SHOULD CHANGE BEGIN WITH ME?

Today, I am sitting down in the famous LT bus of Lagos, famous but hardly comfortable endowed with its usual ill-mannered bus conductors...will the transport system ever become better, will customers ever become king in the transportation industry? Will anything ever change in this country?

Every Nigeria is looking forward to that Greenland TY Bello sang about and more especially with the emergence of the Buhari 's administration, how much of that change have we got? TY Bello 's new song "Land of Promise" shows that the Land is not yet green.

One reason in my opinion why the land is not green is because we refuse to tend to the pasture, we are simply a people dependent on miracles, so our plaxe of worships are full. We claim to believe, but we have no faith because there is no work to our believe. Our predicaments are not a product of bad leadership, but predicated by the corrupt society that produces them. We are people of different tongues but that should not be a problem you know, if there is unity in our diversity.  The disunity extend beyond the inter tribal phenomenon, even tribes within themselves display unimaginable hatred. I could conclude that Nigerians suffers from lack of love and a complete lack of commitment to a common goal. There is lack of justice amongst the populace and emotions are no longer considered spontaneous , they are premeditated.

The Lagos State government is doing a great work by constructing a fly over bridge at the abule egba axis, laudable project not without its flaws though, but this post is not about the government. The transporters took advantage of this project and started charging ridiculous fare, and people had to pay because they had no choice. It is not enough that they inhale dust, have to trek a while to get to where the buses are, probably haven't made much at the close of business, nut now have to pay twice the normal amount to get to their abode for  no other reason than the transport operators wickedness and insensitivity. Everytime it rains, fare jumps up. Whenever there is a crowd at the bus stop, fare jumps up, this has to change. We need to change.

Private sector employers sit in their offices and blame the government for not paying it's staff salary while the President and Governors live large, yet they do the same because they believe if the employee gets angry and leave they will surely get another, there are too much job seekers! Almost everyone spontaneously takes advantage of situation and circumstances to exploit others, and yet still blames the government for their own failure to do the right thing. We know what is right to do, but we have made doing the wrong thing laudable, eventually one of us will get to power and what else would you expect from his rule?

Artisans complain about low patronage, people say Nigerians live on foreign goods and refuse to buy made in Nigeria products, and I just shake my head everytime I think about my experiences. Nigerian artisans have the worse customer service, the moment your money passes into their pocket, you will beg,fight and cry before you get the good or service and sometimes you might never get it. Oh and not to mentiom that when you get it the quality will be so terrible! So why wouldn't I just go buy a foreign good off the shelve? I'll share one of my experience with a cobbler. I love cobblers making my shoes, you know for taste and perfect fit. So someone recommend one to me after I complained about the services of the cobbler making my shoes. I paid the new cobbler 80% upfront (which by the way is an error, you shouldn't pay Nigerian artisans that much upfront). He promised to finish the work in a week. It's been 5 weeks plus and I still haven't gotten it,after several visits to his shop! Now, if I call him on phone he says "oga, go and relax now,light no dey for this area,abi make I kill myself?". I regret ever stepping into his shop, now I would rather buy a foreign shoe off the shelf or on aliexpress. I am so done with Nigerian cobblers. It's not just the cobblers, same goes for the meat seller, recharge card seller, and many others, after one encounter with them you never return to engage them, and they blame the government for the lack of cash in their pocket. 

Things can change, I would refrain  from saying things will change, because change begins with me and you, the change we are looking for will not be achieved if I and you remain the same person we are. Artisans won't get anywhere Carlos Slim Helu when customers don't return to patropism them.

Read More

PROHIBITED DEGREES OF CONSANGUINITY AND GENETIC SEXUAL ATTRACTION: The disease of 21st century.

Now, I have compelled myself to write on this topic, albeit it is not a popular subject but it is an ignored cancer ravaging the society with impunity.

First let's define these terms:

Affinity refers to a natural liking for or attraction to a person, thing, idea, etc. A person, thing, idea, etc., for which such a natural liking or attraction is felt. It's quite simply said. Consanguinity refers to blood relationship; the relation of people who descend from the same ancestor. The use of the word Affinity in legal terms refers to relationship between people who are not related by blood but are related by marriage.

