FRANCIS OLATOYE’S BLOG: A RETROSPECT

It's been almost a year since this blogger debuted his blog with the first series of “Musings of an Over Critical Mind” on these pages.

Thenceforth, it has been from one blog post to another reflecting and reverberating the different position and disposition of the youthful blogger on different subject matters. As much as possible, this blogger has refrained from turning the blog page into a political platform dwelling on Nigeria’s politico-economic issues. Although, the temptation was quite compelling and two blog posts satisfied his vituperative urge and vent on Nigeria’s politico-economic landscape so far.

It’s been a mixed combination of feelings and responses from different readers and friends alike. Someone will say, “Francis, your grammar is too much o. it’s not for someone like me”. Another will comment, “You make your blog quite unreadable, Foye”. Another yet will compare my written English with the spoken English of the enigmatic and polemic Chris Okotie. How audacious!!!

A close friend would advice to reduce each paragraph of my writings to four or five sentences and lines to improve online readability. An advice I took in stride and works wonderfully well. Thanks Diran.

The greatest commendation, however,  would come from an unexpected person; an old classmate from the University days at the Great Ife. She would leave a message for me on facebook:

Hi Francis.

I’m sure you are wondering to yourself why is Chinenye sending me a message. You will find out soon enough.

I happened to stumble on your note “Hues of a Quizzical Reality”. After reading it, I had to confirm that YOU had written it (and was surprised when I decoded the foye signature). I then left you a message. But then curiosity got the best of me and I read the other notes. I’m still in shock ‘cos I never imagined you to be a writer. YOU often seemed like you had a lot on your mind back then in school even though you also gave the impression of a wild boy. Don’t get me wrong pls. I’m deeply impressed by your mind and that is the reason for this message. I think you have an amazing talent and I enjoyed your notes which is saying something ‘cos I get bored easily.

I can go on and on, but I’m guessing you’ve gotten d message....keep it up. Will definitely be checking out your blog again.

Cheers.

To Chinenye, I say thank you again. I hope I continue to impress you. To the very many others who has read Francis Olatoye's Blog, offered a feedback or the other, I say thank you too.

The journey to start and manage Francis Olatoye’s Blog had being borne out of a compulsion to express, through words, the very many issues that seem to constantly bother my mind. For me, the society we live in is quite bothersome and sufficiently so to keep one’s mind occupied with its many complications, contradictions and contraptions. For any sufficiently perceptive and open mind, it should be the same.

From the “Musings of an Over critical Mind I and II” to “Of a Monumental but Farcical Clime” to “Hues of a Quizzical Reality” to “Thoughts on Reclaiming the Nigerian Dream” to “Ebbs of Human Perception” to “On the Nigerian Educational Milieu” to “Economy of Emotions” and finally “Self – Criticism”, the goal has remained the same. My interest in Moral Philosophy, Social Psychology and a depart from “Traditional Thinking” remains unfettered and unwavering.

Sadly, however, my writings are often burdened with many “big words” and my diction often ruefully verbose, sometimes unnecessary or even inappropriate. One may need a dictionary once in a while to understand what I may exactly be saying or trying hard to say. However, the level of “big words” used has been considerably reviewed and moderated as much as possible to accommodate and encourage readability from readers.

With absolute satire, I render that my writings are not as brilliant as I would have loved them to be. I only try to emulate some of the writers who have shaped my thoughts and writing. From Wole Soyinka (my literary model) to Idowu Akinlotan and Tatalo Alamu (both of the Nation Newspaper) to Albert Einstein (a scientist and a philosopher at the same time) and many much more, the influence has not been ephemeral. I hope to become better by the day. I hope to become a true writer, a true intellect and a true person at the end of the day.

Foye.

SELF-CRITICISM

“Self-deprecation is never a place to visit unless waters of self-conceit abate…” Foye, 2011

Trudging across plains of dithering uncertainties, flagellating introspection and a never rescinding reality was never an unusual occupation for my mind.  I often arrived at a place called self pity on such hikes. It’s never an interesting place to be though.

To paraphrase a famous remark by Immanuel Kant, reflection without life is empty, and life without reflection is blind.

It has been a soothing six months practically and partially devoid of inundations from a not too distant past. It has been six months of refrain; absolute refrain from alcoholic intake. It has been six months since this blogger decided against drinking in all ramifications for those who know him fairly well. He’s had a discomfiting past with drinking and for a long time it was the only vice of yours truly.

The moral rectitude of such past shall be left to the reader to decide and deliberate on for what morality itself is can sometimes be subjective. The blogger is no perfectly righteous being and anyone who authoritatively asserts himself as one may become another Meletus of Plato’s Apology. He, however, holds himself to some moral standards as much as he can. Yet, he can’t still regard himself as totally bereft of imperfection. He still battles with some other superficial indulgence.

As Albert Einstein wrote, “The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from self”.  Liberation from self, however, is predicated on the absolute realization and departure from a self fraught with existing inadequacies. It starts only with self criticism.

The mystery and misery of self-criticism, however, is never ephemeral and ever daunting. It is ever appalling to find one’s self on the verge of a plummet into such nuanced oblivion. The outcome sometimes diffident.

It was at this point I found myself some six months back vacillating between need and necessity, between cease and accede and between reason and reality. I was at the crossroads between self appraisal, self pity, self conceit and self restraint. A decision was needed and needed quickly.

