Language, n.: a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition.

Apart from this definition, I think language as culture, an identity. And, it’s interesting how many are forgetting their culture (language) as soon as they move to a ‘better’ country (US?). It’s easy for me to say, maybe because I don’t live in one of these countries…Wait… I do.

I’m Yoruba. And until recently, I’ve been alienating myself from the rich culture, making foreigners tell me my own history–not anymore.

Most of my character has been formed by the many proverb in the Yoruba language; like this (Toju Iwa Re; Watch Your Acts) poem tells. And to get the depth of which the culture puts on morality, the line starts as such:

“Watch you acts my friend

Honor leaves at any time

Beauty could fade off

But, only your Act stays forever…”

I will be translating many of the poems that I grew up basing my morality on, in the original language first, then a translation.

And as a side note, those who have requested I read my poems, these seem like one’s I will be reading and including on the site soonest.

Tôjú ìwà rê örê mi

Olá a máa ní læ nílé eni

Ewà, a sì máa tan lára ènìyàn

Shùgbôn ìwà ní í bá ‘ni dé sàárè

Èéfín nìwà, rírú ní í rú

Ènìyàn gb’ókèèrè níyì

Shùgbôn súnmô ni, l’a fi ñ mö’ae eni

Ìwà kò ní í foníwà sílë

Ìwà omo l’ó ñ somo lórúko

Omo dára ó ku ìwà

Ara dára ó ku aso

Esë dára ó ku bàtà

B’énìyàn dára tí kò níwà

Ó padanù ohun ribiribi

Ìwà rere l’ësô ènìyàn

Sùúrù baba ìwà, ìwà baba àwúre

|===================================================================================|

Watch your Acts my friend

Honor leaves at any time

Beauty lasts for just briefly

But, your Acts lasts forever

Character is like smoke, eventually it will rise (to the surface)

A person lives off in the distance in honor

But with closeness we learn of a person’s actions

But with closeness we learn of a person’s actions

Character will not leave its owner alone

It is a child’s character that gives the child a name

Even if the child seems fine, there is still a need for character

Even if the body looks fine, there is still a need for clothing

Even if the feet work fine, there is still a need for shoes

If a person seems fine but doesn’t have character

He/She is missing something very valuable indeed

Good character is a person’s bodyguard

Patience leads good Character, Good character brings blessings.

February is Black History Month or as I’ve come to notice: Month-We-Whine-About-Slavery. As I attend various event this month, there have been strong emphasis on black slavery and the oppression blacks have faced over the years till now; the struggle of Dr. Luther, Malcolm X, Rosy Parks, etc. Yes this are all true and I wonder is that’s all there is to it, being black?

Yes, blacks are victims of racism and in America, blacks are wondering if the election of Obama puts us in a post-racial society–isn’t there more to the rich African-American history than the recent hundred years past? What happened to the Africanism before the ‘importing’ of blacks from their origin? Slavery is only a ‘bit’ of an overall goodness that the Afro-American has to share.

I’m thinking my excitement is because of my strong African roots. In one of my college classes (African-American Folklore), one Afro-American was presenting on the customary story-telling tradition of then African slaves–she has no idea! She even said she asked her mom and she advised her to just ‘lie’ to the class on the history because she has no idea either. I’m grieved.

The lost history is why the ‘nigger’ culture has stuck and is exploited in the American culture, and the blacks think they have a culture to hold onto–sagged pants, violence, failure (yes, the culture feels its fine to be a failure), and whatever it is the negative connotations attached to blacks. Maybe it’s not for me to say after all, I’m not Afro-American, I’m African.

I’m grieved. Africans even with the recent knowledge of their heritage are now turning Afro-American, killing off their rich culture. Maybe it because we have bought the lies that the white world have sold us: blacks are subservient: white good, black bad.

I’m hoping for that day when blacks will start seeing beyond slavery. Black History Month might have been established to have Afro-Americans reminisce the badtimes they had but then, its time we celebrate our ancestral power; the African spirit that has been lying low for too long.

Thinking about life many times is interesting, even more interesting going through those phases of ups and downs and that’s beside the point.

Almost anyone I meet and tell them I’m Nigerian would stereotypically (most unconscious I would assume) know my  country for either it’s frauds (which I’ve jokingly defending here) or positively for its music — a music that has kept me through life, I grew up listening to the icons of Nigerian music and it was in it we confided our hopes.

Give this sample a listen:

Fela Anikulapo Kuti has been the sound I’ve grown with, a sound I’m continually hoping I can one day understand and imitate. The musicality aside, it’s ironic that the message of Africa’s corruption that Fela continually decried and hoped we moved forward has gotten worse. The poor are getting poorer and faster, poverty is written on every face, hopelessness lives in all and there are those who, it’s their pleasure to see things get even worse; therein lies their wealth.

