ShortStory I Rough End (II)

 

ROUGH END (II)

         As time progressed, during Obiora’s second year in the university as the best student among the overall 200 Level students of Petroleum Engineering department, he vowed to sustain his current Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) which was 4.75, with the aim of making his lovely parents proud just as he promised at the beginning of the journey. He continued with the tempo until he ran into Anayo, one of the students in the Business faculty.

        Anayo was a very notorious guy on the campus; it was only a new or academic minded student like Obiora that was yet to hear of him. The former who was a final year student of Business Management department was a member of one of the most dreaded secret confraternities in Spectrum University – the Red Vulture, and he happened to be one of the leaders of the cult; it seemed his eyes had been on the latter from the moment he was recognized as one of the best students in his faculty.

        That fateful day after lecture period – in the evening precisely – having been exhausted, Obiora thought it wise to chill himself with a bottle of cold soft drink and a snack in the university café. He wanted something that would sustain him till he got to his lodge where he could prepare a meal for himself, unknowingly to his person that someone had been spying on him all along.

        The moment he entered the café, the kingpin followed suit after a few minutes and sat directly opposite him at the white plastic table he was making use of.

        On his part, Anayo requested for a plate of fried rice and a soft drink as well. That was the first time he would be taking a meal with soft drink rather than beer, his usual brand; perhaps he never wanted his incoming prey to realize he was actually sharing a table with a nonentity or a party to a riffraff – a deceptive countenance indeed.

       “Hi guy!” Anayo cheerfully greeted as he began to devour the meal.  

        He was dressed in black three-quarter jeans, blue T-shirt, black face cap and white canvases. He seemed to be in his late twenties.

       “Hello.” responded the unsuspecting prey that was clad in blue jeans, green and white double-coloured shirt and a pair of black plain shoes.

       “Are you in this school?” He enquired in false pretences.

       “Yes, of course.” replied Obiora.

       “You must be a new student, I guess?”

       “Why do you think so?”

       “Because you look so fresh.” the fair in complexion and innocently-looking kingpin who was plump and about 5.4-foot tall remarked.

        Obiora smiled broadly. “You must be kidding.” said the slim, about 5.6-foot tall and chocolate-skinned young man who was in his early twenties, amidst the grin.

       “Honestly,” Anayo added. “I am not joking.”

       “Okay, thank you.”

       “You are welcome.” quoth Anayo, paused. “I mean, always.”

       “So, what do I call you?” Obiora inquisitively enquired.

       “Anayo.” he replied, placing his heavy right arm on his guilty chest. “But they call me Whiskey.”

       “They?”

       “Ya, my friends.” Anayo cleared the air.

       “Alright.”

       “And you?”

       “Okay,” Obiora said. “I am Obiora.”

       “That makes us brothers then.”

       “How?”

       “We are both Igbos, of course.”

       “Oh,” said Obiora. “You are absolutely right.”

         In spite of his dangerous nature, Anayo was undoubtedly a gifted clown. He had all it takes to win the heart of anyone that came on his way, and Obiora wasn’t exceptional.

        Obiora was yet to make a close friend since he found himself at the four walls of university. And coming across Anayo whom he saw as a saint, gave him an opportunity to mingle with someone he could address as his confidant on the campus.

        After their stay at the café having exchanged all the needed pleasantries as well as contacts, they departed for their respective residents.

       Within a few days of their first meeting, they became best of friends. Those who knew Obiora too well especially his course mates became overwhelmingly astonished over his abrupt relationship with a dude who was regarded by all and sundry on the campus as a ‘monster’. They couldn’t believe their sight; initially they were of the view that they were daydreaming till the friendship metamorphosed into a more obvious and inseparable union.

       While these scenes were unfolding, Obiora started declining in his academic performances due to the reluctant attention he was giving to his studies, which was totally contrary to his real self. In regard to this, his class adviser who had witnessed the drastic drop in his commitments confronted him in his office but Obiora lied that he had been sick and promised to improve soonest.

       After one month of coming across Anayo after severe and several persuasions, he made up his mind to join the Red Vulture confraternity. At this point, Obiora became a completely different creature socially, mentally, and otherwise. Little did his parents know that their cherished and only son had been transformed into something else.

       Unfortunately, or fortunately for him, the first armed robbery operation he embarked on in the company of the gang landed him into a big mess. The intended criminal outing, which took place at night, was aborted by the police on their way to the proposed destination. Subsequently, they were charged to court while in the police net.

        On receiving the information, they were all expelled from the university.

        Obiora’s parents couldn’t believe their fate. The rough end was the least they could imagine ab initio. After one month of the ordeal, Chief Okeke fell stroke in which he remained in coma for the first six consecutive weeks. 