It wasn’t seamless to see the decision through. A best friend wouldn’t believe. However, it later went on to become the best decision taken by yours truly so far in the contraption of time called year.  It was seconded only by a decision torn between a “right” choice and a “best” choice in the dawn of the year. The “right” choice was indeed right for it harmonizes my present state of mind and being. I must say I feel proud of myself.

In all of these, the necessity for an occasional review of life remains auspicious however rueful it may seem or be. I’m not given to the popularly accepted notion of destiny promised on a premise of false hope. Deluded, a close female friend would call me.

However, I do believe in a life guarded primarily by choices; choices in everyday life. I believe in a life of critical self appraisal. I believe in effort and result. I believe in hard work, purpose and drive. I believe in pragmatic life and living.

Foye.

ECONOMY OF EMOTIONS

Though I do not hail from the well known Ijebu town, I have been described as being extensively frugal by many pseudo sophisticated girls that trails my past; a past fraught with some episode of boisterousness. They say “you are too stingy, Francis”. A few who couldn’t control themselves better may say “You wan carry money go heaven. In fact, don’t call me again”. And I better not.

This scenario happens somewhat frequently that I have had to examine myself expediently in the context. Not surprisingly, I often excused my attitude with a deposition that I didn’t want to become anybody’s mugu or be called one yet again. I had being a big mugu to a particular lady back in the university days. Another broke my heart or so I thought at the time. And no, don’t try to ask for details.

In the midst of all these, I became extensively aware of my emotional propensities. I felt like I was being blackmailed with my own emotion which I was ready to give out rather freely. I questioned the overly need for such emotions, its complication and constant amplification. Why does a complicated entity like the human mind condescend albeit usually to associate its emotions with someone or something? Does it need to? I questioned.

It is innocuous to assume and accept that we (humans) are objects and creations of emotions. But then, are we really? Or did we just find ourselves on the peremptory road to emotional chaos all in the name of emoting? Do we even need to feel something for someone?

Perhaps, it’s just another furtive intrigue that the Darwinian Theory of Natural Selection could unravel just as Richard Dawkins tried to unravel the psychology of Religion and God in his book The God Delusion with the same theory. Maybe we evolved into an emoting being and may probably evolve out of it.

Perhaps, we can accept the usual that we do need to feel and long for someone. At least, one may sometimes find meaning to life in the process as Rene Descartes once said. It’s a good feeling, no doubt, for the good part of it.

The sad part, however, is that our society has been overtaken and is bedevilled by an organised emotional chaos. More harm than good is being done in the name of emotions these days. Many homes and people remain broken due to an emotional breakdown. The institution of marriage is, of course, not excused. The divorce rate in the society remains on a fast climb leaving a trail of emotionally and socially broken children behind.

The recent killing of a female banker by her husband is a case in stride. Believe me, at some point, they must have had it good both emotionally and otherwise. The same husband tried to kill himself in detention while awaiting trial.

All this leaves the mind to wonder what the necessity to emote is then really? Why have emotions that you couldn’t guarantee will persist interminably and unchangingly? Most emotions to fellow humans usually change over a long or short course of time.

What happens if one doesn’t emote? Does it make one less human? Does it make one less susceptible to the vituperative barrage of impacts that comes with the heavy handbag of emotions? Does it reinforce one’s objectivity in dealing with life’s challenges without bowing to its imminent emotional prejudices? Does it make one better equipped to survive in this bedevilled society of ours?

All these questions are subjective and difficult to answer in plain language as we have not known ourselves without emoting. Perhaps, a good research in that direction could help. Even, Adam was probably an emoting being. Maybe if he were not, we’d all be living in the Garden of Eden blissfully. The world would have been better lived there, don’t you think?

I do not argue that one should have no emotions for that will be impossible and possibly erroneous. I hope I do not sound so. I’m just questioning the overly need for them. I’m just saying maybe one could be economical and objective with them. Maybe this may help our society become better and less chaotic at least emotionally and socially.

Foye.

ON THE NIGERIAN EDUCATIONAL MILIEU

Almost six and a half decades after the birth of the first University in Nigeria, the Nigerian University system is rife with rot in all ramifications. It is almost cliché to say that our universities are no longer what they used to be or what they were intended to be. They have become a lackluster reflection of themselves; churning out mostly half baked graduates at an alarming rate. Interaction with graduates of several institutions, who couldn’t construct a sentence of good English in one piece, proves this ugly verity.

No doubt, a lot has been said about the decay in the University system and the dearth of adequate funding as its chief cause. However, it’s not only the University system that is under the scourge of an over burdened decadence. It just so happens that the effect of the scourge is more appallingly apparent at the University level. The entire educational system of Nigeria is a pot full of putrid mess served as nourishment to the growing mind of young pupils.

Having being educated under the same dilapidated system, I have a slight but biased understanding of the system that I have come to loathe. There’s no need to reiterate that the system is broken since it actually is. However, where my contention lies is not only in the quality of education being proffered or supposed to be proffered by the school system. My contention lies in if the quality being claimed or clamoured for will actually satisfy the overall objective of an all round education.

The importance of education to the society can not be over emphasized. In a 1936 keynote address on the occasion of the celebration of tercentenary of higher education in America, Albert Einstein commented that “The school has always been the most important means of transferring the wealth of tradition from one generation to the next”. This statement still remains valid seventy five years on. He continued that “The continuance and health of human society is therefore in a still higher degree dependent on the school than the family”. In Nigeria, people go to school but do they actually get educated?

