i'm gonna make this pretty quick because there's really nothing worth troubling one's mind overly today. for those of you who don't live in nigeria, or who live under a rock in nigeria, here's whats been happening pretty quick:
1. the president went to saudi arabia to see his doctors. news reports have it that this would be his 4th trip in three months on health grounds and if you have seen his pictures in recent times, you will agree that he doesn't look like the bastion of health.
2. tanker drivers in abuja have gone on strike because their working conditions are not convenient.
3. every tom dick and harry is running a christmas promotion and noone seems to be going shopping or buying anything of any significant worth this christmas.
4. banks have steathily relieved themselves of their staff over the past few months, and contrary to what you may be reading (or in this case, not reading) in the news, the unemployment rates have indeed skyrocketed.
of all the issues outlined above, the one thing i have a grouse with is how nigerians have this unfounded penchant for quickly spreading baseless rumours. as you may know, according to the nationwide rumours that have circulated in times past each time the president left for a health check-up, he has been confirmed dead over 4 times already. for some unfathomable reason, nigerians seem eager to receive the news that the president is dead and gone. i know that he may not be the sharpest kid on the block and he's famous for carrying out reforms at the speed of a snail, but nigerians need to learn that the office of the president is sacred. it derives from the collective will of the nigerian people as expressed through the constitution...and although it is correct that we have been disconnected from our institutions of governance through electoral malpractice, that office should be protected with the blood of each citizen, the same way that a briton or an american would revere and respect the office of their monarch or leader.
i have seen facebook updates and twitter posts urging the president to just go and die and i feel really sad that this generation of nigerians have no regards for any institutions, either religious or of state. we hardly give any thoughts while singing our national anthem and have no regard for the flag...and now we deem it wise to insult the president at every turn under the guise of freedom of speech. for those of us old enough to remember, there was a time when we couldn't even have had the medium to express our thoughts, much less feign courage in brazen outbursts of baseless sentiments. i would simply say, enough.
as we grow to fill in the shoes of our parents and grandparents, we must move away from the "anything goes" approach that unbridled expressions bring and begin to create value to the national monuments and institutions that symbolise who we are as a people. we must remember to teach our children that the flag, the anthem, other emblems of office, and office holders should be given due regard because and only because as long as they remain in that office, we owe them our devotion and transfer to them the loyalty that we owe nigeria by virtue of our very birth.
1. the president went to saudi arabia to see his doctors. news reports have it that this would be his 4th trip in three months on health grounds and if you have seen his pictures in recent times, you will agree that he doesn't look like the bastion of health.
2. tanker drivers in abuja have gone on strike because their working conditions are not convenient.
3. every tom dick and harry is running a christmas promotion and noone seems to be going shopping or buying anything of any significant worth this christmas.
4. banks have steathily relieved themselves of their staff over the past few months, and contrary to what you may be reading (or in this case, not reading) in the news, the unemployment rates have indeed skyrocketed.
of all the issues outlined above, the one thing i have a grouse with is how nigerians have this unfounded penchant for quickly spreading baseless rumours. as you may know, according to the nationwide rumours that have circulated in times past each time the president left for a health check-up, he has been confirmed dead over 4 times already. for some unfathomable reason, nigerians seem eager to receive the news that the president is dead and gone. i know that he may not be the sharpest kid on the block and he's famous for carrying out reforms at the speed of a snail, but nigerians need to learn that the office of the president is sacred. it derives from the collective will of the nigerian people as expressed through the constitution...and although it is correct that we have been disconnected from our institutions of governance through electoral malpractice, that office should be protected with the blood of each citizen, the same way that a briton or an american would revere and respect the office of their monarch or leader.
i have seen facebook updates and twitter posts urging the president to just go and die and i feel really sad that this generation of nigerians have no regards for any institutions, either religious or of state. we hardly give any thoughts while singing our national anthem and have no regard for the flag...and now we deem it wise to insult the president at every turn under the guise of freedom of speech. for those of us old enough to remember, there was a time when we couldn't even have had the medium to express our thoughts, much less feign courage in brazen outbursts of baseless sentiments. i would simply say, enough.
as we grow to fill in the shoes of our parents and grandparents, we must move away from the "anything goes" approach that unbridled expressions bring and begin to create value to the national monuments and institutions that symbolise who we are as a people. we must remember to teach our children that the flag, the anthem, other emblems of office, and office holders should be given due regard because and only because as long as they remain in that office, we owe them our devotion and transfer to them the loyalty that we owe nigeria by virtue of our very birth.
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