THE BIRTHDAY LIST

  So my birthday is on Monday, January 22^nd. Days back, someone asked me what’s on my birthday list. I said I didn’t have a list and got a reaction that said “You’re an alien.”

  A birthday list is cool. It helps people who don’t know what to get you know what to get you. It kind of makes the job easier. You can do ojukokoro(greed) and add really expensive or hard to get gifts if you are wealthy and expect people to follow what’s on your list alone and share the list around to make sure people get you gifts you want. 

  

  To me, it kind of takes away the spontaneity and

FORGIVING YOU AND THEM

Hi there,
  Today I'm sharing my thoughts on forgiveness via video. I hope you watch and you are blessed by it one way or the other.
Here's the link if the video doesn't show on your browser.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zaINSYk-njY

Thank you for watching my thoughts, what are yours? 

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS SUCK

 George was overweight and needed to lose some weight. The New Year approached and he made a resolution; “This New Year, I will join a gym.” He joined a gym, truthfully. He went to the gym every day. He’d go out and be offered cake, Ice-cream, fried chicken and many more yummy treats. He turned them all down. One day in February, it was a colleague’s birthday at the office. A red velvet cake was shared; George had a thing for red velvet. “A tiny slice won’t kill me.” He ate the cake happily. Days later, his alarm rang to tell him ‘gym time’. George shut

GRATEFUL

  In the beginning of each year, asides New Year resolutions, most make plans for the year. Now, the year is ending, they reflect and check if they achieved their goals or not. I just want to tell you, it doesn’t matter if you didn’t.
  It’s easy to focus on the big things you wanted and planned, to look at other people you feel got what you wanted, living the life you want and almost go green with envy. First, you are in competition with no one but yourself. Everyone has a different

HAPPINESS AND COUPLES’ FULFILLMENT

I woke up this morning pissed after I had heard that the Oil marketers had decided to cheat innocent Nigerians out of enjoying the yuletide season by hiking the fuel price.

My displeasure turned into laughter when I read in the Punch Newspaper that Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state has appointed twenty-eight new commissioners. That is not funny, I know. The funny part is the name of the new ministry he just created out of nowhere and placed his biological sister at the helm. The ministry is called

DATING TODAY=?

In today’s world the word ‘Dating’ has become synonymous to sex and a relationship. Dating used to be a get to know period. A time you ask the important questions and see if you are both compatible then move it a step further towards courtship then marriage.

Dating is the first step for seeking out a life partner. Now, it’s just for the fun of it. No goals, no purpose.

Dating now means, ‘in a relationship’ with someone. Scratch that, ‘in a sexual relationship.’

Well, you see people who are supposedly dating and date for years then they tell you’ I can’t marry her’ , ‘I can’t marry him’.

Why be in a relationship with that person in the first place? Call me old school but dating isn’t an exclusive relationship. I can go on dates and get to know three men or more, ask questions, study them all.  If any fits, we move on to courtship. I don’t understand why people do things without purpose. Or why dating which is the first step should take years, months and have sex involved in it.

Some guys now, thanks to the times, ask you out, then tell you they want to date you to get you into the stage of we are boyfriend, girlfriend just so they can have sex with you. When you say, you don’t want to have sex, you hear things like;

“What are we dating for?”

“It’s what people who date do.”

“Are you not my girlfriend?”

If you are not ready to get married or not looking for a life-mate what then is your purpose as a man or woman for dating in the first place?

Dating like I said earlier was a get to know period. Sex was never part of it. Throwing sex into it blurs the lines between the dating and courtship period and then you believe you have moved on to courtship and you keep expecting and hoping he marries you.

When you go into it with a purpose, in the first three dates you both have, you should have a better understanding and can tell from the little but important questions to you that you have asked,  if you both align and if you’d consider moving it a step further.

Dating is getting to know if we can and not that we are in a relationship and sex must and should happen.

Asking a lady out on a date is termed romantic because you are interested in her as a woman and you are searching for a life- mate for the future and not because sex is on the table that day and you just want to bang that hot body you see for the months and years you’d be in a relationship. I think you should date with a plan, not for the fun of it and not with the flow. Why date if you are not ready to get married?

Then when the girl you have been sleeping with and have been in a relationship with, that has given you time, affection, care, sex, sometimes money, cleaned and cooked for you for months or years asks you “what’s the plan for the future?”, you run away, end things and say she was trying to force you to marry her or putting on demands, pressure, bla bla bla.  Biko, what was your plan, the timeline in the first place?