The purpose of education has always been to prepare, expose, enhance and ensure proper functioning of a pupil in a society typified by constant complication and sophistication. Education is an expedition to a life long discovery of self and society in which the pupil resides. It is a foray into the unknown in an uncertain and unknown world. An all round education should guide the pupil to discover himself in his society and nurture such discoveries to attain greater heights or success. It isn’t just about having the papers called certificates.

The Nigerian educational milieu is characterized by a culture that encourages the pupil to go to school just to go to school. Sometimes, the pupil has no idea of what he is doing in school. He is just there at the behest of his polluted society. He is told he has to go to school to get a degree so he can get a job. His teachers hardly care about the knowledge being impacted on him. So he goes through school just so he can get a degree and guarantee a job he has no idea about. He graduates with a degree in hand but no education in head. He graduates and finds it’s an entirely different ball game on the other side. He then wakes up to blame the same society for not proffering him a job. The same job he may not have being adequately educated or prepared to take up.

Consider an alternative scenario for the same pupil.

He is born into a society that tries to understand him as his own individual with his own idiosyncrasies, peculiarities and talents. He is sent to school not only to get educated but also to discover himself. At a young age, he is engaged in series of activities aimed at identifying his creative senses and talents. Once identified, such are developed and amplified to make better with independence encouraged. He discovers he is good at something at a young age.

Based on his creative proficiencies and choices, he is made to continue in his education to study what best suits him in a higher education.  He goes to school because he wants to acquire more knowledge about what suits him and about his talent and creative tendencies. He is educated not just to get a degree but to acquire knowledge, horn his in-born skills and augment his independence. He thereby graduates with a degree in hand and an education in mind. He graduates to find himself relevant and useful to his society.

On the other hand, if he doesn’t go through higher education, such creative senses and talents can be amplified and put to use to ensure self sustenance. Think sports. Think arts. How many people actually know what they are good at apart from the skills developed on their jobs? And if they do, what use is it being put to?

It is of course true that without all this one may discover oneself, as most of us educated in the polluted Nigerian system have had to, provided one has the capability and introspection. But how many people do?

Education needs be focused on what the pupils are good at and not the blanket kind of education as we presently have in the Nigerian society. Over reliance on education for the sole purpose of guaranteeing a job needs be discouraged. Pupils should get educated but for the knowledge and its benefits. The obsolete method of teaching at the higher institutions needs to be abolished. Teaching needs to be made more interactive, engaging, participatory and practical. Not the sham practice of dictating notes in class as we have most lecturers do in our tertiary institutions.

At the end of the day, it is hoped that our young pupils get the education that will sustain and support their person and our society. It is hoped that in the midst of such education, they will become themselves and the great persons we often dream they’d become.

Foye.

EBBS OF HUMAN PERCEPTION

Known for different things at different times by different people usually do not aid the motive or the cause of my impregnated course or discourses. This is compounded by an often reticent and sometimes elusive self. No thanks to an onerous society bereft of absolute levers of control, a sometimes indifferent attitude and the ghosts of many girlfriends past. No be my fault o!! However, in the quietude of my unalloyed intents did the best of my actions seem to manifest.

It is often an elevated challenge to find my true and entire understanding or that of any human as I have come to realise. A happenstance that often leads to myriad of personality conflicts with different people of diverse sense of perception in many varied instances. As a keen student of the Mind, I find myself tinkering with the notion of human behaviour in the context of perception of self and the hordes of people in the world.

The nature of humans in relation to people and the world is often premised on perception, no doubt. In his book, The Power of Thought; Henry Thomas Hamblin opined that “We each live in a little world of our own creation”. A creation based on our perception and a perception based on our instincts. And perception, they say, is everything.

We are all of different genetic makeup, different personalities and different perceptions; an obvious truism that it is. However, what maybe uncommon is that our perception is often premised on a false notion of the people and the world as we know it. Our perception is premised on what we have been programmed to perceive and our personality often evolves as a reflection of such perception. A closed jacketed society as we have often insulates you from perceiving the world otherwise. What is perceived is what is thought, what is thought is what is acted and what you act, my friend, is your personality.

Thus, a flawed perception will create a false notion of the world or a flawed character or even a conflict of personality with the world and sometimes with self. The conflict with self may result from a variegated self introspection and awareness.

A madman is thus a madman because you’ve been programmed to avoid him like a pariah. True, a madman may probably be sick but he really is just an entirely different individual who perceives the world quite differently and probably more clearly than you do. He is unrefined and unabated in his assessment of the world as validated by his vagrancy. His actions are not bordered by limitations of can do or can’t do as the present society imposes. He is a free man, free to explore. 

At the end of the day, we all are a constellation of different personalities, hues of different characters and subtleties of many strains. This is what makes us who we are and makes us respond to the world around us the way we do.

I have always thought that there is more than meets the eyes in this world of ours. This often keeps my mind heavy, active and somewhat boggled. It is the one big reason I woke up this morning to scribble this blog. It is consternating to realise that the perception of hordes of people about the world we all live in maybe faulty and erred.

If all there is to the world is to be born, play around as a toddler, eat, sleep,  attend school, go to the university, graduate, get a job, get married, grow old and pass on; then the world is just a void of nothingness.

But then, there is more to the world. One just needs to find it.

Foye.

