BOKO-HARASSED: ASO ROCK IN THE CROSS-HAIRS?

For many, it was the familiarly ominous sign of a hostile takeover. When the first rumors of a “war” in or around Aso Rock first hit the news waves, discomforting emotions filled the air with their pungent emissions. Cyberspace was clogged with innumerable wonderment. Many wondered what was going on. However, when the foggy air dissipated and things became clearer, the sense of relief was enormous, instantly infectious. It was, after all, merely a few medieval miscreants attempting a jailbreak.

MY GENERATION

I’m stuck in a generation of smart phones but dumb people, where loyalty is just a tattoo and love is a quote. A generation where hope is a waking dream, a good breakfast, but a bad supper. A generation where you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pocket and the secret of success is to know something nobody else knows. A generation where success is not measured by wealth and money can’t buy happiness. A generation where we don’t read to know but to pass exams and failure doesn't mean you’re a failure, it just means you haven’t succeeded yet. A generation where education is the key, knowledge is power and ignorance is not an excuse. A generation where if Google doesn't know the answer, then it's not a right question.

FRIENDZONE

One of the most overused terms when it comes down to dating is "the friend zone." It's amazing how many people get stuck in that mysterious zone. You know what the Friendzone is, right?

It’s basically a pre-emptive rejection where people get too comfortable with someone and see them as only a special conversation and sharing info partner 'a friend' and unconsciously reject the person as an intimate partner.

MUSIQUE

Everyone looks for that one thing that they can connect to, the one thing that would change your mood when you are sad and down. Common!! Think about it….. Imagine you like a boy or a girl just because she can whistle and every other fault is secondary.

For me my kryptonite is music. It is my mood changer, my companion and if possible, my ‘partner’. I know it sounds weird but that is just the fact about me. When I feel alone, confused or even angry, I put my earpiece and I get a new perception of things.

THREE (3) THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER FORGET WHEN GOING TO CAMP

I can clearly remember the period before I became a corper. I was so excited about coming to camp as a result of the experiences my “senior-corpers” had gisted me about.

I had just finished from school and was thinking “What do I need to take when going to camp?” I did a little research, asked a few friends and after my experience at Kubwa orientation camp, I came up with the list below (I hope it doesn’t shock you).

GO BACK TO YOUR LANGUAGE

A famous Kenya writer Ngugi Wa Thiong’o brought issues like this in his book Re-membering Africa. He sees language as "a communication system and carrier of culture by virtue of being simultaneously the means and carrier of memory". If language has that much importance as to carrier memory of our past, then one would ask why most Africans have decided to let go of that past and embrace the imposed language of colonial power. Through this language we have encountered European modernity no doubt but can we really say that we have evolved? Most of us have neglected and toiled with our language, our memory bank and eventually this would lead to starvation and death, what Ngugi calls Linguifam and Linguicide respectively. The conquerors saw an invisible right to impose a language on the conquered; a right that most conquered nations have chosen to accept instead of fight against.

JONATHAN COMPENSATES VICTIMS OF IMMIGRATION TRAGEDY

President Jonathan has directed the immediate cancellation of the recruitment exercise. Instead, a special committee headed by the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, Mrs Joan Ayo, will conduct the employment test to fill existing vacancies in the Nigeria Immigration Service.

EDITORIAL FUN CDS

THE RISE OF A NEW RELIGION

The great German thinker Karl Marx was once quoted as saying, "Religion is the opiate of the people."
There is a new opiate of the people and, in its own way, a new religion. A religion that would in some way, inspire more devotion and fervour than its tired counterparts that were still mired in the doctrines of yesteryear.

DG WARNS CORPS MEMBERS AGAINST BRIBERY

Director-General, National Youth Service Corps, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, has warned corps members that will serve as electoral officials during the 2015 general elections to resist all forms of inducements from politicians.
Olawumi gave the warning on Monday in Kaiama while addressing 2014 Batch A corps members deployed to Bayelsa State during an unscheduled visit to the NYSC temporary orientation camp in Kaiama, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area.

A PAGE FROM MY CAMP DIARY

It’s 4:30am. I wake up seeing myself in a jungle with nearly two thousand strangers, and the lady soldier in charge of blowing that bugle is more than glad to interrupt my dream. I try as fast as I can to slide into a white t-shirt, a pair of white shorts, wear my cap and fix my reluctant feet into a pair of sneakers. The tap predictably refuses to lend out water that morning, and I’m just lucky to get my teeth cleaned before I am chased out to begin the day. In spite of all my efforts I’m deemed too slow in the opinion of the men in khaki, and for failing to ‘double up’, “Kai, Otondo I dey mad, go down” said one of the men in khaki. So I get to the parade ground in frog jump motion.

'SELFIE' BEATS 'TWERK' TO BE NAMED WORD OF YEAR BY OXFORD DICTIONARIES

'Selfie' may have been named Oxford Dictionary’s word of 2013, but its popularity just earned it another accolade - being voted the most annoying and overused term of the past 12 months.
It topped the list of words Lake Superior State University want to be banished in 2014.
Other words that made the cut include 'twerk' and 'hashtag'
Selfie – "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website"

THE TRUE AFRICAN WOMAN

I turned my topic into a question because to me, the concept of the African woman being a dying breed for me is in question. This is due to the fact that I think it’s still very much in existence. I guess it boils down to the idea of Africanism. What does it mean to be an African Woman? From my end, I think what is generally embedded in our minds is the fact that Africa is primitive, local and uncivilized. Then when the concept of civilization and globalization comes into play, it seems we are losing ourselves to American/European culture.

