My Introspection is Retrospective. I lean on the carriage of memories Drinking from bottles of pain,rage,victories, dilemmas and other semantics of emotion letters can’t articulate. I whisper into Oblivion.I frown,i smile. I am caught up in a celestial eutopia. I am navigating through a galaxy of dreams.
My Introspection is Retrospective. Precisely in 1993, I remember the fire incident. Hot water cooked my infant flesh into cadaver paste. Gentian violet became my cream. Until now that smell is imprinted on the slabs of my brain. I’d be lain on plantain leaves, for my burnt body should stick it’s fleshy spikes into the bed. And the porous matress should drink from my pain. I tasted pain with the palates of an infant. But God would not let me breath my end. And my mother,the one who gave me suck, to her the stench of my breathing carrion was the best perfume. In my quasi death,my heart’s hand could touch the tangible pull her rogations made at my soul. She’d cry but she’d pray. she’d engage the wind to help douse the flames of my pain with the hand fan in her trembling hand. She’d also try to pour out all the oxygen in her lungs. Through the eye between the walls of her lips,she made it cooler. Mother!how did you do this? to love another human being more than your self.And I was that human being. Many years have passed bye. I still have those scars, bodily! But you’d never know!
Gentian violet was my soap, sponge and water. It was the only liquid trusted to sooth my broken flesh. Oh that night! Mother divorced sleep,so did I. I sought for the sedation of death to pluck me into respite from this inferno But it never came! Oh it beat hunger and insomnia. There are realms of pain our brains cannot understand. This pain was chiefest of them. You can’t endure a broken bone. No!..you can’t! You can’t endure a burnt flesh No you can’t! Mother! You felt every throb of pain I felt. How could letters attempt to calibrate the sacrifice of a mother? Her tears,her joys,her vigils? I have cocooned into the man I am today. It is because of you. This poem is for you. You know I love you.
By Azoronyeahu uchenna gentle
Happy belated international women’s day to you mum. I have many mothers ,but you are the one who gave me suck. My sweet sixteen!..the first woman in my life! I love you mum!
What peace surpasses the quietness of a gently flowing stream? Who could fault the serenity of it’s clear surface? Surface as transparent as glass, Revealing the debris of nature at it’s bottom; As though to say ‘i have got no secrets’ When you stir it’s graceful surface, When you listen to it’s pure and gentle whisper, through the ears of your heart, You’ll learn the Innocence of a baby. Often times I ask myself why we keep Going back to the serenity of nature. I realised that nature listens without judging. Loves without holding back. Shares her space with us even though we keep Poisoning her with fumes from industrialization. We keep running back to her In search of healing to sooth our aching minds. She reminds us of the childhood boundless freedom Of running with the wind and playing in the dirt. Don’t you miss that? Don’t you wish you could tuck away your Android phone, counsel business appointments, And just fall into the arms of nature? Take a walk by the park, And take a sizeable Gulp of fresh air into your avid lungs? Air so fresh, you’d wish you could taste it,eat it,hold it,feel it. It will make up for the half air,half poison of city life you drink from the funnel of your lungs.
Wouldn’t you just wish you could recline on the armchair of timelessness, leaning back and forth over the sweet symphony of chirping crickets and croaking frogs? Watching the school of fishes perform the ritual of daily aquatic life?
Have you once had a glimpse of nature’s dinning table?; Feeling pity for a fish’s next meal; perhaps some poor shrimp or crayfish? But well..someone has to eat someone! Or does the police come to rescue that beef from your plate? you can’t rescue the fish’s meal either!
Have you seen the animal’s fight club?; Kangaroos throwing punches, Buffalos locking horns or hippos doing the mouth agape battle? The hippos are blessed with a dental amoury You don’t want to dare! You can watch them a whole life time.
The stream itself is a world of worlds. yet it’s currents glide so seamlessly With an enthorage of serenity!
