Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Nigerians should appease Awo in grave - Amsterdam based Ghanian

Nigeria, wake Awo from his grave —Nyarko, Amsterdam-based Ghanaian

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10.Sep.2014 DISQUS_COMMENTS Wale Ojo-Lanre

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Wale Ojo Lanre, Associate Editor, Tourism in an encounter with a Ghanaian, Daniel Nyarko who believed that Nigeria is in distress because they offended Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Having crossed from Belgium to Holland, after a five-day intensive course at Hasselt University on Green Growth and Travelism (Travel and Tourism) there was the need to purchase a new SIM card as I learnt that the Lyca Sim card, which was obtained in Brussels might not be of service to me in Amsterdam where I wished to visit some tourism sites.

As Akogun Banji Ojo, a Nigerian friend who domiciles in Amsterdam and Europe, Coordinator, Oodua Progressive Union, (OPU) picked me at the Schipol International Airport, I stressed the urgent need for me to acquire a SIM card.

He informed that SIM card is free in Amsterdam unlike in Belgium where a SIM costs 7.5 Euros and assured I would get one at Albert Heijn, one of the Malls in Krainneist, a stone throw from his house.

A 15-minute drive from the airport got us to the Mall and we approached one of the shops, which showcased on its door bills and posters of different network providers which claim to be the best for Africa.

As we entered the shop which is obviously run by an African, (the Ghana community dominated Amsterdam), the man behind the counter saluted the OPU leader with a smile and said mockingly “Omo Nigeria, your country should be ruling Africa now, see what your people turned your country to and here you are eking out crumbs from foreign land.”

Akogun Ojo who is used to the man’s tantrums instead of responding asked for a free Lyca SIM card for a friend coming from Nigeria.

But I felt otherwise and before he could fetch the package, I asked Akogun who the man was, ‘Don’t mind him, he is just a run-away from Ghana).

Before Akogun could finish his statement, the man retorted, “Yes, I am a Ghanaian driven out of Africa by the ineptitude of our people, I mean the stupidity of our people and irresponsible leaders.

“See, in my own case, it was the CIA and the imperialists that killed our visionary late Kwame Nkrumah, but in your own case it was you people, bad Nigerians who frustrated Chief Obafemi Awolowo, an angel sent by God to deliver your country and the best statesman that ever rioe in your country and prevented him from ruling your country for good. Now, see you here making yanga. Can’t you see them in Ghana too, the irresponsible leaders, who claimed to have found oil but went to borrow huge money, spent it irresponsibly before exploiting or exploring the oil. Now, Ghana has spent money, which they have not started to earn. All of them are yeye.”

Sincerely, when he mentioned Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s name I was pinched to engage him as he spoke so glowingly about the founder of the newspaper where I also eke out a living, but being hungry, tired and pressed by nature, I asked Akogun not to engage him in any frivolities as we hurriedly got the packet of Lyca mobile without allowing him to fix and configure it properly for data service.

It was after satisfying my immediate physical need that. I inserted the SIM into my phone, made a few calls to Nigeria and switched to Google for some information only to discover that I have not configured the sim for this purpose.

Though a message for configuration was sent which I could not do successfully, hence my sense directed me to visit the Ghanaian’s shop at Albert Heijn for the configuration.

Then my journalistic instinct was stoked “engage him in a chat particularly the one related to Chief Awolowo. Are you not surprised that Awo’s names resonated here, not from a Nigerian but from a Ghanaian? Are you not surprised that what you people did not value is being adored by others even in a foreign land by a foreigner at least he is not a Nigerian. I seized this opportunity to get more out of him.”

Luckily, as I got there, he recognised me and kick-started the chat without knowing my ulterior motive.

“Omo Nigeria, ki lo de (Nigerian, what is the problem?)

I explained to him my predicament.

As he started configuring the sim, he continued his ranting about Nigerians, “You people missed your saviour in Awolowo, that man would have turned Nigeria to paradise. However, you denied him that power. I pity you.”

I then asked him “Who are you? Are you a Nigerian? “

“I am not. I am a Ghanaian. My name is Daniel Nyarko. I can never be a Nigerian where you prevented the emergence of a world leader which is Awolowo.”

“So what is your business with Nigeria and Chief Obafemi Awolowo?,” I asked him

“Haw! Nigeria is the biggest country in that part of the continent. It has everything in abundance. Nigeria was created to lead the black world, but being submerged and reduced to a lilliput by you people. I am an African and believe in Nigeria’s leadership role in that continent,” he retorted.

Did you ever live in Nigeria?

