THE CONVERSATION (For Universal Children's Day)

Guest Writer: Olisakwe Ukamaka Evelyn

(Image Credit:5forum.biz)

Chidinma sat before me, eyes fixed on mine, brows creased in expectation, waiting for when I would begin The Conversation. It is important, this conversation, because:
She is growing faster than I can breathe.
I never had this conversation with my own mother. It would have been easier if I had it with my mother. There are many ways she could get taught wrongly, if I avoid this conversation. She really wants us to talk about this.

CHILD (For Universal Children's day)

Guest Writer: Lekh Raj

(Image Credit: worldfotographyart)

When first approached to contribute something to mark ‘Universal children’s day’, I found myself in a quandary and made use of internet connectivity which has numerous information, virtually at your fingertips. It is there to remind us of the disparity of conditions between children growing up all over the world. Of how no child deserves to be without the necessities of food, shelter, medical care and schooling. You can find out more about this observance by clicking here. (http://www.un.org/en/events/childrenday/)

TO BE A MAN (For International Men's Day)

Guest Writer: Ikhide R. Ikheloa



(Image Credit: justhappyquotes)

For the Men in Our Lives...
 

We are living in fascinating times – on many levels. Relationships are being assessed in the light of civil and human rights and life as we know it in the 21st century. Labels abound; misogyny, misandry, feminism, patriarchy, matriarchy, etc. Depending on which side you are. Most of these labels are pejoratives used to describe crushing dysfunctions. Anyhow you look at it, man, as in the male, seems to be under pressure, if not under attack, to change his ways. The family structure with the man at the top or at the center is now seen as something designed by Early Man, something that should go the way of the dodo. There is good reason for these feelings. Patriarchy in its worst forms is a form of oppression and even in societies with robust laws, structures and processes, women and children often bear the brunt of patriarchy and its attendant misogyny. Change is coming, but it is not coming fast enough.

REMEMBER US (Action Plan For International Journalists' Remembrance Day)

Image Credit: tweepi

Journalists are the fourth estate of the society. This fourth estate defends the cause of truth, freedom and justice and the men and women who make it up, are fearless people who challenge the polity and dimensions of governance with their Pen. Needless to say, some of these ones have lost their lives in the cause of defending truth, freedom and justice and striving to create necessary changes in necessary places. On a day like this, we're hopeful that their spirits are still with us in  Press rooms all over the world and on the field, even as we carry on the cause for which they died for, building on their legacies and seeking the permanent establishment of truth, freedom and justice. We call on you to act in the commemoration of this day and those great ones we hold dear in fighting this cause.  

A STROLL WITH JENNIFER EHIDIAMEN (For International Journalists' Remembrance Day)

“I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is an immediate short-term weapon.” ~Tom Stoppard

From the village town crier reporting at the market square to the foreign correspondent on cable TV, we are grateful to all the men and women who invest their time, resources, and even put their lives on the line to keep us all informed on a day-to-day basis. Journalism has evolved over the years, and the evolution of technology has facilitated this process a great deal. Right now we have a wide range of information sources to choose from and we can even share our own views with people from around the world in real time.

My guest, Jennifer, is a tech savvy Nigerian Journalist keen about using the new media as a tool to disseminate information. She’s presently serving as a senior reporter and media trainer at Global Press Institute, and she’s a 2013 new media fellow at the International Reporting project at John Hopkins University SAIS.

We talked about her flare for journalism; the evolution of Global journalism down the years; other youth leadership and entrepreneurial ventures she’s involved in; and so much more. For International Journalist’s Remembrance Day 2013, here is my stroll with Jennifer Ehidiamen;

FLORENTINA (For International Day for Tolerance)

Guest Writer: Dike-Ogu Chukwumerije

Image Credit: wesfaulk

I grew up in the darkness because there was always something wrong with the transformer in our estate, on the boundary between Lagos and Ogun. This was 1992 when Sango-Ota was still a quiet backwater. And the roads in Ojuore were all sand, and crooked. But my brother had a guitar. And at night he would sit, with a lantern at his feet, stroking strings at the edge of the kerosene-scented halo.

Can Science Solve all the Problems in the World? (For World Science Day for Peace and development)

Guest Writer: Richard Oduor

Image Credit: www.kazembassy.hr

In the 21st century, the word ‘science’ means ‘solutions’. The international Observance, World Science Day for Peace and Development, offers us a platform and a chance share our ideas for a better world and reiterate, once more, that science is the solution for all the world’s material problems. Over the centuries, science has transmuted from being a sacred discipline accessible only to a select few to become a way of life. Every single day, individuals, consciously or unconsciously, rely on established scientific principles to make individual, family, community, national, and global decisions. The world would never have achieved the current state of technological advancement without scientific thought. Science is the furnace where ideas are smelt, purified, and modelled into useful tools.

