KNOWLEDGE
-Fitzkhamees, Khamis A. H.
Your pursuit is obligatory
Upon the male is mandatory
Upon the female is peremptory
He who bids the worlds seeks you
He who quests the heavens seeks you
He who desires both seeks you
On the path of the Lord he is
Who in your pursuit he is
Until homecoming to that he called his
These I did not say
But he did say
The one I adore day by day
Your presence is cognisance
Your absence is ignorance
In your search called scholarship
They encounter hardship
Yet they never let go
Because they are determined on the go
Your absence they loathe
Your presence is clothe
You are the light
Worth the fight
Saturday, 28 April 2018
NIGERIA: CORRUPTION IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO -Fitzkhamees, Khamis A. H.
NIGERIA: CORRUPTION IN FLAGRANTE DELICTO
-Fitzkhamees, Khamis A. H.
“The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and will never be. It exacts a toll on our self, our family, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe as in my case, the price is worth holding on to our dignity.” These are the words of Frank Serpico.
The term, corruption has become an albatross of our beloved country. We openly claim to love Nigeria, but behind closed doors we are its enemies that hinder its achievements as a developing country. We made Nigeria a parcel of international mockery in the sense that the even our colonial masters, the Great Britain, whom we tender great reverence closed its eyes and put away the shame and homage we pay to them to label us one of the two of the most corrupt countries in the world. This had been reported by Independent and Guardian newspapers and so many others. Here is the version of the story reported by Independent newspaper UK: “David Cameron (British PM) calls Nigeria and Afghanistan the ‘two most corrupt countries in the world’. ‘We’ve got the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain. Tuesday 10 May 2016 14:16 BST.”
I happened to lay my hand on a Journal, Journal of Humanity University of Jos some months ago. As I flipped through the pages my eyes caught the sight of the best definition of corruption as far as my knowledge is concerned. It defined corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gains”. I cannot make a reference here because I am now in school and the Journal is at home. The Encyclopaedia Britannica defined corruption thus: “Improper and usually unlawful conduct intended to secure a benefit for oneself. It forms include bribery, extortion, and the misuse of inside information. It exists where there is community indifference or lack of enforcement policies. In societies with cultures of gift giving, the line between acceptable and unacceptable gifts is often hard to draw.”
We are no better than our corrupt leaders: to a fault we are worse than them. Corruption flows in blood as we often say. To all intents and purpose our political institutions, academic institutions, family institutions, religious institutions, our cities and our villages are no saints as regards corruption. It is only that we denounce to death our own share of the blame. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam said: “Where do the evils of corruption arise from? It comes from the never-ending greed. The fight for corruption free ethical society will have to be fought against this greed and replace it with “what can I give” spirits.”
The maxim, ‘youths are the leaders of tomorrow’ is the very truth none can deny. But the youths are corrupt before getting to the mantle of leadership, what do you think when they get to power? I believed they become more corrupt. Imaging, in a scholarship scheme a question is asked “are you a beneficiary of any other scholarship?” and most of the students responded “no” where as they are beneficiaries of other scholarships. They answered in the negative because they fear they will not be given if they said the truth. Some people may desire to know the corruption I am referring to in this action of the students, it is simple, they were entrusted to say the truth and they breached this trust. And we must never forget, corruption is the abuse of trust for personal gains. Paul Wolfowitz said: “Corruption is showed by shedding light into what was previously shadowed”.
I read a parable forwarded to me by a friend. In it a said head-teacher asked a class teacher to collect fee for a class photo, the class teacher increased the amount and the pupils also increased the amount on telling their mother who also increased the amount as she told their father. How do you expect the leaders to be credible and responsible in such a society? Unless if they were not born and raised in that society. We need to change our mind-sets in a jiffy. Corruption is a disease of the mind and the cure is at our discretion. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam said: “If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds. I strongly feel there are these key societal members who can make a difference. They are the Father, the Mother, and the Teacher.”
Our academic institutions are no exceptions: they are now corruption squares. Somebody I know experienced a form of these greed in one of our universities, he took his credential to the faculty for signature and it was not signed after a week or so. The secretary at the office told him to bring a beverage if he wants his credential signed with the pretext that ‘signing authority’ is always stuffed with work and there are other credentials inches high and the beverage will be used to cool him. Lo and behold the credential was signed after he gave in. I wonder what percent of his/her salary is the cost of the bottle of a drink: GREED. Other rampant corruption practices include students writing tests/exams for others, Sex for grades, Money for grades, sales of hand outs, and the disguised corrupt practice, NEPOTISM, one of the worsts as corruption is the illegitimate use trust and power.
