Awin

Strange but many of its eaters do not know is English name........

Shelled Tamarind

Many people love this sweet fruit but the irony is that many of its eaters like me do not know is English name.

I have asked many people what the English name is and many people have also asked me, but our answers remain the same at all time "funny enough you know I don't the English name".

Trust me, now I have a brief history about our favorite fruit "Awin".

Un-shelled Tamarind

 Dialium indum, the velvet tamarind, is a tall,tropical fruit bearing tree. It is found to grow in dense savannah forests, shadowy canyons and gallery forests and it can be found in countries like senegal, Nigeria and Ghana.

Velvet tamarind  s knowin as Yoyi, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Nigeria where it is known as Awin in Yoruba, Icheku in Igbo and Tsamiyar kurm in Hausa.

The flavor of the fruit is similar to tamarind, where it derives its English name. So now that you know the name, when next you're asked just go ahead, feel cool and say "Tamarind"

<><>
<><>

Tamarind Tree

Pay and Park

Ikeja Mall, Shoprite

After my evening class, my friends and I decided to get into shoprite to get something to fill our stomachs before calling it a day. Driving into the Ikeja shopping mall(Shoprite), we found that their were no car park security personnel at sight to control vehicular movement within the premise.

You know what?  it is not that they are on strike but i heard they were removed from post because shop owners protested that they will lose customers if shoprite charges for parking slots.

But shoprite is not the only place in Lagos where customers are charged for parking without much consideration to their plight.

General Hospital Ikeja 

General Hospital Ikeja, Lagos, also charges three hundred naira per entrance before you can park your vehicle.

 How does it feel to come and check patients and you have to pay to get your parking slot.

Whistle Blowers!

Nigerian customers must learn to voice out when faced with bad service.....just my thoughts. 

Service delivery is not totally new in Nigeria, but the concept of customer is king and adhering to the statement is a big issue which most service providers in Nigeria have not come to terms with.

From telecommunication to banking, aviation, eateries and transportation, business owners treat employees and customers like they are bothering them or they are doing them favours. Prompt service delivery is not given adequate attention, customer representative agents of companies are not properly trained to attend to the needs of their customers and where they are trained, they do no just bother to put their knowledge in practice.

In hotels, airports and eateries, customers are left with no option than to use untidy toilets and attended to by frown faces attendants whose smiling faces are probably left at home.  Sometime menus are served stale and most time a customer might be shouted-down by the company representative. When services are totally unacceptable, bold and outspoken customers who point this out will ordinary not get sorry because the word sorry is like a golden egg which is worth more than a million. 

The irony of this is that consumer protection agencies which are to protect aggrieved customers are not doing enough, the customer is also not too keen to press further on any charges because our court processes are too slow and tiring even for those who are ready to press further.

The tragedy of two weeks ago brought this up and the question keep striking my mind is that who will be the whistleblower for reporting bad services and ethical dilemma. Reading from different quarters and different customers who had boarded the plane before the unfortunate crash stated that landing was a major problem for the plane in question. 

The governor of Akwa Ibom state Goodwill Akpabio also added his voice to the issue because he flew the same plane from Lagos to Akwa Ibom three weeks earlier and he also experienced the same problem.

If all we’ve heard is true which we can’t confirm now until the result of the findings of the black box is out, this has shown clearly that bad service and cutting corners in businesses does not pay anybody (customers and business owners alike) because a stitch in time saves nine.

How long do we continue to rant and rave about a system when we do not learn to blow the whistle when we are confronted with a system that has failed to deliver on its promises, should we blame a system which refuses to give us value for our money or we should blame employees who choose to keep mute for the fear of losing their jobs, the system that has not made adequate provision to protect whistleblowers or should we blame customers for not boycotting companies that treat them like slaves when they are the kings that uphold the existence of such business ventures.

All these answers can only be answered by the time we have a compressive report of what happened with the Dana plane that crashed in Iju-Ishaga and killed almost 200 people and destroyed over 1billion naira worth of properties.

One Long week, Too many tears

Life is most times full of irony but one major lesson I've learnt  this past few days is to sincerely show absolute love to people that matter most in my life.

Sunday June 3, 2012 started like any other Sundays, no light to enjoy my weekend to the fullest, all I had was my old friend (I mean my mum), she is fun to be with but will sometimes not allow you enjoy your quite sleep because of the song from her transistor radio.

