Ola Barnabas

WHO IS AFRAID OF A RESTRUCTURED NIGERIA? A man has three wives, and he chooses one, only one of them for special and preferential treatment. One of the other two enjoys some kind of privileges because she played a part in helping the Maigida to attain certain heights sometimes ago. If she didn’t help, she possibly will be as unattended as the last wife, for whom I feel a lot of pity. That one of the wives is preferentially treated is a point that the Maigida himself has written articles to deny, this he has done through people who are paid to speak for him – workers I feel equal pity for because Maigida does not make lying easy for them anymore. Why are the other wives complaining? Why are they not reasonable enough to know that life is ‘turn-by-turn’? Why are they trying to make the house ungovernable for the Maigida ? How can they complain that Maigida uses only his brothers most times when there are assignments? How can they complain that Maigida’s brothers are kill...

Have you also ever had to wonder how some people survive being friends, relatives, acquaintances or even doing business with certain kind of people? If yes, then I’m relieved, that makes two of us. God! Some people are just impossible. Give them a job to do, they will give you assurances like non other, only for you to turn your back to go and that is the end of everything. They promise to deliver jobs at so and so time, and they probably even swear on their mother’s grave, check them out at the arranged time, you’ll be pretty surprised. Pay them for services and after they have collected the money that is the end of the job. They’ll never deliver. Agree to meet with them at a particular time, when the time comes, you are the only one that shows up. They never call to tell you they are going to be late or would not come, and worse still, they see nothing wrong with their actions. Impossible people! They are everywhere. They rate very low on the reliability meter. You find ...

MAKE ROOM FOR THE CHAMP, SAVE THE DYING CHURCH We were in the middle of this music concert, and every single presenter or group made you salivate for the next. It was all going so fine until a dance group was invited on stage. The way they danced that day, my friend, even yours sincerely was embarrassed on their behalf. They left the stage with mouths agape and minds in bewilderment; everyone checked to be sure we were still seated in a church hall. The programme host could only remark when he took the microphone: “That was something to watch, but, no matter what it looked like, I’d rather that they dance it in church than in the club house.” Young people are amazing. The way they do things, the way they want to do things keeps the heart of the old throbbing. And because they do not find room for the expression, we constantly see mass exodus from their church of birth to newer churches that allow such expressions. I remember reading a statistics sometimes ago that said the...

DIARY OF A NIGERIAN AUTHOR I did read the Harry Porter story, and how that it took rejection from twelve publishers for Joanne Rowling (popularly called JK Rowling) to get the story out there. Terrible experience, we must admit, and more so for a woman. But, welcome to Nigeria. Rejection by publishers is the least of the worries that any author might have. There are no publishers who are ready to stake their money on you, so you don’t even have the pleasure of worrying about them accepting your work. With your money, you will sure find more than enough book printers in the publishing guise who are more than ready to stake their time for your might-succeed work. Every, nay, almost every author in Nigeria is self-published. And then comes the author that wants to outstand the rest. He chooses to get his book internationally published. Soon he finds that that is another fruitless venture he has embarked on. The international publisher also gets him to pay through his nose...

TEN QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF BEFORE CHOOSING WHO RUNS YOUR BUSINESS Have you ever wondered who is qualified among all the staff you have to run your business in your absence? If you have a fledgling business, and you are concerned about its growth, you would have had a thought about this. The following questions are valuable guides in helping you decide who qualifies to drive your business to the next level: 1.       Do they have personal visions for their lives? If anyone cannot make out time to think on their own lives, they will not think on your business. If they do not have visions for their lives, it may never be important to them to craft one for your business. 2.       Do their visions align with yours? Are the visions adaptable and adoptable to what you represent? 3.       Do they ever take time to think about your business? Do they bring up suggestions, ideas? When you inter...