THE GOD BLESS NIGERIA CHALLENGE

It is time to be grateful in Nigeria. We have been through a lot. I mean if other countries were to go through what we are going through, they would probably be extinct.I saw this challenge online and i thought it was fantastic. We should try it too.

Dear People,
Day by day from power outage, bad road condition to fuel scarcity; we are faced with almost everything and everyone speaking negatively about Nigeria.
Life and death are in the power of the tongue and if everything is speaking negatively we can speak positivity into being.I appeal to you, let's fill the airwaves, social media and everywhere with positive declarations and blessing over Nigeria. I Invite you to take ‪#‎TheGodBlessNigeriaChallenge‬. It's simple.For the next seven days, boldly declare one thing you desire of a better Nigeria on every social media platform, tag at least seven friends per day and urge them to take the challenge too. Also make a deliberate conscious effort to say God Bless Nigeria seven times a day.
When you spend long hours in traffic rather than complain just say‪#‎GodBlessNigeria‬.
When you run out of fuel just say #GodBlessNigeria..
When you think about the unstable economy, exchange rate instability and all.. just say #GodBlessNigeria..
When 'PCHN takes your light' (Power Outage is oyinbo grammar lol).. Just stay #GodBlessNigeria.
Whenever anyone one comes to you to gist you or complain about anything concerning Nigeria, just say #GodBlessNigeria
When you hear all sorts about Nigeria on every media particularly those in the diaspora, just declare #GodBlessNigeria
I know it's a tough one and that's why it's called ‪#‎TheGBNChallenge‬ and i know you are upto the task
Remember America became great because for centuries everyone kept declaring 'God bless America'
Please use the ash tag #GodBlessNigeria and #TheGBNChallenge for all your social media daily posts
I start my day one..


I declare a corruption free Nigeria #GodBlessNigeria #TheGBNChallenge

#LETUSSAVENIGERIA

THE NIGERIAN HEALTH SYSTEM

This is a primary health centre in Doka Village Nassarawa

Nigeria is Africa's biggest economy yet government spend on the health sector is low.15 years ago, the government promised to allocate 15% of its budget to the health sector. Currently, they allocate only 4.3%. Yet, everyday, 2000 Nigerian children and 158 women die because of poor access to basic health care. It is disheartening to know that we do not have adequate and well equipped medical centres for a large population as that of our dear country Nigeria. We just do not regard human life here.The change we seek for first starts with us. You go to the so called government hospitals and you get the worse care ever. The irony of this is that you should get the best care in such hospitals. Sometimes you do not have light, basic equipment are not in place, drugs are not provide. Its safe to say some hospitals are mortuaries. Sometimes, all a patient needs is some nurse smiling at you and you get well faster. You have people who until you bribe them; they dont work. I can recount the experience of one of my colleagues whose mother was in a certain government hospital at a time.My Gosh, her experience was horrible. The morale she said in the hospital was what contributed to her passing on (May her soul rest in peace). People were not just ready to work. Even if they were, they were bribed. Someone can be dead for days and they just for some reason refuse to carry the person. I can go on and on.No LIFE I mean no LIFE is superior to the other. Good Health Care is a myth right now in Nigeria and even if such exists, you pay through your nose. This is even worse in the rural areas. Some cannot even get to the primary health centers,some have to walk miles before care is given. It is only God that saves the poor in this country. Some more issues with our healthcare system include:

Same description with the picture above

• The structure of the healthcare system is poorly developed. This has caused it to suffer major setbacks, more especially at the local government levels.
• There is also no adequate surveillance of the system to check its effectiveness.
• Low Morale by government doctors. The system is suffering a major challenge as a result of low morale by government doctors. The doctors are majorly protesting over meager pay. The low morale is leading to low quality of medical service offered.
• While the system has done a lot to include many citizens in the insurance scheme, there are still many citizens who are not insured. This is considered to be a major setback for the healthcare system in Nigeria.

Still, the health indicators in Nigeria have remained below internationally-set benchmarks. At the moment the health sector in Nigeria is characterized by a lack of effective stewardship role of government, disjointed health service delivery, weak health infrastructure, insufficient and inefficient financing, and mal-distribution of health work force among key players.



