Son of God 🙏

Realtor, Investment Specialist,
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LinkedIn: Peter Oludare Oyedokun

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

Who Increased Fuel Prices?

The headlines screaming, 'President Tinubu Increases Fuel Price' are inaccurate and do not reflect the actual situation. Nigerians ought to understand that fuel subsidy has been removed. It was scheduled for removal by the preceding Buhari administration and was implemented in 2023.

It betrays a lack of understanding of corporate governance and unawareness of how government operates when politicians and activists attack President Bola Tinubu over statements and actions of the NNPCL.

If the public is not made aware that such criticism knowingly or inadvertently passed on wrong information to them, they will act on this incorrect information as though it were true.

The NNPCL is a limited liability company that is not subject to the President's direct control. The NNPCL right now is like the NLNG Limited and, to a limited extent, the CBN.

Both the NLNG Ltd and the NNPCL are answerable to their board. They can spend money outside the budget because they are not a Ministry, Department or Agency of the government. They are just like any other company, such as MTN, First Bank or Indorama. The only difference between these companies and the NNPCL is their ownership. They are owned by private individuals and are publicly traded. The Nigerian state owns the NNPCL.

The Federal Government has majority shares, which gives the President the power to appoint the GMD.

To an extent, the NNPCL is like the CBN, which, though the President appoints the Governor, is still independent of the President and the Government.

Ownership and control of the NNPCL are separate. These changes were not even made by the Tinubu administration and are settled.

Yes, the President is the Minister of Petroleum Resources. However, critics mistakenly think this places him in control of the NNPCL.

The Ministry of Petroleum Resources is limited to regulating the industry and ensuring that IOCs and other significant stakeholders have an enabling environment.

The relationship is very similar to that between the Ministry of Power and the Gencos and Discos.

These generating companies (Gencos) are privately owned and have a minority stake held by the federal government of Nigeria. As such, the Ministry of Power has a regulatory role in the industry. That is the whole essence of deregulation.

And it is not peculiar to Nigeria.

The British equivalent of NNPCL is British Petroleum. It is a wholly privately owned company, similar to British Gas and British Airways.

Only a policy illiterate will hold the British Government responsible for their internal runnings.

The NNPCL determines the cost of petrol based on market forces rather than a Presidential caveat.

Thus, the headline should read-NNPCL Increases Fuel Prices.

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022.

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

Happy 64th Independence Day to all Nigerians in Nigeria and the diaspora. Let us remember that we are all brothers and sisters born from the womb of one Mother, Nigeria.

Irrespective of your language, Nigeria is our anchorage. As a result, we must encourage each other as we continue on this journey to assuage our passage into greatness with the message that we are one nation under God.

My prayer for you and your families is that tomorrow shall always be better than today for you and Nigeria.

Irrespective of how you voted during the #NigerianElections2023, let us pray for the success of President Bola Tinubu. We may return to the battleground in 2027, but now is the time for common ground and the healing of our nation through the building of national consensus.

May God bless you. May God bless our President. May God bless Nigeria. May Nigeria succeed.

[Son of God 🙏 @OludarePrince]

@renoomokri They will still not agree with this submission

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

I watched Asake's sold-out concert at the O2 Arena and was so impressed by how down to Earth he is in his raw talent. Down to Earth in the sense that this is a Yoruba boy from the trenches, and he does not attempt to hide that fact. He is so in your face with his Yoruba-ness, and people all over the world are loving it. 

The crowd at the O2 Arena this past Sunday, September 22, 2024, was multiracial, but the music was unabashedly Yoruba. And they ate it up! Much as I was entertained, Asake got me thinking. 

Wizkid did it. Multiple times. Davido did it. Many times. And now Asake. Why? How? What is the secret?

One of the things we can learn from the recent global stardom of multiple Nigerian artistes, especially music of Yoruba origin, is that though these individuals often have humble backgrounds, they never let their background put their back to the ground. Look at Asake, Wizkid, Kizz Daniel, Yemi Alade, and a host of others. 

They sometimes come from places that would have been termed nowhere, but their impact is now everywhere. Be inspired by them beyond just music. If they can do it in music, you can do it in business, science, sports, politics, and I would have added movies, but Nigerians are already doing it in film. 

You just have to learn their secret.

We can learn a lot from the Yorubas culture if we want to be successful as sub-Saharan Africans. Without abandoning their culture and language, they have succeeded globally with skills they acquired locally. And at the core of Yoruba culture is respect and humility.

The top Nigerian and African singers are Yoruba. The top Nigerian and indigenous African filmmakers are Yoruba. The only Nigerian Grammy winners are Yoruba, who have also won more of that laurel than any other ethnicity in Africa. 

