LiViNg oN bORRoWeD tiME

Some mornings i wake up feeling like i'm living on borrowed time. Well maybe i am 'cos these days it all seems like one minute you are making jokes with friends and then the next minute you read from on a blog that your friend is gone. 

There has to be more in this Life than just subsistence. Yeah i said that, no matter how much wealth you have amassed for yourself or are hoping to amass, if you haven't given any thought & action to how much that wealth will touch or change the lives of people in your sphere of contact (and not just your family) you are just subsisting.

I have come to learn that 'our time here on earth is indeed a transaction'. You have breathe in exchange for a chance to live a life of impact using your gifts as a means of basic exchange and a chance at Eternal Investment. A typical scenario:

You are a gifted singer, somehow you rise to fame and become a world renowned pop icon, and the big bucks roll in faster than you can spend it, Yes! you have arrived but there is indeed a lot more that you can do than buying cars, paying sibling school fees, or even hooking your friends up. The best courses are the ones that outlive you and your gifts. People are dying every second in Liberia, Guinea all from Ebola, perhaps there are communities who before the Epidermic were followers or your music, but these people don't trust the government agencies perhaps adding your voice to that of the government will help them listen to how they can survive this epidermic. Surely having a million followers on social media is not just for bragging rights...

You see it may all seem like 'YOLO' and 'One life to Live' and then death, but i'm sure most doubt that you won't give account of the time you have spent here on earth. So as you go about your activities remember that every second of every day you are privileged to be alive you should constantly seek to exchange that breathe for a life of impact. You only live Once but if you live right Once is enough.

-@gozzim

aRe tHe bEst tHinGs in NiGeRia tRuLLy fRee?

They say the best things in Life are free! Being a Nigerian does bring a certain level of complexity to that statement. Coming from a Nation where everything is generally designed to keep the strong in power, the rich, richer and the poor, even poorer; it is hard to accept that statement. I stopped having blind optimism about our hopes on becoming a developed country, though this doesn't mean i stopped being patriotic. Why? well as long as i am not in the sphere of the powerful leaders yet and cannot even get a glimpse of their activities, i cannot continue to believe in the good will they so proclaim.

I have come to learn that nothing happens by accident in this country. Like the former CBN governor Malam Sanusi once said the issue of vested interests is our biggest challenge yet, but is it really not a problem even in the developed world? I tweeted yesterday that everything in life revolves around relationships, so at the end of the day words like 'Merit' are hardly in our vocabulary as a nation. As i have always said, nobody owes any one anything in this life not your parents (save for caring for you in your formative years and providing a good education), not your government (that is if it is not clear to you already that majority of the officials in our polity are not there for any one but themselves). 

In a country where the average Nigerian generates his own power, provides his own security, provides his own jobs, there is hardly ever any need for dependence on the government. But then again it is so hard to make any grand nationwide impact as a citizen without being in the above mentioned sphere.

I also understand that as a Leader it is hard to please everyone, but there will forever remain that middle ground of performance acceptance that both the governed and the government can agree on. I also think its only human nature to pick people or individuals you have established a relationship with over individuals on merit. That relationship is what creates that edge over people who truly deserve that job or position. We need to accept the fact that we are a peculiar Nation and those peculiarities need to be adapted to by any one willing to make a difference. So my advice to those looking to make any impact as far as the government is concerned is to build meaningful relationships in your chosen endeavor. Nothing good comes easy, nothing is ever free and there will always be a price to pay.

-- @gozzim