Naija and Religion

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people"- Karl Marx(1844). Trust naija to always pray where the situation demands action. 'Nigeria prays' is a pet project of former Head of State Yakubu Gowon.Two days ago he said with prayers Nigeria will not break up in 2015. The reason why people are saying naija will break up should be tackled and not simply resorting to prayers.The West do not pray much yet they have functioning societies. While our 'leaders' are milking the country dry he says we should pray. No wonder our churches and mosques are bursting at the seams with worshippers. The prayer points mostly are issues that could be solved with a little bit of action. Problems with the in-law,jobs,witches,sickness,etc. Sickness mostly caused by malaria in turn caused by mosquitoes caused by blocked drainages and bad environmental hygiene, lack of awareness etc. Virtually all problems in Naija can be solved by a purposeful political class. The prayer points of worshippers are MARKEDLY different from those of their counterpart in these developed climes. Here, religion is being used mainly to hide the hurt and the pains of reality.Religion is increasingly used as an expression of material realities and economic injustice used by leaders to give the downtrodden a feel good feeling. We are still operating at the basics of human development unfortunately. We have a large quantity of gas yet the populace still gathers firewood to cook. We are daily being exhorted to pray while the looters are daily smiling to their banks. Talk of religion being the opium of the people. The people are daily been brutalised by the police, uniformed officers, leaders in mufti etc and still we must pray. Advocates of praying say without prayers of Naija things would have been worse. But can things get any worse? Or how much worse can worse get?

Mr & Mrs

Naija: Land of Contradiction

Naija is a land of contradiction.We have petroleum in abundance but import all our daily oil requirement. We have abundance gas but cook with firewood. We don't have enough electricity but export same to neighbouring countries. We have no security yet our soldiers are all over the world maintaining the peace. We have a Federal Constitution yet run a Unitary one. Rich yet so poor.Naija should be lending to nations money not the other way round.Talk of exporting what you don't have and importing what you have. A contradiction if there ever was one.A continental leader in female football but our girls are everywhere but Naija. Sometimes ago some girls came to naija to play in our league but left when they found nothing on ground. Can't blame them. Every problem will be solved by the year 2000. The year came and went. Vision 2010? Shonekan and his team went everywhere to put a document together. It was dumped after lot of efforts and fund had been expended. Now we have Vision 202020. Without political will no amount of vision this or that will see the light of day. We've been truly blessed. Truly blessed with one of the worst leadership cadre in the world.

Of Cyber-bullies & Trolls

Cyber-bullying has become a recurring decimal on many internet sites of recent.The case of Hannah Smith who killed herself Friday,2nd of August is the the most recent statistic. She logged on to the ask.fm website to seek help for her recurring eczema.Rather than offer the needed assistance some internet trolls told her to 'go commit suicide', 'do us all a favour n kill urself', 'go cut ur self n die', etc. She promptly tidied her room and hung herself in her bedroom. She joined a growing list of youngsters who committed suicide after being bullied on the site.They include Joshua Unsworth, 15 who died April, Ciara Pugsley,15 who died September, and Erin Gallagher 13, who died October. The trolls were unrelenting even after her death. They went on Hanna's Facebook tribute page with one branding her a coward.

The fact remains that the world is a cruel place and to a more or less extent, the internet where the bully could be faceless by hiding their identity. The trolls would always be with us therefore my suggestion would be to be wise to their wiles and tactics. Immature youngsters should join sites with the utmost caution.Some youngsters claim to be above 18 when signing up while they are in fact below.Parents should teach their

children and wards to be aware of trolls and bullies where ever they may be especially on the net. When a youth suspects or actually experiences bullying on the net such individual should opt out of such sites. It is much easier and tidier that way.

Epic Fail

David,a spectator at a ballgame in Connecticut popped the question. However he was in for a rude awakening as he got a resounding 'NO' for his efforts.Jessica was not to be cowed by the spectators looking on.

He ran off with his tail between his legs. Sorry, better luck next time or better still :Think and calculate well next time.