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Since the introduction of the new Facebook timeline, I have seen a proliferation of cover pages. I looked at my profile page and decided I needed a cover page myself. That set the muse flowing. So I decided to, from time to time, build cover pages for whomever so wishes to have one, from me, for a little fee. Just one thousand, five hundred naira (N1,500.00). The price is negotiable though, as is every item in a Nigerian market.

Go through the list below. I added just six. But you can see an extensive list at one of the albums on my profile named cover page samples. I will keep adding to the gallery from time to time, so if you are interested in having a cover page from me, you can download one, try it on your timeline and if you like it, just message me on Facebook or email: nnaemeka.david@gmail.com, or phone: +234-081-56366920 (mobile communication is preferable though) and just give me your specifications and I’ll arrange one for you.

Go through the six below, or visit the gallery on Facebook.

Odimegwu David

Odimegwu David: I built this for myself, splattering ink all over the canvas. Must have been influenced by the idea I had while building it, engagement ink, another business that is still being nurtured.

Rosemary Creche

Rosemary crèche: Was influenced by the picture of the little child on my desktop and also the fact that there are so many crèches and daycare center in my neighborhood in satellite town. I thought one or two might be interested in something for advertising their business.

The Satellite Herald

Satellite Herald: The canvas is colored red and with power lines because I believe newspapers possess a hidden power to influence the masses. You can see how the red resonates through the cover page with another sea of red towards the bottom where there are pictures of public figures.

Turaya 1

Turaya 1: The typical cover page for a profile. Similar to mine above, only that this was meant for a man with a family.

Turaya 2

Turaya 2: Same idea as Turaya 1 only that I decided to change the outline of the text and then color of the canvas. Little changes in color here and there and in placement of images are 360 degrees significant.

Green Lawn Restaurant

Green Lawn Restaurant: Restaurants and eateries are one of the faces of Lagos streets, so how can I start with cover pages for both profiles and pages and not think of a restaurant? The regular meals on the menu are above the semi-circle. I thought the lawn was better at the bottom, where the logo will be when the cover page is uploaded on Facebook.

You can see an extensive list at one of the albums on my profile named Facebook cover page samples. I will keep adding to the gallery from time to time, so if you are interested in having a cover page from me, you can download one, try it on your timeline and if you like it, just message me on Facebook or email: nnaemeka.david@gmail.com, or phone: +234-081-56366920 (mobile communication is preferable though) and just give me your specifications and I’ll arrange one for you.

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THERE ARE STILL HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ADMISSIONS INTO TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS THAT WILL NOT BE COUNTED

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Children who will be asking for tertiary education tomorrow. Their journey just started. Credit: Ben Fash/Commons.wikimedia.org

Last month, as UTME was being written by more than one million Nigerian youths, a news article reported that the tertiary institutions in the country can only admit about five hundred thousand (500,000) of the more than one million five hundred thousand (1,500,000) that were registered for the exams. These does not mean that the remaining one million are still left without any hope of getting a tertiary education.

Where demand overshoots supply, provided the price is right, the educational system will always find a way to make it up.

Clearly, our youths make every sacrifice to be admitted into our Universities. Irrespective of family background or economic status, millions of youths seek tertiary education at any cost. That is why it is with missed feelings one reads the news that millions of youths who will not make it into tertiary institutions through the Unified Tertiary Institutions and Polytechnics Matriculation Examination (UTME) will be denied such a privilege.

Because the demand is so high, tertiary institutions have devised several ways of accepting the teeming number of students who lurk at their gates. Direct entry programs, distance learning and outreach programs are quite some brilliant innovative ways. Although the cost of acquiring a university education might increase, the concomitant effect of admitting a large number of students along with the cost effective use of technology like the Nigerian Open University of Nigeria, part-time tertiary education and satellite campuses have an opposite effect of mopping up the expected increase in the cost of acquiring such an education.

The proliferation of private universities, some obscure at best, some offering quality education, but all responding to the demands of the educational marketplace for increased access to university education, even something remotely resembling one, reinforce the mopping up operation for those students who the primary UTME examination will not admit.