Dear sun, I write to notify you of my dilemma; I am both warmed and scotched by your fountains of coruscation. I am blessed in the morning but baked from mid-day through dusk. It’s not like I preferred any of the seasons to the other. No,not at all! I just miss that athletic vigour your rising exhudes with the impish glint of a child. And the cooling delicate aura your setting engulfs us with.
I noticed you barely sheath your heat these days. Your change of behavior hasn’t gone unoticed. No!..not with the way The PHCN has been behaving. Dear sun,what could have happened? were you enraged?; at the gallons of chloro floro carbons we keep pouring into the ozone? I wasn’t part of those who cut down trees!.. No I wasn’t! Why should I also be punished for this? I warned them about global warming But they said it was a myth. Dear sun,i put it to you that the culprits ONLY Should be punished. Finally,i can’t wait to see you return to your old self. Thank you, Yours sincerely, a troubled earth citizen.
I used to think I could peer into the darkness in light and see through the other side of the mirror. I used to think I could travel the circuit of my emotions and curb my fears by a switch. I used to think I could choose my trials. Who would not want to defy the mysteries of life? I was young and foolish,but it was the time of my life! I took counsels with a pinch of salt. What party would hold without me? I had a way with palmwine and the hearts of damsels. I earned a reputation among my friends. Where would you find a more manly man? Looks,money and the paparazzi,I had it all! I pranced away time on the limbs of youth. I thought time was one of my admirers. I thought he’d always do my bidding. When i heard of failure,I boasted to myself “you’ll finish the war before it starts”
Oh and I fought the war. The war of dashed hopes,the war of broken promises. I hated my father,your grandfather! He nurtured the children of strangers with his bread and water and left us to fate! It was his medicine for laziness. But I hated this his Creed! He died and left us with wealth we could never access. He left his inheritance with these children of strangers. They never returned his favour! Son, don’t walk my path! and don’t you dare be as generous as your grandfather!
In my trouble, My lovers fluttered away like birds hurried by the report of a hunter’s riffle. They never said goodbye. They were childhood friends, family members. Some had even sworn to take a bullet for me. In my despair, I often walked the lean line of suicide and elopement. Yes!.. suicide;to flow past the earth like a river, forsaking the debris of depression behind. Or elopement;to escape my misery and seek a sun rise in some quiet corner of the Earth; a place of inchoate identity! But they wouldn’t let me decide;my memories,my faith,my cyclic rogations or my cowardice. So exasperated, I returned to meet those failures I heard about. I realised why they failed. It wasn’t their lack of courage. I had sped past them in my zeal, without stopping to ponder. But now life has happened me back here. I have now realized a realization!
My illusion was the scorn of reality! Hear me,”a bird in hand is worth more than two in the bush”. Son,you’d better believe the elders’ saying! Young man,pride not thineself in youth,for it will fade! Young lady you won’t be a lady for always! Before you enact your favorite sport- ‘jumping to conclusion’, Before time passes you bye, Empty your thoughts into the safety of caution and taste them with the taste buds of reality. Oh..don’t make my mistake!..don’t live your best life in an illusion!.. don’t!
The ubiquitous phrase-“UP NEPA!”has found no rival,even with the inception of The Power Holding Company of Nigreia-PHCN. The palate of sanity’s curiousity would thus be stimulated towards the demystification of this phrase.In an attempt to achieve this “demystification”, it may not be entirely out of place to make an assertion that The National Electric Power Authority(NEPA) had left such an indelible mark in the skin of the nation.For during its intriguing yonks of incumbency it had earned a notoriety of being a paradigm of incompetence. The helpless masses of Nigeria have had the melancholy fact of epileptic power supply stare them in the face for these many years. Sadly they have acquiesced it though they’d never stopped crying.