Follow on twitter: @phoye57

THOUGHTS ON RECLAIMING THE NIGERIAN DREAM (PART I)

The above title and essay were implicitly inspired by a book by Barrack Obama – The Audacity of Hope. An enjoyable read each time one turns its glistening pages proclaiming the very crux upon which the book rested. Barrack Obama himself - the first Black US President and the strongest man alive as it stands – seems to be under a barrage of criticisms lately stemming from his many supposed heroic inactions but rather many proposed actions for the upturn of the difficulties of the American society, its people and the world at large. Brian Browne of the Nation newspaper branded and brandished him as a man of mere words rather than action in his review of the latest speech by Obama on the current state of America and the world; himself (Obama) acquiescing that he could be overly verbose in his book anyway. His recent criticisms may also be associated with the sole fact that his re – election year is fast approaching; a good time for a well placed and capable opponent to dent his image. The American billionaire, Donald Trump, had this in mind. He has since been silenced of course when his feeble and precarious allegation was seamlessly faulted. But I think he’ll (Obama) pull through. He always does.

My beloved and darling country Nigeria still remains a burdensome and rather poignant matter in my rarely dithering mind – for I could hardly come to terms with its fickle and flickering reality before me – restless as it always makes me whenever the mind decides to broach the almost unavoidable subject. It seems that out of the primordial past of complexities in the foundation and conflation of Nigeria comes a blaring presence of retribution, putrid comeuppance and constellation of inadequacies in the present day Nigeria. I do not by chance refer to the very beginning of Nigeria as part of its problem neither do I accede to the popularly accepted explanation of fate – “that’s the way God wants it” as many Nigerian people may like to believe to deceive and mollify themselves. Put simply, I do not believe that this is the way God wants Nigeria to be. We are who we are today only by what we were yesterday and not by what we hope to become tomorrow. It is possible that it’s this same attitude of “it’s what God wants” that may have contributed to the foisting of GEJ (after all it’s the perception of the majority of people that was translated in the election) on us in the dubbed ‘freest and fairest election’ in the history of Nigerian politics. That itself makes me laugh satirically. Now we have to deal with his gutsy parochialism for the next four years. The same gutsy parochialism that he displayed in the occasion of his swearing – in ceremony to which by now more than 830 million – 1.3 billion naira of Nigeria’s hard earned money have left the coffers of the CBN never to return. It is this same gutsy parochialism that he displayed in his swearing - in speech to a nation of more than 160 million Nigerians home and abroad and also to the watching and discerning world. I can’t help but think of how America, Britain etc would perceive his noteworthy speech – forget the emotional trappings - from which no substance emanated, no veritable plan or course to take Nigeria to the next phase enunciated and definitely no definite idea to quell and squelch the many problems of Nigeria. The whole speech seemed like a clueless ramble of a new but no so new president of the largest black nation who had not given a single deep thought on the intricate entity called Nigeria. His speech writer – if he had one - should be sacked. Even the speech by the Governor of Nassarawa State sounded better.

Nigerians – from Garuba to Emeka to Wole – are good, dynamic and usually benevolent people who love their country rather dispassionately. However, the calibre of leaders and politicians we produce do not appreciate this salience and embrace rather flippantly the meaning of democracy in the context of the people they serve. They seem to forget and forget rather quickly that “in a democracy, the most important office is the office of the citizen” as opined by a U. S Justice; Louis Brandeis. Dimeji Bankole – who has met his waterloo in the # 10 billion loan scandal, Alao Akala and others have learnt from the experience and are licking their wounds now. Let others including GEJ learn as I advised in an earlier blog. Nigerians are difficult people to mess with in all ramifications and from all indications.

Our strength as Nigerians still lies in our exhaustive diversity and collective existence as a group of people under one umbrella – not the sham of an insignia symbolizing the PDP – even though we sometimes like to think the contrary. As Barrack Obama made mention in his book “what unites us is greater than what divides us”. The onion farmer in the North, the business man from the East, the astute banker from the West are all Nigerians and may need each other to remain existent than we may care to admit. Our dear president himself is from the minority group of the Niger Delta as he rightly made mention in his maiden speech - an action quite needless, unprecedented and may betray his intents if he ever has good ones. The recharge card retailer under the Ikeja Bridge, the sweaty ‘cold’ la casera hawker in the traffic jam of Apapa –Oshodi, the roasted plantain seller with the appropriate groundnut to go with it, the aboki man that fetches water for a token, the road side mechanic are all Nigerians and deserve and desire a better life devoid of privation and anguish, bereft of melancholy and condescension. We all deserve a better Nigeria; a Nigeria of our father and forefathers dream – a dream yet to be ever manifested in the most subtle of expectations which keeps getting lowered as the dream itself dwindles. One wonders if the Nigerian dream will become a reality in our time – a loaded question, one difficult to answer.

However, the Nigerian dream is not farfetched and is realisable too. Many of the things we clamour for are the normal things that we shouldn’t be deprived of or shouldn’t be pleading for in the modern day society for they are so common that a three year old child in Ghana or South Africa will never understand why it’s not available. Thus, it saddens me when an infamous politician decides to use such common things as a campaign advert or manifesto however clichéd they are and sound to every Nigerian. It just further reveals how insensitive those we refer to as leaders are. We shouldn’t be pleading for good water, good roads, good healthcare delivery, stable electricity etc. We shouldn’t. I was petulant and drawn when during GEJ’s massive campaign for election, he campaigned that he’ll build airports in every city in Nigeria. Yet we voted for him. The building and presence thereof of airports in every city in Nigeria itself maybe a laudable project if there were no other far-reaching matter at hand that needs not be stated publicly like the presence of good roads for starters. The expansion and refurbishment project of the Lagos – Ibadan express road has been awarded through a Public Private Partnership – a laudable progress itself – yet nothing close to anything has been done on the most plied road in Nigeria for the past year and a half since its been awarded. What we keep seeing are billboards and signs suggesting that work will soon commence. When? I ask. Wale Babalakin is more a politician than a business man, I must say.

