I turn the page of the paper
And I am greeted with bold blocky type:
Commander-in-Chief Completely Committed To Crushing Corruption”
I sigh with a tiredness that is at least equal
To the tiredness of the story that this headline heralds
Summoning hope, I switch on the radio
And in a sombre tone, an announcer gravely informs me that
“Today is the 60th birthday of Chief Alhaji Jibiti Barawo Onyeoshi”
I mutter a sarcastic thank-you for the unwanted biographical fact
And in final desperation, I reach for the TV switch
The screen flickers into life
And I groan as I make out the scenes at a conference:
“National Committee For The Discussion Of Development Of Committees”
What ever happened to news stories about the real Nigeria?
News which exposed corruption and wrongdoing in high and low places
News which told stories of achievements in spite of adversity
News that informed, entertained and left one with a ‘hmm’ on the lips?
I long to hear once again that kind of vibrant, fizzing news
Instead of this stale, pale notnews.
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Comments
Tola Odejayi @TolaO
I've always enjoyed writing, although it's only recently I've begun to explore my fiction writing side. Loving the journey so far...Go to Tola Odejayi's profile, and read more of his/her posts.
i hail you O lover of alliteration!…nice! nice!! nice!!!
Glad you liked it, @oriaifo-donald.
humorous cum emotional feelings, weldone. And alliteration, yes it is perfect. Always there! Where? you will ask me.
@thanks, @basittjamiu.
Humorously written. Welldone sir
Thanks, @shomyk.
Humorous. Welldone sir
True talk. I remember when 9pm NTA news was a tradition. To make a sound during the news was asking to be killed.
Now everyone avoids Nigerian news.
Unfortunately, @kaycee, that is true. I remember Newsline, the program first hosted by the late Yinka Craig and Patrick Oke (and then later on by Frank Olize). Now that was a program that I actually looked forward to, because it took me to parts of Nigeria that I didn’t know existed.
Of course, now we have the internet, so it should be easier to know what is going on elsewhere. But Nigerians are still not that good at telling their own stories.
Lol @ d headlines…a lot of truths packed into the humour
Thanks, @topazo. I guess nobody really cares anyway, since there’s always the BBC and CNN to watch.
lol!
Very true! And to think I was going to do a blog entry on the rubbish being paraded on air as news!
Nice. Reads like something to be performed at a spoken word session.
Thanks, @afronuts. I actually wrote an article about this many years ago, but I thought I would revisit the topic in the form of a poem.
I enjoyed reading this and Alhaji Barawo Onyeoshi really got me laughing.
Nigerian news? A sad, sycophantic, state of affairs.
I don’t even bother anymore.