WHY WE ARE THE WAY WE ARE

andrevashaw.blogspot.com

For most part of this year 2017, I have had to commute to work and a few other places by public transport not because I do not have a car to run around but because I decided not to drive for most part of the year given some reasons including trying to keep my sanity having being attacked in broad day light in traffic right in front of a military cantonment and nothing was done by the patrol team who went into the building the hoodlums ran into. Another reason was until Governor Ambode sent those “special people” in uniforms off the streets who were frustrating drivers and car owners thus making driving a nightmare as no matter how hard you tried to keep your car documents together, they would always find a fault or two so as to give you a fine which many times do not come cheap. Unnecessary traffic in some areas was also a big “NO” for me including some other reasons which are best known to me alone. in this city called Lagos.

On some of these commuting by public transport, I would run into a couple of friends and foes alike who would ask me questions such as “why didn’t you drive? I saw you at so and so bus tops, what where you doing standing on the road waiting for a bus when you could have easily driven? Including a host of other cynical questions. My replies usually  included “oh I didn’t feel like driving too far today” or on the days when the car had a small fault “I took it to the mechanic” or was it when I was still battling with road safety for my drivers’ license? Too many instances when I had to be asked questions upon questions on “why did you not drive”?

On several occasions, some of these ‘concerned people’ would say “you like to stress/suffer yourself sha” and my immediate reply would always be “shey before we started owning cars and being driven around town, many of had to move around by public transport until God started blessing us with the wherewithal to buy cars?

Where am I going with all of these?

Dear reader, let me not bore you with long stories anymore.

My point is, we are where we are today as a people and as a nation because of the mentality of “what would people say” so many of us do things that we would not naturally do because we do not want people to talk.

Well, I’m sorry to be the one to re-echo that “no matter how hard you try, or what you do, people will always talk” so no point killing yourself just to please anyone amongst the crowd out there that think or care nothing about you.

Our leaders will continue to steal us “red” because even when the good ones are elected into power/positions, they are put under pressure by family, friends and those around him to steal from the ‘big government pot to prove that they have arrived’ even when they never intended to do such.

The incumbents look at the lives of predecessors who did not steal while in government and how society has all of a sudden forgotten them as they seemingly have nothing to offer being out of government. Their children are mocked and told such lines as “your father was in government for so and so number of years yet he couldn’t do this or that for himself yet see Mr A and Mr D who held the same position for just a few months, their properties, this that and so on all around the place but your father can only boast of that single flat you all live in at the moment”.

After such remarks, tell me why the next person will not steal when elected into power? That’s if he/she is not self-willed against all odds?

It’s really a terrible world we live in. where evil is applauded and good shamed!

The life that many of us live today is not what we ordinarily want but for the sake of society and what the next person would say, we tend to live our lives for people.

Dear reader, that kind of lifestyle must stop.

As 2017 grinds swiftly to an end, take time to access your life and decide upon how you want to run with 2018. If you want to live a simple life, by all means go for it and save yourself the brouhaha of trying to meet up with the bandwagon of those who want to live their lives to please others thereby killing themselves in the long run.

The awful part of joining that “bandwagon” is that if you drop dead today, many of them would not even notice that you are gone and even if they notice, they wouldn’t even attend your funeral. The least most of them would do is type ‘REST IN PEACE’ on your social media timeline for others to read when they visit your page and thereafter everyone would move on without you.

So dear reader, think about 2018 critically and run it at your pace.

Peace!!! 

STELLA ENE-INYANG   

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY: OGA! ARE YOU THE GOVERNMENT?

andrevashaw.blogspot.com

Mr Egodi is a bus driver. He works from very early in the mornings, as early as 4am to meet up with early morning ‘rushers’ that is, workers and other business persons who leave their homes in the wee hours of the morning  everyday by public transport. Mr Egodi has a family of four, his wife and three young children, a girl who is just seven years old, boy 8 and the eldest boy 10. These children attend a public school just a few miles from the home and the trio walk to and fro the school every day.

Their mother Mrs Egodi sells roasted corn and sometimes plantains during the day by the roadside. She has a gutter right in front of where she does her business and oftentimes, throws the peels of the plantain and corn right inside the gutter and of course overtime, the gutter has gone from stagnant to a heaped refuse bin thus preventing any further flow of water. When she is cautioned by anyone to refrain from dumping refuse in there, her responses include “na you be government, is it your father’s house or what is your business”?

On the other hand, Mr Egodi buys a bottle of cold beverage drink during the day which most times is very hot hence the need for that drink. He gulps the content of the cold bottle and immediately, instead of leaving the empty bottles in the bus till he gets to a proper refuse bin, he would rather throw the bottles on the street which many times would eventually roll or get kicked into the nearest gutters by idle street mischief-makers. Again when a passenger scolds him for dumping the bottles on the street, his responses not anyway different from his wife’s will also include “oga or madam patriotic, what is your business, abeg when you get to your home or  office you can talk to your children or workers like that, this is my bus or are you government?”

One day while everyone was still at work and children on their way from school, it rained nonstop and heavily too, and of course the roads and many houses were flooded and since many of the gutters were already blocked with refuse from the likes of the Egodis, many people could not find their way home so easily including the children of Mr and Mrs Egodi. And while the children tried to wade their way home through the waters, given the current of the flow of water, the daughter was suddenly picked up by the flood even as the helpless siblings screamed for help as they couldn’t get hold of her given the heavy downpour. 

Luckily, it took the intervention of a man who was also at the scene to rescue the little girl whom by the time she was eventually pulled out from a spot was bleeding profusely from a big scar on her head very close to the right eye; it was obvious she had smashed her head against a huge and sharp object whilst the torrent of waters swept her away.  Sadly she lost that eye at the end of the day. Till this day, Mr and Mrs Egodi blame the government for the fate of their daughter.

