A decision is a powerful thing, a decision leads to events, and events are not singular, they affect people far removed from the decision maker, events lead to history.
At 6pm on the 1st of Dec 1955 in Montgomery Alabama, Rosa Parks decided to break the law; she refused to stand up and give up her seat, as was the law since 1900 to a white passenger on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in response she was arrested by the police.
Her arrest led to the Montgomery bus boycott, which was coordinated by a young unknown black preacher, named Martin Luther King. The success of the boycott promoted Martin Luther King to national prominence made him the father of the Civil Rights movement.
MLK prominence led to the “i have a dream speech” and ultimately the passage of the Civil Rights Bill and the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Therefore, you see a premeditated decision is the most powerful thing in the world.
Back to Rosa Parks, it was bad for her, following the success of the boycott she suffered, she was in jail, sacked from her job, her husband also had to quit, and she had to leave Montgomery because she could no longer get a job there.
She was hounded, they both suffered from ulcers, they never had children. when she was 91, she lived in a flat, could not pay her rents, she was about to be evicted, but the owners gave her the flat rent free, she survived on charity.
Nevertheless, when she died in October 2005 she was laid in honor in the Rotunda of the US Capital, the first woman in the USA to receive the honor. So a good decision might bring you pain, but offers great reward.
Rosa Parks had never met Martin Luther King before the boycott, Martin Luther was a new comer to Montgomery. She didn’t refuse to stand up from her seat because she wanted to help elect a black man into the White House in 2008, No, she just wanted to fight her own little fight.
In life, we will be presented with choices to make a decision, and sometimes the decision may not seem immaterial. We could be asked to pay a bribe for a vote, we could be asked to take a bribe in return for a vote, the decisions we make will have far-reaching consequences.
Don't only fight the “Abuja” fight, also should stay focused on LGAs. Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist, She was the Secretary of the local NAACP, but she did not take her fight for civil rights to Washington, She started small in Montgomery then Alabama then Washington.
The lessons for Nigerians who just as Rosa Parks are living in the bondage of no roads, power or hospitals, is first make a premeditated decision to cause a change, then act local first with a global strategy in mind.
For example, go online to the Ministry of Finance Website fmf.gov.ng or Accountant General of the Federation oagf.gov.ng or the budget office budgetoffice.gov.ng.
Print out 100 copies of the allocation your LGA receives monthly, go to your bad road/street, and distribute the copies to every house hold and challenge the ward chairman to get the LGA chairman to fix the bad road.
Will it work? I do not know but at the least, the Ward Councillor will make a mental note to patch the road before those troublesome street tenants “spoils his gari”
Imagine if every ward Councillor was hounded to fix the roads, imagine if every ward chancellor was hounded to set up a primary health care clinic? Imagine if every ward chancellor in was hounded to set up a small SME for the “boys”?
Just imagine if all councillors were hounded, there would have been less kidnapping.
Our problems are local, not international, your ward chancellor has less police escort, he still lives and sleeps in your area, his kids still go to the school next door, do you know him?
i ask you to make a decision not to stand up.
P.S.
I wrote this in 2016.
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your answer can seriously impact your salary negotiation. If the number you give is lower than the employer was prepared to pay, you just locked yourself into a smaller package.
1.1
Instead, ask the employer, “I would be interested in hearing the salary range for this position before I commit to a figure.” This script puts the ball back in the employer’s court to make the next move
Trap 2. "How much do you make in your current position"
If potential employer has budgeted 100k for your position, but you say your current employer pays 75k they will usually start with a much lower offer slightly above your current salary. This will put you at disadvantage
"NNPC Ltd shall promptly remit proceeds of the sales of the profit oil and gas to the Federation LESS it's 10% for management fee & 30% for Frontier Explotation Fund as specified in 9(4) of this Act."
Frontier 30%,
Then NNPC 10%,
Then 13%
Then Nigeria 47%
Who is Frontier?
The entire budget of Nigeria will now by 47%?
Why is a private company the NNPC LTD getting 10% management fees?
Are management fees expenses?
Why is the NNPC not remitting the proceeds of oil and gas sales to the Consolidated Revenue Fund? as specified by the Constitution?
How can you plan for orderly transfer without dissipation?
Invest in advice. Speak with a lawyer or Trustee. Tell them your history and family connection, seek advice on how best to transfer assets without loss or legal challenge
Wills, Trusts even Foundations are all options.
How are your assets registered?
If you buy assets in your name, it's hard to transfer when you pass.Think about a Custodial or Trust Account, and name beneficiaries or Trustees.
Wills are ok, important this is have a plan, record assets and transfer.
If you buy land or assets together with partner, then title as appropriate. Not "Mr and Mrs Smith" but "Alice Smith and John Smith"
(yes full names, "Mrs" is not a name, there can be many "Mrs" Smith).
The title of an assets denotes ownership or control.
1. Stop posting personal information on public forums. e.g. travel plans, new purchases. sure share with your friends on private networks, but the public?
2. Cover your employee ID when taking pictures. bad guys can clone it.
3. Stop tagging images, geotags alert bad guys where you have been, and allow them to craft a profile and send malware e.g, " hi we met at that conference in Calabar in February".
4. Don't take photos of your workstation, hackers can see the type of software you use then customize phishing attacks on your organization.
Stop writing user names with passwords on post-it notes and sticking them on the monitor