Why shall we have a corruption free system when we are corrupt there in? We do involve in corruption in a way or another yet we forget ours and look at others’. We have the hope of leading tomorrow so let change begins with us and then we will be able to change the system in tandem.
To be continued
#change begins with me. #I stand with Nigeria.
-Fitzkhamees, Khamis A. H.
“The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and will never be. It exacts a toll on our self, our family, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe as in my case, the price is worth holding on to our dignity.” These are the words of Frank Serpico.
The term, corruption has become an albatross of our beloved country. We openly claim to love Nigeria, but behind closed doors we are its enemies that hinder its achievements as a developing country. We made Nigeria a parcel of international mockery in the sense that the even our colonial masters, the Great Britain, whom we tender great reverence closed its eyes and put away the shame and homage we pay to them to label us one of the two of the most corrupt countries in the world. This had been reported by Independent and Guardian newspapers and so many others. Here is the version of the story reported by Independent newspaper UK: “David Cameron (British PM) calls Nigeria and Afghanistan the ‘two most corrupt countries in the world’. ‘We’ve got the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain. Tuesday 10 May 2016 14:16 BST.”
I happened to lay my hand on a Journal, Journal of Humanity University of Jos some months ago. As I flipped through the pages my eyes caught the sight of the best definition of corruption as far as my knowledge is concerned. It defined corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gains”. I cannot make a reference here because I am now in school and the Journal is at home. The Encyclopaedia Britannica defined corruption thus: “Improper and usually unlawful conduct intended to secure a benefit for oneself. It forms include bribery, extortion, and the misuse of inside information. It exists where there is community indifference or lack of enforcement policies. In societies with cultures of gift giving, the line between acceptable and unacceptable gifts is often hard to draw.”
We are no better than our corrupt leaders: to a fault we are worse than them. Corruption flows in blood as we often say. To all intents and purpose our political institutions, academic institutions, family institutions, religious institutions, our cities and our villages are no saints as regards corruption. It is only that we denounce to death our own share of the blame. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam said: “Where do the evils of corruption arise from? It comes from the never-ending greed. The fight for corruption free ethical society will have to be fought against this greed and replace it with “what can I give” spirits.”
The maxim, ‘youths are the leaders of tomorrow’ is the very truth none can deny. But the youths are corrupt before getting to the mantle of leadership, what do you think when they get to power? I believed they become more corrupt. Imaging, in a scholarship scheme a question is asked “are you a beneficiary of any other scholarship?” and most of the students responded “no” where as they are beneficiaries of other scholarships. They answered in the negative because they fear they will not be given if they said the truth. Some people may desire to know the corruption I am referring to in this action of the students, it is simple, they were entrusted to say the truth and they breached this trust. And we must never forget, corruption is the abuse of trust for personal gains. Paul Wolfowitz said: “Corruption is showed by shedding light into what was previously shadowed”.
I read a parable forwarded to me by a friend. In it a said head-teacher asked a class teacher to collect fee for a class photo, the class teacher increased the amount and the pupils also increased the amount on telling their mother who also increased the amount as she told their father. How do you expect the leaders to be credible and responsible in such a society? Unless if they were not born and raised in that society. We need to change our mind-sets in a jiffy. Corruption is a disease of the mind and the cure is at our discretion. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam said: “If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds. I strongly feel there are these key societal members who can make a difference. They are the Father, the Mother, and the Teacher.”
Our academic institutions are no exceptions: they are now corruption squares. Somebody I know experienced a form of these greed in one of our universities, he took his credential to the faculty for signature and it was not signed after a week or so. The secretary at the office told him to bring a beverage if he wants his credential signed with the pretext that ‘signing authority’ is always stuffed with work and there are other credentials inches high and the beverage will be used to cool him. Lo and behold the credential was signed after he gave in. I wonder what percent of his/her salary is the cost of the bottle of a drink: GREED. Other rampant corruption practices include students writing tests/exams for others, Sex for grades, Money for grades, sales of hand outs, and the disguised corrupt practice, NEPOTISM, one of the worsts as corruption is the illegitimate use trust and power.
Why shall we have a corruption free system when we are corrupt there in? We do involve in corruption in a way or another yet we forget ours and look at others’. We have the hope of leading tomorrow so let change begins with us and then we will be able to change the system in tandem.
To be continued
#change begins with me. #I stand with Nigeria.
TIME OF TRIAL, A BLESSING IN ADVERSITY - -Fitzkhamis, Khamis A. H.
