Kayode Akintemi's Blog

Artistes United Dinner in Support of President Goodluck Jonathan

2011-03-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

My sunday is truly special and it is supposed to be my day of rest, physically and spiritually. As I am now based in Lagos working with Channels Television as the General Manager in charge of News, Programmes and Broadcast Operations, I am consistently finding it difficult to stay away from the studio after my sunday service.

I have been going to church, and finding myself ending up in the office because of one thing or the other. This will not be a good pattern to develop because day of rest should be respected, especially as I end up spending up to 12 hours at work every day of the week.

This last sunday was no exception as I was told that Professor Pat Utomi was the guest on Rubbing Minds, our Youth oriented programme that is presented by Shade Ladipo and and Chude Jideonwo, with Adebola Williams and co as Producers. There was no way I could have ignored someone of the calibre of Pat Utomi in my station without dropping by to say hello and pump some flesh... :-)

However, to make things more complicated, my very good friend, the one and only Elegant Stallion of Africa, Onyeka Onwenu asked me to please attend the Neighbour 2 Neighbour sponsored Artistes United, A Dinner In Support of President Goodluck Jonathan on a sunday night. I had to chew on this and said a tentative yes. I waited till 8pm to call Mandi who was working on this event with Onyeka. I do not like to be late for events, but this one, I was not very keen on, and the only reason I was attending was because the invitation came from Onyeka.

When I called Mandi and was informed Mr. President was not there yet, but was expected to be late anyway, I had to get out of my pyjamas to take a shower, change and head to Victoria Island for the event, hoping to see the man GEJ in his element, especially as he is said to be comfortable in the company of Comedians, Musicians and Entertainers, to the point where the major interview granted by His Excellency was conducted by our own very famous and funny Musician, D'Banj.

I arrived to find the hall 70% full and people still milling around outside in the expectation that they will all rush in when the convoy of His Excellency arrives.

Alibaba opened the event as the Master of Ceremony and then had these two guys, comedians, come on stage afterwards. Sadly I forgot the name of the one Alibaba called the insane comedian, but without a shadow of doubt the guy was insanely funny. He could belt out a good tune and he could murder any song. He is also capable of making a guy like me who wants to not be seen laughing out loud in an environment like this laugh so much, I had a few drops of tears... lol...

Anyway, my dear friend Onyeka Onwenu came on to give a very powerful opening speech, which was convincing and compelling. She should have been appointed as the Principal Advocate and Director General for GEJ Campaign. She made it succinctly clear that Goodluck Jonathan is the best President Nigerians can have amongst the lot contesting now, because he has been the friend of the Entertainment industry from when he was the Governor of Bayelsa state.

Obviously this friendship has continued as our dear President opted to spend time with D'Banj, albeit granting an interview, while other candidates were busy presenting their manifesto to Nigerians on the Live Presidential Debate broadcast on NN24.

The disappointment defied words for description as I witnessed pockets of musicians drifting away quietly as time passed by. The reason I could not make a quick exit was because of Dudu, the legend of Nigerian Music Video, Tunde Alabi Hundeyin. My brother and former boss from OGTV was in his element as he provided further entertainment for me, with his witty remarks and comments about all the weird and wonderful characters in the industry. Some of them were dressed in outfits that would make you wonder why they had anything on at all.

When I remembered I had an 8am meeting with the Google Business Development Manager on Monday morning, I had to quickly call my driver and make a graceful exit.

I heard from the grapevine that Mr. President might have wanted to attend, but could not tear himself away from the fence-mending job he was doing. He was most likely working on the relationship management and finding solution to the Lagos/Ogun States palaver. I read in the papers this morning that GEJ had to spend a lot of time untangling the messy quagmire in Ogun State as well as all the political shenanigan going on with the presence of Bode George back in the fray in Lagos. These are chinese whispers that were never confirmed or denied, but published by some newspapers.

The long and short of this, speaking in colloquial language, is that, the best friends of GEJ were not dancing and singing for him last night. They did not seem too impressed. Though there was consistent denial that any money had been shared or given by anyone to make the night happen. Hmmm... the truth will always come out at some point.... so watch this space... when it does, we will all know... :-)

The only sad thing was that I did not get much for my Sunday evening spent outside the comfort of my hotel room. I probably would have achieved more by staying indoors and do the usual, sort out my paperwork for Monday and watch some boring television... lol... Hey, I should not be such an ingrate, I did get loads of laugh, thank you Alibaba, thank you my big brother Tunde Alabi-Hundeyin, thank you the "insane comedian" who made me laugh a lot and thank you Elegant Stallion, Onyeka Onwenu, I will hope you contest and win your local government so that you can show our people what it means to lead from the front.

Please don't tell kids nothing...

2010-09-22T05:57:00.000-07:00

I often joke about the fact that on the inside, I am a Peter Pan, I never grew beyond 6-8years old, but in reality, I am over 21... tee hee hee... not letting the cat out of the bag yet.

I have come to the realisation that age is nothing but a number and it really doesn’t matter that much, except to people who are insecure enough to feel you owe them something because, by accident of nature, they happen to be born before you...

OK, I have digressed from the outset, so I had better get on to the straight and narrow, eyes on the ball now, focus on the subject matter without deviation.

I took my kids to school the other day and I remember meeting one of the mums at one of the school events. We got into conversation about people not acting their age and how boys will always be boys and stuffs like that. This lady lectured me on how important it is to be matured and sensible and why girls will find it difficult to cope with boys their age or younger.

As the conversation drifted, I asked her if she has ever dated someone younger or her age, she said she had not and that, they are usually too childish to cope with her level of maturity. I took a deep breath and smiled. She is Nigerian and the husband/partner is not.

I could be rather mischievous at times and this was one of those days that I wanted to play out my little mischievous boyish nuances. I asked her when her birthday would be and she showed that she is truly Nigerian by answering a question with a question... tee hee hee... “why did you ask?” was her response.

I told her I was just curious, but she should not bother, so I excused myself, walked away for a few seconds, then started playing with her son. I did a little “rough play” of push, pull, then carry and run. He got into a state as boys do and wanted more, so I stopped and said I will not continue unless he told me when is mummy’s birthday.

I thought, that was “wicked” as she gave an evil grin to the boy, and said “don’t you dare”. Well, boys will always be boys and kids don’t have the same matured attitude of holding back information when you ask them something they know...tee hee hee...

He spilled the bin, let the cat out of the bag, “mummy’s birthday is October 2nd and she will be 43”, I carried him and ran away, laughing all the way... and when we came back, he reminded mummy that she is 4 years older than daddy and that when they argue she often tell daddy she is not his mate and that he is too childish.

Now that is below the belt, that was not information meant for my ears and that little boy should not have said that in public. I did not know how to respond to that. If I carried him and ran again, that will be a terrible mistake and completely unacceptable even for a man who is just about 8years old on the inside and just a little over 21 years of age... tee hee hee... its not funny actually...

I could not look at this lady for a few seconds, because I dreaded her reaction and wondered how she will respond to that one. She kept her cool, put on a brave face, gave another evil grin to this little boy, snapped her finger, telling him “when we get home, we will have this conversation again!!!” I felt sorry for my little friend, because, I guessed he will surely not get away with that answer to a question never asked.

I remember one of my kids asking me how old I was and my spontaneous response was that I was as old as I felt that morning. I tickled her to submission, refused to stop until she stopped asking the question. Then I told her I feel like a 6 year old boy. “Come on Daddy” was all she could say after making her laugh so much from the tickling.

I have learnt a long time ago that whatever you do not want your child to do or say in public, do not do or say it even in the most private area of your house when the child is nearby. If you insult your husband, wife or spouse at home, your kid will tell the world at one of the most embarrassing moments and usually unexpected time.

I witnessed an incident this morning that inspired this blog. It was amusing, though not very funny, as a lady had two kids to take to school. I was coming behind her when the station staff said she cannot go in unless she pays for a ticket for her son that is about 9 years old. I jumped in to support her protest and told the guy, that no one is aware that you should pay for travelcard for a 9 year old.

This guy insisted that was what the letter of the law said and the lady will need to make the payment to get a chance of taking the next train. She was not a happy bunny as she fished for some coins in her purse. She brought out a note, about to pay and guess what, the younger sister told the cashier, without being asked or prompted, “I am 6 years old, would mummy need to pay for me too”. The guy smiled and said, “yes, now that I know, she will surely have to buy a ticket for you too my dear”.

If looks could kill, that sweet and innocent girl, would have died instantly. I wanted to roar with laughter, but could not, as I wonder, why on earth did she say that. I got hot under the collar as I no longer found it funny and was just bewildered why kids would not keep quiet at the appropriate time. Instead, they seem to exercise the right to speak even when no one had asked them any question.

I thought about my own growing up years and what would have been the result of that from my or other parents. I knew instantly that it would have resulted in slaps and pinch and knock on the head to warn you not to open your mouth when you are not being spoken to or asked question.

It takes a man or woman of a certain generation and cultural background to remember those knocks on the head that can be so painful and evil to the point where your eyes will start dripping with involuntary water from the after effect of that knock... Oh my gosh, tears will well up and in one blinking moment, it will drop like torrents of rain... tee hee hee... its actually not funny at all... that will be described as child abuse these days...

Now I have come full circle and my thought is that kids these days need to learn to “shush” as its considered rude these days to tell children to “shut up”. If you don’t want to train your child in this permissive side of the world to go around telling people to “shut up”, then you will chose not to use those words.

Swearing and cursing is an absolute no, no... Any parent with some integrity, class and self-respect will definitely be embarrassed to hear their child say rude things to other kids in public. I don’t know a lot of people that will be smiling when their 7 or 8 or 9year old, in public glare, speak out loud and say “look at that stupid man he is going to bump into some with the way he is walking”. But guess what, parents call other drivers “stupid”, “idiot”, b**ch and other such rude words when driving with kids in the car.

If you don’t want your child to broadcast in public that your spouse is a lazy man that is no good, or that your woman is stupid woman, then do not ever say thing like that in their vicinity or hearing distance.

One must acknowledge that there are situations where one can not win with kids. What do you say to the kids that tell the ticket cashier “I am 6 years old, will mummy need to pay for me too?” Do you tell that child never to speak the truth or never to let people know her real age?

I love kids, they are so refreshing and sweet and innocent and so sincere in the way they communicate, they never seem capable of pulling punches. As a parting short, I was in a cab with my daughter the other day, she had just finished Judo class and she sat in the back, while I was in the front seat.

She asked me a simple and innocent question, “Daddy what will happen to anyone that eat a lot of junk food and never ever find time to exercise?”

I nearly died, because the cab driver happened to be an Asian guy that is not just obviously overweight, he must be clinically obese, he also had leftover of his KFC snacks beside him. How would you respond... lol....

PS. She told me later at home that the Judo Instructor told them to eat just a little junk food and exercise a lot. She wanted to know what I think because I jog regularly and I often tell them I don't like junk food, so MacDonalds is a treat, not a regular meal.... lol...

Breast feeding on Central Line

2010-09-17T05:19:00.000-07:00

I was on Central Line today on my way back home from church. I saw a cute little boy, chubby cheeks without being fat, angelic blues eyes with a good head of blonde hair, and I reckon he should be about 2 years old.

This little cherub has one heart-melting smile that will make you just want to hug and cuddle him. I could not stop smiling as this cute little thing gave me a big smile that made the entire coach glow with warmth. I looked around me and I could sense a warm feeling as everyone seemed to be smiling just because of this sweet charmer.

Well, the mum had him on her lap and she smiled too. She is obviously beautiful, seemingly curvy and shapely, wearing a nice dress, low cut showing some cleavage and the summation is that this beautiful and well dressed woman has a cute son on her lap. Listening to a few things she said to the boy in English, I reckon she must be Eastern European.

I sat directly opposite this lady and the son and without much ado, I was going to just bring out my notebook and bible as there were points I was pondering about after service and wanted to check before it all fades away as is usually the case when you don’t write down theological issues you have reason to doubt or check it instantly.

