aseto's blog

The news of the death of a great grand daughter  of the African hero, former President Nelson Mandela came as a rude shock. The timing and circumstance of the young ,13 year old girl, Zenaniwa, made the loss a deep one. It occured through a car crash while the girl was returning home from a concert to herald the World Soccer festival holding in that country, South Africa.

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Image source: Guardian.co.uk: Nelson Mandela great-granddaughter killed in crash caused by drunk-driver

The need to institutionalize equity and justice has again been stressed as a condition for peaceful co-existence, harmony and sustainable development.

This was the consensus of participants at a one-day Symposium organized by a non-governmental organization, ASETO (African Agency for an enhanced Socio-Ethics and Traditional Order).

The symposium was held at the organization’s office, Sanngo Ibadan as parts of the activities marking this year’s World Peace Day and Nigeria’s 49th Independence Anniversary.

As Federal Government of Nigeria under President Umar Yar Adua begins deregulation of the downstream oil sector, prices of oil products have gone up with some like kerosine and diesel being scarce.

Price of kerosine moved from N50 per litre to N110; diesel from about N80-90 to N130-N150. That of PMS (gasoline) is to become N110 from N65. More hardship for the people.

But government officials and its apologists say it is temporary that the prices will soon fall to below what they were before the deregulations. Nigerians have heard that several times before.

(French, Yoruba, Hausa versions below) Beside the physique, Language is the most outstanding of the features that distinguishes homo sapiens from other creatures.

Through language, human beings communicate with one another - and even with their creator. Through it, they bring meaning into their life and beautify their environment.

The phrase, In the Beginning there was Word, God was the Word expressed in diverse ways by various scriptures underlines the primacy of the tongue as far as existence is concerned. Words, needless to reiterate are bricks with which a language is structured, expressed and made meaningful.

Just as a toothless molar deprives one of the enjoyment of ripe kolanuts (to quote a Yoruba proverb), so is the irregularity of energy denying many organizations (in Nigeria especially) the opportunity to maximize the benefits inherent inthe (new) technology.