Magnificent

 AT THE CROSS ROAD By Anuma Maxwell Nigeria is at a cross road Carrying on its back a heavy load Corrupt leaders coming out bold To mine and steal our Gold Don't blame them, our birthright we sold Over congoes of rice on the road After then, we are left in the cold No one to hug and hold They turn deaf and activate ghost mode. Get your P. V. C we are continually told Vote wisely and do not fold So that in the end, you won't turn old While asking for your rightful dough.

 THEY ARE ALL LIES: THE B. O. T ANSWER By Anuma Maxwell "... get your P. V. C, for in change, there is continuity."   I retrospect back to 2015, 100l second semester studying philosophy, it was election time, trust us, we were forming socio-political philosophers, always debating the whole election saga whereby the country was painted to be in an irredeemable state that can only be redeemed by our one and only savior Buhari. I make the sign of the cross here. Four years later, in 2019, the aroma of failure filled the air space. Our one and only saviour had fallen at the third station on his way to Calvary to redeem us. He had fallen and could not pick himself up anymore. Yet, we picked him up by making excuses for his failures that were so glaring that even the blind received a miracle and could see it. Oh! I forgot to mention his puppet right hand man, the "O" in-between the "B" and "T", so ineffective and insignificant, silent like a monk ...

A MORNING PRAYER   by Anuma Maxwell   I know they all saw me grow   And would wish to see me blow   But no, it would be in their absence   As my prayer rise like incense   We would move from home to Rome   And make Rome to be home   With God, we gonna reach the peak   Our cup would overflow and wouldn't leak   Their plans against; in the end would sink   In Jesus name I write with this ink.    Amen!!!

January: One Year In A Year by Anuma Maxwell "How wisely do you spend ?" When I looked at the calendar today and saw that it had five Saturdays, my heart skipped a beat, a whole five weeks!!! would be filled with its regular expenses and have a very slow income. How did we even get here? Let's take a look back at the last month, which was filled with a lot of feasting and celebration; it's been dubbed "DETTY DECEMBER."Savings were depleted, extra income was spent, and despite the high cost of goods and services, we were able to enjoy minor luxuries... But then, January comes, salary earners wait till the end of the month, businesses and various service providers have a slow patronage rate as many people begin to spend judiciously; the month goes in very slow motion. What then is the way forward? It all has to do with our self-discipline and our ability to spend wisely during December, a month filled with feasting and celebration; but th...

HOME OR DOOM by Anuma Maxwell What is home? That is incomparable to Rome Thinking it is softer than foam But I will prefer to roam Just to stay far away from home A home that there is no dome To protect one on the day of doom Forget that space you call room Home without dome, you can never bloom Dark clouds will always loom On that day, I'll sweep home with a broom Leaving home with a roam to Rome.

 CROSS-OVER TWILIGHT By Anuma Maxwell "...some evils would befall us, some plans would prove futile; all these can prompt the question: abi I no pray wella for cross-over night ni...?" Religiousity or spirituality aside, there is this belief as a typical African that the beginning and end of a thing or situation determines the result of such thing. Little wonder, a typical African hands over any project at the early stage to the hands of the supreme deity. Cross-over night most especially in Nigeria has over the years cut across religious line, where at the last night of the year, the faithful gather at their various religious houses to thank the supreme deity for the year ending and to hand over the new year to the supreme deity. But then, experience have thought that the calendar year comes with its own challenges devoid of whatsoever prayers or offering made. Shall we then ask, does the supreme deity neglect some of our prayers? Challenges would hit us up, some evils would...

 SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN (A poem)  By Anuma Maxwell Somewhere between anger and pain There I found myself on the plain Past emotions haunting with it's cane What then was all my gain I count my loss after three years being main The aftermath, I tried staying on my lane Only for your post to put me in pain I see myself as slain The anger trying to drive me insane I take a journey with a retrospective plane To the past on my thoughts train I end up coming out drain The whole event I can't wrap with my brain How I hindered the growth of your grain Tears pouring down my eyes like rain False conceptions and assumptions is the chain So sorry if you thought I was a comfort lane That will hinder your growth with a jealous cane But deep down you know I'm no Cain Your success and happiness is still the main That in the end, we shall all gain I will keep being on my lane For now, I'm in-between anger and pain.

 MASTER PLAN 2022  by Anuma Maxwell  "As you plan for the year, plan having a digital skill also." Gone are those days when we sat round the burning fire and listened to the tales by moonlight. From time immemorial, man has been driven by his curiosity to know about what is unknown. This birthed the idea of technology, and learning how it works is synonymous with learning how the modern/contemporary world works.   Technology is itself not static; it evolves. Hence, we can talk about digital technology. As the world has gone digital, in order not to be left behind, there is a need for digital literacy.    The advent of the social space is one that has plunged our world into a quantum leap, as virtually everything you can think of has gone digital. Even brands and companies have gone digital in order to maintain relevance.   There would have been a point in our lives where we had surfed the internet for remote jobs, just to keep up with the financial res...