The little boy’s smile evolved into making faces at me and the 6year old boy in me took control and I started making faces at him too. First he giggled, and then he went into full blown hearty laughter that got the attention of everyone on the train. Now I was looking like the silly old man as he continued to laugh at every expression on my face, then I thought, OK, this has to stop now, else I may seem like I am the one enjoying the attention.

Like most boys his age, attention span is short, so without any notice to what he was going to do next, he dipped his hand into his mother’s dress at the top, and right “in my face” brought out her breast, snuggled up and was helping himself to some breast milk.

If I was not a black dude, I would have gone completely red, but guess what, my cheeks became hot and my eyes nearly popped out. The mother seemed completely unperturbed and she even made it easier for him, undid a button and further exposed herself in public glare without as much as making an attempt to cover up a bit.

Suddenly, I was extremely self conscious as this woman is plonked right in front of me and did not seem bothered that she has a big boob fully exposed and she is right in front of me and a sizable number of guys and ladies on the train on a busy Sunday afternoon.
Everyone else seems to have someone to look at or talk to or another direction to face except me. I could not look right or left without being aware that I am making strong effort not to stare. I wanted to show I am not embarrassed for some weird reason, but I was and could not hide it. Gosh this is not good, on a Sunday afternoon, just after church...

I felt like a pervert, because, in my head, I tried to blank it all out, then my mind started playing tricks on me, working out whether she was about 34DD or larger, Oh my gosh, please stop, don’t think, don’t look, don’t close your eyes, because then the image becomes more vivid, what do I do?

If I had gotten up and moved to another seat, I will look like a really bad guy that does not like women breastfeeding kids, seating still was difficult. When I opened my bible, it seems the only word printed was boobs, boobies and breasts because that was the image my head conjured. Oh Father forgive me, for my mortal frailties... (Amen)
OK, I decided to put the bible aside and start writing my thoughts to focus my mind on something. Then my little friend stopped suddenly and said “y’ello” to me as if to mock me, I managed a brave “hi”, the mum smiled, the boy laughed out loud, the whole coach looked again and this woman’s breast was still in public glare and the boy went straight back to it again.
I concluded, there should be a law that prevents this from happening on the train. No woman should be allowed to display herself like this while on the train on a Sunday afternoon, when folks like me are coming back from church. It’s totally out of order and completely unacceptable.
To be serious now, there is no reason for her not to have a shawl or something to cover herself while the son is getting fed. I have nothing against breast feeding, infact, I think its fantastic for a mother to breastfeed rather than offer the kid crisps and chocolates. But on the other hand, I did not think its right to do it the way she has opted to display herself in public.
Come to think about it, at what age should a mother stop breastfeeding anyway. I am not sure, but I would think a child should not be breastfed once they are two years old or they have teeth and can eat solids.
While all this thoughts were going on in my head, the lady patted the little boy on the head, moved him away, cupped the breast in her hand and put it back where it belongs. She smartened up quickly and at Liverpool Street, up and on her way out, she gave me a big smile, said bye, and asked the son, “will you say bye to OUR friend?” That I thought was cheeky, my cute little friend said bye and I gave him a quick hi-five.
The middle aged white guy seating next to me with his girlfriend gave me a look and went “phew” then said “you did not look comfortable there at all”. I gave a wry smile and said, absolutely not, were you? He said even his girlfriend thought that was unnecessary especially as the boy was not a baby as such.
Now the questions that continue to plague my mind include, why would a woman choose to expose herself like that in public, why breastfeed a 2 years old on the train, why make a show of it and seem unconcerned, what level of loneliness or insecurity will make a woman continue to breastfeed a child even when it’s obvious the child is at an age he/she does not need to be breastfed anymore?

I will be asking my female friends what they make of this and will be good to know the thoughts of women about this. In the interim, I may have to write to Central Line Train operators (TfL) to ask if that kind of attitude that embarrasses their customers should be allowed on their trains. It will surely be interesting to hear what Transport for London (TfL) spin-doctors (Customer Services) will say.

Is it not you people in London? :-)

2010-05-18T07:12:00.000-07:00

I was at an event recently where I sat beside the Governor of one of the states in the East of Nigeria. Someone talked about the fact that Nigerians in Diaspora constitute a huge force and could influence the future of Nigeria come 2011 election. The governor laughed out loud and said, “Mr. Kay that is a dream that we will not be actualised with this generation”.

I thought that was unfair and asked him why he made that statement, he responded in a very firm tone with a rhetorical statement “Is it not you people in London, can you raise £1000 today in London, look Mr. Kay, start calling people you have their numbers and tell them you want to raise £1000 for politics, most of them will stop taking your calls or tell you long stories about bills and tax”.

I was tempted to put my mobile on speaker phone and make a few calls to secure commitment from people that I want to raise £1000 as His Excellency the Governor said, but I allowed common sense to prevail and not react immediately. I told him, he was underestimating Nigerians in Diaspora and that his perspective on how Nigerians abroad behave and respond is based on the fact that a lot of people at home in Nigeria have a warped image of how easy it is to make money here in the UK and then expect us to spend lavishly.

But I knew in my heart that I was making excuses for a lot of brothers and sisters in diaspora. Yes we have challenges living abroad, yes the tax system here in the UK does not challenge Nigerians alone, but my friends who are consultants and executives also complain about the fact that you give almost half of your salary to government as tax once you go over a threshold. When my accountant does my tax return, I always wish I do not have to pay so much in tax, but I look around me and the necessities of life that the tax has contributed to making happen.

Let me not digress because I was unhappy with the Governors dismissal of Nigerians in Diaspora as people with limited or no passion for Nigeria beyond just complaining, whinging and groaning about thieving politicians who are not doing much to improve the lots of the country. But then, I also know that if you fail to put your money where your mouth is, you might as well be described as one speaking through the area of the body that never see sunshine, if you catch my drift.

This incident is less than a week old and an opportunity presented itself last night as I got a call that a Nigerian who has passion for politics in the UK is on the verge of being elected as Mayor of Southwark and will be sworn in this week. I was being myself when I made a few calls to spread the news that our friend and brother will become the first Nigerian Mayor in a Borough that is known to have a large population of Nigerians.

I made a couple of calls and asked that those who are living and running businesses in Southwark should join hands with me to put some money together for us to organise something for our Brother/Friend, to celebrate him, showing our appreciation of his tenacity and diligence. I am not asking that we give the Mayor money, the option was to arrange an event where he will be Guess of Honor and we all show support and encouragement.

Let me make a point clear here, I do not live in Southwark, I do not run business there, I have never gained anything in that borough or needed any assistance from the council, so definitely my intention, to the best of my knowledge is sincere and honourable and designed to show that our people do understand the power of unity in achieving purpose and influence.

Without going into a long story, the people I called said yes, its a sure thing for them, but we should get a handful of others so that the fund raised will be considerable and achieve something more worthwhile. Well, they made some calls and both of them came back this morning to complain about how our people never seem to see beyond their noses and yet expect to be people of influence.

No matter how many hours and days you spend in church and other religious environment, God will not come down to make you a person of influence and secure respectability for you. My Dad in his days used to talk about the fact that your heart and wealth are intertwined. If all you seek is money, you may never really be truly rich because money was never designed to be the end, rather, it is means to an end.

The lesson in this whole experience is that a random and unintended sample of people proved His Excellency the Governor right. I wonder if I say that I am interested in becoming chairman of a local government in Nigeria, state governor or senator, I guess the people that will be asked to support my ambition will be saying the same old thing that has kept a lot of our people outside the sphere of influence they would love to operate... “What will he do for me when he gets in there” or “why should I spend my money to support him?”

I have a penchant for not dwelling on a problem, I like to focus on solution, both at work and outside work environment, my passion is to be solution-driven in all my dealings. So what do we do about this and how do we see a solution implemented? I am sure a sizable number of people that would read this blog will fall into category of those that would do nothing when they are asked to put money into anything, apart from big owambe parties that enables them to show off the wealth they acquired from flashing credit cards that they are struggling to pay back.

OK Mr Kay, focus on solution now... J fine, I will, so here we go... a challenge to my facebook friends, show your colour and show your hands. I would like to collect a list of names of people that are happy to put their money where their mouth is, so step one, put a note below stating you will be happy to put your money where your mouth is in terms of influencing change in Nigeria. Step two, send your contact details to my inbox and I will discuss a project that I believe can influence or impact change in Nigeria. Step three, be ready to make your money work for you and secure that which you will not get unless you put something into it – as you know, where you invest nothing, you end up getting nothing, unless of course you are a thief, rogue and criminal J

Come to think of it, we talk about what is wrong with Nigeria so regularly and expect change, some people even go to church and pray for change, their Pastors and church leaders speak in tongues and others have their Alfas and Juju men chant to the oracles they believe in so that miracles or magic will happen.

There is no magic or miracle that will change Nigerian situation, we have to be the change we are praying and hoping for. We have to be able to put our time, our money, and our other resources on the table to enable positive things happen to our beloved country.

I am waiting to see the handwritings on my wall, I will not hold my breath in the hope that 100 will be inspired, rather I will hope that I have stirred something that could lead to something which can then lead to something... if you catch my drift or follow my roundabout way of saying what you already know... tee hee hee...

Anyway, this is no laughing matter, show your hand so I know who are the Nigerians inspired or aspiring to become people of influence in the shaping of the future of our nation.

I am in search of "DILIGENT FRIENDS"

2010-04-27T06:06:00.000-07:00

I was a bit of a rascal when I was in Federal Government College, Kano and the Principal of the school, described me as virus that spreads and cause all kinds of problems, so he told me parents to find another school for me, where I will be uncomfortable so that this viral infection can not grow or spread.

I was moved from one of the best schools in the country to one of the schools that can be aptly described as local – in the sense of being pedestrian, underachieving, with students that wear shorts instead of normal Trousers at FGC, Kano, and instead of nice pairs of shoes, they wore sandals or in some cases, bathroom slippers, because some of them were from such poor homes, their substitute to slippers will be to come to school bare feet.

I was moved from the “great” Federal Government College, Kano, where the students were from some of the richest families, middle to upper class of the country, elite kids from homes where summer is spent abroad, to then go to a school where the average student was born and grew up in Otta, the boundary area or as I would put it then, the middle of no-where between Lagos and Ogun States.

This is a story I will tell someday and the experiences can be likened to how a friend of mine described the BBC’s “Welcome to Lagos”. This friend said that the programme has some amount of hilarious comedy in it, making one laugh and some bits of it bring tears to one’s eyes because of the abject poverty on display.

However, the essence of this preamble is the Principal at Iganmode Grammar School, Otta, he ensured that every single morning at the assembly, he never failed to put a new spin on his favourite saying “seest though a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.”

Where am I going with this, especially as I have not made any reference to the subject matter? OK, let me put it in perspective, when you think of the top ten most powerful leaders in the world, there is often the understanding that the President of U.S.A. seat at the top of that list. The Prime Minister of United Kingdom will be in the mix of the next 3 to 4 names.

If I am diligent in my business, including the politics of governing the country that is now my home, then of course, I should be standing before the Queen, and of course the leaders of this nation. I should be rubbing shoulders with them and asking questions about what their plans are for this country where my children are growing up. I should be positioned to network with them and secure acknowledgement that my vote counts and my ideas, thoughts and views could potentially influence or inform their policies, decision and strategies for governance.

Well, this little boy-rascal has grown out of that rascality and become a diligent man that is trained, educated and now aspires to greater things than he has achieved so far. I am keen to see my presence in a place contribute to development of groundswell or impact change in that commune. That will not happen if I sit on my hands and do nothing, because those who give excuses for not being able to influence, cause or impact change cannot be described as diligent.