Sexual relationship are almost universally prohibited within the second degree of consanguinity. Some jurisdictions forbid marriage between first cousins, while others do not. Marriage with aunts and uncles (avunculate marriage) is legal in several countries. This easily condemnable...but it is becoming difficult to do so now,with the rise of so much insane relationship the prohibition of affinity and consanguinity is getting lean, even by the second.

"Among modern Arabs the practice of marrying of relatives is a common feature. In the Arab world today between 40% and 50% of all marriages are consanguineous or between close family members, though these figures may vary among Arab nations.

In Egypt, around 40% of the population marry a cousin. A 1992 survey in Jordan found that 32% were married to a first cousin; a further 17.3% were married to more distant relatives. 67% of marriages in Saudi Arabia are between close relatives as are 54% of all marriages in Kuwait, whereas 18% of all Lebanese were between blood relatives.

It is estimated that 55% of marriages between Pakistani Muslim immigrants in the United Kingdom are between first cousins, where preferential patrilateral parallel cousin marriage (where a boy marries the daughter of his father's brother) is often favored.

The list of forbidden marriage partners, as read in the Qur'an, Surah 4:23, specifically omits first cousins. Mohammed himself married Zaynab, his first cousin."

Excerpt from Wikipedia

A mum and son who say they are ‘madly in love’ have vowed to remain together despite a court order that they should stay away from each other.

The 36-year-old mother, Monica Mares, and her son Caleb Peterson, 19, will be standing trial on incest charges in Clovis, US state of New Mexico in September.

Genetic disorders

Further information: Inbreeding

The phenomenon of inbreeding, or endogamy, increases the level of homozygotes for autosomal genetic disorders and generally leads to a decreased biological fitness of a population known as inbreeding depression, a major objective in clinical studies. The offspring of consanguineous relationships are at greater risk of certain genetic disorders. Autosomal recessive disorders occur in individuals who are homozygous for a particular recessive gene mutation. This means that they carry two copies (alleles) of the same gene. Except in certain rare circumstances (new mutations or uniparental disomy) both parents of an individual with such a disorder will be carriers of the gene. Such carriers are not affected and will not display any signs that they are carriers, and so may be unaware that they carry the mutated gene. As relatives share a proportion of their genes, it is much more likely that related parents will be carriers of an autosomal recessive gene, and therefore their children are at a higher risk of an autosomal recessive disorder. The extent to which the risk increases depends on the degree of genetic relationship between the parents; so the risk is greater in mating relationships where the parents are close relatives, but for relationships between more distant relatives, such as second cousins, the risk is lower (although still greater than the general population).

The low genetic heterozygosity associated with increased consanguinity in a population (identified by microsatellite markers) increases its susceptibility to infectious pathogens such as tuberculosis and hepatitis.

A notable historical example of the detrimental effects of consanguinous marriages is the now-extinct House of Habsburg.

GENETIC SEXUAL ATTRACTION (GSA)

We humans are designed to survive.  That means we are instinctively driven to reproduce to continue the species.  Successful reproduction thrives on a variety of  gene mash ups happening in our families.  This means we need new genes constantly, genes that come from outside the family.

Here’s the thing: we are naturally and instinctively ,sexually and emotionally attracted to people with whom we have most in common.  People tend to select mates that are like themselves; this is known as assortative mating. This holds both for physical appearances and mental traits. People commonly rank faces similar to their own as more attractive, trustworthy, etc. than average. Perhaps people have even told you that you and your partner look alike- is that by chance? Not according to science- its your way of natural selection to increase and enrich the gene pool and its the face with which you feel most comfortable.

GSA is rare between people raised together in early childhood, as most siblings have evolved to prevent incest. A mum and son who say they are ‘madly in love’ have vowed to remain together despite a court order that they should stay away from each other. It is indeed not just a foreign idea, it is in our locality, amongst us...un-adressed.

Read More