DD
MM
YYYY

CATEGORIES

PAGES

DD
MM
YYYY

spot_img

CATEGORIES

PAGES

Home Blog Page 6656

Stream 1 2018 NYSC Corps Members: It Is Time To Reflect

By
Rasheed Adebiyi
-
0

On Thursday 3rd October, 2019, the National Youth Service Corps, the body with the mandate to ensure Nigerian graduates undergo the compulsory one-year service to their father land has released the corps members who fall into the stream one batch of 2018 after their year of service. I congratulate them. Yet, this piece is to remind them of opportunities gained or lost as the case may be during their just concluded service year. There is  also a charge for them to move on and conquer their world post national service.

Trust the digital natives who form the bulk of those who passed out, photos was all over the social media announcing the end of the rite of becoming a graduate in Nigeria. But, there are so many things that have come to an end with the passing out parade.

First and most important is the month stipend given to these youths while in service. It is popularly called Allawee. It is some kind of social safety net for fresh graduates. And it is collected for the entire period of the service year. This shields the kopas from the harsh realities of life beyond the campus. For some, the money is not enough to take home. For others, their savings from the allowance is huge. Whether badly spent or well saved. That luxury has come to an end.

Second, the protection given to the corps members is gone forever. As a youth corps members, they are referred to as government pikin (children). With the NYSC uniform, there is hardly nowhere a youth corps member could not access. The access is unlimited! But that is over forever. Some corps members leverage on that to network and connect at the highest places. Such connections have yielded a lifetime opportunity for them. That opportunity is no longer there. A government child of yesterday has become an ordinary citizen of today. What goes around has eventually come around.

Third, the opportunity to get employment opportunities or drive a business as a corps member is over. There are companies who long to recruit youth corps members with a view to paying less than they would with a fully fledged graduate. The experience does not always end well. But, some youth corps members cut the teeth of their professional practice in the organisations where they serve. They are luck to be retained. They never feel the pang of being jobless after service year. Others lose that opportunity because they fail to see a jackpot where they should. They believe there would always be another opportunity.  So, instead of putting in their best and showcase hardwork, commitment and team spirit, they pass it on simply because they are just corps members. The folly of that singular action would soon dawn on them in a couple of months. For some, they hit gold because they are perceptive. They see their host community’s problem as their own and proffer solutions to them. The act of owning such a problem provides a source of livelihood for them. They become suppliers of that solution to the community. And for life they stay put in places where they serve either as an entrepreneur or third sector operator. Now, those who pass out have passed the opportunity over. The baton is for those coming in to take up. If indeed they know!

Fourth, the opportunity to experiment, ideate, incubate and accelerate business ideas by the corps members is also gone. Many fail to realise that the period of the service year provides an opportunity to experiment and launch a venture for themselves. The mandatory national service year is the dusk before the dawn of a real and tortuous journey of looking for jobs or trying to establish one. It is the period to search, prepare and secure a dream of securing the dream of studying abroad or acquiring industry relevant skills.  Many succeed; many fail. But life goes on.

Lastly, the period of service year is an opportunity to fulfill marital dreams. A lot found the love of their lives in the course of serving the fatherland. Love relationships grow and blossom into full life time commitment. Others are scammed and scarred. Many young handsome men use the period to dupe beautiful, naive and  unsuspecting female colleagues or even girls of their host communities. Whether negative or positive, good or bad, that singular opportunity is gone to return no more.

The lessons here are for those who have missed in action not to rue the missed opportunities. They can only be ready to explore other opportunities after service year. It is just that they are more hidden because they are more desperately needed. Those gearing to go and serve their country should also take note. The national service is not for the monthly stipend alone, it should be recognized as the needed gap year to have a career clarity and launch to become the best they could be after service.

Artist Pracademic Extraordinaire: Professor Nnenna Okore

By
Nnamdi Madichie
-
0

Let me get the jargon out of the way for those unfamiliar with the phrase “Pracademic” – it is the cross between a practitioner and an academic.
OK, let me come out straight, Professor Nnenna Okore is not directly known to me. Yes, her husband was a classmate of mine. Himself an erudite scholar, businessman and ex-employee of a leading accounting and auditing firm, Ernst & Young in the Chicago area.
 
