simply oroque's view

So today was environmental sanitation day. In the two years since I have lived here, I have never once gone outside my house to clean the surroundings and haven't seen anyone else do so. The entire neighbourhood treats it like just another holiday with everyone acting too big to come out and sweep the environment. When I was younger, it was an amazing time. It was a time that the entire neighbourhood used to look forward to, a time when the fat and thin fathers would come out to supervise the kids and wards as they swept, packed the rubbish, set fire to something (waste or not), and then pretend to be busy until the parents left. As soon as the compound was cleaned for another month, the parents would head inside to have the tenants association meeting where they will argue and fight all morning over some dues or some remnants of dues or some use of the past dues...it always has to do with dues. Money does that to grown people.  So anyways, as soon as they left, the kids will the...

Usually I would start a post by explaining certain concepts. Not today. I'm not even in the mood to pretend that I can keep ignoring the news of the terrifying things happening around me. For many months now, we have been watching with growing unease, the steady, calculated spread of violence permeating across northern Nigeria. As I have written elsewhere, the religious bullying by radical Muslims has not reared it's ugly head for the first time. Over the years, the government has consistently shown immense hesitation to take the side of civil freedoms and send a clear signal to one religion that Nigeria is not a one-religion state and that they are not above the law. At the time when I wrote about that, part of me died. It died because by nature I am the least tribalized person you would ever meet. I am the least religious as well and have many non-Christian friends who I love dearly. And by professional training, I also am the least biased especially when I am not armed wit...

i have travelled a lot in my short lifetime. i mean, upwards of fifty flights would qualify as a lot of flying. i am fortunate to have enjoyed amazing flights like arik air, emirates and british airways and i have had my fair share of turbulence on the flight to warri airstrip (yes, the noisy propeller one) and other local flights. i have flown everything from Dana, ADC, bellview, chanchangi, IRS, aero to virgin nigeria. the only one i have not entered is "first nation". the honest truth is that within the local airline industry, the mark of a healthy airline is not so much the maintenance culture, but the price and the timing. for most airline travellers, one flight is the same as the next. every plane seems to make the same gruelling noise during take off and must bounce twice during landing. every pilot speaks in tongues (you can barely hear under the heavy mumbled accent) and all the air hostesses must wear the tightest possible skirts in the market. same old same old...