1. The most sincere and selfless people around you are your parents - They may be wrong sometimes and may be hard on you but don’t just rebel against them without trying to understand their intentions first.
2. Save some part of your money whenever you get some and don’t touch it unless you really really need it.
3. Spend most of your money on things whose value increase with time, rather than immediate pleasure. It won’t last long otherwise.
4. There is no shortcut to being rich. Anyone who tells you so is lying and most probably a cheat.
5. Time is more important than money.
6. Family is more important than career.
7. Pursue what you love to do and be great at it and find a way to make a living doing that.
8. If you are unable to make a living while doing what you love don’t stop doing what you love to do, and while you make your living doing something else keep thinking how can do what you love and still live of it.
9. Life is unpredictable - Make sure your loved ones know that you love and care for them, no matter how busy you are. Never assume they know. Even if they know tell them anyway.
10. Read good books instead of watching TV. You will learn more and waste less time.
11. Don’t buy what they advertise just on an impulse. Take your time to decide if you really need that thing.
12. Change your friends if they do not share your values. It won’t kill you or your reputation.
13. Take risks but calculate the risks before taking them to see that you can handle the failure.
14. Plan your life but leave room for unplanned activities too. Let yourself experience the element of surprise.
15. Remember that nothing lasts forever. Nothing. So appreciate what you have when you have it.
16. Find your own God, don’t believe in what they tell you about God - Find Him within you, reach out for Him and He will hold your hand for sure.
17. It’s better to agree to disagree rather than trying to force your point of view on someone who doesn’t think like you do. 18. Accept your failures with grace and don’t bury yourself in depression when you don’t get what you want. There might be something better waiting for you to notice it.
19. Loving someone does not mean you have to agree on everything.
20. When you are doing something try to focus all your attention to just that task. Forget about everything else.
21. Be healthy - Exercise, eat healthy foods, sleep well and you won’t get to see very many doctors in life.
22. Don’t do things just because everyone else is doing them - Choose what you want to do consciously with specific reasoning.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Aliko Dangote Unscripted: The Gravest Danger Confrinting Nigeria
He could pass for just any other guest. But he is unmistakably familiar. Charming but humble! Stupendously wealthy, yet radiates simplicity. Strolling in, unassuming, was Africa's richest man. It was his birthday. Dressed in a black suite with a black shinny rooster shoe to match, Aliko Mohammed Dangote kept his appointment for 9am. Unlike the rambunctious entry of Nigeria's men of means and power, Dangote walked in with just a few of his executives. After the informal handshake and introduction, he grabbed the microphone to make some opening remarks which turned out not to be mere remarks. He made earth-shaking revelations about his person, the conglomerate he runs (Dangote Group), the Nigerian economy and how things can get better in a very competitive environment of clashing political and socio-economic interests. At first, the tempo was cool - the usual compliments of not having time to rub minds, examine developments in the country with a view to proffering solutions - and the usual pleasantries, until Dangote explained that the real danger confronting the Nigerian state is the infrastructure deficit in a country where the population growth has choked existing facilities. He made it clear that the problems confronting Nigeria today did not just start - they are a cummulation of many years of misgovernance and lack of vision. Shall we blame President Goodluck Jonathan? No! On the Economic Management Team of President Jonathan, Dangote explained that the team is working hard to ensure that good policy frameworks are put in place with a view to building a more prosperous nation. The EMT is as bothered as President Jonathan to bequeath a better economy to Nigerians. But, at the point when Dangote said the danger posed by infrastructure deficit is far graver than the Boko Haram threat, all heads turned in his direction. Mind you, his audience was a group of select senior journalists in Nigeria."Why should we in Nigeria, blessed with many mineral resources, be where we are", he asked? "The mineral resources we have can replace and be better than the crude oil. "Some ask where the minerals are but they are there. "Even in the Economic Management Team, EMT, we ask and look for ways to make it possible to clear goods from the ports within 48 hours. "But I say it would not be possible and the cost adds to everything. "To clear a container in Lagos it would take about $1000 but in Brazil where they are not even efficient, it costs less than $100 to clear the same container. "The issue which people seem to forget is that the last port we built in Nigeria, the Tin Can Island Port, was built in 1978 - look at the population of Nigeria at that time, the size of the economy, crude oil was being sold for about $9 and compare with the expansion of the economy and the population and people think we should still manage with the same facility? "God forbid, some people were expressing fears about Third Mainland Bridge; God forbid I say, should something happen to that bridge, how would people move around in Lagos? Look at how difficult it is for people to move around now and it is being said that by 2020 Nigeria's population would be about 200 million".