Now some of the questions for the likes of the Egodis include “is it the government that filled the gutters with refuse or that makes the rains fall? And this brings me to my topic “Taking responsibility of our Environment".

A few days ago, it rained heavily in Lagos and some other parts of Nigeria leaving people stranded at home for as much as two days whilst many others lost so much properties even as a couple of lives were lost.

The thing here is, the rains will always come and when they do, one can never predict how much damages they would leave behind so why do we as citizens keep engaging in the wrong things when it comes to protecting ourselves from having to encounter the wreckages of an aftermath of heavy downpour every year?

Reports have it after what happened in the Lekki axis that apart from blocked drainages by refuse, many people built houses over drainage systems, who does that?

It is so insane the way we behave in this part of the world. The blame over such houses built should be on the town planners who either ‘okayed’ such plans or didn’t do their work by ensuring that such houses shouldn’t be positioned there in the first place. It is such scenarios that make some ignorant people quickly blame the government; after all it is the government who appointed those supervisors in the first place, right? What about you, the neighbour or citizen who turns a blind eye to such habits with the attitude of “it’s none of my business” and unfortunately, it becomes “your business” when the entire environment, including yours suffers the consequences of what was initially termed “none of your business”.

  

Now who and what is the government?

The government is made up of people from amongst us, right? hence if we as citizens can eat gala, biscuits, corn and throw the waste in the gutters, then what do you expect from our representatives in government? Of course they would turn a blind eye to such buildings and even do less or nothing when it comes to disciplining anyone seen dumping refuse in the gutters.

But then who cares? Nobody!

Instead everyone is busy looking for anyway to get their bread ‘buttered’ so nobody is held responsible for anything until the day of reckoning when all those involved or not involved in these irresponsible acts and habits are affected in one way or the other. Then once again, the government is blamed and the circle continues.

The truth is, we are first of all our own government before anything else. Let us speak against any damaging environmental act around us and caution anyone involved as in doing so we protect not just our environment but ourselves as well.

So when next you are asked “is it your business or na you be government? Be quick to reply “yes, it’s my business” or “yes, I am the government” without batting an eyelid.

Next time, we'll talk about the business of recycling, reuse and more!

(c) STELLA ENE-INYANG

LET THERE BE LIGHT: AMBODE LIGHTS UP LAGOS

Light indeed cannot be comprehended by darkness when they meet. As a matter of fact, they cannot even meet because from experience, once darkness perceives light from afar, it indeed flees.

Light is undeniably powerful that’s why people who are in love will use phrases such as “she lights up my world”, “she lit up in excitement as soon as she saw him” and other phrases as such. There is always a sense of security whenever you are in a well-lit environment as everything and everyone become visible.

And so I felt really good the other day while out for the night (which was unusual for me), I realised that I wasn’t in a hurry to get back home as it felt as though there was no point rushing back home like I would usually do whenever I find myself out as  nearly all the places which were usually dark at about that time of the night were all lit up with street lights and then it occurred to me “aha! So this is what Governor Ambode’s ‘light up Lagos’ project is all about”. Was I impressed? Yes I was and I hope this spreads to all other parts of Lagos soon. 

From the on goings, given the roads under construction, it is expected that they would be completed with necessary road infrastructure which includes lighting, walkways and properly built drainages amongst others.

Until now, I have never had to say a good word about Politicians as they rarely make good their promises. But for this present Lagos state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode who one can aptly describe as a jolly good fellow that does not only enjoy being called a youth at heart but also an unrepentant performer. We look forward to seeing more visible footprints, development wise across the length and breadth of Lagos, Nigeria’s centre of excellence.

ECHO SPRING HOTEL BERTHS IN LAGOS

Over the weekend the hospitality industry added to its already blossomed list as it berthed a new one in the form of a hotel ECHO SPRING around the Ejigbo, Isheri Oshun axis in a bid to giving the people there and its environs the opportunity of encountering excellent leisure services when it comes to hospitality without having to look too far outside their environs.

According to the visioners behind the birthing of this new hotel, ECHO SPRING is an ultra-luxury hotel designed for the most discerning guests while offering personalized attention to each of them as it is envisioned to occupy in no distant time the prime seat in the hospitality and leisure industry in not just Lagos state, Nigeria but the entire West African sub-region and beyond.

Echo Spring Hotel’s model is dedicated to exquisite quality and heartfelt service for guests who desire comfort/luxury within their reach irrespective of the customer’s choice as the distinctive interiors that incorporate the finest luxury and comfort you can possibly desire is present in every room giving a most welcoming ambience thereby proffering that home-away-from-home encounter.

The hotel has well equipped meeting space for a maximum of two boardrooms for conferences.  It also boasts of Banquet facilities for local catering and social events giving not just accommodation for meetings but also a haven for event planners who seek luxury, accommodations characterized by exceptional service, quality finishing and meticulous attention to detail even as it offers an intimate and secured environment with the facilities expected of the world’s finest hotels.

Did I also mention that it has a Restaurant with a reflecting contemporary upscale concept coupled with fitness treatment facilities as well as a Bakery for freshly baked bread, pastries and more?

ECHO SPRING HOTEL as the name implies no doubts echoes ‘world class’ in its simplicity not just for the first-time visitors but also for regular callers as you would agree once you visit the place which is located at Hotel B/Stop along Isheri/Oshun/Ijegun Road, Jakande Estate, Isolo, Lagos.

Who says heaven cannot be experienced on earth? Then, visit ECHO SPRING HOTEL and find the answers.

 It’s truly… luxury and comfort within your reach.