In other fields, they are the pacesetters, whether you talk of politics with Olusegun Obasanjo, intellectualism with Professor Wole Soyinka (Black Africa's first academic Nobel Laureate, journalism with Dele Olojede (Black Africa's first Pulitzer Award recipient), medicine with Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, global finance with Bayo Ogunlesi, and IT, with Tope Awotona. 

And perhaps more tellingly, their region in Nigeria is the most peaceful, progressive and prosperous. Lagos alone accounts for less than 10% of Nigeria's population but generates over 30% of the nation's GDP. How do they do it? 

There is no need to compete with them. For the sake of the progress of Nigeria and Black Africa, let us all cooperate with them and get their secrets of success so we can apply them. 

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022.

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

Here is some harsh truth for you: If a man brings money to the table and a woman spends money from that table in the name of a relationship without replenishing the table, you do not have a fifty/fifty relationship. You have a parasitic relationship. And much worse, such a woman is a liability. Because as she grows older, her beauty will gradually fade, and the more her beauty gradually fades, the more she will steadily require money from what you bring to the table to try to compensate for her departing beauty. As a man, you do not need that on your table if you want to be stable. Continuing with her will make you unstable. Therefore, disable that relationship and replace it with a usable one!

#RenosNuggets

[Son of God 🙏 @OludarePrince]

@renoomokri This is why he can never be Nigeria president

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

Why Does Obi Lie So Often and With Such Ease?

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

Our imports are reducing, and our exports are increasing. That is a sign that our economy is expanding. For the year-to-date 2024, our imports were ₦24.44 trillion, while our exports stood at ₦38.59 trillion. This gives us an unprecedented trade surplus of over ₦14 trillion in just eight months. It has never happened in Nigeria. Never. This is a refreshing shift from consumption to production.

Ask yourself how we could have gone from a consistent and persistent trade deficit under Buhari to trade surpluses under Tinubu.

The answer is reforms. The removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the Naira are having their intended effect, which is to make imports more expensive, thus giving Nigerian manufacturers, like Aliko Dangote, Innocent Chukwuma and Razaq Okoya, an incentive to produce more locally manufactured goods.

This will initially bring short-term pains as we adjust from import dependence to self-reliance. However, it will bring long-term permanent gains in that our economy will expand and incomes will rise, resulting in standard of living going up.

The economy that Buhari fostered was unworkable and set Nigeria back decades. In eight years, Nigeria had a budget deficit of ₦36.8 trillion and a trade deficit of over ₦20 trillion.

Things had to change, and I commend President Tinubu for having the courage to change them, despite the cacophony of critics' voices.

We could not keep printing money and borrowing funds from China and the West. Because of the high cost of imported goods, Nigeria is gradually becoming a prosumer nation. For those who do not know what that means, to be a prosumer is to be a person who consumes what they produce.

#TableShaker

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

Control your reaction to things instead of letting your reaction to things control you. Reaction has exactly the same letters as creation, because when you react, you create your future. This means that when you let people, circumstances and other variables control your reaction, you surrender control of your future to them. For example, if someone insults you, you don't have to insult them back. In that case, they are controlling you. It does not mean you can't deal with them. But if you must react, let it be at a time, manner and place you choose, not those chosen for you by default.

#RenosNuggets

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

That your husband, wife, fiancé or significant other does not post about you on social media does not mean they don’t love you. Love is expressed at home, not on social media. Often, your relationships last longer when you keep them offline. Valuable things are not frequently exposed to the public. The Queen of England wears pieces from the Crown Jewels once a year. Aren't your relationships more valuable than jewels? They don't need to be flaunted on social media daily, or they may lose their value.

#RenosNuggets

[Son of God 🙏 @OludarePrince]

@simon_ekpa Hand will soon reach you

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for your feedback. I did not mention any ethnic nationality in this piece, except to truthfully say that the woman was triggered when she heard that the man is married to a Yoruba lady. I did not know about the woman's ethnicity when I wrote this.

But I am curious, Jennifer. You claim to be a rich, sexy white woman from Houston, Texas, on your bio. What, then, is your business with Nigeria? And why did you introduce Igbo into the conversation, 'Jennifer'?

It just does not add up.

Finally, on the issue of letting the Igbos go, please don't blame others. The fault lies at the feet of the late Nnamdi Azikiwe and his key allies from the Eastern Region. They are the reason secession is not in our Constitution. And the reason is simple.

The idea for a secession clause was mooted by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1954, during the Lagos Constitutional Conference, but Nnamdi Azikiwe rejected it and galvanised a majority of the conference attendees to kill the idea. 

After this was rejected, Chief Awolowo again wrote to the then Governor General of Nigeria, who rejected the clause on the grounds that the majority, led by Nnamdi Azikiwe, were not in support of it. 

It was because of Nnamdi Azikiwe that section 86 was inserted into our constitution with the proviso that if any region should secede, it will be an act of treason. 