Motivated students and well-adjusted adults also take advantage of the numerous opportunities to learn while working, without ever seeing the four walls of a university. On my Facebook wall is a well- loved satellite channel that teaches interesting courses that could be comparable to GCE A-levels. MIT opencourseware although rigorous at best, is a very good alternative when UTME seems farfetched.

The effect of all these alternatives is to increase the number of students who are able to have the privilege of a quality university education while keeping the costs equal or nearly so, to what is obtained at our Federal Universities and Polytechnics.

So even if our universities, polytechnics and monotechnics can only admit about five hundred thousand (500,000) of the more than one million five hundred thousand students who sat for UTME this year, that does not mean about a million youths will be sitting in front of their television screens awaiting 2013. The education market knows how to absorb and make them part of the fold of educated learned members of the society, provided they are well motivated.

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WOULD YOU PROVIDE POTABLE WATER IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE YOU CAN BREAK EVEN?

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Thank God for a glass of cold water! Credit: Walter J. Pilsak/Commons.wikimedia.org

Residents of suburban Abuja moan for potable water from the Government. Since a major part of the population of Abuja (80%) live in satellite towns and its suburbs, one wonders when Government will find the will to respond to this plea. Unlike other services, few private firms will be willing to play the role of Government.

Potable water is a service that is very expensive to establish and after setting it up, even if you make sales or not, you still have to maintain it – like buy fuel for generators, ensure the pipes do not burst etc. Since private firms have refused to enter the business, then one can conclude that the price they could charge for providing potable water to the residents of suburban Abuja might never make them break even.

It is imperative then that Government comes to the rescue. For one, when a private firm endeavors to take the risk of investing in a service like potable water, it faces competition from meruwa (water vendors) who trek from street to street, and private boreholes. Would that firm be able to price its water at above cost, where the meruwa(s) sale for competitive rates? Furthermore, if the private boreholes make jealous profits, then boreholes would be springing up aplenty for a share of the profits.

The private boreholes that exist were established to serve the water needs of the households that set them up, and whatever revenue is made from selling to the community is not tempting.

At satellite town, along Badagry-Expressway where I live, we have the same problem. Water is delivered to houses by Lorries with tanks full of water. The private boreholes that have been established do not exist to break even.

To further compound the problem of building a network of pipes to serve the community, is the fear that some miscreant could burst these pipes in order to draw water from them for nothing, further compounding its cost situation.

These are why the Government should step in. When private firms find it difficult to provide potable water, or power, or clean up pollution, for reasons that are beyond their abilities, we pay taxes for the Government to do this.

But does the Government have the will and the ability?

If Bala Mohammed, the FCT Minister, is interested in keeping true to his promise, then would the meruwa(s) not be determined to take the ability from him, calling on age-old traditional ties and lobbies? It would be a pity that so many of them would have to lose a means of livelihood if he keeps true to his words. By the way, the satellite towns and suburbs surrounding Abuja do not count for much in his estimation. So why should he bother? This problem will not stop at anything but being epileptic but prolonged.

For all one can say, the residents of suburban Abuja would have to do with meruwas and private boreholes for a long while.

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IF I HAD KNOWN, I WOULD HAVE LEFT HIM AND THE DEVIL WITH THE TEN NAIRA.

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A restaurant attendant, Bright Effiong, for killing his customer, Chibuike Onyekachi, over an argument of a difference of ten naira (N10) in his bill, will have to face a one-count charge of murder. The restaurant where he is employed will probably be under lock and key while he awaits May 5, the day of his trial.

Misplaced priorities, when confused for poverty and ignorance, can be costly. Bright Effiong has learnt this the hard way.

What could make two young men fight over a difference of ten naira (N10)? If none of them could be indifferent to the difference, then nothing but biting poverty. But poverty or ignorance is no justification for one man to take the life of another.

