Reflections 2.10

Written originally on Monday 30supth/sup November 2009
I hate to get unnecessarily emotional, but learning earlier today the President’s ailing health took a worse turn and as such has postponed his return from Saudi Arabia indefinitely was/is scary.
Last Thursday’s rumour of his death is the second in one year. The first being earlier this year when there were no official releases as to where he was or what was happening to him –after he refused to return on time from the lesser hajj, the lesser hajj in itself is critiques stated was a mere cover up. People were forced to speculate and it did not take long for rumours to circulate he was dead. A broadcast media (a TV station) was fingered and punished by the state for igniting a search for the President’s true status then.
Oats of secrecy (administered on Presidential aides) and a sacked Secretary to the Federal Government after, things seemed to have improved as only a few days ago, the president’s media aide, gave a graphic illustration of the events leading to the President’s hurried departure to Saudi Arabia again on medical grounds.
The media is agog with stories of President’s ailment. Punters are already betting on who will be the next president, and it seems all is set for the President’s departure from office on medical grounds.
I feel a similar concern to what I feel when a close associate or family is ill. And I am doing what I do in those circumstances. Pray. I pray the president does not die, but to return to good health and retire to his Kastina country home.
No, I do not appreciate his political’ lukewarmness’ and his display of lack of ambition to make Nigeria work. And I will not vote for him in 2011 if he stands for re election.
But, still, I will pray: may the president not die.
I agree, this is being sentimental away from my usual philosophical approach to issues. But all the same: God save our President .

Titans  from the academe, industry, civil society and the in betweens (we cannt always categorize everybody)  are gathered amongst the pyramids of  Egypt at the IGF 2009 conference to discuss the future of information managment and sharing – hope google is represented!

As should be expected, in a gathering of such magnitude there will be many anecdotes, rhetorics, statistics, pitches, puns etc. embeded in long papers/presentations and I have decided to share my reflections (and may be some pun too) here.

This post will sure grow as I will update as facts emerge from the conference. Read the rest of this entry »

Originally written, October 28^th and then forgotten until now.

Spent a while (and you can add a fortune too :)) seeing Michael Jackson’s This Is It, which premiers from today in cinemas worldwide. I could not help but conclude that Michael was a bunch of talent and deep thinking giving his calculated dance steps, deliberate pitch and troughs in his singing and the subject of his songs - which included the earth, helping the poor etc.

I cannot say I was a fan of his while he lived. True I did not miss a single showing of his biographic serial on the Cadbury breakfast TV in the 90s - can’t remember what it was called now though. Reading the Moon Walk way back in the late 90s at a time when I was able to appreciate growing up (being a teenager myself) gave me a glimpse of the pop star’s growing days - and helped put into perspective what Ihad withnessed on the TV serial earlier on.

I have also been in love with such hit tracks - no, not Thriller, you won’t believe I heard thriller for the second time only a few months ago, the first time being a performance by a dance group at Igbobi College in 1998 - but Bad, Speechless, Earth Song and some others.

Nothing prepared me for what the movie potrayed.

Michael was a talented dancer and singer, very careful (not unadventurous though) and attentive to detail - he won’t let it go if it is not perfect.

This Is It presents footages from rehearsals and auditions for MJ’s London shows which were all sold out and which in Michael’s words were his last set of performances - and which never held.

Not being much of a movie critic, I will not attempt a critique of This IsIt, but just express my personal eye view. I  had expected much more drama and less of the stage performances - which were in themselves proof of MJ’s creativity and the professionalism of his associates as well as the seriousness of the approach to entertainment business in America. I was thrilled by the complex manipulations of lighting, imagery and sound on a mechanised stage.

Today, I wished I had paid more attention to Michael’s works in the past, while he lived and allowed them form part of my ‘growing up songs’, perhaps I would have looked forward to his album launches/releases like I do Lagbaja, Akon, Beautiful Nubia, Papa Tee, Asa and some few others.

Michael who appears a bit illusioned in his last days  - he kept making repeated and most times unnecessary statements about love - was philosophical till death - that is if the last performance showed in the movie was really the last song he rehearsed.

His last words were: make the change…. And that is something from Man in the Mirror, I guess!

Rest in Peace Michael!

I have been a fan of TED for close to two years, since my days at the Paradigm Inintiative Nigeria (PIN) where I cut my teeth as a social entrpenur under an Ashoka Fellow: ‘Gbenga Sesan.
Going through the TED archieve, I found this presentation by Ngozi OkonjoIweala in 2007. Ngozi (FYI) is the current Managing Director of the World Bank and a former Minister (of Finance) in General Olusegun Obasanjo’s (RTD) cabinet in Nigeria.

In her presentation, Ngozi OkonjoIweala, takes on corruption in Africa and declares what we are doing at home to curb the scourge. She also goes on to highlight the roles of the developed nations in perpetuating Africa’s corruption.

She stated that Africa’s development lies in our own hands as Africans far before President Barak Obama said so a few months ago, so I guess that is a reality we have to live with andbear in my mind as we work to salvage our continent.

Please enjoy her presentation here.

The answer is of course, no.
In truth she has been ravaged by war, famine and other disasters that could have been avoided or were in some cases delibrate machinations against her progress and development.
Is africa a land of beauty?
Yes, and that is what the Ogbwuegbu sisters have set out to bring tell the world in their travels. Emanuel Jal has also resolved to with music draw attention to the beauty of the Continent and bring to her the needed attention and cooperation to rid her of her challenges.
Should you love africa? Yes, it is ours to own and to build. So what are you doing to build it? Me? This!