Only in Nigeria

I am afraid you might find this a little grisly but it is an apt representation of how low we have descended as a people. It is jos at the moment.I don't think we have seen the end of all this madness. Where the next scene of this macabre drama from hell will be staged remains in the lap of the gods.

Morality of Profit: Seven Fund Essay

Sound likes something that will interest my old marxist comrades at Ife. The essay is organised by Seven Fund. Essay

Essay Watch

I have resolved (nay, not some flimsy, starry-eyed new-year resolution) to scour the internet for essays contest, pitch my ideas in the market place of ideas and see if they could fetch me some cool benjamins. Talk isn’t cheap! Already, I have started walking the talk. I literally laid a seige to the World Bank essay competition website. It is my last change to take a shot at the competition ( I am some months shy of the wrong side of twenty) and I am writing this one, even if the heavens fall. Guess what the topic is: Youth Unemployment… It couldn’t have been more apt. A Nigerian is going to win this one and it is got to be… find the link here

Happy New Year

Hello Blog,

Been away for what seems like ages. I'm back and this time for good. I must confess I did not keep faith with you in the last year. This year, I promise, will be different. At the minimum, I will drop by every week. As a proof that I intend to walk my talk, I have got a post.

It makes for comic relief. Sunita, Sorry, Evita! featuring two crazies. Enjoy!

'Nigeria should be renamed Scamerica'

A respondent to an article that recently appeared in the Prestigious American sheet, the Washington Post on how the worldwide economic recession is affecting the yahoo yahoo industry ( for want of a better description) has proposed renaming nay rebranding of Nigeria as Scamerica, the world capital of internet fraud.

The report written by Karin Brulliard highlighted how the 'industry' has fallen on hard times against the backdrop of the global financial crisis. Trust American journalists with their all-familiar sanctimonious air, Karin made a mockery of mama rebrand nigeria's rooftop chorus of 'Good people, Great nation'. If Karin's thinly-disguised salvo carpeted Nigeria as a nation of scammers, a nail to the coffin was in the offing. The coup de grace was dealt by a respondent name Rikkirat who offered a terse: 'Nigeria should be rename Scamerica'

If you are itching to read the article, find the link here http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080603764.html

Essays Contest for Young People.

While on a frantic search for websites for sore eyes, I happened on this essay contest that should interest young people. If you are game, the contest is just a click away. http://youthinkblog.worldbank.org/youthink-international-youth-day-essay-competition
Watch out for more opportunities on this blog. That's a catch isn't it?

A Close Shave with Internet Fraudsters

I have had more than my own fair share of close shaves. Every now and then I am on the cusp of something risky and after the danger has slipped by I am left in awe, nay shock, with mouth agape how it manages to elude me. For me, the moments remain instructive in that they bring closer home to me the immensity of dangers that others have to contend with in the course of the meeting the quotidian demands of life.

Doing a five hour stint in a dingy police cell in Ile-ife after one of those senseless protests as a student taught me poignant lessons on the imperative of freedom more than all the prison memoirs I was wont to read. The import of my mum's regular morning mantra -there is just a step between death and life-hit me with meteoric impact when I had an unforgettable near death experience in 2003. The contradiction of showing love and care to person living with HIV and maintaining a healthy distance in order to stay uninfected hit me harshly when a cousin of mine caught the deadly virus. Life is a school, the sages tell us, and the tutorials often come unbidden.

The first instinct on reading about folks who had fallen prey to the now ubiquitous con men is to tag them greedy and ignorant plebeians after all it takes a streak of covetousness to fall for their annoying baits. I got a mail purportedly from my banker bearing the tale that my "ATM banking session has been suspended" on some, with benefit of hindsight, phoney grounds. Pronto, I set about to resolve the riddle within the constraint of time and distance. A wedding ceremony of a family friend's daughter was slated for the very next day and I needed to spend a few note at the imminent 'Owambe' party that we Yoruba are wired to throw at such outings. Where will I get money, I asked myself. Requesting permission to visit the nearest GTB branch was inconceivable. I had a short time-line to deliver on my assignment. So the only option left was to follow the link provided -http://ibank.gtbank.com/%20ibank2/Alert.aspx

Truth be told, I was not familiar with GTB internet banking services so i could be forgiven for not instantly recognizing the tell-tale signs that should otherwise have given the phoney platform away for what it was-fake. The address on the url :http:////www.clangamingleague.com/Forums/images/ranks/base/data/ibank_gtbplc_com.php
was different from what the link that led me there read.I couldnt care less as the urgency of resolving the riddle beclouded any my brain that i couldn't see the red flags.

I was poised to provide prompts answer to the questions that were a prerequisite to resolving the riddle: my ATM number, card expiry date, security question, pin, answer to security question, id and password to mention a few. I had answered two of the questions and was about retrieving my id and password which was tucked somewhere when it dawned on me that the link was not GTB's and that the site was too bare for comfort. That piqued my already sagging guards. I took a closer look at the site. http://clangamingleague.com/ is definitely not my banker. It was a scam after all and the it was just another ploy to fleece an undiscerning 'maga' to use the yahoo yahoo lingo of his hard-earned money.
Many a time I have had to ignore without a second look messages from Interswitch that ATM pins should not be disclosed. Those messages I considered a no-brainer as I did expect any right thinking person to give their ATM pins to a third party.What self-conceit! I didnt know that it was only a matter of time before I would swallow the latest 'format' to use for the nth time the parlance of the uber-smart yahoo artists. I am cocksure I am not alone in this conceit.It is all too pervasive.Few harldy gave a thought to the hapless foreigners that were fleeced of their hard-earned money by yahoo yahoo artists.Why should they care aren't they greedy.Now the chicken has come home to roost.Hackers and internet fraudsters have trained their genius on our bank accounts and God helps us if our little savings get unscathed in their latest quest. It was a close shave for me, who knows it could be a big heist on another person's life savings.