BREAKING CONTROLLING POWERS (Court Weekly)

Image credit: www.theguardian.com

I have always been one to defy tradition and laws I do not believe in; sacrificing for freedom of self and expression, even as I angle to help fight the cause of human right, justice and equality. In this weekly, there is a deep call from within to consider this, take advice (whatever you glean) and speak your mind. Enjoy, even as you think.

A STROLL WITH TADE IPADEOLA (For Day Of the Imprisoned Writer)

“The writer’s curse is that even in solitude, no matter its duration, he never grows lonely or bored.” ~Criss Jami

Some writers don’t just write stories to tickle fancies. They use their pens as megaphones to speak against powers that try to deny people the basic human right of freedom of expression, and often these writers are persecuted, imprisoned, and even killed. That is why since 1981 PEN International has dedicated November 15th to draw attention to persecuted writers around the world.

My guest on the stroll today is a poet, lawyer, and the president of PEN Nigeria. He’s also the winner of the prestigious NLNG Prize for Literature (2013)—one of the biggest literature prizes in Africa—for his book the Sahara Testaments; which has attracted a lot of positive reviews from around the world.

He told me about some imprisoned writers around the world and how we can help them; the secret writing process behind the Sahara Testaments; the various projects PEN Nigeria is involved in; and so much more.

Here’s what we discussed;

OUR VOICES AS ONE: WE CRY ‘JUSTICE’

Stella Oduah, Nigeria's Minister for Aviation (Image Credit: Jaguda)

Structures of whatever structure are put in place, for things to fall in place; leadership structures are no exception. When people gather to choose and implement their choices to represent their interests, be it in national or international affairs, these choices are expected to function well and with the interest of those who have chosen them in mind. Those who did the choosing can and should always hold these choices accountable.The choices are responsible to those who have chosen them; by choices, I mean ‘leaders’ of any kind and on any platform.

TOWARDS A BETTER SCIENCE-DRIVEN SOCIETY (For World Science Day for Peace and Development)

            Guest Writer : John Oyewale

  
I am thinking of science (and inexorably of technology) and at once I am thinking of Archimedes, Avicenna, Dalton, Newton, Boyle, Lord Kelvin, Tesla, Edison, Mendeleev, Pasteur, Koch, Fleming, Harvey, Salk, Roentgen, Einstein, Sanger, the Curies, Sir Gurdon…we could go on and on. I am also thinking of the Industrial Revolution, the rise of the United States of America, the World Wars and their attendant atrocities, the post-WWII arms race, the first manned flights in the skies as well as into space, the discovery of everything from, say, antimalarial drugs to the metabolic pathways of the human body and to the Higgs-Boson particle, the lingering struggle with multi-drug resistance, the incredibly vast network of the information superhighway on which Bill Gates and the perspicacious ghost of Steve Jobs may be driving on, side by side with a Lagos highway beggar and an Ile-Ife market woman…

A STROLL WITH CHINEDU MBAMALU (For World Science Day for Peace and Development)

                                    “Science shouldn't be a luxury” ~Jack Andraka 
 

Since the discovery of the wheel by our ancient ancestors, science and technology has really increased the will of man on earth. We can do almost anything right now; fly into space to visit neighboring planets, take pictures of a fetus developing in the womb, grow a new hairline for bald men, and even cook our food in split seconds. Science is indeed the foundation of our civilization. And whenever we talk about science and innovative ideas, our minds go to the highly sophisticated labs in developed countries because of the quality of ideas and products that have been made in there. But, today’s stroll will shock you!

Meet Chinedu, the man who believes he can revolutionize the Jet propulsion system and No, he’s not a student of MIT, Oxford, or Stanford. He’s a self-taught Nigerian Scientist who taught himself rocket science—I mean that literally—and thinks beyond the limitations of his environment.

We talked about his dreams and how he has managed to stay focused so far; his current projects; and how science and technology can be used for good in the world. Sit back and get inspired, here’s our conversation:

THE UNPUBLICISED VICTIM OF WAR (For International Day for the Prevention of the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict)

Guest Writer: Ojekunle Aderemi





'Though mankind has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment remains the unpublicized victim of war.'

I salute every courageous environmental activist, social workers, and others in this celebration of enlightenment which the UN has set aside for the education of the impacts of war and armed conflict on our environment.

A STROLL WITH ADAM WINSOR (For International Animation Day)

"Animation offers a medium of story telling and visual entertainment which can bring pleasure and information to people of all ages everywhere in the world" ~Walt Disney

Animated Adam

As I sat back on the sofa to watch Grace, my kid sister giggle at the same Tom and Jerry episode I laughed at when I was 7, I began to understand how much animation connects history and generations together.

For most of us, animation is only something we get to flirt with as kids and once we grow into adulthood, the ‘seriousness of life’ makes us blind to the beauty of animation. But it’s not all of us though... there are still few who never get blind to this beauty.

Adam Winsor is one of the ‘few’. He is an animator, illustrator, and visual storyteller. We had a stroll for international animation day and we talked everything animation; from cartoons to games to movies. Here’s my stroll with Adam, I hope the ‘blind’ will receive their ‘sight’ fall in love with animation all over again (heheh).

