RiverNaija

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...