by Mark Ibigbami GreatMark | Dec 7, 2017 | Uncategorized |
The “follow” feature on the social media like Twitter, instagram and Facebook etc. has spurred me to put pen to paper on a prevailing phenomenon which I will describe as when nonsense makes sense.
To follow someone on Twitter for instance, simply means subscribing to their tweets or messages so you can receive them and read them. So if you chose to follow a friend, you would have access to his life activities except things he chose not to share.
Therefore, If you are following a saddist or an immoral person for instance, you should be exposed to his ideologies and way of life. Of course you can chose to accept or refuse his way of life but definitely you have got possibilities of being influenced. Likewise, following a moral or intellectual friend provides a platform for you to learn and be influenced by his disposition.
A statement credited to a foremost and divinely inspired writer, Saint Paul, in his letters to Timothy, a young and vibrant leader of a Christian group is of note: He counsels, “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:22.
Timothy was probably at the time between the ages of thirty and forty years. Like many other youths, he also stands the chance of derailing from the godly lifestyle he embraced. Therefore, Paul urged him to run away from all those ill-regulated passions to which youth is peculiarly liable, such as intemperance, peer pressure, lust, arrogance, petulance, ambition, nudity, pornography, levity, vehemence of action, wilfulness, crime, fraud, sensuality, and the likes.
Rather, Timothy is to continue to walk in the path of godliness and “follow” after righteousness, faith, charity, peace. This means that just as you follow a friend, and you are most probably influenced by his disposition, you should as a matter of priority and importance, be a follower of virtues of integrity, righteousness (opposite of iniquity), love of God and people, justice, morality and godly contentment, and peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Sadly, the reverse is very true today. Many youths, flee righteousness and morality, and every good works, instead they follow after and pursue youthful lusts, perversions, sensuality, self indulgence, worldly pleasures, violence, and all manner of inhumanity with them that run devil’s errands. When what is normal becomes abnormal and vice-versa, and when what makes sense becomes nonsense, then it calls for serious concerns. This is a reflection of a perverted life, in which nonsense makes sense!
The things that interests us or appeal to our sense of reasoning are the mundain things of the world which feeds our passion and gratified our self. Self is at the core of most of our activities, and as such little or no reference is made to God in our dispositions. The more we follow that which is evil, the faster and the further we shall flee from that which is good.
The best that some do is to make a mention of God in form of empty piousness and nitpicking. For some, the name of God or Christ has become a slang, such as “Jees” (abridged word for Jesus), “Oh my God or gush!” to mention a few. God’s name is a sure tool in the hands of the comedians to create the exhilarating jokes. But to a depraved mind, it makes sense!
Some say words like, “Baba Gode” (Father God), or the “Guy up there” to refer to God. The funniest jokes are those that reveals the activities of Pastors and Churches. To some, this makes more ribs-cracking jokes and sense. Even DSTV, a cable TV, deletes and mutes the utterance of the name, “God’, like they do censor the “F**k” word. It is ridiculous, isn’t it? That the creation would disregard the creator in such an ungracious and profane manner.
Sensual, ungodly and immoral secular artists most of whom have been initiated into the Illuminati and Church of Satan are the role models of many of our youths. These worshippers of Satan gets more followership on the social media than those who promote morality. Godliness is fast becoming unfashionable; unpopular and primitive. And what should makes sense is nonsense.
Many who are Christians would get so much excited at sensual and senseless songs, and even promote the egregious lifestyles of such artist; yet they frown at God’s word and criticize and persecute those who live righteously. “And according as they did not think good to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind to practise unseemly things.” Rom 1:28.
Since many youths have abandoned sincere personal devotion to God, and have chosen to feed from the crumbs that falls from Men of God, and have consequently inculcated a shallow and debased lifestyles, it would be difficult to discern the truth from lies. To many, all Pastors and preachers are false; all churches are fake, Christianity is boring, Jesus is a slang, God is only for mention.