I wish I can at this stage of my life help the African quagmire but like the African proverb: “one tree cannot make a forest.” I’m sure there are like-minded Nigerians [African] who are trying to be voices of change in there capacity to which I’m wondering: are they sincere?

Even I, I’m I sincere? When I get capacitated to influence, will I?

“The person who feels it is the only one who knows it.” (African Proverb)

Usually I don’t talk about mainstream news event until this one: A Nigerian youth tryna to blow a plane, wow, really. I’ve always argued with my friends that Nigerians (or Africans) would be the last to want to kill themselves because of some religion–they love life as it is and are quite ‘chicken’. Apparently, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has proved me wrong.

Now, not only will Nigerians (like me) have to wade off the stigma of we being frauds and scammers, we will also now have to deal with being terrrorist…Damn! We have it twice worse now than the Arabs.

And for we Nigerians living in US, it means (source: alternet.org):

A crazy idiot appears to have set off firecrackers on an airplane. Do you know what this EVEN MEANS?

1. It means Greater Wingnuttia is going to get the very special happy Christmas they most desire, because what they like best of all is to wet their pants in an ecstasy of hysterical screeching;

2. It means now every time we get on a plane we’re going to have to get to the airport six hours early, then strip to our skivvies, stand on one foot, hold our nose, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance backwards before we can get to the gate to find out exactly how long the flight is delayed. Also, we won’t be allowed on board while in the possession of any bodily fluids.

This Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab geek, what a dick.

Also he was apparently an engineering student. What the fuck is it with engineers and silly ideological extremism? You also see lots of climate denialist engineers infesting blog comment threads. Weird.

Racism and Classism. No matter how much we talk about it, I doubt it will go away [soon]. I’m resolving to quit the rant on how badly blacks have had it — scratch that; being specific — how badly Africans have had it.

Yesterday I was in discussion with some fellow Africans discussing the cause of Africa’s backwardness and of course there where the obvious reasons. The question that lingered on my mind was, when will we young Africans start taking little pragmatic steps to curing our continent.

I sure will keep making mine, and again, I’m forced to flash-back:

They called on the Slave Masters
Slave drives – no brainer
Another ‘real’ identity misunderstood
Real Classism
Making them plutocrats – a rule over the non-visible

What happened to the race?
What happened to the grace?

Why not a mourn for our phase…

A ruler turned servants – forget the physical, think the psych-sense
Ignorance and our knowledge
For our kids -
Ignorance multiplied
I see them everywhere:
No hope
No Dream
No Life
turned real trash
Would we blame the white one?
That’s another hallucinating

Oh…That was just my a bad dream…

Oops…

It’s no dreaming
“D” said the savior was black
The lineage was black,
And the pride is black
What now, Where is this Black?

Not for the Media
Not the Pop’ Culture
Not the Hypes
Not the Stereotypical representation
Not another Low Expectation

We’ve been made with our envy in their eyes

We made them build the pyramid;
Once again, we can make them take in this pride

Not sagged pants or high lips
Not cursed rants or vague pursuit
Not stereotype fittings or loose focus

For our right focus -
Not the Slave Masters or the Slave driven
We are the Masters

I once thought of wearing a sign around my neck that says, “I’m Nigerian”. Before you think  I would do that because of arrogance, no, I’ve just being asked too many times: “Where are you from?”

Luckily, many know where Nigeria is (and if you don’t, read it up here) and the almost natural question some would ask me is, “do you speak Nigerian?” No I don’t. Just like Indians don’t speak Indian, or American speak American. I speak, as my mother’s tongue, Yorùbá (read that up here too) which is one of the numerous languages spoken in Nigeria.

Having this language on mind, this came to mind:

Going traditional via Afroville,
the religious traditions of old, my roots — read my rise
Holy books and holy calls,
holy ones and doctrine forced -
The anceints gods and the repeated gongs
Drum beats, be ti bata, bi ti gangan, pelu ijo (with bata, and talking drum, dancing)
Ipada si Orisun, eko mi, Ilu mi, awon eyan mi – (back to my roots, my teachings, my township, my people-)
Back home, to my roots.

I was split between a ponder on relationships and an equally bothering brain-drain; the African brain drain. When I thought of brain drain, my mind went, first to the poem I always want to write about it but haven’t gotten around completing it yet and, a talk by Philip Emeagwali, a Nigerian-American. You can read the thought-provoking speech here. And let me add, I feel in some way that Emeagwali is hypocritical in some of his claims considering how much he himself has had his brain drained into the Western society, but I digress.

I’m worried the growing generations of African have lost their devotion or sense of responsibility to their motherland. We have voluntarily alienated ourselves from our roots, now, a prince is now the slave.

