Social media or spiritual meeting...

I just published this. Read and enjoy. Best wishes.

Read my short charge on Medium (Feasts of bottles...)

Happy New Year

What if we had wings...

In response to the question, I'd say "we'd fly". That sounds like the most appropriate response, yet I don't consider it close to it. Wings are obviously used for flying, we may all know that, but the answer to a question, is most likely not always the obvious.
As we continue in another year, in the Nigerian sense, because of our Independence celebration, we should rethink obvious responses to peculiar questions. Our way to success may not be the obvious path.
Happy Independence Nigeria; my country, with pride, I raise my flag.

Submit my CV...No I won’t

Submit my CV...No I won’t



My good friend- Technopreneur Tobi Soyombo (check out his website here) inspired me to post this write up, which I have been nursing as a private affair for a long time now.
In academic employment, it is easy to see intimidating long pages CV of especially senior academics in the professorial cadre, with some ranging from 20 to 60. I find it quite uninteresting that employers request a minimum of 15 copies of such CVs and other accompanying documents.
I foresee an era where all that an employer requires is your research profile, which may be a URL to a research profile or unique identity that links to an online research profile. Many of such exist for free now and I have provided a brief list below:
Academia.edu- click to join
Google scholar- click to join
ORCID- click to join
ResearcherID- click to join
ResearchGate- click to join
Mendeley- click to join
Kudos- click to join



*Note that this is not an exhaustive list.
Any serious academic and/or researcher should begin to rethink online profile creation, as technology is taking center stage and only those who can evolve with the times, will survive.

Competence and certificate: acquisition and obtainment

Competence: more than just a certificate

Certificate is to be obtained as evidence of competence… One major challenge with Nigeria and Nigerians is the craze to acquire certificates. The problem is that we do not want to accept that it is competence that should be acquired, while certificates should be obtained. In Nigeria, we strive to acquire certificates, which is why even senior academics tell you that a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, in its true sense a research degree is reduced to Politics, Humility and Diplomacy (PHD). Educational value has deteriorated so much that graduates from competent foreign universities who spend 12 months on a Master degree are better than many of us in Nigeria who spend 18 months to 3 years on the same degree. It baffles me when we try to equate extended duration to quality. Sometimes, you hear university administrators and senior academics pride their schools as having quality, based on the length of period students use on campus as they argue that “our degrees are not cheap, you cannot just come here and go like that”. Many times, I am mouth agape at their level of mediocrity that all I see in them is folly. After all, there is no dedication to quality but an engagement with bureaucracy that delays students unnecessarily without any value-added. It is a pitiable condition that we find ourselves and I count lucky those who can afford foreign degree; I also crave a foreign degree. It is of no use trying to stay here and become an inferior quality graduate. That is all that is available in Nigeria, except for some few universities that strive for excellence or some few departments with dedicated staff. In some schools abroad, I see that the duration of completing a degree is a performance index and I can boldly assert that if that is used in many Nigerian universities, only 1% may pass. Assuming the extended duration significantly contributes to advancements in knowledge and competence, then I can say, it is a fair deal, but no, it has no value at all than a culmination into frustration of the student. No wonder our graduates find it hard to develop innovative systems, since all we know and learn is how to be frustrated, demand false humility and extortion. Another frustrating issue is the manner at which examination malpractices have eaten deep into students’ fabric and mentality. It is hard for students to think for themselves in examinations. They always tend to believe they cannot make it alone and on their own, so they seek help even in the examination hall, while confident ones take in chips and some even go on to offer bribes in cash and kind to lecturers to acquire certificate; this cannot translate to acquiring competence. If we must make progress in this country, we must re-orientate our minds to know the difference between certificate and competence and acquiring and obtaining. Competence is to be acquired, while certificate is to be obtained as evidence of competence.

...and for our sakes, that we may live well...

Life is not A, B, C…, but A, AB, B, BC, C… Many times we confront life as though it is “simple as A, B, C…” in popular parlance, but at the end we realize that we have been wrong about many things. Life is as rare and complex as the grading system of few tertiary institutions with grades that almost make your head spin. In addition, just like the saying that “…all is fair in love and war” life confronts us with issues that make us question living, reality and focus, but also in the end we sigh, “…all is well that ends well…” How do we now measure a “well ending” or more preferably a “happy ending”? It has crossed my mind many times when old folks die that people say, what a long life, but when a young person dies, we are quick to say, “…oh too young” and I am guilty of that too without pausing to consider if the life was meaningful. There are many old fools who have died at their very old ages who if they had died earlier would be better for the nation, but we have come to accept age as the perfect measure of a life well spent. This regretful incident has helped me and my family to rethink and probably redefine the meaning of a good life and we conclude that it is a life spent with JESUS in focus. Our young lady died at a relatively young age, but as her dear husband mused just by the grave side, we are consoled that she knew the Lord, through life-she lived a good life. To the departed, we are constrained, but for the living, we continue to strive to achieve the good life. May the GOD of all comfort keep the hearts of her husband and child in peace and to the families of the departed (Oladele and Olurinde), we have a hope that all is well… Till we meet to part no more Mrs. Olufunke Oladele

...and what if we are wrong...