As he sits in prison for the murder of Chibuike Onyekachi, Effiong will be moaning his loss of liberty and possibly life for going so far as to take another life. But unfortunately for him, he had all the opportunity in the world to have prevented this sorry state of affairs.

Like Judas, regrets cannot bring back the clock.

Credit: Almeida Junior on Wikimedia Commons

First of all, there is no justification for violence, especially murderous violence. Violence is very costly to everyone concerned. No nation in history has ever gone to war without making use of every window of opportunity for peaceful resolution.

The window was open for Effiong but he did not use it.

He could have decided that if the difference of ten naira was so capital to the running of his restaurant, he would have allowed the devil be and split it between him and Onyekachi. Where both men were staunch in their belief that they were right, then the probability was that 50-50, one was right and the other was wrong and they could have agreed to share the loss for a settlement of five naira (N5) each.

On the other hand, if that sharing formula was calling for too much, then Effiong should have considered the time and public relations cost, vis-à-vis other restaurants at Ijeshatedo where this took place, of engaging in a lengthy quarrel with Onyekachi when other customers were watching, and eventually to a fight. The highest reward he would have gained from this monumental loss was only ten naira (N10). As people say, ignorance is a disease, and crass ignorance should be a deeply entrenched syndrome.

All I can say is that, since the window of peace was wide open for him, then where he chose the “pieces” option, then he will have to sit down in the dark pits of the prison and await his fate come May 5.

Never forget the essentials. No matter the amount involved, always remember that peace is an option which opportunity cost is very low when you count the loss in time, people, trust, faith, loyalty, money etc. So, make for peace and pursue it.

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THE USE OF UNAUTHORISED FREQUENCIES BY THE BANKS AT BENIN WILL CONTINUE UNLESS NCC KNOWS HOW TO MEASURE THE BENEFITS.

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It was reported by Daily Times that the Benin branch of Ecobank was penalized for unauthorized use of frequencies of megahertz (Mhz) band but the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) noticed that Ecobank is not the only bank engaging in this illegal practice. Every other bank does it.

Even bad good business is costly for everyone.

Everyone suffers when nobody wants to do the right thing. That is why the cost of using cyberspace would increase by this activity. The banks know this as much as you and I. Because the benefits of this practice far outweighs any cost, which the simple eye cannot even see by the way, then no one would complain.

It has been argued several times that we all need the services of the Government. When you realize that its activities serve to sanitize the markets and enables competition and entrepreneurship to flourish, that is when you will be willing to cooperate with Government policies.

Although sometimes Government does the wrong things; like every mortal does. Government is run by mortals like you and I.

As for private firms, they are in the business of maximizing profits. Social costs and benefits or morality are their tools when it would help them make more money. So isEcobank, and every other bank. If she is penalized by the NCC for unauthorized use of frequencies in cyberspace, she would not count the social costs she has imposed on others which called for this penalty but, what would she lose if she stops doing this?

If what Ecobank stands to gain is above the penalty, then I bet you, she will continue to invade cyberspace at Benin branch unauthorized.

How much penalty is enough for this case?

That is why NCC knows she has to calculate how much penalty is enough to stop this practice. If she can, it would a loss to engage in it.cbn revokes 47 licenses.That is the problem of every regulator, not only that of NCC. They do not have enough information to act to make defaulters face the true costs of their actions. Even if it is in the best interest of everyone for NCC to know this, nobody is prepared to risk its company secrets to allow some regulator go through its books without being watched.

So where the penalty can never be enough, all the banks will continue this practice. NCC should be content with public warnings and occasional penalties and fines.

The end result of all this, where it pays to be bad, is that we suffer for things we would have avoided, like Ecobank’s neighbor finding that sometimes her frequencies are jammed or clogged. It might lose him money, trust, or customer loyalty, but since no one can calculate how much, it is up to anyone’s guess.

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COULD WINNERS CHAPEL BE USING MONEY TO DRAG MORE MEMBERS TO HIS CHURCH THROUGH ITS HEBRON SACHET WATER? JUDGE FOR YOURSELF.

