Random but true...

I recall as a kid that a man in my village became unpopular for engaging in money rituals just to buy the 80's edition of the Honda Prelude. You wouldn't buy that car for 50k today.

I remember as a kid, my whole street converged to watch a truck deliver a very large satellite dish to my neighbor's house. Today a dish one tenth that size delivers 5 times the value and is in almost every student hostel room.

What of the Volkswagen Santana, Mercedes Benz V booth, all overtaken by Camry and Honda discussions? .... Vanity.

Old versus new

A friend declared drinks for the boys because he just launched the Nokia Communicator for over a hundred grand in 2002. Today that phone would embarrass the owner and is a joke compared to the low cost and everyday phone.

People still make the most amazing sacrifices over the vainest of things, make enemies over worthless material things. What can I say? Look back at that one thing you want to kill or die for today and see what becomes of it tomorrow.

Slow down with the sense of attachment and blind pursuit of things, for today's gold is tomorrow's copper...

- Anonymous, April 2012

Another Week Gone By.

It's raining and my DSTV stopped working, didn't hear the rain so kept trouble-shooting on the PVR. After 30 fruitless minutes of looking for what wasn't lost, I stepped outside and discovered what I thought was the Air-conditioning dropping water was rain. 9ja and rain just don't add up for technology, ask any GSM owner here.

Anyway, I was actually busy thinking about the Working week that just  finished, so happy it is over. It was hectic, harsh and hard. I worked, thought and toiled. I got schooled and scolded, I fought back and all I got was feedback. So many deliverables on the work and personal side.

I just moved to a new place so I've been up and about, real struggle emotionally, financially and physically...but it's all good now. Lying in my bed, all I feel right now is fulfillment, favour and triumph. There is one lesson; Perseverence! It was a tough week but I stayed strong, I trusted God and I kept on going. I didn't just survive, I won!

People, It's not rocket science...It's called FAITH!

Moving Mountains still...I am who I am.

MTN....Your 'Worst' Connection!

grrrrhhhh...!!!

It pains my heart that the 1st blog entry I make after a while comes with a negative intent/experience. I wish it differently but I live in Nigeria after all. It is only in Nigeria that companies have a field day skimming and scamming their customers/consumers while the Consumer Protection Council stays dormant, NCC keep 'dulling' and the FG continue dipping their filthy hands into our collective inheritance.


My experience derives from a text message i received from MTN about two weeks ago wherein they apologized for their default bad service on BIS, they added that i was getting 1 week BIS free extension as compensation...yipppeeee! I screamed, thinking Nigeria just became better over night. Little did i know it was MTN adding a 419 dimension into the skill-block. My default BIS expiry date arrived and, of-course, MTN took me off the BIS network...chei! 


I would have sworn it was a mistake and I was still going to get the freeby, I delayed renewing on my own for a day. What a waste, even when I finally decided to give them the usual N3,000, they 'refused' to collect it meaning I stayed of the network for another 24 hrs.. In Nigeria's world of BB addiction, that was some frustration, I felt really left behind and my anger increased.


Finally, a friend of mine that works with MTN customer service helped get me back on the network a few hours ago at the cost of N3,000; my own money and I still had to work on it! Anyway, I didn't think of blogging until I got a text from MTN telling me I had been active since yesterday and my BIS expiration date was calculated based on yesterday rather than today. I no go gree o!!! They scammed me, now they want to skim me....#Godforbid.


Indeed, MTN is the "WORST' connection, I will get my 1 week and 1 day 'by hook or crook'.

ME Ltd – Inspired for 2011

A lot of things crossed my mind as I was thinking of what to write exactly as my thoughts for the coming year.

My thoughts flashed back on 12months of 360days (or 365days in the current calendar numbering) and so many number of hours and seconds gone by in 2010. It has indeed been one heck of a year with a mix of excellent, very good, good and not so good things.

This year has meant a lot for me; I went on a limb and completely outside of my comfort zone, I had an addition to fill up my quiver (kingly & royal in nature) and I executed my priority for the year. It was not all rosy for me. In moving out of my comfort zone, I went through some dark time as well, very dark and very unpleasant. I tried to make changes this past year in service to others but it was thrown back in my face by the very people whom I sought to serve.

"I tried to make changes this past year in service to others but it was thrown back in my face by the very people whom I sought to serve."

This past year has taught me two very important lessons that I take with me into the coming year - 

1. that I must live with the choices I make and not get so caught up in the consequences/blessings of those choices that I forget that it was my making.
2. That in the grand scheme of things, I am the only person that matters, that I cannot afford to purvey my emotions and my feelings on account of others, that when push comes to shove, “Me Ltd” is eventually what counts.

