RiverNaija

Many times, people ask me what they need to do to write well. Even though there are many things one needs to do to be able to write well, there is one among them that is fundamental. And that is: “If you want to write well, read novels, and more novels.” It is as simple as that. Other types of books are good. Magazines, newspapers and journals are also good. But if you want to write in a compelling manner; if you want your readers to read your works from start to finish; if you want to hold your audience captive; if you want to entertain your audience rather than just educate them and bore them stiff, the solution is simple: Read novels. And what type of novels are we talking about? Any type of novel would do. Any novel that agrees with your spirit. Any novel that has an interesting story. Any novel that can hold you captive. Read as many as possible. Read them all the time. Soak yourself in the narrative. In a couple of years, you will see the impact. Why is novel-reading this magi...

This is coming at a time when Nigerians are exporting religion and superstitions to the rest of the world; when our so called "men of God" assert that the cures for diseases are to be found in prayer houses rather than laboratories; when our universities have become the birthing places of pastors and imams; when we have become accustomed to pastors making extraordinary claims such as driving cars on empty tanks and resurrecting the dead; when the medieval belief in witchcraft and the practice of witch-hunting are ever so pervasive; when jihadists are engaged in a campaign of terror to spread sharia. I can go on and on. A university is a place of enquiry and enlightenment but every year, impressionable young minds arrive on our university campuses hoping to be nurtured in the art and science of enquiry, the tool by which all progressive societies have advanced themselves; but instead, a great percentage of their university time is taken up by religious activities such as pra...

The dictionary defines materialism as a preoccupation with material objects, comfort and consideration to the exclusion of spiritual, intellectual or cultural values crucial for wholesome living. This malady manifests itself in a subtle way in our modern lives as clutter which builds up as we collect things for a number of reasons – for use later, sentimental reasons and so much could be spent in acquiring it even if we may never get to use it since it is possible that after buying it, we discovered it is not vitally relevant to our lives. However, it may really hurt us deeply to give it away because the two areas in the brain associated with pain light up in response to discarding clutter. The brain views the loss of such valued possessions as the same that causes physical pain. This psychological connection to things unconsciously leads to accumulation of stuffs, whether it is in the closet, office desk and in the surroundings capable of inducing negative impact on ability to focus...

This topic came up in my mind after I read an article entitled, ‘Are Nigeria politicians crazy?’ What is quite obvious concerning Nigeria is that she is blessed with natural resources and some folks add that we are blessed with human resources — a point I disagree with. Of course, we have numerous professionals, technologists and even academicians who, possibly, may be literate but not educated. This does not confer on Nigeria the status of being “blessed” with human resources. The value of human resources in any society is the calibre of mental capital it can deliver. We have a critical mass of human resources with some literacy, but not essentially educated. We have acquired some knowledge in a manner that did not interrogate our culture, hence the disconnect between our elites’ claim to education and their leadership failure in all ramifications. Our politicians do not have mental illness; they have only taken advantage of our mediocre cultural software to express their greed. We ...

John intends to start a business, Ada wants to write a book and Bayo is good at music and wants to become a professional musician. They have many ideas running through their minds about these things they want to do. John has a lot of business ideas, Ada has ideas of different plot lines for her book and Bayo has a lot of good tunes in mind. But they all have a common problem - how will they bring these ideas to reality? Ideas are great but unless something is done with them, they remain worthless. In this post, I will try to suggest ways to go about bringing your ideas to reality. The points are not exhaustive because I intend to make it brief. Please stay with me. 1. Get organised. Scott Belsky in his book on this subject states that a surplus of ideas is as dangerous as a lack of it. The tendency to jump from one idea to another drains your energy and you struggle to make progress. Without some structure, you can become an addict of the brain-spinning indulgence of idea generation....

World mental health day is observed 10th of October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilising efforts in support of mental health. The day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work and what needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health — a global mental health organisation, with members and contacts in more than 150 countries. It is the most important day in the mental health calendar and this year’s celebration focuses on “Living with schizophrenia.” It seeks to give consideration to those who live with the disorder, their families, friends, doctors and even the society as a whole. The term ‘schizophrenia’ was coined by a Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler in 1911, and it comes from the Greek roots ‘Schizo’ (split) and ‘Phrene’ (mi...

Uyi and his wife just got back from a friend’s house warming where they had so much fun eating, drinking and sharing jokes. They share a special bond with their friend and couldn’t be happier seeing their friend fulfill a livelong dream of owning a home. Uyi had thought about buying a home too and quit paying the N2m he pays annually in house rent. However, to own a home like his friend he will need to cough out like N16m in equity and pay as much as N350, 000 monthly in mortgage payments for N25m loan. He just needs to be patient and doesn’t need to be under pressure. But as Uyi lay down to take a nap after a long day, his wife whispered to his ear “when are we going to buy our own home”? This is one question you have to face several times in your life provided you live in a rented apartment. In an economy like Nigeria, owning a home (which for this article I will attribute to house bought for the owner to live in) is difficult. This makes owning a home versus paying a rent argument...

