3 THINGS TO LEAVE BEHIND IN 2015

These are literally the final moments of what has been an interesting year. 2015 has come and it is about to go in a hurry. We all fought battles this year, won most of them, lost some – but in all we were never alone; these final moments should be the time to thank those who fought out battles with us last year – because we’ll need them on the new battlefield that is 2016. 

As the new year approaches too, we can identify so many things that happened last year, which to be quite frank, are not good enough. These things happen both personally and nationally (we’ll talk about the national aspect).
Listening to the President during the media chat yesterday sent me a whole lot of vibes, many good, many others not – so – good. Bottom line though is that as a country, we need to drop so many things in 2015.

1. Sensationalism 

The GCFR mentioned this in one of his answers yesterday. Nigerians are very quick to “sympathize” with just about anyone who claims to have a fight with the government – and this should not be so. Our country is going through hard times and as such, the government needs our support prayers now more than ever.
This Biafra brouhaha in itself is very bad for everyone, but it is made worse by the number of youths who are (permit me to say blindly) raising their arms in vandalism to prove a point they are not even sure of. This fight and others like it need to stop because in a country as big as Nigeria, different sets people will ALWAYS feel marginalized – we don’t need to make a war out of it.

2. Ungratefulness

Someone once said that even if Jesus were to personally come and fix Nigeria, some people would still accuse him of having sinister motives. That person is not far from the truth. Nigerians can be just about anyone but what do we choose to be, ungrateful. This country has a very uninteresting culture of not being able to appreciate good deeds, instead we will find one reason or another to justify out ungratefulness, please friends, let us drop this attitude in 2015. Every form of ungratefulness we show to friends, family and anyone else is wrong and should be dropped. Thank you.

3. Selfish, self – serving attitude

This annoying attitude of ours was brought to the fore more than ever during the Paris bombing last month. People, it is ok to sympathize with other people. No additions or conditions, anything else is selfishness. We live in a country where a Yoruba or Igbo man/woman can open their mouths to say” thank God they are killing their own people” when they get the news of another boko haram attack, yet we call ourselves a nation.
If we cannot show sympathy to our fellow countrymen what charity is there for us to leave home with. Enough is enough.
Let us please drop these attitudes and doings this year and watch our nation go higher in 2016. Have a blessed New Year and pray for Nigeria and the world.

RANDOM MUSINGS ON TODAY'S EVENTS

What a day this has been. More eventful and tiring than most, I must admit; saw things, heard things, did things.

I had always had a neutral outlook on the case of big Uncle Dasuki in this whole period of trials and probes happening to him. But a panel just revealed that he was dubiously awarded arms contracts to the tune of N333bn. Every day I keep wondering why the amounts these suspected looters are accused to have siphoned always exceed all logic. It is hard to imagine what one man (and one at such and age) would need that much money for. Anyways, we pray that justice prevails and hopefully the money is not re – looted again if recovered.

In more interesting news, the acting Vice Chancellor of LASU Prof. Fidelis Njokanma has abandoned his office at the institution over charms surrounding the administrative block and the Senate Building of the institution, Punch reports. This is the part where I say something about it, but there's really nothing to say. I do hope it is fixed soon though because in the end, things like this always have their ways of coming back to bite the students in the butt.

An unknown substance is said to have gone off in the ancient city of Kano today. The substance, believed to be a bomb, exploded at the Kano GSM market around farm centre. Details of the incident are still sketchy.The incident came less than 24 hours after a similar explosion in a crowded park in Yola, the Adamawa state capital, left at least 34 people dead and 80 injured. 20 people are already confirmed dead, now there's a new city to add to tonight's prayers. #PrayForTheWorld.

Still on Paris, chants of 'Allahu Akbar' were reportedly heard in Istanbul as some Turkey fans shamefully booed a pre-match minute's silence for the victims of the Paris attacks.

The friendly itself against Greece was largely forgettable as the action finished 0-0 at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium.

But the game was tarnished before it even started as a video emerged suggesting some of the Turkish faithful were voicing their dissent towards tributes for the 129 victims who were killed in last Friday's atrocities in Paris. Our world is indeed messed up.

We mustn't forget that the fuel scarcity is still biting harder , transport costs have gone up, the crowds at filling stations keep getting bigger; yet we keep hearing on TV that there is no scarcity, " avoid panic buying" they say. But they do not feel the scarcity, do they? To Whom It May Concern, whenever we find a filling station that has fuel and it gets our turn to buy, we will panic – buy and you will do nothing about it.

And they are saying that they will start paying unemployment benefit by 2016 from the TSA (I think that means Treasury Single Account). Big daddy Jega has also come out to say that TSA is a “Recipe for Electoral Disaster”. Big English that is always difficult to understand.

Today also dropped its fair share of lessons, they include

·         a. People are ungrateful.

·         b. Older people always feel that the younger generation is doing things wrong.

·        c. Children grow so fast these days.

·        d. Running into old friends always make your day.

·        e. CHANGE HAS NOT COME. At least I haven't seen it.

A WORD ON FRIENDSHIP

Relationships are pretty much what keeps us going, family, friends, acquaintances all come together to form our support system. Every individual needs others in one way or another to function optimally; and friends are arguably the most constant presence in our lives, from childhood to the prime of adulthood. Sometimes friendships change as we age and experience new stages of life, and a lucky few get to keep their friendships till very ripe old ages. So the question is what constitutes a good friend.

Good friends support us when necessary, but more importantly, help to put us back in line when we start to err or take unwholesome decisions. Good friends are trustworthy (that goes without saying) and understanding. Being understanding means that they know us and our faults and accept us for the imperfect beings that we are. Simply put, a good friend cuts slacks. It is said that humans are creatures of emotions, not logic and sometimes we do things that make no sense whatsoever – but a true friend understands that fact and doesn’t judge us so readily.

The biggest attribute of a good friend is loyalty. Loyalty needs no explanation, and is a matter of extreme absolutes, you either are or you’re not. Being a good friend requires that you have the back of your friends every time and in every condition (except maybe death, and a federal crime), a disloyal friend is a liability, dead load (even worse).

So read this, evaluate your friendship(s) and make adjustments where necessary. The world needs better friendships.