The religion of “I know myself and God knows my heart” is an excuse to cover up what is not. Some would say words like, “the way I chose to worship God is up to me; I don’t care who that hurts or helps. As long as God sees the heart. I don’t have to be responsible to anyone.” That’s not true! On the contrary, if the spirit of God dwells in you, your life would reflect the nature and character of God; anything short of this is self-righteousness.
With Self at the core of a man’s life, God is only for a mention, as such he’s passive.. This is what it means to follow after self and unfollow after godliness. This is sadly the lifestyles of many who celebrate homosexuality and lesbianism; they praise those who promote immorality and corruption.
Unfortunately, those who themselves are depraved, and who through their songs and lifestyles corrupt the minds of listeners gets more “likes” on social media than a moral or religious post or message. The Youtube is full of videos of youth promoting nudity and weird and senseless things. Sadly, their pages gets more ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ than this who promote morality.
A selfie posts on the Instagram would get more likes than a moral or religious quote or image. This is the perversion of morality! This is the age when nonsense now make sense!
Gladly, in every corrupt and ungodly society, God always reserves a remnant of people who in spite of the threat to life, would follow after and pursue righteousness and the fear of God. Even if you are challenged by peer pressure, and the society leaves you with no choice than to compromise, don’t give in.
In my article, THE BEAUTY OF UNDOING YOUR MISTAKES.I share about the possibility of undoing your mistakes and living a better life. Never be comfortable with mediocrity. Create, Maintain and Improve on your life. When nonsense makes sense, you follow righteousness. You’re winning! Yes, we are winning!
GreatMark
by Mark Ibigbami GreatMark | Dec 1, 2017 | Uncategorized |
“The noisemakers have been silenced!” This was what I thought after I had stayed for 3 days without any power outage or the sound of generators.
Recommended by my driver, I had checked into Greenfield hotel, in Assyllum-down area of Accra; a 3 star hotel located in a descent and serene location at the city center of the capital city of Ghana.
It was only 72 hours after that I heard the sound of a generator for the very first time. I was later to learn that the prepaid card for the meter was exhausted, which was the reason for the brief power outage that necessitated the use of the generator for about 30 mins.
The uninterrupted power supply during my stay in Accra and the amazing testimonial about the monumental growth in the power situation in Ghana as compared to that of my country, Nigeria, compelled me to write this piece.
While taking a walk in the evening, in the serene and well-lighted streets, I had observed few sound-proof generators especially in companies but the amazing thing was that those generators looked unused. Until three days after when there was a brief power outage in my hotel, I never knew the generators works.
I had asked my driver about the power situation of the state and entusiatially he said that electricity was constant and that by evening all street lights would be turned on giving illumination to the streets and environment to foster security. One of my friends also added that the consumers have enjoyed value for their money, especially with the use of the prepaid meter.
Coming out from a poor power generation and inadequate supply that plagued the country in the past years, Ghana can now boast of providing regular and affordable electricity to her growing consumers.
This was made possible by diversifying the electricity generation mix through the development of other hydro power and renewable energy sources for which the country has huge potential, and of course, expanding the prepaid metering system to include all public and private institutions, which was before now had contributed to the challenge of funding the sector.
Trust me, you can’t imagine how serene and peaceful it is to live in an environment where you never have to worry about noise and air pollution. This was what I enjoyed in Accra. One of the source of our stress as Lagosians is both noise and air pollution. Of course, transportation and traffic is another palaver we face daily. And all these has a way of depleting our health and affecting our relationships.
I can’t remember when last we have heard uninterrupted power for three days in Lagos. By the way, Whenever we experience an uninterrupted power supply, say, for 12 hours, we usually get agitated and worried that something was wrong or like we normally make jokes, we would say, ‘maybe the officer on duty has slept off and forgot to turn off our own switch for the purpose of load shedding’. It’s ridiculous isn’t it? but we are used to that, unfortunately!