For definitive purposes, a fool can be described as one who is deficient in judgement, sense, or understanding. It could also mean one who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous. In some instances, being a fool or being fooled could be occasional, so it may be one who acts unwisely on a given occasion. But, when such an act of foolishness goes beyond the occasional and increases its mode of frequency, there ought to be some level of concern by the discerning I was once taught by my teacher that, no one is born foolish, and rightly so. As I gained more exposure to life's dynamics, I realised foolishness could be gradually attained, sometimes subconsciously and often times unintentionally. There are many types of fools, and Nigeria is gifted with it's own peculiar breed of fools. The Complicated Fool: those who aren’t even aware they are fools - the wisdom acclaimer. We have the Circumstantial Fool: the fool who was made foolish due to some circumstance, like economic h...

There is a high incentive to use juju to settle scores in Africa; hence I came up with possible elements that could motivate the practise of juju: •The psychological nature of Africa’s people is inherently superstitious (Illogical) and not solution driven (Logical) - Africans keep discharging stories and tales of juju powers (influence) over their day to day activities. A lot of these stories are mostly unproven, delusional and when investigated, lacks logical supposition. This in turn breeds fear amongst the people which in turn motivates individuals to choose Juju as an option to intimidate others and seek revenge for perceived wrongs done to them. It is also our superstitious thinking that is responsible for the large Church congregation that has since infested the African society (Always looking for superstitious or spiritual solution to their problems instead of thinking through their problems and coming up with findings for their next steps). Africans love outsourcing their respo...

As a gadget lover I have found myself owning some of the latest tech gadgets in the last five years. I remember journeying all the way to China town in Boston just to get my hands on the very first Ipad a month after it went on sales, only to find out months later that a newer model was going to be released. This was back in 2010 and just four years later there are over four newer versions of the same Ipad rendering my four-year old gadget obsolete. Many of us at one time in our life have found ourselves in situations where we own things we actually do not need and probably cannot dispose of. It is even worse if these are things that cost us even more money to maintain regardless of whether we use them or not. It could be cars, clothes, gadgets, wearable’s etc. Just how one can minimise the habit of buying things we actually do not need and prioritising the need to buy what we absolutely need. First the causes; Sell pressure I found out that most of the things I own that I actually ...

Last week, I got a mail from a young man who reminded me of a series I once did regarding “choosing a career as a medical doctor”. He said he needed the writings for himself and his siblings. Having found in my archives the two-part column which I wrote in February 2007, (three months before I took up appointment as spokesman to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua) I sent it to him. Titled “Who Wants to be a Doctor?” I consider the message therein important for a time like this, perhaps so that some of us might temper our anger against members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) who, in clear violation of their professional oath to save lives, have been on strike for almost a month now. I am not in support of the ongoing strike by the doctors and the timing could not be more inauspicious given the outbreak of Ebola virus within the West African sub-region with serious threats on our shores. With the death yesterday of a Nurse who was involved in treating the late Liberian v...

There has been much backlash towards Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘feminist’ views, as well as towards her tasteless style of performance. Chimamanda Adichie Chimamanda Adichie Photo Credit:Huffington Post I have, until now, wanted to stay out of the debate, mainly because of her arguments being pathetic as opposed to well-thought-out. But as the conversation has grown on social media—it seems to linger eternally, for Adichie keeps fuelling it with her well-timed, divisive remarks—I realise thoroughly the significance of the debate per se, and the need for me to partake in it. I should mention here that because of certain factors I consider myself well-positioned to examine and to present opinions on the matters in question. 1) The first is that the Igbo culture of south-eastern Nigeria, which Adichie constantly attempts to exploit to support her positions, is equally mine. 2) I left Nigeria to study and settle overseas at about the same age as Adichie. I left Nigeria for Fi...

Ever wish you had the answers to a test before you walked into the classroom? Maybe some of you did have the answers, but you better keep that to yourself. I took some really hard tests during my college tenure. An engineering curriculum will do that. And if you spent time in college you remember review days. The professor would walk into a class full of students (some of which I had never seen) and give some insights about the impending test. Miss review day, and it would be foolish to expect a passing grade. But it never failed. I would follow the guideline. I would study the handout. But on the day of the exam, the professor would put the exam on my desk…and there it was. A foreign formula or equation I had never seen. At least one I did not see on the study guide. Looking back, I realize something…the teacher did not intend for the study guide to be comprehensive. It was simply not possible to include everything from the required reading, class notes, and lectures. Such is the case...