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power can even be more powerful than the pull of electromagnetic waves that drive electricity.” Credit: Tony Boon/tonyboon.co.uk

I have no qualms against religious bodies producing commercially, but when the product is labeled as “holy”, like Hebron sachet water produced by the founder of Winners Chapel, David Oyedepo, and the price is fifty percent (50%) cheaper than the usual, then this is a predator in the market!

Hebron sachet water was born to be a monopolist.

Hebron sachet water could eventually be a natural monopoly in the market for sachet waters at Ota and like everybody would eventually learn, you better beware of entering its territory.

For one, the residents of Ota say that the water is “holy.” On the other hand, Oyedepo has decided to sell it at fifty percent of the actual price in the market. The demand for his product is so high that it even interferes with church services.

If you ask me, I’ll tell you that if Oyedepo is allowed to continue this way, he is sooner than latter going to drive so many of his competitors out of the market. When he gains monopoly power, (oh, how sweet power is!), we could see a trend where resellers of the sachet water would come from only amongst people who attend his church. By selling it at N120, the market price, they get to make a profit of N60 on each bag of sachet water which profit no other sachet water can provide. So, only his devotees will eventually control the market.

Hebron sachet water could see a line of Hebron bottle water, Hebron spring water and so on and so forth in the near future. That is the benefit monopoly confers.

But what if his monopoly power is only a tool to further increase his religious powers?

Business must be good for his company. And also for his members who have given him a cost advantage over his rivals. Altruism and the volunteering spirit would make sure the cost of input for his business is lower than the average. This indeed is a good thing, especially if they get to share from the profits.

The downside is that this could be a strategy, well known in poverty ridden Africa, of enriching his church members as a bait used to attract other people who are not members of his church. This would be a dangerous thing. But what if everyone does it and would surely want to do it?

Power corrupts and so does religion.

After gaining monopoly power and driving his competitors out of the market, what if Oyedepo decides to increase the price of Hebron sachet water to reflect the true market price? Because he has all of Ota at his fingertips when it comes to sachet water, he could see his revenue and profits double, triple and quadruple overnight. He has the power to decide who will be in the business or not, especially when he must have started with the faithful of his church. Religion and power are dangerous things, you must agree with me, and when both resides in the palms of a single mortal, then one only wonders when corruption will start creeping in.

Notwithstanding, everyone likes a cheap product and he has it going for him.

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AN INSURANCE WORTH N5.5m? YOU BET THERE ARE LOTS OF TROUBLED MINDS FOR THIS BUSINESS TO FLOURISH.

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Two conmen, one a herbalist, DanlamiMakarfi, were sentenced to prison on three count charges based on criminality for duping another man, Adamu Mohammed, of N5.5m in cash and properties. The intent of the conmen was to pray for Adamu so as to relieve him of his problems.

Those afraid of taking risk will always be ready to pay.

The principle behind Adamu’s action, like that of every other troubled mind, is similar to the raison d’etre of the insurance industry: people who are risk averse are prepared to pay a premium in order to forestall the bad outcome. Adamu Mohammed, for paying a herbalist to pray for him to help relieve him of his problems was not mad or insane, he was just acting as a risk averse person, but the twist to the story was that the two conmen must have overstepped the bounds of what is acceptable into the territory of the fraudulent.

Adamu must have valued the claim of DanlamiMakarfi and his colleague at N5.5m with the belief that his problems will be solved, because amongst other reasons, he must have tried solving those problems himself over so many years and had hit a brick wall. Therefore, he valued his own efforts at N0 and the probability that he would succeed if he keeps trying on his own at 0. One can say that Adamu was not a stupid person to have paid such an amount of money, only that, as we Nigerians say, he was a typical case of “money miss road.”

A life insurance worth N5.5m needs lots of convincing.

I keep wondering why he should value the herbalist’s claim at N5.5m. I believe the Judge must have solved that problem, although the news article did not say, but it is certain that the herbalist and his colleague must have been glib salesmen. They must have sent false signals to the troubled Adamu and manipulated him very well such that the judge had to send them to prison on a three count charge.

