Category Archives: Self

How the Bible Saved my Day. Maybe My Next Year.

As with every Igbo ‘only son’ on the wrong side of twenty; my mother, her mother, her friends, her colleagues, her etc have been pounding my ears with their favourite lyric ; “Oo, marry , marry marry”. “Get a wife, wife, wife”

My mother being the lead singer has not let me have a moments’ rest since I came home for Christmas.  Things took a religious dimension yesterday when my mother said the reading in yesterday’s mass  said mothers have control over their sons, therefore I must obey her. As I did not attend mass, I doubted the veracity.

This morning my mum came to my room to perform her normal one track concert of “marry, marry marry”, she picked of a missal in my room, *randomly opened a page and there it was Ecclesiasticus – Chapter 3 verse 2

for the Lord honours the father above his children and upholds the rights of a mother over her sons.

I knew it was finished.  She said as it was random, God was speaking to me.

How on earth would I defend myself over her insistence that I should get married when I am ready when god has given her the right over me. And she had decided the time is NOW!

As any good Samaritan, I wanted alert  all my fellow bachelor men to ensure they hide that passage from their mothers in their best interest. So I Googled the passage to paste on Facebook , but mistakenly typed Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 instead of  Ecclesiasticus Chapter 3.

What did I see in verse 1?

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

So even us wey no dey read bible, god know as im dey put passage for our hands. I have just been saved, for at least one more year.

Dear God, God bless you!

As you can guess I have released my own one line single titled: Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 Verse 1

 

*I doubt it was random

I am Oo, founder of GBEDU.FM where I hope to make sense of this business of music. I once tried to kill the business card with OnePage.

Return to Zamunda.

 

lagos 

Photo credit

In less than 20 hours, I will be back  to my dear country Nigeria. It will be one month short of two years since I left home. Well, sort of.. I left from the intern house (the Nigerian version of the Apprentice).

What has really surprised me this period is the response I have got from people when I said I was going home. It was all “.. Finally?” “.. Are you going for good?” with a look of pity on their faces. Well, I am not going finally and it is for good.  My dream has always to get the Nigerian startup scene integrated with the global startup ecosystem and being away from Nigeria for 2 years is not the best way to go about it. I am going back home before I loose touch of my roots. I will be home for a while.

I am really looking forward to meeting all the dudes running the start up scene there. Loy, Sherriff, Mayowa, Seyi and co.  Looking forward to getting Nigerian Internet Entrepreneurs off the ground. Most of all  I am looking forward to having a cold bottle of star  this evening with my cousin and mentor Namo.

Being away for so long has made me long for a lot of things. Gala, pure water, Akamu, Fufu, but most of all

I’ve missed…

  1. Sincerity: People smiling at you only when they mean it.
  2. Community: Knowing the name of your neighbours after 6 months of  sharing a corridor.

…But Dear God

  1. Let there be light. Not “I pass my neighbour”, not UPS (The only UPS known here is the United Parcel Service)
  2. Let the Internet be fast. I have not seen “buffering..” in two years. I cannot survive without the internet, period.

I have one fear though

I do not have a Blackberry, will I be allowed to enter the country? Will I be regarded as a true citizen?

Anyhow,  Lagos, wey you? Lets go!*

*After sorting out this 30 kg overload :(

I am Oo, founder of GBEDU.FM where I hope to make sense of this business of music. I once tried to kill the business card with OnePage.

When I Was Called A ‘Racist Term’

I was called a nigger. I was about to cross the road near my home in Digbeth, Birmingham when the white lad yelled  the  ‘racist term’ and zoomed off in his car. For a few seconds, I did not know what to make of it so I did the peace sign then continued my walk home. I am confused about what to make of it since I do not now in what context he said it. I am definitely not angry.

At the TEDx conference in Warwick last year I was speaking to a Pakistani man who was eating bananas and he said something like “have one, you will/must like it”. I looked at him deciding whether I should accept the offer. I do not know what he saw in my face but he immediately said “I did not mean it like that, I was just asking….I meant….   he started babbling. I smiled and immediately understood where he was coming from.  I think it was about the time Prince Charles was called racist for calling his friend Sooty; so he must have been trying to be extra cautious. We went on and discussed it all.

Back to what happened today. Can words alone be racist?

In the intro of this post, I consciously put racist term in quotation marks because I truly believe intentions and actions not words are racist. Rappers use the word nigger all the time in songs and I find it hilarious when I see my white friends miming 50 Cents and mumble anytime the word Nigger comes up. Are they racist?

I  could actually consider inaction racist. For example, if the Pakistani man thought it would be better not to offer me a banana because I might take it to mean something else. Therefore he would have made a decision based on my colour.

But then again, it would have been a decision made in good faith.

If a black man yelled nigger at me, would I have even written this blog post? Of course not.

So am I being racist?

Some things are just fucking confusing. I’ll just define racism as an action taken in bad faith based on a persons colour.

PS: Forgive my mumble jumble post. I thought rather than talk to myself, I should just blog about it.

I am Oo, founder of GBEDU.FM where I hope to make sense of this business of music. I once tried to kill the business card with OnePage.

Introducing Lotaar – A TV and Radio guide for the social web

The Logo of Lotaar

As you might know, some weeks ago I left OnePage which was a hard but necessary decision.  I was supposed to take a little break before starting anything new. But you see, this Internet thing dey sweet well well. I am back!

I would like to introduce my new venture Lotaar which I am co-founding with my good friend Roland Ukor.  Lotaar is built to remind you when your favourite programs are about to start so you can tune in.  It will be useful to discover new cool programs. Broadcasters will love it too.

We just put on a holding page to collect early feedback (Lean Startup Stuff).  so pardon the ugliness.

So go on, check it out and  Please fill the form, it is very important.

Like always, I count on your support.

I am Oo, founder of GBEDU.FM where I hope to make sense of this business of music. I once tried to kill the business card with OnePage.