Dating should be a time for discovering a little about the life principles and character of the other person and it shouldn’t take months. You can date more than one man or woman when it’s platonic and it’s just get to know.

Maybe, I’m the one who is confused by today’s world were certain words have lost their true meanings and have become diluted and now mean something entirely different.

If you decide you want to date but don’t have marriage or forever in view or you just want to have sex and fun, ask the person you are planning on doing that with if they want the same thing. If you are both on the same page, have at it. Tomorrow, you won’t hear talks on marriage from him or her.

I think I’ll talk about the term ‘Hanging out’ in my next post.

Thank you for reading my thoughts. What are yours?

WHO THEY SAY I AM

In life, right from when we’re little we often wonder what people think of us.

I’m sure you’ve asked yourself one or two of these questions;

‘Do they like me?’

‘How do I make them like me?’

‘What will people say when they know this about me?’

‘How do they see me?’

There are lots of questions, I’m sure you’re already thinking of more.

We worry ourselves thinking about other people’s

OKORO AND HIS ZUZU

OKORO: My one and only Zuzu. You know I love you very much.

ZUZU: Love fire! You say you love me but you keep hiding me.

OKORO: That’s not true. I can announce my love for you to the world. I can scream it from the mountains, from the tallest tree, from…

ZUZU: Story! You are all talk and no action. Mstcheew!

OKORO: I’m going to

THE CRAFTER'S SPEECH

The crafters' conference has come and gone but it will come again. 

THE 2017 CRAFTERS CONFERENCE - WELCOME ADDRESS

Azeezat, ZazeeCraft CEO, The conference creator.

Respect to everyone here present, listening and/or watching. Distinguished speakers for this occasion; Professor Niyi Osundare, Mrs Oluseyi Abdullahi, Mrs Tosin Oludosu Adebowale and Mr. Kuti George, members of the panel of discussants, representatives of SMEDAN and BOI, the media and corporate partners, crafters, and exhibitors, please accept our warm welcome.

We are delighted to have you with us to be part of the maiden edition of The Crafters Conference which is being hosted by The Zazee Crafts. Your presence here serves as a re-assurance to us on the premium you place on crafting as a vocation and indeed crafters as an integral part of the Nigerian economy. We thank you once again for coming.

The Zazee Crafts is committed to promoting and projecting crafting as an enjoyable and profitable vocation that can help galvanize the Nigerian economy. We want crafting to be elevated as a viable option in the national entrepreneurship drive; and also that crafters be recognized as valuable contributors to the nation’s development.

Our immediate goal is to forge solidarity with crafters, bringing into focus their peculiar challenges and the prospects for a successful career in crafting.  Hence, the theme for this year’s conference: “Crafting the Future with Both Hands.”

The general point of this theme is to show that crafting has a big role in the future development of this country. But of more urgent and particular importance is the need to properly shape the crafters – current and aspiring ones – to fit into and meaningfully impact that future that is unfolding.

We are honoured to have Prof. Niyi Osundare, Mrs Oluseyi Abdullahi, Mrs Tosin Adebowale and Mr. Kuti George to help address the underlying issues. Prof. Niyi Osundare is a renowned poet and university lecturer. I have no doubt that his decades of mentoring experience would be a vital resource on this occasion. From both Mrs Abdullahi and Mrs Adebowale who are established entrepreneurs, we could expect practical guides on how to chart a course to success as crafters. And I am quite sure the deep insights and experience of Mr.Kuti in financial matters would complement the other speakers excellently.

So, clearly we are in competent hands – for knowledge, new insights, inspiration, excitement and fun.

I welcome you once more, on behalf of Zazee Crafts, to the 2017 edition of The Crafters’ Conference.

PANELISTS DISCUSSING

ME AT THE CONFERENCE

It was worth it. To see videos and pictures from that day, check out their Instagram @thecraftersc or mine @thefrancesokeke.

Hope you'll attend the next one?

INDEPENDENCE DAY BLUES!

(Blast from the past. I look forward to the year I'll discard this article.)

   The Nigerian Independence day has come. I always have mixed feelings every time it comes around.  Why? Despite all the money pumped into the country, sometimes borrowed, the country doesn’t seem to be moving forward.  Some people spend their time blaming the colonial masters for taking different confederacies and gluing them together to form a country; some spend their time blaming the leaders past and present, then the rest don’t even care. Well, the general news is that our leaders are the problem the country has, they destroy the country by stealing away the money meant for the masses, they say.