TIME OF TRIAL, A BLESSING IN ADVERSITY
-Fitzkhamis, Khamis A. H.
With a heavy heart, I commiserate with the entire U14MDfamily over the adversity of an undesirable result. I was lost in thought after I learnt of the resit results but then I remember, God knows what is best for us. He gives at times and denies other times and in all is goodness. We should get it clear that neither did anyone pass with his strength and might nor did anyone failed because of his weakness. I deemed it our collective responsibility to share in one another’s happiness and grievances.
Honestly, the U14MDfamily are in dire need of consolation. Though I have not much to say, I will like to relate to us an excerpt from the works of Michael Angier, the author of several books on success. In his book ‘THE STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS’, he did mention “BLESSING IN ADVERSITY” as one of the strategies for success. He thus said under thereunder:
“When I was about five years old, I lived with my family in Enterprise, Alabama for a few months while my father attended an advanced aviation course at nearby Fort Rucker.
What makes Enterprise, Alabama especially memorable is a strange monument they have in the middle of the town, you can’t miss it. In fact, you have to drive around it because it sits right in the middle of the road. The monument is a statue to the boll weevil.
It’s probably the only monument in the world erected in honor of an insect. It certainly wasn’t done because of aesthetic value –the boll weevil is a particularly ugly-looking creature. Surprisingly, it was erected because of the devastation the boll weevil caused the cotton crops of the surrounding area.
Why did they honour this pest? Well, had it not been for the boll weevil, the local economy would have continued its unhealthy dependence on its one-crop, one-product economy. Until then, everything depended entirely on cotton, when the boll weevil came, the farmers and all the other business that were reliant on the cotton farmers were forced to recognise the need to diversify.
In the long run, they saw that the boll weevil had, in fact, done them a favour by destroying their crops. No longer were their eggs all in one “cotton basket”. They started raising hogs, peanuts, and other cash crops, and the entire area was better off for it.
I think it is to those southern farmers’ great credit that they were able to see this ‘adversity’ for what it really was – a great blessing. Too often, we see difficult times as something to avoid –something only to endure. We usually don’t see the benefit until much later if at all.
If we look back at the things in our lives that were the most trying, the most painful and frustrating, we have to admit that there was value in it (if you can’t see this, you are probably too close to the situation).
Our lives are far more enjoyable (certainly more instructional) if we view each thing that happens to us as just that – a happening. Remember, it is not what happens to us, but our ‘response’ to what happens to us that makes the difference in the quality of our lives. I believe that everything that happens can be a lesson, every adversity can be a blessing. The following story illustrates this well.
Anthony Burgees discovered he had a brain tumour and only six months to live when he was forty years old. He was distressed that he had nothing to live his wife who was soon to become a widow. He decided to write –something he’d always wanted to do. The potential royalty from a book was the only thing he could think of doing to leave any kind of financial security for his family.
By the end of the first year and with no certainty that he would be ever be published, he finished five novels. But he did not die. His cancer went into remission and then disappeared altogether.
In his long and full life, Anthony Burgees went on to write more than seventy books. Without the death sentence from cancer, he might not have written anything.
Next time things don’t seem to be going the way you want, ask yourself what the positive aspect is. What is the benefit in the adversity? You will have greater enjoyment and learn more in the process.”
What I want to point out from the above two stories given by Michael Angier is that, we do come across challenges and adversities, but then, there is a blessing we never think of therein. We are all in a difficult time now and especially those afflicted with that remark other than ‘pass’.
Definitely it is hard but we have to overcome that negative feeling.
We have to overcome the fear.
We have to meditate.
We have to stay focussed.
We have to be patient. We have to persevere. We have to be confident. We have to succeed.
We have to pray and God will be there for us.
I will live us with the following 10 motivational quotes:
“Life is not easy for any of us, but what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves”
–Marie Curie
“The winners of life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done” –
Dennis Waitly.
“First they ignore you. Second, they laugh at you. Third, they fight you. Finally, you win” –Gandhi
“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish” –John Quincy Adams
“Divide each difficulty into as many parts as necessary to resolve it” –Rene Descartes
“Success is not measured by what you accomplish but the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds” –Orisson Swett Marden.
“Every great work, every great accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement comes apparent failure and discouragement” –Florence Scovel Shinn.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time” –Thomas Edison
“Fear is negative scenarios we give birth to in our mind that we believe are real. These thoughts are seeds that will adversely affect our future. We have the power to change the future by changing what we believe is real” –George De Vack
“The moment you start talking about what you are going to do if you lose, you have lost” –George Schultz.