Let me run this by you, my ever ardent reader: What are the characteristics that make African women

DAME PATIENCE JONATHAN TASK NIGERIAN YOUTHS TO BE PEACE AMBASSADORS

First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan, who is also the president of African First Ladies Peace Mission, has called on youths to forgive one another and work together as agents of peace in their respective states.
She disclosed this while addressing youths at the National Youth Peace Concert organized by the Office of the First Lady and the Office of the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Youth and Student Matters in Abuja.

She said “I am deeply pained and I wish you can help me today. The youths, you are my hope. I have called on my fellow women and yet help is still not coming, the men have tried yet no help. So, I am calling on you the youth. I want you to be alive for me. I want Nigeria to be as it was before. I want you to be my ambassadors. As you leave, carry my message along with you.”

On the forthcoming election, she called on youths in the country to shun being lured into election thuggery among other crimes.

THE CLARION CALL

It might be seen as the line of just another anthem, but its actually a mere call for Patriotism, Optimism and Enthusiasm. 

Nigeria graduates both foreign and locally trained from all nook and cranny of the federation are to answer the call as stated in the National Youth Service Corps Act “A Person liable to be called upon to serve in the service corps shall serve for a continuous period of one year as from the date specified in the call-up instrument served upon him, and when so called upon, such person shall make himself available for service and shall present himself at such place and time and to such person or authority as may be specified in the instrument or notice.”

UNITED WE WOULD STAY

Just recently the chief of Army staff, Lt. Gen Kenneth Minimal has relocated to Borno state, where it is believed to have the greatest insecurity in Nigeria.
Will this curb out the issue of Boko Haram? Many Nigerians are still asking and wondering, when will Boko Haram end?

Innocent lives are lost every day, children who hardly even know their bearing in life, due to this terrorist attacks. Should we fold our arms and watch the leaders of tomorrow wiped off the surface of the earth? All these unanswered questions, the youths are still hopeful things will be better.

NIGERIA OUR LAND

Dear mother
Behold your children
Crying and wailing
Each day comes with its own fate
Not looking at faces
It smashes its victim

Your stillness is appalling

Soon and very soon
Actions will do the speaking
Youths you know are rouse
Your splendor, oh, your glory
Holds the answer for procrastination

SHRILL VOICE OF FEAR

During our primary school days, we had this dream that one day we will become dignitaries. We dreamt of many good things to do for ourselves, families, neighbours, relations, less privileged and the country at large. As we grew, our dreams also grew, bigger and wider. Entering secondary school with the same faith, we jumped the hurdle of JSCE and SSCE. After which, we faced the big task of scaling through the almighty JAMB (UME) and Post-UME (Aptitude Test).

Thanks be to God Almighty, we gained admission into universities where we studied, starved and deprived ourselves some beautiful opportunities as youths in a bid to achieve our dreams. Throughout those periods,

MEET THE YOUNGEST NON-INHERITOR MILLIONAIRE IN NIGERIA

After scouring the country to find the most talented persons, top-rated talent television show, ‘Nigeria’s Got Talent’ crowned Amarachi Uyanne as the winner of its first season. The primary school student beat out hundreds of acts to win the coveted N10 million grand prize.

Amarachi Uyanne was born on July 17, 2004 and hails from Benin City, Edo State. Before fame she attended South Point Primary School in Benin. In 2012, she became Nigeria’s youngest non-inheritor millionaire having broken the previous record set by Solomon Ebuka Nwanke Ubani who became a millionaire at age 20.

RACISM

Someone once said Racism is when a white coloured blackberry phone is more expensive than a similar black coloured version of the same blackberry phone. Same is noticeable with Apple Products, though there is no difference in the overall functionality. Well I think it’s a deliberate action by retailers to exploit the ignorance of people.

ADDRESSES OF NYSC ORIENTATION CAMPS

ABIA (AB) NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Umunna, Bende Local Government Area, Abia State.

ADAMAWA (AD) NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Old Gongola Brewery Damare Village Along Lapondo Road, Girei LGA, Adamawa State.

AKWA IBOM (AK) NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Ikot Itie Udung, Nsit Atai Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.

ANAMBRA (AN) NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp, Progressive Senior Secondary School, Umunya, Oyi Local Government Area, Anambra State.

A LIE MY TEACHER TOLD ME

Growing up, while I was still in secondary school, my teacher used to constantly remind us with the saying "The Youths are the leaders of tomorrow", it was in many ways very inspiring to me and many youths because there seemed to be some kind of genuine concern on the part of the Nigerian leadership subtly saying that the youths were not forgotten. I suppose they still use these same rhetoric’s today, but I am not sure, to what extent, the youths trust any such conciliatory pronouncements.
Sane societies would be spending time and resources educating their youths about the fundamental principles of life in a democracy, thereby exposing them to successful role models as well as strengthening their self-esteem and confidence whilst providing educational experiences in the field of civic rights which encourages social involvement and bridging cultural diversities.

SOSOLISO PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR, KECHI OKWUSHI’S MESSAGE TO MR. PRESIDENT [VIDEO]

Many Nigerians won't forget in a hurry, 10th December 2005, The ill fated day of the Sosoliso plane crash that claimed 107 lives. 60 of them had been students from Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja and out of the 60, Kechi Okwuchi was the only survivor. With burns covering 60% of her body and over 75 surgeries later, Kechi’s story is one of perseverance and determination.

Watch her story below….