A “mean man” according to a dictionary is one who is “ignoble, base, miserly, stingy, low in quality or grade, low in value or amount, low in social status, selfish in a petty way”. I will choose to now put myself in situation where I share the same space with “mean men” because what they do is moan, groan and whinge about anything and everything. They are never diligent enough to get up and contribute their quota to anything.

So, now I have gone full circle and would want to know who should be out of the list of people I can call friends or even acquaintance. Who can I deem worthy of calling to join me when I stand before kings, king-makers and leaders that are recognised worldwide?

I will be at the BLACK BRITAIN DECIDES this Wednesday the 28th of April 2010 at 6.30pm, to join other diligent black people in Britain. The intention is to have a show of face to let the eventual leader of this country know that my vote will count in the decision to see any political party emerge as party of government.

In securing my vote, the emerging leader will have to give a thought to what my needs are, what my aspirations are, what kind of Britain do I want to live and raise my children in. I will want to hear what the programme of the leader will be and hear the leader confirm he cares about me and understand that being black in Britain comes with its own challenges and he is planning to make life better for me and my children because I am diligent member of this society.

You can find more details about the event by checking this website: www.BlackBritainDecides.com

You can register to attend and I hope a large number of my friends will show they are diligent too and do not sit on their hands doing nothing only to moan, groan and whinge when government fail to meet the needs of the black population of this country. If we do not get them to commit to anything as baseline programme, then there is nothing to challenge them on if they deliver nothing for our community.

I look forward to seeing my diligent friends meeting Messrs Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg this Wednesday 28th of April 2010 at 6.30pm. Venue is:

The Methodist Church,

Methodist Central Hall,

Westminster, London,

SW1H 9NH.

Voluptuous, beautiful and awesomely talented – would you vote for her?

2010-04-21T04:16:00.000-07:00

I left home at exactly 7a.m. this morning to catch my usual bus, but somehow, I missed it by a few seconds, despite the fact that I ran all the way to the bus stop and even spilled some of my coffee. Fortunately, the coffee did not spill on my suit, thanks to the presence of mind that I remembered to put a paper napkin on the lid so that it soaked the spillage.

Sometimes I do push my luck with timing things to the very last minute and it backfired today leading to a few seconds mistimed and missing the bus. But I won’t complain as it led to a chain of events which in some ways seem almost like “Sliding Doors” the film starring Gwyneth Paltrow, but without the tragedy of the film... awww thank God for that... :-)

Well, I would normally take the bus to Grays Station, but since I missed it, I took the next bus, heading off to Chafford Hundred Station. Imagine a guy running with a big bag on his back, seemingly heavy because my laptop is in there too, and my jacket on one arm, then my coffee cup from Starbucks on the other.

That’s not all, my two mobile phones on one hand, and guess what, I had my wallet in my bag on my back, so with both hands full, coffee spilling out of Starbucks coffee mug that should normally not spill and both hands kept in use, I strolled on to the bus on the other side of the road. Mind you, my shirt collar was still up because my tie is yet to be knotted and I pretty much must have looked like some bloke chased out of the house... not funny but true.

The bus driver had one look at me, asked where I am going to know what ticket to give me and how much I will be charged. I told him its Chafford Hundred station return, “that will be £2.40 matey” he said with a hand outstretched to collect money.

I had to put all my stuff down on one side to get to rummage through my backpack for my wallet and two ladies behind me, one seem in a hurry to get through and the other smiling gently encouraging me to get on with it. I stepped aside for the lady in a hurry to pay and go on, told the tall, beautiful and smartly dressed lady to go on to. But she told me not to worry, I got distracted by the smile, stylish trouser suit and I could not help noticing the hour-glass shape. Hey, the driver was waiting and getting impatient, so he I had to snap out quickly and get the wallet out to pay. I paid as quickly as possible and started packing my stuffs and getting myself together.

I could smell a whiff of nice perfume, I had a feeling it must have been Jean Paul Gaultier or something more delicately sweet. The lady was behind me asking if she could help, I handed over my jacket and coffee mug, grabbed my bag, phones and wallet and followed her to a seat near the door.

I thanked her profusely and she was almost going red in the face, asking me to stop saying thank you and mumbled something about me being too polite. I sorted out my tie, shirt collar, put my phones and wallet in my backpack collected my jacket, put it on and then collected my coffee mug. She introduced herself as Chrissy and we got into conversation about what she does and so on.

Chrissy is a lawyer that works in the city with one of the big firms, she did not tell me her age, but I guess she must be in her early thirties and enjoying her career, chipping into our conversation that career comes first, so family is secondary at this stage of her life. She is Caucasian, exceptionally beautiful, softspoken and very articulate. The kind of lady that you listen to, even when she is not making sense, you simply enjoy the presence.

Well, Chrissy is interested in politics and wants to sort out some stuff she is currently working on over the next couple of years, then she will go into politics. She is one of those swing voters that waits till close to election to decide if she will be Tory, Labor or Libdem and she is holding fire for now to decide who she casts her vote for in the forthcoming election.

I got to Chafford Hundred, shook Chrissy’s hand and told her I will be putting this morning’s incident on my blog and she promised to read it... :-) and I hope she does.

But where I am going with this is the issue of who will you be voting for on 6th of May 2010. There is the potential problem of hung parliament and the idea that the black vote could become the new swing vote that could change the polls and eventual results of this election.

A silly thought in my head was, if Chrissy was one of the political party leader today and asks for your vote, would you be trooping out with your entire family and friends to go vote for Labor, Tory or Libdem, because of this voluptuous, intelligent, beautiful and really sweet person is the leader or would you just not be bother.

I am then pondering, why would majority of our people, Afro-Caribbean and Africans including the ones referred to as Black British, choose to avoid stepping in the polling booth to be counted as one of those that influence the future and direction of this nation.

What would it take to get the average black Joe Blogg in the UK to go to the polling booth on Thursday the 6th of May 2010. If there is an answer, to that, I guess if I know it, I could work wonders in this country, but even if its not one strategy fits all, I will be keen to know why would you vote and why not.

Meanwhile, as if that was not enough to spice my morning, I then got to the station and ran into a good friend, one of those Nigerians who has done supremely well working within the community and driving the agenda of helping the young black population in the UK to find direction, footing, voice and give them reason to believe they can.

My friend is a Pastor and in recognition of his work in the community, he has been honoured by the Queen with Member of the British Empire (MBE). He has met with most of the political leaders in the UK, has been actively involved in helping the police combat the Black on Black crimes, working with young, black kids who are disenfranchised and sometimes expelled from school.

Pastor Nims Obunge (MBE) is a family friend and just as I got through the barrier at Chafford Hundred station, he looked up with a smile and asked me how I was doing. We quickly exchanged pleasantaries and got into discussion about 6th of May election.

The rest of my conversation for this interesting morning will be continued, but before that comes, check out this website Pastor Nims asked me to log on to when I get to the office – www.BlackBritainDecides.com

... :-) to be continued....

... On the issues of FRIENDS... :-)

2010-03-24T06:11:00.000-07:00

Old friends, new friends and good friends, bad friends

I was having a chat with a new friend this morning and I am yet to physically meet her, but we do talk on the phone frequently and I am at ease to call her a friend. I choose my friends carefully, so when people ask me if someone is my friend, more often than not, I say I know them, or we have met a few times or they talk to me often but we are not really friends, in other words, that person is an acquaintance.

I do this because it’s not everyone that I have spoken to or met via facebook or even at work that I can truly call a friend. Guess some people would wonder now if they are my friend, well, I must confess, I have very very few friends and even fewer close friends.

Why all this talk about friends, its because a friend, a true friend completely amazed me and confirmed the interesting assumption that “old friends are more dependable than new ones”.

This fantastic friend whom I have not seen for more than 20years attended same secondary school with me (Federal Government College, Kano) and we only reconnected via facebook recently. He is a medical doctor and practices back home in Nigeria. It was great to hook up with an old friend, and over 20 years seemed like only yesterday as we chatted, exchanged emails and when he was in London recently for a series of meetings, we did find time to have lunch in the west end.

I mentioned to him the state of my aging Mum’s health and he told me not to worry that he will “try” and check her out. Well, I did not want to put pressure or make requests so left it as “he may not do anything” so that if he does not act at all, it will not be a big issue. But I was surprised when he sent a text to ask for my Mum’s number.

He called my Mum, went to see her, checked her out, diagnosed and prescribed medication she needed. He sent his driver to deliver the medication the very next morning. My mum was full of praises for my friend and had been praying for him every day as mothers do.

I called to thank my friend and ask how much the medication cost so I can arrange payment and he gave me a good ticking off saying that I should not insult him. “What are friends for and would you not do the same for me if you were in this situation?” he asked. I knew I would do the same, but the “prim & proper English gentleman” side of me did not want to take advantage of friendship or make assumption that an offer is free until it is explicitly declared free.

This experience left me with a deep sense of gratitude and confirmed my vision of what a good friend really is, one does not find many people called friends that would stand in the gap for one. My friend acted more like a brother, he chose to not take any gratification beyond an expression of appreciation, showing the type of kindness that is becoming rare these days.

While discussing this experience with my new friend, we went into analysis of the kind of friends that one make now in London and how Nigerians have come to realise that London is a “leveller” and Nigeria is a “sorter”. Those who will read this and are Nigerians will surely have heard these terms before.

London is a leveller because everyone live in flats, 2-3 bedroom houses, detached, semi-detached or end of terrace and so on. You do not need to have education or earn megabucks to own a landrover freelander or BMW, a good or even not so good credit rating sets you up to ride a new car. Most of us, including even the Mayor of London use the London Underground or Buses and some even ride bicycles, and this is inspite of each person’s financial, political or social background.

Back home in Nigeria, there are people you know would not associate with you because of your position, education, social and financial background and other stuffs like that. It’s not because you are stuffy snub, but simply because the places you go to and the people you interact with are just not in the same league with them. In essence, your friends will be “birds of the same feather”.

That paints a vivid picture of where some of us come from (Nigeria), but the story here is not about Nigeria, London or leveller/sorter, it’s about who we call friends. Everybody on facebook is a celebrity of some kind because they put on nice outfit, take pictures at nice restaurants, clubs and places, look nice with very nice profiles on facebook and so on... but the truth is you can not be sure what kind of creature some of them are... 

A lot of so-called friends we make on facebook live in the world of make-believe, they are as unreal as the virtual world they created for themselves. I hear stories of heartbreaks, complicated relationships, people changing status from single to married and in less than a month moving on to complicated. It is nothing short of mind-boggling. Yet a lot of these folks claim to be someone’s friend.

When you have a friend with incredible amount of inconsistencies in their lives, do you not wonder what kind of person they are? I have been able to connect with a few people on facebook, and when some tell me stories based on their experiences or what they have heard, I feel like doing what our parents used to do to a child considered stupid... Give them a hard knock on the head so that their tiny brain will be shaken up inside that hollow skull and as their eyes water with the pain inflicted, it will wash away the thin film of rubbish blinding them to reality. Arrgggghhhh...

I do pride myself in being able to connect with people at all levels of social, economic and educational ladder. Its part of what makes me successful in my line of business because if I fail to relate well with certain calibre of people, my projects could easily experience failure.

The only issue is, relating and connecting with everyone does not really make everyone your friend, doe it? I will be keen to hear more stories about new friends, especially those made online.

The mantra from my fantastic friend, who is also a motivational speaker is usually “what did you learn from the experience and what would you do differently” if you end up in the same situation again?

Can’t wait to know what the people think, say or feel...

Central Line Embarrassed me this morning... :-(

2010-03-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

I was faced… literally faced with an embarrassing situation this morning and if I was Caucasian, I will have been so red in the face that the heat generated will be enough to light a cigarette. This is not funny but then it may sound like it is.

I boarded the Central Line Train from Stratford this morning and it was jam-packed. I happened to be in a hurry to get to the office because its my last day at work, starting new project next week, and wanted to ensure all gets done.