“I have never lived in Nigeria. I only transited in Nigeria, when I was coming here in the 80’s. Got no business in Nigeria,” came a sharp reply from him.”

“So what is your business with Chief Awolowo? Have you read his books or what?”

“I never met him or read any of his books, but I learnt about him when growing up in Ghana, his works and revolutionary legacies which I learnt are still unbeatable in Nigeria. With what I read of him, I have been monitoring Nigerian leaders since that time and I have not seen any who can match even his 20 per cent performance and vision,” he pointed out

“Look, my brother, Chief Awolowo was a messiah sent to you by God to build Nigeria into greatness, but you people rejected. See my PC, I sit down here and monitor events and read news about home. You people should go and wake up Chief Awolowo, beg him profusely and ask him to come and rule you again.

“It is then that the glory of God will shine in that country. If you cannot do this, kindly tell your country to appease him. You messed him up, lost him and deprived Africa a man of greatness. It is a pity.”

As we continued the chat, there was a deluge of customers asking for attention and sensing the pressure and dictates of the time, I bade him good-bye

“My brother, we see again. But tell your people at home that you people deprived us I mean Africa a global leader that would have been greater than George Washington.”

In addition, I left his shop ruminating on what a great name to leave behind!

Thursday, 4 September 2014

The Ten Commandments of Air Travel

The Ten Commandments of Air Travel: The simple in-flight rules on Knee Defenders, baggage space, queues and arm rests that will stop every other passenger hating you

Knee Defenders, which stop seats reclining, have been causing in-air fights
Other classic mid-air rows are caused by armrest hogs and bag allowances
Queuing and the window blinds also cause unrest on flights
nts

The Wright Brothers did not know what they were getting us all into. When those dashing pioneers first flew in December 1903, they thought they were ushering in a bright new era of travel, where the world would soar from country to country in a happy and contended manner.

Little did they know that they were cracking open a can of worms. A really very wriggly can, where the worms all have terribly bad tempers, and don’t like each other very much.

A century (and a bit) on from the Wrights’ grand innovation, the modern air journey is a thing fraught with frustrations – where passengers battle for leg space and threaten to go into a sort of meltdown akin to Jack Nicholson in The Shining over who uses the armrest.

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A design for life: Follow these simple rules, and your flight can be more like this (left), and less like Jack (right)

It can all be a thoroughly unpleasant experience – unless you listen to the voice of reason and follow these ten wise, careful rules for more congenial air travel.

Follow a few of them, and your next journey overseas will be a more pleasant scenario for you and your fellow flyers. Follow all of them, and you definitely won’t be the persona non grata who has to be escorted to the terminal as soon as the plane lands because everyone on board hates you. Including the pilot, and all the pilot’s friends.

Shall we get started?

Not playing fairly: Knee Defenders have been causing rows on planes, and have been banned by some airlines

1. Don’t use Knee Defenders…

To be entirely honest, these dastardly gadgets were the main reason for this article. If you are unfamiliar with them, these are the ‘discreet’ locks which can be clipped to the seat in front of you. Once in place, they prevent the passenger in said berth from reclining their chair, thus saving your limbs from being knocked when the inevitable push-back comes.

A good idea? No.

Knee Defenders are snide, invidious devices which invade someone else’s right to a sliver of extra comfort in a not-very-comfortable situation. Airlines like Virgin and Qantas have already banned them. If you use them, you are the sort of mean-spirited person who tells a three-year-old that Father Christmas does not exist, and laughs at the part of Bambi where mummy gets shot.

Do you want to be that person? Do you?

Stop that recline: The Knee Defender in action

Are you looking at my arm rest? Battles over the central space between seats are a regular cause of friction

2. …but be considerate in your reclining…

The reason that Knee Defenders have been invented is because leg space is an issue. So think before you push your seat back. Is the person behind you the sort of tall gentleman who looks like he could be an NBA basketball player? Then perhaps don’t deprive him of that last centimetre of room. Are you a child who doesn’t need extra space? It’s time your parents told you this.

Do you really need to recline the seat the moment after take-off, and have it wedged down for 11 hours? Are you really so tired? You need to buy a better bed.

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3. …and bring the seat back up during meal service

This is really quite simple. If the person behind you is forced to eat their dinner of congealed pasta in a sauce that may or may not include tomato with the tray rammed into their chest because your seat is still down, then you are a thoroughly selfish human being.

4. Do not fight the Arm Rest War

Because in the Arm Rest War, there can be no winners. There are two of you. There is but one arm rest. You are going to have to work out a compromise.

