President Goodluck Jonathan's Inauguration Ball

So today 29th May, Goodluck Jonathan had his inaugural ball.

 I heard  that the  inauguration  cost about N1bn so I eagerly awaited the live feed that was to be beamed all over the world. Afterall it was billed as THE party. 

Shebi  most of us saw the Obama inauguration so we've seen how it can be done. But we be Naija now! And we know how to throw a party, so of course our own must pass Obama own?!

Unfortunately that was not the case! 

I couldn't believe what I was seeing (or trying to see as the live feed was sooooo bad! ) Now, bearing in mind this was the PRESIDENTIAL BALL, not a  typical  'owambe' party, yet I swear you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference . 

It looked rowdy, disorganised, boring and so not what you'd expect for a Presidential Ball. The camera's panned the crowd and the people looked like they had been forced to attend! 

Victor Uwaifo provided some music and some of the guests danced but again most looked like they'd rather be anywhere but there! 

Onyeka Onwenu took the very brave step of asking the President, his wife the VP and all others on stage to sing 'One Love'. Not as backup singers o! But right into the microphone. I'm sure they all have  many talents but singing is definitely not one of them.

From the Eagle Square venue the celebrations then moved to another venue....where exactly I don't know because by then I had lost interest. To be fair maybe those who actually attended did enjoy themselves but that was hidden from my view when watching the TV.

Anyway sha, he's been sworn in, they have thrown the N1bn party.Now that that is out of their system let the work begin.

Don't mind me o, I'm just thinking aloud......

TAWA - Kids in Naija not allowed to speak 'vernacular'!!

On today's show, I asked the question "Why do some Nigerian parents, living with their children IN Nigerian forbid them from learn their native tongue"!
Living in the UK you find many other cultures actively encourage their children to learn not only about where they originally come from, but also their native dialect. So you could find a child born in the UK, who has never been out of the UK, conversing with its mum or dad FLUENTLY in their native tongue. Now that might be because they only speak  their native tongue whilst in the home and talk to 'the wider world' in English. I think in doing this  it in stills a sense of pride and belonging within that child.
OK, so that's for kids outside of their 'home' country. But why on earth, would you forbid the promotion and  cultivation of your own culture, in your own country within your own kids?? By doing so aren't you saying really, that 'away' is better than home? That you have nothing really to be proud of? That to progress and be successful in life you need to minimize your 'ethnic-ness' and adopt the twang or purr of another language/culture?

Me o, I'm all for speaking well  i.e grammatically , but that doesn't mean that I have to pretend not to come from where I DO come from.

The danger with not promoting or encouraging our kids to embrace their culture is that we could end up with a generation which has lost its identity and who are frantically trying to re-define themselves based on 'away people's' thinking.

Anyway sha, I'm just thinking aloud........

And so it begins.........

For a while now, (well actually for a few years!) I've meant to start this blog. To be fair i actually DID start on another site but after a couple of posts, decided it was too much effort!  But I'm in a new phase now and I'm working  on saying 'NO' to procrastination and 'YES' to decisive action.
I've been told by many that i have the gift of the gab, and so have  found it easier to talk for AGES!! but hard to write coherent sentences....well thats going to change! Oh I'll still talk for ages, but will start perfecting the art of writing.....blogging....coherently.
Where this will lead, I'm not quite sure, but atleast procastionation, in this instance, will not be seen with me, walking hand in hand!