MY JOURNEY INTO ANIMATION (For International Animation Day)

GUEST WRITER: Yvonne Ifeoma

My name is Yvonne Ifeoma, and I'm an animator. Too vague? Ok. I shall attempt to break it down into finer, easily understood definitions. Animations basically involve the creation of moving pictures in a three-dimensional environment; Well, two-dimensional or three-dimensional environment really. This is done by sequencing consecutive images (also called frames). There, still too technical? (lol), okay I'm basically into motion graphics; the optical illusion of moving pictures, still too much? Okay, I bring life to still images. There we go.

I'm relatively new to the animation world, and I have my colleague and friend Donald Okudu to thank for this. Contrary to a popular belief that animators are mostly geeks or nerds with little or no understanding of life and socializing, the reverse proves to be the case (at least with me). Combining artistic ability, creativity, and technological ability, Animations are really quite fascinating. Personally, being able to feature in the creation process of various projects is an entirely new high for me.

FIAT JUSTITIA RUAT CAELUM (For United Nations Day)

Without doubt, the world organization, United Nations, has been working for the betterment of humanity as a whole and as with most organizations, there are flaws, weaknesses, there are also strengths. On Justitia today, below are individual views about the UN and its 'workings'. We ‘judge’ the successes and failures of the UN and encourage its members to work more, for there is always room for improvement.

TELLING THE WORLD WHO WE ARE THROUGH FOLKTALES (For World Development Information Day)

GUEST WRITER: ADEBAYO ADEGBITE

 

Part of the things my siblings and I enjoyed when we were growing up was the stories our father used to tell us. We would sit in a circle, moonlight style (but indoors with a florescent bulb acting as the moon,) while he told us folktales. One thing he also did that time was to write down the stories he told us and ask us to read them and learn to tell the stories as well as form our own. But these stories were not Cinderella or Snow white or Sleeping Beauty (though he made sure we read those as well). They were folktales, tales of the greedy tortoise and his regular cast of cohorts, the dog, sometimes the snail, or the pig usually a medicine man and a king as well. We were able to follow the tortoise on his numerous adventures trying to cheat the other animals but whose capers and adventures always end in disaster. I had the fortune of having a teacher father who made those tales so appealing, that it was like I was watching the tortoise as he puts his father-in-law’s porridge into his cap or as he hatches his plot to kill the king’s favourite hunchback and blame it on the Snail.

A STROLL WITH FEMI OKE (For World Development Information Day)

“Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders” ~ Ronald Reagan

The Jet age has been characterized by speed. Fast money, fast cars, fast food, and even faster world record times in sports. But amongst all these, one thing that has really increased in speed is information. Right now, I can sit in my room in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and listen to President Obama’s speech in Washington about the debt ceiling; follow Malala’s visit to Buckingham palace; and still track the rising and falling figures from the Nigerian Stock Exchange—all at the same time. That is how fast information can be harvested these days.

My guest, Femi, is a British-Nigerian Journalist who started tracking and disseminating information from the age of 14—as a junior reporter for the London Broadcasting Company. Her talent and the experience she has acquired from working for several international media houses—like CNN, Al Jazeera, and BBC—has equipped her with the ability to convert information into a source for dialogue and development.

Can information really bring development? Do public leaders need to listen more to public opinion? How much has the UN achieved since its inception? These are some of the questions we tried to answer in course of our stroll. She also told me what it felt like moderating several events for world leaders at last month’s UN general assembly, and the dignitaries she met.

Here’s my stroll with Femi, get informed;

A STROLL WITH DOMINIQUE ANSEL (For World Food Day)

        “There is no sincerer love than the love for food” ~ George Bernard Shaw

Whether it’s food for thought or food for stomach, there is no doubt that food is something we all hunger for. Most times in our quest to feed our hunger, we sneak into an overloaded boat at night trying to cross boarders illegally searching for greener pastures; take two extra jobs and work round the clock; or even form queues under the sun waiting for our turn to get a taste of this thing that keeps us all alive on planet earth, Food.

Talking about forming queues, Chef Dominique Ansel will be familiar with this one because, he literally made people to stand—and sometimes sleep—on the streets in New York waiting to get a taste of an awesome pastry he invented; The Cronut™—a hybrid of the croissant and doughnut.

In course of our stroll, we talked about food and sustainable food systems in the world; possible solutions to the global hunger problem; and the Eureka moment when he got the idea for the Cronut™. I hope this wets your appetite. 

Here is my stroll with Chef Ansel, enjoy;

INSECURITY (FOR WORLD POST DAY)

Guest Writer: Shittu Fowora

Fred Alika, 34 and Catherine were close buddies seeing each other; in a matter of months, they should be formalizing their relationship by signing the dotted lines according to the demands of tradition. Naturally this called for openness and an ample amount of trust between them both but there was something amiss.