This leads me to the heart of my thoughts on this. Our national anthem, which I regret to say, some don’t even know the words, others know it but recite it like a poem they had to cram. They don’t know the meaning of the words in the National anthem, especially the first line.

‘ARISE O COMPATRIOTS, NIGERIA’S CALL OBEY

TO SERVE OUR FATHERLAND

WITH LOVE AND STRENGTH AND FAITH

THE LABOURS OF OUR HEROES PAST

SHALL NEVER BE IN VAIN

TO SERVE WITH HEART AND MIGHT

ONE NATION BOUND IN FREEDOM

PEACE AND UNITY’

Well, the National anthem should be scrapped because it is nothing but a farce.

THE CRAFTERS' CON

The Crafters’ Conference

Theme: Crafting the future with both hands,  

Date: 23 Sept; 2017

Venue: The Shalom Park and Events Centre, Unity bus
stop, Igando


The Crafters’ Conference is a platform designed for members of the craft community to showcase various talents and creatives that will beat your imagination.

The conference which is the first of its kind is organized by The Zazee Crafts; a paper and fabric crafts venture.

The Crafters’ Conference is a capacity building forum for people, especially the young, in different dimension of crafting. It is mainly in consideration of the important role of entrepreneurship in the development of the nation’s economy.

According to Azeezat Sanni; the Founder/Executive Creative Director of the venture and Convener of the conference;
‘We feel obliged to organise an event such as this to contribute our quota to youth and
entrepreneurship development in Nigeria. It is our conviction that many aspiring and already
established crafters would benefit immensely from various interactions ensued with the conference audiences and fellow crafters.
The conference which is also enriched with exhibition, training and retraining, it's our believe that the initiative will positively impact our image as a growing institution that is genuinely committed to promoting the spirit of enterprise, through craftsmanship, among young Nigerians.”

Participating in this laudable idea are Mrs. Oluseyi Abdullahi; the pioneer crafter in Nigeria, Founder/MD of Crafties Hobby Limited, Mrs. Olutosin Oladosu Adebowale; Founder Tosin Turn Trash To Treasure (5T) Foundation, Mr. S. T. Kuti George; President, Nigeria Small and Medium Scale Industrialists (NASSI) and Professor Niyi Osundare.

For further enquiries on events activities, registration and participation visit
www.craftersconference.zazeesworld.com

DEAR GOV. AMBODE AND LAWMA

Dear Gov. Ambode and Lawma,

Do you live in Lagos? Can you picture Lagos, August last year and now?

Don’t get me wrong, I think you, Monsieur Governor are doing well e.g. Berger i.e. the entrance of Lagos looks amazing. Back to the main issue.

WRITE OR FLIGHT?

  It’s been weeks, ok months, I wrote a word down. Not screenplays, I’ve been writing those. I mean an article, my thoughts for you, here, on my blog. I don’t have writer’s block, don’t misread me. I’ve never had that.  It’s far from that. Let’s just say, I decided to still my mind, stop thinking or sharing my thoughts and just go with the flow. Of what use is it?, I think sometimes. Do you read? Do you share them? Do they make any difference at all in your life?

   I just fell into a robotic comatose state. Frances, thou shalt not think. Lol! My thoughts catch up with me sometimes. They flood in. Then I begin to ponder, ‘which do I write down first?’ Then I will myself not to think and not to sit before my computer, stare at the

GOVERNOR IFEANYI OKOWA AND THE 15MILLION NAIRA GIFT

Silas: Efenation! Chai! This boy is blessed. This boy is…

Vendor: Oga, no dey open my paper like that unless you wan buy am. (snatches the paper from him)

Paul: What! Fifteen million naira!

Silas: He who God has blessed no man can curse. Kai! I wish I was him. God bless this Governor and…

Paul: Was the fifteen million for a service he rendered to the state or a contract. Mr vendor, please let me…

Vendor: You wan buy the paper?

Paul: I just want to read this story.

Vendor: Me I just want to enter helicopter, build one storey building for my village and visit Queen Eliza.

Silas: (laughs) Tap into efenation’s blessing. The way…

Paul: Touché Mr vendor.

Vendor: why I go touch you?

Paul: I didn’t…Ok, do you have any idea why the fifteen million naira was given?

Vendor: Na dash e dash am.

Paul: Dash?

Vendor: Gift.

Paul: Wow! This can’t be true. It must be a rumour.

Vendor: Rumour ke? You no see am for paper?

