.Shaw: Again Nigeria Loses Another In Keshi's Wife

Andreva.Shaw: Again Nigeria Loses Another In Keshi's Wife: Keshi and Late wife Kate during their daughter's wedding earlier in the year Just yesterday , I learnt about the death of Kate ...

Again Nigeria Loses Another In Keshi's Wife

Keshi and Late wife Kate during their daughter's wedding earlier in the year

Just yesterday, I learnt about the death of Kate Keshi, the 54year old wife of former super Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi and this morning learnt that she died after a three year battle with cancer which according to Premium times was confirmed in a statement by a close friend of the family, Emmanuel Ado who said she died on Wednesday in the United States. 

Again this latest incident begs the question “what is happening in our country today as nearly every death is either related to cancer, kidney or liver and even diabetes”? Diabetes at least can be explained to a large extent, but the rest of them, who has answers?

It is getting more frightening by the day and the doctors and health researchers seem not to know which way to turn anymore. Even all those who travel abroad to India and the rest of the world  do not have better experiences except the very few who return with tales of how they nearly died in the hands of the so called foreign doctors.  Out of the handful number of those who return feeling well, another percentage of them end up having relapses.

So the question now is ‘what is making everybody sick?

If we were all together in a classroom numbering at least a little over a hundred, and the question such as “how many of you saw your grandparents and how many of them lived up to at least 85 or 90 and above”?

I am sure nearly ninety or even a hundred of us in that classroom would have our hands up in the air.

In the past, people ate proper foods and also lived healthier lives before this trend of eating imported packaged food became a lifestyle in our society today. As I have always reiterated on this platform,  nearly all imported packaged foods, drinks and consumables are some of the factors affecting or  adversely contributing to the ill health of nearly if not all the people battling with one ailment or the other within and outside the country.

Apart from stress which is a huge contributing factor, have we taken time to ask for the content of most foods we buy today?  How effective or efficient is NAFDAC?

Drugs as well as Herbal drinks of all sorts are sold all over the place with funny names and registration numbers.  Noodles with funny tastes as well are all over the place. Vegetable oils are not left out as many of them are laden with high cholesterol yet they advertise the opposite. Even expired chocolates are not left out. They air we breathe is getting more polluted by the day with different environmental pollution ranging from generator fumes and even gutters that have defied all forms of disinfectants not to talk of the pollution from oil companies  and spillages in the areas where most of them are located destroying plants, animals and even human beings. 

I can go on and on. But I am too angry to continue. Who is watching?  Where are all the regulatory bodies? What is the government doing about the health sector and many more? At this point, my sincere prayers go out to Stephen Keshi who described his late wife as his "greatest friend", and his entire family for God to grant them the fortitude to bear this great loss

Rest in Peace Mrs Kate Keshi (nee Aburieme)

Andreva.Shaw: MADONNA AND SON SPREAD LOVE IN PARIS

Andreva.Shaw: MADONNA AND SON SPREAD LOVE IN PARIS: I have always loved and admired Madonna from my childhood. For me, she will always remain that strong ‘material girl’ and   ‘papa don’t pre...

MADONNA AND SON SPREAD LOVE IN PARIS

I have always loved and admired Madonna from my childhood. For me, she will always remain that strong ‘material girl’ and  ‘papa don’t preach’ lady in my mind’s eye with her crazy band.  She is one great pop artist and energetic performer who has just refused to grow old.  At 57, the lady still knows how to work her crowd whenever and wherever.

She is still very relevant and there is every indication that her fan base is also growing by the day as she is still having sold-out concerts. If you think otherwise, how would you describe a situation whereby all she had to do was send out a tweet to her fans inviting them for a show and to everyone’s amazement, there was a good turn out which of course was a pleasant surprise for the ‘La Isla Bonita’ crooner.

Though the impromptu event was at the memorial site of the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris in honour of the victims, the crowd was nevertheless excited to see Madonna who was accompanied by her son David and a guitarist as they did some of her songs such as 'like a prayer' as well as John Lennon's 'Imagine' even as the fans swung and took pictures with obvious joy. Even though Madonna invited her fans to this event immediately after a sold-out show at an Arena also in Paris, she still gave the people the feeling of "I'm so glad I came" as that was the expression on the faces of all those present 

According to reports, the singer was quoted to have said “Everybody knows why we’re here. We just want to sing a few songs about peace, just to spread love and joy, and to pay our honour and respect to the people who died almost four weeks ago. And to spread light. We all need it.”

Sure we all need light. There is no gainsaying the fact that MADONNA still rocks for a lot of us and from the look of things, she is going to keep rocking for a long time.

