Saturday, January 26, 2008
WHITHER KSU? 2
Back in August last year I wrote a piece on the progress of buildings at Katsina State University (KSU). Well its more than six months now and things have improved in one area while deterioration is the word in others. The picture above shows the same Senate building that I captured last but looking almost complete now. There is a new vigour now and contractors handling all the different buildings are busy on site. Note however that there is no way the students can relocate to this permanent site this year.
However, in the academic front, there is tension between the mangement and the teaching staff and, if what I hear is true, a showdown is iminent. The lecturers are loudly demanding payment of promised salary increase but the school authorities are claiming there was no money. I beg your pardon? What hapened to the billions stashed as investments so as to provide a stream of income for the school? If I remember correctly we were told then that the school would never have a cash flow problem. But if it can not pay the salaries plus the arrears then it means only one thing: the school is broke. No more no less. And this begs the question as to what hapened to the billions earmarked for the school by Yardy? Why did the governing council of the school allow the matter to reach the level it has reached now? What prevented them from intimating Yardy if Shema refused to cooperate as it is been alledged?
All the above questions are relevant and would come to the fore if and when the University is closed as a result of a strike action. That time it will be on record that KSU is the first state university in the country to be closed on account of strike by agrieved lecturers. One step forward, you might say, but two steps backward after a while. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
ADIEU BENAZIR BHUTTO
So much as been written about the late Benazir Bhutto and this rare picture is my way of saying good bye to her. The loss to Pakistan is enormous but so also the only super power around - USA.Labels: benazir, bhutto, pakistan
SNOW IN KT?
Temperatures are dipping so fast that the thought of snow actually falling in KT is really a possibility. Room temperatures have of late plunged to 16 degrees Celsius while outside the mercury nudges around 8 degrees. I am hoping that a very cold wind will collide with another cold breeze above KT skies and presto, we see snow falling down from the sky. And thats the exact explanation for a recent snow fall in Baghdad captured in the this picture.Of course snow had never fallen in KT but neither did it ever fell in Baghdad.
LIVING LIKE THE AMISH
Since the disappointment I suffered along with the people of KT during Sallah, and the journey to Daura which was a fiasco, a trail of setbacks trailed me. My car broke down in the middle of no where and had to be abandoned there for a day. By the time I went with my mechanic some urchins had removed one tyre and traffic lights on the body. As if that was not enough, my cell phone was also stolen at the garage. These two mishaps nearly made me to flip over.
The loss of the cell phone was particularly devastating seeing that I bought it not more than a month before. And it was a high end gizmo with all the bells and whistles you can think of: bluetooth, wireless LAN, 3.5 mega pixel camera, digital recorder, memory card etc. I shelled out more than 50 thousand to acquire it and some nut case took it away from me. And it went along with all the contact numbers of my friends and relations! I asked everybody in the garage but no one saw anything. I went home and cussed some more but to no avail.
I calmed down towards midnight and thought the whole thing up objectively. First I wanted the phone to be blocked so that it would be rendered useless to the thief. Unfortunately my service provider MTN does not have a blocking software for stolen cell phones. In fact there are so many things they don't offer to us, their customers, including hassle free calls. Perhaps thats why some people coined Matsala Tazo Najeria. I thought of my numbers inside the phone and decided to visit the garage the following day perchance the thief threw it around the place. He did not.
The following day word went out that I lost my phone and some asked me to buy another one. And thats when I made up my mind to stay without a handset. Why buy another only to lose it again some day? Already the car was to stay in the garage for a month or so and what an opportunity to also for go the cell phone? And while I was at it, I also thought I had had enough of high tech anyway and so my laptop will have to go too, along with browsing. I would rather start living like the Amish? No car rides, no calls of whatever kind, and no browsing. It will be a thrill, I thought. So I packed my Acer and locked it in the closet.
Let me just say that it was not easy at all but thank God I have done it for a number of days and its all over. I am back and know I have missed a lot. But above all I apologise to my readers for not updating as usual. Life now continues as usual...
The loss of the cell phone was particularly devastating seeing that I bought it not more than a month before. And it was a high end gizmo with all the bells and whistles you can think of: bluetooth, wireless LAN, 3.5 mega pixel camera, digital recorder, memory card etc. I shelled out more than 50 thousand to acquire it and some nut case took it away from me. And it went along with all the contact numbers of my friends and relations! I asked everybody in the garage but no one saw anything. I went home and cussed some more but to no avail.
I calmed down towards midnight and thought the whole thing up objectively. First I wanted the phone to be blocked so that it would be rendered useless to the thief. Unfortunately my service provider MTN does not have a blocking software for stolen cell phones. In fact there are so many things they don't offer to us, their customers, including hassle free calls. Perhaps thats why some people coined Matsala Tazo Najeria. I thought of my numbers inside the phone and decided to visit the garage the following day perchance the thief threw it around the place. He did not.
The following day word went out that I lost my phone and some asked me to buy another one. And thats when I made up my mind to stay without a handset. Why buy another only to lose it again some day? Already the car was to stay in the garage for a month or so and what an opportunity to also for go the cell phone? And while I was at it, I also thought I had had enough of high tech anyway and so my laptop will have to go too, along with browsing. I would rather start living like the Amish? No car rides, no calls of whatever kind, and no browsing. It will be a thrill, I thought. So I packed my Acer and locked it in the closet.
Let me just say that it was not easy at all but thank God I have done it for a number of days and its all over. I am back and know I have missed a lot. But above all I apologise to my readers for not updating as usual. Life now continues as usual...
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Eid, X-mas, Hannunkka, Soltice and New Year wishes
The last quarter of the year 2007 was packed full of all sorts of celebrations. First we had Eid el Kabir for Muslims and then came along the Christmas which normally coincides with the solstice (when the sun is farthest from the equator) and then comes the Hannukka (a Jewish festival). And all these within a space of one month. I want to believe that as humans we all celebrated these occasions. And as if that was not enough, we first had a new year according to the liturgical calendar and another one soon according to the Hijra calendar.
So here is a belated wish to all my readers for a happy Sallah, merry Christmas, light filled solstice, happy hannunkka and a prosperous 2008 and 1328.
Update: I have been corrected with regard to the Islamic year (1328) which I quoted above. Correction accepted as the year is actually 1429 and my thanks to Big Abdul.
