Emog

“And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores,
from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled
around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our
stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new
dawn of American leadership is at hand.”
Barack Obama

We witnessed history being made today. For the first time in
over 200 years a black American is the President elect of the
United States of America. It was a tight race and though
Barack Obama had an initial lead, It was a fight to the finish
for John Mc Cain. In his concession speech, he praised African
Americans and in his words; Continue Reading »

The race for the White House has been a topic of discussion
over the past months. Democratic candidate Barrack Obama
and Republican candidate John Mc Cain have just 1 day to
know who becomes the President of the United States of
America after nearly two years of campaigning.

It has been an exciting journey for most people watching from
the sidelines and also a defining period for most African’s and
African American’s. This is because this is the first time a black
man or an African American has gotten this far in an election in
the United States. He made history when he was nominated to
be his party’s candidate and is expected to make history again
if or when he becomes the President of the United States of
America. Continue Reading »

In recent times, series of meetings have been held in various
parts of the world by the G8 leaders to find out ways of
helping Africa. Various Non Governmental Organizations
and individuals have constantly sort to help get rid of one
problem or another from the African continent. The question
is, “has Africa always been poor and in need of help?”

African Nations constantly burrow money from the World
Bank, International Monetary Fund and other world aid
agencies. Most of these nations including Nigeria have the
resources to sustain themselves and another nation. However
mismanagement of funds and bad leadership has held this
continent from moving forward.  Continue Reading »

“Our goal now is to build on the greatest accomplishments of the
past few years. Relying on the 7-point agenda that formed the
basis of our compact with voters during the recent campaigns,
we will concentrate on rebuilding our physical infrastructure and
human capital in order to take our country forward. We will focus
on accelerating economic and other reforms in a way that makes a
concrete and visible difference to ordinary people.”

On May 29th 2007, the World witnessed the successful handover
from one democratically elected Government to another in Nigeria.
In a speech that was filled with so much hope and expectation, the
President outlined the road map to achieving the goal of a better
Nigeria. He identified the areas that needed to be focussed upon
and also promised to declare a National emergency on power. Continue Reading »

The middle East has always been a very volatile area. The oil rich
region has been very controversial and is home to some of the
world’s most notorious terrorist groups. Prominent among them is
Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda has attacked civilian and military targets in
various countries, the most notable being the September 11
attacks in 2001. These actions were followed by the US
government launching a military and intelligence campaign against
al-Qaeda called the War on Terror.

This campaign took them to Iraq where intelligence report
suggested that Saddam Hussein was harboring and supporting
Al-Qaeda. This set the stage for an ongoing military campaign
which began on March 20, 2003 with the United States leading
an invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition composed of
United States and United Kingdom troops supported by smaller
contingents from Australia, Denmark, Poland, and other nations. Continue Reading »

A lot has been said about the Niger Delta and the crisis that
has engulfed the region. Different people giving different
opinions and views on the crisis and possible solutions to
what seems to be a major problem for our nation Nigeria.
One peculiarity about this situation is that all the parties
involved want a solution to the problem….. or so it seems.

Years of neglect from various administrations have left the
region under developed and backward. After years of silence
the youths of the Niger Delta have found what looks like a
workable solution to their problem. What is this solution you
might ask? They have found a way to get the attention of the
Government to listen to them and also earn enough to take
care of their upkeep as well as sustain their struggle.

The oil rich Niger Delta accounts for a major portion of
Nigeria’s revenue. Crude oil which happens to be the  main
source of revenue for the nation is gotten from this region. It
is therefore supposed to be developed and well taken care of,
however the reverse is the case. Deibu is a community that is
located in this region which is completely cut off and far from
civilization while the beautiful city of Abuja is illuminated with
beautiful street lights and amazing structures. Continue Reading »

August 2001 was a pivotal date in the history of Nigeria. That
was when the first Global System for Mobile (GSM)
communications call was made under a democratic
government.This event heralded the dawn of a new era, the era
of GSM technology, which has completely changed the face of
doing business in Nigeria.

We have a tendency to forget things easily. When I say we, I
mean Nigerian’s. Can you imagine that seven (7) years ago
we could not communicate as easily as we can now? You
have to own a land line to make a call or stand endlessly on
a NITEL queue to make a call. A lot has changed since then,
we now make calls at cheaper rates and in much more
convenient circumstances. Continue Reading »

I waited till late that night just to hear the news. The never
ending race was finally coming to a conclusion. I have
followed the race for the nomination of the democratic
candidate for the President of the United States and it was
well worth the time.

Many have called it the most interesting and intriguing
primaries in a very long time. There was so much drama,
from the case with Obama’s pastor to the sniper attack or
claim of insecurity by Hillary Clinton when she traveled to
a foreign country. These were just few of the many
happenings that made this primaries so exciting. Continue Reading »

I was in a radio program yesterday to speak on the New
Nigeria. Actually a five minute demo for the program that will
run on Eko FM from Monday’s through Friday at 7:45 AM.
The program will be titled “The PATRIOTIC Nigerian. Where
PATRIOTIC is broken down into;

P = Problem Solver
A = Aspirational
T = Timely
R = Role Models
I = Integrity
O = Outstanding
T = Trustworthy
I = Impactful
C = Compassionate Continue Reading »

From my point of view, the highlight of the Lagos Economic
Summit was the lecture by Mr Enrique Penalosa who was the
former mayor of Bogota in Colombia. Bogota is a city that has
similar challenges faced by Nigerian cities like Lagos. He was
able to transform this city into a model city and he shared some
of his experiences and how major issues where handled.

The first thing he emphasized was the fact that in any democracy,
public good is above private interest. A city must be built and
planned around the needs of its people. The city must be
environmentally friendly. Nigeria as well as other developing
countries have the advantage of learning from the successes
as well as avoiding the mistakes of developed countries. Our
weakness, our advantage. Continue Reading »