WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-01-05 Time: 13:00:03 Posted By: News Poster
By Bisi Daniels
With lightning speed, security breasted the tape on New Year Eve to beat other demons competing to stall Nigeria’s development. Clearly, the others in the race are corruption, selfishness of leaders, and more corruption.
There may be many others, but certainly if the enormous resources of the country were rightly applied on national, rather than personal needs, we would not be talking about poverty, hunger and unemployment of such massive proportions.
Alarmingly, insecurity instills fear into people, impedes economic activity and breeds hopelessness. It makes the country unfriendly to both local and foreign investors.
But Nigeria is not all doom and gloom yet and there are hopes that we can get it right. While we wait for that time, we continue to cherish even the little things that provide happiness. For me, one such thing is to watch the cross-over celebration of the New Year around the world on television.
On Friday, I watched with excitement as fireworks exploded over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House during a pyrotechnic show to celebrate the New Year. The spectacular Sydney show is noted as the world’s biggest New Year’s Eve fireworks display. Local authorities planned for over 1.5 million people to crowd Sydney Harbour and welcome in the New Year under the massive fireworks display. And enthusiastic Australians camped out at parks alongside the Harbour Bridge to win the best view of the fireworks.
Maybe I was touched because I visited Sydney once and fell in love with it. It is a spectacular city with an enthralling landscape and beautiful people. It is so popular; you would mistake it for the capital of Australia. The only problem is, it is some 20 hours from London to get there.
Events like Sydneys pyrotechnic show feed national pride, boost patriotism and bonding, and provide relaxation to a citizenry that should be provided opportunities to relax during holidays. Apart from the joy it provides, it boosts productivity on the citizens return to work.
My expectation of similar events in Nigeria on New Year eve was shattered by the tragic news of another bomb blast in Abuja. Coming on the heels of bombings in other parts of the country, the Abuja incident heightened concerns about growing insecurity in the country. A one-off bomb attack is bad enough for a nation heating up politically and for it to become a routine is scary.
Some three days before Abuja, explosions rocked the venue of a political rally in Bayelsa State and before that several bomb explosions rocked Gada Biu, Angwar Rukuba areas of Jos, Plateau State, on Christmas Eve, killing over 80 people and injuring hundreds of others. The bombing caused reprisal attacks in other parts of the State, resulting in more deaths and destruction. Alongside these had been attacks in Maiduguri, in which security personnel have died.
Although a group, a Muslim group in Nigeria, Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad, has claimed responsibility for the Jos and Maiduguri attacks, there has been no formal confirmation from government or security operatives of the people behind the attacks.
Some security officials initially wrote off the group, describing it as diversionary. That is a common practice in Nigeria that should stop. The police visit a murder scene and before investigations are concluded we hear things like oh, it is a case of robbery. That is unprofessional.
Interestingly, the State Security Service (SSS), which made so much show with its findings on the October 1 bombing, has been quiet. People felt once arrests had been made and suspects were in court, there was no need to showcase Henry Okah the way it was done. The SSS is known to be quiet, almost unseen and unheard of by the public. For it to seek public approval for its work, especially as recent events have shown there was unfinished business must have been a tactical blunder.
It is good to know that in the recent attacks until investigations are concluded, there would be no finger-pointing. It is even not enough to know the people or groups involved, but also to find out how we got to this sorry state – where a large number of Nigerian live in the fear of open places – and how to reverse the growing insecurity.
At this stage, the scenarios are dire indeed. Do we know these people well enough to stop them in their tracks before the attacks degenerate into suicide bombing? Is it in their plan to attack registration centres and polling booths, thereby scaring people from this year’s elections?
Although it is required of individuals to be security conscious, providing adequate security to an increasingly apprehensive populace is largely the responsibility of government. It was reassuring to hear President Goodluck Jonathan make that one of his promises for the New Year. Perhaps the most recurring wish or prayer in the traditional New Year messages exchanged this year is peace.
Wishes are proverbially not known to be horses for the poor (who make about 70 per cent of the population) to ride. But these days, governments are challenging the claim by making some of the dreams of the poor realisable. In Brazil for example, appropriate deliberate measures have lifted millions of poor people up the social ladder into the middle class, thereby empowering them to enjoy better living standards. Many of them, who could not afford bicycles, now cruise in cars.
It is traditional for people to spell out their wishes at the dawn of the New Year. They include New Year resolutions, which by any stretch of imagination, are also wishes because of the failure rate of such resolutions.
A New Year resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a personal goal, or the reforming of a habit. The lifestyle change or expectation from government is generally interpreted as advantageous.
The tradition of the New Year’s Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar. With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions.
However, a recent study has shown that although 52 per cent of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12 per cent actually achieved their goals. Men achieved their goal 22 per cent more often when they engaged in goal setting, while women succeeded 10 per cent more because they made their goals public and got support from their friends.
Popular New Year resolutions or goals are those to improve health, improve finances by getting out of debt and saving more; improve career by finding better jobs; self improve education and learning something new; self improvement by becoming more organised, reducing stress, and better time management; and to improve relationship with others.
Apart from resolutions or wishes to change personal habits and improving relationships, government plays a key role in the actualisation of others, especially in Africa, where economies are government-controlled. For example, without an enabling environment, getting out of debt, increasing ones savings and finding a better job can only be mere wishes.
At the individual level, resolutions are known to fail for a number of reasons. Timothy Pychyl, a professor of psychology at Carleton University in Canada, who says resolutions are made to motivate people to reinvent themselves, explains that they fail because many people aren’t ready to change their habits, particularly bad habits. Habits are difficult to change anyway.
Psychology professor Peter Herman and his colleagues have identified what they call the “false hope syndrome,” which means some resolutions are significantly unrealistic and out of alignment with the internal view of people who make them. They explain that when individuals make positive affirmations about themselves that they don’t really believe, the affirmations not only don’t work, they can be damaging to their self-esteem.
In the current Nigerian situation of lack, good New Year resolutions should include dumping money-guzzling habits and self-denial of luxuries for survival. Other highly recommended resolutions are for individual to explore inner strength or God-given gifts, improve upon them (personal development) and deploy them for enduring results. Simply put, use what you have got!
But from experience, I share the view of those who believe that the best New Year resolution is freeing oneself from man. That is, living to be the best God created you to be and not living to please man. While I believe that there are one or two people divinely appointed to help an individual, (such benefactors are not demanding or overly critical), people are ruined by deciding to seek approval from every Tom, Dick and Harry.
Although listening to the views of others or responding to the needs of others is a crucial part of normal social functioning, people-pleasers lack internal compass to gauge the value of their own actions. They are controlled by the views of peers, colleagues, friends, even observers they may not like to disappoint. For such people the best resolution is freedom from people! Most will like to see you go bad so they can feel good!
Original Source: 
Original date published: 4 January 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201101050522.html?viewall=1