WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU, MAKES YOU CAREFUL! - ODERINU ADEDAYO

I wonder how many times I have also made the mistake of echoing the quote ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Now that I think about it, I am not really sure the quote is practically correct let alone makes real life sense. I do not want to sound like I am rebuking the forefathers who invented this saying or whoever it might be credited to, I only write about what I hold to be practically verifiable.
A young man was travelling from Ilorin to Lagos. In trying to reduce the cost of transport because he was certainly broke, he had to stand by the road side around Airport Road in Ilorin to board what Yoruba people call ‘soole’. True to desire, the fare was practically give-away and he joyfully boarded the bus. Unfortunately for this young man, he was (as you might already be imagining) kidnapped, transported to an unknown destination in the middle of nowhere. On arrival, he was tested (of course metaphysically) and found unsuitable for the ritual for which he would have been the proverbial sacrificial lamb and was set free. He had been to the house of death and he made it out alive. This story is just a mere fiction (though it has happened severally in Nigeria), but the moral of the story is, will this experience make this young man stronger or careful? Careful gets my vote.
Another young man in one of the small towns in the South-West was in a relationship with a very beautiful lady. It was a bed roses (of course we know nothing in life is) and everything seemed to be working perfectly. A date for their wedding ceremony was fixed and much preparation began towards making the day a talk of the society. Alas, on the D-day, it was discovered that the bride had skipped town with a rich man from America. Does this heart-break make the young man stronger or more careful in choosing another lady? And again, careful gets my vote!
A young soldier was going to war and as it was his first time, he was not accustomed to the real experiences of a real war situation; he had not been battle-tested. When he got to the war front, he flouted the Commander’s orders and found himself in the line of fire. As you can imagine, he got brutally wounded and was in critical condition for months before he eventually got better. Will this experience make him stronger or careful next time? CAREFUL gets my vote yet!
Since a landslide victory for CAREFUL has been recorded, I can proceed on that premise. Nigerians has been described time and again as the Happiest People on earth. You wonder why this is so? There is no other practical reason than the fact that despite the sufferings and injustice in our nation, an average Oshodi vagabond sleeping and waking up under the bridge can still wake up with a smile on his face and say ‘Oya now’. Nigerians must really be a very happy nation!
Truth be told, Nigerians have seen it all. From dictatorship, to corrupt political leadership even to an incapacitated interim government, Nigerians can beat their chest and tell the world, ‘we have tasted it all’. From Civil War to Niger Delta militancy to Boko Haram Insurgency and the rest, what else have we not seen? I think it is just safe to conclude that Nigeria is the perfect training ground for anybody willing to ‘see it all’.
However, despite all the societal problems prevalent in our country, the population is still rising; people are still pro-creating, we are still moving on. We have made bad choices in the past, choices that have left us paying back dearly for our carelessness in the past. We have made mistakes in supporting bad leaders on their quest to attain office, we have made mistakes of encouraging hooliganism in kids when it could have been curbed before it escalated into militancy, we have made mistakes of allowing religious and tribal sentiments to thrive within us when we could have stopped its spread; we have simply done it all.
The grievous experiences we have had as repercussions of these mistakes has not made us any stronger, these experiences though did not kill most of us, has not made us immune to the effects of bad governance neither has it made us immune to Boko Haram bullets nor Militants’ grenades; we are not stronger!
We can not claim to be getting immune to the adverse effects of the vices in the society; we can only strive to avoid re-occurrence in future. Here again, careful will get my vote. The times to elect new leaders approaches us very speedily and there is no best time to stand for what is just and right than this time. This is the time to rally round credibility even if it be found in Fresh Democratic Party. This is the time to be careful, the time to meticulously screen politicians who approach us for votes, it is the time to CAREFULLY correct the ills we have committed in the past, it is the time for change.
We must elect good leaders, we must discourage insurgency in any form it may arise and we must tirelessly build a new nation, one man at a time....for as IT has not killed us, IT should make us CAREFUL!

ODERINU ADEDAYO T.
08067361945/08079077040/08025885374
odeday2000@yahoo.co.uk

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APC WILL WIN PRESIDENCY IN 2015 - AMOSUN

The newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State held its inaugural meeting
yesterday with the state Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun boasting that the party would deliver
the country from the alleged misrule of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The merged political parties' stakeholders also promised to work for the progress of the party.
The meeting came on the heels of the valedictory meeting of the defunct Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) held behind closed doors in Abeokuta on Sunday.
During the meeting, chieftains of defunct party that included Senators Akin Odunsi (Ogun West);
Gbenga Kaka (Ogun East) and Gbenga Obadara (Ogun Central) were urged to bury their personal
grievances to achieve success for the newly registered party.
Leading the group was the state Governor, Senator Amosun, who described APC as the true
progressive party.
He said if the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo were alive, the founder of the Action Group
would have loved to be a member of the party.
According to him, the APC would deliver the country from the misrule of the PDP in the 2015
general elections.