Otherwise, why should N5.5m not be able to provide them with a good lawyer who can defend them very well?

Just like insurance, the business of offering prayers or miracles to relieve people of their problems will always exist. People will either be risk averse, and be customers, or be risk loving, and keep bearing and enduring their problems. But for an insurance policy on one’s life to be worth N5.5m; that is worth breaking the gates of heaven.

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WHEN SOME FAT YEARS COME AFTER SO MUCH LEAN YEARS, WOULD YOU SUDDENLY GROW FAT OR STILL STAY LEAN? PART 2

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a general example of perfect elasticity. Credit: commons.wikimedia.org

During the day, I tried to look at the network service provider’s side of the brouhaha, wondering why they should want to bless me with so much bonus data?

I BELIEVE THEY WANT TO INFLUENCE THE CHOICES I MAKE

Every company wants you to choose its product when faced with myriad others. So does my network service provider. Because the income we all earn is not likely to be increased soonest, any profit making company wants you to believe that if it increases its price, it wouldn’t make even a little hole in your pocket.

But it would for this particular product: access to the internet based on a data plan. If they increased the price of the service, even by a naira, I’d go onto Google to search for the prices of competing products. They are aplenty here in Lagos. If so many customers do the same thing, then it would create a big hole in the profit basket of that company.

So they’d rather not think of increasing the price of the service. Rather, by blessing me with a huge data bonus, they want me to increase my spending such that if and when the price increases, (inflation is a given in life just as air for breathing is), I’d never notice. Why? Because I was over-satisfied and no other company can provide such.

Satisfied I was. Would they succeed? I thought they were succeeding. I had to watch it. If I played to their game and increased my spending, then I’d create a dependency on the bonus data that would become parasitic if long running.

I’d rather not fall into dependency when so many other substitutes are around the corner.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE UNIQUE

I was at Trade Fair this week and someone told me he could surf the internet for free. I snorted. The price of the internet access was enough for my pocket. It was not free but I was content that I would not have to wonder if free came with a proxy or a dubious VPN network.

In a world where mobile Internet was becoming commonplace, quote or unquote me, I thought I would queue up for them, plus the bonus data, mind you, any day and anytime.

And ironically, if you’d ask me I’d have replied: “Yes, if they gave higher bonus data, I’d have preferred it, and could have used it, even if there was the trap of dependency around the corner.”

LIFE IS NOT AS SIMPLE THOUGH

Well, even if they wanted me to believe that if there was a little disturbance in the economy and they had to increase the price a little I wouldn’t mind, two or three months later, I might begin to notice. I’d rather they do not. I thought they would win the game if they increased my bonus data up to a point where if there were economic disturbances, my spending would neither increase nor decrease. Then, life would be simple for me.

But at what point is that? When I was supposed never to be satisfied? Waiting for when I might be asked to answer some survey questions: “Just a minute, please”, the next time I log onto my account?

Back to Part 1.

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WHEN SOME FAT YEARS COME AFTER SO MUCH LEAN YEARS, WOULD YOU SUDDENLY GROW FAT OR STILL STAY LEAN? PART 1

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Can you perceive the legs of the praying mantis? Credit:Zoofari/commons.wikimedia.org.

If you were used to the monthly salary you earn, and suddenly your boss gives you more than fifty percent (50%) bonus, what would you do with it? It’s an unexpected bonus! So many of us would embark on a wild spending spree, buy all the luxuries that we were hungry for but could not afford, then save the rest when the urge to spend wildly has been satisfied.

You never know when another bonus will be coming.

IT HAPPENED TO ME.

I faced a similar situation recently. I surf the Internet using a WIMAX USB card. This week, Monday precisely, I was surprised to log onto my account and find that my network service provider* gave me some unexpected bonus. I was beyond joy. I decided to download all the pdf ebooks and open source softwares that were accumulating in my download manager which were being saved for the neighborhood cybercafé. But my data gulping urge had its limits. Up to that limit, I saved the rest of the bonus data for the usual surfing activity: fifteen megabytes (15MB) per hour, while restraining every activity to at least fifty megabytes (50MB) per day.