I’m worried. From Ethiopia to Sudan, to Algeria and Ghana, to Nigeria or South Africa, Zimbabwe to Algeria, it feels like the giant has been put into permanent sedation. I’m guilty, I write this while being a resident in the United States, but don’t crucify me yet, I have the courage to ponder on why Africa is being drained of its best and brightest, the first step in fixing is acknowledging.

And for those brightest that remain, they have been incapacitated. Every here and there, I continually see Africans de-Africanizng, claiming they have ‘escaped’ the pain [Africa], and I wonder, what about those have the ill-fortune of still residing in Africa? Well, they are quick to add, “that’s their business”. African leaders are raising their kids to be continual slaves to the West, maybe using the word ’slave’ is inappropriate considering slavery has been eradicated long ago.

Or has it? There is the new kind of slavery the West is imposing on people of color – economic slavery, think about it, and re-think it.

I’m tired of Africans repeatedly saying we should think like true Africans, that’s just vague and a real effort to put their money where their mouth is not. When I was growing up, I imagined I would live in a better Africa, well, I’m not living in Africa and for all I know, it hasn’t gotten better.

I continually strive to change myself towards a refraction that might change my country, yours, or the continent. One day I hope I can truly take all I’ve learned here to make real changes in my motherland.

I spent a good deal of today talking to my colleague about the continent Africa. She started by wondering why anytime she sees Africa portrayed on TV, she said, it’s only desert, wild animals and starving children that’s shown — before you start judging the media she’s exposed to, remember, this is America and if what the media shows you wouldn’t bring them profit, you most likely wouldn’t see it. And is starving African kids bringing American media profits? Just ask yourself why Oprah Winfrey loves to have some camera crew with her when she goes to do philanthropy; I would let that rest for a different post , I’m going off tangent here.

My American friend tried to draw a map of Africa and it looked like a circle. To that I protested: “No! Africa doesn’t look like that!” After her many failed attempts to draw a representative map of Africa, I came to the rescue. The discussion went from pre-colonial Africa, colonized Africa South Africa’s apartheid, the white Africans and why that is, the concept of western white in Africa and racism as perceived in Africa.

Racism? That was a word the west invented and used to make themselves feel better about themselves. I told her, in Africa, I had no idea what that word meant (in practice). You are seen as a brother or a sister, the color of your skin is oblivious. Our culture (which I henceforth call the ‘African Spirit’) see you as I would see myself, we welcome you undoubtedly..

Prior to this discussion, I was discussing with a Kenyan friend on the unionization of all African countries and as good as his proposal of having an AU (African Union) sounded — a one African state with a single Economy, the African spirit would work against it. I can brag to my non-African friends about how I love my continent, my race and its culture but deep within I know that there is a worm eating away at Africa’s best.

There is the natural resources, the great topography, tropical weather, everything naturally is in Africa’s favor but, the big BUT, the African mentality stands in the way. That mentality of “it’s all mine and I will take it all”. The greedy African leaders (Mugabe?), the very corrupt ones (almost all of them), the repressive state of the continent, I’m forced to ask, where is Africa headed?

My American friend tells me about not knowing anything about Africa and I wonder, for all I know, what impact is my generation making? Recently, I’ve even being more angered at knowing that the current criminals are already recruiting their siblings to continue their awful jobs as leader of the various African countries.

I proposed one solution to my Kenyan friend. To move Africa forward, we have to go hard and there is only one way, eradicate all this criminals — not jail, not exiling, not impeaching (does that even work in African democracies?), I mean to literally have them cease existing. That’s hard, but I’m that frustrated.

Read here is the justification I gave crime (scammers); I refuse to shift the blame to those doing this crime (considering other factors) like the Nigerian government have decide to do (which I assume by they setting-up the Economic Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC])

As an economist would think, there is a solution to every problem as long as there is the right incentive. Obviously, in most third world countries, there leaders have no incentive to want to think about the good of the populace.

Even more, most of these corrupt leaders keep some part of the economy functional and to paraphrase Tim Harford in The Undercover Economist, “so they can support their own self interest.” In a country like Nigeria where there tends to be bad roads, inadequate/non-functional social amenities, poor education, low security and may more ills. For this case, an agile teen (and maybe creative) would devise a means of his own to survival, as if to follow Darwin’s survival of fittest theory – everyone tends after themselves.

No doubt in the long run, a system that is supported by fraud will crumble so, even though I might see this advantageous in the short run as a solution to Nigerian youths sufferings, I know intend to attack the grassroots of the situation.

I have proposed some oversimplified solutions to both scamming and the Nigerian economy.

1. The Nigerian Constitution and its Woes

In as much as there is the constitution that we have that has ruined the nation to this stage, and we adamantly still stick it. And for the men in constitution who are only there for their own self-interest, if at least they can only seek to review the Nigerian constitution and its may loopholes to fix the current economic lags that’s deep within the elite and should stop chasing the helpless masses who are after their daily bread.

