National conference of who and of what?

WE never knew ours isn’t the most unfortunate generation. I belong to a generation that was born in crisis, weaned in war and has never really known the real meaning of peace. Those who arrived here between 1960 and 1969 are appropriate children of war.

Prince is 53 tomorrow

Fat Prince

Nigeria will be 53 as an independent nation tomorrow. In three months time, it will be 100 years old. Those who welded the nation together on January 1, 1914 described the union as one between a “well-behaved” young man (North) and “a lady of means” (South). How well-behaved could a man be when all it hankers after in a relationship are the fortunes of the lady in his life? Should one

Citizen Aisha and the Nigerian beauty

No nation is entirely good or bad. At a time Nigeria’s national consciousness is choked by fireworks of poverty and riches and by controversies over whether we are getting poorer or richer, something positive is heard of the country in far away Jakarta, Indonesia. A Nigerian lady has emerged as the most beautiful

What is wrong with Jonathan

There is so much division and anger in the land.

I received a phone call last Monday from a man who railed, cursed and yelled at me for joining what he called ‘press boys’ specially primed by Bola Tinubu to attack Ijaw interest. By Ijaw interest he meant the Jonathan presidency - and he was not kidding. I wanted to know who he was but he would not listen. He proceeded to remind me that all the money “the Yoruba people” make from Nigeria is actually Ijaw money.

Death of a teacher

Death of an old man, we are told, is like a whole library in flames. When a teacher dies, what image does it evoke in the mind of the pupil? It is like a whole world of knowledge consumed in a volcanic eruption. It becomes even more devastating when the departed is not just a teacher but a friend, a mentor and a staunch believer in the promise latent in the future of the pupil. You meet them at every bus-stop of life.

Steve Jobs and the Nigerian Job

Written by Lasisi Olagunju
Published on Tribune--Monday Lines
Monday, 10 October 2011

I am starting out without seeking to ring a bell announcing this entry because this is actually a second coming. The first coming was deliberately interrupted eight years ago with a promise to come back and bellow: "...as I was saying."

Eko o gba gbere rara o!

Eko Wenjele (ZODML Blog)

Written by Lasisi Olagunju
Published on Tribune--Monday Lines
Monday, 30 July 2012

“Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic utopias that the old reformers imagined.

A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which grows not less but merciless as it refines itself.” Nineteen Eighty Four —George Orwell.

Why are we so blest?

“DID you read that stuff
yesterday?” I asked my friend, who
answered slowly, head bowed,
that she did. ‘It was our sad story.’
“Beeni,” I told her, and for almost
one hour afterwards we went
through the piece again. It was

For Nigeria’s Kings and kingdoms of the blind

Jim Bailey, publisher of the legendary
but now defunct Drum Magazine
recalled an interview his magazine had
in 1952 with a certain man he
described as the king of the blind in
Lagos.