We got squashed in and shoved a bit more as more people crammed into the coach I was on at Stratford, then unfortunately for me a very smartly dressed, tall and slim lady standing face-to-face with me decided it was too crowded and shoved her way through to exit the train. The implication was that a couple of people that were probably claustrophobic decided to step out too.

Now to the embarrassing situation I faced, the lady that I have not noticed at all, just beside me happened to be on the large size side and moved a little to occupy the space the smartly dressed mixed-race lady left, when she stepped out.

Because two or three people stepped out, other folks in a hurry decided they will find a way to fit into the incredibly crammed space, and its difficult to blame them, when its rush hour in London.

Bang, they pushed and shoved and the large lady, obviously top-heavy as some people would say squashed me full frontal and gave a wry embarrassing smile and murmured “sorry…”. The word sorry that I was going to utter got choked in my throat as I looked around to find myself virtually sandwiched between two big ladies and on the side is another obviously well endowed lady on the lower side and she is not that tall..

Now picture this, in front of me is a woman that does not seem to be able to move or even breath without me feeling the movement of her big bust on my chest and just behind is a similar situation, though not as bad, because she maneuvered her way to ensure she created a little space so every little jostling or movement of the train means my arms get rammed by something cushy that I refused to think about.

All I could do was start praying and telling my spirit that this is the work of the devil. The thought of Joseph being seduced by Pharaoh’s wife played in my head like a film and Joseph’s reaction as stated by the bible was to run so quickly that his robe got left behind in Pharaoh’s wife’s hand.

But then I am not in Egypt, this is not Pharaoh’s palace so there is no way I can run out of a moving train that is packed like sardine tin. I thought about speaking in tongues under my breath so that the thought of what is facing me and rubbing my back will not overwhelm me.

Oh Central Line, why did you put me in this embarrassing situation, I thought. It got worse as there was a delay so the train stopped before it got to the next station. Then a little stop-start movement that got everyone falling on one another almost literally. This is so not funny as the busty big lady in front of me must have been thinking of the weather man’s words that it’s a warm day, so she had opted to show a bit more cleavage than usual and ensure my neck needed to be strained.
What do you do when confronted with a sight like that because the only place I could look was the ceiling so it does not seem like I am staring at something I should not and was not..

I remembered the Fulham v Juventus story in the Metro and thought I should use that as decoy by burying my head in the newspaper, but movement of my hand seem to rub the back side of the other big lady and I could feel a sweat of embarrassment break on my forehead. I realized I can not extricate my hand or the Metro, and the lady looked me in the face, I muttered an inaudible sorry and she was no doubt and eastender, saying “aye, that’s ok, we’re stuck in here together…”

Fortunately, the train regained “full consciousness” and the driver announced the train that was stuck at the next station has moved, so we are now able to go on. He apologized for the delay and I felt like screaming “move the hell on and forget the apologies… I will be complaining about this embarrassment no doubt…”

Fortunately quite a few people disembarked at Liverpool Street, giving me some breathing space and as soon as I discovered a seating space, I ran for it, removed my blazer as I could feel the heat under my collar.

When I eventually got to Bond Street station which is nearest to my office, I spoke with one of the station managers, complaining about my embarrassment and asking for a complaint form. He gave me the form and in a very dry humor style, he said he wished he had been in my situation, he would surely not be complaining. I felt like giving him a knock on his bald head so his pervert brain will get into proper shape.

I will be asking for compensation from Central Line (London Underground) because now I am scared of being in small enclosure with too many people, especially if some of them are big ladies…. Its not funny… :-(

Conversation with Donald Duke – The initiator of TINAPA

2010-03-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

I got an email recently inviting me to an interactive session and dinner with the erstwhile Governor of Cross River State of Nigeria. I had a quick look to be sure someone is not playing trick and definitely not a hoax. I am aware of the various scams ongoing amongst our “yahoo yahoo” brothers as they are called.

In fact, a few colleagues had an accident on a business trip to Nigeria recently and we started making quick arrangement to sort out their flight to get them back to London so they can receive better medical attention. Well, two of them are based here in London, so its just a change of flight details required, but one of them, an Architect, is based in Nigeria and needed a Visa to come here for treatment as he sustained broken limb in the accident.

I called the London Orthopaedic Clinic to state our line of business and the fact that we need a letter to get the gentleman a visa as he is coming for private medical treatment. Our company is anxious about his well-being and happy to pay whatever it will cost to ensure he gets the best medical attention money can buy.

Well… well… well… a little shock, but not completely surprising, the London Orthopaedic Clinic staff told me that she has been asked not to write any letter for anyone coming for treatment from Nigeria. The immigration has caught on to a substantial scam and now warned them not to respond to such request.

“Flabber-whelmed and over-ghasted”??? an understatement of sorts I must say, but no, its just so very sad as the action of a few has now been used to judge millions and deprive the majority of something that should normally be straightforward and automatic when you have the money to pay.

Anyway, back to the subject matter, or as my nephews in the Nigeria will say, “back to the koko of the matter” J. I had a good look at the invitation and contacted the organizers of the “Interactive Session and Dinner with Donald Duke” and I was told its not a scam and I am invited to meet the man himself.

Well, I had an afternoon tea Donald Duke yesterday and we talked about Nigeria, why he is setting up an Interactive Session, what his thoughts are about the station of the nation (Nigeria), where the solution could come from and what he is happy to contribute to the resolution of the problems in Nigeria.

It was meant to be a quick half an hour conversation, but it turned out to be over an hour, plus plus as one of my former Project Support staff will say when meetings over-run.

Donald Duke confessed to being embarrassed by the actions of his political party the PDP, in not clearly supporting the Acting President, but instead stating a claim to affirm the fact that the PDP zoning of Presidency to the North remains consistent and more important to steering the ship of state away from the current doldrum.

My understanding of this situation is that PDP is more interested in seeing to it that Mr Yar’adua, now incapacitated –though would not admit it, may fail to complete this term or even aspire to contest next election, the party will have no concern about the state of the nation and their only concern is which zone of the country provides the next president.

Donald Duke made bold to say that his primary interest now is to see how many Nigerians will stop the typical “just talk attitude” and put their energy, talent and effort into ushering in a change to the Nigerian polity.

All of what he shared with me are incontrovertible facts and truly compelling and I was nodding my head with a smile on my face because its not often you get someone who has been in a leadership position speak straight and talk logical common sense. Donald Duke was not talking politics at all and at the end of it, I wished I had recorded our conversation because to me it felt like I just had an award-winning and compelling television interview that was not recorded on tape… J

So, where am I going with all this, I am hoping the leaders of thought, opinions and businesses from the Nigerian community in London will be at the Dinner and Interactive Session tonight with Donald Duke. Let us, in style of Donald Duke rub minds, exchange ideas and come to an agreement or disagreement on the need to begin creating a groundswell for change in the country we all claim to love.

Anyway, its just a few hours away, Dinner will be served at 7.15 tonight and afterwards, it will be time to discuss the state of the nation, the problems and proffer solutions that we can all commit to.

Nuff said… J

African Cuisine and our Restaurants in London (Part 3) The 805 Restaurants Experience

2010-02-21T00:22:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make and its one that is so unlike me. When I commit to something, its almost like a Lion sinking its teeth into a prey, the Lion is unlikely to let go of a prey until two things happen, one is the important sensing of the prey stop struggling because the battle is won by the Lion and the other is that taste of blood, fresh, warm and seeping into the Lions tongue.

There is a similarity to the way I approach commitment to a worthy cause and there is one that I confess today that I did not completely commit to and I am embarrassed to say I feel like I have not been able to put my heart into it the way I would normally, like a Lion, sink my teeth in, win the battle and taste the juice of success… J do I sound weird in my choice of comparison.J

OK, the real issue is that I was at 805 Restaurants last year with a few friends, including the awesomely talented and very famous Nigerian Footballer, Mathematical Segun Odegbami, Adetokunbo Adejumo and Kunle Awosusi. We opted to have an evening discussing with Chief Segun Odegbami about his pet project, a Sports Academy, which is designed to identify and develop talents amongst African Youths.

Segun Odegbami has thrown his weight, talent, energy and money at this project and it happen to be something that resonated with my soul, so I was quite keen to not only just engage but commit to help. That has not happened because of extraneous circumstances and I will write a blog about this some other time, so that’s my confession… phew, feeling better now that it’s off my chest… J

Well, that weighed heavily on my chest because I had a meal at 805 Restaurant on Old Kent Road and it reminded me of the previous visit with was with Chief Odegbami, Toks Adejumo and Kunle Awosusi. I was so engrossed in the conversation and the project such that I do not have any memory of the meal we had on that occasion.

That also tells me something I feel is ominous, because when you go to a restaurant and your only memory is your conversation, inspite of the food consumed, it means the food could not have been particularly exceptional, possible even just bland.

The good news first, 805 is arguably one of the best African Restaurant in London, if not for anything else, at least I can not say anything other than positive about the ambience, the smartly dressed waiters, the feeling of being in an African Restaurant in South East London that in looks and environment will be at par pretty much any 3 to 4 Star restaurant in London. I actually mean any, so I am not just referring to the African restaurants.

I spoke with a family of five, Daddy, Mummy, two older sons and their baby sister who must be either late teens or early twenties. They praised 805 Restaurants and rated their experience as more than 4 stars, pretty much 5 Star, because the food was delicious, the ambience is great, the service for them was very good and the pricing was comparatively better than other restaurants that are of same standard, according to the head of this family, their Dad.

The Dad, within this family I spoke to at 805 Restaurant, said he has been to Mama Calabar, D’Eclipse and so on and the standard could not beat 805 Restaurant, yet the food pricing is less expensive.

I am hoping to visit Mama Calabar and other African restaurants being touted as really classy and very good. But if, as you read this, you have been at similar quality restaurant, tell me your opinion. Meanwhile, I am not sure of what to make of a single plate of Dodo with Omelette that cost £10 or single portion of marinated and spiced gizzards on the menu as Santana with a going rate of £14. I had to chew over the thought of Moin Moin as a side dish that cost £5.50 or a single Corn on the Cob at £5.50.

My experience of 805 Restaurants this Saturday as I went in there to review it was like this. I walked in with a friend and was asked by a smartly dressed waiter where I would like to seat. I said anywhere, and she took me to a table that seats four but is arrange in a way that only two people can use it, which I reckon serves our purpose.

We waited exactly 10 minutes without any of the waiters paying us any attention before the lady brought the cute little menu. There was no apologies for keeping us waiting for that long just to get the menu, but that was still meant to be better than the fact that she did not show again until I had to walk to the bar and ask for the Manager. At this point we had been seated for 28-30minutes since walking in with no one to take orders. I explained to the manager who apologized profusely and took the orders herself.

She did not ask which of her waiters had acted like a silly child, which means no action to be taken about that L The food came quickly and as I had been “nil by mouth” all day, I got stuck in quickly. The Monika that I ordered was meant to be Tilapia £14, I got a Croaker £17 and it happen to be Hot rather than mild L As I write now, the only tastes that linger is the hot pepper, because the season could not have gone into the fish, it tasted bland compared to the hot sauce coating.

In the final analysis, I can say I have very high hope for 805 Restaurant because of the reputation, and it did meet the expectation in terms of the ambience. The quality of the food was said to be good by their clients I spoke with, but what I had did not win me over. The service on this occasion left much to be desired and I felt the food pricing does not deliver value for money. I would recommend it for those who are looking for what can be described as a nice mainstream-like African restaurant, but they would need to have the money to pay for that. Deptford High Street, here I come in my next blog J

African Cuisine and our Restaurants in London Part 2 (The Squires Restaurant Experience)

2010-02-17T02:14:00.000-08:00

The African food is a delight and our spices, whether hot or mild are truly special. I am now on a mission to identify the best places to eat African Food in London, I love eating out and I want to let my friends know without a shadow of doubt the place to catch the best ambience, fantastic service, money well-spent food, authentic African cuisine that surely reminds one of home, clean environment you are not going to worry about food poisoning and the place you feel like its home away from home.

