Awake Digest

A young Nigerian recently narrated how he lost a leg to an auto crash on his way to see his new baby at the hospital according to a Facebook page known as DJ C Money Worldwide : As you can see on the above screenshot, the young man is quoted as saying as follows: "I had already called my wife and informed her that I was on my way. I noticed that the driver was on a high speed. I asked him severally to slow down but he kept ignoring the warning. It was the third time that he finally responded angrily, saying that he has been driving for more than 13yrs and that I shouldn't teach him his job" .  The story continues: " I seemed to be the only one complaining, as I noticed the other passengers were all quiet about it. So, I decided to let go and stay mute as well .  "It was after about 10 mins of driving when, it all happened. The driver was trying to overtake a heavy truck. After that, I only saw myself at the hospital after about 12hrs and I was told ...

Image source: The Southern Examiner I visited Festac Town Lagos in 2006 when Tinubu held sway as the state governor. One thing I noticed without anyone telling me was this high austerity level in the air - which contrasted sharply with my experiences in a couple other parts of the country. When I asked, I was told that the 3D suffering levels were as a result of The Obasanjo Federal Government withholding the allocation due to the state. I couldn't understand it because I always knew Lagos as a mega state with such a humongous IGR that it could function beyond average even without any federal allocation. It took me over a decade before I realized what the man was actually doing then under the noses of millions of citizens. I remembered to revisit this issue because I see now a reenactment of what happened in Lagos in those days. The only difference I see is that then, it happened at a state level but now it is happening at the national level. Here are some of the strate...

A study by Statistics South Africa found that 44.4% of 25,526 divorces granted in 2016 concerned marriages yet to celebrate their 10th anniversary. The report published to mark the 2018 royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan also noted that “ generally, the proportion of divorces for black Africans increased while that of the white population group declined from 2003 to 2016” . Although formal divorce cases in other parts of Africa (such as Nigeria) may go as low as 1.2% - or 1.4% for separations , the official rates are likely due to cultural inhibitions and a lack of legislative content and exposure. Otherwise, the reality on ground indicates that up to 50% of marriages in all these countries get to be as good as divorce by their 10th anniversary as well. As the US National Library of Medicine's document (just linked to) observed about Nigeria, “ as duration of marriage increased, the odds of marital disruption increased” . Unfortunately, many African married people may n...