As Nigeria stands and for the Nigerian dream to ever be manifested, two things need to apparently change – a change in Government and a change in attitudinal culture – both of which are interrelated and may not be able to stand alone. We need not only a change in Government; we need also a change in culture to realise our Nigerian dream; an apparent emphasis on the change in government however. The change in attitudinal culture deals with the Nigerian people - whether in Nigeria or not - been governed together with their historical, social and political relevancies while the change in Government deals with the government itself, the leaders who govern us and the polities, policies and procedures therewith.

It is almost unfortunate that we have not had an appropriate change in government since the fourth republic democratization of our dear country in 1999. What we have had rather is a vicious cycle of the same mendacious and vituperative leaders, sometimes ambivalent and vacillating constitution and often policy summersaults and pussyfooting. Thus, it is not by chance that we (Nigeria) always arrive at the same junction of perplexity and remonstration each and every time. The same dubbed mammoth party PDP has been in control of the reigns of presidential power for twelve years going with no ostensible and perceptible change in the living conditions of the common man. This makes me wonder sometimes if the mammoth PDP has any defined or refined strategy to improve the lot of Nigerians as their action and activity always assert contrary to this. It took the PDP controlled presidency, senate and house of representative more than seven years to churn out the Freedom of Information Bill which has eventually been signed – the superficial document itself seemed like a carefully orchestrated but still ambivalent document for it still leaves a leeway for a staged maneuvring.

 A change in government may sound familiar for we have successfully had three different presidents in our almost inchoate democracy – the rabid Obasanjo, the wobbly but sincere Yar’dua and the seemingly parochial Jonathan. All of whom thought – or still think - they were (are) the best Nigeria could ever have. A change in government may seem not to address the very many Nigerian issues at a first glance for the mind may dwell on the present in the pretext of the past and effortlessly conclude that it may make no difference. However, a more careful and introspective delve will suggest an antithesis. A change in government does not only mean a change in the kind and calibre of the leaders we have but also a change in the policies and procedures that makes them become our leaders in the first place. A change in all levers and tiers of the government – a careful and stringent revamp of our ambivalent constitution is a good place to look and start – is appropriated. The decree that suggests that our senators and representatives at the house be salaried or should earn far more than can be fathomed and more than a University Professor needs be abolished. A change in the polity and policy that makes politics itself to be less pecuniarily attractive to a below average mind needs be instituted. A change that sees and brings people who actually want to make a difference and make a positive impact to the forefront of Nigeria’s political landscape should be embraced. People who do want to make a difference in the Nigerian politics do not even endeavour to dabble into it anymore for they do not want to mar their name or image.

A change in attitudinal culture is closely tied to the change in government for Nigeria to be able to produce the kind of future leaders that we may desire, a change in the decrepit value system of our culture will be needed. It is no longer news that our value system has degenerated far beyond what it used to be with what is left of its putrid essence being rubbed in our faces. Yet, we sit and look. How then do we cultivate and nurture future leaders in the midst of all these? How can we guarantee future leaders who won’t just end up like the present mendacious and corrupt ones we have now? How do we raise future leaders for our dear country? In an earlier blog/essay “Hues of a quizzical reality”, I posited the society may be partly responsible for the degeneration of our value system whether we like to hear it or not. How then do we rescue our value system from further degeneration? I dare say this can only be done through a change in attitudinal culture which can only start right from the homes in which we raise our children. However, a change in attitudinal culture cannot come about in our children if we do not have it first taking place in the parents themselves who will then pass it down to their wards. Also, the change in attitudinal culture in our parents will be difficult to institute unless their perception of their government, leaders and the society changes. And what better way can we have this occur if not through a change in government itself. A change can only occur through a change.

A wise man once said, “Everyman is living to make up for his father’s mistake or live up to his father’s expectations. Let GEJ decide which part he belongs to, decide what he wants to be remembered for and deliver a better Nigeria to us. Let him be reminded that “Democracy is a difficult kind of government. It requires the highest qualities of self-discipline, restraint, a willingness to make commitments and sacrifices for the general interest, and it also requires knowledge” as opined by John F. Kennedy.  Let him translate those emotional trappings in his swearing in speech to a sublime reality of the common man.

Thank you.

Foye.

HUES OF A QUIZZICAL REALITY

It’s been a rather disconcerting past year and a half of compulsive addiction to the BlackBerry mobile device (the “intolerable blackberry”, my brother christened it for he couldn’t stand to own one) and an unbearable past month since the goons of the underworld decidedly retrieved it under a rather objectionable and bewildering circumstance. The local but passable phrase “the owner don collect am” would be in order for I never owned it in the first place, just been merely using it while awaiting its rightful owner – the goons. It’s been a harrowing experience of undeniable addiction to a seeming mobile technology, internet, news and information overload, the withdrawal symptoms of which is by no means finite, containable or conciliatory. Come to think of it, I just aided the economic sustenance of a reprobate and somewhat improved the national GDP of our dear country (at least money changed hands, a pecuniary raise for the goons) as unintended as it was. A smile? I thought so too. The new owner – whether the goon or the buyer - even had the ominous audacity to chat with some of my messenger contacts under a false pretext. However, my quizzical mind couldn’t but be encumbered by the seeming happenstance; delving beyond the ludicrous but inescapable reality that stood before me in a circus – like convolution in the duskiness of the night.

