L-R Olamitayo, wife, Mrs Nike Monica Okudaye, professional Textile Artist and the author

The author and Pa Tunji Oyelana, renowned Nigerian folklore musician

The author and Gbenga Adeyinka, Grand Comedian of the Federal Republic

The Author With Marcus Sorour, General Manager, Waggener Edstrom Communications, South Africa

The Author With Jahman Anikulapo, Program Chair, Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA)

29 Jun 2015

HIJACKED POWER vs RELINQUISHED POWER

E kaaro o,

That simply means “Good morning” in Yoruba language. I am sure to get chastised by the 1st speakers of the language because I do not have the tonal marks that give the same word different meanings.

Today, I will be looking at power from a deadly angle and the other perspective. For every man (including woman), there is a time when one has the ability to pursue dreams with vigour during the vibrant stage of life. The person would attain power and position, however for every man, life can either demand for the power in different ways while one has a choice to relinquish power like the erstwhile President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

19 Jun 2015

EMERGENCY MEASURES vs LONG TERM MEASURES

Wapendwa Marafiki,

Despite all the xenophobic attacks in recent times, I travelled to South Africa to bring you greetings, saying, “Hello Friends.” It is a great week around me with loads of commitments and challenges that would make me better. Hope we are all on the learning curve? Life is all about learning.

10 Jun 2015

SOLIDLY BUILT vs SHODDILY BUILT



E ku ati!

As a Yoruba boy, I appreciate greeting in the language that appeals so much to my instinct. I said "It's been a while!" in my dialect. I have been held down by circumstances beyond my control.

Today's discussion is about two buildings. These buildings are located in the same part of the town. They were built on the same soil type and they needed the same materials to erect them. However, one of the buildings was done by a contractor who cut corners. We all know the result of such tasks.

6 May 2015

ENTREPRENEURSHIP vs INTRAPRENEURSHIP

Idun nyin,

Welcome to another week. I hope you had a nice weekend? Hope it was splendid. I was at a wedding ceremony as the compere. May I tell you that I enjoy doing it when the programme is orderly. Well, I greeted you in Ibibio language of Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria.

The late Revd Goke Adeleke, chaplain of the Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria. Once described at a wedding ceremony, how people are now being responsible more to career than the family. He believed it is a ploy to separate man from marriage. If a man has actually left his parents and cannot cleave to his wife because of career; there is a need to tread cautiously because it might be the beginning of other relationships. You know what I mean, infidelity creeps in. This is an aside; we are considering Entrepreneurship versus Intrapeneurship.

4 May 2015

ACTUAL TIME vs INJURY TIME

Okpam,

The year is on a fast lane. A new month is already here. Hope you had a grand Worker’s Day holiday or outing and also a good weekend? The holiday was good for me because of the nostalgic memory that it brought; I had sufficient time to listen to music. I greeted you in Idoma language of Benue State, saying “My friend”.

Our tent is pitched with football today; there are different ways of referring to time on the pitch. The actual game would last for 90 minutes while few minutes are added as injury time based on the assessment of the referee of the summed up time when the game paused. However, there might be Extra time during games that a qualifying team needs to emerge. I am discussing this in relation to other areas of our lives hoping that football would teach us something helpful for our daily lives.

24 Apr 2015

HUMBLE LIFESTYLE vs HYPED LIFESTYLE

Ikot nyin-mi,

Welcome to another week of Versus Series, I hope you had a great weekend? We all await the conclusion of the election in 3 states in Nigeria. As we have all been waiting for good news; may it be our lot in Jesus name. Let me not leave you to a rhetorical question, I said “My People” in Efik language of Cross-River State, Nigeria. Hopefully, we should extend our language tentacles to West African states soon.

11 Apr 2015

MARITAL SEPARATION vs MARITAL DETERMINATION II

Ndewo,

I have not abandoned my Igbo friends because I am still on the same discourse. I just said “Hello” in Igboland, South-Southern part of Nigeria. I started a discussion on seperation and determination last week and I am dwelling on the topic for this week too. May I ask, “I hope I have offended you through this particular title.