 2021: COUNTING THE GAINS AND PAINS "The new year always presents to us an opportunity to start again" "Happy new year"; this is a normal ritual that we say to each other at the tail end and beginning of every year. But then, how happy has the year been? The year 2020 brought the world to a standstill, jobs were lost, investments went down the drain, the economy of the world shakes, definitely, some benefitted immensely, while many looked forward to the year 2021 to start all over again. So many plans were made, many rivers were crossed, we failed in some, we were successful in others, we gained in some investments, we recorded loss in some others, even in the face of the battered economy of our country. The new year always presents to us an opportunity to start again, whereby, it is assumed that we have learnt from the mistakes of the past, except from the sons and daughters of perdition. We are to build on our successes and work on our failures. It is pertinent to...

 CONTEMPORARY PARENTING: A BLESSING OR A CURSE "It goes more than giving birth, but training them well." I remember those days while growing up, you dare not come home after being disciplined at school for unacceptable behavior to report to your parents, trust me, you are having a triple anointing of such. You eat whatever is set before you, strict discipline was upheld, whether we liked it or not, it has gone a long way in helping us stay sane in this insane world. But then, it is disheartening that the so-called generation that were brought up with an high level of discipline won't reciprocate such goodness, only to bring up Children that are soon becoming a burden to the society. The problem of the society is a foundational factor of the family which is the smallest unit of the society. Where the family goes wrong, the society would eventually be the end product and bear the consequences. A child that is ill-trained at home, comes to school to exhibit the fruit of his/...

 UNGRATEFUL GRATITUDE "Your reward is in heaven..." When a maize plant is going to be planted, the seed is buried, the seed dies in the loose sense of the world, though biologically, it actually doesn't die, but then, after two to three months of growth, the fruit becomes the object of focus, nobody remembers the seed that was buried, dies or loose form so that the fruit can be good. That seed, are your teachers. The choice of seed in planting is very important as they serve as the foundation, once the foundation is faulty, be rest assured of a great fall in the nearest future. Hence, you see schools giving in their best to seek for good teachers that have a passion for passing on of knowledge, so that the foundations of the students are well built. But then, what is the reward of these teachers who consume themselves like candles so as to illuminate light into the darkness of ignorance that envelopes the students. They are paid peanuts, is it the disrespect from parents ...

 "In the process of cutting cost, we incurred debt"  " Maxwell...are you okay?"... I opened my eyes trying to process what had just happened. Wow!! I've just been involved in a ghastly motor accident but with little scratch. Thanking the almighty God for life is the next thing, but then, in the process of cutting cost, we incurred debt. Our dear nation is one that the cost of living keeps soaring high everyday, the popular Belle Shmurda song then comes to mind; "higher higher, higher higher" . How do we keep up with the demands of responsibilities choking us daily that we can't run away from as young men, if you can't commit crime, you have to double up your hustle; invest in investments that you are not even sure of and end up loosing hundreds of thousands of naira, embark on "mission impossible" that might fail as long as you are not Tom Cruise, all in the name of being a man. "Agu...wake up, let's go together to pick some ...

"God is dead and has been buried in the Church..." Nietzsche Mr Nietzsche was absolutely wrong in his above assertion, because God is indeed alive and active, He does not need your opinion or submission about His existence to show that He actually exists and is existing. The question that befalls us then is: "what is dead?" In as much as Nietzsche was wrong in his assertion about the death of God, we can help him rephrase his assertion: "God is not dead, but the Church is dead". The Church has been defined as the congregation of God's people, the people make up the Church; taking a leap from there, we take a side glance view in the study of the phenomenology of religion, where in one of the problems of religion, we have the practicers of religion. They are a problem in the sense that, the moral ought and standard which they postulate through their religious doctrines, they tend to always fall short and will always lay claim to the concupiscence of th...

 "Make haste"  Everybody wants to be successful, only a fool would think otherwise. But then, success is not magical, nor is it an Eureka moment ; it is definitely a process in which we have to to plan and work towards. Planning towards success is the first step towards being successful, just like an house construction, it is the foundation in which every other actions rests on; without planning, other actions would be misty. Planning gives a layout of what our actions would be, it gives a sense of purpose; but then, planning is the most sweetest and easiest part in the equation of being successful. Ideas are written in jotters and journals, shared amongst friends, relatives and loves ones, fantasies are built in the wind, but be sure, it doesn't end there. Your road to success would be terminated and end up being futile if you don't act on the plans that you have set for yourself. Be all you can be now by acting on your plans and not folding your hands. Make haste.