OUR INVESTMENTS, OUR VISION
"Before we were making money from our other businesses like sugar, salt, flour and putting the money in cement but by 2010 we were able to pay all the banks. "I don't have any issue with government raising money, that is, loan, so long as it is spent well. Beyond the issue of Boko Haram and insecurity, the greatest threat that confronts us is the threat of decaying and decayed infrastructure. And this is not just in Nigeria but in all of Africa, the greatest threat is infrastructure".
DECAYED INFRASTRUCTURE, THE GREATEST THREAT
"Somebody was asked how he would operate in government and the person said he would face only two things - infrastructure and education. And he was asked what about the rest. He said with infrastructure, other things would follow. "This is what I think confronts us as the greatest danger even beyond Boko Haram". His audience laughs but he charges back with bluntness: "No! It is true."The biggest problem of anybody is when you taste money; you were once rich and then you become poor. It is very bad. Nothing can be worse than that."It is when that money goes that you'll see the true colour of everybody - your wife, your children (a round of raucous laughter)
ALTERNATIVE TO CRUDE OIL
"If today oil prices collapse, do we have alternatives?"I tell people that we do. Some of us may be manufacturing in our own little way, but in a very big country like Nigeria with its population, that is simply not enough."We are heavily into cement - meanwhile limestone is the cheapest of all the mineral resources we have. There are other minerals that are even more lucrative and more profitable that government is looking to exploring. "The problem is that even when you begin to explore, how do you move the goods around."We've also been talking about new ports but there are challenges".
SCAVENGERS ON THE LOOSE
"Look, let me tell you what we have in Nigeria: We have scavengers who hold licenses but wait and do nothing. People just grab opportunities and wait to see what happens rather than operate with the licenses "Government has issued 19 licenses for refineries and everybody is holding the licenses and claim that they are waiting for foreign investors. Mind you, the foreign investors are not fools".
THE ROLE OF FOREIGN INVESTORS
"Foreign investors did not build South Korea - South Koreans developed their country; the Germans built their economy, an economy that was once in ruins. The Germans suffered a lot but now they are the best.
WHAT FOREIGN INVESTMENTS ARE WE GETTING?
"Meanwhile, Sanusi Lamido has done his best by holding inflation down, holding exchange and interest rates down; because in an economy that does not export much, the best you can do is to have a strong currency so that life would be a bit easy. Though interest rates may be high but that should not stop a business from operating. "When we were building Obajana Cement factory, we were paying as high as 42% interest rate at some point in 2004/2005 - some banks charged that much and we didn't pay dividends for some eight or nine years; but after sorting out our loans we paid the accumulated dividends. "The foreign investor I would prefer is the one that goes to Ekiti for instance and sets up a factory because even if the investor wants to leave Nigeria, he would sell off his investment but the ones investing in our bonds can just wake up one day, re-discount it and just leave because our rates are fine".
CONCESSION
"If you concession, it is not a bad idea because government can not do everything. In Dubai and some other more developed economies, that is what is happening. I was reading some paper in Dubai during the week and the leader of the country was thanking the transport authority for saving the government $60 billion over a period of five years - meanwhile, the savings was calculated in form of man hours. "If you look at those who work with us for example, the drivers, they bear so much. Imagine someone who leaves his house by 4 or 4:30 am and does not return home until 10 or 11pm! How would he have time for himself and the children - and these things come round to create an environment that is not overall conducive for upbringing of a child. "There is hope if we do the right things. "It does not matter who provides the service; the people would be willing to pay". Is the future brighter?
SOURCE: http://m.naij.com/news/30993.html Click for more on his response
OUR INVESTMENTS, OUR VISION
"Before we were making money from our other businesses like sugar, salt, flour and putting the money in cement but by 2010 we were able to pay all the banks. "I don't have any issue with government raising money, that is, loan, so long as it is spent well. Beyond the issue of Boko Haram and insecurity, the greatest threat that confronts us is the threat of decaying and decayed infrastructure. And this is not just in Nigeria but in all of Africa, the greatest threat is infrastructure".
