NIGERIA AND OUR PRESENT STATE: WHAT DO YOU PRAY FOR?

Times without number, a lot of people have embarked on turning great business ideas into reality with a mindset of succeeding at all costs, believing that with a  large circle of friends and family members, the business will definitely succeed.

Alas they are disappointed 70% of the time because the same circle of family and friends would rarely patronize them and even when some of them do at all, a large number of that group will either want it for free or for a token and also  many a times give the attitude that they are just doing you a big favour for even attempting to buy into your idea.

Alright, let’s assume the business eventually sees the light of day, you would be shocked to realize in the long run that your loyal customers are people you never knew or thought would even give your business a thought or two at the time you conceived the idea.

Apart from the human factor, the many other necessities such as unavailability of constant electricity  supply, lack of good road, insecurity and most importantly the many stringent and unfriendly business Government policies on the other all add up to frustrate businesses in this county.

What is responsible for the above scenario?

 Life is complicated! Really complicated therefore, it is impossible to get all the answers to the countless “whats, hows and whys”.

Sadly, it is the same “we” who make the life as complicated as it is. We need no ‘rocket science’ to hit that hard-truth nail in.

Just yesterday, I watched on one of the local stations as a 37 year old man from the eastern part of Nigeria who now lives in Doha was being interviewed about his life in Doha and why he left Nigeria in the first place. I was totally disappointed and deeply hurt to hear the first statement from him was “Nigeria is a killer of destiny”. Those words cut really deep.

I wasn’t disappointed at the man who is now doing so well in Doha that he said those words without any apologies, I was disappointed because our government pushed the young man, a Nigerian University Engineering graduate to that point and I was hurt because the man reminds me of the reality once again that I’m also a Nigerian thus makes me scared that I may one day, if care is not taken, be pushed to that same level of saying “Nigeria is a killer of destiny”. Gosh! May God not let it get to that level for the rest of us even as we pray for a better Nigeria.

We pray for a better Nigeria where the gap between the rich and the poor will get so short by just an arm’s length.

We pray for a better Nigeria where our leaders will think about led positively before policies are made and actualized.

We pray for a better Nigeria where entrepreneurs will be encouraged and not be frustrated out of the country  seeking  greener pastures only to die in the desert, at sea, sold as slaves or killed in places such as Libya amongst others.

We pray for a better Nigeria where every family would not need to toil so hard to put food on their tables, clothes on their backs or shelter over their heads.

We pray for a better Nigeria where the era of “brain drain” will be over thus our great and excellent professional doctors, teachers, scientists, lawyers, sportsmen/women, engineers and more will be well taken care of so that they would not need to leave home to go work in other countries thus leaving Nigeria as wrecked as it is right now.

We pray for a better Nigeria where immorality will gradually become unfashionable, eventually fading out completely as every Nigerian becomes comfortable hence they would be no need for so much atrocities.

I could go on and on as the list is endless!

What do you pray for? Yes, I mean you, dear reader!

STELLA ENE-INYANG

Pray! Pray!! Pray!!!

Nigeria must get better!

HUMANITY VS HUMANS:THE HEART OF MAN, WHO CAN KNOW IT?

It saddens my heart and no doubts the hearts of many Nigerians and of course non Nigerians at home and abroad to hear that a healthy delivery man who works with an online marketing platform, leaves home for work one day in pursuit of his daily bread only to be gruesomely murdered by some hard-hearted miscreants who supposedly asked for some ordered items to be delivered to them.

Can you beat that? How do you explain such an avoidable death to the family of the victim? How wicked can humans get? The questions can go on forever.

The real truth of what transpired between the killers and the victim on that day apart from the details given the police is known only by those involved and God alone.

Again, this incident has put fears in the minds of customers and potential customers alike of how insecured one can be when it comes to these online business dealings.

It amazes me how a man who cannot even give life to something as small as an ant or even a mosquito would easily snuff life out of a whole human being. A man just like himself as though, he, the killer can even add a day or more to his own life by taking the life of another.

Yes, we’ve heard this kind of story before now of how security guards kill their bosses and bury them in soak-away pits or septic tanks; how a man would kill his wife and dissect her privates or how a man would kill a child he was supposed to take to and fro school having received money from ritualists. The list is endless but the question is, how long can we go on like this or how long can we continue to allow this happen as though it is a norm?

Too many unanswered questions and no hope of finding answers in the nearest future as truly all we really are in this world are mere humans but no humanity.

And the man fell! Whose Fault?

A lot of service organisations do not believe that they ought to invest in their staff despite the fact that these people are the faces of their organisation. Show me an overworked/underpaid staff and I’d show you an organisation that is going under in so near a future.

Many of these organisations in order to save cost tend to employ inexperienced hands and most appalling of all, do not make any effort in empowering/training them hoping they could make more profit. Alas! The reverse is always the case. Last Friday night, I decided to hang out with a couple of friends to celebrate TGIF (thank God it’s Friday) and we chose this new beautiful spot located somewhere on the mainland. I wouldn’t want to mention names as I’ve not been paid for advertisement (laughs).

When we got to this place the intellectual/psychological disparity between trained and untrained staffs came to fore as the owner of the place saw two of his inexperienced staff misbehave right before his clients.

While we were at the place, a guest walked in with a beautiful lady in tow and in a twinkle of an eye just as the man made towards an unoccupied table to sit, he slipped and fell heavily on the ground to everyone’s surprise and a quick look at the floor showed that there was water on the floor which made him fall. Though it was a surprise to see the man fall, however it was most shocking to find two of the waiters (male and female) who stood aside laughing their heads off instead of rushing to help the man/customer off the floor. It took the shout of another customer who rained abuses on them before they realised that they ought to have gone to help the man up and thereafter apologise but it was too late as their boss walked in just about the same time as they both stood laughing and so got fired on the spot. 

This led to a debate among a few of those present. Some of the customers opined that it was the fault of the owner of the spot who did not ‘train his staff’ properly while others argued that without being trained; ‘common sense’ ought to have made the waiters know that they should have helped and apologised. While another group expressed that service could become considerably worse given the level of staff which could be disastrous to the newly opened relaxation spot, they nevertheless advised that the owner should reinstate and train the two fired waiters as young inexperienced people are easier to work with than some of those experienced but difficult people who claim to ‘know-it-all’ sometimes.

Now the question is, whose fault is it, the employer or the waiters?

Let’s have your feedback here or send us a mail on Andrevashaw@hotmail.co.uk