The constant battle between good and evil, between God and devil, between right and wrong, between yes and no, between sense and nonsense, between positive and negative in the human mind is an all but never ceasing or relenting contest; the constellation of which transcends beyond the physical and the choice of which rests wholly on the individual, however guided by the society. The mind yet is the most powerful weapon an individual may possess in all ramification and all seasons to adjudge his actions. As posited by Earnest Holmes in his book - The science of the Mind, “The first great discovery of man was that he could think, plan and execute.” He continued that “he (man) realized that conditions did not make themselves. Everything in (his) man's life was run by man himself.” He thus founds his actions on the decisions and conclusions he has made about his society whether subliminally or not, but still mostly instituted and influenced by the society he inhabits. His moral justifications for his actions are thus based on this as such. Martin Luther King Jr. would say “Moral principles have lost their distinctiveness. For modern man, absolute right and absolute wrong are a matter of what the majority is doing.”

In the present society, the majority is deluded and beclouded by their self centred and narcissistic bidding; an aberrant in our supposed moral codes often premised on religious sentiments (a discourse on morality and religion will be represented in a later blog or essay). This thus impinges inexorably on the already thin line between right and wrong; the rueful result of which is the present order we find our distressed society.

For the goon that took off with my mobile device, that battle between right or wrong still wages on in his mind however ebbed for he probably would have rationalised his decisions earnestly before acting them out. His rationalisation may be described as faulty or fallacious depending on who is reading. However, what remains constant is that the society in which he resides is partly responsible for those rationalisations of his. The society makes him, guards and guides him in a seeming path of right and wrong. But the society itself has gone delusory with the thin line between right and wrong fading out, what then becomes of the individual? He subscribes to the next “accepted” and assumed right or wrong - after all he is a feeling man - which may be fallacious.

Let’s consider a society, in which an individual may exist but is cataclysmically barraged with wrong notions inextricably substituted with assumed and specious right notions; he may be compelled to fall into the assumption of the wrong but supposedly right notion as the right notion. This may be the origin of the problem for even though man is a thinking being, his thinking is often times influenced by the exigencies of his society.

Let’s also consider a society in which its leaders and decision makers are themselves corrupt in ways beyond comprehension or reprehension, what justification will then desist a growing child or even a weak thinking man with a weak strength of character from falling into the same profligate and mendacious trend? Think Madam Etteh – former speaker of House of Representatives. Think Alaimesigha – former Bayelsa State Governor who is constantly but foolishly celebrated by his kinsmen at every chance they get. Think Soludo. Think Obasanjo – who raped political morals beyond imaginable conditions. What then will be the choice of the individual in the face of these daring circumstances blaring through his feeling consciousness? 

I do not attempt to suggest what should be right or wrong neither do I attempt to propose a constellation of panaceas to right all the wrong of the society for by so doing I maybe alluding to a higher moral ethic which itself may be fallacious. However, I couldn’t help but ponder on the premises on which each individual bases and judges his actions whether good or bad, right or wrong. Will it make the society any worse or any better if there were to be no choices between good or bad, right or wrong? The truth is we may just be on our way to an irredeemable obfuscation of our dear society.  

Thank you.

Foye.

OF A MONUMENTAL BUT FARCICAL CLIME

I must apologise rather contritely albeit subtly for this blog page was not created with the intent of strong expression of political views or insidious political happenings in the socio - political landscape of a monumental but farcical clime called Nigeria. Rather, it was created with the intent of the expression of the philosophical musings, contrasting thoughts and perceptual panorama of the society in a young writer’s viewpoint in a world typified by bemoaning bedlam. But for the recent flagrant happenstances in our already deluded country, this would have remained so.

It is most unfortunate that Nigeria at its nascent democracy still remains morbidly moribund and an obnoxious obloquy of the polity is most often well deserved especially on issues concerning the safety and security of the citizens of this discomfiting country. I commiserate profoundly with the families of the NYSC members who recently lost their lives in the Suleja bomb blast mishap. Rare gems have been knocked off the face of the earth in the most questionable of circumstances and to what end? A rather odious and vilely GEJ would call them martyrs who have been sacrificed for a supposed greater good. If those corp members were his sons or family relatives, would he have the same to say? It is most unfortunate that the president of the largest black nation does not have a couth manner of approach on sensitive matters as such and could only bring himself to repeat a clichéd “we will bring the perpetrators to justice”. How many of such perpetrators have since been brought to book? His administration, I must say, has been characterised by the most catastrophic of occurrences in the history of security and safety of the Nigerian citizenry. Let’s go down the memory lane to early 2010 when he assumed full presidential responsibilities together with its delusory and pecuniary trappings. A total of more than six unaccounted for and unwarranted bomb blasts have been witnessed with a trail of the bomb blast following him to almost every state he campaigned to during his vast but specious campaign for election. And what did he have to say each time. That’s right, the same clichéd “we will bring the perpetrators to justice” fall out of his grisly mouth in a manner most despicable for a supposed former academia. Even his mien alludes most contrary to this. Early last year, I argued that the best good that GEJ could do for himself at the time was to avoid falling into the temptation of contesting for the 2011 general elections. But given the preposterous nature of humans and the always, ultimate and uncanny desire to hold on to power once tasted, he gave in to the throes of the temptation and the rest is history. Like Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire, may he not hold on to that power for him to eventually lose it under the most embarrassing of situations. The military forces loyal to his Laurent Gbagbo’s rival and the winner of the greatly subverted presidential elections of the country, Alassane Ouattara, caught up with him (Gbagbo) just yesterday in the heart of Abidjan and in the heart of the raging civil dispute. As has been opined, men who do not learn from history are condemned to reliving it at their own expense.  Let GEJ learn.