Having said this, my first physical encounter with Nnenna was at the October Gallery in London, where I was privileged to attend her showcase of on Igbo Art entitled “Ukwa Ruo Oge Ya O Daa (i.e. There’s a time for everything).”
This exhibition, which took place at the October Gallery in London between  26 October and 2 December 2017,  was an eye-opener for me, and also prompted my interest in exploring this woman of stature further. That exhibition is one of many in the long line of exhibitions spanning geographic spaces from Africa to Australasia, Europe to North America. For instance, her works were featured in the inaugural exhibition “Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary” at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. She has also exhibited at the Goethe Institut in Lagos and has participated at the Dakar and Johannesburg biennials as well as the prestigious 29th Sao Paulo Biennial.
Nnenna Okore
Nnenna Okore
 
Nnenna’s notable works include her debut project Ulukububa – Infinite Flow as well as Metamorphoses . She continues her work exploring new materials and new textures deployed in rather ingenious and impressive ways. Her Art highlights how the circular economy can be harnessed as she uses sustainable materials in transforming the customer experience.
Here’s a sneak peek at her personal statement taken directly from her web page.

My work broadly focuses on the concepts of recycling, transformation, and regeneration of forms based on observations from ecological and man-made environments. I am drawn to uniquely diverse and tactile characteristics of the collective physical world. I am astounded by natural phenomena that cause things to become weathered, dilapidated and lifeless – those events slowly triggered by aging, death, and decay – and subtly captured in the fluid and delicate nature of life. My materials are biodegradable and comprise largely of old newspapers, found paper, ropes, thread, yarn, fibers, burlap, dye, coffee, starch, clay, etc.

Nnenna also points out that there are challenges along the way and especially so for female artists and even more so in challenging environments. For example, in one of her interviews with Art Design Cafe she opined:
“My choice was passion-driven, and therefore fairly stress-free. It is generally difficult to sustain an artistic career in Nigeria, and more so for women.”
Ultimately, Nnenna has become a role model for budding female artists having navigated turbulent waters and emerged as a force majeure on the Art scene.

Talent Truly Pays – A Case Study of Burna Boy

By
Chinedu Junior Ihekwoaba
-
0

Burna Boy is an example of the statement, ”Talent truly pays”.

Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, professionally known as Burna Boy, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Burna Boy came to limelight in 2012 after releasing his lead single – ”Like to Party” from his debut studio album, L.I.F.E.

Burna Boy faded away after some years. Yes, he was active and releasing songs but it was hard for him to outshine the two reigning champion of hip-hop – Wizkid and Davido. 

No doubt, Damini is talented. The ’Ye-crooner’ is one of the most talented musicians out there if not the best. Having drop hits back to back, he doesn’t seem to be resting on his laurels. 

Burna just broke another record, he was nominated into ten categories of the 2019 Headies Award. A record that was held by Olamide. 

What can we learn from the story of Burna Boy?

After going off the limelight for a while came back unstoppable and untouchable. The giant of Africa, like he called himself from his latest album, has shown that real talent always wins if it doesn’t relent. 

  • Persistence

Burna Boy could have stopped a few years ago, even though he was underrated, but his persistence shows he truly believes in himself. 

  • Patience

Patience is always the key. Talent without patience is useless. Oluwaburna was indeed patient for his time. Culled from his track, Anybody – ”life na turn by turn”. Indeed, being patient is key. 

  • Uniqueness

Anyone who wants to stand out must be unique. Burna Boy could have joined the trend in the music industry, but he stood out. His style of music is rare. He brought Afrobeat into his own music, bringing back the memory of the late Afrobeat legend – Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Anybody who wants to be somebody must not think like everybody. 

  • Dynamism

Dynamism is the killer point. You can’t give people rice every day, they’ll surely get tired. The Port Harcourt boy is known for his dynamism. He can sing reggae, hip hop and slow jams. He can also play some musical instruments which makes him different from the rest.

I see Burna Boy ruling the music industry for the next ten years. Congratulations on the nominations and I hope you finish the year stronger.

