A Wasted Life

Jerry was a young boy of 27.  He lived in Ojo barracks with his parents. Jerry was naturally lazy and did not think of future.  His father Benjamin Joshua loved him and tried to satisfy him with  the little he had but Jerry was never satisfied.
When he was still in secondary school, Jerry always refused to go to school particularly if they asked them to bring anything and his father could not afford the item.  Jerry would refuse to go to school instead he would throw himself into the street and played away his life. His mother Debby could not talk to him. At the age of 14,  Jerry dropped out of school and went to join touts at a motor park. His parents were worried about this unruly behaviour but Jerry did not see anything bad in it.  By the time Jerry was 18 he had become a full 'agbero' at Agboju garage, extorting money from bus drivers and he was really good at it.  He did the 'agbero' job till all his siblings finished school and went to tertiary institutions.  His dad decided to go and report him to one of  his uncle, called uncle Williams. Uncle Williams was a nice man and he helped in the Joshua's family matters. Uncle Williams sent for Jerry at Agboju barracks and surprisingly he showed up.
"Jerry, why are you wasting your life,  all your mates are in the University. What are you doing to have a good future", asked Uncle Williams.
"Jerry could not answer, he knew he had actually wasted his life by then he was aged 27.  But he enjoyed his 'agbero job and the free money he got from it.
"You see uncle. "Jerry started, "I have wasted enough time; I can't go to school again.I want to play football".
"You?can you play football"? asked his uncle. "Very well sir, when I was in school. We used to organise street matches and our team always take the lead" answered Jerry.
Truly Uncle Williams remembered that Jerry was a good player but he just could not trust him for anything. He was too much a truant. But when he insisted that he would play football, uncle Williams accepted and said he would help him in one of the clubs in his companies.
"I will look for a good football team and include your name.  I hope you will be a good boy and don't go there to drag my name in the mud". said Uncle Williams.  "No sir, I promise to be a good boy", answered Jerry.
Uncle Williams was great; he helped Jerry to join Mobil International Football team.  Jerry passed the interview, arranged by his uncle.  Both Jerry's parents and uncle Williams warned Jerry not to go back to the garage.  But Jerry being a natural truant turned a defiant ear and went back to the garage.
It happened one day at the garage, a member of his gang was fighting one bus driver to pay his due and a policeman intervened that Femi, as the boy was called should stop fighting the bus driver.  Femi insulted him and said that he was doing his duty that the policeman should mind his business.  Argument ensued between the two.  This attracted the rest in the garage including Jerry.
"Excuse sir, Na hin work he dey do and this na our domain, e no concern you". chorused the boys.
The policeman out of annoyance gave one of the boys a slap and tried to shoot him.  Another boy in the gang snatched the gun from the policeman.  He too tried to harass the policeman not knowing that his hand was on the trigger as he pulled the trigger, a bullet came out of the barrel and shot the policeman.  The Policeman fell down and died.  The boys were greatly scared as this brought fear upon them.  Before anybody could raise alarm, they had took to their heels and disappeared.  Jerry did not first know where to run to.  He ran as fast as his legs could take him.  When he got to Badagry the second day he remembered his credentials and letter of appointment from Mobil International Football Team was kept in the garage and he could not go back their because of what had happened.  Already, he had started to see the news of the dead policeman in the newspapers.  Government had vowed to deal with the killers if they were caught.  So Jerry ran further to Topo at Badagry, he remembered the warnings of his parents and uncle not to go back to the garage.  The day he would resume at Mobil International came and went he could not resume because of his credentials kept at the garage and he could not return home for fear of being caught.  Jerry lost the job and lost everything too.


Balogun Sade

Restrain of 'Okada' motor bike from major roads

Okada was banned from major or high road in particular in May 

2012.

I am not a perfect 'okada' rider but occasional because I dread the 

fatal accident of okada riding.  I did not quickly observe the scanty 

number of the vehicle on roads until I observe that when you move 

near the drivers and mention areas close to high ways they instantly

reject your offer.  I first thought may be they have certain areas that

they ply or maybe the fee mentioned by the commuter is small.  But

when I see the snobbish way they reject the dreaded areas and run 

with their okada or also the way they run for dear lives at the sight 

of any policeman made me smell some rats.  So I moved close to 

people as my usual practice of getting information. They told me 

that Governor Babatunde Fashola had banned the 'Okada' drivers 

from major roads due to the very bloody nature of their ('Okada') 

accidents.   

Never Ever Give Up

The life of Thomas Edison is a lesson to inspire anyone who thinks giving up is an option. Let me share his story with you. December 1914 he had worked for 10 years on a storage battery. This had greatly strained his finances. This particular evening spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing compounds, celluloid for records and film, and other flammable goods were in flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived, but the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that the attempt to douse the flames was futile. Everything was destroyed. Edison was 67. With all his assets going up in a whoosh (although the damage exceeded two million dollars, the buildings were only insured for $238,000 because they were made of concrete and thought to be fireproof), would his spirit be broken?  

The inventor's 24-year old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind. "My heart ached for him," said Charles. "He was 67--no longer a young man--and everything was going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, 'Charles, where's your mother?' When I told him I didn't know, he said, 'Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.'" The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, "There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew." Three weeks after the fire, Edison managed to deliver the first phonograph.

This story portrays the importance of being persistent in whatever you do. Sometimes things go wrong and not as planned. Sometimes challenges come knocking seeming overwhelming. But it is important to keep at whatever it is you are doing and to be optimistic. For every great achievement, there are setbacks and failures at some point. Your story will be no different except you settle for less. But as long as you aim big and remain focus, hurdles will come up and would be overcome. However, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade out of it. It is never over until you call it over. Stand up and win over any discouraging feeling, challenge and unexpected happenstances. Don’t give up now not even later.  If you give up too soon, you will never know what you will be missing, keep going and never quite. Remember, many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they quite.

Well, you may cry if need be, moan, whine, snivel, lament, grumble, complain but never ever give up. Forget all the reasons why it won’t work and believe the only reason why it will.  Success…