Where is Lagbaja?

Image Source: www.musicinafrica.net

Through a conversation I had with a friend some days back, my attention was drawn to a music icon who has been quiescent in the music industry as of recent times. Am talking about Òpá Tàmèdù popularly known as “Lagbaja”. The Nigerian afro-beat Musician, singer-songwriter and percussionist just turned 60 recently. Despite the fact that his facial identity has been kept secret for a very long time, a lot of people being disturbed about the identity of the music icon has even posted some suggested pictures of him.

Growing up in the early 20th century, I came to love Lagbaja as a musician, what made me curious the most was the fact that I didn’t get to see his face. This increased my anxiety and made me watch his songs frequently to see if I can see or at least have an imagination of what he looks like. His name name “Tàmèdù” is a Yoruba word that means “nobody in particular” and this has made me wonder severally if that was the reason behind him not revealing his identity since the meaning of the name implies “nobody”. The Afro beat singer has won the channel O Music Video Awards - best Male Video for his song “Far Away”. His songs which also include “Nothing for You” Konko Below” “Knock Knock Knock”, are some of his popular tracks and has been one of the top Afro music in Nigeria. The last time he came to the Spot light was with Simi, she took to her Instagram Page to inform her fans of her performance with Lagbaja on 28th July, 2018 in Abuja. Till date no significant news has been heard about him, and this has been the worries of his fans including me, Pushing us to ask the question

Where is Lagbaja? 

Increase Your Capacity to Learn with Growth Mindset

Knowing how your brain work is important in learning how to learn. Our brain is made up of billions of brain cells, these cells are connected to other brain cells by neural pathways, these connections form our thoughts and habits. The stronger the connections are, the more persuasive the thought or habit is. Irrespective of this research, scientists believed that everyone was born with a certain amount of intelligence that did not change over time. Carol Dweck, author of Mindset, calls this belief a “fixed mindset”-- the idea that while you can learn new things, your intellectual ability is basically fixed and does not change. This perception of intelligence is dangerous because people with a fixed mindset tend to view failure and success as evidence of their intelligence. People with a fixed mindset are unwilling to try new things that might disprove how they think about themselves. As a result, little to no progress can be made in any new area when a person has a fixed mindset.

On the other hand,  Growth Mindset is the belief that your intellectual ability can grow when you persist at difficult tasks. People with a growth mindset are likely to see failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. Those with a growth mindset are more eager to push themselves and take on new projects, register for an unfamiliar class, or learn new skills.

A growth mindset is essential to learning by faith because it removes the restrictions we place on ourselves and allows our brains to grow. Research has shown that when you do challenging tasks, your neural pathways (the connections between your brain cells) grow and strengthen. When you strengthen or change your neural pathways, you are changing your habits and the patterns of your thoughts — you are becoming more capable.

Think of it like a muscle. In order to grow your muscles, you would lift weights to make them stronger. Your brain is the same way. When you push yourself to the edge by doing hard things, you actually strengthen and grow your brain. With a growth mindset you can literally change the way you think and learn how to do new things.

People who have a growth mindset accept failure as an opportunity to learn. That doesn’t mean that growth mindset people are happy every time they fail. It means that they examine what they did wrong so they can learn and improve step-by-step. Mistakes are essential to growing your brain and are evidence that you are pushing yourself. Brain examinations show that when people with a growth mindset make mistakes their brains are more active than those with a fixed mindset.

(extract from Brigham Young University Idaho, Online Learning; Life Skills).

To learn more kindly visit https://www.byupathway.org/ and follow the directives to register on a course, I’ll advise you to begin with Pathway Connect or call/WhatsApp us 08167861296

Bob Marley Lives On

   

Image source: www.thenewsnigeria.com.ng

  Yesterday marked the 39th year since the passing of legendary Robert Nesta Marley popularly known as “Bob Marley”. The Jamaican singer, musician and songwriter was considered as one of the pioneers of reggae music. He was born on the 6th of February 1945 to Norval Sinclair Marley and Cadella Booker (who was also a Jamaican singer and writer) when she was 18 years. Born in the rural community of Nine Mile, nestled in the mountainous terrain of saint Ann parish, British Jamaica.

     Barely into his teen he left St. Ann and moved to Jamaica’s capital and eventually settled in the western Kingston vicinity of Trench town. Because of the nature of the Trench town community, Bob Marley quickly learned to defend himself against Trench town’s bad boys, in this struggle he earned the respectful nickname “Tuff Gong”. Despite the poverty and despair that surrounded the Trench town community, the town was also culturally rich, and was the genesis of Bob’s abundant musical talent.

• Image Souce: www.bobmarley.com

     In 1963, Bob Marley and his childhood friend Neville Livingston also known as Bunny Wailer, under the tutor of Joe Boggs a successful singer, started the musical group knows as “The Wailers”. With their single hit titled “summer Down” with Bob cautioning the ghetto youth to control their tempers or “the Battle would be hotter” reportedly sold over 80,000 copies.

     In 1969 there was a great change in the popular Jamaican music which slowed the beat further. The new beat was a slow steady tickling rhythm that was first heard on The Maytals song “Do the reggae”. With this new development, Bob Marley approached a major sound producer of raggae sound, Leslie Kong and that set him on the highway to success in raggae music. After one year of the disbandment of “The Wailers” a year earlier after they received international recognition, Marley still used the bands name to release  a solo material. With the release of the Albums Natty Dread and Rastaman Vibration he began to gin success in Raggae music. After surging an assassination attempt, the Jamaican singer permanently moved to London, where he recorded the album Exodus. In 1977, Bob Marley was diagnosed with acral lengtiginious melanoma (a serious skin cancer) and died as a result of the the illness in 1981. His greatest hit album legend was released in 1984 became the best selling raggae album of all time.