 Talent isn’t just enough, you need to be persistent, patient, unique and dynamic.

Talent only pays for those that work for it.

Equality Starts With Your Children Education

By
Chinedu Junior Ihekwoaba
-
0

I know parents want to give their children the best education. Truth be told, some of our parents never had the best education as they would have loved it, so they had vowed to give their children the best of the best.

There’s nothing wrong with that type of mindset. In fact, as an aspiring father, I will give my children the best education I can conveniently afford. However, as Africans, we seem to be getting it wrong.

I have a neighbour who has six kids. The oldest is about age 9 while the youngest is 2. As much as I admire my neighbour’s passion for education, I don’t seem to agree with his approach.

His kids are in the most expensive school in my neighbourhood. This is a man who is a casual worker at the Nigerian Breweries. He is on a very low salary scale – forty thousand naira per month. Every term, he would always complain about their school fees. This new term that just started, his children stayed at home for two weeks after the resumption. He lamented every time. He said he was finding it very hard to raise their school fees. He had to go borrow.

In Nigeria, having six children in nursery school is no joke especially if it is a very expensive one. I have seen some parents put their first two or three children in the best school and the rest are made to go to a substandard one or even public school.

This goes out to every parent, before choosing your children’s school, ensure you check your pocket. You know what is at stake. Don’t go with the biblical belief that God will do it. Remember, it is the same God that said, ”have you seen a man that wants to build a house without checking his pocket to see if he has enough money to complete it.”

Let’s be strategic. It’s easier to invoke the spirit of hatred in the children when one is given the opportunity to attend a better school over the other. If you can’t afford an expensive school, choose a moderate one that suits your financial capability. If you make an enquiry, you’ll always find relatively cheaper ones with good quality as well.

It makes no sense to be in debt just because you are trying to give them the best. Remember, living in debts could cut a man’s life short. At the end of the day, you won’t be able to give them the best you wanted because of premature death.

Equality starts with your children’s education. May we all live long enough to reap the fruits of our labour.

Nigeria Does Not Need Cost Cutting; We’re Severely Under-Spending.

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
-
1

“Nigeria must increase her productive base thereby increasing government revenue from increased taxes and then there will be more money for development of shared infrastructure for us all. Also with increased productive base comes more jobs and economic opportunities for her citizens. So I believe our focus should not be heavily on cutting cost when there is still so much room for productive growth in Nigeria.” C.A. commenting on my LinkedIn feed.

This is the point I am trying to make here. If our budget is $24 billion for 200 million citizens and South Africa is $122 billion for 60 million people, focusing on reducing the $24 billion in the name of cost cutting will not advance us! My point is this – Nigeria is not spending enough and efforts should be on improving productivity to ramp up the national revenue via efficient taxation and fees. With that, we will have more money to spend.

People, nothing like that. This is one area our successive governments have failed Nigerians: no one has told us that we are relatively “severely” poor, and exceedingly underperforming as a nation. Nigeria does not have excess spending problem – the fact remains that Nigeria does not even have enough to spend (note that I am not arguing on the efficiency of the “little” spending).

Nigeria’s national budget is $24 billion for 2019. South Africa budgeted $122 billion. South Africa spends 50% of our national budget on healthcare alone! Yet, Nigeria’s population is more than 3 times South Africa’s. I do not share this without the consciousness that I carry the Nigerian passport.

On corruption, we can cut 99% of procurement fraud (a big part of our national demon) within 3 months. Doing that saves 15% I had expected is lost in the national budget to corruption. This is my plan with video.  

Nigeria does not have a spending problem (minus the corruption). As a nation, we are under-spending. We need to ramp up our budget while eliminating corruption and advance our citizens.

This is the end game: that Nigeria’s national cake above needs to grow from $500 billion to $3 trillion by 2030. The ingredients (massive national accumulated capabilities across many fields and domains) are there. What remains is a compass from political leaders, and giving young people the opportunity to bake a bigger cake for shared prosperity. #TheRoadTo3T

1...6,6556,6566,657...7,962Page 6,656 of 7,962

© Tekedia. All rights reserved.

Term & Privacy

© Tekedia. All rights reserved.

Term & Privacy