Africa’s most valuable talents in Sciences and Arts are being drained today to fight Covid-19 and the most dangerous jobs as frontline workers abroad. Britain, United States and Canada have temporary Visas for Healthcare workers that have no choice but specifically to be deployed to the most dangerous settings where Covid-19 has become life takers. Doctors, nurses and health aides in hospitals, nursing homes, homecare; classroom teachers in and service workers are quitting their jobs in large numbers to preserve their precious lives. They are willing to stay home or work from home while Africans are recruited from their countries…
Author: Farouk Martins
Lagos has no business sharing the state of Poverty in Nigeria. The individual entrepreneurship spirit in that little island carried what became Nigeria for some centuries. The people of Lagos were not only Oloko shipbuilders and traders, they were professionals: architects, teachers, doctors, lawyers, iron workers, carpenters, Agbonmagbe Bankers and of course “London Tailors” etc. Their buildings, various professions under Petesi, Water Works, Aso Martin, Omo Alaran and more remain in Lagos to speak for themselves. Therefore, lamentations on social media by Abisoye Oshodi need no introduction. No matter how crude or offensive some might find them, these lamentations struck…
Ladies are doing better these days than their mothers. Many are wealthy, better educated and still wiser in their choice than men. One would think that with these qualities, ladies would not rely on men for their security. Well, security has many aspects apart from money. If we are talking about pay and brute force, it is still dominated by men regardless of the strength some women display lifting their babies much longer than men can or a few women kicking their husbands’ butts. But some men still misuse threats and will not hesitate to display violence. So, ladies need…
There are African countries breeding more hungry and angry Youths than any other Continent in the world. We already know they are the face of poverty that has moved from Asia to Africa and sadly increasing. What is obvious in most African countries is the impunity, indifference and arrogance of the minority Nouveau riche that are spiteful to the majority of poor people under them. Though most call themselves civil servants. When masses are fed up, it only takes the last straw to break the camel’s back as we saw in Morocco where one unemployed graduate sparked revolt. Recovery becomes…
If Africans cannot help one another as their brothers’ keepers, who is going to help them for free? Heaven only helps those that help themselves. Prayers, incarnations and belief empower and strengthen your nerves to be strong and durable to lift yourself up. There are different ways of pulling yourself out of poverty, stretching out your hands for handouts when you waste ten times as much energy throwing good money after bad money is nothing but just folly. Africans are still laundering trillions of foreign currencies out of the Continent. Even when getting billions back from past looted funds, they…
Puppy love may last in some cases but matured love lasts much longer. Young love is like the first money a kid makes, she spends it all in candy stores. Looking back at those that marry their first love, many of them grow and mature into different people when they expect to grow together. People around the same age see one another as mates, which they are. But in a family relationship, the old saying still holds. There can only be one Captain in a ship. The children watch and learn from the interaction of their parents. Respect and tolerance…
Poaching has been going in Africa well before the Slave Trade. It never stopped. Artefacts, cultural carvings and loss of different animals’ parts have depopulated the numbers. Yet, the African population has increased over the years. Lack of Population control and Planning has generated the usual problem China faced some years ago. When you are hungry, it is hard to realize that money is not everything or that man cannot live by bread alone. However, there remain some morale boosts about the majestic message of African blood, ceremony and regalia. You have to miss donning the complete suit for a…
There should be no debate about the deadly cost of Covid-19. Physical distancing, masks and hand washing became effective mitigation for the deadly virus. Whereas the immediate and proximal solution for tribalism, xenophobia, hate, lack of tolerance and accommodation, especially when exacerbated by the excessive force of constituted authorities, have eluded us for too many years. Unfortunately, the effect of hate can be the more imminent threat to life experienced by minorities outside their base. Unlike Covid-19 that can kill, no matter where we are. Though elders and minorities can be more adversely affected by Covid-19; the lack of tolerance,…
Humans are social animals, living, acting in duo, in groups and communal societies. Nevertheless, those few that are more comfortable as loners keep their own company and function independently as individuals. As they get older, weaker or in sickness, it becomes more difficult for everyone to function efficiently well. This is the point where we cannot do without the support of younger relatives and caregivers. Thank God for African culture that makes elders a valuable part of their communities. Who remains around everyone as we get older depends on the decision we made earlier when we are still active and…
There is this stereotypical noise about blacks’ inability to rule any city, state or country so efficiently that it could be showcased as the management skill and acuity of Africans. Those old enough with knowledge of world events as recently as the 60s and 70s cannot feign ignorance of places where every creed were welcomed, lived and got along with one another in Africa. Even after Africans have been mistreated and forced into labor to develop other continents. Ironically, people who lynch humans and whose Police kill humans in the broad daylight with acquittal in their court of law in…
People are committing suicide in greater number than we have ever witnessed.It cuts across all spectra regardless of income and age. Sanctity, value and respect for lives matter despite data of our population explosion.History demonstrated that Africans are very resilient, withstood a great deal of adversities from one continent to another and survived against all odds. Africans outlive homicide and suicide even in Europe or America, despite disproportional number in jail. The saying that it takes a village to raise children in Africa has a deeper implication. While the poor have more children, the rich prefer more money. Our community…
How did the Continent that produced the world’s richest man ever, Mansa Kankan Musa and the richest woman ever, Queen of Sheba’s children become the poorest today? Simply put: lavishness, over-giving without substance, greed and lately corruption tolerated by ethnicity. Who else would be traveling across the world with billions in gold and silver but Mansa Musa and the Queen of Sheba. Stupendous spraying on vanities continued as corruption right now. The whole world engaged in slavery of their own people but around the 14th century, there were great need for natural cheap resources already exposed by Mansa Musa; free…
Many people have experienced mouth or body odor at some point in their life, from friends and strangers, even worse right at home from somebody very close. As we get older, another form of body odor creeps in, not because of improper care or hygiene but as a natural part of getting older. The worst part of both mouth and body odor is that it may silently break relationships. People may limit or avoid contact without telling you why. Some of those very close to you may let you know, especially your spouse, children and grandkids. But the further away…
Many Nigerians, Ghanaians, Dahomeans, Sierra Leoneans, Liberians to South Africans were happy as one family; they would gladly tell you gleeful stories when we were Lagosians. But that was before the Oil Income which turned politicians into greedy, selfish and uncaring souls. Luckily we thought dreaming, we would get the old Lagos back once the bureaucrats and Federal politicians moved out to Abuja! For whia? You get money o, you no get money o, na soso enjoyment. Lagos na soso enjoyment: released by Osita Osadebe in 1959. It was an obvious testimony that you could never be destitute, even as…
