Akinbode's BLOG on Faith, Politics, Science, Engineering, Education and Health

Are you ready, Nigerian youths (those between 18 - 40 years)? Nigerian youths constitute over 70% of the electorate, the power to influence a change and install the right leader is in the hands of young Nigerians. Please, seize this power - the power of your vote. I implore Nigerians, especially the youth, to troop out on Saturday to vote, bearing in mind that the nation's future is in their hands. We cannot afford to experiment or make another mistake. It will be another four years of compounded suffering that will escalate. There is a need for power to change hands to the person that you believe will lead a change for ALL Nigerians - not the one that will benefit you personally because he is of the same religion or ethnic group as you, or because he will give you contract or hire your family. When Nigeria is prosperous, you do not need any politician to be successful, you just need to work hard and be ready to stake rightly. I, like many Nigerians in the diaspora, am nervous and ...

Hundreds of millions of Nigerians are suffering and among these suffer-suffer "pepulu" some are busy cursing and abusing their friends and family members on social media in the name of politicians that will throw banters after the election, win or lose. Nigerians are supposed not to take the bait again. Instead of fighting one another, we should grill these people like eran asun (roasted meat). We should ask them what their plans are for us and our wards, we should tell them to debate each other so that we can know who is truly competent, and we should tell them that our votes are not for sale but free for the best candidate who has proven him/herself. What the majority of Nigerians want is a better Nigeria where we can all thrive without any connection to any politician or influential person. The way to get that is not by fighting on social media but by being truly a part of the process..... In the end, if you are eligible to vote, make sure to go out and vote your conscienc...

I am not in any way discounting the importance of an excellent leader in causing a change in his country. A leader is only as good as his followers. For any new president to succeed post-Buhari era in Nigeria, he must receive the backing of all, especially the majority of the people including the special interest groups.   The rush of many Nigerians to back Peter Obi I presume is because the two mainstream parties that have ruled Nigeria since 1999 have failed the people of the nation miserably and the people are desperately in need of change. Buhari promised so much 8 years ago, but he delivered HELL instead and he is unapologetic about it. Buhari believes he has done well with the pain of Nigerians which include his kinsmen in Katsina and Kano that stoned him lately - he is a grossly incompetent president that refused to engage in the process of governance and uses de factos with selfish interest to lead. The bottom is almost caving under him and he is not bothered one bit. He re...

You may know Blessing Okagbare, the Nigerian athlete who holds the national 100 m record and Africa's record until 2021, and her debacle with performance-enhancing drugs during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The provider of the drugs to Okagbare, an American by name of Eric Lira, was also implicated in another athlete's case, who is designated as "athlete 2" while Okagbare was designated as athlete 1 by the FBI who investigated Eric Lira. There are no other athletes outed other than these two Nigerians whereas the court filing said there were others. That Athlete 2 happens to be Divine Oduduru. How come only Nigerians were scapegoats in Eric Lira's case? There is no single American. FBI does not do a haphazard's job, they are thorough. They must have seized Eric's phone and have access to all the athletes he has ever treated or communicated with about selling drugs to, why was none reported to the professional associations of the athletes. Oduduru's crime...

I implore Nigerians of voting age to vote their conscience because the vultures have set themselves again to derail any potential for the emancipation of Nigeria. They want to continue the bleeding of the country without consideration for those who are powerless, the majority of the people of the nation. Nigeria's situation is beyond pathetic and very disheartening. Everything seems to be falling apart, and hope is becoming dimmer while the majority of the politicians (irrespective of party affiliation) continue to lie to Nigerians to maintain the status quo. The current administration has destroyed what is left of the gains since the turn of the millennium when we thought Nigeria has turned the corner, ruined the economy, impoverish more Nigerians per capita than at any time in the 62-year history of the nation, and more children are out of school, diasporans are afraid to come home again because of the state of insecurity - drawing from the experience of others who have met misfo...

Governor SEYI MAKINDE and his Associates within the Oyo State government who are seeking a second term are CALLED OUT on the subject of none payment of GRATUITY of many Lautech Pensioners in the last 13 years (if not longer). Almost all, if not all lautech staff (academic and non-academic) who retired since 2010 (as much as I can gather) have not been paid their FULL GRATUITY since they left the services of the University 13 years ago. Inflation has made nonsense of this money for many of these people. Only God knows how many have died waiting for their gratuity that may never be paid again because of the bureaucracy around securing payment for a deceased During the tenure of Prof. Ologunde, an effort was made to pay some part of the gratuity but a significant amount is still owed to a majority. I do not know anyone who has retired since 2010 that has been fully paid their Gratuity. During the current tenure of Prof. Liasu, zero naira has been paid - nothing. It is disheartening that u...

https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/pixels-of-progress-chapter-5 If you are interested in indices of growth globally, this McKinsey's report 👆👆👆 on growth in China and other microregions of the world will be of interest to you. Unfortunately, sub-Sahara (SSA) performed worst - no single region in SSA saw a GDP increase up to $8,300 concurrently with life expectancy over 72 years - ZERO, not Ghana, not Senegal, not Botswana, not South Africa nor Kenya or Nigeria, not even Rwanda that has seen significant growth in the last decade. I presume the life-expectancy aspect is where most SSA countries fell short. The continent needs to do better when it comes to primary and secondary health delivery to its people. You can imagine when the majority dies before the age of 54 years - that is the case in Nigeria where life expectancy is 53 years. The region loses a lot of brains to unnecessary death because our hospitals have become undertaker houses - no doctors/poorly trained doctor...