I believe that I acted like every other human being who wants to save for the rainy day. We all spend from our income based on a pattern that has been established for months, even years. You know Mr. Boss is always reluctant to approve that little raise, no matter how little. So we try to count how much we spend of our monthly salaries, acquire a pattern and then stick to that pattern.

SAVINGS COME AFTER YOU’VE CLEARED YOUR DEBTS

Even when we have an unexpected bonus. Yes, even for a fifty percent (50%) bonus. I bet you’d calculate all the debts you owe from so many years – to your shoemaker, your banker, to the supermarket for that LCD screen you wanted and craved – to a certain extent. The extent of how much satisfaction you think you derive from that bonus faced with whether the bonus will come again.

Bonuses are random events. I’d never place a bet on a consecutive unexpected bonus. So, I’d be wise and prudent like before and keep a major fraction of the bonus, after satisfying a wild buying spree, in a bank account.

MONETARY OR NOT, OUR BEHAVIOR FOLLOW THE SAME PRINCIPLES

Now, the bonus was not monetary, just some data. The astonishing part of what happened that Monday morning and before I sent a “Thank You” letter to network service provider’s customer service mailbox was that my behavior followed just what has been documented for so many household spending patterns, whether the household income is high or low.

I hate being another statistic. If I had known better, I wouldn’t have gone through the data gulping spree but would rather have done something else – maybe reject the data bonus? Some joke!

Because we all want to be rational, wise and satisfied humans – of the homo sapiens genre, I mean – that Google knows that some algorithm would find me out and ask me to spend that extra data searching for some ebook which would eventually lead me to a malware dishing site and eventually crash my Firefox browser. I was warned.

* network service provider name is withheld because of privacy concerns.

The second part of the blog or part 2.

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CASHLESS OR CASHLITE: HOW MUCH WILL WE LOSE IF TO SOLVE A NAGGING PROBLEM WE DISTORT THE MARKET IN QUESTIONABLE WAYS.

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Those who are conversant with the news from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) know that one major headache it has is that there are too much cash in the hands of the public. I keep wondering how the CBN intends solving that generational problem.

The recent move to indirectly tax the rich by placing limits on cash withdrawals might result in unforeseen effects for the government that were not predicted.

THE TASTE OF THE PUDDING IS…

The demand for cash will not increase inexorably if substitutes exist. If we compare the opportunity cost of the touted substitutes with that of cash, which will be higher, for transactional and debt payment purposes? Laughable!

I do not see POSes all over satellite town where I live. ATM usage is increasing but should I have to walk to a bank every time I want to collect money, when I was doing that with cash? Where are the ecommerce websites? Even if you want to pay for services and products abroad, some banks still ask for domiciliary account.

Rather than place a hidden tax on cash, would it not be better the CBN carries out this experiment on themselves, with banks and other financial institutions rather than the non-banking public?

How? It should start a process of curtailing or rationing the amount of cash every bank and branch can release to the public. Above that limit, any customer would be made to realize that, “there are substitutes out there, why not use them?” Rather than force customers to bear the burden, we want the banks and the CBN to show they are sincere in its assertion that the substitutes are cheaper and easier.

If cash are rationed such that substitutes seem cheaper, would we see a queue behind ATM machines? That is the test. Would my mobile money account reflect my new bank balances, where I am forced to use them because “cash is not enough at the counter?” That is the test of the exercise. As people say, the taste of the pudding is in the eating.

Take away the cost from the customer and bear the cost, mighty CBN, so that the better bank will win and the loser banks will be at your doorsteps for carrying out a program that crippled its business.

FREEDOM TO CHOOSE IS CENTRAL TO THE SUCCESS OF A CAPITALIST ECONOMIC SYSTEM

If the Government and CBN fail to realize that freedom to choose is key to the success of a capitalist economic system, then it is playing a game which secondary effects we might never know until we are back to level zero. By taxing them from the word go, the people are not free to choose what payment method they want – cash or the touted substitutes.