Nnamdi Azikiwe himself wrote about this in an essay, which was published by the New Nigerian Newspapers in 1975, and has since been republished by other papers and by Mr Azikiwe himself. 

Were it not for Azikiwe, Biafra would have had the legal right to secede. 

Anyway, thank you and may God bless you.

#TableShaker

[Son of God 🙏 @OludarePrince]

My personality type is Commander (ENTJ-A). What’s yours? https://t.co/KsfpAGWR0W #16Personalities via @16Personalities

[Son of God 🙏 @OludarePrince]

@jrnaib2 But the werey couldn't do anything to curb insecurity during the last rwgine. Make una fey politicise everything

[Son of God 🙏 @OludarePrince]

@jrnaib2 Cry me a river 😃 na be so your messiah do ham

[Son of God 🙏 @OludarePrince]

@jrnaib2 It was fair during your demigod (Buhari) regime abi? Dey play

[Son of God 🙏 @OludarePrince]

@ShehuSani How are they doing it during the Buhari regime?

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

A person who cannot be grateful will end up being a great fool. Gratitude and loyalty are the bedrock of all virtues. God did not promote Yeshua (Jesus) because He is intelligent. He was promoted because He was loyal. satan was not demoted by God because he was incompetent. He lost his place due to disloyalty and ingratitude. In the eyes of your superiors, gratitude and loyalty are more important than your competence and academic qualifications.

#RenosNuggets

[Reno Omokri @renoomokri]

As Asake Proves That The Global Dominance of Music of Yoruba Origin Is Not a Fluke  

Asake's new album, Lungu Boy, vindicates what I wrote about music of Yoruba origin last year. Listening to a song like Fuji Vibe makes you want to move as if you understand what the singer is saying. And that is what the musicology of the Yoruba language does to the human spirit. If you cannot translate it through words, you will nevertheless translate it via dance. I am not sure Afrobeats can thrive without using the Yoruba language as its basic foundation.

Asake is the latest musical vessel winning the world over to the cause of Afrobeats, using the instrumentality of the deep native tongue of the Omoluabi Lukumi people.

Nigeria will have a tough time competing with the West and East in science and technology. And even in physical endeavours, like athletics, our poor outing at the Paris Olympics indicates that we cannot rely on that route for our redemption as a people.

However, music and the arts are two areas where we have a comparative advantage and can be used to attain global dominance.

That is why I have previously said music of Yoruba origin should be studied as a course in Nigeria’s ivory towers, because it has the capacity to not only rapidly change Nigeria’s negative international image, but also to take our economy out of the doldrums by attracting music loving tourists to our nation, the way Rihanna has done in Barbados, and even in death, Bob Marley is doing for Jamaica.

For every decade of Nigeria’s existence as an independent nation, music of Yoruba origin has dominated our country, and now it is dominating the world.

•Bobby Benson dominated the 60s
•Abami Fela Kuti over dominated the 70s
•King Sunny Ade and Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey dominated the 80s with Fela
•Sir Shina Peters and King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall dominated the 90s.
•Paul Play Dario shared dominance with the Remedies, Plantashun Boiz, and Tuface Idibia in the 2000s
•D’Banj, the Koko Master, shared dominance with PSquare in the 2010s
•Davido, Wizkid, and Burna Boy (party Yoruba) dominate the here and now.

And now comes Asake, who, along with Rema, is taking the arena on a thriller ride.

And Yoruba music transcends race and language. It resonates beyond those whose first language is not Yoruba. And, again, it is no coincidence that ALL Nigeria's Grammy Award winners are either wholly or partly of Yoruba origin, including:

Sade Adu (1986), Babatunde Olatunji (1991), Sikiru Adepoju (1991) and Seal (1996), Burna Boy (2021), Wizkid (2021), Temilade Openiyi AKA Tems (2023).

And then Burna Boy (2021) is partly Yoruba.

Christy Essien Igbokwe was quoted as saying she would not have made a breakthrough in the music industry without her anthem, Seun rere, which was performed entirely in Yoruba.

Throughout the Black world, no other ethnic group has been able to CONSISTENTLY break into the music industry internationally while singing wholly or partially in their native tongue. I am not saying that some others do not sing in their native tongues. I am saying that they have been unable to crossover internationally while singing in their native language. They do so by speaking English or some other colonial language.

Caribbean reggae artistes sing in English or patois. African American R’nB, Jazz, Soul and rap artistes sing in English. Black Brazilians crossover with Portuguese. Francophone artistes (with the exception of Manu Dibango) crossed over with French.

Even the world’s top Francophone female artiste (Angelique Kidjo) did not crossover internationally until she sang in Yoruba.

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Globetrotter. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022. Puffier of the Feathers of Obidiemts.