NIGERIA AND THE MISSING CHIBOK GIRL'S PALAVER

Recent terrorist attacks in our country have reduced us (Nigerians) to a thing of ridicule and pity in the eyes of many. Daily, the international media carries one form of interview or news about our seemingly glaring weaknesses, corrupt practices, dearth of good leadership and insecurity amongst others.

Today, our country is at the fore of terrorist attack and we now experience those cruel and brutal killings we often hear of and condemn in some Asian and Middle-East countries. The on-going #BringBackOurGirls and #RealMenDontBuyGirls campaign rocking the internet has drawn a lot of attention and support from the foreign fronts with the likes of Michelle Obama, David Cameron, Christiane Amanpour, Justin Timberlake, Forest Whitaker, Usher Raymond, Piers Morgan, P. Diddy, Angelina Jolie, Drake, The Rock, The Kardashian sisters, Russell Simmons, Anthony Hamilton, Wendy Williams, Malala Yousafzai and Naomi Campbell all lending their voice; similarly, protests has been staged in Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Osun, Calabar, Yola, Abuja, South Africa, England, Germany, France and US on the same issue.

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE SAYING YES TO A START-UP COMPANY

With an ever increasing number of people being poured into the labour market daily, one would have to struggle real hard to be able to get an interview in a company let alone to get employed. Today, to get the dream job, applicants have been challenged to take up a higher degree in the form of a Masters or even a PhD else they will either remain on the bottom of the pay ladder in their place of work or even get locked out the labour market. In my article titled Building your CV (Competence + Value), I made mention of how important it was to get the right skills set intertwined with commendable values so as to be an indispensable employee but, this piece is geared at addressing the desperation experienced by job hunters and their possible decisions of settling for a start-up company.

LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE

Like a thief in the night they showed up

Claiming to be angry and with a cause to blow-up

With sheer negligence to our laws they have existed

And without any sense of emotional reasoning they’ve rudely persisted

Countless lives have been untimely aborted by them

A couple of national events they have successfully put in disarray

 So many families and friends they’ve thrown into severe pain

While they have constantly treated our pleas with utter disdain

5 WAYS TO QUIT YOUR JOB HONORABLY

The only constant thing in life is change as Heraclitus of Ephesus pointed out so many decades ago. True. We all have to metamorphose from one phase to another in our short sojourn on earth. No doubt as professionals who are striving for excellence, better pay and high network of contacts amongst others, we tend to constantly be on the lookout for opportunities that offer new challenges yet fit our personal  preferences. However, in as much as we have to develop and explore our potentials to drive impacts in our society there are things we need to put into consideration before we call it a quit with our employers. Here are 5 things you should do if you are to be considered an honorable man when you quit.

1. Give atleast 1-2months notice: Many atimes our call for a new job doesn't take us by surprise simply because before we quit, chances is that we must have been thinking about it for atleast 2months; enough time to have intimated your boss about your thoughts. Right from when you featured in that competency assessment test in the new company to when you had a slot in the interview, you should have atleast thought about returning the kind gesture shown you when you were recruited in the present job by informing them about your plans.

JUST BEFORE YOU APPLAUD YOURSELF

As we strive daily for greater feats and antecedents, we tend to get carried away by our constant quest for relevance that we fail to actually sit back and applaud ourselves for everything we have achieved. We often fail to give ourselves a treat when we achieve something significant simply because we feel other people who have achieved more are better off forgetting that, we are in competition with no other person but ourselves and thus, our only goal should be to better our own record; nothing more, nothing less. 

Now, in as much as we need to constantly celebrate ourselves, we also need to watch out for some factors before blowing our trumpet aloud so as not to end up soiling our scorecard. Sadly as professionals, we seem to know so much professional practices that we tend to underestimate the effect of the violation of one or more of these practices. In this piece today, I will identify some things we need to pay attention to as young professionals before applauding ourselves in our workplaces.

SECURITY IN CALABAR

Trends in Nigeria has shown that our country is beginning to suffer from diverse forms of security issues; ranging from bomb-blast to militancy attack, to kidnapping and even to bank & jail breaks, our people have now been compelled to live in utter fear.

Sadly, this security breach is fast spreading into all geopolitical zones in the country without the government putting in place any credible and effective measure to curb this crimes. I often wonder how many more lives we need to loose before we can rise to this challenge or how many more complains we need to publish before the information sinks. Whether we like it or not, this issue of insecurity is fast becoming a national problem which might lead to a national divide.

WHEN LEADERSHIP BECOMES A FAG

In the different leadership series I have written so far, I have always taken time to stress the significance of having a great leader and most especially, I highlighted their high points. Thus, in this writing I will be highlighting some of their nadir of frustration and those times when leadership fails to make any sense to both the leader and his followers. Below are such cases.

WHEN HIS TEAM FAILS

People are quick to accuse the leader of a team every time his team has a crack or when results produced are garbage whether or not he (the leader) is the cause. At times like this, critics will jump at the leader calling him all sorts of names; mocking and ridiculing him at the slightest opportunity. During these times, who likes to bag the blames? Who likes to be called the leader? No, not one! Though Hip Hop star Akon realizing the unjust criticism he was attracting after an ill-fated incident did a song titled ‘Sorry, blame it on me’, I still believe it wasn’t his earnest desire because even Jamie Foxx another popular Hip Hop doyen requested you rather ‘blame it on the alcohol’. Come to think of it, Arsene Wenger has never been pardoned for Arsenal’s loss, Goodluck Jonathan has never been distanced from Nigeria’s misfortunes and Muammar Gaddafi has never being ignored for Libya’s problems so you see, leaders are scapegoats for team failure.