I have had several meals at Squires Café and African Restaurant, it’s just opposite the popular MacDonald’s in Canning Town off Barking Road in London. They serve a variety of Nigerian food and only recently started serving breakfast too. You know the Yam with Fried Eggs or Fried sauce type, the Ogi and Moin Moin with Carnation milk and all that stuff, well, they do that and more. They are most popular for what is called ABULA, that is Amala with tomato sauce (Obe Ata), diced assorted meat, ewedu and Gbegiri (made from beans).

I opted to check out Squires last weekend for the purpose of this review. As stated earlier, I have been there several times, on one occasion with a good friend of mine Yemi Shodimu, a renowned broadcaster, Actor and currently Special Adviser to Ogun State Government. Please note that on all occasions I have paid for my meal and this review is completely independent.

The location of Squires Café and African Restaurant is good in that it is truly difficult to miss because there are several landmarks around it. Their ABULA, which I thoroughly enjoy on every occasion, gives one the authentic taste of home cooked meal from the western part of Nigeria.

They did well in ensuring the quantity of ewedu and gbegiri were spot-on so you get the flavor of both and when you mix both with the “pepper sauce or tomato sauce” as some would call it, the blend and taste is obviously classic. They serve this in a big china bowl with the sauces covering the Amala completely. What you see is the mouthwatering assorted diced meat, which includes, shaki (Tripe), ese-eran (cow-leg), beef and other meaty stuff, that with every spoonful you take, a piece of meat goes with it J

I had a taste of my friend’s Tuwo in Abula style and on this occasion it tasted a wee-bit like ground rice rather than cornmeal. The Squires’ Jollof Rice has a good balance of mild and hot. If you do not have the stomach for hot pepper you may be able to handle the fairly mild power that hits the back of your palate, so you are not likely to go watery-eyed or red-faced (in the case of our Caucasian brothers/sisters).

The food that my friends and I ate were quite good, but I spoke with another client who had just finished the breakfast at Squires Café and African Restaurant. The couple said they were not happy with their meal. The gentleman said the Yam and Egg was good but not much better than what his wife would cook, makes me wonder how good or bad his wife is J

Meanwhile the wife with a grim look on her face said she came just to enjoy the Ogi (Pap) and Moin Moin, but was disappointed by the fact that the Ogi was a bit on the cold side and too thick. Infact, her words were that it was more like Eko than the usual lighter Ogi she looked forward to. She also complained that the Moin Moin was not rich, as it only had tiny piece of Sardine and a bit of egg in it. Their experience was not great, but I must balance that with the fact that I have enjoyed all meals I had at Squires.

The service is good as I recalled the staff checking I was happy with our meal a couple of times and even offered extra meat because he heard me saying the quantity of their meat seem a bit less than previous times. The meals range from about £5 to £8 depending on what you are eating and the portion size is truly African. I could not finish my Abula and I think it may be a good idea to reduce the portion and the pricing to make it greater value for money.

The environment is quite clean and the staff clean up quickly after clients to ensure they maintain the tidy look. The have sky tv on and you can request a channel to watch, but the audio is not on so you have to make do with the text on screen to know what is being said while African music is on in the background.

I would rate it as a 3 Star because of the size and ambience, though the food and service will be more like 4 star. The only others are that African Restaurants have to work on is the presentation of food and Squires Restaurant does not stand out either. The presentation is just average. My rating is based on the fact that I am a fan of nouveau cuisine and would love to see African Restaurants aspire to presentation of food and creation of restaurant ambience that will enable them compete with any eatery anywhere in the world.

OK, next port of call, I am not sure yet, but will surely write another review shortly. I will at some point soon be looking at analysis that will highlight how African Cuisine could be presented to enable international community reckon with and appreciate what we have just as they now do the Indian Curry and Chinese/Japanese Cuisine.

Please comment below and suggest restaurants in London you would recommend I visit next. To be continued, Part 3 next…

African Cuisine and our Restaurants in London (Part 1)

2010-02-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

African Cuisine and our Restaurants in London (Part 1)

I had a brainwave, oops a friend who is in the Social Services told me a few years ago that brainwave has been tagged as politically incorrect in the

because it’s associated with issues of mental state, so I should have said I had a “thought-shower”… so funny…

Anyway, my “thought-shower” was to do with the fact that I was doing a self-analysis. I know l luuurve good food, I truly delight in delicious meals and for as long as I can remember, I have always considered cooking as being very therapeutic.

I will describe myself as passionate and exploratory cook that indulges in creating almost non-existent recipes, don’t be fooled though, because my recipes are based on combination of diverse cuisine and sometimes I come up with a touch of genius that enable me cook something that is divinely heavenly. It’s not all the time though, and that is because I never remember to write down my recipe and the implication is that I more often than not do not remember how and what I did to cook up such delicacy.

I am also out and about quite a bit, so I end up eating out because meetings get boring when you just talk with no food. How do you treat a friend that you don’t want to buy clothes or shoes for? What do you do for someone you want to pick their brains without taking them to a bar or pub as you know you do not drink anything with alcohol? These are my excuses for eating out and there are loads more. I can almost write a book on why I enjoy eating out.

However, I am not into fast-food, they just don’t sound right or taste good on my palate, not to mention the effect of junk food that I see everyday on the streets of London, especially with those who live on fast food and no exercise planned to burn the excess weight.

I am very adventurous with food so I am comfortable eating Mexican Fajita or Spanish Paella or Tortilla, I will be equally excited about eating Mediterranean seafood or salads with some of the interesting leaves. My food does not have to be exotic so I can handle the variety of English or French, and will be fine with the sometimes bland cuisine of the Dutch as potatoes seem to be in every dish. The frog delicacy is the one thing I am not too keen to try J

The one food that I know hits my palate and create a different kind of excitement is cooking from “Motherland”… umm umm umm… yum yum, the thought of it alone is making me hungry as I string these thoughts together, cooking up my ideas and chewing on the thoughts as they develop into words. I luurve African Food and I am adventurous enough to taste all of them whenever I have the opportunity.

My trips to South Africa and places visited are remembered by the food and people, I can not forget the Biltong soup, Bobotie with some Chakalaka and a bit of yellow rice on the side and of course topped with sweet dumplings for dessert. The memories’ got my face brightening up now… J

My first travel to East Africa was at the invitation of my good friend Salim Amin and I had little time to see much in Nairobi, Kenya, but in that time I can not deny the fact that the food was wonderful. I tried the variety of Nyama Choma, had a good go at the Ugali (Cornmeal Porridge), I could never believe that plantain could be cooked in Coconut Milk, but Kenyans do it well, and inspite of the fact that I am teetotal, I still enjoyed a pint of Tusker mixed with lemonade to give me my favorite shandy… J

I am still waiting for my first opportunity to visit North of Africa so I can associate my experience of the people with their cooking in Marrakesh, Tunis, Cairo etc… That trip should come soon, hopefully sometime this year. I missed a chance to visit Cairo and still kick myself when I realized I should have jumped instead of allowing other engagements stop me.

As a Nigerian, with the knowledge that we have 250 odd tribes with their own cuisine and recipes, we are a mini-Africa without doubt. I have been fortunate to have traveled the length and breadth of the country. I schooled in the North and did my NYSC there too, I grew up in the West and did some schooling there, and I am truly lucky to have been a national secretary of a student association that saw me traverse the South and East of Nigeria, visiting practically all the institutions of higher learning.

I have tasted a variety of the food around the country from Tuwo Cinkafa from the North, ate loads of Kuli Kuli and groundnuts that I used to believe gave me pimples, tried Edikaikong and while I was in Calabar, someone joked about the meat in it being 404 (I will not bother to translate that one) J, then there are other delicacies like Isi-Ewu (Goat Head), Pounded Yam with assorted meat, we even have designer rice with sauce in Lagos J

Having said all that, the African food is a delight and our spices, whether hot or mild are truly special. I am now on a mission to identify the best places to eat African Food in London, I love eating out and I want to let my friends know without a shadow of doubt the place to catch the best ambience, fantastic service, money well-spent food, authentic African cuisine that surely reminds one of home, clean environment you are not going to worry about food poisoning and the place you feel like its home away from home.

My first restaurant to visit is Squires, it’s just opposite the popular MacDonald’s in Canning Town off Barking Road in London. They serve a variety of Nigerian food and only recently started serving breakfast too. You know the Yam with Fried Eggs or Fried sauce type, the Ogi and Moin Moin with Carnation milk and all that stuff, well, they do that and more. They are most popular for what is called ABULA, that is Amala with tomato sauce, diced assorted meat, and Gbegiri (made from beans).

I am playing this like the Nollywood film so the rest of this continues in Part 2… to be continued… J

Still on the issue of solutions for Nigeria

2009-10-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

I was reading a mail from my friends that we graduated in the same year, the Late Bayo Ohu who was assassinated recently was one of us, and it was a story circulated and written by a staff of Guardian Newspaper in Nigeria. Click this link to read the story by Mr. Kamal Oropo.

I responded to this editorial by Mr. Oropo and I got a message circulated by a friend within the group saying:

"It's unfortunate, but predictable. When I wrote in my tribute to Bayo ohu published in some newspapers that his killers will never be found, some people said I was too conclusive. Look, the PPRO said it was assassination when he came to Bayo's house. He later addressed the press that it was armed robbery. But one of the things that pained me was none of the newspapers that reported the story mentioned the PPRO's statement on assassination. TOO BAD"

Well, I read all of the other responses from my friends and I could not stop myself writing this mail below which I am copying verbatim and pasting into this blog:

My Dear Brothers,

The problems we are experiencing in Nigeria is primarily the result of GREED, then followed by a lack of will to support anything that does not put money in our pocket, and what does that point to... of course its another subtle form of greed or selfishness.

I have met with two former heads of state on a one to one here in London. I am talking about having a private lunch with no one else in attendance and what I learnt points to a depth of greed that is beyond comprehension. I have had interviews and opportunities of one to one with Governors and other political leaders too.

How do you explain powerful saboteurs who will not allow Nigerian government improve power supply because of Diesel and Generator which is their source of income and wealth?

When I challenged the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria on why he had to deal with the banks in the way he did, on my show on BEN Television he stated that he sourced and secured support from the President and the Senate President, then requested his decision must not be discussed with anyone else until its made public. Gov. Lamido Sanusi said he new there were powerful but extremely corrupt and well connected people that will thwart any thing that is not in their interest if they find out at the stage where its not public yet.

How do you explain the level of greed that means the whole of Lagos State Police Command can not afford a handful of computers not to mention having an I.T. System that has database of criminals, their records, records of crimes committed, how to track down their cohorts and records of people financing crime in Nigeria?

How do you explain poorly trained police officers with over 80% never attending any other training apart from Police College training once they graduated from there? Mind you, there is about 5% of the senior officers that spend money on training abroad and what do they do when they go abroad, use it as opportunity to shop, holiday and come back empty-headed and not able to influence change within the force...

Guys, when I look at the problems of Nigeria, its seems insurmountable and completely impossible to resolve. Some people want every Nigerian to believe only God can solve the problem so go and pray or just accept the fate of the nation as sealed.

I will tell you this, what we need is applying the principle of "one - change - one", yes, "one - help - one", and "one - make - one thing happen"

If I have not lost you yet, thank God for that... What I am saying is for each one of us to look in areas we can create change and invest our time, energy and resource in making that little change possible.

Jack Kemp puts it more succinctly by saying “The power of one man or one woman doing the right thing for the right reason, and at the right time, is the greatest influence in our society.”
If you are a journalist, look for a charity that you can invest time, energy and resources at your disposal to help, look for the criminality and awful things you would expose without expecting someone to bribe you to kill the story or even convince you its a dangerous story to put out there.

If you run an agency, what can your agency or PR company/Dept do to help make a difference and so on and so forth.

It is so simple, and seemingly simplistic to the point of assuming it will not change much, hey, none of us is God so we can not change much and guess what, God is not planning a miracle through Nigeria yet, so He will only allow and support each one of us to be the change we wish to see in our nation.