US GUARANTEES STRESS-FREE VISA PROCESS FOR NIGERIANS

The U.S Consul General, Jeffery Hawkins has assured Nigerians seeking to migrate to the United
States under its various visa categories will worry less over visa procurement, as a smooth and
successful visa processing is promised to them.
The assurance was made during a meeting to usher in United States bi-national commission's
build-up dialogue with the Nigerian government.
The development would ensure that every Nigerian intending to migrate to the U.S for various
reasons is given special consideration, given the fact that both countries have maintained
consistent and cordial bi-national relations in various key areas of their economies.
Hawkins, who indicated that Nigeria was the United States' most important partner in Africa ,
given its demonstration of a high degree of friendship, trust and cooperation for tangible
progress on critical issues of both countries' mutual interest, added, "For Nigerians who wish to
visit the United States, my goal is to ensure that the visa application process comes as painless
and pleasant as possible. This is because we have invested in new staff, installed new
equipment and overhauled our processes, so as to provide Nigerian visa applicants with the best
of visa services."
He also stated, "The wait time for non-immigrant visa appointment is now just a fraction of what
it once was, in order to ensure that Nigerians are not kept waiting for more than they would want
to."
The consul general who expressed the need for applicants to desist from submitting fraudulent
documentation, the number one reason for denial visa, implored all intending visa applicants to
ensure that they provide the consulate with authentic and stipulated visa requirements in order
to avoid visa denial or ban as the case may be.
In other words, applicants who submit fraudulent documentations to the U.S Consulate for their
visa processing would have to accommodate the sad end that such singular action would cause
them.
It is important for applicants to note that the U.S consulate has several detective devices to
ensure that they process only documentations from the right Nigerian issuing authorities.
In view of the foregoing, therefore, applicants who provide fraudulent documentations and or
uncompleted embassy stipulated requirements in relation to required visa types, are bound to
either have their visa application returned or denied.
1.5m Nigerians grow US economy
It is estimated that more than 1.5 million Nigerians resident in the U.S, and about 31,000 United
States citizens resident in Nigeria, have invested enormously to the growth of the economies of
both countries.
This number of Nigerians reportedly migrate to the U.S yearly, as immigrants, tourists, students
and workers, and presently. Nigeria has about 7,000 of its bright young populace pursuing
higher education in various academic fields in universities across the U.S.
The engagement may have contributed to the U.S government's proposed invitation of a very
special set of young Nigerians with track records of leadership and services to their communities
to visit the U.S in 2014, through the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders platform.
Under the platform, selected fellows will be moved to top American universities for trainings in
entrepreneurship, management and leadership. This is expected to be seconded with internship
and job opportunities at top companies in Africa.
These commitments to an extent confirm the fact that both countries are seriously engaged in
efforts aimed at promoting cordial bi-national relationships to achieve good and productive
ideas, which in turn they both would benefit from.
United States consul general in Nigeria, Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins, said, "Each year, a handful of young
officers at the Consulate mentor and support 15 young Nigerians who have ideas for community
service projects. Subsequently, the United States Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative, CYFI,
and the results regularly astound me, because the Carrington fellows have touched the lives of
tens of thousands of their fellow Nigerians, and they have themselves developed into more
capable and confident leaders."

NEW TRANSPORT SYSTEM CAN TRAVEL LOS ANGELES TO SAN FRANCESCO IN 30 MINS

Paypal billionaire Elon Musk has revealed plans for a radical new 'Hyperloop' transport system
that could 'shoot' passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes.
Travellers enter aluminium pods mounted by skis either to their feet or to their cars, top. The
pods, mounted above the ground on columns 50 to 100 yards apart, travel through steel tubes,
reaching speeds of up to 800mph and travelling on a cushion of air.
Musk told Bloomberg Business Week the system would be 'like getting a ride on Space Mountain
at Disneyland.' 'It would have less lateral acceleration-which is what tends to make people feel
motion sick-than a subway ride, as the pod banks against the tube like an airplane,' he said.
'It would feel supersmooth.' 'The Hyperloop (or something similar) is, in my opinion, the right
solution for the specific case of high traffic city pairs that are less than about 1500 km or 900
miles apart,' he claimed.
Inside the tubes, hyperloop pods are mounted on thin skis made out of inconel,an alloy already
used by Musk's SpaceX firm that can withstand high pressure and heat. Air is pumped into the
skis via small holes to make an air cushion, and each pod has air inlets at the front.
An electric turbo compressor compresses air from the nose and routes it to the skis and to the
cabin. Magnets on the skis, plus an electromagnetic pulse give the pod its initial thrust;
reboosting motors along the route would keep the pod moving at just below the speed of sound
so the system does not produce sonic booms.