Placing a limit on withdrawals affects no other sector but the public consuming sectors. Why not the banking sector?

Placing a price on withdrawals affects no other sector but the public consuming sectors. Why not the banking sector?

I wonder why the CBN should not bear the responsibility and burden for a program it wants and dearly seeks to solve; why throw it onto the public. Because she is afraid it might fail?

Fear thee not, CBN. Phase out the long drawn talk about cashless or cash-lite, give us substitutes and make them cheaper than cash. We’ve had enough burdens for one quarter.

Note before: I have not read the CBN document on cashless and think it is a waste of time. Six months from now, I might download it for reading.

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I HAVE FOUND THE PRINTER AND IT IS SITTING IN MY ROOM

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I tweeted yesterday that I bought a printer from Ikeja and on the way lost it. Sounds crazy right?

The situation was nerve-wracking and I spent quite a lot of money trying to figure out where on the way from Ikeja to Satellite town I left it on a bus.

How on earth could a man with a printer forget it on a bus?

Some of those reasons are: I had lots of luggage and lots of load on my head. It’s not easy trying to start up a small business in Lagos. The weight of trying to calculate how much it would take to buy a printer, buy stationary, do this and that – it just isn’t easy at all!

Thumbs up to all those who are running successful small businesses in Lagos. Hectic lagos!

But the story turned out well. The men at the Ikeja park, from Ikeja to Mile 2 were honest to a fault. Just hours after I reported my loss, I was calmed to -5 degrees centigrade. If the printer loss was on one of their buses and a passenger in the bus was not smarter than the driver, then I’ll have the printer the next day.

The next day is today and the crazy printer is sitting in my room.

I really do not know how to say “Thank you” to those God-fearing men at Ikeja. I think there are men we can trusteven though so much news from the political scene are disheartening. By the way, who cares about politics?

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NOW JUDAS HIS BETRAYER WAS ALSO STANDING WITH THEM

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Credit: Marisane/Wikimedia Commons

Judas Iscariot made himself infamous for betraying his friend, our Lord Jesus Christ.

I wonder who wants that sort of fame attached to his name? Remember, Judas committed suicide for his evil plot; it doesn’t mean that instant punishment always comes to those who make it a habit to betray TRUST that has been given to them.

The idea of this blog came about when someone gave me some trust that I really appreciated. He allowed me free rein, unrestricted access, to his resources, without any price. On deeper reflection, I realized that trust comes at no price but the benefits, like air and water, are immense.

Until it is betrayed.

Air used to be free, until that adjective, “clean” was attached to it. Water was healthy until the adjective “polluted” was attached to it. Nature is a trust given to humans until we betrayed that trust. Then, the availability or the enjoyment of air and water came with a price.

You cannot have clean air without paying for it. You can no longer have healthy water without paying a price for it. If trust has been entrusted to you, you do not realize how free it is until you betray that trust.

I decided that those resources entrusted to me were better free than at a price. So, I sat down and asked myself: “What would or could I do that might make my friend unhappy?” I made a list of them, prioritizing them and the one of highest priority was: “Never to betray his trust. I will only stick to our agreement as to the use of the given resources and never go beyond that, no matter how tempting other course of action might seem.”

I felt a happier and more satisfied person coming to a determination to take that decision.

Although it was the least cost route to take economically, on the other hand, it was the moral and right course to take.

In an age of “everything-goes” when many people trample freely on morality and ethics, it was some comfort to discover that the moral way was the best way.

“Now, Judas his betrayer was also standing with them.” Imagine how those lines must have brought pain to the heart of Jesus Christ. I could imagine costing my friend some expense if I betrayed him. Who would then have to pay the bill? None but me. He’d have to restrict the use of that resource and then, it would no longer be free. It was not going to come at zero price and unrestricted. The resource would become scarce and attached.

I was resolved not to be standing like Judas.

