tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16667260176446097372026-05-12T19:08:12.560+01:00Thoughts and InspirationMy thoughts, my musings, those little flashes of inspiration.James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-12780990019786294182017-11-06T08:41:00.000+01:002017-11-06T08:41:16.483+01:00When You Don't Know Your Friend's Name
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the
unemployment rate in Nigeria was 14.2% in the last quarter of 2016 (up from
13.9% in the preceding quarter).
Bad as this looks, I think it's actually much worse than the
numbers show.
Let me paint a scenario.
Say Mr. Emeka Babatunde Ahmed has a job or is employed or
engaged in some meaningful way and he is on his way to work on a Monday
James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-27164323533032191702017-10-11T10:57:00.000+01:002017-10-11T10:57:03.926+01:00#KeepTheChangeBae: True Feminism Vs the Entitled Male Mentality
Edit: I actually started this in May but only just finished it.
So once again in my usual LASTMA fashion, I am late to the conversation. For all the National LASTMA Directors who don’t even know what the hashtag is about, let me give you the gist.
So sometime in March this year, this guy (@Pabloayodeji) went on Twitter to rant about how a babe (@Missmoshiku) he took out didn’t James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-77754965824105376612016-07-29T18:10:00.000+01:002016-07-29T18:10:10.677+01:00Banks, Cops and Robbers (6)
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James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-5260051260826071302015-12-18T20:41:00.001+01:002015-12-18T20:41:46.937+01:00Of Opinions and Expectations
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James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-14109613651368638692015-08-12T15:01:00.001+01:002015-08-12T18:17:36.820+01:00An Evil Under the Sun?
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men (Ecclesiastes 6:1)
This is not a post about scriptures. I started another blog for that and hopefully, I’ll start posting there soon.
And don’t get excited about me seeing “evil”. Every time the preacher used the phrase “an evil under the sun” he was referring to an anomaly; to something which normally shouldn’t be James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-51189216592670300372015-05-22T20:34:00.000+01:002015-05-22T20:34:16.992+01:00THE LEGEND OF MAMA JOY
Mama Joy was something of a legend to everyone who attended Federal Government College Ugwolawo (FGCU).
MJ, she was called.
She was a legend for various reasons. There were those to whom she was something of a myth; an urban legend…scratch that. She was more of a rural legend because Ugwolawo was a village nestled at the foot of a hill deep in the heart of Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-41107726674116322082015-05-22T20:15:00.001+01:002015-05-22T20:15:14.670+01:00Live (A Poem)
Stand up, stand out, stand tall, speak out,
Step up, reach out, take a chance, and if in doubt, kiss the girl,
Who can tell what the next minute holds?
Live free, live brave, have faith, persevere, persist, for every great venture was at the first impossible!
Show love, show care, help out, contribute, give yourself, give your time, give your money, and live this creed, "All is mine and none James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-59399190062721330852015-04-11T08:32:00.002+01:002015-04-11T08:38:04.653+01:00Banks, Cops and Robbers (5)
Hello.
If you haven't been following the story before now you can catch up here http://bit.ly/1pLG9A9
BANKS, COPS AND ROBBERS (5)
*** BADA BING! BADA BOOM? ***
Johnny watched buildings and cars speed by from the back seat of the Peugeot.
It was another successful hit. But deep within Johnny, something didn’t feel right. This was the same feeling he had been having for James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-33905500137517339912014-06-02T13:15:00.001+01:002016-07-29T18:25:35.268+01:00BANKS, COPS AND ROBBERS ALL PARTS 1-5 (UPDATED)
*** AN EPIPHANY, IF YOU LIKE ***
It was an exceptionally busy day. The banking hall was full and a few customers even had to stand outside. This was a typical scenario whenever students were going home on vacation. They all came to withdraw their transport fares. The few who had ATM debit cards were the lucky ones because the queues at the machines were shorter and moved faster. Better still, James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-91204446449168377112014-05-28T12:27:00.001+01:002014-06-02T13:30:53.534+01:00BANKS, COPS AND ROBBERS 4
Hello!
It's been quite a while. I'm really sorry for the long hiatus. Between work and my laziness when it comes to writing (Lol), I haven't been able to write much for a while.
Special apologies to Ms Collette who has made me feel like I'm writing something actually worth reading.