     Subject to poverty and racism which also shaped his life and music career, he used his music as a voice to speak against the challenges of his day which included poverty, oppression, violence, racism and injustice. His music has also taught basic principles which include social justice, human rights, peace, love and unity to the World at large. This can be seen in so many of his song one of which include “Get Up Stand Up” written as a protest song for the Jamaican people to fight against racism. Bob Marley was the person most responsible for the globalization of raggae music. He changed the course of jamiacan music and brought raggae to the World stage.

      

Stay Positive; HushPuppi Reaches out

According to Local Media Outlet Raymond Igbalodely, popularly known as “Ray HushPuppi” is worth over 20 million USD, the Dubai-based billionaire & philanthropist took to his Instagram Page to share an important lesson about staying Positive and Prayerful. In his words;

“Let me tell you a short story, you can learn a thing or two from. Instagram is a place where a lot of losers find confidence in trolling people which I have been a victim of for many people; some words get to me sometimes and because of this I disabled my IG notifications and I stayed away from reading comments because I know what you don’t see or hear don’t get to your heart. Then this beautiful day few days ago, I wanted to delete the post of my newly acquired rolls Royce truck and a comment came in right at that moment of someone commenting under another fan’s comment trolling them, it said “😂😂.... poor man praying for the rich”

so it caught my interest and wanted to see what was going on and then I saw someone else before that one even already dissed about the same thing. Then I took a screenshot and saved it in my favs in my photo album so I can see it again and remember to reach out to that awesome person who prayed for me regardless of his fanatical status and being called poor. This morning I was looking through my phone and I saw the screenshot and I decided to dm the guy who prayed for me without knowing it was his birthday and he shares the same birthday with his dad, and I wished them happy birthday and I decided to make his day and make him a millionaire and make him know there’s a win in being a positive person, there’s good in wishing and praying good for people no matter your situation, don’t let it get the best out of you. Be positive, Be prayerful. I fulfilled my wish and I got him out of his situation and made him a millionaire this morning. I advised him to put that money into good and pay it forward to positive and prayerful person in the future”.

I was really trilled by this show of kindness and encouragement, and hope you are also. God Bless you Ray HushPuppi.

Be Positive, Be prayerful.

Uninterrupted Power Supply to Reduce Lockdown Effect

Image Source: www.synergy-cables.com

Over the Years, I’ve often extricated and appreciated Nikola Tesla, Benjamin Franklin, Micheal Faraday, Thomas Edison, etc and their teams for the invention of Electricity because of its benefits and worthwhile service it has brought to mankind especially in this our Age. Most times this thought prompts me to wonder how those residing in remote areas survive without Electricity. Eventually electricity has become one of the necessities of our time, with benefits which include providing lights for our rooms, working fans and other domestic appliances including electric stove, Air Conditioners,  Cell Phones, etc.

With the Lockdown System serving as one of the best method adopted internationally to curb the spread of corona virus, President Muhammadu Buhari in his televised address on Monday extended the lockdown especially in major cities like Lagos, Abuja and Kano. Personally, I remain grateful to the Federal Government for this preventive measure against the corona virus but also feel that this method might not work properly among especially the poor masses which is a greater part of the Nigeria Population if the basic social amenities needed to reduce the effect of the Lockdown is not provided. One of the basic amenity which you will agree with me, that is essential to ease the effect of the lockdown is Uninterrupted Power Supply.

The failure of the Nigerian Power sector to provide Adequate Power Supply to households especially now, has been one the major Problem, despite the rapid growth of the Country’s Economy and status as Africa’s largest Oil producer. Statistics have shown that just 40% of Nigerian population is connected to the Energy grid whilst power supply difficulties are experienced most of the time. Furthermore several days can go by without any power supply with not even restorations announced. Cognizantly, the House of Representative and Stake holders in the power Sector agreed to set up a committee to propose free electricity as part of the stimulus package to reduce the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on some Nigerians, but the great question is, How beneficial is this package with the Epileptic Power supply?

Except for those residing in Omoku and other places with Uninterrupted Power Supply, Electricity has been one of the major challenge in the southern and western part of Nigeria I visited and still remains an outstanding  problem with Lockdown System. A typical lockdown implies staying in a particular geographical area with no or limited movement, to be precise Staying Indoors. And Staying Indoors leaves you with limited choices which might include sleeping, watching TV, using your smart devices, working online, exercising, and a few more which depends on the size of your house or land mass. You’ll observe that all the above mentioned is in a way connected with the use of electricity, you might be asking yourself how does exercise connect with electricity. Funny enough you’ll need electricity to power your exercising machine and if you don’t use that, you’ll need water to bath after the exercise, and that water has to be pumped using electricity. Most importantly, we need to preserve the food we’ve made despite the high cost of buying food items due to the pandemic, an electric-powered refrigerator is need to achieve this goal. Some of our family and friends are far from their loved ones are finding it difficult to stay in touch due to epileptic power supply.

The residents of Omoku and other regions with reliable Power Supply can attest to how easy it is to cope with the Lockdown System compared to other regions with epileptic power supply. Sadly this is the little I can do and i hope that the Power Sector will look into this to enable a proper functioning of the Lockdown system in most regions, with the aim to return to the normalities of Life.