Do – try to accommodate each other’s elbows, and share the space. If you brush arms, turn to your co-traveller and smile politely. Especially if they are handsome/pretty and possibly single.

Do not – keep your arm along the whole length of the rest at all times, and harrumph like a startled and easily-angered racehorse any time your neighbour tries to join the ‘fun’. That is just rude.

Form an orderly line: The rules of queuing are simple. Find the back. Start there. Your turn will come

5. Don’t be a queue jumper

It is one of the true mysteries of modern life.

Airplanes are cramped places where, ideally, you should want to spend as little time as possible. Why are you so determined to be on board the instant the doors are open?

But no, there you are, trying to push your way into a boarding queue that has already formed, and has a distinct and well defined end to it. It is over there. That is where you should be. And don’t think that your ‘method’ of casually loitering by the edge of the line, then gradually trying to filter in, has not been observed. It has been observed. Get to the back, queue-jumper. The plane won’t leave without you. The pilot hasn’t even boarded yet. Look. He’s still over there buying a coffee. Chill out.

6. Obey the hand-luggage rule…

Airlines do not impose the draconian one-cabin-bag rule because they are desperate penny-pinchers worried about fuel costs. Actually, scratch that, yes they are.

But this regulation is in place because there is only so much space on board. If you have somehow side-stepped carry-on lore by stuffing a handbag into a wheely suitcase into a rucksack into a laptop case, you have Too Much Stuff. You are not flying. You are moving house.

Room for a little one? Overly stuffed overhead lockers can be the bane of other passengers' lives

7. …and store bags properly

While we are talking about that wheely suitcase, it will go into the overhead locker head on. If it didn’t, the airline would have made you check it in.

If you store it sideways, you are depriving someone else of the storage space they have paid for.

So don’t get upset and whiny when passengers who board after you start rearranging the locker to maximise the available room because you were too lazy or inconsiderate to do it. You asked for this.

8. Know your body

Are you a person who will sleep for 12 unbroken hours, and barely stir during a hellish bout of turbulence that makes everyone else think they are going to die? Good for you. Let’s hope you chose a window seat, and are not slumped next to the aisle, making your fellow row-members climb over you for the next half a day.

Equally, are you a passenger who needs regular toilet breaks? Fine – but you need the aisle seat. You do not need to be waking me up every 30 minutes with that ‘I’m going to have an accident’ face.

Seriously, when will this guy be done? Nothing feels longer than the wait for the toilet at 36,000ft

9. Do not hog the bathroom

On the subject of toilets, here is a quick mathematical question:

If there are two-hundred-and-something people in an economy-class cabin, but only eight toilets, how long should each passenger dedicate to their bodily functions? The answer – as little as is physically possible without emerging with your trousers/skirt around your ankles.

Keep it quick. Do not do your make-up in the mirror while seven other people are queuing outside. On, and keep it fragrant. There are hotels and homes for that other thing. Everyone can hear you.

10. The blind cannot stay down forever

You have had the window covered while you slept. That is acceptable. But now we are coming into land over the skyscrapers of New York/the golden coast of California/the grand bay of Rio de Janeiro, and I want to see the scenery. That blind goes up. Now

See the cheapest countries with cheapest airfare in the world !

India named cheapest country in the world for flights... with Malaysia in second place (but UK tickets cost THREE times as much)

Survey shows India and Malaysia cheapest for flights
The UK is the 22nd cheapest country for flights on average
Wide differences between travel costs across countries is revealed

When it comes to air travel, India and Malaysia are the cheapest places to fly in the world according to a new survey on global transport.

Finland and Switzerland are the most expensive places to catch a plane, with Denmark coming out top overall as THE most expensive country to travel overall on all forms of transport.

The survey, carried out by Berlin based travel search website GoEuro, looked at 51 countries across five continents to work out the average price to travel per 100 kilometres by plane, train and bus.

It might have been cheaper to fly... India's airfare wars have cut costs dramatically

According to the results India came up trumps costing just $10.36 (£6.28) on average to travel 100 kilometres on a commercial flight.

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That's about a third of the cost of flights in the UK and less than one thirteenth of the cost of flying in the most expensive country in the world, Finland, where it costs $138.90 (£84) to fly the same distance.

In fact, Airfares in India are so low that it is often cheaper to travel by air than take the train: According to the survey, a 100 kilometre train journey in India costs $15.98 (£9.60) and going by bus the same distance $6.17 (£3.70).