This is the fourth installment of Banks, Cops and Robbers; a short story which I hope will eventually be one in James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-79709613529532377632014-01-22T09:21:00.001+01:002014-01-22T09:21:15.076+01:00I Have LovedI have loved And I have lost I have loved and when it was gone, all it left was a void I have loved and been loved back I have loved and gotten nothing back A thousand times I swore Never again would I fight this war This struggle between emotion and reason But empty words they were, only for a season My head screams at my heart, "Treason!" My heart cries, "This is who I James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-32217927597812724962013-11-22T19:48:00.000+01:002013-11-22T19:49:30.619+01:00BANKS, COPS AND ROBBERS 3
It had been 3 months since the man who had hid in his bus had given him a bundle of money.
Johnny had counted the notes the strange man who had threatened to kill him had tossed at him.
A hundred thousand Naira! It was too good to be true!
The next day, he went to get a room in a block of rooms close to the park. It cost him 40,000 Naira for a year. He also bought a 6 spring mattress and James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-26080379332799910982013-04-25T13:24:00.001+01:002013-04-25T13:24:30.720+01:00IT WAS LOVEIT WAS LOVEIt was love.  He was very sure of it. Ok, maybe now he was. Back then he didn't know what it was. And he had paid dearly for it. All he knew was that it was a wonderful feeling. And he never wanted it to end. But it had. He had been an introvert before he met her. He had just one friend all through his first year in secondary school up till that day inJames Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-18442370422411133622013-04-02T00:30:00.002+01:002013-04-09T21:19:15.059+01:00BANKS COPS AND ROBBERS 2
Then he heard footsteps. Someone was running in his direction, and then he heard other footsteps right behind the first. His first thought was to keep quiet and lie very still. After all, this was Lagos, and poking your nose where it didn’t belong especially in the middle of the night could get you killed. He had decided he wouldn’t move and just let whoever it was run past him when the door of James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-56014032295202065962013-02-26T12:10:00.001+01:002013-02-26T12:10:12.049+01:00BANKS COPS AND ROBBERS 1
It was an exceptionally busy day. The banking hall was full and a few customers even had to stand outside. This was a typical scenario whenever students were going home on vacation. They all came to withdraw their transport fares. The few who had ATM debit cards were the lucky ones because the queues at the machines were shorter and moved faster. Better still, it took less time to complete James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-70627141325350297102010-09-02T12:21:00.001+01:002013-02-25T17:22:03.708+01:00 One year of what?National Youth service?
To me, the whole thing is a joke. Employers of Labour either see you as slave labour or not useful enough to handle any real responsibilities. And the pay? Terrible. A few are lucky; but the greater percentage of corps members are not. Some organizations have taken advantage of the scheme to save costs. How? They have a consistent turn over of corpers every year, hardly James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-44078461925993693782010-09-01T15:25:00.001+01:002014-06-09T10:17:04.871+01:00WOMAN!
Woman in her weakness,is yet the strongest force upon the earth.
She is the helm of all things human;she comes in many shapes and knocks at many doors.
She is quick and patient,and her passion is not ungovernable like that of man,but as a gentle steed that she can guide even where she will,
and as occasion offers can now bit up and now give rein.
She has a captain's eye,and stout must be James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-5128615532052785782010-08-30T14:30:00.000+01:002014-05-28T17:57:59.999+01:00I was not there...
I was not there when he passed away. And it hurt. He had been undergoing chemotherapy for the cancer which had spread through most of his chest.
It had started with him losing his job at the embassy. That was when he started drinking and smoking. He always used to say it was a way to forget his pain and vent his frustration. Then he got an even better job, and the substance abuse did not stop. James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0Iganmu Road, Lagos, Nigeria6.4726333 3.35041160000002956.4568558 3.3302416000000297 6.4884108000000005 3.3705816000000293tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-99696667909771552009-12-27T10:07:00.001+01:002009-12-27T10:07:52.154+01:00Where did my childhood go?I don't know if i'm the only one who would like answers to the question above. Just a few years ago, I was in kindergarten where it was all play and eat and sleep and then the same cycle all over again. Then there was primary school; a little less play, a little bit of reading for school, but fun all the same.Secondary school? Plenty of reading for school work, less time for play (the definition James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1666726017644609737.post-12058793487269941142009-11-16T17:10:00.000+01:002009-11-18T20:56:45.711+01:00MY THOUGHTS (1)LOST LOVEThey say to find love and lose it is better than not to have loved at all. How true is that? If we could be spared all the depression and tears of a break up,who would choose otherwise? Unrequited love can also be a terrible experience.But for me,losing someone you love takes the biscuit. The agony of wondering what you did wrong,memories of times you spent together,that melancholy James Ikukuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13059548891738385742noreply@blogger.com0