                                                                                     All she did as soon as she finished her sold-out concert was this simple tweet “I'm singing some songs in place de la republique, Meet me there now.” How many people can beat that? Not many, if you ask me.                                                          

           Go girl! You still rock!!

Andreva.Shaw: SHEDDING THE SKINNY TO FEED THE OBESE

Andreva.Shaw: SHEDDING THE SKINNY TO FEED THE OBESE: I hate to sound like a broken record but for the umpteenth time and for the benefit of those just reading or going through this blog for the...

SHEDDING THE SKINNY TO FEED THE OBESE

I hate to sound like a broken record but for the umpteenth time and for the benefit of those just reading or going through this blog for the first time, let me reiterate that "I don't like politics. I'm not partisan and this write-up is not in anyway to exonerate anyone because 'I belong to nobody' *laughs* except God.

For the first time I seem to agree with Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State when he was quoted in one of the national dailies on the issue of minimum wage that “with due respect to my colleagues, it is offensive to talk about minimum wage. How can the food of the steward be the reason that the elders cannot eat? I mean by conventional wisdom. If there is crisis in the system, it is the excess fat that will shed fat not the skeletons. The idea of using minimum is very offensive".

Seriously, given the above statement, Oshiomhole is so right, it is an error to tell the already skinny person to shed weight when the obese is right in front of your nose. How wicked can our so called leaders be?

As I said, I don't like politics but at the same time can't do without talking or writing on Politics as it resolves around nearly every thing we write, read, hear or talk about in our daily lives. However it would not be out of place to applaud people such as Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state who reiterated that his government will not associate with plans to cut workers N18,000.00 mininum wage neither will he embark on any retrenchment exercise even as he promised that come January 2016, 10,000 less privileged persons in the state will remain recipients of N5,000.00 monthly.

There is too much money in this country, enough to go round but that can only happen when we have credible, selfless, honest and trustworthy people as leaders. Until then, it will continue to be the same of the  as presently, all those in power have no business being there so the trend of milking the already 'tired and hungry citizens' to continue feeding the already 'over fed and obese' ones will continue.

Please let's stop tasking the poor for the upkeep of the rich! How skinnier can the poor get?

Nutty Olamide 'Badoo' Unleashes Beast Mode

Nutty 'badoo' guy Olamide has made plans to shut down Lagos come December 27th 2015 with the 2nd edition of his Olamide-live-in-concert tagged OLIC 2: Beast Mode Unleashed at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos.

Whenever I see this young hyper active fella who's fast becoming a man by the day, I see in him a child that wants to break lose if given the chance, he'll explode. Olamide strikes one as though he never sleeps rather he keeps awake all night looking for the next line to drop the next day. I love to hate this talented individual but most times I end up waiting to hear what he's dished out to the public again and again even though I wouldn't let my wards sing the songs.

Adetoro Suleiman who is the CEO of Right Entertainment, said Olamide  is a rare artist who is very consistent and committed to his art and arguably currently the biggest contemporary Nigerian artist with this year 2015 as the biggest proof of his hardwork. He also added that OLIC2 "promises to be one of the biggest nights of the year and I personally am looking forward to seeing the show live.”

I kind of agree with Adetoro to an extent and if you ask me, the guy, Olamide no doubts is very good at turning very 'stupid' slangs into songs which has now made him a highly accepted artist by a lot of people especially the active youths.

Thanks to social media platforms, even when his songs get banned by the Nigerian Broadsacting Commission (NBC), the teeming youths know where to find his songs as though he's truly the best thing that has happened to the Nigerian Music Industry even as a lot of lovers of good music complain about the trend of meaningless or 'kpakulumo' songs in the Industry.

On a lighter note at the same time seriously speaking, while wishing Olamide a good outing on his OLIC2, I hope he does not really 'Unleash' any 'Beast' *laughs* as Nigerians have had enough unleashed beasts in the form of insurgencies, non-payment of salaries, no light, bad roads, fuel scarcity and many more.  

What is Christmas Without Fireworks, 'Bangers' and 'Knockouts'?

By the end of the yuletide season, without any doubts, a lot of people would have recorded a good number of ex-convicts in their various families. That is, if some families have not started counting or visiting police stations already.

Aha! Don't get it twisted. Before some of you (especially the religious fanatics) start saying 'God forbid', let me start by saying here that some of my relatives/family members are already ex-convicts along what I would term here as 'waka pass' ex-convicts! As we proceed, you will begin to have an understanding of what I mean by 'waka pass' ex-convicts.

