The Chinese are here!

This could definitely not have been the plan!
I can just imagine the founding fathers of our once great nation on their lofty chairs in heaven,hands in head,shaking in sheer horror as little dwarfish China men run around the streets of Lagos.
I doubt if there's a single Lagos resident who does not have an encounter with those slanty,beady eyed folks at least once a day.
Be they construction workers,Chinese restaurant owners,Tech company entrepreneurs,market men and women(check out the China town in Ojota,Lagos,them Chinese be selling tomato and pepper these days) or just your plain good for nothing lay-about.
There's an epidemic upon us and its made in China!
The first trickle of Chinese into Nigeria began about 10 years ago,at the tail end of the first term of  President OBJ's tenure.They were brought in to help with infrastructure development;roads,electricity,stadia,water works;not like they've done much now,have they?

Typical Nigerian Highway before the Chinese

After the Chinese.Spot the difference.The tyre looks smaller though!

And to be fair,it was not just a Nigerian idea.It was an African conception at the time.
Zambia,Uganda and Malawi all had their influx of the yellow people.
To also be fair to the Chinese community in Nigeria,they have also been a hell of a lot more docile,at least sexually,compared to their counterparts in other African countries.
The Chinese in Zambia!!!
Horny little critters!!
In less than a year of staying in Zambia,they were already fathering kids with the local women.
Chinese-Zambians!!!!!!!!!
Its not like the Zambians don't already have an ugly epidemic to contend with in the first place!
The economics of it seemed good at the time.At least our current crop of political leaders got this one right.
After spending the better part of 50 years under-educating and under-developing their own youth,they realised they had mechanical engineering graduates who couldn't spell engineering,talk more of building a bridge.
It just made absolute sense to endorse the mass importation of educated China kids to fill the technological gap.
The plan must have been to bring the workers in to serve under a Nigerian head but they forget or at least are ignorant of the fact that the China man serves nobody;a fact they would have known if only they had watched those goddamn Chinese films of the late 80's;wa sere Bruce Lee toh quality!

They have steadily grown in influence,from being the ones doing the dirt work to being fully in charge!
My first encounter with a Chinese restaurant was about 10 years ago in Benin City.It was then owned by a Nigerian who employed Chinese folks to do the cooking and menial work around the establishment.
The chef was a sly looking China man who spoke better pidgin English than i could possibly ever muster;after the meal got delayed for about 10 minutes,he came over to the table and his exact words were ''Guy,how far?Abeg no vex,the food go soon done"
That scared the shit out of me and should have been a pointer to the fact,even back then,that these Chinese were not here for jokes.
To be frank(I've never come to terms with why 'frank' was chosen,why not Steve or Charles),with the way things are being run in Africa as a whole,I wouldn't mind if we were recolonized by the Europeans or maybe even the South Africans;the white ones at least;but to be oppressed by Mr Wu Di Fuhk and his wife Mrs Wu Shi Be,its just to much for my oft stepped upon black pride.
So,as I sit in traffic,typing this post om my Ipad 3(more like a Techno 2580) while waiting for the Chinese traffic warden on Awolowo Way Ikeja to pass me.

I really don't care if you think I made this up!

 
I look up to the sky`and tell those wailing ex-presidents to weep no more for Nigeria and to respectfully relay same message via SMS to Gen Zanni Abalcha in hell!

Adam in the Garden of Edo!

First of,the name is Adam not Adams;its a first name Your Excellency!
Just had to get that off my chest!
The elections in Edo have come and gone.
After months of campaign,name smearing,threats ,counter threats and assassinations,Governor Adams(you've got to call a man whatever he calls himself)Oshiomole was returned unanimously in an embarrassingly one sided contest to the Government House Benin City.
His work and achievements spoke as loud and clear as a coherently incoherent Kris Okotie sermon.
Tales abound in the media of the wondrous things the Comrade Governor was doing the Land of the Oba.
Roads built,schools built and upgraded,hospitals renovated and equipped.The peoples money working for the people and not used for grooming moustaches.

Did this moustache not hint the Edo people?

Oshiomole is a man short in stature but extremely large of heart.
But Gov. Adam might have had his work simplified for him by the charlatans in power before him.
If all he had done in the four years of his first term was to plant one hibiscus flower at the entrance to the state,he would still have been branded a hero and overachiever by the people.
Such was the ineptitude of the Lucky Igbinedion(the previous governor)Administration!
People still say in Benin City,that if all Lucky had done in his 8 years was to come out every morning and dance for them in the village square,the effort would have been appreciated.

GO LUCKY!GO LUCKY!!GO LUCKY!!!

