They are massive, shinny and fat. They are our banks, making up a significant percentage of our stock markets. Oh how eager investors are to pump their money into the banks. The stock market is a sophisticated phenomenon. It is so enticing to a bored investor pool and our brokers in dark suits have an easy task of selling us and funneling our money into them, after all, where else would we put our money?
What everyone forgets to ask is this, what business is the bank into?
Ok, so this is how it works, you probably know this already, but like me you’re so caught up in shuffling your money around between you and me in a zero sum game. You take my money today and I take yours tomorrow, and we both take Nigeria’s oil money, well, not all of us, maybe the powers that be and somehow it trickles to you and I when we make a sale or buy during a trade.
Our Nigerian banks make their money in one way; one is from oil revenue that they funnel to the citizens. The government deposits money, pays its people and the people deposit their money and then the bank balloons, then the people use their money to buy the bank shares and then it balloons some more and then the banks lend money to brokers who then buy their shares and then it balloons even more….
You get my point?
If our banks are to make real money they need to invest in Nigerian infrastructure and other tangible goods. A lot of you are well traveled, so tell me, what country have you been to, that you consider successful that lacks infrastructure? We cannot get into the service business before we have infrastructure. All the self proclaimed developed nations started with infrastructure, railroads, roads, water, electricity…those were the things that moved goods at the right price to the right place and kept factories running at a sustainable pace, pumping out goods at a sustainable price, while the people tagged along.
If you get my point call your broker tomorrow and ask him or her to tell you what the P/E ratio of your bank stock is. Ask him to tell you if it is overvalued or undervalued. Ask him to defend his answer. Make sure it makes sense.
Request the annual report and actually read it. See what the companies that are in your portfolio create for the economy. If it is not tangible, slowly back away. Unless the service it provides is for tangible goods producing clients. No service for service companies.
And then finally, ask your bank to go and finance a road, or look, wait, how about a refinery, or maybe an electric grid?
Until you do that the price of my bank stock will go up when your broker comes to buy it from me for you and offers me a good price, and then it will go up when your broker borrows money from the bank and buys it back from me and then it will go up when…
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
On Nigeria's Bakassi
It’s funny how we have failed to shake off the shackles of slavery. Sometimes I worry that we revel in it. Well, if you say we don’t, why then did Nigeria cede Bakassi to Cameroon? Good question. Nigeria did because the international tribunal asked it to do so on the basis that the Germans and English had divided the lands accordingly some decades ago.
How many Germans or English men have been to Bakassi since they “Divided” the land so? How foolish. A good portion of our struggles in Africa stem from the fact that different people are strewn together, again, almighty thanks to the colonial powers who found it in their greedy interests to do so. Now, a place established as Nigeria, with Nigerians actively living in place for decades is suddenly Cameroon.
When will we rise up and think and speak for our own self oh Africa? If Bakassi was a desert land there will be no arguments over it, because it has wealth, Germany and England rule over us again like they have done in times past when they harvested our resources, harvested our wealth and our people and shipped it across the Atlantic.
What is funny is that I hold no fight against anyone who does not consider himself African. It is the Africans who are responsible for their fate, because we create our own destiny. Bakassi belonged to Nigerians, no one, not even the International courts of the West should dispute that. The handful of African nations that are established should be let alone. We are no longer slaves like cattle, but maybe one day when we realize it we will stretch from our stoop and join the rest of the human race.
How many Germans or English men have been to Bakassi since they “Divided” the land so? How foolish. A good portion of our struggles in Africa stem from the fact that different people are strewn together, again, almighty thanks to the colonial powers who found it in their greedy interests to do so. Now, a place established as Nigeria, with Nigerians actively living in place for decades is suddenly Cameroon.
When will we rise up and think and speak for our own self oh Africa? If Bakassi was a desert land there will be no arguments over it, because it has wealth, Germany and England rule over us again like they have done in times past when they harvested our resources, harvested our wealth and our people and shipped it across the Atlantic.
What is funny is that I hold no fight against anyone who does not consider himself African. It is the Africans who are responsible for their fate, because we create our own destiny. Bakassi belonged to Nigerians, no one, not even the International courts of the West should dispute that. The handful of African nations that are established should be let alone. We are no longer slaves like cattle, but maybe one day when we realize it we will stretch from our stoop and join the rest of the human race.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Ishit!
Nope! nope!! That's not a curse word, that's a name; someone's last name, and passes for a first name sometimes too. It actually means "someone who desires to rule." Powerful name when you think of the meaning.
