Did my NYSC at Okwe General Hospital in Asaba, along the highway leading to the Niger Bridge. There was one Buka not too far away where I used to go and eat Akpu and white soup regularly. They called it ‘6-to-6’ — it was all the food you needed for an entire day.
NYSC allowance was 5k at the time, but as an NYSC Pharmacist Delta State Govt paid 19k monthly extra. (Doctors got even more). For me a climb down from 38k Internship money. But Compared to the rest of the Corpers it was a lot of money. Some had only the 5k allowance.
One day I got invited by BBC Media Action to be part of the writing crew for the Story Story Radio series. In Abuja. I entered bus and traveled from Asaba to Abuja. My first time in the Federal Capital. A hectic but fun two weeks - my first time as part of a radio writing team.
At the end of the gig, BBC paid me a whopping 65,000 Naira. For two weeks of fun writing lol. Here I was, a Corper earning a total of 24k a month, and then I went to Abuja to write for two weeks and came back with N65k. Traveled with the cash back to Asaba & deposited in bank 😀
At that time in Asaba we all opened STB - or was it UBA - bank accounts for NYSC money.
No home or mobile internet - so I used to type out all my emails on a diskette (had a laptop), and then go to the cyber cafe in town, to maximize the 30 minutes or so I would regularly pay for. I was writing a lot of poetry and fiction and submitting for publication.
I was writing a LOT that year. Blogging for the BBC’s Africa ‘05 Blog (2005 was a big Year for ‘Africa’, Gleneagles G8 Summit, Blair’s Commission for Africa, debt relief etc). The BBC was my first ever blog, and I don’t think very many Nigerians were blogging at the time.
If you’ve ever taken your bath out in the open in an NYSC camp you might identify with this poem. I wrote it during or shortly after Camp in Issele-Uku. 2005. I don’t think I ‘toileted’ more than once my entire time in camp. My stomach assessed the conditions and adapted.
😀😀😀

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More from @toluogunlesi

8 Apr
Acting IG of Police is the first IG from the North East since 1999.

Nigeria has had 12 Inspectors-General of Police since 1999 (including the incumbent).

SW—3 (first 3)
SE—2 (next 2) (yeah first 5 IGs were from the South, 1999-2010)
NW—3
SS—1
NC—2 (last 2)
NE—1 (incumbent)
So yeah, 12 IGPs since 1999 - 6 from the North, 6 from the South.

We really shouldn’t have to be obsessing with where they come from (to this level) but false narratives must not be allowed to go unchecked. And must be responded to like-for-like.
Looks like I mis-allocated Mike Okiro’s geopolitical zone. He was born in Oguta, Imo State (SE) but is actually from Egbema, Rivers (SS). (Note that when he became IG in 2007 he was actually described in some quarters as “the first ethnic Igbo to assume the post of Police IG.”)
Read 5 tweets
7 Apr
Genealogy of Nigerian banking:

There are at least 3 generations of traditional Nigerian bankers in existence. Maybe 4 in all. A few years ago I researched and wrote a piece about it. It’s come back to mind as I read Aig-Imoukhuede’s Leaving The Tarmac.

#Thread
First Gen would be names like Samuel Asabia (after whom the First Bank Plc HQ is named), Gamaliel Onosode and SB Falegan. (All born in the early 1930s). Rose to prominence as bank CEOs in the 70s.
Second Gen - two categories:

1. CEOs of the Big-4 (all FGN-majority owned at the time) in the 80s/90s - Joseph Sanusi, Paul Ogwuma, Umar Mutallab)

2. Nigerian Pioneers of Merchant Banking (Wole Adeosun, Ebitimi Banigo, John Abaelu, Subomi Balogun, Olu Falae, Oladele Olashore)
Read 7 tweets
6 Apr
What kinda useless journalism is this really?

How can Nigeria be “excluded” from IMF debt relief when, at time of the relief approval (April 2020), it had no IMF debt?

A year after that clarification, some papers have come back to repeat same ignorant claim debunked a year ago.
This has to be a thread really. Can’t be addressed in a single tweet.

Why do some newspapers specialize in embarrassing themselves and the entire industry in this manner.

There’s no basis whatsoever for that kind of headline, by any newspaper that wants to be taken seriously.
The debt service relief was announced by the IMF on April 13, 2020, under its “Catastrophe Containment & Relief Trust (CCRT)”. It went to 25 countries owing the Fund (among its poorest members), to enable them cope with the emerging impact of Covid. And they all requested for it.
Read 8 tweets
1 Apr
Nigeria needs to slow down its population growth. It will take years to see the impact, but have we even started? How can societal influencers - religious leaders, market leaders, musicians, actors, etc - be co-opted into this campaign? And will they be effective?
I doubt that the State imposing or trying to enforce a limit is an option for us, or for any democratic set-up. Will likely backfire in multiple ways. The best and most feasible way for us will be to nudge and cajole and influence. And we must start like yesterday.
I’m aware of course that it’s beyond just an enlightenment or influencer campaign. Steps like empowering women educationally and financially will go a very long way towards giving them greater agency re birth numbers / family sizes.
Read 5 tweets
28 Mar
Nigeria has declared 2021-2030 a Decade of Gas - greater investment focus on CNG, LPG, LNG, Gas2Power, etc, while also curbing flaring. Finally time to act like a country that has much more gas than oil, especially considering that gas also much cleaner than oil.
#Thread
Read 17 tweets

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