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It was a gruelling two weeks, and I had done a cumulative eighteen hours of air travel time, involving activities in different parts of the world – I won't tell. The truth was that I was tired and should have taken the remaining days of the week off, but the superhero instinct some of us have, the need to outreach ourselves to achieve what?? Honestly, I cannot tell. So I agreed to a group meeting on a day I typically work from home, a day after the last trip. You can imagine

The world should remain thankful to Uber for one thing (maybe more) beyond creating the ease for riders to move about at the click of the app, leveraging digital technology. It should also be grateful for the beautiful conversations that flow during the rider/ driver experience sometimes providing literary minds reflections that translate these experiences to content and creative juices for literary works. Every such interface may become an inspiration for a poem, an Essay o

We had just finished a truly remarkable family dinner time, when my daughter announced she needed to step out to have her me time. I quickly asked if I could join and she told me firmly, "this is for me". I was completely miffed at the thought of having any other significant and soul gratifying time other than that spent with close family at the beginning of the year and then it hit me. That it is therapeutic to step away from the crowd and introspect. Jesus Christ who we cel

This has been happening for a while now. It is outside my nature not to react to injustice. My parents taught us to speak out and it did not matter that you were a boy or girl. It has caused me a bit in some cases, but who cared. I stood up for my male colleague whose promotion was long overdue, became a pariah in an office where everyone was a pastor or a pastor’s wife but engaged me not based on intellectual abilities, but on my ethnic identity. I fought back at every point

For Brands, perception is the much needed oxygen to survive and thrive. Perception is the sensory texture of the brand from the point of view of the consumer or prospective consumer irrespective of what the brand owners will rather prefer people to think or what they promise the brand can deliver. This perception translates to human qualities that propel the customer towards the brand or conversely repel the customers in what I often share as degrees/ladder of trust or promis

I started this article as a tribute to the four pretty ladies – my daughter and her friends who graduated last year – the bottom up year of the roaring 20s as my daughter dramatically called it. These are no ordinary friends; these are flatmates for life as she also called them. The more I looked at the picture, the more I saw different races strewn together by youth, beauty, grace, resilience, power and optimism. Then I thought - this is really America. Don’t get me wrong, I

I know I may get a lot of bashing for this article, but will share this all the same. I actually started the article over a year ago, but threw it right under the writer’s bushel. The world especially people of color were shocked at the comment attributed to the President Donald Trump about Nigerians becoming so mesmerized/enamored by the bright lights of Uncle Sam that they dig their heels right into the American Soil refusing to get back to their Huts - once they see this w

Throw all cynicism and uncreative muddy feet away. Imagine you are a scriptwriter and have just been commissioned to work on a film titled “Thanksgiving”. You can approach this in several ways - one long story of a terrible mishap followed almost in a deux ex Machina fashion, a major triumph; terrible tribulation padded by a deluge of tears and soulful songs plus dirge Nollywood/Bollywood style (Never realized they had that something in common) followed by another tears of jo

What can we compare to success?? Success is the long -lasting melting chocolate on the palate of a sweet tooth, good food that fills the stomach, the feel you get from a refreshing sleep for those whose work make them eat up the sane hours of midnight with their face glued to the laptop in the bid to meet some bizarre deadlines or students who have taken all kinds of concoction including burning the energy drink “oil”. It is perhaps the feel one gets of a yes to a marriage pr

It is that time of the year you take stock in the stores and the wardrobes of the mind, throwing away "items" not needed pushing them to the mind's back end office of spent memories and experiences, with clear plans to leave them behind in 2017 and matching towards 2018 with the ones we cherish even as the ungaly ones hobble behind us to serve as lessons for the future. One of such great memories is my 50th birthday partnership with the Sickle Cell Aid Foundation - a team of

I recently facilitated a capacity training session at the African Regional Meeting of the International Patient Alliance Organization. The meeting took place in Entebbe, Uganda and different Patient Groups across Africa with focus of various disease areas attended. The theme of the Meeting was "Harmonization for Patient-centered Universal Health Coverage in Africa". My session focused on "Stakeholder Mapping for Patient Advocacy" and we went through the gamut of who a stake

Recently, the police invited me for a chat. At the reception of my office, a police Sergeant waited to take me “away”, reminiscent of the way Hitler’s soldiers waited for Captain Von Trapp in the Sound of Music. I asked why he was waiting and he told me ‘they” asked him to make sure I attended the meeting. I know the next questions you will ask. Was I brutalized, harassed, heckled? Did they extort money from me and more importantly, did I not say my prayer diligently before l

How do we celebrate the death of an illustrious daughter in Africa? Sounds like the question you get from the people on the other side who believe that Africa is just one Country in its primordial state, Tarzan –like existence, and endless gyrations of drums and female waists. To my question - It depends on the part of Africa and in the case of our renowned author, Buchi the place in Nigeria she came from. I first learnt about her death from a generic e-mail sent to a group

Proverbs Translation Ijiji da lie sia o dia liya Awo After the fly dances around it still falls to the fly Nwa nuta agbogo wa chupu agadi Once the new bride is brought in the old wife is thrown out Oyi a tuba ga ma ugulu a dika da We can feel the cold even though the harmattan has not set in E ma ti nwata, eju akwa You can not beat a child and deprive her of shedding tears Akpu ni ma o onye su wu hani The Cassava that doeas not know who pounded it Oke so lu ugwele ma mili we

It is amazing how the spiritual and secular world intersect. This week marked the beginning of the new year in the Catholic Church...