SHORT TERM REQUIREMENTS vs LONG TERM REGULATIONS

Hello friends,

Here we are again for another edition of our regular weekly versus series. Holidays have started, I hope parents are finding it pleasurable and students relaxed. Hope you had a restful weekend? May all your endeavour this week lead to great success.

In Lagos, Nigeria,there are vehicles that ply short distances, the drivers and owners hardly worry about renewing the documents of the vehicles. All they essentially need is fuel to power their engines and earn a living. Also, there are vehicles that ply other routes within the state and they can be sanctioned for what those vehicles within the areas are exempted from by some agency of the state government. Ultimately, there are vehicles that travel out of the state that need to confront to the regulations of federal agencies. There are short term requirements and long term regulations.

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STRUGGLE FOR RELEVANCE vs OPTIMUM RELEVANCE

Mavor,

This is a question in Urhobo language, South-South area of Nigeria meaning, How are you? I am grateful that I am alive to see another new week.  Hope your weekend was fine? I am not taking for granted the opportunity to write to you regularly. Without wasting time, let’s advance to today’s main discourse.

A young man came to Lagos, Nigeria to learn a distinct vocation which is not available in his country home. He stayed back to practice and see if he could break into the congested environment where the same skill is in abundance. He tried for many years to make ends meet but he realized that he was struggling to emerge due to the existing competition. For all the years, traffic was offensive to him; payment of his annual rent was not easy among other factors. There came a day when he realized that he had dissipated much energy on making it in the midst of competition than relocating to where he would be needed. Are you struggling for relevance or you are having optimum relevance?

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FINALITY vs INFINITY

Saanu Janmo,

It is an opportunity greeting you in Hausa language today. I hope you are fine and you had a great weekend.  May your strength be renewed for this week’s tasks. I appreciate all the comments that I have received online through linkedin and my blog, I look forward to receiving more comments for this will help focus and direct my writings.

There is someone who had made up his mind about the brand of vehicle that he preferred above others (I would not mention any brand name to avoid free advertising) it was a policy statement, he had driven three different models of this brand till a point when he had a choice to pick an official car either his choice brand or another brand. He was dissatisfied with the latest model of his choice brand; as such he went for the other brand which he had always condemned. Let’s now read, Finality of decision versus Infinity of choices.

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ANIMAL INSTINCT vs HUMAN REASONING

Your Excellency,

I decided to address you as such because it takes a great mind and a great personality not to get tired of my endless weekly writings. I am glad to share my thoughts and view with you today. I pray that it will be a great week for us this new week.

It is a known truth that lazy people are usually referred to the ant to consider its ways. How the ants gather during the dry season and remains in the hole throughout the raining season. However, there is a difference between animal instinct and human reasoning.

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Parent vs Spouse

Hello friends,

I am glad to write to you again today. I have been challenged and I have been encouraged since I started writing to you weekly. For all these responses, I am grateful.

I am looking at something that is very personal and controversial today. I remember the story of an old man who said, “I am grateful to my wife, she has been my only companion in the journey of about 60 years. My parents journeyed with me to certain extent in life, my siblings were with me till some point but the large chunk of my life has been spent with my wife. My own children have also left me to start their families and the genealogy continues.”

There is a song from the prominent Yoruba singer by Ebenezer Obey, that says, “ohun ti obi lese, Iyawo o lese yen, ohun ti Iyawo lese obi o le se yen” meaning what a wife can do parents cannot do it and what parents can do, the wife cannot do it. With this, let’s read together parent versus spouse.

Parents are those who biologically brought us into the world. Parents are levelers, there is no man on earth who never had a parent: either living or dead, either responsible or irresponsible. The child firstly comes in touch with a nuclear family. The family determines the level of affection of each child. As it is usually said, the girl child is attracted to the father while the son loves the mother; however the reverse is the case in some families. The child’s love for the parents remains till it is time to get married.

Spouse is the person that boy or girl decides to marry as maturity sets in for the child. The man is the usual initiator of the process and when the lady agrees, at the point of marriage, they become spouses.

As it is known, the love of the child towards the parents should be transferred to the spouse. The transfer might not be easy but it should be learnt, cultivated and adopted.  There should not be comparison between the parent and the spouse. Your parents have their standard and you have the opportunity of setting new standard for your children. You can adopt some good policies of your parents and you can eschew the ones you do not like.

The final thing that must be realized is that you have longer years to live with your spouse than your parents, so learn the ways of your spouse and not judge him by the way of your parents. The crack-up that one has with one’s spouse is more turbulent than the one with one’s parents but when things finally settle, you will enjoy it. Your spouse will be with you for the longer part of life than your parents. Keep it in mind that one’s parent differs from one’s spouse.

May you enjoy your life with your parents and with your spouse happily thereafter.

Cheers!

Best wishes this week.

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DONATING vs FATHERING

Hello All,

Congratulations to all men who are opportuned to see the 2015 edition of the Fathers Day. The category of men include: the bachelors, expectant fathers, fathers, grandfathers and widowers. I am happy to be a part of these men and I know you will agree with me that I am going to write something that will prick us all. Let’s read: Donating vs Fathering.

When a man approaches a lady for a relationship; his love for her might be 80% while that of the lady is 20%. When the relationship starts, the lady’s love rises to 80% while that of the man goes as low as 20%. This accounts for many things that happens subsequently.