These lessons do not necessarily proclaim self-'centeredness', but what I have seen tells me that in my service to others and in my bid to seek their better end, I must not lose sight of my personal goals and what I must gain in return.

In 2011, this is therefore my message –

• Live with the end in mind, love with the end in mind, serve with the end in mind – an end that suits both those whom you serve, love/live for and your very self. There will be dark periods or people who want you to go with them to/through a dark place.
• Make your choices wisely and if you will accede to their wish, then be certain of what lies at the end of that dark place for you.
• Have a plan (not two nor three but one) that you will execute during the year and for which you will reward yourself at the end. I do not mean new-year resolutions. On the contrary, I mean something that is entirely yours to control and adds to your “Me Ltd”.
• Create a place where only you have total control and give no room to anyone else in that place. This will be your venue for private victories and your place for private celebrations.

If you fail to have a personal agenda (however self-centered this may sound), then you will play to the agenda of others and find yourself a victim of their whims and caprices. So this new year, be wise, be quick and be nimble. Brighten the little corner where you find yourself and don’t be cumbered with brightening the whole world because you simply cannot (there are too many people who prefer their darkness and will do everything to keep it that way).

When 2011 is over (as it definitely will) you should be able to look back and say to yourself, “Me Ltd has done well, hip! hip! hip! HURRAY!!!!” and celebrate with a lot of pomp. May the year be good for you, may every darkness end in light for you, may your battles strengthen you more, may your choices be yours and not those of  others and may those(People and things) who will not stop at invading your place and spoiling your private victories meet with instant and swift judgment.

This and many more do I wish you. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Written by:

Olajide Adetunji (Jan 2011)

Closing the GAP...

Wow, not sure I want to write about this...it's so hard to confess one's opportunity areas, especially if you had 365 days to make up and you still missed out on some things. I guess this one is going to be a very brief one, maybe I'll just discuss/write about personal development, self realization and/or focused improvement...that might make me feel better, at least for now.

I hate to admit it but I try more than once on too many things, loose focus, go back to self defeating habits one too many a time. I am strong willed, have a very strong sense of self belief, but it doesn't work on the little issues of life where its  most needed. As the word of God (and Swtzy) says "...it is not by power nor by might...", another good one can be found in Ecclesiastes 9:11 which reminds us the strong don't always win.

I don't have to meditate all night to know where I failed in 2009, NO!, the focus is why and reasons obvious. Truth is as I type this, I am using the opportunity to reflect about those little challenges I had to try more than once on and why, a lot of things are running thorugh my mind, I will list them down for further reflection, a reality check now, and later, as well as (maybe) help someone somewhere like moi.

So, why did I try more than once so often? This could be attributed (but not limited) to the following:

1. Too much trust in myself, over-confidence in some cases
2. Wrong association
3. Temporary (albeit costly) loss in focus on my spiritual life
4. Emotional challenges
5. External factors...the environmental push
6. A weak will...yes, sometimes I forget to remember my strong personality

So, what are the potential solutions?

1. Firstly and most importantly, trust God (not self): 
2. Improved focus on spiritual development, listen to messages (spiritual and motivational), go to church, get and stay close to a spiritual mentor.
3. Deal positively with boredom, do some positive time utilization (e.g., blogging, meditation, reading, e.t.c.)
4. If it does not help you be better, get rid of it!
5. Do not allow your environment and people to get at you, always draw positives out of situations (Nigeria is not the worst place to be, people are still making things happen here)
6. Look into a mirror, stop blaming the next person (be it in your love life, work, family, e.t.c.)
7. Focus on the big picture, don't go for the proverbial 'bowl of porridge', it is never worth it on the long run.

I am feeling better and stronger already, praise God, guess it's a great new year after all...

Remember WHO you are and WHAT you want to be, don't give up and do not let anything and/or anyone discourage you. IT IS BETWEEN YOU AND GOD!!!

As The Year Ends...taking stock! (PART 1)

Wow...finally I write again, feels so good yet so bad. Good because it is always a good thing to do a good thing (lol), bad because it has taken me too long, way too long, so long I feel like crying. I am totally and thoroughly disappointed. Before I continue this, I sincerely extend heartfelt apologies to all followers of this blog. I know have disappointed a lot of people, I must confess I am writing again because you guys motivate me, thanks for the calls, IMs, etc.

