From Myth to A Cure: Vaccinations
Can a universal cure come out of olden African culture, especially one that originates from mythology? “Nothing good comes out of Africa” is a settled statement of the many. Testing the truth of that statement can be difficult or easy, depending on a person’s education and exposure. (more…)
Cycling Education and Strong Institutions Formal education is one of the most overrated things in human development people on the African continent can gain. Maybe it so elsewhere too. Education…
Okpan Arhibo: Traditional Disco Music
Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango invented disco music out of the blue with his release of the phenomenal hit single record, Soul Makossa. The year was 1972, and it was a staggering feat from an unknown personality. The listening public could hear the instant break beats and jazz funk influences in the song. And the western musical instruments; the saxophone, drums, percussions, guitars (bass, acoustic and lead), and the piano. Soul Makossa took disc jockeys, clubbers, and everyday radio listeners in large numbers. It soon became a big favourite within the New York music scene and later the globe.
The song’s core sensibility, as developed and perfected, came from somewhere; Africa. Around this time, other African musicians, Fela Kuti, Osibisa, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, working within the same jazz funk paradigm, found instant fame and recognition as innovators on the world’s music scene. And Fela fashioned “Afrobeat” which soon became a distinct international music genre in its own right. (more…)
Ayittey Benchmark: Performance of Presidents. How else do you measure it?
There are many able Nigerian analysts, commentators, pundits, academics and journalists who have rightfully earned a say in the Nigerian political arena. Most are insincere. Some swing. But a few are truthful in their evaluations of the state of political realities and performances of governments and their principals. All performances of governance do need to have standardised or unique benchmarks for their measurements to be valid. (more…)
“There is no good name for a terrible disease” – Urhobo proverb.
“The solution to Africa’s problems lie solely in Africa” – George Ayittey.
Coconut Head Corruption (CHC) is a term derived from the vocabulary of George Ayittey. He is a distinguished U.S. based Ghanaian economist and is used to describe the observed hollow-headedness and thoughtlessness exhibited by corrupt African leaders and their clients. These Big Men Ayittey is critical of have engaged in corruption since the beginning of the post-colonial era. Ayittey consistently and emphatically in his works and on social media uses words like “Coconut Leader”, “Coconut combat” or “Coconut solutions” to address misgovernance and lousy leadership in African. (more…)
Fraternities are Viruses in Nigeria: Part 10 – Poor Imitators
University campus grown fraternities (UCGF) have done either good or evil to the societies in their countries of origin (e.g. the USA) is debatable. In the American-formation, with no idealisation intended, their “honour codes” are both formidable and adhered to. “Honour among brothers” is a precious matter for American fraternities. Interestingly, their Nigerian imitators as ‘free-for-all fraternities’ are observably oblivious to the meaning of honour and devoid of working honour codes. It may be the reason UCGFs in Nigeria are more like “street gangs” than collectives of educated men. (more…)
It will be interesting to hear what pundits have to say about the “sexual relationship” between the adult male, Yinusa, and Ese Oruru a 13-year-old girl said to have been abducted by the former since 2012. There is much talk about endemic injustice, an ineffectual police force and legal system, unconcerned politicians and unscrupulous predatory males within the borders of Nigeria. What is not being said is that poverty has reduced females in Nigeria even seriously underaged ones into “purchasable” sex objects either as goods or services. Ese’s case was just a solitary cause celebre case out of millions of abused underaged girls in the country. (more…)