Instead,all they got was 8 years of stagnation,poverty and dilapidated roads.
It is on record that not one road was built in Benin City,except those leading to his and his father's of course, in those locust years.
But today is not about the past and what the locust has eaten.
Its about the present and the future.
Its about a man who has successfully combined leadership with serving.
A man who has brought back pride to a people.
When Edo State is mentioned now,the talk is more about development and less about deported  workers *wink wink*

You couldn't have been this shy on the streets of Milan!

No one man can change the system or Nigeria but Adams Oshiomole would rather be damned than not try.

Nothing is Permanent!

Nothing surprises me in Nigeria anymore.
Absolutely nothing.
Maybe,just maybe,if I see a flying goat driving a truck with blindfolds on the streets of Lagos.Then I might be surprised.
But only with blindfolds oh!
Anything less?
Nah!
Not surprising enough.

You gotta do better lad!

When the newspapers splashed the news about the Bayelsa State Government led by the Excellent Seriake Dickson;if you're gonna refer to a man as Your Excellency,you might as well call him excellent,right?;had made Madam First Lady a permanent secretary in its civil service,I took it with the proverbial pinch of salt.(I've been taking so many pinches in Nigeria of late that Dangote must be making a killing!)
I just turned the page and moved on to the frankly,rather more amusing advertisement on 'Are you a man?Can you conquer your wife in 4 rounds in a night?

Hmmmmmmmm!

'
Not even the outrage expressed by well meaning Nigerians over the Governor's decision stoked my interest.
For me,it was business as usual in the land of the mad!
But the madness took a different and honestly frightening turn when the aides and advisers to the Excellent Seriake Dickson were hell bent on justifying his action with some ludicrous statements on how her equally Excellent Madam First Lady was deserving of such title.
First of,this MADNESS HAS GOT TO STOP!
We honestly don't know if its her constitutional and hence legal right to be so honoured, and we frankly don't care.
It just does not sound right and it sure as hell ain't.
What has kept Nigeria ticking in the eyes of the outside world is their belief that some of the craziness that our leaders exhibit might just be a uniquely Nigerian way of doing things.
But this,my dear Ijaw people,is just plain 'tie him down with a chain' 'whip him till his senses return' madness!
And we don't want that now,do we?

Noah,The Ark and Lagos!

It was a slow month,that June.
Nothing exciting or remotely pulse-racingly cool happened in Nigeria.
Just your usual church bombings,multiple road accidents,thieving politicians,an hostage here,a kidnapping there.Give or take your usual Nigerian month.
What we did not bargain for though,was the rain.
Fook me,but did it rain like the tears from General Oladipo Diya's eyes when Abacha sentenced him to death back in the day.
By the way,I've been having a cat problem in my house this past weeks,dont know if its my neighbour's cats jumping over the fence to feed on my predictably rich dustbin or if it really did rain cats for once!

Dustbin wey make sense!

As usual,the rains fell and Lagos streets went to shit.Impassable waterways only meant for the Land Rover 2029 model,The Flying Rover.

I'm guessing he couldn't wait till 2029

I've never really understood the rationale behind building roads without making gutters;I've never really understood much of many other things either;but I can safely assume that our leaders must have missed the class on common sense.Why bother when you've achieved the required 75% attendance from making the classes on 'Embezzlement' and 'Acquired Idiocy'.
Admittedly though,the Babatunde 'I wish I was a doctor,that's why I like fooking them up' Fashola administration has made some improvements on that.
Roads are now been built with gutters that lead to no where.
A gutter should lead to other gutters that invariably link to a central canal or a water treatment facility.
In Lagos,the gutters lead right back on the road or on a poor house owner's property!

The poor house owner we spoke about.

I'm guessing the class must have clashed with Asiwaju's birthday.

Some things you miss,some things you dont!

And did Nepa have a blast!
It was like Christmas in June for them.
When I was younger,the lights only go off when the rain threatens to become a storm but these days,once there's a weather forecast with the possibility of rain the day before,Nepa takes the power a day before just to be safe.
And that takes me to the issue of weather forecasting;I honestly doubt if it's an actual science.I'm guessing it lies somewhere in between understanding women and mobile networks in Nigeria;YOU JUST DON'T GET IT!
I believe the news channels just pick the ugliest staff member and stick him/her with the weather detail.
I'll give a couple of Faroukas for anyone to tell me what the hell "slight precipitation with some winds and the possibility of sunshine" means?

Is it gonna rain or is the Sun gonna shine Ma?

Anyways,for those living in the Aguda,Surulere,Mile2,Lekki axis,I say keep your head up,that's if the head is still above water though.One day,we'll get a leader that had nothing better to do and finally attend the class on common sense.