If she is not gisting with you, she will gladly be relaying events as they unfold on her radio to you, sometimes I enjoy it and most time I just want to be left alone to enjoy my quite moment on my maracana stadium (my bed) which is usually my comfort zone.

After my lunch and prayer, I decided to just quietly retire to my zone when I heard her knock on my door, reluctantly I asked her in and as usually she said with a sad face that it was just reported that a plane crashed in Lagos with 50 people on board, I’m quite sure the shock did not give her the courage to listen well to the exact number.

Within 20 minutes of this shocking news which has put me into a jumble, calls started coming from everywhere and from everyone I know asking with concern to know my where about, I also sent out call to my colleagues to also find out where they were. After 45 minutes we had comprehensive news from radio Lagos given the figures at 183 people on board.

In my state of confusion I wondered, how will one explain calamity of this magnitude on a nation, families and friends just in a day. I do not have any direct relations with people on board but I’m quite sure I will have a friends/friends or friends’ friend who will probably have a family member, friends or colleagues.

As a nation we have witnessed so many of this crashes in the past without appropriate investigation from the authority saddled with such responsibility, oh my God how do you console a family who lost 6 people in a day in to this unfortunate incident – this is just too much too bear.

Not only this crash, on Thursday Ibadan expressway also witnessed a major accident where it was reported that more than hundreds of people lost their life and vehicles. No thanks to petrol tankers whose trucks gutted fire, also that weekend Boko Haram struck and killed over 20 people. Why do we deliberately shed blood and kill beautiful and innocent people that we can’t create? Will God be ever happy with us?

 As I write this I remember Dr. Livi Ajunoma and his rested program on Nigeria Television Authority “Livi Ajonuma Live on NTA” his charming aura on his program then is what I can’t forget in an hurry, the picture of the air hostesses I saw made my heart bleeds. Are this wonderful people all gone? 

What more can I say than to say NCAA and federal government should do all within their power to get to the root of this so that Nigerians will see flying as the safety option of transportation, the familyiesof the all people on DANA air on that unfaithfully Sunday get adequate compensation without delay and the Iju-Ishaga residents who life’s and properties were affected should also get adequate attention and compensation.

To all the little angels, adorable grannies, beautiful brothers and sisters and to Vivian the bride to be but never was, I say may God grant you all eternal rest and peace. Amen!

My journey to blogging!

Writing is a passion  I am about developing, because I'm surrounded by professional and freelance journalists. I think am beginning to somehow think like them, every picture or event is seen as a tool for good story that could make any editor want to use such  for their killer leadlines or for keep as they say "story for dry days- when town go dry", when they will be digging and snuffing for anything to write about so as to keep to the deadline of the mad room.

But I can not just go on blabbing about my going into this profession which I now see as a passion hopefully will turn it into a profession someday without raising my hat for my friends and my ogas’ "my bosses" my Neighbour “Ogbuife” I am sure he knows himself, Olabimpe and Mr. Oji- the big one, who have in one way or the other inspired me to unscrew this talent in me "did I just say talent" OMG am beginning to sound like one of these guys.

Never mind I will try my best to come up with things that are of great interest to me, ranging from love, education, entertainment, religion, food, tourism and travels, inspirational gist, politics but I beg of you never tell the politicians in my country because "I no want wahala o" I don't know if I am qualified to talk about politics but I will try as much as possible to just talk about the icing of it if not the cake itself. Friends, I hope you will enjoy my company.

Agriculture will also be examined as it affects my nation, its negligence, I adore the colour of nature every time, because it brings absolute peace to my soul, the green revolution is also big around the world now. Someday I hope to be a farmer if they will allow me to acquire the quantity of land that will cater for my kind of farming without throwing the land use act at my face, I am sure they would have amended this before my sojourn into the agricultural sector.  I hope this won’t be one of my wishful thinking!

Before I will let you go, I am sure this won't be complete if I don't talk about the headache of falling in love on this medium occasionally, my girlfriends will love the lashing we will be given out to the guys out there. My guys please don’t be angry with me am sure without such gists it is never going to be complete.

Hopefully, we will rock this together, Bienvenue a tous!

Note: your comments are highly welcome.