It might be pretty but it's pretty expensive too... Denmark's average travel costs are the highest globally

Flight cost index shows the cheapest and most expensive flights in the world

The second cheapest country for air travel was Malaysia, where the cost was an average $12.27 (£7.42) to fly 100 kilometres, South Africa was third at $12.48 (£7.54) and suprisingly, Australia was number four costing $13.09 (£7.90) over the same distance.

India's current airfare war is the reason given for the low prices, as airlines compete for the country’s growing middle class sector and the number of domestic travellers is projected to triple to 159 million by 2021.

So which countries should you avoid if you don’t want to burn a hole in your pocket? Denmark was followed closely by Switzerland as the second most expensive country overall costing an average of $39.84 (£24.10) and $38.28 (£23.15) respectively to travel 100km, putting them way ahead of the UK's modest $9.59 (£5.80).

Bargains to be had! The UK is the 22nd cheapest country to travel, beating many European destinations

'Yes I know this way's cheaper but I'm a bit cold, can we fly next time?'

Train prices index compares the prices of train travel around the world

The extent of the difference between travel costs is clear with the data showing the average cost of travelling 100km in South Africa is just $1.88 (£1.13), a fraction of the price of those countries in the top ten, and a staggering 4.7 per cent of the price of Denmark's average.

The UK is believe it or not the 22nd cheapest country to travel in using all three forms of transport, making it cheaper than most West European countries apart from Spain as well as the US and India.

Tuesday, 2 September 2014

Gov Mimiko inaugurates highway emergency medical centres

Mimiko inaugurates highway emergency medical centres

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Nigerian Tribune 03.Sep.2014 0 Comments Wale Ojo-Lanre

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A medical research published sometimes ago showed that 79.5 per cent of deaths through road accident would have been prevented had it been there have been prompt emergency and rescue effort.

Though no one prays for an accident to happen whenever one is on a tour or travelling. Anyway, accidents do occur due either to mechanical fault or through bad driving behavioural pattern of road users or bad roads.

Though the Federal Government has set up institutions to check the rate of road accidents and reduce deaths especially through the effort of its agency, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) there has been no frontal or stringent consciousness at preventing death from road accidents, which could have been prevented by quick emergency intervention from medical officials.

This has been one of the obstacles challenging the growth of tourism and killing the passion of making travelling a hobby.

The question is “In case of an accident, would there be quick access to medical attention or fast rescue acts?

Lives, which could have been saved, have been lost due to inability of victims to get quick medical attention within 30 minutes or an hour of incident.

The Ondo State government through its caring heart project for not only the people of the state, but Nigerians in general, has established four points where emergency medical services could be given to victims within minutes on all the four highways crossing the state.

In order to ensure the success of the scheme, the Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko has inaugurated the Ondo State Emergency Medical Service Agency in five entry posts of the state at Ilaramokin, which has been servicing Akure-Ilesa and Ibadan highway.

While Ore, which takes care of Benin-Ore Expressway, Oka, servicing the Akoko-Abuja and Omuo inter State road , Owo base will see to any emergency demands on the Owo-Abuja and Benin while that of Bolorunduro takes care of Akure-Ondo and Ore Highway.

The five points which have been inaugurated are serviced with well-trained staff and medical facilities equipped to offer minor operation before getting to the conventional theatre.

At Ilaramokin centre, an officer revealed “The highway emergency medical service is an integral part of the Ondo State Trauma System – a three-level initiative based on established public health prevention principles and best-practices in trauma care, namely. We are here to offer traumatic injury prevention, by conducting injury surveillance, collaborative advocacy and community awareness with emphasis on early detection and supra treatment of injuries via medically directed pre-hospital highway rescue. We are also charged to do everything humanly and medically possible to reduce motor crash-related disability through efficient and prompt emergency attention to victims.”

A tour of the Ilaramokin centre revealed a well thought out scheme shaped to save lives, minimise cost of accidents and freeing the road of accident induced traffic chaos.

The Ilara Centre is equipped with a towing vehicle, extrication equipment, a state of the art ambulance and staff which are passionate about their job.

“We have been trained to handle any emergency situation and prevent quick death on the roads. We have all it takes to prevent careless deaths. We are equipped to provide the necessary human medical assistance and attention to prolong and sustain emergency cases before getting to the hospital, “revealed Charles Wale, one of the staff.

“Have a look at the ambulance, you will see drugs and equipment and other necessary facilities.

“We are kitted and ready. Our job here is to do everything humanly possible to prevent preventable losses.”

Mimiko inaugurates highway emergency medical centres

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03.Sep.2014 DISQUS_COMMENTS Wale Ojo-Lanre