Under The NEPA each time power supply was restored,people would cheer-“UP NEPA!”. The cheer would explode into the atmosphere. You’d probably think the super eagles had just scored a world cup goal. You could touch the exhilaration in he faces of everyone. Even infants have inherited the phrase cheering.They would cheer and leap for joy each time.We have grown cheering the phrase!-its the sad story of right turned privilege.The little ones now put up a gag, cheering the phrase even when power supply had not been restored.Comedians have also had more than their fare share of making a gag out of the dismal situation.With a menace such as this staring one in the face,there is little to laugh about really!.People would spew invectives at The NEPA out of sheer exasperation when it unceremoniously interrupted power supply in the middle of an intriguing television soap or exhilarating football match. Some of my friends and neighbors would say that NEPA secretly plants close Circuit Television(cctv) gadgets to everybody’s house so they can monitor and intentionally interrupt the power supply at the cliff-hangers in television soaps. Would you strike out that insinuation?..we have seen it’s consistency over the years.
Either for pleasure,comfort or business,the need for an expeditious power supply system cannot be overemphasized.It is expedient to reiterate that it is infact a sinequanon for the smooth running of all sectors of the economy.
However so,one would have hoped that the inauguration of The PHCN by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo led administration would have helped assuage the grief of The Nigerian people,but the obverse has so far been the case.It has perhaps even exacerbated the menace.Its over four years now since its inception and we cannot say that it is still inchoate.Nigerians are yet to see any improvements!.At sometime in the past we had even fared somewhat better under The NEPA.Our fast-degenerating power supply system has long been in public glare.Even The Secretary of States of The United States of America Mrs Hillary Clinton minced no words when she practically inveighed the country for this “yellow streak” on the occasion of one of her visits to the country. As usual , Nigeria was in the news again for the protracted absence of the then incapacitated and now late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua.
According to statistics,Nigeria is one of the world’s top exporters in crude oil and prides herself the giant of Africa.This can only be reckoned with in terms of population.Yes! we can raise our heads for being the most populous black nation on the entire planet with a burgeoning population of over one fifty million.Nigeria!..oh my mother land! The children you birthed are most of the best hands the world has produced in all life endeavors.You are enormously blessed with human resources and spoiled for choice in mineral resources. Sadly my beloveth green white skinned mother, statistics have revealed that in effective and stable power supply system,you are but a lilliputian.Trailing by a plethora lacuna to countries like Ghana,South Africa and Egypt among others. These our African neighbours have each celebrated at least twenty years of “no-blinking”constant power supply.
How shall we forget what great harm the monster of erratic power supply has done to us?. It has catalysed the rapid growth of unemployment, and youth unrest. It has also supervised the asphyxiation of many a small and medium scale businesses.The colossal discrepancy which it has induced in the socio-economic life of the populace is rather alarmingly inconcieveable.The running of domestic power generating sets and large industrial power plants as a now ubiquitous alternative power generating system by those who can afford it has not helped either. It has birthed an evil truplet of high cost of living,noise pollution and global warming.Even for some residents,power has totally become an illusion.We are no longer unfamiliar with the unsonorous buzzing of mosquitoes and the baking heat of the night.Our children have their bodies decked in the tuxedo of heat rash.Malaria is a household name. Do we begin to talk about the failed health care sector? Many people have resulted to self medication. When you have malaria,you run to a chemist near bye and get some anti malaria supplies to last you until the next malaria attack. Sweet sleep has become such a luxury and only the rich may afford it.There have been cases where people have died because power supply was interrupted in the middle of critical medical procedures. That’s the height of incompetence! You’d think they were done,but no! During The 2009 edition of The Under-17 World cup to which Nigeria played host,electricity was interrupted in one of the matches and proceedings were brought to a stand still for interminable minutes, much to the disgust of the rest of the world.What an international embarrassment!
Consequently,the basic dream of The average Nigerian youth is to travel overseas where stable power supply and better conditions of living obtain.It is no news even before the Abdul Mutallab terrorist case,that The United Kingdom and The American embassies have made the issuance of visa a tall order for many Nigerians. Would you balme them? It was only a measure to curb the worrisome mad-rush of Nigerian youths into these countries in pursuit of greener pastures.Undaunted though,they still throng these embassies in their long queues.Many still leave our shores daily,they are tired of the despondent situation!.
