Voice Out Loud

It is quite disturbing and embarrassing to the indigenous African that our traditional religious values are on a downward slope. In his book; "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa", Walter Rodney argues that the ravaging underdevelopment in Africa, can be traced to the cultural and political imperialism by the colonial masters. However, we are not concerned with political imperialism here. Rather, we are mainly concerned with the religious imperialism on Africa, by foreign Missionaries. Before the advent of these Missionaries, Africa had it own traditional religions and belief systems. In Northern Nigeria for example, the dominant traditional religion was The Bòòríí. The bòòríí priestesses called Inna, communed with the spirit through ecstatic dance rituals. This act of ritual protected the society and also provided healing and divination for the people. In the south eastern part of Nigeria, the dominant traditional religion is called The Òdìnànì, having Chúkwú as the high G...

"Those who can not remember the past, are condemned to repeat it"(George Santayana, an American Philosopher). Our fathers who orchestrated the first Coup d'etat, made a huge mistake by destroying the Tafawa Balewa government. Their reason for this, is the corrupt practices and embezzlement of public funds in the government. Their Aim: To clean up the government. Unfortunately, Nigerians came to realize that the military Heads of state where just as bad and corrupt as the Politicians. At this point, particularly just before the 4th Republic, it became crystal clear that the only way to move Nigeria forward, was to elect and vote for a worthy candidate. A candidate who is just, intelligent, vainglorious, corrupt-free, and different from the previous Heads of state. At least that's what i thought Nigerians had in mind. But i was wrong. Instead, we voted for another retired Head of state, to usher in the 4th Republic. It became even worse when we voted for this same ma...

In spite of the incessant efforts of Political Philosophers on how best justice should be administered, societal proceedings in Nigeria are clearly being done unjustly. The rich often prey on the poor. Nigeria has become a country where the rich get richer and the poor gets poorer. A country where underpaid professions are being discriminated. Based on a firm research, a Police Recruit earns a consolidated annual salary of N108,000. This brings his monthly salary to about N9,000-N10,000. A police on grade level 02(1) earns a monthly salary of about N42,000, while a police on grade level 02(10) earns about N46,000-N47,000 monthly. Also, a Street Cleaner earns a monthly salary of about N18,000-N25,000. A Nigerian teacher also earn about N60,000 for level 8. Furthermore, a federal University lecturer at a Graduate Assistant level, earns about N105,000-N120,000 per month(CONUASS), while at an Assistant Lecturer level, he earns about N120,000-N146,000 per month(CONUASS), excluding ta...

Today, Nigeria doesn't seem to be moving forward. Why is this? Is it because of our corrupt leaders? Is it because Nigerian youths are mostly idle when it comes to political matters? Should we blame the British for creating Nigeria by amalgamating three major tribes into one territory? Yes,  the British should be blamed for the woes of our so-called Nigeria. Even though our leaders have a share in this blame, the British should take most of the blame. Perhaps a concise look at the early history of Nigeria, will give us a clue as to why the British should be blamed for the woes of Nigeria. Historically speaking, the three main tribes; Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, were amalgamated in 1914 to form a single territory. Later on, this single territory became known as Nigeria, translated to roughly mean "people living around the Niger area". Why were these giant tribes amalgamated? The answer is simple. These tribes were amalgamated to simply fulfil a business deal. Let me expa...

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the lord of hosts, if i will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."(Malachi 3:10). Indeed, this verse of the Bible has become a National Anthem for most Extortionists or the so-called Pastors, who deliberately preach the compulsory payment of tithe, just to fill their pockets. Much worse, these Extortionists also quote (Malachi 3:8-9), in order to lure members to always pay their tithes. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole Nation."(Malachi 3:8-9). From this, it would seem as if tithing is a burden. Actually, it is not. In the biblical era, it was an exercise that everyone longed for. Perhaps a look at how tithes were being paid in the b...

How do we understand the World? How does the Universe behave? What constitute the origin of the Universe? Today, Physics and Metaphysics are two major disciplines that tend to provide continuous indubitable answers to these baffling questions. In pursuit of this, physics adopts an empirical methodology, while metaphysics adopts a transcendental methodology. From here, it is obvious that even though their goals are the same, the methodologies employed by both disciplines, differs from each other. But the real questions are; Which of these disciplines can be said to have provided a suitable and indubitable explanation of the World? Which of these disciplines has been able to provide explanation for the origin of the Universe? Before we delve into this assessment, it is expedient that a concise historical background be given. Historically speaking, Natural Philosophy, Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics, were the three main branches of General Philosophy. But as the quest for knowledge of ...

We can recall that our great Nation, Nigeria, gained political independence on the 1st of October, 1960. I only mentioned "political independence" here, for a particular reason. Well, that's a topic for another discussion. Nigeria became independent due to the incessant efforts and struggle of Its finest intellectuals. They include; Funmi Ransome kuti, Jaja Wachukwu, Adedoyin, just to mention a few. They were on a mission to rescue Nigeria from the claws of European colonialism. They even addressed the British Delegates in full "Agbada" and other native attires. Eventually, their effort paid off. Nigeria became an  independent Country in 1960. In 1960, Nigeria had its first Republic, having the British Parliamentary style as its form of Government. At that time, things looked so good, but the table was turned around when a fight between Awolowo and Akintola, erupted in the Western Region. A special commissioner, Coker, was assigned to investigate the issue. He...