All Images were taken from NAIJ.COM

#LETUSSAVENIGERIA

THE NIGERIAN NELSON MANDELA

On December 5 2013, we lost a rare gem. One of the true leaders of our time.He fought apartheid with his last blood.According to Myles Munroe "True leadership must always lead to change". This he achieved in his life time and probably a life well spent. Where is the Nelson Mandela of Nigeria. Sam Adeyemi also quoted similar opinion “They need to develop vision; not only to see the country the way it is but the way it should be. They need to have a picture of a developed Nigeria and transfer the picture into the minds of the citizenry. Where there is no vision the people perish. We need to have the Nigeria of our dream ”. Some of the attributes of true leadership is:


Selflessness: Leadership is a position to serve not to be served. You are in that position to amass wealth for yourself.Leadership is all about service, passion and compassion for people. True leadership must be combined with competence and character.

Self-assessment: Effective leaders periodically take stock of their personal strengths and shortcomings. They ask: “What do I like to do? What am I really good at?” “What are my areas of weakness, and what do I dislike doing?”

Knowing your areas of weakness does not make you weak; on the contrary, it allows you to delegate to others who have those abilities, in order to achieve the common goal. Rather than clinging to the false belief that they can do it all, great leaders hire people who complement, rather than supplement, their skills. Working on your areas of weaknesses will improve your leadership ability – and recognizing them makes you more human.

Sharp perception: Do you know how people really perceive you? Effective leaders do. They have an easy level of honest communication with their teams and their peers, and a thorough understanding of how they are perceived. Testing others’ perception of you can be as simple as observing their behavior. Are your co-workers and team members relaxed around you? Does all conversation stop when you enter the room?

If you really want to know what people think, just ask them. You may receive feedback that you’re not listening or showing appreciation as well as you could be. If you’ve established an environment of honest and open communication, you should be able to ask about your good qualities and the areas you need to improve on. Your staff will appreciate your effort.

Responsive to the group’s needs: Being perceptive can also help a leader be more effective in knowing the needs of the team. Some teams value trust over creativity; others prefer a clear communicator to a great organizer. Building a strong team is easier when you know the values and goals of each individual, as well as what they need from you as their leader.

Knowing the organization: Effective leaders know the organization’s overall purpose and goals, and the agreed-upon strategies to achieve these goals; they also know how their team fits into the big picture, and the part they play in helping the organization grow and thrive. Full knowledge of your organization – inside and out – is vital to becoming an effective leader.

#LETUSSAVENIGERIA

TRAIN UP YOUR CHILD

From when children are very small they learn a  lot from us. At a stage in their lives, they imitate everything and anything we do.I am presently reading a book on the 14 secrets to better parenting by Dave Earley. He reiterates the Bible's stance found in Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go so that when he is old, he will not depart from it". I think a lot of people have missed it because they have left God out of the Equation. The manual of your child's life is contained in the Bible.In as much as i do not want to sound overly spiritual, there is no denying that God is needed to raise up children.It requires wisdom and God is the true source of it.There are of course a thousand and one ways to raise a child but if we want Godly seeds after we are gone, here are a few ways to gotten from the book 14 secrets to better parenting:

1.Teach them to take Gods Word seriously. Prov 2:1-5. As a parent, we must act as role models for our children, monitor their Growth and encourage them when they feel weak. The way we treat Gods Word is the way God feels treated because he and his Word are one.For example, you can put a memory verse in their Lunch Box daily and tell them to recite to you when they are back. Also, while preparing dinner, you can teach your young one about the names of God and the meaning.Above all, teach them to apply the scriptures.

2.Lead them to know God personally.Prov 9:10. The Bible says "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" . The greatest privilege is to lead them to know God for themselves. You will not be with them 24 hours of the day.It is want they have on the inside that will come forth during the days of trail.Not only should they know him personally, you should also monitor their growth.

3.Show them how to work Uprightly. Prov 16:6: Unconsciously, we always communicate to our children that the reward for wrong doing is punishment. This is not true. In as much as the punishment is part of it. Teach them that it is God that should be feared. teach them that there is a God in heaven even when mummy and daddy are not there sees all and records all our doings whether it be god or bad.It is the dreading of  sin itself and not just the punishment.

4.Guide them to humility. Prov 22:4: As much we teach them the right things, once in a while, they may err. You have to correct them in Love even when this happens. The Bible says  "the meek will he teach his ways. Humility comes when we put God as the center of our lives. We must not treat our kids as the center of the universe because only God deserves such accolade.

5.Teach them to respect authority Romans 13:1-7: Whether this be of God or man; teach them respect.If i cannot get my children to respect me they can see, how will they respect God they cannot see. We need to help our children respect all levels of human authority including parental,civic, vocational and spiritual authorities.

