one minute I feel like that kid from Westbury…the next minute I’m bringing my own kids back to “Rihanna Drive”
Trippy how life works! And the Glory STILL and WILL ALWAYS belong to the Almighty Creator!!!
I have been thinking about something lately, and the more I think about it, the more disturbing it becomes.
A lot of Nigerians became poor without doing anything wrong.
They didn’t stop working. They didn’t become lazy. They didn’t suddenly become irresponsible.
They simply woke up one day and realised that the money they had worked for could no longer buy the things it used to buy.
Think about someone earning ₦100,000 a month.
The person still wakes up early every morning, goes to work, puts in the same hours, probably works even harder, gets promoted occasionally and does everything society says a responsible person should do.
Yet every year, that person seems to be able to afford less.
At some point, ₦50,000 could buy a reasonable amount of food for the house. Today, you can enter the market with the same ₦50,000 and genuinely wonder where the money went.
Nothing happened to you.
The economy happened to you.
And I think this is something we don’t talk about enough.
Imagine working hard for years, only for circumstances completely outside your control to quietly reduce the value of everything you have worked for.
You didn’t lose your job.
You didn’t lose your salary.
But somehow, you lost your standard of living.
That is poverty too.
And this is why I struggle with the way we sometimes discuss palliatives.
Of course, when people are hungry, you must find ways to help them immediately. There is nothing wrong with providing temporary relief.
But surely, the bigger question should be:
Why did millions of working Nigerians suddenly need palliatives in the first place?
If a man could comfortably buy a bag of rice from his salary a few years ago and today he needs government assistance to buy that same bag of rice, giving him rice may solve today’s hunger.
But it has not solved the actual problem.
The real problem is that his labour has lost value.
And perhaps that is what we should be obsessed with fixing.
How do we make the Nigerian worker’s income valuable again?
How do we make ₦100,000 buy more next year, rather than less?
How do we make food cheaper by producing more?
How do we reduce the cost of energy and transportation?
How do we build an economy where salaries can actually keep up with the cost of living?
Because when I think deeply about it, perhaps one of the greatest things a government can do for its people is not to keep giving them money.
It is to build an economy where the money they earn has value.
There is dignity in being able to take care of yourself from the product of your own labour.
There is dignity in a teacher being able to feed a family from teaching.
There is dignity in a nurse being able to pay rent from nursing.
There is dignity in a young person working an honest job and gradually seeing life improve.
People should be able to look back after five years of hard work and say, “My life has become better.”
Not, “I earn more money today, but somehow I can afford less.”
That is the part that keeps bothering me.
Millions of Nigerians are not asking to become millionaires overnight.
They just want hard work to make sense again.
And maybe that should be one of the simplest ways we measure whether our economy is actually working:
Is the ordinary Nigerian who works hard becoming progressively better off, or progressively poorer?
Everything else is secondary.
Very disappointed to read that Corinthians decided not to honour our agreement in place to extend my contract for 2 more years. This renewal was explicitly agreed upon by the president as well as the sporting, legal and financial department. Some people decided however to breach this engagement...
I didn't want this situation and always respected the club throughout the process, but now I am forced to react strongly in order to preserve my interests. In the upcoming days I will speak publicly but rest assured that I will not leave this unacceptable behaviour unsanctioned.
I met a British guy at Heathrow Airport who looked like he was about to make the biggest mistake of his life.
His name was Mason.
We happened to be in the same airport lounge. His restlessness was what made me notice him.
He would sit down, stand up, look around, touch his head…
After a while, I forgot about him.
About an hour later, I went to board my flight and noticed the same guy again.
We were on the same flight.
While walking towards the aircraft, he paused a few times. Slowed down a few times. At one point, he looked like someone who had forgotten something important or someone who wasn’t sure he wanted to travel anymore.
We finally boarded.
He was in 4A.
I was in 5B.
So we were sitting pretty close.
Man was still restless... Scratching his head, covering his face with the blanket... Constantly adjusting himself.
I concluded that he had aviophobia just like me.
When we reached cruising altitude, he got up to use the toilet.
On his way back, our eyes clicked.
“You’re the guy I saw at the lounge earlier, right?”
I nodded.
We introduced ourselves properly.
I asked what he was going to Doha for and eventually mentioned that I had noticed how restless he had been since Heathrow.
He paused... Then continued
“I woke up one morning and made a decision. Right now, I’m living that decision… and I’m scared I might be making the wrong one.
I have lived in the UK for 35 years and worked in construction.
I clocked 35 last month, and since after my birthday, I have been questioning my purpose.
It feels like I have been living the same life... Same weather, same food, same feeling, and same people.
My friends and family don’t know I am on a plane to Asia to start again. Getting to the airport, I started missing everything and everyone. That is why I am restless.”
It wasn’t fear of flying.
It was fear of leaving everything familiar behind.
I asked him one question:
“If you abort this journey now and return home, do you think you’ll feel fulfilled?”
He thought about it.
Then said:
“No. I think sooner or later, I’ll regret it.”
I smiled.
“Then free yourself… and allow your spirit to guide you.”
From there, our conversation changed.
I told him about the countries I had visited in Asia.
I told him why I enjoyed Thailand.
Why I enjoyed Hong Kong.
Why I enjoyed the Philippines.
The people.
The experiences.
The freedom of discovering a version of yourself that your old environment never had the opportunity to meet.
And while we were talking, I could see and feel his restlessness disappear.
He became excited, curious, and motivated.
We talked about places he should visit, things he should experience, and how to build a social life from scratch.
I shared my address with him in Asia and told him to expect me soon.
I gave him Saheed’s number, my barber, and shared a few other contacts with him that could make his weekends busy and filled with activities.
By the time we landed in Doha… we had bonded so well.
Doha was my final destination, but Mason had another flight to catch.
His layover was about two hours so I stayed at the airport with him until it was time for him to board.
While we were waiting, he called his parents.
He told them everything.
Where he was.
What he had done.
Where he was going.
They wished him well.
I even spoke to them too.
Eventually, his flight was called and
Todo nuestro apoyo y solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano tras el terremoto. Mucha fuerza para las personas afectadas, sus familias y los equipos de emergencia que están trabajando allí 💛💙❤️
GEH GEH, MAN OF WISDOM.
There's this saying I do use then, I'm a poor boy and have nothing to lose, I started from Zero and nothing and ready to take full risk because I'm ready to start all over again if I failed, you have to train yourself in a very disciplined way if you truly want success.