Paul: it must be someone trying to tarnish the Governor’s image.

THAT FAKE SOCIAL MEDIA POST

Hmmm, where do I start?  So, early this year I ran into someone I know who told me how last year had been phenomenal for him and how he’d been invited to the UN (United Nations) for a youth conference. I was happy for him; I praised God for His marvelous work in his life.

I chatted with another friend who brought this same guy’s story up. I was even sent a picture of him seated in the United Nations. So, I went on his social media handles, saw the pictures and what he wrote about being specially invited because of his NGO, I was happy.

This other friend went on wishing she had the guy’s luck, tapping into his blessing, praying that the work of her hands would make a way for her  and the UN would invite her someday too. That imagine how people would view her then, as a girl with a vision, a girl who moved in the right circles and cliques, an international girl, that with that kind of opportunity more doors would open for her and people in top places will respect her and seek her out as it is happening for this young man. That she can just imagine uploading that picture on her Instagram, how people will take her serious. That she can imagine how babes would be dying on top the guy’s matter. I laughed at her and reminded her everyone’s paths were different.

Today, I was searching for opportunities online and I came upon one that talked about a UN fellowship.

‘Interesting opportunity’ I thought.

 I went ahead to their main site, saw the guy’s picture and my interest increased.

‘I’m so going to send this link to my friend, her prayers are about to be answered’, I had thought to myself.

 I read on and saw where they mentioned packages. I was perplexed.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA

Corruption is a noun that has become synonymous to Nigeria. Please indulge my thoughts on the matter as you read.

Before we got colonized, we had a trade by barter system. Asides from that if you wanted a favour from a rich man or a neighbour, etc, you don’t go empty handed. You go with a keg of palm wine, tubers of yam or some gift to curry their favour. They say it is African culture. I say we converted that culture and are doing it in cases we shouldn’t today.

Nigeria was colonized by Britain. We all know by now that the aim wasn’t to give us religion but to plunder our numerous resources. Imagine looking at so much wealth and resources but you can’t control it, touch it or enjoy it but only get what’s doled out to you by the colonial masters. You watch them cart away resources worth millions and billions of pounds. You can’t do anything about it.  Every single dime is controlled by another who came from somewhere.

Then the clamour for independence began. Yes, some patriots’ real motivation was to take back control and make Nigeria great but for some it was to enjoy what they had seen the ‘Masters’ enjoy and be like them.

Independence came and the plundering continued.

THE HISTORY OF CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA

ARE POLITICIANS NIGERIA'S PROBLEM?

Are the politicians truly the problem Nigeria has?

KEEP IT OFF SOCIAL MEDIA

TO ENEMIES, HATERS & COMPETITORS

WHEN MY SPEECH GETS REPORTED

THEY CALL ME NAMES

JESUS' LETTER TO THE NIGERIAN CHURCH

I woke up thinking about it ‘If Jesus were to write a letter to the church in Nigeria what would he say?’ So here goes the letter;

                                                                                                      Christ’s kingdom way,

                                                                                                                    Heaven.

Dear Church,

  My spirit cries with what I see. I came to magnify the old laws and change some. I am a Jew. I see a religion formed in my name but it doesn’t keep my ways. Why are you divided, there are so many denominations? I see you using the memoirs of my time on earth for your personal gain. You distort them. My words are being used to lie and deceive.

   Why do some churches say only their members will see my kingdom? Why do you ask your members to marry only each other? Why is there discrimination amongst you, your Christian brothers and other religions? Every man was made in my image. In my time, I ate with and welcomed foreigners, gentiles, Samaritans though I was a Jew.

Why is there murder amongst you? You do not keep the old commandments by my father or the new.

WAS HE RIGHT?

   I saw this in a group I belong to. It was said that American Comedian George Carlin was the author but i just had to Google it to know if it was a book so I could buy and read. I found out that yes it was from a book but it was written by  a pastor, Dr Bob Moorehead, former in his book Words Aptly Spoken, published in 1995. This essay is titled ‘ The Paradox of our Age”. Irrespective of the scandal that followed him later, well that's none of my business. Please read his words below and see if he was right or wrong.