        The rest is history, please.

 

Fred Doc Nwaozor

Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub (DRH) - Owerri

________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

Twitter: @mediambassador 

 

Opinion I Leadership And The Monster Called Blarney

LEADERSHIP AND THE MONSTER CALLED BLARNEY

         

In the famous and widely sold William Shakespeare’s play titled ‘Julius Caesar’, which was named after one of the protagonists in the play, it was the Roman dictator King Julius Caesar who disappointedly exclaimed in Latin “Et tu, Brute?”, meaning literally ‘Even you, Brutus?’ or ‘You too, Brutus?’ the moment he discovered that one of those whom wanted him dead happened to be his protégé and trusted ally in the person of Marcus Brutus.

        

The last time I checked, the reign of several well celebrated leaders in the past was truncated owing to the invariable insincere gestures or eulogies showcased by most of those they recognized as their friends or brothers, as may be the case. This is the reason any leader who actually intends to excel must be extremely conscious of such societal lifestyle commonly known as sycophancy which I invariably addressed as a monster.

         

In any leadership setting or in life generally, there are factors that tend to be symbiotic. Among them are tyranny and sycophancy which pervade every level of governance. The combination of the two aforementioned phenomena, which are dangerous to both institutions and countries, makes any leader blind to even conspicuous pitfalls thereby making them seem miserable if they eventually fell.

        

There are two major classes of sycophants, namely: genuine sycophants and mercenary or fake sycophants. The former have inexhaustible capacity to be ‘happy slaves’ and to demean themselves in favour of the master. Somehow, suchlike individuals or followers are at best Spartan-like in the sense that they do not feel the pain inflicted on them and liable to be dehumanized both morally and mentally.

         

Instead, they feel the pain for the master, claiming that they are the master’s ‘shock absorber’, and usually struggle to take pleasure at the suffering of those who incur the wrath of any ongoing bad governance. In most occasions, they are likely to be more unfriendly or cruel than the master. This set of sycophants would always make effort to defend the interest of the boss regardless of the situation at hand.

         

On the contrary, the mercenary ones are dangerous to the leader unknowingly to him, and they often play a very vital role in the day-to-day running of the affected administration. They equally possess the ability to play the ‘happy slaves’ role successfully, appear to demean themselves, pretend not to possess minds of their own, and unabatedly wear a happy physiognomy façade while sulking internally.

        

A fake sycophant is no doubt skilful in warming his/her way into the bosom of the boss by studying closely the weaknesses of the system and that of the master. Such an individual or so-called ally has no scruples; rather, he/she is Machiavellian. He definitely knows how to acquire access to power by ingratiating himself with the leader via grant of an assortment of bribery or gratification to the right people, flatteries, organized accusations against well-meaning followers or citizens as well as unconditional shedding of crocodile tears.

        

Furthermore, a mercenary sycophant is relentlessly very intelligent and clever in playing victim and shifting blames. He is so skilled in manufacturing cum painting of misleading services that the leader is often bamboozled by his purported loyalty. Such a follower capitalizes any opportunity to betray the trust and overthrow the leader. In other words, as such follower carries out or discharges his duties on a daily basis, he endlessly looks forward to discovering or creating a loophole that would serve as an advantage to his sinister motive.

        

The paramount challenge to any leader who wishes to have sycophants is to distinguish between genuine and fake ones. However, the bone of contention remains that harbouring sycophants is even more detrimental to the leader in question than to the teeming followers, irrespective of the circumstance. Hence, there’s no gain reiterating that any sycophant, if discovered, deserves to be discarded without much ado because they are all useless.

         

In most occasions, you would notice that these sycophants are allies who usually appear to be extremely hardworking and creative, but realistically they are doing virtually nothing. They often use noisemaking or exaggeration to create awareness thereby luring unsuspecting followers into their net.    

        

It’s noteworthy that sycophancy or undue praise-singing, which is arguably the willing undertaker of any country’s socio-political lost glory, seems to be taking an institutional presence or recognition in Nigeria at large, particularly on the country’s political platform.

       

Isn’t it preposterous to see able-bodied citizens, even the old, singing and dancing in praise of somebody who has only succeeded in impoverishing his followers in the name of ‘leadership’ or consorting people’s aspirations to chisel his/her self aggrandizement?

         

In Nigeria today, such manner of nauseous lifestyle takes place with an embarrassing frequency, yet nobody ostensibly cares to even acknowledge the colossal menace let alone discussing it. Funnily enough, most leaders have the impetus to gloat about the unsavoury and inglorious idiosyncrasy, even in a public sphere.