DECAYED INFRASTRUCTURE, THE GREATEST THREAT
"Somebody was asked how he would operate in government and the person said he would face only two things - infrastructure and education. And he was asked what about the rest. He said with infrastructure, other things would follow. "This is what I think confronts us as the greatest danger even beyond Boko Haram". His audience laughs but he charges back with bluntness: "No! It is true."The biggest problem of anybody is when you taste money; you were once rich and then you become poor. It is very bad. Nothing can be worse than that."It is when that money goes that you'll see the true colour of everybody - your wife, your children (a round of raucous laughter)
ALTERNATIVE TO CRUDE OIL
"If today oil prices collapse, do we have alternatives?"I tell people that we do. Some of us may be manufacturing in our own little way, but in a very big country like Nigeria with its population, that is simply not enough."We are heavily into cement - meanwhile limestone is the cheapest of all the mineral resources we have. There are other minerals that are even more lucrative and more profitable that government is looking to exploring. "The problem is that even when you begin to explore, how do you move the goods around."We've also been talking about new ports but there are challenges".
SCAVENGERS ON THE LOOSE
"Look, let me tell you what we have in Nigeria: We have scavengers who hold licenses but wait and do nothing. People just grab opportunities and wait to see what happens rather than operate with the licenses "Government has issued 19 licenses for refineries and everybody is holding the licenses and claim that they are waiting for foreign investors. Mind you, the foreign investors are not fools".
THE ROLE OF FOREIGN INVESTORS
"Foreign investors did not build South Korea - South Koreans developed their country; the Germans built their economy, an economy that was once in ruins. The Germans suffered a lot but now they are the best.
WHAT FOREIGN INVESTMENTS ARE WE GETTING?
"Meanwhile, Sanusi Lamido has done his best by holding inflation down, holding exchange and interest rates down; because in an economy that does not export much, the best you can do is to have a strong currency so that life would be a bit easy. Though interest rates may be high but that should not stop a business from operating. "When we were building Obajana Cement factory, we were paying as high as 42% interest rate at some point in 2004/2005 - some banks charged that much and we didn't pay dividends for some eight or nine years; but after sorting out our loans we paid the accumulated dividends. "The foreign investor I would prefer is the one that goes to Ekiti for instance and sets up a factory because even if the investor wants to leave Nigeria, he would sell off his investment but the ones investing in our bonds can just wake up one day, re-discount it and just leave because our rates are fine".
CONCESSION
"If you concession, it is not a bad idea because government can not do everything. In Dubai and some other more developed economies, that is what is happening. I was reading some paper in Dubai during the week and the leader of the country was thanking the transport authority for saving the government $60 billion over a period of five years - meanwhile, the savings was calculated in form of man hours. "If you look at those who work with us for example, the drivers, they bear so much. Imagine someone who leaves his house by 4 or 4:30 am and does not return home until 10 or 11pm! How would he have time for himself and the children - and these things come round to create an environment that is not overall conducive for upbringing of a child. "There is hope if we do the right things. "It does not matter who provides the service; the people would be willing to pay". Is the future brighter?