I was going to keep that trust.

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ANNA LOVES HENRY, HENRY LOVES ANNA.DESTINATION NEXT: THE ALTAR, RIGHT? LIFE IS NOT AS SIMPLE AS THAT.

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On a hot sunny day, the sky suddenly turns dark, very dark, as if storm clouds were approaching. What would you conclude? It’s going to rain. Often, we are disappointed when the rain doesn’t come. I have a friend who when he goes to his shop in the morning and finds water at the front of his shop goes instantly for a copy of his bible, because bad people are after his business all over again. “They have started doing incantations against my life,” he would argue. Fortunately for him, he still makes money at his business.

Often and on, when two things happen together, people believe and wrongly too, that the one causes the other.

Take love and marriage for example. When I was young and innocent, and stupid, I used to think that if two people love themselves, then the next step would be the altar. Does love cause marriages? Only the innocent would agree heartily to that. So many other factors cause marriages: money, self-interest, public acclaim or what we call fame, traditional family relationship and so on and so forth.

When one hangs his booths with the correlation is causation camp, he tends to believe in all sorts of superstition and is weighed down with fear, guilt and nervousness. A friend from Agbor told me that children should not be allowed to eat eggs when they are young because it teaches them to be thieves. Why? “Time and again, our elders have found that children, especially those from well to do homes, who are brought up on eggs, tend to take to stealing. It doesn’t happen once, not twice, but many times,” he retorted.

I did not have any data right then to throw his claims away, but I thought he was trying to say my parents should stop me from having eggs when we take tea and bread for breakfast? And then, I was still young. Just in JSS2. There was no way I could unstick him from his belief.

Because I had a bad dream this night and lost my work the next morning, it does not mean the witches who are after my life have begun gaining the upper hand? Nope. I always remember this advice: do not dwell on the bad events of your life, think of what you can make out of your bad experiences.

On the other hand, when two things go together, one can cause the other. Love sometimes causes marriage. Or when you have a good product with the right price, you are surely going to sell more than your competitors.

The caveat is: looking for correlation in everything and sticking to a fictitious, superstitious belief that when we find a correlation, then we have a key, a formula, for some problem that is looking for a solution.

Life is not as simple as that.

Like I used to remind myself: even the devil doesn’t put all his eggs in one basket.

content here.

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WHY SHOULD I PAY SO MUCH TO REACTIVATE A PHONE WHEN SIM CARDS ARE SO CHEAP?

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I was pondering this question when I lost the password to my mailbox. I had cheaper options, like opening a new box, getting a new SIM card for two hundred etc.
I decided to pay one thousand naira (N1, 000.00) to reactivate the sim card and also reactivate the phone. My mailbox was tied to the phone line.

It was all about trade-offs. We all bear something painful, like some cost, in order to enjoy a benefit, or some given pleasure.

Every year thousands of teenagers pay good money to sit for JAMB/UTME exams. Why should they? Because the gains of a university education far outweighs the gains of ignorance, of fear and superstition.

Look at it from another point of view. The more we enjoy meals that are rich in calories and sugars, the higher our risk of being obese, or even suffering diabetes. In a secondary fashion, we have to increase our exercise regime and increase our expenditures on exercise equipment and time for exercise.

A fool counts only the benefits and profits of any venture. There is an equal action or force that tends to be a drag on the benefits. We tend to call it costs, and when there are much of them, we have the option of creating a list and prioritizing them.

Take two parties who are haggling. The seller tends to set a high price, while the buyer expects a low price. It takes a balancing act, a-back-and-forth kind of exercise, before both parties agree to make the transaction possible, or not possible.

Every day, we tradeoff one gain for another loss. Why are you reading this blog? Why did you spend good money to be on the internet? That money could have been used for something else.

So I do not feel I was foolish to have paid a thousand naira in order to reactivate my email. Afterall, the mailbox is tied to a blog, an analytics dashboard and a blog monetization application. I might never be able to quantify these online applications, but I think they are worth one thousand naira.

So, I made a profit.

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