If you would love a change, check out the areas that will be of most value to you and you know you have something that could chip away at the problem, then get stuck in there and do your bit. If you are waiting for an Obama Leader to create a razzmatazz impact and change governance in Nigeria, you may have to wait another 200 years plus. In the history of America, how many Obamas have they witnessed?

OK, maybe we are almost 50years into our anniversary, so that leaves us with less than 200 years compared to when America was created and became the U.S.A., hey that is still over a century to go folks.

We just need to apply what we know has worked around the world, no matter your religious belief, no matter your orientation and political philosophy, you will admit that it only need on person to start the process of change.

Light Up Nigeria is a process of change, one person started the campaign, the power outage in Nigeria is still very much below par but somehow the campaign is gathering momentum from online on to the streets of Lagos.

A selfless campaign to help make a change to the training, development, and equipment at the the disposal of our Police Force in Nigeria need billions of Naira, but a little here and a little there will add up.

A little change contributed towards improve the health service sector in Nigeria will also translate to something of significance in due course.

As friends, folks, before we begin to see a massive move and paradigm shift, each individual has to look within for areas where they could impact and contribute a change. I have opted to quietly contribute time, energy and in some cases to resources to less than a handful of charities in Nigeria. It will not make a massive change to our country, but I am a happy man when I know my £5 impact the life of one child in Lagos, I am thrilled when I know a couple of hours a week used to help make things happen for another organisation in Nigeria yields fruit...

So ask yourself, what do you want to see change today and what tiny little bit of contribution from you will chip away a tiny little bit of the rock that stops the change happening...

A word is enough... actually 2-3page of words should be plenty... :-)

PS. Come back for more sometime or just follow me on my Twitter Page

Tribute to Mrs. Florence A. Olomu (1934-2009)

2009-10-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

Tribute to Mrs Florence A. Olomu (1934 – 2009)

Behind every successful man, there is a strong, supporting and encouraging woman or two or even three. I knew this from when I was growing up, but interestingly enough, some of the people that made this statement at events/functions did not live their lives like they believed this.

The one person I know lived the “Cliché” and still does to date is my best friend, whom I have great respect for and whom I have a lot of time for. Dayo Olomu is one of the children of the late Mrs. Florence A. Olomu and this blog is about her rather than Dayo. Since Mrs Florence A. Olomu passed away, I have analysed my best friend’s life over the last 20years that I have known him and the massive impact that “Mumsie” as we called her had on Dayo.

I have learnt from observation and experience that there are two types of Mummy’s Boy, the one that people talk about the most happen to be the negative one, I am talking about the Mummy’s Boy that will not do anything other than what “mummy” say/said, this one depends on “mummy” either for his means of livelihood or lets “mummy” determines how he lives his life. This kind of “mummy’s boy” will not have a lot of respect for other women except his mum and that only differs if he has mummy’s instruction to respect the woman.

The Mummy’s Boy that ladies talk about and criticise the most is the boy/man who would sense or even know a wrong decision, but would bend over backwards to follow it through because his mummy said it’s what he should do. He will most likely use and discard women and would have difficulty maintaining long or lifetime relationship with a woman because the dominant force in his life will not allow what is perceived as competition for his attention.

Having said that, the other type of Mummy’s Boy is the one that sees his Mum as the source, the greatest supporter of everything he does and the most enduring encourager in his life. This is the Mummy’s Boy that out of respect for his Mum would never attempt to treat a woman poorly/badly. He extends his love for his mum to women in his life and around him in all situations. I know from experience that such a man is groomed with love from the mother and learn to appreciate womanhood.

My “bestest” friend – Dayo Olomu has been blessed to have had a mother who devoted her life to bringing up her children in the best possible way you can imagine. Mumsie Olomu was a woman of virtue with strong faith in God and would not compromise her faith and belief under any circumstances. When you see someone who holds fast to their faith no matter what, you know you have a strong character before you.

Mumsie Olomu groomed a boy called Dayo Olomu into a young man with faith as the prized cornerstone of his life, and self belief in the midst of adversity as a tool to propel him into a winner. If you read the story of my friend and you do not appreciate the strong woman that encouraged, supported, assisted and even pushed on occasions then you would have missed the key element to the success that we see today in Dayo.

I strongly believe that what Dayo’s kids and gorgeous goddess of a wife(Folasade Olomu) enjoy today are the qualities that were groomed by Mrs Florence A. Olomu, as she worked her socks off with less than minimum wage to send the kids to school and still find time to educate them. I am a firm believer in the fact that going to school and receiving education are two different things, but the analysis of that belief will be subject for another blog another day in the near future. Mumsie Olomu worked to pay for schooling of Dayo and his siblings while her life was education in Technicolor or better still, in 3D.

When you grow up in a very humble environment with a hardworking mother that puts everything on the line for you and in the midst of that would not compromise faith or cut moral corners, then you know for sure that you could do the right things the right ways and still come out tops.

The reason a massive number of people appreciate the honesty of the motivational speeches of Dayo Olomu is because he has lived what he is speaking. A man who has grown up with very little and chosen not to blame anyone for lacking good things of life, but instead used that lack as impetus to get out there and be inspired to achieve surely has a lesson or two to teach others.

My tribute here is to the woman who spent her life living by example so her children learn not to complain about problems but to seize it with both hands as opportunity to excel in the area of challenge.

The lesson to mothers today comes from the fountain of knowledge of Mumsie, Mrs. Florence A. Olomu, and mirrored by her children, especially Dayo. It is easy to see the awesome impact mothers can have on sons to ensure they learn to treat women well, live an honest and hardworking life, be true to themselves and aspire to live a life of virtue.

It does make me wince when I hear some young ladies nonchalantly say “men are dogs” and of “no use”, and yet they have a son or praying to God for a child that might be a boy. I know for a fact that our words are powerful and that is why churches like CCC and C&S that treat things of the spirit with reverence do end up having serious impact in the lives of their congregation.

I have never been a member of the white garment church, but what you realise when you observe is that there is intense enlightenment in the power of words in those churches, as they talk along the lines of professing with your mouth what you wish and pray for.

It will be good if the one thing that we all learn from Mumsie is to teach ourselves and our children or kids around us how to love everyone around us without “attached strings” so that we show respect for them and treat them well; handle adversity as a challenge, and like the kids that Mumsie groomed not be bothered about lacking anything, but rather see that as opportunity to take on the challenge of having that thing and finally never see failure, but rather deem not achieving as a chance to get better as we try.

BAYO OHU - A Gentleman Journalist just wasted

2009-10-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

My shoulder dropped and my heart sank when I read an email from a group of friends that we attended the same Polytechnic in Nigeria. The subject field of the email had in bold capital letters "BAYO OHU MURDERED".

I was in shock because this is one of the most gentle course mates I had while at the Ogun State Polytechnic studying Mass Communication at the HND level. I happen to belong to the group that did their OND at the Ogun Poly while Bayo came from Federal Poly, Bida. But our HND class was great fun because we had a bunch of guys and ladies that were out to enjoy themselves as much as they were dead keen to achieve something in life.

Amongst the core group of friends in our year were folks who are now Editors/Marketing Managers in major newspapers in Nigeria (Vanguard, Guardian, ThisDay, Punch, etc), Directors of Communications/PR in major organisations in the country (including British Council and Banks), broadcast journalists and key players in the Advertising and PR sector (such as IMC 24-7 – leading outdoor/bill boards ad agency and a host of others). Bayo was one of us and he was a brilliant mind with a smile even when the joke is on him.

Bayo was a guy who quite a few of us could seat with and crack jokes and banter, sometimes at his expense and he always managed never to take it personal or take offence, rather, he has a fantastic sense of humour and somehow will find a way to deflect it all and parry it on to someone else.

I can not begin to imagine what Bayo could have done to offend anyone to the point of his life being snuffed out in this untimely and heartbreakingly violent manner. I have scrounged around for information about Bayo's violent murder and all of the stories I am reading online do not bring comfort to my soul as I hear statements from the law enforcement agencies.

I am gob smacked by the fact that a Commissioner of Police was quoted as saying it could be murder, then came back to say its probably armed robbery because Bayo's laptop was taken by the assassins that gunned down my friend and a brother.

It goes beyond being a worrying phenomenon when a young, vibrant, intelligent and truly talented Nigerian is wasted in this manner with no sign of the culprits being brought to books. The sad side of the story is the fact that we may never know whodunit and why this dastardly act was committed.

I do recall interviewing a former Police Commissioner a few years ago on my radio show “Breakfast with Mr. Kay” and I learnt that the police do not have any enduring system of keeping data, its all in hard copy, paper files. I could not for the life of me imagine a police force in the 21^st Century without computer systems to keep information about crime committed, who did, what’s the details of the investigation and so on. It explained why sometimes the Nigeria Police do claim that case files have gone missing and details of investigations carried out are lost forever.

Like everything else in Nigeria, the Police Force mirrors the poor state of affairs and institutional failure that makes a campaign like “LightUpNigeria” absolutely critical and essential. How else do we describe a nation swimming in trillions of oil dollars and yet remain unsuccessful in ensuring the Presidency and major government institutions do not rely on generator and diesel for electricity.

How do we explain the report that in the not so distant past, Aso Rock, the official residence of the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria was thrown into darkness caused, not by PHCL, but malfunctioning generators, that needed engineers from abroad to come in and repair.

These are the kind of stories you can only imagine happening in films, a kind of Kongi Village story where the Village Head mismanages the finance of the people and fail to deliver on their expectation with the result being the gods punishing Village Head with total darkness around him. The plot thickens but I will not go into writing a play on this occasion just to make my point.

Those of us who are course mates that attended Ogun Poly and had the special privilege of being Bayo Ohu’s friend and classmates have come together to set up something small for his kids. The details of it will be in the public domain for other people that may wish to join hands with us in this noble plan in due course.

The question that will continue to play on my mind is whodunit and why. This is the same kind of question that has plagued my mind about the Late Chief Bola Ige, erstwhile Minister who was murdered in his house.

I am sick to the depth of my stomach by the thought in my head that if hired assassins could get away with killing Chief Bola Ige and till today, inspite of the President saying no stones will be left unturned to find the flipping murderers, yet no one has been brought to books, what are the chances that Bayo Ohu’s assassins and their masters will ever be caught?

I am pouring my heart into this as a way of cleansing the shattering that comes with heartbrokenness inflicted by the loss of a good friend. This is not the same as crying, rolling on the floor with tears flowing and shouting profanities, swearing and cursing the perpetrators of this act.

The essence of my blog on this occasion is to touch the heart of brothers and sisters who love our nation and humanity to begin to look within to find solutions that will bring the much needed change to a country that is rapidly degenerating into a ridiculous embarrassment. A nation bountiful in talent, blessed with natural, mineral and human resources and yet failing to utilise that which we are blessed with to get that which we desire.

My final word on this will be that we do not need to pray for Nigeria anymore. Those of us living in this part of the world with the advantage of having satellite navigator know how it works and I believe I can say it’s the same way God works. I believe God is like a Sat Nav and no one can convince me otherwise.

The Sat Nav tells you to turn right in 300yards, then in 30yards it goes "turn right", if you ignore it, you miss the way, then it re-routes you and gives further instruction on how to reach your destination. It never force your hand to turn or help you speed up to get to your destination in quick time. It will actually help you recalculate your journey time and what you have is a situation where your 25 minute journey could be changed to 40minutes and as long as you refuse to follow the basic instructions, you may never reach your destination.

In essence, Nigeria and Nigerians need not focus anymore on prayers because God is not coming down from heaven to help us. He has blessed us with all we need to make us one of the greatest people and nation on earth. Its all in our hands to decide whether to take the right turn or go the wrong way, continue to allow wrong people lead God’s blessed people or claim our esteemed position as emerging market with amazing abundance of resources.

