There are millions of Nigerian youth today whose potentials have gone rogue because of the failure of successive government to create an excelling springboard off an economy that has marginalised them time and time again. The rhetoric around hushpuppi’s actions is exacerbated by a false dichotomy, it shouldn’t be a question of his stupidity or sagacity, after all, its little by little that a pig’s nose enters the yard. Whether in science and technology, sports and recreation, manufacturing or engineering, there are huge opportunities for a government who understand the basics of developmental state to harness its young population, it takes real skill and talent to pull off what he did. 
Unfortunately the lacklustre response from the men of the ballot papers leaves much to be desired. That failure by government has in part marred economic prosperity and made the youths the forgotten young boys and girls of our country, like a sheep lacking a shepherd, many make their marks taking off from a point of disadvantage because of the non existing catalytic synergy between them and the political elite. This political ineptitude has produced a “hushpuppi” and other cyber-criminals from Africa’s “city upon a hill”
The reason why Hushpuppi has calved a negative image on the global scene is closer to home than it seems. This trend of our youthful countrymen scamming some of the richest men and women on the planet at the scale and success they have is not beyond belief, it is a symptom of the political sickness, our leaders should face the court of public opinion for serious negligent and gross misconduct. Hushpuppi may be a lost soul, but sadly his story represents millions of wasted youths, more sadly, it represents the failure of the mediocrities parading themselves in political office.
The Scottish government announce Thursday plans to allow retailers to open their doors again from June 29. This will see non essential shops many of whom have been seriously impacted by the pandemic try to jump start their businesses once again. However only shops with entrances and exit doors can open from Monday 29 June provided public health guidance like social distancing measures has been implemented. The advice for the general public is still to work from home wherever possible.
Before coronavirus unleashed its fangs, it was business as usual. Holiday makers gallivanted from nation to nation, cruise liners thrived on an insatiable appetite of their customer’s desire to see the world, travel agents created the dream holidays, airliners transported billions of people round the world and the stock market unravelled ownership claims on businesses, the rich got richer and the poorer’s purée peaked promptly. Five months on, you don’t need a crystal ball to realise that life as we know it may never remain the same again, and rightly so, it shouldn’t.
PDA (Public Display of Affection)- We all love a bit of cuddle, kisses, hugs and handshake, this represents the method and levels of endearment we have towards one another, but under the current health climate, this nomenclature of our lives would have to diminish if we want to win the pandemic war.
VACATION – in the early days of the virus, it accelerated its spread by using humans as its transport. From Italy to Barcelona, Paris, Dubai, London, New York, Cyprus, you name it, holiday makers brought more than chocolate boxes back home, they brought back a deadly virus also. Stupidly, some are already looking forward to another holiday destination, the virus is still out there and would remain out there for some time yet.
WORKING CULTURE – the virus has taught us how we don’t all have to be in a four walls of an office complex before work is work, It is now more likely that working from home is here to stay.
DEATH IS ONLY A VIRUS AWAY – painful but true, this virus leaves grief in its wake, even survivors saw death in close proximity, they didn’t survive because they beat the virus, they beat it because they survived.
VACCINE – there is so much talk about developing a vaccine at a fast pace, but no regard has been given to the probability it may never work, there may be deja vu in the horizon. Otherwise, messiahs in lab coats will haste a concoction, then government will roll out compulsory vaccination regime. Considering no vaccine has ever been produced within a year, we will all end up as guinea pigs, nevertheless, it might still be our best shot at protection.
SCIENCE SCIENCE BLAH BLAH – a lot of talk about following the science, other than a handful of deaths in few countries, many more countries have recorded record high numbers, the science of death?
SMART COUNTRY FOOLISH COUNTRY – some countries like the UK and the US have released very high numbers of death toll while others like China, Germany, Russia have relatively low numbers. The latter countries have been smart enough to recognise the unhelpful reality of putting out a high number, after all, it serves no purpose other than death-shaming the country with higher and highest death toll, many also find it demoralising the mood of the nation, so is there any positive reason for putting the figures out there? The former countries on the other hand have lost their sense of self preservation, one death is bad enough, what difference does it make if the death toll is 10 or 100, is it a race to the pinnacle of death? Death wise number foolish!
HEALTHY REGIME – according to medical professionals, good health and strong immunity is the best shot of anyone surviving the virus, statistics has shown that most people who die from this virus have an underlying health condition and weak immunity. Statistics also show that the UK and the US lead the world in underlying heath condition including diabetes, obesity etc, any surprise why both countries have been severely affected?
THE FAILURE OF SCIENCE – from the onset, scientific research revealed that children are not affected by the virus and that in the worst case scenario, they only have mild symptoms, not long after that the world recorded children dying from the virus including one as young as six weeks old. Then we were told no evidence that the virus affects pregnant women nor can it be passed to their unborn baby, then boom!, one by one pregnant woman did not only contract the virus, in many cases their babies were born with the virus.