This piece is not just for those who just have kids biologically. You can find someone to mentor and impart. It never too late or too early to start implementing biblical parenting secrets. Why not start now? If we invest in our children now, The future generation will have to show for it.

#LETUSSAVENIGERIA

THE TIGER IN THE WOODS

We sure remember the Tiger Wood Story. About his marriage i mean. Just recently, i read he is now World No 52. Few years Ago, he was World No 1. It is going to take time for him to get back into his golfing career. It must be painful that a man so gifted could be so human.The lessons of his travails and trip to purgatory are quite clear: men no matter how gifted are fallible after all. Public figures have no hiding places: Tiger Woods is the victim of tabloid scrutiny and of the greed of the women in his lives. But there are many ordinary men whose lives have gone from hero to zero. There are no perfect lives. Not even Woods': he is the old picture of a perfect husband and family man, with his wife and daughter hanging on to him as he won the Majors. This Tiger could not resist returning to the wild of the woods. Man is deceptive.We judge people so easily. Judging is something we do sometimes without thinking. I am most guilty of that.When we realise that we are to treat others the way we will want to be treated, the world will be a more caring place.

• Monitor your thoughts.Think about what you thinking about. I often go along thinking things about other people, judging them, and I don't even realize it. I'm going to work on paying more attention to my thoughts and do my best to push them in a positive direction

• Look for the positive. People cant be totally bad.There must be a good in them .God did not create us to be bad. Judgments are negative. There is almost always something positive you can find in someone or something. While my mind might immediately focus on the negative, I can push my thoughts in a more positive direction and look for something nice to say. And, of course, if you can't find something nice to say, don't say anything at all.

• Avoid stereotyping. Stereotypes are never, ever good. I really try to avoid them, but I know I don't always. As I said above, they really create a lot of negativity in the world and I know I don't want to be a part of that. I want to work on recognizing stereotypes and working to avoid them at all costs. There is no need for them in my life.

• Stop judging yourself. It's not all that easy to do, but the more we judge ourselves, the more we'll judge others. I judge myself a lot and I need to work on that. I need to focus on the positive aspects of me and then it will be a lot easier to focus on the positive aspects of others. There's no reason to be so hard on myself and I'm going to really, really work on this one.

• Focus on your own life. When all else fails and judgments are hard to push away, focus on yourself. Don't worry about what other people are doing/wearing/etc. Think about your own life. Focus on what you want and go after it. When you're trying to avoid your own problems, it's easy to criticize others. Don't. Think about you and focus on the good things.

• Remember how it feels. Remember how it feels to be judged. AND remember how it felt the last time you judged someone else. It doesn't feel good to judge or to be judged so put an end to it right now. I'm going to work on remember these feelings the next time I feel like a negative thought about someone else is cropping up.

I will like to end with this quote "Those who spend their time looking for the faults in others usually make no time to correct their own -Art Jonak. Do not just others because they sin differently from you. Leave God to it who is the ultimate Judge.

#LETUSSAVENIGERIA

WE ARE OUR PROBLEM

Ouch! but that is the bitter truth.Taking a look at Nigeria, you will notice that we are the cause of our woes. What do i mean by this?Corruption starts from us. If the Civil servant refuses to collect bribe, nobody will be able to give it.Corruption still thrives because we have individuals or groups are still promoting it. All of a sudden, the Chibok girls are getting free. In as much as this is an answer to our prayers. But i think of it this way. The sponsor(s) of Boko Haram do not have money to steal from the government any longer to supply food stuffs for the girls.In turn, they captors can no longer cope therefore, they are churning them out gradually. That is just my thought though.Below are some of the ways i think we can curb corruption together.

1.The first tool is ‘education’. With the help of education we can reduce corruption. Look at the last election conducted in March 2015. We had some politicians giving out food stuff, irons, etc.If those people were educated, they will not sell their votes because of a bag of rice that will finish in a year at the most.Those who are uneducated do not know about the process, provisions and procedures through which they can get justice. Corrupt public servants try to make fool of them and often demands for bribe. It is due to unawareness in the field of law, public rights and procedures thereof that a common and an uneducated suffer out of the corrupt society. This suggests that if we are educated, we can understand our rights well.

2.We need to change the government processes. If the members of the governing body are government officials, there will certainly be less reports of the criminal cases. The reverse may be possible only when there are no more criminal politician in our government. The provision is that, if there is any case filed against a person then he would not be eligible for election. But if we see hundred politicians then about sixty percent of them would be criminal in nature. If these criminal politicians command us and make laws, what types of law would be formed, we can guess! Thus during election, we should keep in mind the person for whom we shall not vote.

