Category: Uncategorized

Biko Agozino, poet and professor of African Studies and Criminology, is spearheading a newsletter “OdenIgbo” – which will offer analysis solely in Igbo language.

I must say that this is a bold and ambitious project. For to speak Igbo is one thing, to understand and maintain a conversation in the language – for many, this is a competence that is gradually ebbing – is uncommon. But to launch a publication which will be feature essays exclusively in Igbo is mind blowing! Click on the link below to download a pdf copy of OdenIgbo.

ODENIGBO

Note, it’s not for the faint hearted, let’s see those who can still read and comprehend undiluted Igbo!

Dalu nu!

Open my heart
Like the flower to the sun
Rejoicing in its rays
Basking in its brightness

Open my heart
Like the petals of the hibiscus
Beckoning the butterfly
Seeking the dispersion of its pollen

Open my heart
To receive Your loving kindness
To embrace Your tender mercies
Like a sailor hard pressed at sea
at the sight of shore

Open my heart
to see into Your heart
to know the depth of Your love
Like a child gazing upwards at the
One that gives it suck

Open my heart
To warm to You
Like the child breaking into a smile
At the sound of it’s mother’s voice

Open my heart
To see You
To know You
To love You

On 25 September, world leaders gather in New York to take stock of the progress made in global development.

We’ve produced a short fact-sheet to summarise what the Millennium Development Goals have so far achieved.

But however powerful these statistics are, they are still numbers. And numbers are boring.  It is much better to find new, more engaging ways to get the message across. Like this Monty Python inspired video:

And that’s why we wrote this article in the Irish Examiner:

And we published these real-life stories in the Metro Herald, as part of our “World’s Best News” initiative.

And here’s a few more:

And the latest report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also shows that there is plenty of positive news – along the many obvious remaining challenges.

So, does aid work?

Maybe just have a look at this video:

Reactions to recent events in Nigeria, notably the very tragic loss of lives in the crash of a Dana aircraft and the changing of the name of the former University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University, Lagos bring again to the fore some persisting peculiarities about social media usage in Nigeria. In the former, whilst families and almost the entire nation stood in shock and mourned in a spontaneous outburst of grief and outrage, a group of individuals jumped on the sad event and sought, after a brief interlude of demonstration of solidarity with families affected by the tragedy, to twist it to advance particular agendas. In the latter, rational discussion and review were marred by a combination ethnic undertones in the reactions and comments of a number of Nigerians and again by an “events hijack” by a group of individuals anxious to score political points. The ethnic undertones were…

Following the handing-over of ownership certificates and legal documents to the 15 new investors of the new power firms drawn out of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), electricity consumers are expecting quality service delivery from the firms. It is, hence, pertinent that the public is enlightened on the real owners of the companies to help prepare them for likely expectations.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday September 30 handed over ownership certificates to 15 new investor companies to take over five generation companies (Gencos) and 10 distribution companies (Discos). The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) put the total sale figures of both the gencos and discos at $2.525 billion (about N404 billion). The gencos went for $1.269 while the discos were sold for $1.256bn.

Vice President Namadi Sambo said that with the take-over, the federal government expects the new genco owners to generate additional 5000 megawatts within a…

My Friday Tot for today is a fallout of a conversation with someone from the Niger-Delta. Ponder.

TL

There’s what I call the Bigger Entity Myopia that many Nigerians seem to suffer from. This form of myopia impairs the perception and sensitivity such that we ignore the leadership that is responsible for our immediate wellbeing and focus on the bigger one. So we ignore our councilors and focus on the state governors. We ignore the profligacy and lackluster performance of our governors and rile the federal government as if everything rises and falls there. I did an interesting table recently juxtaposing the monies that come to states from the center, their Internally Generated Revenue and their populations. The data threw up some interesting facts. The first, which should be quite obvious is that many states are pretty much not viable if the feeding bottle from the center is disconnected. But…

Last week, I read a news story that moved me to tears. Well, virtually every news story these days has the capacity to move one to tears so I imagine you are wondering what the big deal about this story is. Somehow our consciences have become deadened to violence and the effects of it from repeated exposure that it now really feels kind of normal.

I thought I had become numb too, until I read that short story. It was one of those early hours rush in Lagos traffic when you kill time scrolling through news stories when I read it and it was almost embarrassing, the way my eyes watered with tears, reminding me that I am still human, still capable of such emotions from items in the news. It was a story about the funeral of four members of a family – Nnamdi Ezebuala (48) and his three…