HARD LUCK DUDES.
-Fitzkhamis, Khamis A. H.
With a heavy heart, I commiserate with the entire U14MDfamily over the adversity of an undesirable result. I was lost in thought after I learnt of the resit results but then I remember, God knows what is best for us. He gives at times and denies other times and in all is goodness. We should get it clear that neither did anyone pass with his strength and might nor did anyone failed because of his weakness. I deemed it our collective responsibility to share in one another’s happiness and grievances.
Honestly, the U14MDfamily are in dire need of consolation. Though I have not much to say, I will like to relate to us an excerpt from the works of Michael Angier, the author of several books on success. In his book ‘THE STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS’, he did mention “BLESSING IN ADVERSITY” as one of the strategies for success. He thus said under thereunder:
“When I was about five years old, I lived with my family in Enterprise, Alabama for a few months while my father attended an advanced aviation course at nearby Fort Rucker.
What makes Enterprise, Alabama especially memorable is a strange monument they have in the middle of the town, you can’t miss it. In fact, you have to drive around it because it sits right in the middle of the road. The monument is a statue to the boll weevil.
It’s probably the only monument in the world erected in honor of an insect. It certainly wasn’t done because of aesthetic value –the boll weevil is a particularly ugly-looking creature. Surprisingly, it was erected because of the devastation the boll weevil caused the cotton crops of the surrounding area.
Why did they honour this pest? Well, had it not been for the boll weevil, the local economy would have continued its unhealthy dependence on its one-crop, one-product economy. Until then, everything depended entirely on cotton, when the boll weevil came, the farmers and all the other business that were reliant on the cotton farmers were forced to recognise the need to diversify.
In the long run, they saw that the boll weevil had, in fact, done them a favour by destroying their crops. No longer were their eggs all in one “cotton basket”. They started raising hogs, peanuts, and other cash crops, and the entire area was better off for it.
I think it is to those southern farmers’ great credit that they were able to see this ‘adversity’ for what it really was – a great blessing. Too often, we see difficult times as something to avoid –something only to endure. We usually don’t see the benefit until much later if at all.
If we look back at the things in our lives that were the most trying, the most painful and frustrating, we have to admit that there was value in it (if you can’t see this, you are probably too close to the situation).
Our lives are far more enjoyable (certainly more instructional) if we view each thing that happens to us as just that – a happening. Remember, it is not what happens to us, but our ‘response’ to what happens to us that makes the difference in the quality of our lives. I believe that everything that happens can be a lesson, every adversity can be a blessing. The following story illustrates this well.
Anthony Burgees discovered he had a brain tumour and only six months to live when he was forty years old. He was distressed that he had nothing to live his wife who was soon to become a widow. He decided to write –something he’d always wanted to do. The potential royalty from a book was the only thing he could think of doing to leave any kind of financial security for his family.
By the end of the first year and with no certainty that he would be ever be published, he finished five novels. But he did not die. His cancer went into remission and then disappeared altogether.
In his long and full life, Anthony Burgees went on to write more than seventy books. Without the death sentence from cancer, he might not have written anything.
Next time things don’t seem to be going the way you want, ask yourself what the positive aspect is. What is the benefit in the adversity? You will have greater enjoyment and learn more in the process.”
What I want to point out from the above two stories given by Michael Angier is that, we do come across challenges and adversities, but then, there is a blessing we never think of therein. We are all in a difficult time now and especially those afflicted with that remark other than ‘pass’.
Definitely it is hard but we have to overcome that negative feeling.
We have to overcome the fear.
We have to meditate.
We have to stay focussed.
We have to be patient. We have to persevere. We have to be confident. We have to succeed.
We have to pray and God will be there for us.
I will live us with the following 10 motivational quotes:
“Life is not easy for any of us, but what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves”
–Marie Curie
“The winners of life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done” –
Dennis Waitly.
“First they ignore you. Second, they laugh at you. Third, they fight you. Finally, you win” –Gandhi
“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish” –John Quincy Adams
“Divide each difficulty into as many parts as necessary to resolve it” –Rene Descartes
“Success is not measured by what you accomplish but the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds” –Orisson Swett Marden.
“Every great work, every great accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement comes apparent failure and discouragement” –Florence Scovel Shinn.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time” –Thomas Edison
“Fear is negative scenarios we give birth to in our mind that we believe are real. These thoughts are seeds that will adversely affect our future. We have the power to change the future by changing what we believe is real” –George De Vack
“The moment you start talking about what you are going to do if you lose, you have lost” –George Schultz.
HARD LUCK DUDES.
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