The noise of generators at our offices during the day and the terribly noise from the “I pass my neighbour” generators makers one’s night sleepless. You run on diesel generators at work for about 8 hours, you then get into heavy traffic on your way home and when you get home late night you have to turn on the generator in order to have some relieve from terrible heat.
it is really disheartening what we go through by reason of the poor and epileptic power supply in the country. All efforts to provide Nigerians affordable, reliable and safe electricity have been elusive from one respective government to another.
Today, Nigeria can only boast of about 7,000 MW of electricity for over 170m citizens. It is not only ridiculous but very saddening that millions of Nigerians are left with the option of providing their own power by the use of power generators.
The power situation in Nigeria has been a major cause of concern for decades. From one respective administration to the other we have always hoped for an improved power sector but we have always been met with disappointments at the end.
It is no news that the epileptic Power supply throughout the nation has ampered the growth of industries as well as hindered the development of the country in all its ramifications. In addition to this, electric Tariff continues to increase without corresponding improvement in supply. Worst still, citizens are made to pay exorbitant bills for power they never consumed.
Discos cries fouls
Furthermore, the Generation companies (GenCos) and Distribution companies (DisCos) have always complained about not giving enough support from the Federal government to perform effectively. Hence, they are not supplying to consumers enough electricity.
Truth is, Nigerians deserve to enjoy constant and secure power supply that would guarantee not just economic growth but also personal comfort and health and productivity.
When shall we celebrate constant and reliable power in Nigeria? when will generators rest from constant use ? When will our environment be serene and free from noise pollutions that deprives us of quality health and productivity? When will these noisemakers be silenced!?
Plenty promises from Government and yet we see very little results. Several suggestions and policies have been made by experts and stakeholders on how to subdue this beast that has plagued our dear country for many years, yet non of these have availed to anything
The spate of sabotage and vandalism is worrisome. Those who heck living from importing generators into the country have done all possible to frustrate every efforts at providing uninterrupted power to enduring Nigerians. I sincerely do hope our leaders would be patriotic and decisive enough to allow the same revolution in the telecommunications industry to be implemented in the power sector.
The Fedreal government should allow every states to generate and transmit their own power which would be enjoyed by their citizens. And in a situation where a state can generate more than her needs, they should be allowed to provide electricity to other states at a cost thereby serving as a source of revenue generation.
Private companies who can generate and transmit power from any environmentally friendly sources should be allowed to run with little or no federal intervention except in oversight functions and enactment of policies that would help support their growth. This will inturn bring competitiveness into the sector like we currently witness in the telecommunication sector.
The Government should also take decisive steps to gradually and strategically dissuade the importation of power generators into the country. Instead, more companies should be encourage to provide alternative power supplies (such as sola, geothermal, wind sources etc), to Nigerians at affordable prices.
Also, the government should begin to promote and provide subsidies for the use of solar panels as an alternative source of power generation. Solar energy is environmentally friendly and very effective too. I hope these noisemakers are silenced soonest!
Lastly, the satisfaction and productivity of Nigerian consumers should be of priority to electricity marketing companies. Nigerians should not be taking for fools.It is time to provide affordable and secure electricity to the citizens who deserve to enjoy the dividends of our democracy.
Nigeria is a great country. We are winning! Yes, we are winning!
GreatMark
by Mark Ibigbami GreatMark | Nov 28, 2017 | Uncategorized |
For every graduands who submit their final thesis, it is first seen as great relieve, especially considering the vigorous research activities and efforts that is put into such thesis. In addition, the completion of thesis usually gives a feeling of ecstasy and fulfillment to every students. As you would know, research work and submission of thesis is considered a very critical part of the requirement for the award of degrees in the tertiary institutions.
Therefore, it is sad if few years after graduation one finds treasured thesis at the stall of peanut sellers, or disposed in a trash bin like the case under consideration. It is very appalling how the research efforts of students are trashed in a bin of forgetfulness.
What becomes of these treasures abandoned in the incinerators? Does it mean such works have become useless and no longer relevant for future references? These are questions and many more are begging for answers. And I sincerely wish our school administrators can be called to question.