There are stories of children who grew up with single parents who demand to see the other parent at a point in time in life. Also, there are many men who married another woman for flippant reasons and they paid dearly for it at old age when they are neglected by children of both women.

10 Apr 2015

MARTIAL SEPARATION vs MARITAL DETERMINATION I

Kedu,

I bring you greetings from Igbo land, South-South region of Nigeria today by saying: “Hello”. Hope you are doing good and you had a great weekend thus far. What’s the result of the gubernatorial elections from your state? God will stretch forth his hand of greatness towards our country. Amen.

Today’s piece will be highly controversial and I want to stand by it. I want to ask, how would you effectively separate a couple? How do you untangle the romantic aspect of their lives? The items bought together? How would you share the children? Unpaid loans to one another? There is no judge that can effectively share it all; someone who have more to loss while the other gains more than the actual contributions.

Separation is a phenomenon when one of the couple gets tired, get frustrated or gets forced out of a union.  There is a need to reflect on what you do wrong as spouses. For every negative situation, either of the couple would be at fault; there are times when the man is wrong but would not want to accept it and vice versa. However, when one understands how to communicate effectively; then there is a resolution faster than assumed. If we learn to unlearn what we have known over the years for the new things our marriage would teach us, then, we would easily change. However, life-threatening situations are the only condition through which separation is allowed.

Determination is having a dogged attitude to keep the union alive against all odds. I have found myself in very absurd situations in marriage and I have been tagged strict because I have values that I cherish. I might be seen as belonging to the old generation to keep this posture but I think it is worthwhile. Determined and faithful partners should be encouraged just like virgins. It is only determination that would stop all negative incitements from having its way.

We keep seeing God as having made a mistake creating the male and female gender to raise children. The roles are separate and independent of one another. You might have all the affluence to train the children but the wrong influence during the formative years remains with them, as such; the standard of the parents is the norm.

Taking lessons from the Western culture would not help us as a whole. If we do not play roles that are beyond what nature ordained. We would be able to cross the little hurdles thrown at our union- financial, academic, in-law influences and others.

Do not be recruited into wrong train regardless of how you got into marriage-rushed, coerced, willingly or hypnotized. Kindly learn to fight for it protectively, carefully and prayerfully.

Remember, whoever does not have what he stand for will fall for everything!

God help us!


Olutayo

1 Apr 2015

PRAISE SINGERS vs TRUTH SAYERS

Okpam,

I last spoke with you last week when Nigeria was the cynosure of all eyes. The tension has doused and the nation is still nostalgic: some felt bad about losing the elections, some felt great about winning. May both be for the good of the nation at large. Okpam means my friend in Idoma language of Benue State, North-Central, Nigeria.

There is a set of traditional people in Yoruba culture and tradition called the “Ayan”. It is likely that you might have come across people whose surname starts with Ayan as the prefix. I would not want to waste your time on discussing this but you can read up a sister blog where this has been discussed in the past- Etymology: Prefix and Suffix as Variant of Yoruba names. This family’s craft include playing of the traditional drum and singing the praises of people and families. In fact, they add aesthetics to any event of Yoruba people. In this twist today, we would be examining it from the political angle.

30 Mar 2015

WAITING-FOR-OTHERS vs DO-IT-YOURSELF

Ezigbo Enyi,

It is a wonderful time writing to you. As for Nigeria, this moment is quite critical because we are all waiting for the announcement of the winner of the Presidential elections. My passion for a greater Nigeria is summed up thus that the person who would take the nation to a greater height emerge. Lest I forget, I greeted you in Igbo language, South-South region of Nigeria.

As a small boy in the Royal Ambassadors, we had a mentor that we look forward to; he was one of the person who showed many of us the road to Lagos, in fact, he accommodated us before we came of age. He leaves Ibadan on Sunday at 3 pm, on one of such trips, expectedly, there was a need to clean the car. My mentor started it, this is against the typical idea of the Yoruba tradition that believes that the younger person does the task. He told me that in his workplace, the attitude is called “Do-It-Yourself.” After this experience, I have learnt to do many things myself!