Do I think we can find the assassins and their masters that sealed the fate of Bayo Ohu, guess what, I know we can, Yes We Can, but those who know the perpetrators will have to have their conscience pricked and then expose the culprits. I do not want to deliver a sermon or preach here, but if only we obey and do the right things, then things will begin to work.

That starts with you and I. As a nation, we need to pray less and obey God more…

May the Soul of Bayo Ohu Rest In Perfect Peace…

Nigeria - 49 on the brink of B I G 5 0

2009-10-02T02:22:00.000-07:00

I was recently appointed Project Manager and assigned to implement change management for a UK based company that has a culture of being laid back in the way members of staff treat their most prized assets – their customers and the information on their databases.

I was informed that as part of the change the organisation was expecting me to implement, a new Management Information System was to be deployed so that the gathering of information about customers/clients will be done differently and across territories (around the country) so that its standard and follows best practice.

I am not able to give much more details about this project as I delivered it successfully and will be wrong to put all their information in my blog without permission from the company’s management.

However, as much as I was on top of things in terms of the change management strategy and how it was deployed, I learnt quite a few new things and each time I pick up something new, I kept thinking about businesses in Nigeria and governance of the country as a whole.

I thought about how the Nigerian government at the federal level has failed to plan for change from when we secured independence. How the various regimes never thought about the need to implement any kind of change to the orientation, attitude and governance inspite of the conspicuous need for a change when new government take over.

It is a known fact amongst practitioners in my line of business that the success of any project is subject to the willingness of the affected individuals to change their attitudes, their mindsets, and their work habits.

The key elements for making this happen will have Communication first on its agenda. What is each regime aspiring to achieve, how will they go about it, what will be the yardstick for measuring success at the end of their term in office, at what point are Nigerians able to assess consistency in the delivery of promises, at what point is the government able to come back to the nation to bolster the support given when buy-in was secured as a result of election into office.

Every government in Nigeria over the last 49 years failed us as a nation and as a people, we failed ourselves in not calling them to order and opting or even demanding a change that favours us and does the nation good.

I was truly privileged to have had a special interview with someone that has been described severally as the heart and conscience of the nation (The Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN). As far as I know, the live interview I had with him on Breakfast with Mr. Kay, broadcast live on EKO FM, was the last he had as a guest of any interactive radio show before he passed away. Because of the poor health and incredible passion when discussing Nigeria, he was advised by his Doctors not to grant any more interviews, but he made one exception and was with me live in the studio on the 47th Anniversary of Nigeria’s Independence.

He was glad he granted the interview because it was his opportunity to highlight the failure of our system, people in government and as he’s done all his adult life, diagnose and prescribe solutions to the malaise of the nation. It was also a joy to have so many people call into the show, not to discuss the 47th Independence anniversary, but rather pour accolades on Chief Fawehinmi for his tenacity, consistency and love for Nigeria.

OK, this is not a blog about Gani, it’s about our nation and what to expect when we reach the golden jubilee of independence. Let me get back to the first key to implementing the much needed change for our nation.

I am still waiting and I know thousands of Nigerians who are my friends on Facebook, Twitters, MySpace and read my Blog are waiting too to hear what the government of Alh Shehu Musa Yar’Adua want to do for Nigeria, because the Seven Point Agenda has become the most ridiculed agenda in the history of the nation. Some people have even asked that this government should just focus on One Point Agenda and make it work. That should be a case of taking up the campaign “LightUpNigeria” and improve power supply.

Let this government impart messages or information with specific and measurable goals on a single point agenda for change. Let the entire energy of the nation be channelled into implementing the change as campaigned for by “LightUpNigeria”. Let every newspaper begin to talk about strategies, costs, implications and so on of improving power supply.

I have had the unusual privilege of having lunch with two former Presidents of Nigeria on a one-to-one basis and their conclusion is that there are powerful people in Nigeria that continue to wreak havoc and cause mayhem by sabotaging efforts of government to manage the process of improving power supply to the nation. Out of respect for people older than me, I did not tell them pointedly that it sounded stupid, but I did state clearly during our conversation that it sounds weak and is unacceptable excuse.

I know that there is power in number and part of what I do as change agent in business environment is to secure more and more buy-ins so that the number of supporters become overwhelming for fifth columnists or saboteurs, unless of course there is no will to make the change happen, which is where I tend to place the government of Nigeria over the last 49years. They seem to have surrendered the will to implement change that will see any form of tangible and “value for money” kind of change.

There is so much to say about the essence and value of communication in changing the “sick Giant of Africa” into a power house with awesome investment opportunity for Nigerians at home and abroad, as well as foreign investors. I read the online edition of various Nigerian Newspapers regularly and I wonder every time, why are we not focusing of the things that matter? Why will the Nigerian media not leave “objectivity” aside and pursue sensible agenda that will help ensure the nation prospers as a whole and I am not talking about prosperity of a few that can afford private jets, yachts and mansions in Europe.

We do need to look at the other elements of implementing change management that will bring Nigeria to the 21st Century and prepare us for a worthy celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Independence come 1st October 2010.

The objectives of the government should be made clearer, every Nigerian has a right to know what this government is striving to achieve in terms of objectives. There should be a complete clarity on what they are, when they are scheduled to be achieved and whatever will not be achieved in the current term in office, what timescale is set for them so one knows.

Standards and Process form the other elements that we have completely removed from the dictionary in use by our leaders. Nothing happens by accident in life is often deemed a cliché, but to a large extent it is true.

Nigerians have to begin to look within ourselves individually even before government put processes and standards in place, why do we as a people accept less than we deserved or can get. Why do we see poor and shoddy things being done and simply take our eyes off the ball because it seems like that is normal in Nigeria.

We need to begin to challenge ourselves to demand more, expect more and deliver more in every area of our lives both individually and corporately as a nation. The change “President Barack Obama” that hit United States of America did not happen by accident. Status Quo was challenged, boats were rocked, glass ceilings came crashing down, “attitudes, mindsets and work habits” had to change for that change to be manifest.

Let’s “LightUpNigeria” as a starting point, rid the nation of rogues, thiefs and saboteurs depriving us of the opportunity to not live in darkness in a nation that could afford to be the beacon of Africa.

I am not through with this yet, so this is only first instalment of a three-part blog. More to come in due course. I am hoping that as you have read this, you will be looking and aspiring to become a change agent for Nigeria and Nigerians.

CBN Governor Lamido Sanusi's Revolution

2009-08-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

I was on my way to Central London this morning when I got a call from my superbly enthusiastic and talented Associate Producer - Rosemary Ajayi, explaining to me in a rushed tone that the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria is in town and will be making a presentation to the UK Finance sector at a very cosy and classy hotel, just behind Liverpool Street Station.

I had been talking to Mr. Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson of EFCC earlier with regards having a telephone interview with him on the Saturday morning "Africa This Week" which I present on BEN Television Sky 184 and he had agreed to feature on the show, which was quite exciting considering the controversy generated as a result of EFCC's pursuit of Bank CEOs and Directors that were sacked by the CBN Governor.

My first thought on getting the information from Rosemary was to try and get the CBN Governor to accept my invitation to be interviewed live on my TV show for Saturday. I headed straight for Liverpool Street, arrived about 15 minutes late for the presentation and sat through the rest of the very intelligent and enlightening information that Mr. Lamido Sanusi put forward. I have never seen the Governor prior to today's event, except for the photograph on websites and never heard him speak before.

I was quite impressed by the measured, soft-spoken, and very eloquent speech/presentation by the Governor, I have not heard this kind of quality presentation from someone in senior public position from Nigeria in recent times, so I found this quite refreshing.

There was a truly diverse audience at the event and this was obvious during question time as the questions came from senior banking executives from Deutche Bank, Morgan & Stanley, JP Morgan, BBC reporter, Africa Confidential, and Financial Times to name a few, and the Governor gave detailed response to all the questions, with the exception of two questions which he deflected to the two Deputy Governors flanking him on the high table.

At the end of the event, I had a quick interview with the CBN Governor. I asked him how much has been recovered since August 14 announcement of the sacking of the CEOs of the 5 Banks affecting by the poorly serviced/non-performing loans, he was not able to give concise amount but stated that Oceanic Bank has recovered about N13Billion, while Intercontinental Bank has recovered a bit more than that.

When I quizzed him on the issue of loans by banks to the government departments that have not been servicing or paying back, as well as allegation by a couple of the banks that they have put in money into the energy and oil sector, Governor Lamido Sanusi's response was that loans the sacked CEOs claimed were given to government depts and energy sector which are poorly serviced constitute a small percentage of the Billions of Dollars that have been described by his office as non-performing loans.

I kept at him to give me an indication of what is the size of the small percentage that he was talking about, and eventually he said its just under 5%, which means over 90% of the billions have gone to "powerful and highly placed individuals and organisations", using the words of Governor Sanusi. He clearly believes that once these individuals are subjected to the pressure they are now under they will have to respect the laws of the land by paying up. He chuckled and explained that even some of those who claim they are going to court to seek redress for being exposed will have gone back to the banks to pay their debt.

I asked a tricky question on the share price fixing allegations against Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Sanusi seemed to have chosen his words carefully and stated emphatically, that he will not indulge in rumours and unsubstantiated allegations about shares price-fixing. He said that as far as the CBN is aware, there are no price-fixing confirmed.

I will be taking him up on that again tomorrow when he features on my Saturday morning show "Africa This Week" on BEN Television Sky Channel 184 from 10a.m. to 11a.m.

I expect the full interview today to be on BEN Television tonight, with the Governor responding to my questions on state of Nigerian economy, the growth the CBN believes will be driven by the agriculture sector, the expectation of improvement in electricity that will drive SME growth and more.

See why I said the interview was interesting, just watch it tonight as appetiser and then look out for the full 1 Hours interview that's coming live on saturday... phew... that's me done for the day... :-)

State of Health Care in Nigeria

2009-08-24T03:47:00.000-07:00

I am often wondering about when Nigeria will arrive at a point where basic necessities of life will work. Pondering and wondering do nothing for the good of humanity, as my church Pastor has said on a few occasions, "Good intentions count for nothing", in essence, until action is taken, all the good intentions in the world would not do anyone any good.

Where am I going with this you wonder, well its to do with the state of health care in Nigeria. I have a lot of issues with a lot of things being done in Nigeria and I know that if I do not focus on one at a time, I may lose my sanity... its not funny... actually it may be funny in a sad way, but very true.

In the late 1980s, I nearly lost my life to Typhoid Fever, I could have died because of the poor health care at that point. I went to the public hospital, time was wasted in treating what was thought to be a simple malaria, but no diagnosis or test to confirm. When it got worse, my girlfriend at that point in time, Oh God bless her, she encouraged me to go private, with virtually no fund. The truth of the situation was that I was on the verge of completing my exams at the Ogun State Polytechnic and I was so broke, there was no money to buy Panadol talk less of paying a private hospital.

I was saved by a young doctor, who was a friend to my then girlfriend. He checked me out, managed to get me into the private hospital, secure blood test and diagnosed Typhoid. The money to buy the rest of the treatment was raised quickly and I am today grateful to a handful of friends that rallied round to save my life from something that should not be so life threatening.

Just in 2006, I learnt about the accident where over 100 lives were lost on the Ife-Ibadan motorway. The church I attended that sunday, the congregation was asked to pray that God will battle against the blood-sucking demons that make the accidents happen. The story of how that accident happened will be in another blog, but the point I am keen on making here was the fact that lives were lost, not just because of the unfortunate accident, but because there was no infrastructure in place to respond quickly.

There were no ambulances, no fire service to rescue lives and no equipment in the general hospitals to initially stabilize the victims or progress treatment to a fairly standard level. If you have seen how accident victims are carried and shoved/cramped into back of cars to rush them to hospital in Nigeria, you will understand why higher percentage die or are disabled for life. I have a number of other stories of this nature to tell, including the loss of the life of my mother-in-law some years back through an accident that should not have claimed her life.