…and what if we are wrong…

dissenting view (uncensored)

The land where elders ain’t liars (uncensored)
As much as Nigeria desires progress and sustainable development, I think there is a need to reappraise our values. Particularly in southwest Nigeria, elders don’t lie even when it is glaringly obvious (permit the use). This ideology translates to more parochial thinking about the leadership (rulership) of the nation, as we assume that our political leaders are gods (mystic) beings who cannot make mistakes, so whatever they do is right, absolutely. This is evident when we insist that oba ba lo ri gbo gbo nkan, literally translating to “the king controls all things”. Even our thoughts?
Dissenting views have come to stay as drivers of innovation, improvement and adjustments for development. As we continue to enjoy satisficing, we cannot grow. However, when we see things differently and know that we can change, improve on something, then we are moving forward. Now that a young man has a dissenting view, but the elders see it as being rude, proud, disrespectful etc, it is a malaise we have to challenge especially in our developing age in Nigeria.
Maturity comes with age, but not sensibility. There are old fools, or what do we make of news in popular media about septuagenarians and octogenarians raping barely teenage girls, looting our economic fortune as though prebend without recourse for the future even at that old age.
My idea is that at some points in mature existence, it is time to take a back seat, and speak only when it is necessary and not always insist on being in the front wheel. This malady is evident in academics and family, even all spheres of society. An old man once challenged me if I had up to the material possession he had and I was mouth agape. Apart from the fact that physical possessions are based on choice, how can you compare a young man with yourself? I almost told him to compare himself with the CEO of FCMB, a prominent deposit money bank in Nigeria or other young dudes who are raking in millions by the day, while he sits in his chair of comfort to confront me about his possession.
A nation where elders never lie, can never grow. I do not support being rude to elders, but having a dissenting view is for Christ’s sakes not a crime nor a sign of disrespect.

Demanding the Uneven

Demanding the Uneven
‘Sad is the day for any man when he becomes absolutely satisfied with the life that he is living and the deeds he is doing; until there  ceases to be forever beating at the door of his soul a desire to do something larger which he seeks and knows he was meant and intended to do.’’ – Phillip Brooks.
Man was created for a purpose infinitely greater and wider than the scope of his imagination. Specially designed and crafted by the master-potter himself, in his very likeness, every human is fully capable of living an extraordinary life. If God declares us gods, who are we to desire to be ordinary men? Who are we to doubt Him?
‘I said: ‘you are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.’’ – Ps 82:6
A god is one who possesses divine characteristics. God has deposited his attributes within us. In essence, we have no excuse to be less than extraordinary.
‘The only person who can stop you from becoming what you intend to become is you’’.
Dr John Maxwell.
You do not want to wake up on your 70th birthday with regrets wishing you could start over. It begins now.
The artist, who composed the popular song, ‘Coat of many colors’, Dolly Parton once said:
‘Find out who you are and do it on purpose’’.
We really cannot afford to live by chance, to rest on our oars and allow circumstances dictate the course of our lives. We’ve got to live more deliberately, more intentionally. Every thought, word and deed carefully crafted purposefully to create a beautiful and relevant tapestry.
The problems around us are crying out to be solved. The economic situation of the world, the seemingly endless wars and terrorist  strikes, the moral depravity of the society, the hopelessness invading the lives of several people all need to be dealt with.
The world needs you to rise up to your life’s mission. We honestly cannot do that by doing the same things we’ve been doing.
Many people have decided it is too much to exert themselves in order to succeed. A lot of us have given up on Nigeria. Regardless of that, now more than ever, we are direly needed to shine forth the light of God, to put our brains to work and act promptly. I think our problem is rooted in the fact that a lot of us are scared and believe it’s useless to sacrifice anything anymore for this nation. However, no genuine sacrifice goes to waste.
You cannot be committed to comfort and at the same time be committed to Christ. You cannot be committed to making a difference, to being extraordinary if you’re not ready to lose some skin.
‘The desire to survive keeps us at a mediocre level of living. It eats away at our conviction until we find it too easy to compromise and next to impossible to confront.’’ (John Maxwell. ‘Be all you can be. Chapter 12: I don’t have to survive).
To make a difference, we have to constantly confront, constantly demand, constantly challenge. You don’t get to a place of advantage by being lackadaisical. It does not come delivered on a platter of gold.
You need inspiration; passion, discipline, humility, assertiveness, motivation and sacrifice. Confront your fears and seeming inadequacies. Believe and dare to achieve. Demand the Unusual. Demand the Extraordinary. Demand the Uneven.
FAWOLE, Tolulope

Mechanism for waste management

I sat to discuss this issue with a senior colleague and I feel I can share my view here as well.
Most people pump their water into tanks from wells or borehole. Why do we switch off the pump only when the tank is overflowing? I think this presents a semblance of resources management in our dear country Nigeria.
We only take caution when the issue has gone out of hand.
We should consider it too, about anything we do, we should be able to nip it in the bud when due, not when overflowing.
Enjoy.... #DESIRE #weinspire