I spent two hours with Dr Christopher Kolade, the elder statesman at his home last week. So rich is my experience, so varied is my take-away after such a meeting that I always wish there could be more of such meetings but Dr Kolade is still a very busy man even at his age. It was our first meeting of the year, and there seemed to be more to discuss than time allowed. But two areas that are inescapable in our discussions no matter how tight the time, are his passion for God, and his passion for Nigeria.

You’ve got to love the social media, especially if you are no longer in your ‘active’ years and the phenomenon has grown on you as opposed to the other way round. The amount of creative work out there is simply amazing. A Nigerian friend who lives in the US said to me: “Nigerians are either very creative or very idle”. To which I added “or both”. According to him, most of the stuff he gets are from his Nigerian contacts. We seem to be able to reduce every situation we find ourselves in to words and graphics and in a language that is simple but profound; hilarious but serious. I received one of such messages last week that I wish to share because it describes the situation we find ourselves in very aptly. Here goes….

I have had a hilarious time in the days before and after the Valentine day enjoying the powers of the social media at their creative best. I saw many versions of the President’s famous: ‘I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody’ from both the male and the female points of view as different forms of unfaithfulness and callousness were displayed. I saw the many creative ways male lovers used in dodging their financial obligations.

Dubai is a sight for sore eyes. It is a testimony to how vision and ingenuity can change dross to gold. The change is not only in the tall, glittering buildings or the wide, ten lane roads; neither is it in the development of a big sea-going vessel in the middle of an arid land, nor the creation of sub-zero temperatures for ice hockey within a hot, 50 degree Celsius atmosphere. The kudos really, is in the ability to manage these things and make them work. Dubai makes you think if you are from the Third World. It makes you even more pensive if you are a Nigerian because oil was discovered in Dubai about the same time as Nigeria.

Let me start with a personal story. At a point in my life, I ignored the church like many youths in their 20s still do. It’s the rebel in us that wants to break away from the sermons and doctrines that we have been force-fed with in childhood and adolescence especially those who have attended mission schools. I opted for squash, Sunday luncheons, social visits, movies or simply to sleep off Saturday night hang overs. It didn’t help that I was in a profession that did not see Sunday as a hallowed day. But habits and characters formed in childhood are difficult to completely shake off and the lure of the church became stronger as I grew older.