SOURCE: http://m.naij.com/news/30993.html Click for more on his response
Society and Behavior
Schizophrenia /skItse’fri:nie/ noun [U] a mental illness in which a person becomes unable to link thought, emotion and behavior, leading to WITHDRAWAL from reality and personal relationships. (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 7th Edition)
It is a phenomenon that can be explained without the notion that it’s caused by witchcraft as is the predisposition of most Nigerians who see a schizophrenic and conclude a spiritual problem is underlying. Most persons adhere to this norm with disregard to a more reasonable understanding of the condition and then; there are the sufferers themselves, the schizophrenics who walk the streets, most of them oblivious of their immediate surrounding. In their own opinion, if they were still conversant, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them and it is my belief in reason (not medical) that they just might be stuck in another reality (world) that exists solely in their head; the essence (i.e. people, places and time) of which is on a loop, replayed over and over. Scientifically and medically, I believe there is a better explanation for schizophrenia and I do not wish to take credit away from practitioners in that field who have studied tirelessly the machinations of the human brain. I only base this on my own understanding as a person with no medical degree or affiliation whatsoever unless except being raised by a mother who doubles as a nurse which I’m sure also does not qualify me for medicine. Today’s fashion trends, fancy automobiles, gadgets, cell-phones, houses and all things material have come to be things that occupy the minds of virtually almost anyone who mingles with society who just aim to satisfy personal wants (not needs). When was the last time you saw a schizophrenic and had a thought lasting more than just a few minutes as to why and how he/she became that way? Or is it too much of a waste of time? Has materialism chanced humanitarianism to the detriment of our empathy for the disabled? Have most of us concluded it is not our business to know these things? In the country we live in, anytime a person strays into his mind, his unconscious consciousness begins to materialize and form 3-D images of wealth and the good life which in itself is not a bad thing because of its classification under ‘ambition’, but how often do we think of a way to better the state of our immediate environment which is the starting point to a better country and the world at large. The human species is the greatest and most sophisticated machine that will ever be built and if it was ever for sale, it would be the most expensive item that could ever be purchased by human currency (disregarding the slave trade era of course). We have the capacity to love, to hate, to let go, to learn, to imitate, to be passionate, to have ambition, to do and undo, to cause and to end. In animals, the predominant instinct is for survival and they kill for it, in humans we have the exact same instinct but what we also have is the ability to tell right from wrong, the ability to choose. Why don’t we make use of this gift and touch the lives of others positively. If you believe you have been blessed in some way regardless of measure, I mean even waking up from a semi-comatose (sleep) state every single day is a blessing in itself, then we must affect in anyway we can the lives of our less privileged neighbors.
“True wealth is measured not by how much we own but by how much is sown. “
It is a phenomenon that can be explained without the notion that it’s caused by witchcraft as is the predisposition of most Nigerians who see a schizophrenic and conclude a spiritual problem is underlying. Most persons adhere to this norm with disregard to a more reasonable understanding of the condition and then; there are the sufferers themselves, the schizophrenics who walk the streets, most of them oblivious of their immediate surrounding. In their own opinion, if they were still conversant, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them and it is my belief in reason (not medical) that they just might be stuck in another reality (world) that exists solely in their head; the essence (i.e. people, places and time) of which is on a loop, replayed over and over. Scientifically and medically, I believe there is a better explanation for schizophrenia and I do not wish to take credit away from practitioners in that field who have studied tirelessly the machinations of the human brain. I only base this on my own understanding as a person with no medical degree or affiliation whatsoever unless except being raised by a mother who doubles as a nurse which I’m sure also does not qualify me for medicine. Today’s fashion trends, fancy automobiles, gadgets, cell-phones, houses and all things material have come to be things that occupy the minds of virtually almost anyone who mingles with society who just aim to satisfy personal wants (not needs). When was the last time you saw a schizophrenic and had a thought lasting more than just a few minutes as to why and how he/she became that way? Or is it too much of a waste of time? Has materialism chanced humanitarianism to the detriment of our empathy for the disabled? Have most of us concluded it is not our business to know these things? In the country we live in, anytime a person strays into his mind, his unconscious consciousness begins to materialize and form 3-D images of wealth and the good life which in itself is not a bad thing because of its classification under ‘ambition’, but how often do we think of a way to better the state of our immediate environment which is the starting point to a better country and the world at large. The human species is the greatest and most sophisticated machine that will ever be built and if it was ever for sale, it would be the most expensive item that could ever be purchased by human currency (disregarding the slave trade era of course). We have the capacity to love, to hate, to let go, to learn, to imitate, to be passionate, to have ambition, to do and undo, to cause and to end. In animals, the predominant instinct is for survival and they kill for it, in humans we have the exact same instinct but what we also have is the ability to tell right from wrong, the ability to choose. Why don’t we make use of this gift and touch the lives of others positively. If you believe you have been blessed in some way regardless of measure, I mean even waking up from a semi-comatose (sleep) state every single day is a blessing in itself, then we must affect in anyway we can the lives of our less privileged neighbors.
“True wealth is measured not by how much we own but by how much is sown. “
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