It was with fervent attention and utter chagrin that I followed the recent NASS elections in our “dear and beloved” country (I sometimes do not believe that anymore – pardon me) alongside my stoical but analytical father. A laughable but wonderful show I must say. It only but corroborates my earlier suspicion that Nigerians are very tired and frustrated of the current order of events in the everyday Nigeria. However, let’s let alone the almost seeming auspicious happenstance and delve into more pragmatic concerns, implications and product of last Saturday’s election. Two of which quickly comes to mind. First, I think it an anticlimax for GEJ to pronounce that he has given Nigeria and by implication Nigerians a free, fair and credible election. It is absolutely beleaguering, unprecedented, unwarranted and baseless for no credit or score card could be given until the three elections has been concluded of which the two most important of the elections are yet to hold. By such proclamation, he only but exposes himself to criticisms as last Saturday’s elections were not without unnerving blemish neither were they devoid of the usual practice of ballot box snatching, overt violence, the usual associated deaths and resignation conundrum of Resident Electoral Commissioner as we had in Anambra state. It has almost become an inherent thing in the polity for people to be “martyred” as the President puts in the Nigerian election cycle. It is just unacceptable for the families of the NYSC corp members that lost their lives did not have a fair share of the election deal neither will they accede to the freeness or fairness of the election process. It is just simply unacceptable!!!

By the foregoing of last Saturdays election results, the PDP notwithstanding its chicanery and brigandage remains strong albeit divided. The impact of such internal division evident making it less formidable in the election as the results exposed. But let’s face it; GEJ still stands a good chance to win in the upcoming presidential elections however not a lot of forward thinking people want him to inclusive of the writer. Why? An analysis of the results of the new senatorial elects elucidates this. There was an almost equal distribution of the newly elects between PDP and ACN/CPC with the raised beam tilting towards PDP. The implication is that the votes of the electorate in the presidential election will be shared between PDP and ACN/CPC as such still leaving PDP with the highest probable votes. My thought is that for an overturn of the monolithic PDP to happen, we do not need both ACN and CPC contesting against PDP frittering the votes of the electorates devoted to PROJECT REMOVE PDP between them. It will be a tougher showdown for the albatross, PDP, if there be only ACN or only CPC in the current order of electioneering in Nigeria. I must say I do not believe in hoping for the best that either ACN or CPC will eventually win but let’s watch as the curtain unveils next Saturday.

Thank you.

Foye.

MUSINGS OF AN OVER CRITICAL MIND II

Memories!!!! Often profound, sacred, organic and often an intrinsically cryptic element of human existence usually bordered by mythical mystique in an expedient appreciation of its quintessence. It’s often a strong impression held onto with a cynical point of reckon for fear of its never ephemeral, infinitesimal and indelible impact on the possessor’s essence. Its one element that makes the mind active however subtly, providing ballast for its expansion, exploration and rationalities but often pushed to the dark recess of the human conception where it’s either inaccessible or downright unusable. The mind of the overcritical was drawn into a paroxysm of delight in the form of episodic jabs of mercurial memories of not so distant yesteryears of childhood. The overcritical mind surmised that it’s unlikely that we are as happy as the children we used to be neither is it likely that we are half as unfeigned and unfettered as the children we were and may want to be in the present scheme of the world. Henry David Thoreau had posited that “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.” Too many details in our present lives often mar our school of memories.

Recent travel through some of the spots that molded the overcritical didn’t make the episodic jabs of memories any subtle. The mind was lured and drawn into reliving the indelible memories of the past in a way only the mind could accede to. The overcritical being had stumbled upon his old university clique while on a journey through the rather emblematic Obafemi Awolowo “Great Ife” University. He wonders how the name “Great Ife” came to be and if it still holds in the present day. Often associated with incessant strike actions that saw the overcritical spend almost eight years within its walls for a seeming five year course does not sound great at least not anymore. However, he couldn’t but allude to the pride of being an OAU student back in the days no matter the encumbrance of its lethargic system. Of late, the “Great” university has embarked on another strike action throwing its students out its golden gate to the intellectually empty streets of Nigeria. The overcritical being had not seen his university clique for some three and half years and acquiesced to their inexorable sanctions. The overcritical mind couldn’t but marvel at how times could transform people in ways not diminutive and yet seem same. A paradoxical happenstance maybe. Amongst this group, the overcritical person was the same as he used to be yet he knew he wasn’t and his clique of friends seemed the same to him yet he reckoned that they were not. Amongst them, he was the same old fallible him and he couldn’t be otherwise. A fallacy of time and place, the overcritical mind observably muttered under a heavy sigh. Living in some old memories could be disastrous. Yet we are often drawn into its consequential after effect.