On the homefront,Nigeria has some of the best engineers and experts relevant to the field in question,the world over.Talk of Doctor Philip Emegwali who invented the software for the fastest running computer and many others who work and live outside our shores. As a step back to status quo,experts,stakeholders and non- governmental organisations should unanimously espouse the enhancement and consolidation of our power sector by exhausting all available means.There should be concerted efforts and productive dialogue with the government to make for a platform upon which this obstrusive glitch on the national fabric can be totally expelled. More so,there is the need for heavy investment on extensive research of more efficient
Power generation and supply systems for the entire nation.Research funds,scholarships and all necessary aids should be made available to our own indegenious engineers,experts and young talents.Technical schools and tertiary institutions that offer engineering courses should be pummeled with funds, facilities,equipment and given mandates germane to this course.It is also not out of place if we borrow good innovations from countries like China,Japan,America esquire, who are super powers in science and technology.Malaysia for instance had her independence in 1960 just like Nigeria.They came down to Nigeria,took some palm nuts,did some researches and today they are top exporters in palm oil in the world.
Exhigency calls on The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC)to start firing on all cylinders,clamping down heavily on unscrupulous individuals especially public office holders who divert to personal use, part or all the funds meant for the execution and maintenance of power projects.The appropriate bodies in coalition with The EFCC must ensure that the services of premier contractors of equally high repute are engaged and strictly monitored to do good jobs.
To crown it all up,our maintenance culture which has long been in bad light has to be emended.People should be continuously educated to abscond from willful vandalization and gross abuse of power equipment and facilities. They should also hand over defaulters to the appropriate bodies. We want Fake PHCN officials who collect bills and tamper with power lines to be brought under the full weight of the law. Also Rookies must not be allowed to do monkey business.Electrical matters should be left to proffesionals and only genuine officials of The PHCN be engaged to effect major electrical repairs and installations. Finally,the babaric attitude of treating government employment and property with levity and unfaithfulness must be jettisoned. Nigerians must begin practice sacred words of the National Pledge…”To be FAITHFUL,loyal and honest…”
As good citizens we must endeavor to pay our taxes and power bills faithfully as yearning for a desirable Nigeria will remain an unreachable dream without unalloyed patriotism.Every single act of impropriety and corruption further bottle-necks our journey into a better Nigeria.If we swing into action today,we can transform twenty or even fifty years of “no-blinking” constant power supply in Nigeria from an exasperating myth into a resplendent reality!.
There is a variety of ways we Nigerians love to prepare our melon stew(egusi soup),often depending on the ethnicity and financial capacity.Now,come with me!..as i take you on a short but adventurous culinary voyage that offers you a step by step process of preparing melon stew in a very special way.This should normally take about 15-20 minutes, depending on how ready your ingredients are and the general arrangement of your cooking. Ingredients required: palm oil,ground melon(egusi),Maggi, salt,onion, meat,(regular beef part,kidney,lungs and ponmo(cow skin),dry fish(catfish preferably) and any other local tastey fish,fresh fish(titus,optional),iru(locust bean,optional)tomatoe paste fresh pepper and vegetables (pumpkin leave or ugu and water leaf or talinum triangluare
First off,you could chop the meat into preferable sizes,I like my meat chopped into tiny pieces to make for aesthetics and ease when eating.Turn on the gas and put all the various meat parts into the pot with some slices of onions,some pinches or appropriate amount of salt and one or two cubes of maggi.While the meat is steaming,say for about 5-10 minutes,you could be working on the dry fish(cleaning it out), for the fresh fish ,rinsing out with hot water will get rid of the sticky dirt after haven washed and cleaned with water at room temperature. Some prefer to boil their fresh fish,its entirely up to you.That’s why I said earlier that the whole cooking would usually take from 15-20 minutes,depending on your style.The other ingredients you would want to get ready are the fresh pepper, ponmo(soft processed cowskin),vegetables, iru and onions.Now our grand ingredient-our ground egusi is mixed with the tomatoe paste and into a more liquid pasty form with hot water.The onion,two or three bulbs, depending on the quantity of stew