I'm Nigerian, so I'm used to names that embody strength and fan egos, even if the name bearer is feeble and tiny. I love that about Nigerians, I think African names in general. I sincerely believe that African names are the source of the African pride. If you're not aware, Africans are stereotyped to be proud, not necessarily boastful, but proud of self, culture, history (forget any talks of slavery or colonization, just the history that talks about your powerful grandfather) we think highly of ourselves. Perhaps the stereotype is placed on us because of the glaring evidence of shame that plagues the continent: our wars, poverty, corruption..., all issues that defy pride. Despite that, I am of the mindset that Africans are indeed proud in this sense, and that it is this pride, that continually sustains us and will one day liberate us if it pushes us to action.
In any case, so what's in a name these days? The same thing. We continue to name our children like we did in centuries past. For some, meaning, power, support, strength, respect, fun, religion, praise, history... for others, absolutely nothing, and so we continue, perhaps formulating new versions. Even those who have always formulated stupid names, like "Jarie", a meaningless name stemming for a concoction of the parents' names James and Marie, continue to do so.
So what's changed? well, a bit. The colonization of the world by the English language has made it so that Ishit doesn't stand for strength anymore, it stands for "I shit!"
A name that can plagued a child in an English world. There are familiar western names that also attract persecution, Margot, Gay, and there's a good reason these names have massively declined in usage, so why then will immigrants not "re coin" the names they give their children.
No, I'm not asking you to drop your culture or language.
Look, here's a Yoruba word:
wa
it means come; here's another word
mabo
it means...come.
here's a Yoruba name:
Abimbola primarily shortened as Bimbo
Abisola primarily shortened as Bisola
both meaning to be born into wealth I think.
if your child will likely suffer from being called "Bimbo" an airhead, why wouldn't you name your child Bisola? or coin another unique name for your child meaning the same thing? If you are migrating to or living in the U.S. or England, or Australia...or any English western nation, then make sure you understand that your children will likely be teased for the names you proudly bestow upon them. They are not in India or Nigeria, they're in a different place, where Ishit's emails will be blocked from my inbox because it is vulgar, where Abimbola will either be known as a troublemaker as she delivers deserving blows to those who tease her, or have a low self esteem because she is teased when her name is pronounced.
Another branch of the naming issue...so, I know in Nigeria, I know more about the Yoruba, a lot of names are religious, glorifying God. In the Yoruba language, these names come out beautiful. Opeolu (thanks to God) Olugbenga (God has raised/delivered me), but because we now speak English we have decided to coin some English names as we do Yoruba names, so you hear names like "Hallelujah". Hallelujah, means ~let us praise God. A wonderful name esteeming God at every mention. In the English language though, it can be somewhat tedious to bear such a name. Not because one is ashamed of God. Absolutely not, but because it is a daily word, at least in a Christian religious household. Now let's translate the same word to Yoruba, it sounds like Mosope, I praise God; or Kasope, let's praise God. My Yoruba is okay at best, so I cannot coin enough names, but let parents think of this as an opportunity to create a unique and beautiful name for children.
It is simple, I remember as children, making fun of the African dictator, Idi Amin, because the first three letters in his name meant "butt" in Yoruba, but he was some foreign entity we would never get to tease.
Children tease and they can be very destructive in their teasing. So let us be careful, especially when we know that our children live in places foreign to the language in which their names will originate from, to make sure we do not place them into the hands of people who will batter their peace because of what they are called.
If you're wondering what sparked this blog, yeah, I came across a person that goes by a name I find very hilarious last week. I am ashamed to say that I could not help but laugh out loud. I really tried, but even as an adult I couldn't help myself. I wondered how this person felt, if he/she noticed and identified my source of repressed but sure laughter. I wondered how much worse it would be for such a child in, say the U.S., as a child. There was an article on the BBC a while back on names that caused children varieties of troubles, but I can't seem to find the link. I will post it as soon as I do
I'm Nigerian, so I'm used to names that embody strength and fan egos, even if the name bearer is feeble and tiny. I love that about Nigerians, I think African names in general. I sincerely believe that African names are the source of the African pride. If you're not aware, Africans are stereotyped to be proud, not necessarily boastful, but proud of self, culture, history (forget any talks of slavery or colonization, just the history that talks about your powerful grandfather) we think highly of ourselves. Perhaps the stereotype is placed on us because of the glaring evidence of shame that plagues the continent: our wars, poverty, corruption..., all issues that defy pride. Despite that, I am of the mindset that Africans are indeed proud in this sense, and that it is this pride, that continually sustains us and will one day liberate us if it pushes us to action.