        To be continued!

        

Comrade Fred Doc Nwaozor

Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub (DRH) - Owerri

__________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

Twitter: @mediambassador            

 

Opinion I Nigeria, Britain And The Naira

NIGERIA, BRITAIN AND THE NAIRA

        

The Nigeria’s history won’t be concluded without mentioning the United Kingdom (UK). In view of this, the latter has hitherto remained a household name when discussing the former, particularly in the aspect of the country’s politics as well as economy.

        

It’s noteworthy that the UK comprises mainly the Great Britain and the Northern Ireland. If further split, the former consists of England, Scotland and Wales; among these three, the first two countries majorly constitute the Britain. Owing to both the population and landmass’ percentage Britain occupies in the bloc, the UK is usually referred to as Britain.

      

The Britain, which remains the prime sovereignty in the UK, has invariably been playing the role of a father in the Nigeria’s polity as a whole. The obvious fact that Nigeria was a British colony from the 19^th century till it became an independent nation in 1960 can never be swept under the carpet or be forgotten in a hurry. The unending appreciation of the two countries’ bilateral relation cannot be unconnected with the aforementioned record.

        

Penultimate week, the UK’s Export Finance agency disclosed its intention to add the Nigeria’s legal tender, naira to its list of ‘pre-approved currencies’, allowing it to provide financing for transactions with Nigerian businesses dominated in the local currency. By so doing, the naira will become one of the three West African legal tenders that the UK export finance has pre-approved for its means of funding transactions that promote trade with the UK.

       

It would be recalled that the Britain voted in 2016 to leave the European Union (EU). The awaited exit has persuaded London, the capital territory of the UK, to embrace a rethink over its trade ties with the rest of the world. It’s thus needless to state that the country is currently reviewing its existing trade and investment policies towards ushering in more suitable and beneficial ones.

        

It’s worth noting that in the last three years, severe dollar shortage in the Nigeria’s foreign exchange market caused by the emergence of lower oil prices, forced the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allow the naira to float after it lost third of its official value against the dollar. This, therefore, is the reason the currency has not ceased to stagger within the period in review.

       

It is imperative to acknowledge that the pronouncement in question, if duly implemented, would go a long way in strengthening the Nigeria – UK bilateral cooperation, thereby easing the rate of importation of goods from the latter to the former. Since the naira would be accepted as a legal tender in the aforesaid foreign country, Nigeria importers can easily pay for goods and services over there with the use of the currency. This implies that the said set of traders wouldn’t need to queue at the Nigeria’s foreign exchange market to change the naira for dollar or pound sterling.

       

But if critically viewed, it would be realized that such a policy can cause overflow of the naira, which is presently in a pathetic mood. More so, the ongoing double-digit interest rate will equally soar the prices of the goods to be imported into the country from the UK since it’s understandable that borrowing is synonymous with importers. I’m afraid; these foreseen consequences might result to further depreciation of the naira.

         

Besides, the President Muhammadu Buhari–led government that is deeply concerned about boosting the country’s local market may not be favoured by the policy, which is likely to lead to another phase of over-dependence of imported commodities that has overtime bedeviled our economy. It’s not anymore news that the present administration’s mantra is anchored on diversification of the country’s revenue base. So, for this to come at a time Nigerians are encouraged to think home is enough reason to say that anyone that really means well for Nigeria is still sceptical over the actual merits that are attached to the policy.

        

This is to say that, in the long run, the monetary policy might mainly boom individual pockets to the detriment of the national coffer. Such resultant effect wouldn’t augur well for the country’s export base that’s seriously yearning for rescue, hence at the expense of her economy at large. Any fiscal measure that’s liable to benefit just a few individuals but impoverish the majority isn’t worth celebrating.

        

As much as the UK is apparently trying to boost the Nigeria’s pride in the international market by initiating suchlike policy, we mustn’t forget so fast that the former stands to be the key beneficiary of the initiative, hence the need for us not to be carried away by the euphoria that accompanies the news.

       

The good news is that, such an approach would make the naira to be more recognized and respected globally. On the other hand, it could also reduce the ongoing influx at the parallel market because most importers may have little or no business to transact over there, thereby returning the rightful status of the commercial banks.  

        

However, that doesn’t change the fact that if critically examined, the naira might not get its fair share of the deal; that the naira might cry foul as the odyssey progresses; that it may end up causing the currency more harm than good. We must note that in any business or relation, every partner involved is more concerned about what his personal benefit entails. Think about it!

 

Comrade Fred Doc Nwaozor

Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub (DRH) - Owerri

__________________________________

frednwaozor@gmail.com

Twitter: @mediambassador