First of all let me clarify that there are several levels of convicts ranging from 'waka pass' convicts to die-hard/hardened convicts.

A few weeks back Mr Solomon Arase, the Inspector General of Police reiterated the ban on firecrackers, fireworks, what a lot of people call 'knockouts' or 'bangers' (not the bangers pork sausages) during the forthcoming Christmas and New year celebrations given the current security level in different parts of the Country, adding that hoodlums have started the practice of using the fireworks to confuse citizens while carrying out despicable acts and thus warned that violators, that is those who would still use the banned fireworks while jubilating would be made to face the wrath of the law thereby becoming 'waka pass' or light offence convicts.

Over the weekend, driving through a neighbourhood where a small market is located, I saw a group of people arguing with some armed Police men who were trying to forcefully get a group of boys into their patrol van and some women who could pass for the mothers of the boys pleading with them to let the boys go even as the onlookers standing around with a few others who stood faraway talked in hushed tones obviously over why the boys were being arrested. My mission around there was to stop and buy a few food items but on a second thought decided not to stop but drove on as soon as I saw the scene.

And so for fear of being caught up in a potential calamity (given the guns) I stopped a good distance from the market in front of a roadside tomato seller who was also watching the scenario from afar. As I paid for some tomatoes she told me that the boys were getting picked-up by the Police for 'disturbing the peace of the community' with fireworks.

As soon as I heard that, I laughed and said "the Policemen have a lot of work to do given the case" as I remembered my relatives who were also arrested a few years ago for letting off fireworks and we had to bail all three of them with a lot of money that day and of course from that night because the trio did not sleep in the cells overnight given the light offence, they officially became the family's 'ex-convicts' but we termed them 'waka pass' just like some Nollywood's acts who just feature in a scene of a movie playing nearly insignificant roles in the entire movie.

Now you have an idea of who a 'waka pass' ex-convict  is, and also what I meant when I mentioned that "some of my relatives/family members are already ex-convicts", like I said before, don't get it TWISTED. They are just 'waka pass' not hardened ex-convicts okay?

So if you or your wards don't want to get on the list, tell them to stay away from 'bangers' this yuletide season so you (they) don't get 'banged' into the Trucks/Vans of the Armed Uniformed Men while heading for the Police Station/Cells. But on the other hand, all lovers of fireworks may want to ask "what is Christmas without these fireworks"?

Well my take is this, if you must do your 'KABOOM' fireworks, get ready for Prison and the wrath of the law as Arase has warned. Like I said earlier, because Christmas is only just starting and I know for a fact that there WILL be more fireworks and crackers, the Police force should therefore get set for a busy time this period until a few days into the new year as for a LOT of people, the season is NEVER complete without these 'BANGERS'.

BABYFACE BOUNCES BACK WITH 'RETURN OF THE TENDER LOVER'

Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds  the 56 year old American RnB singer, producer and songwriter who reigned greatly in the 90s is still very much around and waxing stronger as he debuts his new album 'Return of The Tender Lover' tomorrow the 4th of December 2015, thereby proving again that a great and born talented songbird never retires. *winks*

If it's the same Babyface who today has eleven grammy awards to his name and rocked our world with GREAT songs back-in-da-days, then expect our lives and homes to once again be filled with lovely songs and away from the 'kpakulumo' and silly songs that have become the trend in our society.

A lot of us (fans of Babyface) would definitely remember his 'Tender Lover' hit of the late 80s/early 90s. I doubt if there's any of his fans who can ever forget any of his songs because they all MADE SENSE.

A couple of months ago, while watching a musical on TV, I was trying to get over Aloe Blacc's 'I'm the man' when I heard the duo of Babyface and his 'forever' friend Toni Braxton come on with the 'Hurt You' track from their 'love, divorce and marriage' album. Phew! Was I blown away? Yes I was soooo blown away that I had to go listen to the rest of the tracks and I was not dissappointed one bit.

Babyface and Toni must have loads of wonderful moments/memories together as I can never forget how lovely they both looked together in the video of "give you my heart" back then under Babyface's Laface label. I envied seeing them together despite the fact I was so young yet I could detect that bond/chemistry between them. Again, they did a beautiful job together with 'love. marriage and divorce' in 2014. 

Enough said, because I know that nearly everything that has Babyface's touch turns to gold, I sincerely believe that Babyface's comeback with this his latest and first solo album after seven years will be a huge RETURN for all lovers of no-nonsense RnB songs. We've had enough of trashy songs hence it is time to be saved!

BRING IT ON BABYFACE!