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STARING FROM THE SHOULDERS vs SITTING ON THE SHOULDERS

Good Morning,

I am writing with joy to you today. I hope I am neither boring you nor clogging your box? Hope you have been enjoying your world cup matches and I hope the matches has been entertaining and not frustrating. Today is a good day to look at what we have neglected these days.

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LONE WALK vs TEAMWORK

E nle ni beun,

This is a Yoruba expression meaning hello over there. It is my joy welcoming you to this new week. May it continually be well with us. May the peace of God reside with all of us. I am glad to be with you again and I hope there is something meaningful that we would learn today. The world cup is starting this week; let’s look at something relating to football. Let’s look at lone walk vs Teamwork.

In a game of football, when all the players decide to cooperate and they move towards the goalpost of their opponents, what is fundamental is the number of goals and not the number of dribbling. If the players want to make name independently; they do not make accurate passes or they are making short passes. They are heading for failure.

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HURTING RESPONSE vs WATCHFUL RESPONSE

Greetings All,

It is an opportunity reaching you in this month of June. How good is it to be in the middle of the year. Like I asked last week, what is your mid-year appraisal like? Keep your focus right and do not just do things arbitrarily, ensure you hit the mark at all times.

What are we discussing today? Hurting response versus watchful response. Has this ever happened to you? A friend would start a discussion with you saying, my neighbour has a particular challenge, I don’t know what to tell him, what’s your advise? Then you come up with condemnations of the particular deed before saying any useful thing.

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BURDEN vs DELEGATION

Saanu Janmo,

I want to start on a language note today, like a typical Hausa man would say, Hello All. I am sending my wishes for a lovely day and a week full of giant strides. June is almost here. What is our mid-year appraisal going to look like? Don’t give up, keep at it!

This week, we would be discussing something we know very well. I once remembered hearing that a Manager was taken off a team because he does not know how to manage people. If he assigns a task to those that he oversees, he often does it himself. It came to a point when he was overburdened that others were redundant and the task was killing him. We need not overburden ourselves; the antidote is learning how to delegate.

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PICKING UP A HABIT vs BREAKING THE HABIT

Una Good Morning,

With this pidgin greeting do I come to you this great Monday morning. Hope you had a nice weekend? Well, activities that I had to battle with for the weekend was overwhelming but I thank God; I am refreshed for the new week.

I have a friend who was introduced to smoking when he was waiting to be admitted to a tertiary institution of learning. He had the opportunity of mingling with the wrong set of young men and he started smoking. At a point, he wanted to break the habit, he struggled for three months and he did not smoke. He longed for it, he returned and in fact, the number of stick he consumes daily increased. Today, we are taking about the word, habit. So simple but let us look at the two sides of this word.

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FANTASIES vs REALITIES

Hello friends,

Here we are again at our weekly pond of sharing with one another. It is a delight to be your host on this platform. I hope you are not getting tired of me neither am I clogging your box?

Today is the 5^th day in the 5^th month of the year. I pray that you will rejoice in this new week and you will not disappoint God and humanity. May your good deeds this week evoke great remembrance for you always.

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BATTLE vs WAR

Hello Sirs and Mas,

It is the 1^st day in May, people had devised an acronym for the month, MIRACLES AWAITS YOU. You will receive miracles all the days in this month in Jesus’ name. (Amen)

I am coming a little late this week because of some commitments. I just learnt something different  in a detailed way during this week and I feel it would be useful for us. I have been told this statement before, “learn to lose the battle and win the war”. Let’s examine, war versus battle today.

Battle, in this sense, is not with lethal weapons but let’s see it in the perspective of the journey of life, which is a struggle. It is a struggle to emerge as the best in the midst of rivals. It is a stumbling block to get a job after writing a test and attending the interview, it is a struggle to satisfy your employer, it is a struggle to change your spouse, it is a struggle to impress your peers. The battle of life is all about a barrier to a dream. For example, you will be challenged as you manage to combine schooling with working, your will have frictions because of it. If you drop out, you have lost the battle.

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BEING IN TOUCH vs FINDING THE TOUCH

Hello friends,

It is a pleasure welcoming you to our usual stable of discussion every week. How was your Easter holiday? I hope you did not wear yourself out for the rest of the week. Like I once said on twitter, weekend gets more stressful if not managed cautiously.

I am coming to you with a phrase today; being in touch vs finding the touch. I hope no one will make fun of me! Why did I say so, people who know me very well would attribute it to nature but I believe it is cheap to learn the former than the latter. Let’s get into business.

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LOYALTY vs DISLOYALTY

Ndi Nkem,

You should be used to this now; I am simply saying my people in Igbo language. It is an opportunity to use this medium to showcase the heterogeneous nature of Nigeria. However, I know that we have readers from other continents.

Let’s go together on our trip for today. We would be considering loyalty vs disloyalty.

Loyalty has the following synonyms- faithfulness, fidelity, allegiance, trustworthiness, dependability and reliability. It is such a simple word that is heavily loaded. In fact, what is firstly expected of a military officer is to be loyal to the nation. Brands have evolved to a point in which people even get loyal to them; some people cannot drive any other brand of vehicle aside the one they are accustomed to; some people cannot take another milk asides the one they are used to; some people cannot use another telecommunication network because they are satisfied with the services of a particular network.

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