Waiting-for-Others is the lazy way of delegation. There are many tasks that are assigned to the ranks by the officer that does not take anything from the officer to get it done personally. At times, the junior officer feels insulted but he has no choice but to swallow the bitter pill. We just thank nature for not giving the ability to send people on “defecation” errand. That’s the height of it.

Do-It-Yourself is the way of getting involved! Anybody who knows how to do it spends less because he won’t give it all to the artisans. There are a lot of home tools that can be procured and used to get some simple tasks done. There are people that fix their electrical cables themselves; paint their houses themselves and many more. Many of these tasks can be learnt after watching someone doing it once or twice.

As we build ourselves; as we learn to conserve our limited funds; as we build our career; as we proceed in our daily activities, there are simple  tasks that can be done ourselves. However, the fund we would spend might not be much but these activities help the brain; get one engaged during the weekends, exercise the body and shows how creative one can be in resolving issues.

Learn to Do-It-Yourself!

Cheers!


Olutayo

22 Mar 2015

RAINY SEASON vs RAINY DAY

Ciao amici,
I decided to go global today because there is hardly any nation where Nigerians do not reside and there are many foreigners also resident in Nigeria. I said “hello friends” in Italian language. This week is very crucial in the history of Nigeria; let’s keep our fingers crossed while we do not relent in prayers for the best for our dear nation.

In our parlance, rainy season is the period of the year filled with rain. It has many features, there could be rainstorm, thunder, flood, blossoming of plants and many others attributes. However, the context of today’s discussion is based on the abundance at this time. The earth has enough water for plants to grow, in fact, fruits are available in great quantity but waste away.

9 Mar 2015

FOCUSED vs OUT-OF-FOCUS

Ndi beanyi

I hope your day has started in a memorable way? It was a weekend full of activity for me and I hope you enjoyed yours as well. As I do regularly, I greeted you in Igbo language of the South-Eastern part of Nigeria it means “my people”. May this week be a blessed week for everyone.

There is story about a blacksmith; the man was tenaciously hitting a particular spot as he was trying to get a shape out of the metal that he was casting. He did this till he got the desires result. Two things happened thereafter; his apprentices understood that their boss had a particular shape in mind he wanted and his customers saw his craft as distinct from what his contemporaries did. This led to this Yoruba saying: “Alagbede to n lu irin loju kan na, oni ohun to n wa”

2 Mar 2015

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS vs NATURAL BITTERS

Okpam,

I am truly Nigerian and I am proud it’s a heterogeneous country. I just said, “My friend” in Idoma language, Benue State, Nigeria. Welcome to the month of March, we all pray to move forward and that will be our experience by God’s grace. Fellow Nigerians, as we are called by our leaders, I hope we would use our Voters Card right; it is just few weeks to elections.

4 Feb 2015

ETHICS vs PRACTICE

Oniovo,

This means “my friend” in Urhobo language of Delta State. It is a great week for me as I had a great weekend; my church became a local autonomous church amongst many other challenges that is preparing me for the years ahead. Every challenge, to me, is a springboard to greater heights.

If you will not agree with me that virtually all professions have ethics, you will accept that Lawyers, Doctors and Accountant jealously guard their professions. As such, erring members are punished publicly to serve as deterrent to others. However, it burdens my heart to make discuss this topic because many people do not abide by the ethics of their job when it comes to practice. Let’s think together.

2 Feb 2015

ECZEMA vs LEPROSY

Wa do,
Happy New Month! I want to start on that ecstatic note. It has been a wonderful year thus far. There have been many challenges but with faith, we are more than overcomers. I just said, Good day, in Urhobo language of Delta State, Nigeria. If my spelling is not right, any of my Edo friends should endeavor to correct me.

There are many illnesses that have similar symptoms, unfortunately, I am not a medic, these illnesses have drugs used in curing them. However, there are times when wrong diagnosis lead to wrong prescriptions which ultimately lead to death. Like it is said, “doctors bury their mistakes.” Let’s consider something from a Yoruba proverb for this week. “E fi ete sile; e n pa lapalapa” which literarily means leprosy has been ignored while eczema is being treated. These illnesses have whitish looks but they differ.