ZIKALICIOUS

There are no decent drivers in Lagos, none! I tell you. If you have ever told yourself that you will never act crazy on your daily commute to work and that you will probably drive peacefully, play some gospel or inspirational  music and then  wave at everyone you saw on your way.... hey! Wake up!! let me burst your bubble. It’s never going to happen, because abiding by the rules and remaining  clam on the Lagos roads do not exactly apply here. Lagos is the commercial nerve of Nigeria with a population size of around 21 million people, which includes Lagos itself and the  surrounding metro areas extending into far areas of Ogun state. We sometimes call it  “ The New-York” of Nigeria to make ourselves feel better, It is our consolation  strategy as to why Lagos is chaotic and horrendously fast paced. Here, we have street hawkers, beggars, street lights that don’t function as the should and crazy commercial drivers; bikes, buses and tricycles, we...

I got a WhatsApp message today......and it was not the usual. The recipient who was somewhat a client thought it was appropriate that everyone in the group chat knew he was not ordinary and so he made sure it sank in! “My name Doctor, Umezulora 1, Evangelist, Apostle......” This was how he would end every message. It may look like a joke to some of you but unfortunately it was something we all had to put up with. I had met this client a few days back and he seemed like an intelligent/warm individual but, what I could not understand was why he had to introduce himself using all his titles. It was funny at first, but I became worried afterwards. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or pull my hair out in frustration. I looked around the room to see if anyone rolled their eyes every time he did that but it seemed the rest of the team were fine with it......so I thought. The  meeting ended in high notes, I gave a quick excuse as to why I had to leave early so I didn’t have to he...

Have you noticed the trend too, or is it just me? Well, if you haven't, I say welcome to my neighborhood where the puppy and dog population have finally taken over the entire area. When I say dogs, I mean all kinds! We barely sleep these days, they resume barking from as early as 6 am till about midnight when they finally fall asleep. As cute as they may look, their constant barking and dog droppings can drive anyone crazy. I'm beginning to think that this has become some sort of a weird trend in Lagos. Sometimes, I am forced to think that Nigerians overdo it just a little. We jump on trends blindly! I'm angry because I deal with situations like this every day. We constantly have to deal with aggressive barks coming from a neighbor's flat who has two badly behaved dogs that bark continuously as if they are high on weed. It's so bad, it wakes the ent neighborhood up every morning and keeps us on our toes for the rest of the day... We try to to locat...

Last week I had a taste of the renewed and intensified effort of The Lagos State government to increase its internally generated revenue. Lagos has long been acknowledged as perhaps the only State that can survive without Federation account. I understand that Ogun State is strongly on the heels of Lagos. During the reign of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as governor of Lagos, very strategic decisions were taken, to make Lagos financially viable and independent. The first was the lagos version of the Land Use act called Land use charge,which compelled all land owners to pay tax on their property across the state. This was stoutly resisted especially by the organized Private sector,leading to court cases. It was eventually resolved in favour of the State, following government’s agreement to reduce the tax rate. Today this has become a major revenue for Lagos. So what oil should be for oil bearing states is what land is for Lagos! Then there was the sales tax, which again was fought by the busines...

Entertainment   I am  a very bright young man, everyone says so all the time and my parents? …….they  drum it down my eardrums every single day! ” You know you are a special child”……”.These genes were inherited from your  great grand Father”, “Your Grand Father had special gifts”…”.He could tell you what you were thinking”, “Papa was good at calculating numbers and inventing new machinery to help his colleagues in his field”…… my parents would go on for hours about my Grand Fathers exploits with pride My name is Emeka, I have a small family unit, my Dad, Mum, two younger Sisters who were completely normal and me! I was the only male child and mostly remember growing into adulthood and being  told  what to do, where to go, how to behave and who to talk to …sometimes I just felt like  a robot, my response was always a ‘ Yes Mum….Yes Dad , the only way to keep my family happy I excelled in my school work and would have loved to have d...

It was Mixed feelings, my flight had been booked and my meeting was set for two days ( although I would have liked  to have spent  a few more days to experience and explore) So, It was my first time in South Africa and I had heard a lot of stories about its history and was eager to see all I could during my short stay I arrived Johannesburg around 2am South-African time and was at time jet lagged and needed to get some rest Walking throughb the terminal was like walking through in a  haze ….my legs were so heavy, it felt like I  dragged bricks along with me Finally, I spotted my pick up driver holding the up a sign with my name on it. He was so kind to help carry my luggage South Africa was well lit but I had heard from the driver that there what he called ” Load Sharing ” (Power outage) and there was always a media announcement if there was going be any outage of any sort( where I come from that felt  like they were pampered a lot!  LOL…but ...

Variety they say is the spice of life, you can never get enough of the different variety of rich African delicacies  available in West Africa I took a short to trip to Ghana and immediately wanted to try every dish available within the short time frame. these three dishes were all I had time for and must say …they are all very tasty! Jollof rice, Chicken Kebab with Ghanaian Chili peppers Ingredients: 2 pounds Chicken 3 Onions 12 Tomatoes 15 Kpakpo shito (hot green peppers) 1 tablespoon blend of spices (ginger, garlic, onion, bay leaves, cloves, rosemary) 3 tablespoons tomato puree 1 desertpoon curry 4 cups rice 2 cups cooking oil 2 maggi cubes Salt Start by cutting  chicken into equal parts, remove skin and wash thoroughly and set aside NEXT marinate Chicken with   spices: 1 maggi cube  and pinch of salt. Leave it to marinate in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Slice  onions, wash and drain the rice set aside an...