In any case, so what's in a name these days? The same thing. We continue to name our children like we did in centuries past. For some, meaning, power, support, strength, respect, fun, religion, praise, history... for others, absolutely nothing, and so we continue, perhaps formulating new versions. Even those who have always formulated stupid names, like "Jarie", a meaningless name stemming for a concoction of the parents' names James and Marie, continue to do so.
So what's changed? well, a bit. The colonization of the world by the English language has made it so that Ishit doesn't stand for strength anymore, it stands for "I shit!"
A name that can plagued a child in an English world. There are familiar western names that also attract persecution, Margot, Gay, and there's a good reason these names have massively declined in usage, so why then will immigrants not "re coin" the names they give their children.
No, I'm not asking you to drop your culture or language.
Look, here's a Yoruba word:
wa
it means come; here's another word
mabo
it means...come.
here's a Yoruba name:
Abimbola primarily shortened as Bimbo
Abisola primarily shortened as Bisola
both meaning to be born into wealth I think.
if your child will likely suffer from being called "Bimbo" an airhead, why wouldn't you name your child Bisola? or coin another unique name for your child meaning the same thing? If you are migrating to or living in the U.S. or England, or Australia...or any English western nation, then make sure you understand that your children will likely be teased for the names you proudly bestow upon them. They are not in India or Nigeria, they're in a different place, where Ishit's emails will be blocked from my inbox because it is vulgar, where Abimbola will either be known as a troublemaker as she delivers deserving blows to those who tease her, or have a low self esteem because she is teased when her name is pronounced.
Another branch of the naming issue...so, I know in Nigeria, I know more about the Yoruba, a lot of names are religious, glorifying God. In the Yoruba language, these names come out beautiful. Opeolu (thanks to God) Olugbenga (God has raised/delivered me), but because we now speak English we have decided to coin some English names as we do Yoruba names, so you hear names like "Hallelujah". Hallelujah, means ~let us praise God. A wonderful name esteeming God at every mention. In the English language though, it can be somewhat tedious to bear such a name. Not because one is ashamed of God. Absolutely not, but because it is a daily word, at least in a Christian religious household. Now let's translate the same word to Yoruba, it sounds like Mosope, I praise God; or Kasope, let's praise God. My Yoruba is okay at best, so I cannot coin enough names, but let parents think of this as an opportunity to create a unique and beautiful name for children.
It is simple, I remember as children, making fun of the African dictator, Idi Amin, because the first three letters in his name meant "butt" in Yoruba, but he was some foreign entity we would never get to tease.
Children tease and they can be very destructive in their teasing. So let us be careful, especially when we know that our children live in places foreign to the language in which their names will originate from, to make sure we do not place them into the hands of people who will batter their peace because of what they are called.
If you're wondering what sparked this blog, yeah, I came across a person that goes by a name I find very hilarious last week. I am ashamed to say that I could not help but laugh out loud. I really tried, but even as an adult I couldn't help myself. I wondered how this person felt, if he/she noticed and identified my source of repressed but sure laughter. I wondered how much worse it would be for such a child in, say the U.S., as a child. There was an article on the BBC a while back on names that caused children varieties of troubles, but I can't seem to find the link. I will post it as soon as I do
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Which Housewife Are you?
So I'm a big fan of Desperate Housewives, it's one of the few shows I watch…ok, one of three, other two are House and Law and order SVU, but losing patience with the motion picture companies and producers for not paying up the writers. This writer's strike is about the worst thing to happen during the holidays. My Tivo is full of Primetime Desperate Housewives repeats and no House or SVU period! I heard the last strike, a couple of decades ago, lasted several months. Arrrrrgh!!! I can't help but feel as though everyone, writers and networks will be trying to see if they can "beat the record". So goodness only knows when the new episodes will air. Anyways, while searching for that evasive day for Desperate Housewives, I stumbled upon a little quiz "Which desperate housewife are you?" and decided to play.
My brother just described me a few hours ago as a lively, fun loving, hip mom. Gabrielle's not a mom, but if you were to select one of the women on the show, she will be it. I was flattered, but truth be told, I thought I was more like Lynette. Ambitious yet family minded, always making several sacrifices to make it work. So when the result of the quiz said that "I'm a Gabrielle", I happily reveled in the delusional excitement of having no responsibilities. Oh well, the moment is gone now and it's all back to real life.
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