RiverNaija

WHAT CAUSES CREATIVITY 1. CONFIDENCE : ABILITY TO QUESTION WITHOUT FEAR 2. OBSERVATION : SEEING PROBLEMS/IDEAS 3. HUMILITY : KNOWING YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING 4. MINDFULNESS : THINKING ON HOW TO THINK 5. CURIOSITY : EXPLORING AND EXPERIMENTING 6. RESOURCEFULNESS : SOMETHING TO TINKER WITH 7. ENERGY : TO EXPLORE AND TINKER 8. ACTION : NOT JUST THINKING, BUT DOING

In 1996, following a peacekeeping stint with the United Nations mission in Somalia (UNOSOM II), I undertook a series of fixed-term appointments in the Department of Information (DoI) in New York. Two years later, I joined the Security Council Affairs Division (SCAD) of the Department of Political Affairs. That was a dream come true as I had always wanted to learn how the council functioned. The department was headed by a United Kingdom diplomat. Naturally, I wanted to join the secretariat staff, but I would apply to agencies and bodies of the organisation as well. As anyone knows, who has tangled with the UN, in practice, merit is rarely the most important quality required of job applicants. For instance, in 1998 at SCAD, I trained an intern from the UK. Within weeks of completing his degree programme in the UK, he was curiously on the UN payroll in New York. Within a few more years, he had vaulted into the P5 cadre.But corruption in the UN is a different file. This one is abou...

It has become clear that our ancestors were deceived with goodies from Europe (Hot drinks, Mirrors, Combs and Ornamental cloths and Shoes). Our ancestors had never seen these items before Europeans arrived. Our ancestors were high on this excitement and was fighting over themselves to acquire them, so that they can distinguish themselves as superior to other members of their villages and settlements. The Europeans then introduced cowries (a form of money) which they used to exchange for these products whenever the Europeans berthed on African shores. Subsequently in the 17th century after the invention of muzzle-loading guns, they started equipping some of the tribes with guns to go and sack perceived enemy villages in other to capture them as slaves, so that they can exchange them with Cowries and Ornaments from Europe. Some of our ancestors who were privileged to be in close proximity with the shores of the Atlantic ocean took advantage of this new found opportunity to raid hinterla...