Thesis or projects in the waste bin
If the picture above are truly thesis of a tertiary institutions, then is very worrisome. As far as I know, students are not made to submit any electronic copies of their projects, therefore if they are trashed, that may be the end of such works. But the question is why would they even be trashed?
To be candid, how many rooms would store projects of an institution which, for instance was established, say 57 years ago? It sure would be inconvenient and unsafe to do, especially considering the unfriendly environmental conditions which most of our libraries are subjected to!
Digital library is the way to go! A digital library is a special library with a collection of digital objects that can include text, visual material, audio material, video material, stored as electronic media formats (as opposed to print, or other media. ), along with means for organizing, storing, and retrieving the files and media contained in the library collection.
It is high time our insitutions started accepting and archiving electronic copies of thesis/projects and storing them in high capacity hard drives or better still in the cloud- these are better ways to guarantee accessibility and preservation of such treasures. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks. An electronic library is a type of information retrieval system.
Digital library is very important in preserving knowledge and research works and the tertiary institutions in Nigeria need to begin to adopt this method in order to preserve the intellectual works of scholars. Project students should be made to submit electronic or e-copies of their projects for the purpose of proper archiving.
Like I said in my article, “Winning attitude -transforming your struggles into success”, even when your efforts at success gets unrewarded, do not give in to discouragement, rather, use the faith lifeline. You are winning! Yes, we are winning!
GreatMark
by Mark Ibigbami GreatMark | Nov 18, 2017 | Uncategorized |
“I wasn’t born to look back. It is not in my character to dwell on the past.” These were the words of Ayo Animashaun, CEO, Smooth promotions ( HipTV ) when I asked him the reason he looked so unperturbed by the recent fire incidence that gutted his studios.
The unfortunate fire incidence which happened on Nov 6 was said to have been caused by an electrical surge. The fire which gutted the production studio was however quickly put off by men of the fire service. Thanks to their responsiveness.
Truly, it takes strength of character to stand strong in the face of daunting challenges. By his disposition, Ayo has demonstrated the attitude of a winner. This is commendable and becoming of everyone who is determined to excel in life. Dwellings on past hurts and disappointments does no good. We must learn to never look back and dwell on our past mistakes or misfortunes.
Ayo and Rotem at Hip tv
Like I wrote in a previous article, titled, “How to turn your setbacks into comebacks“, you can’t move forward in life if you keep looking backward. Whatever setbacks you have experienced isn’t going to sour the rest of your life provided you don’t dwell continually on it. Don’t look back in regrets!
You are not the only one who is being challenged by life difficulties. The difference between those who fail and those who succeed is the winning attitude. Even in the face of realities, you can stand tall if you stand with God. Yes, you can say like Apostle Paul, “…though we are hard-pressed but not perplexed…” 2 Cor 4:8.
Don’t allow depression keep you down, rekindle your aspirations. The future you seek is ahead not behind. So, do not look backward at your failures, rather, look ahead there is hope for your tomorrow. You’re winning. Yes, we are winning!
GreatMark
by Mark Ibigbami GreatMark | Nov 13, 2017 | Uncategorized |
Not everyone who was at the appreciation service had the chance to testify to how Rev. S. O Abimbola have been a blessing to him or her in the past 12 years since becoming the pioneer pastor of New Nations Baptist Church.
However, prior to the event, some had the privilege of granting an interview to extol the virtue and exploit of a caring and sacrificial man of God. Click here to watch the appreciation tributes to a deserving Rev. Samson Abimbola and his elegant wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Abimbola.
https://youtu.be/0KBJDl-8GnA
YWAW blog was there to capture some of the beautiful moments during the appreciation service of the first family.
One of the highlights of the day was the donation of a car gift to the amiable family. They certainly deserve more!
From all of us at YWAW, we say a very big congratulations to Rev. S. Abimbola and family, and of course the church of God.
Yes, we are winning!
GreatMark