The most recent is a very good friend, an editor of one of the popular Nigerian newspapers, whose mum had an accident a few days ago up north. She was practically in tears as she saw her mother in terrible pain, but the poorly trained and poorly equipped hospital staff including doctors could not do much to help. The mum has been moved to a private hospital and as at this morning, she confirmed some amount of stability but stated clearly the infrastructure and training even in private hospital in Kaduna is still appalling, in fact I reckon it must be disgraceful.

I was at the Bloggers' Conference this last weekend and was privileged to meet Dr. Ike Anya, a UK based medical practitioner who has been campaigning and supporting initiatives to engage colleagues in Diaspora to help with the capacity issue in Nigeria. Dr. Anya acknowledged efforts of other various Nigerian interest groups trying to improve situation back home, but unfortunately, the only way all of those initiatives and effort would amount to anything substantial is if the Government would coordinate the effort and put a strategy in place to maximize outcome of all private and charitable initiatives from diaspora.

In my usual style of looking for solutions rather than just moaning / wingeing about problems, I am writing this piece to profile the issue, engage friends who may wish to join hands with existing groups either in Diaspora or back home in Nigeria and most importantly, source for coordinated approach to secure Nigeria's Minister of Health buy-in. This final point will be to get the Ministry to work out best way possible to tap into capacity from Diaspora as some of the best Doctors, Medical Consultants and Registrars in the medical field in UK and US are actually Nigerians.

As you read this blog, I hope you will feel concerned enough to think of one way or the other to contribute something to help improve health care in Nigeria and save a life or two... If you are unsure of what to do or where to start, feel free to contact me to point you in the direction of organisations you can add value to.

Bloggers' Conference

2009-08-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

I was at the Bloggers' Conference yesterday, it was held at the Account 3 Events' building in Bethnal Green, London from about midday till 6pm. I had a great time just being amongst kindred spirits, people of like minds, some who blog consistently, some who only do it as occasional opportunity to express frustration and poor out the venom of anger in words against authority/society/businesses/government and anything that is found wanting in their views and those who wanted to know about "this thing called blogging"... :-)

The event was organised by a talented young lady Tundun Adeyemo, a consistent blogger (http://tundunadeyemo.blogspot.com/) you can check out her usually interesting 5 Minutes Blog.

There were quite a few people there that I found very interesting and I have decided my blogging has got to be more consistently as well as making sure its now targetted at achieving a specific change rather than just expressing opinion. I have always believe in being a change agent in my professional life, but like a fairly large number of people who blog, we take blogging as something to use as platform to voice thoughts, opinion and so on, not necessarily with a view to change anything.

I spoke at the event and I was inspired to say exactly what I have just mentioned above, I ensured bloggers take cognizance of this. In doing so, I had a sizable number of bloggers in attendance to commit to blogging with a view to change things.

Here are my steps to making the change happen:

identifying what needs to change and why
identifying your own solution that could bring change, even if your solution may turn out not being the best
believing you can influence or create change or even impact/inspire people that can create change to act on your words
get BLOGGING to enable the words out - even the bible said God created the earth by the Word
finally do all in your power to share the word, find every possibility to enable visibility, send it out via email, send links to your blog to friends, share on facebook, bebo, twitter, myspace and very social networking site you use.

This is what I have also committed to at the event and I will say "So Help Me God... "

More to come in a bit... :-)

Our kids... the future adults

2007-01-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

I was in church this morning in Lagos, actually when in Nigeria I attend RCCG near my "regular home" in Lagos, the Lagos Airport Hotel.

Imagine this scenario - kids all being themselves, they are playing, talking, jostling for attention, posturing for positioning amongst peers knowing that the better their act the better their chances of securing followership and that feeling of assurance that they will be listened to...

This, I reckoned, is normal... But, not where I am this morning... Seems kids in this instance are not expected to be themselves... they are expected to act like adult... Sit tight, keep quiet and listen to boring sermon that is obviously making some of their parent snooze...

Children's attention span is often described as very short, but from my experience, when kids having nothing to engage them, what you have is a situation where attention span is equal to zilch, nought, zero...

Rather than engage these kids, the carers, whom I guess are parents too, do the traditional thing in Nigeria... A cane in one hand and a frowning face in tow... I can not understand why the carers need a cane in church... I would have expected that kids would be given something that will keep them busy.

I can not imagine my own kids being kept at best behaviour in any church where, as my little girl would describe it, 'the talk is for big people, not meant for little people because we don't understand'.

The following day, I decided to get some kids together for my Breakfast talk show on radio (broadcast on EKO 89.75FM). I asked one of the Producers working with me to get kids from diverse background and schools into the studio within the next few days.

Well, guess what, it was a revelation as the kids got me laughing and rolling on the floor with their candid response to my questions. Now I can imagine how rewarding it could be to put a programme together on how kids can be so funny.

I crammed about 20 children into the recording studio, unfortunately this is one studio where the airconditioning was not working and because these kids are used to the heat of Lagos, I was the one panting for fresh air, had my shirt off, and just my vest on, which got the kids laughing at me and thinking I was a weird kind of adult by Nigerian standard.

I was told by one of the kids that I was acting like a "small boy", when prodded for why he thought so, he said most adult (in Nigeria) are very 'serious' and do not play 'pranks' like I did.

Interview session went on, information was rolling out in large volumes, not one of the children could remember the last time they saw their parents hug or kiss... infact they made it sound like its a bad thing to do... just not the done thing in most households in Nigeria.

One kid, Chike (about 8 years old), speaking seriously during conversation with me, said that his Mum will only call Daddy "My Dear" or "Darling" when she wants money for shopping. A few of the kids confirm the same kind of thing goes on in their household and they have been tutored to be very nice to Daddy when you want something from him.

The girls, oh the girls, have been trained, amazingly well, by what they see around their homes... they do not need formal education on these things, they just watch their parents, uncles and aunties. They know they way to get their way when there seem to be no way.

Now, let me go full cycle, as I come back to the carers of these children. This is not a church environment, this is not even the school, where you expect some amount of regimented discipline, but somehow, the teachers brought usual attitude and strict discipline to the studio.

I kept asking the teachers to leave the children alone and let them be. I noticed that some of the kids were cowed because they did not want to put a foot wrong, they have been trained to be on best behaviours and this means, unintentionally being non-expressive and not talking unless they are spoken to. The implication is that you do not get the usual freedom of expression known to be the way with children.

I had to insist the teachers leave the studio enclosure and let me properly engage the kids before I finally got the children feeling free enough to talk without having to watch out for a knock on the head or pinch of the ear and other such subtle punishment for being too expressive or in the words of their teachers not disciplined.

I will probably never come to terms with this way or style of bringing up kids in Nigeria. I have every intention of finding a way to get parents to begin the process of reviewing their ways of training children so that the next generation of Nigerians will grow up to understand the principle of rights and responsibilities. I will go into details of this in my next write up.

I believe a lot of Nigerians do not understand how to claim their rights and being unable to express that understanding of ones right is a serious issue. When you grow up being told what you are allow to say, think or do, its bound to be quite a bit problematic to start thinking for yourself, saying exactly what you think and making your own choice how you will do things.

This is not about adults, its about kids... and the way we want them to grow and the kind of adults we want them to become in the 21st Century. The story continues...

Mr. Kay's Picture

2006-10-31T14:15:00.000-08:00

Lessons in Nigerian Protocol

2006-10-31T04:55:00.000-08:00

My teacher, she is the first lady of Lagos state, beautiful elegant and somewhat stylish. She was heralded into the offices of Channels TV by an entourage. I moved out of the way and stood in a corner. Chief (Mrs.) Oluremi Tinubu sat down with two ladies, all three dressed casually in trousers, nice looking leather slippers and t-shirts with the inscription – Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials.

I could not help but stare at her t-shirt for a few seconds. Bad manners, I thought, you do not stare at people, and even worse when it’s a lady’s top, as what you are staring at could be misconstrued, I looked away quickly.

I am used to seeing government officials being self-assured and confident, Mrs Tinubu seems one notch above that, as Bola Balogun, the producer of Channels TV’s Sunrise introduced a young man as make-up artiste to assist her. Unfortunately, the young man did not do himself justice as he was wearing a slightly oversized track suit top and bottom, with bathroom slippers in tow.

The First Lady instantly said no that she is sure her make-up is good enough for the occasion and that she has her make-up bag with one of her staff and will use it if she feels she needs to touch it up, but she is sure she has done a good enough job.

As she continued her discussion with her staff and kept looking in my direction with a smile and rhetorical questions that could be misconstrued as invitation to comment, I bid my time and thought it only normal to introduce myself.

Once the staff moved away, I decided to take my chance, move closer, introduce myself and give her my business card. Now, let the lessons begin… I am proudly six foot tall, but had to bend a little to show my well crafted, London business card to madam and in my polished English, said “Good morning ma’am, my name is Kayode Akintemi”.

The look on beautiful face of the First Lady, reminded me of my Mum’s look when I had done things that some other mothers would normally bring out “koboko” or “electric cable” to ensure you get marked before being threatened with being disowned.

Madam’s look caught me completely by surprise… she then told me “who did you say you are again?”, before I could say my name, she went on and told me “no you don’t just come and talk to me like that, there is protocol to be observed”, and I said “sorry madam, but…” she interjected before my sentence was completed, “where did you come from?”

I thought, good one now, let me impress Madam, “I am from London ma’am, we are setting up a television…”, madam did not hear the rest, she chipped in again, “do you just go and talk to the Queen of England when you see her in public without observing protocol” I thought, “uh oh”, but again, unlike me, I apologized one more time “sorry, but…” madam answered her own question, “of course not”.

At this point, my back was beginning to ache from bending as she remained seated and my hand, stretched out with my business card, went limb, slowly withdrew itself and found a way to get into my pocket to hide itself in embarrassment.

Let me redeem myself and show Madam I have some commonsense, I thought, I would mention that my lack of understanding of protocol she expected was because, I did not have to go through anyone to speak with “Oga”, the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu when we met in London.

By this time, I had become a “non-entity”, simply deemed a “persona non-grata”, as Madam completely “blanked me out” and would not acknowledge me or anything I had to say. Like a naughty boy, I went back to my seat, my legs could not hold the weight of my athletic frame, so I sat down, brought out my laptop and started writing.

I was concerned that madam, the teacher, our distinguished and eminent first lady of lagos state would look at me sternly again and ask me what I was doing now, so I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, moved my laptop to prevent her or her friend from seeing the screen. I started putting my first lesson in protocol in words that I can understand.

While writing this, it crossed my mind that a few weeks back, while in London, Tokunbo Odebunmi, the CEO of Obalende Suya, organized a special media reception for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. I was one of the privileged media practitioners invited. During the event, I did not think twice about going to the “high-table”, introduce myself to His Excellency, the Governor of Lagos and informed him of my plans to launch a radio show in Nigeria. He smiled, shook my hand and introduced me to charming Commissioner for Information, Mr. Dele Alake.

Interestingly enough, two weeks before the event at the Obalende Suya in London, the Nigeria Diaspora Organisation Europe (NIDOE) organized an event attended by the brilliant Minister of Information Frank Nweke Jr., a lady now known in London as “Minister for Solid Education”, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili and Mrs Cherie Blair, wife of the British Prime Minister.

At the occasion, all of these eminent individuals were seemingly happy to spare a few minutes to have a chat with me without insisting on protocol, especially the British First Lady whom we shook hands and she introduced me to her Executive Assistant to ensure I secure appointment for future meeting.

The Governor of Lagos state is a man I have great respect for and will surely agree that his title as "Asiwaju" is very apt, in view of his achievement in the extremely difficult to govern Lagos state. I have been told that the wife of the Governor can be very nice and charming, and I probably caught her on the wrong day, wrong time, wrong place… so I will try again, I have every intention of inviting her to Breakfast with Mr. Kay on EKO 89.75FM in the very near future…