"We have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways but narrower viewpoints; we spend more but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less; we have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, yet less time; we have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more experts, yet more problems; we have more gadgets but less satisfaction; more medicine, yet less wellness; we take more vitamins but see fewer results. We drink too much; smoke too much; spend too recklessly; laugh too little; drive too fast; get too angry quickly; stay up too late; get up too tired; read too seldom; watch TV too much and

THE NEED TO BELONG

  Have you ever wondered why you need friends? Why you keep trying to make people like you? Why you keep searching for love even after your heart has been smashed into pieces? Have you asked yourself why you hang on to that friendship even when it’s detrimental to your health? Why you worry about the clothes you wear, the way you speak, the amount of money you have, the cars you ride, the places you go to, the job you do? Have you sat down and wondered why you care so much about what your friends, co-workers and even mere strangers say and think about you? Have you wondered why you deemed it fitting to belong to a religious inclination and go as far as to join a society in your religious group? Do you ever remember wondering how to make friends and make people like you when you were a kid or a teenager? Do you remember, taking that stick of cigarette and holding it to your lips and dragging in as your mates looked at you? Do you remember sneaking out at night to attend that party that everyone was talking about? Do you remember wearing your uniform in a certain way like

YOU ARE NOT WORTH IT

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    I was with a friend who uttered the words ‘Frances, nobody is worth it.’ I looked at this my friend that I had tried to show ‘you are loved and worth it ‘on various occasions as the flawed being that I was and my spirit was silent. What I really heard from those words was ‘Frances, I am not worth it.’

    If you think no one is worth it then you’re indirectly trying to say that you don’t think you are worth it. I felt sadness and pity for my friend. That’s a dangerous way to live. My friend like many other people right from childhood had been unlucky with love and guys. Yes, we all fail at one thing or the other over and over but it’s how you let it handle you that matters. How could my friend let the devil win? Was all I could think.  You’ve been battered and bruised; your heart stomped on over and over so that makes you

IN WHOM DO YOU TRUST?

Trust is a very important word to all humans.  According to my Britannica, TRUST is;

1 a: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something b: one in which confidence is placed.

  Most humans spend their whole lives searching for someone they can trust be it a life partner, business partner, friends etc. We all look for someone we can be ourselves with, share our dirtiest secrets and all and know that it’s safe with them and that they’d still want us after knowing our deepest secrets.

  Asides keeping secrets,

FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

           We all go through this stage at one time or the other in life. It is that gnawing sensation at the pit of your belly ,that fast heartbeat brought about by uncertainty, that sweaty palm when you ponder your future, that terrible headache that won’t let you go when you have a life changing decision to make. We all react in different ways to it.

  You cannot say you have never gone through it. Remember that first day at school? Mum said go on and you looked back and realised she was leaving you; you were so scared you started crying because of the fear of the unknown. It was a new environment for you, you did not know anybody and you asked yourself questions; will my teachers like me? Will I make good grades? Will my classmates like me? Will I have friends? How do I settle in?
  You have a great job but you do not like it, it is not your dream job, you decide to give it up to follow your heart.

TRUTHS AND LIES

  Truths and lies, two siblings that follow each other around. There is a very thin line between them. You can easily move from the truth corner into the lie zone.

  We tell lies for different reason, to gain recognition, respect, feel important, and hide secrets, selfishness.

  So, what situation calls for the truth and what calls for the lie?

  Funmi and Peter had been going out for a year, things were going smoothly, and they had a little quarrel and broke up. Funmi knew something he didn’t and she was debating between telling him the truth or telling him the lie, so she told him the truth and he broke up with her.  A year before Funmi met him; she had followed a friend to her church. A prophet in that church had told her she was going to meet her husband very soon and gave her things to identify him with. Alas, it turned out to be Peter, exactly as he was described.

CHOICES

 “Choice” I don’t know why I picked that word today, maybe cause I overheard someone say yesterday, ‘I didn’t have a choice.’ I hear that a lot, that’s the easiest excuse we give ourselves but there is always a choice. In every situation there is always a choice not just one but two or more. We take the easy one and say, I didn’t have a choice. Ok, let me give a little example or rather many.
  Ebele had a boyfriend, Reggie. They were engaged and set to marry in a week. She had gone to his place and his phone rang repeatedly while he was in the shower, she felt it was urgent; she picked the call and told the caller he was in the shower. Few minutes later, he got out, found out she touched his phone and gave her the beating of her life. Long story short, they got married as arranged. Now a married woman, bearing the ‘MRS’, Ebele always has marks and bruises plus dark eyeshades are now her best friends.  When asked why she married him, she said she didn’t have a choice. Ok, what about now? She still doesn’t have a choice and that he loves her very much that’s why.
  They both had choices. Ebele had two choices;