you are making or how many mouths you are catering for.The cowskin and iru should be thoroughly washed under running water preferably as these two can be really sandy. Some of the ingredients could be prepared even before we set the meat on fire.The dry fish should we cleaned and washed under running water too.If you are blessed as to have the time and the ‘know-how’ of cutting the vegetables,then washing before slicing would be more nutritionally adviceable as washing after slicing would usually also wash away the chlorophyll, yeah!..that greenish colouration,thats the one am talking about. we don’t want to take that likely,if we desire the best from our vegetables, we should do all we can to protect our chlorophyll. OK..that’s so much for chlorophyll, hmmm..I read biology in the university, so I speak as an experienced ‘biological culinarist’..hahah!…if there is a profession like that. As we proceed,you do not want to forget the aesthetics of cooking, so we want to keep every Ingredient neatly in a plate or bowl to be handy for when its needed.In cooking as I have come to know lately with many years of practice, timing and measurement is everything!.no matter the amount and richness of the ingredients at your disposal,if you miss timing and measurement, that is, when and what amount of ingredient to add ,then you can be sure that your cooking would not make good grades in the score sheets of those you are cooking for.well since you are the cook ,permit me to refer to those whom you are cooking for as the ‘cookee’ don’t worry this is not an English grammer class.I just wanted to make you laugh.our mothers must have been such mathematicians!..you know what?..I strongly recommend the following courses in our universities..’culinary statistics’ or’ kitchen mathematics’ or ‘applied foodmatics’..funny hun?..but if you were in their shoes you would see that our mothers are arguably the greatest mathematicians that ever lived.right from the kitchen to general home maintenance these women apply complex mathematical equations to solve these puzzling tasks on a daily basis.lets hear it for mothers all over the world!..you guys are a blessing to humanity!..oops!..do forgive me,I almost forgot that we have a pot on fire already ..i just needed to appreciate the very indispensable roles our mothers play.Next,we bring down our meat with some of the meat water solution in moderate quantity. We get a clean pot for the stew proper, dry it on the fire and the palm oil is our pioneer ingredient,it goes right into the pot.For me traditionally,cooking begins at this point.That wasn’t so difficult so far,now was it?..the nicely blended onion(paste or semi paste form,depending on whether you use an electric blender or manual blender)is poured into the simerd oil and your aroma begins.The locust bean is ready to jump in next.now you want to make sure that you have washed this particular Ingredient over and again to remove every particle of sand and dirt.. Now at this point,I get some of my nosy neighbours declaring their interest to be part of the meal.You may laugh,but really its one of the challenges I had to face in school at the university campus hostel,during my university days.it got so bad that my friends would gossip about how to eat my soup right in my presence,even while the food was on fire.yeah!..it was that serious!.. Well in a university hostel like mine,that’s kind of like the downside to being a good cook. Making quite a laudable progress now aren’t we?..so what’s next?..let’s see..that must be the tomatoe paste and ground melon paste.Now we could use two to three tomatoe paste satchets or thins,depending on the quantity of stew we are shooting for.The onion chars for say 15 seconds or so,then the locust bean joins the moving locomotive and aquaints itself with the other culinary passengers,for say 10 seconds.Now our grand ingredient makes its entry with lots of charring paparazzi.Now,our stew begins to look more like it.Are you still on board?..let’s proceed then.we stir the mix and ensure it fries adequately before the next ingredient.This could take say 1-2 minutes,then our fish comes in.After about another 1- 2 minutes,then the meat and it’s solution comes in.The cowskin(ponmo)would come in at this point also,almost immediately and within a couple of seconds later, the fresh pepper follows.We stir that a couple of times,technically though, we don’t want to dismantle the soft fish,we want them to remain as whole as possible. Its uausally neater and presentable this way.Then comes the Maggi and the salt,say 1-2 minutes later. At this point we must make sure to have technically added as much quantity of liquid as we need depending on the quantity of stew we want.After a couple of minutes, we test the taste of the stew and make all necessary adjustments in spice.Looking and smelling nice huh?..we allow the whole thing to cook for like 2-3 minutes,then we add our nicely sliced ugu(pumpkin leaf),after 1-2 minutes, we add the water leaf and after 2-3 minute our ‘culinary flight’ is due for touch dow.voilà!.. Our special melon stew is ready!.. You can eat with semovita or any swallow of your choice.finally,in case you have aroma-happy neighbours who don’t mind queuing with their plates as though your pot was some charity home,then I would advice neighbours’ consideration at reader’s risk or better still ‘I advice ‘reader’s discretion