The overcritical mind could not but observe the purview of cataclysmic order of events in the present day world. Many words have been splashed over the surfaces of every readable print material with every writer propounding his own theory or hypothesis over the verities. Even a seemingly average mind had something to vent his knowledge on. The overcritical mind had resisted the temptation of an expected, probably typical discourse over the present revolution conundrum, ominous earthquake in Japan and its accompanying tsunami but couldn’t fight off the recent temptation to write a few words. The Jasmine revolution has been an exceptional one, shocking to most people in terms of its origin and originality but yet not exactly shocking to the overcritical mind together with its aftermath of the ousting of despicable and mendacious leaders. It has been long deserved. Libya will follow no matter how long Moumar Gaddhafi continues to hold on to the already isolated reins of power in his ‘beloved’ country. The overcritical mind couldn’t but posit the absolute absurdity in the present order of the world but couldn’t agree to the perspective of a probable end of the world as may have been opined. The overcritical mind posits the wave of the revolution as a seeming wind of change blowing across the Islamic countries but which will soon find its way to other deserving climes. Nigeria not been an exception. The mind quickly dwells on the impact the Jasmine revolution could have on the rather continuous and knotty conflict in the Israeli – Palestine region. Less has been heard of it in recent times. Let’s hope it stays so.

These days, the overcritical could hardly tell between males or females not because he suddenly became blind or imperceptive to the sense of sight. Nor is it because he decided not to be able to tell as it is often possible for one to choose what he sees intentionally or unintentionally. The mind has a way of playing such inane pranks on its possessor. However, it is because of the continuously blurry division and distinction between males and females. These days, males are tending more towards females, feminine looks and feminine demeanours while the females are either drifting to an almost unspeakable depth of loss with human reality or they are just downright confused. The overcritical was ensconced into the confusion such inability to distinguish could bring about in a recent situation. The overcritical had gone to a familiar restaurant to fill up his already whining tummy when he happened on three beautiful ladies accompanied by a tall dark hefty guy. He had instantly been drawn to the one with an almost natural look – placid look, beautifully plaited hair do, stud earrings, no danglings. The overcritical noticed she was talking more to a particular girl – the first thought was homosexuality - while the hefty one was talking to the other. On a closer scrutiny, she was a guy and they were two couples having lunch not three girls and a hefty guy. The overcritical had been embarrassed. The overcritical mind does not attempt to impinge on the human freedom of expression for by it we are humans. However, the overcritical mind couldn’t but wonder and imagine a picture of the world with all males looking extremely feminine. Maybe then, the world would cease being a man’s world. No chauvinism intended.

Thank you.

Foye.

MUSINGS OF AN OVER CRITICAL MIND

I never thought I’d be a blogger in the not so distant future of mine not been exactly receptive or averse to more contemporary means of interaction as maybe common practice or expected in the expeditious and rather  incongruous world that we all live in, revel in and have grown used to.  I keep dangling in between new and old concepts that I have wondered if I were born on the edge of the day, month or year of an old or new order of the world. Hard to tell, I often conclude and move on to the next big thought. The next big thought may not be exactly big, petrifying maybe as the mind may dwell on some flawed notion the society and the world at large often conditions us to believe in. Sometimes we do have a choice in what we believe in but most times we do not even try to comprehend the maxims of these so called beliefs. “Join the bandwagon and never look back” says the forlorn and unspoken rule number one of the world. Really, it’s often the innocuous way out for an average mind bereft of critique.

 The mind of the human remains the most powerful tool still defying full appreciation and comprehension from the landlord of the mind itself and even our so called scientists – one of which I supposedly am if studying Pharmacy in school  and being a writer cum blogger  can ever be called that. Being an enthusiast of the extensive works of Sigmund Freud on the workings of the human mind, I have found the intrigues of the human personality and mind rather enthralling and thought provoking. “The interpretation of dreams” published by Freud in 1900 was a classic and it still sits in its rightful place on my bookshelf. He likened the mind of the human to an iceberg – a small part of which is visible above the surface with the greater part submerged below the surface and obscured from view. Our mind consists of a series of thick layers superimposed on each other to make an inextricable entity capable of far more than can be imagined. Adolf Hitler is a case in stride. The interpretation of dreams laid a solid premise for an over critical mind.

I have often sat in silence in gatherings just simply watching people around me. The extent of what people do when they do not know they are been watched is satirical, often quaint and sometimes downright comical. A colleague once told me that she gets rather terrified when I sit quietly mulling over a glass of drink in a social event. She knew me too well; she knew what I’d do in such state. I had shocked her still when we met sometimes back. She learnt more about herself than she could have fathomed. I had watched her for several minutes interacting with other people before we were introduced. Our conversation had drifted normally till she asked what I thought of her. She was to hear more than she could bargain for and couldn’t believe I’d know things about her at our very first interaction. I had simply watched her interact with other people and came to an instinctive but pithy surmise about her person. People often enjoy being told what others think of them; it bestows a sort of sense of belonging and satiation that alludes that they are not from out of this world of ours. An exegesis of the human person or mind, however, is not an exactly guileless exercise. It takes attention to detail and a bias to psychology to scratch the surface of the human mind and comprehend why people are they way they are in the littlest of ways.

Another big thought could creep up on an over critical mind about the naissance of humans in juxtaposition with the Immaculate Conception – a tale we all know too well. The over critical mind may not attempt to compare itself with Jesus – it couldn’t in boundless measures –however, the mind could satiate itself with the reverie of what it’d be like to be a Jesus Christ in the modern dispensation. A Jesus in the modern world is almost beyond grasp. A Jesus with the astonishing miracles, mesmerizing tales, audacious teaching and religious relevance in the modern world would definitely get an agape waoh as it did in the prehistoric times.  Given the preposterous tangle our world seems to be entrenched in, a modern Jesus in our modern world would do a lot of good and set a lot of records aright. Maybe we do need a modern Jesus especially in Nigeria.

Thank you.

www.francisolatoye.blogspot.com