I last wrote in August, then, if I remember well, I also went of writing for about a month and was making a comeback. Now, I have been away, for not 1 but, 4 months. It's almost unbelievable, however, in all things, I give thanks. Yes, I give thanks because it's 1 am and I am typing, typing because I can, because I have chosen to sleep late so I can sleep deep and sleep all morning...I am on vacation!!!

As customary, I have taken the last few days (almost all) of the year off work to rest, spend time with family and prepare for a new year. However, to prepare, you need to define current status, evaluate recent history and project into the future on premises based on facts, fiction and dreams (aspirations). There is so much to think about, so much actions to close on the personal front, so much reminiscing to do and there is mos def not enough time.

This year will stand as one of my most revealing, fulfilling, active years in my life. It is a year in which I planned for so much, did so much, experienced so much, learnt so much and left so much. It sends a chill down my spine (a positive chill if there is anything like that) just remembering some of the events of this year. I have decided to take stock, share my diary of 2009 with the hope that it might just mean something new to someone, or, better still, bless someone. I will be doing it in parts, but I promise not to stop writing this until I am done (in the next few days hopefully).

I have decided to group it as below:

1. The Good, the bad and the ugly
2. Praising God
3. Closing the GAP
4. A peep into the future named 2010

Again, so sorry for the delay/disappointment, hopefully I will make up in the next few days.

NIGERIA...some great people, an 'ex' great nation!

It's 3.23am, it's early into a new day and I am not asleep yet. Don't get it twisted, I don't have exams coming up, no tight deadlines either...so what on earth am I doing awake? I am not on FB and not up to blog or play either...I just got home, well not even home technically, I am putting up at a friends for the night (more like morning).

"In my house in Ibadan, I have Three generators (7KVa diesel, one 5KVa petrol and one 2KVa petrol) and Two sources of water (well and borehole)."

I stopped clubbing, late night hang outs and parties a while back and I haven't been to a vigil in a while. What am I doing awake and why am I just getting home? I haven't answered that question yet but I will - I was in traffic on Lagos Ibadan expressway for 6 hours, almost a whole work day/shift. The journey of forty minutes became a journey of 7 hours, Abeokuta to Lagos, I am indeed wasted!!!

The day started on a rather promising note, after all it was a work free day...DEMOCRACY DAY. It started with a trip to the barber's, window shopping to kill time (since I bought nothing) and then a smooth drive to Abeokuta to spend quality time with my childhood friends and see a mentor. I had to leave Abeokuta reluctantly as I was having some fun, food and fad, reminiscing over old and new times with my quartet of childhood friends. One of us is married so we had our wife to do some home food and a babygirl to spice up the jist.

Anyways, I left Abeokuta around 7pm and hoped to be in Festac in about1.5 hours...for where, for 9ja, bobo!!! Never even got to Festac that day, spent my DEMOCRAZY evening in traffic, added a little of my 'environment sanitation' morning too. Throughout the long and tedious drag and drive, I kept thinking about my beloved country and the cynical and calamitous state of our basic social amenities. I really came close to weeping for my country (wept on the journey for another reason anyway but unbloggable :)).

I am forced to wonder if Nigeria will ever be great, even doubt if it has ever been great, I never grew to find any trace of the acclaimed 'Giant of Africa'...felt like a figment of some geek's imagination, bobo as some would call it. I love this country, no doubt!, I cherish it and want the best for it. I had the opportunity to have been of the shores of the country for academic reasons but I never tried staying out, my heart was always back here (HOME).

I stayed in the UK for one full year obtaining a MBA in Business Management from the University of Sheffield in 2005/2006. I will never forget my first night...please don't abuse me...no be my fault. I remember switching on my lights on the first night in Sheffield, I remember clearly the reaction I had to the brightness of the light, I remember thinking the bulb was going to explode, I remember thinking it was all too bright...in fact I switched it off. The truth is PHCN light and our old generator back at my "father's" is all I had known before my trip, none of the above ever clocks more than 180 volts. In fact, PHCN at 160 volts (the norm) was a great feat, better that than the low current (voltage) alternative.

In my house in Ibadan, I have Three generators (7KVa diesel, one 5KVa petrol and one 2KVa petrol) and Two sources of water (well and borehole). I have consciously decided not to pay PHCN anymore, can't keep paying for a facility I don't enjoy. Ask Ibadan indigenes, anything public is a luxury, especially water!

I am a tax paying citizen of Nigeria, never defaulted on that. If I make my tax bill public, it may result in a public outcry. The fact that I pay it to the current government of that state makes it absolutely ridiculous, a total waste of my hard earned income. Understand my plight when I tell you I am not sure if there is indeed a government in that state, the first in the West of darling Nigeria.

to be continued...