Karl marx’s dictum “Religion is the opium of the people” has not lost popularity in any way even though he made this empirical assertion in 1843. Opium itself is a narcotic drug obtained from the unripe seedpods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), a plant of the family Papaveraceae. So much for the little history and biology,now,let’s start at the nail’s head. Karl marx’s submission cannot be overemphasized because religion in itself has an overwhelming influence on man. Thus the renoun dictum in perspective arrogates the addictive power of opium to religion. Religion shapes a man’s value system and this proceeds to control mankind. There is hardly any man or woman on this planet that has no religion. Though religion prides itself with the task of bridging the Gap between mankind and God,we have seen many doctrinal differences from many religions which often induced frictions so strong that they lead to rivalry, prejudice and bloodshed. Even the handful of atheists around us have religion to contend with. Religion commands the highest influence than any other human influencer such as sports,commerce, entertainment and the likes. Any government that wants a smooth running of it’s socio economic life must maintain equilibrium between all religions under it’s civil roof. Religion can curb terrorism by using it’s influence as a foundational communicator of Creed to redirect the paths of the people towards peaceful co existence. The people should be taught to tolerate people from other religious and ethnic divides. Really the role of religion in curbing terrorism cannot be overemphasized. It is at helm of affairs,since it transcends the borders of governance, education and even ethnicity. If terrorism or peace is prevailing in any nation,we would always trace it to a balanced ,healthy and tolerant religious system. Religion has always and will always affect the governance,politics, education,sports and every other aspect of life of any nation. However, religion is subject to those who communicate it to those who practice it and this is why the clergymen are often regarded as the most powerful people in society. The followers of a particular religion will always be loyal to the fathers of such religions and that is why it is very pertinent that these key religious influencers are communicating the correct value systems which exalts peaceful co existence of it’s people above religious doctrinal borders and ethnicity. Through the pages of history,we have seen that major genocides and even civil wars always had a ting of religious intolerance. Even the current menace of terrorism ravaging Nigeria is obviously a religious war,no matter how much anyone tries to debunk this,it will always remain an immutable fact. Finally,if our religious leaders can communicate proper values, families will be positively influenced and by extension governance and the society at large. Thus religion is at the top of the food chain in the faming or defaming of terrorism.
I am an ardent believer in the school of thought that governance is incomplete if the people who voted in the government are only allowed minimal participation in the process of governance. Growing up as an African lad I have seen many electorates swindled of their mandates by avaricious politicians who promised heaven on earth. Eventually when these politicians seized the reins of power,they relegated to the back stage, those same poor masses who risked all to vote them in. I have seen supposed ‘leaders’ turn ‘rulers’.I can’t but keep wondering why this recurring backward trend keeps experiencing yonks of sovereignty in African politics. Could it be that we as the populace who know where the shoe pinches have snitched on our republic trust?Or did we just decide to acquiesce our fate? I think that bad governance is not intrinsicly an African problem.I think rather that poverty,illiteracy and long oppression have spoiled our avaricious politicians for choice with too much power over the majority of the African populace.High infant mortality rate,forced early marriage of girls,all these are the symptoms of poverty and illiteracy. Our politicians make education very unaffordable for the masses and frustrate the academic carlender of our public institutions with incessant strikes while their own children are educated in the best schools abroad,on the nations treasury. I think that if our politicians regard the people after elections, they would allow them maximum participation in the process of governance and only then could we expect some ray of hope to inundate African politics.
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