3.We can reduce corruption by increasing direct contact between government and the governed. E-governance could help a lot towards this direction. In a conference on, “Effects of Good Governance and Human Rights” organized by  National Human Right Commission, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam gave an example of Delhi metro rail system and online railway reservation as good governance and said that all the lower courts should follow the explanation of the Supreme Court and High Court and make the judgments online. Similarly, Sivraj Patil said that the Right to information should be used for transparency. We have legal rights to know any information. According to this act, (Right to Information act 2005), generally people should follow the procedure of law given to then when their work is not being implemented in a proper way in public services. This act is a great help in the order to control corruption.

4.Lack of transparency and professional accountability is yet another big reason. We should be honest to ourselves. Until and unless we will not be honest, we can’t control corruption. If each of us is honest towards our profession, then corruption will automatically decrease. We need to pay attention towards professional accountability i.e., how much we are faithful and truthful towards our profession. Corruption may be controlled by handling five major professions: lekhpal, medical, revenue, police and judicial.

I pray God will raise up a Generation that will fight for Justice. A Generation that loves the right things and will not compromise. Sometime this week, Someone asked a question "when are we going to have our own Nelson Mandela, or Martin Luther King Jnr (May their souls rest in Peace)". People who are ready to die for this nation. I am ready to Die for Nigeria. Are you?

#LETUSSAVENIGERIA

TO STRIKE OR NOT

After several dinlindalis *in Frank Donga's voice* over strike or no strike. Finally the Wabba Led faction insisted on embarking on the strike despite the court injunction not to. The Ajaero Faction saw reason with the Federal government and the strike was cancelled on their part. The Bible is so complete. It stated that a house divide against itself cannot stand.This clearly shows in this case.The strike is not functional because of this reason.How on earth am i supposed to listen to people who saying "come and be going" (forgive my English).Am I supposed to adhere to a strike that is not even co-ordinated? Nigerian workers woke up today and headed straight to work just like any other day despite the proposed strike action threatened by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over the federal government’s removal of fuel subsidy and consequent rise in pump price from N86 to N145. Social commentators and our ever ready social media influencers have reflected the citizens’ apathy towards a stay at home action noting that the NLC has since lost its credibility and moral justification to call for a stay at home action.After feeling the people’s pulse about the ‘strike’ over the last few hours, we give you five (5) reasons why Nigerians are not moved by the NLC:

They bailed out on civil society: This is a function of trust. Nobody trusts the NLC leadership anymore. Not after abandoning thousands of protesters at Ojota Park in 2012 during the ‪#‎OccupyNigeria‬protests. Rumour has it that the then NLC leadership had secretly struck a deal with former president, Goodluck Jonathan to abandon the cause and move on. And move on they did.

They have internal crises – 2 factions: The NLC is not operating a united front. While the Joe Ajaero faction of the Labour organisation is striking an agreement with the Buhari government, the Ayuba Wabba faction keeps insisting on a total strike. This incoherent approach has effectively weakened Labour’s resolve, making nonsense of their threat.

The government is trusted: Unlike what it was during the nationwide #OccupyNigeria protest, the tables appear to have been turned. Citizens did not trust Jonathan’s government to come through on its promise to activate palliative measures meant to alleviate the problems of the ordinary man and deploy money saved through the removal on massive infrastructural projects. On the other hand, President Muhammadu Buhari is currently riding on a wave of goodwill with an approval rating that shows no signs of abating. The NLC is playing itself if it believes it’s in a position to win this integrity war. It is not.

The legislators agree: For the first time in a while, several members of the National Assembly are in agreement with the decision of the federal government to yank of the subsidy. Yes, there was a rowdy session on Monday in the House during Emmanuel Kachikwu’s appearance at the Lower Chambers to defend the government’s decision to remove fuel subsidy but majority of the legislators have thrown their weight behind the removal.

Citizens are strike weary: Nigerians just want to give the NLC a taste of what they got in 2012 by ignore a strike action and moving on with their lives. Pres. Buhari’s administration has not delivered on its campaign promises as regard revamping the economy and more, but citizens are willing to see how far he can go – especially as the 2016 Budget has just been passed. The NLC may mean well, but we believe this is a good time for them – and Dino Melaye – to wake up and smell the coffee.

#LETUSSAVENIGERIA