2. Kill the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)

No, this is not a metaphor or irony; I mean that this commission should be literally killed.

Whatever policy this firm was institutionalized to combat the crime of “Yahoozee,” I would say that say that it has being grossly counter-productive. Looking at it this way (economically, I suppose):

Prior to the advent of computers and Internet, this folks had no means of supporting themselves hence they had to probably resort to theft and some other crime (which is often out of frustration). At this time, those who where little incented to commit crime had to work extremely hard (often to no avail), then came the Internet – these Yahoo guys worked there ways around it and where incented (by the government because of bad policies) to defraud.

As the laws of perfect competition commands, lots of youths entered the “Yahoo” market then entered the government introducing EFCC to curb these yahoos who arrests this folks thereby forcing the previously employed back to the market without the government providing alternative.

Guess what happens, sure the crime drops but then the amount of criminals increase significantly – and who are they coming after – you!

3. Grossly subsidize Companies in infected areas

I seek not to attack Nigerian government policies or encourage scams but as argued previously, attacking the problem on the surface (with EFCC) leaves the core problem rotten. One proposal I love would be to have the government largely subsidize investment in area where scam is most prevalent which obviously would create employment for those who would have otherwise being unemployed after the EFCC force.

I would suggest even local government wooing large organization to maximize the advantage of cheap labor that Nigeria might provide and maybe just like China establish sweats shops. I know most westerners hate to listen to the argument of sweats shop.

Whatever you think, this boosts trade and as usual better than the alternative of thefts and crimes.

While this can be seen as “just some thought,” I strongly believe it is time for a lot of re-orientation in the African way of thinking, implementing and planning.

As simple as it seems, establishing a firm such as the EFCC is like cutting of the stem of an unwanted tree, then fixing the underlying economy is liken to uprooting this tree.

4. Some Silent Assassins

Though it’s often a joke but I supposed if someone if going to be willing to implement this rather crude suggestion, it will not only help the country a long way but also instantly re-orient our thinking.

It is – some iron hearted assassin taking out all those in the elite, ruling the country who, not only keep putting the nation in wreck, have also sworn to continue to propagate ways to recruit followers (their kids) at the mercy of suffering citizens. Then, our will this help? After the death of some culprits, the news will certainly spread, those in their evil status might guess they’ll be next hence decide to either quit or go underground.

On this account, their will be new generation of leaders who have being kept in silence for too long, there will be an implementation of fresh ideas and the country would finally be the hands of those who have the interest of the nation at heart.

Then at some point, Nigeria can be referred to as the next superpower, after the order of countries like China or Brazil.

Meanwhile, I rest my case.

Here’s a write up I did originally April 2008, publishing it now .

To start  with, stop by www.scamorama.com.

Hopefully, at this point, you have an idea of what will be discussed here. Actually, you don’t I’m going to be economically defending this cause of crime (and mock you for being greedy if you’ve ever being scammed).

I was born in Lagos, and as a Lagosion, everyday living is a struggle. To this end,  I reflect on the popularity of Internet scams, I found the cause almost in my face — poverty. And, like it or hate it, crime as it’s  advantages. Join me as I present the lads from Lagos.

Keeping the idle hands busy

In a third world country like Nigeria, most of the guys and girls involved in scamming are most often pushed into it by the extremely high rate of unemployment in this country. In fact, while most would prefer to do something tangible they find themselves left with a government that doesn’t care about their well-being save only the officials and their acquaintances. Don’t let’s forget the saying: the devil employs the idle hand. Bad as it may seem, the devil hasn’t necessarily only employed this idle hand for mischief, but has given them a livelihood and a comfort from a harsh governing. In response, the governments have noticed the effect but don’t see the cause. It set up a body – Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to combat this issue but has failed in dealing with the root – unemployment.

I would rather see guys/girls defrauding than having hungry, angry and idle youths holding a gun to my head (or perhaps, yours!).

Bring on the talents

Unlike what the media might want to portray, when one thinks about it – this lads (scammers in Nigeria) are quite talented. A few of them have been able to successfully trick even those with sophisticated formal knowledge considering how little formal education these folks have.

Obviously, this is not the best use of talent or an ideal one to possess, its sure beats the alternative. At least, they are better at something than nothing at all. Maybe, this kind of skills can be redirected to something more positive if the government cared more, but till then, they must eat.

Meanwhile, let’s put in some economics to action.

GDP?

Believe it or not, the money this folks are making is being spent or even those being saved are all done within the country. Good news for the economy, compared to if everyone was poor and no one can afford anything (except the select few). And then though illegal, there’s a boost in consumption spending which in turn gives a higher GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and in the short run, everyone [seems] better of.

Obviously, I would prefer scam not count as part of a nation’s income but, I have intended to argue in a little way that the method Nigeria has employed in fighting this situation is in the least, ineffective. And more interestingly, crime is functional.