EVIDENCE – scientist always base their discovery on the presence of evidence. While this is a moot point, we all know from justice system globally that the absence of evidence is not necessarily the presumption of innocence. The entire scientific revelation demonstrate an over reliance on a methodology based evidence when it is clear that science knows little or nothing about this new virus. Since this new virus reveal its different shades everyday, evidence based science shouldn’t have driven guidelines, relying on evidence that may be present tomorrow but absent today is misleading and dangerous – what a complete fiasco.
HEALTH SERVICE REFUGE – unfortunately not many countries have good health care system, for some who have, it either comes at a heavy cost or not accessible. What the virus has demonstrated to us however, is the importance of a responsive healthcare in all societies.
BLOOD MONEY – what is it about the top wealthy countries in the world and high Covid-19 mortality rate? Is it a case of penny wise pound foolish!
POLITICIANS ARE MISTAKES AND THEY MAKE HUMANS TOO – politicians don’t make mistakes because they are humans, they are humans because they make mistakes. Many politicians have been criticised for their handling of the virus crisis, the variable outcome from country to country is inevitable, when the dice rolls, you can’t tell which side it would land.
ARE WOMEN BETTER LEADERS – we have only started seeing women leaders in modern democracy post World War Two, perhaps women leaders would have avoided the two world wars or achieve a much lower fatalities had they held the reins of power, but we would never know would we? What we do know however, is that countries with women leaders appear to have handled this crisis significantly better than their male counterparts, they have shown true leadership in the face of crisis. From Mette Frederiksen of Denmark to Sanna Marin of Finland, Erna Solberg of Norway, Tsai Zing-wen of Taiwan to Jacinda Arden of New Zealand, and from Angela Merkel of Germany to Katrin Jakobsdottir of Iceland, these women have not only shown true qualities of leadership, they have demonstrated the type of empathy and care we have never seen before from political circles.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM – there was always going to be higher fatalities in some jurisdictions than others, the countries parading lower numbers will be touted as the perfect exemplary for their counterparts with higher fatalities. But you could set two countries apart with similar measures and still have different outcome.
RIGHT vs GOOD – there comes a time when doing good supersedes doing right, thus the saying, “the greatest good for the greatest number”. It is surreal that China may have deflated their death toll, if true, then it is more likely other countries parading lower figures did too. Experts believe Chinese unemployment figures could be three times higher than reported as a result of the pandemic. Ofcourse this may not be the right thing to do, but if it is good for the country then we have to accept that is right.
POLITICAL POINTS – opposition parties world over, well atleast in modern democracy, have seized the opportunity to score points over the government’s handling of the virus crisis. And rightly so, what better opportunity could there be to reposition themselves for power, but the scapegoating and scare-mongering risk dividing countries when they should be uniting against a common enemy.
UNEMPLOYMENT – staggering rise in unemployment has already been seen in many countries as a result of the lockdown impact on the economy, that’s despite some countries furloughing staff and others giving financial mitigation to businesses and employers. The rise of unemployment is going to get worse and perhaps remain so for some time, apparently it will take around 11 years to return the economy back to pre-pandemic status.
THE ECONOMY – deeply buoyant and resilient economies, particularly the Group of Seven most prosperous Nations otherwise knows as (G7) have suffered a big hit with many suffering between 4% to 11% drop in their GDP, what chance does weaker economies stand? It is definitely not a good outlook for the future, unfortunately this will be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s, billions of low paid workers worldwide will endure financial depression, when will it all be alright?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is preparing to wind down the Furlough scheme as the infection rate of the virus has significantly dropped. It is expected that in the coming weeks the lockdown would be lifted and the furlough scheme would end. Over 6 million employees in the Uk are said to have received 80% of their salary from the government. This have proved popular has it has saved jobs that would have otherwise been lost and it has also mitigated the financial constraints low earning workers would have had to suffer. But as the economy prepares to return to normal, the chancellor said “anyone anxious about this I want to reassure them that there will be no cliff edge to the furlough scheme. I am working to figure out the best way to ease people back to work in a measured way”. The scheme is thought to have cost the government £42 billion. More bad news awaits workers who may find out they no longer have a job once the scheme ends.
The Scottish Government through local councils have made provision for local businesses to apply for grant of £10,000 or £25,000. Businesses in Moray environs can make application online. An application form can be completed online here http://www.moray.gov.uk/downloads/file132681.pdf
Spynie Care Home in Elgin Moray has been converted to free up hospital beds ahead of a possible surge in coronavirus patients. The move by Moray Council is to create a transit support those who need short-term support after being discharged from the hospital before been declared fit to return to their homes.