Adeola Aderounmu

If we don’t do away with Iwu in our public arena and let him be HEARD NO MORE, someone will wake up tomorrow to tell us that Iwu is a hero. At that time, the likes of Babangida, Obasanjo and Atiku would have become saints and ordinary Nigerians would have been totally converted to their footstools. Iwu must go now!

Nigerians should not get tired of reading about one man or one incident day in day out. It is imperative that all of us who feel genuinely concerned should continue to echo our thoughts and actions where necessary until we rid our society of evil and atrocities. Mr. More-rice Iwu is one man we must continue to elaborate on until he is gone. He MUST go! He was quoted immensely by a recent report (10th Dec 2007) in This Day Newspaper

He stated that the conduct of the elections was far better than the June 12, 1993 election which is generally regarded as the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria. Apart from confirmed madness, I tried in vain to find any other rational reason why any entity would make this kind of reckless and thoughtless statement. Would any sane person compare the worst election in human history with the best election ever held in Nigerian since 1959?

Iwu went further: Nigeria was able to transit from one civilian regime to another for the first time in the history of the country. This is a very, very useless line of argument. What is the value of a history that promotes shame, ridicule, lawlessness and executive madness? The significance of any election is not in the transfer of power; it is in the meaning that it adds to life. The significance also lies in the realization of the wish of the people, the need for a proper and appropriate change where necessary and the hope for a greater tomorrow. I will repeat that the 2007 selections in Nigeria were nothing short of a farce. It is a slap on the face of the intelligent minds that abound in Nigeria and those abroad.

Nigeria is fond of setting bad examples to other African countries and it is a big shame. It appears to me that Nigeria has not made any progress democratically despite the mistakes and shortcomings of the past. We repeat history and never learn from them. It was very stupid of us all as Nigerians to accept the outcome of the useless 2007 selections in the name of civilian to civilian transition. After the 29th of May 2007, we still couldn’t bundle into jails all those who squandered our future. I am really disappointed that people like Obasanjo and Iwu and the others who have contributed to the demeaning of Nigeria are not investigated or placed on trial. We need to take control of our lives, our destinies and our future. It must start from someone, from somewhere. Yet it seems that we are wasting this opportunity which is still very fresh.

The INEC chief said in spite of the odds against the smooth conduct of the 2007 general elections, INEC was able to organize free and fair elections that produced winners from state assemblies to the office of the president. This is a classical example of what Fela termed “Animal talk don start again, hear o another animal talk”. I feel so enraged each time I read comments from Iwu. Who do I blame? I blame a system where people worship idiots like him. This is a man that should by now be facing the full wrath of the law. Where is due process and where is the so called ruse of law? Where are our investigative police and judiciary in all of these messes? AG nko?

The jargons that keep coming from Iwu went on: “It was a sad moment to say that 2007 elections was the worst elections when we knew what was happening in other parts of the world.” What does this mean? Which other parts of the world? Is it Sierra Leone that just emerged from a civil war and yet managed to conduct more credible elections? Is it France that conducted their elections a few weeks after the scandal in Nigeria? Is it South Africa from where he imported electoral materials days after the pre-prepared results have emerged? Is it Ghana that had been reaping the dividends of democracy such that Nigerians are now relocating to Ghana? Which other parts of the world was Iwu talking about? Why do we even have to look at any other part of the world? We are talking about madness and lawlessness in Nigeria and he wants us to look for greater madness to see how blessed we are.

At a public forum last week, Iwu mentioned that politicians wanted coup in April 2007. What a cheap blackmail? Which coup in the history of man will ever surpass the one masterminded by Obasanjo and executed by Iwu himself? Why have we done this to ourselves in Nigeria or why are we permitting this kind of persistent shame? Are we normal in Nigeria? Is this what it means that Africans are less intelligent? I don’t know what more to ask. Really it is very annoying and frustrating. I mean we went to school in Nigeria and we knew how intelligent our teachers and lecturers are. So, why do we get all these nonsense from those parading our public life? It is hard to understand but if this is what the outside world will hear in order to judge us, then where is the intelligence? Where is the non-fraudulent mind if one of it exists in Nigeria public arena? Help me!

Just when I thought I have read all the nonsense that Iwu had to say, he dropped another line of lunaticism. He said:

“The 2007 elections we agreed were not perfect, it was a human undertaking. It won’t have been perfect. But I still maintain to the annoyance of some people that the 2007 elections were free and fair.” Yes Mr. More-rice Iwu, I am seriously annoyed and if I was a lawyer, I would dedicate the rest of my life to your prosecution until it shall comes to pass. Free and fair? Is this man normal? Iwu said that he is resolute in actualizing his missions of reforming the country’s electoral reforms, in line with what was obtainable in other developed countries. This is ridiculous.

That takes me to Yar Adua who has been talking about electoral reform. Is it the same reform that Iwu is referring to? Is the anticipated electoral reform Yar Adua’s project or Iwu’s mission? Iwu’s mission remains evil in nature and will never achieve any good or positive results. He will only end up setting more tasks for the judiciary who will continue to annul and rule in favour of re-election or resuscitation of proper candidates. That will also plunge Nigeria into deeper crises. Similarly, if the power to appoint the chairman of INEC still resides with the presidency, then it looks like Umaru is going to leave Iwu to continue with the imaginary reforms he has been talking about. It would be a nice way to pay back Iwu who presented the certificate of office to Umaru when everyone was still shouting foul play. Anyhow, Umaru Yar Adua lacks the foundation to orchestrate an electoral reform as the battle for the soul of the presidency remains undecided. So, Iwu’s reform or Yar Adua’s reform, Nigerians loose either way. What a tragedy!

When Iwu mentioned that … when we knew what was happening in other parts of the world and then…… in line with what was obtainable in other developed countries. I knew for sure that he was absent minded. This is a man who said that we should be happy with our election by comparing it to other parts of the world and at the same forum saying that he wants to make electoral reforms that would compared to what is obtainable in other developed countries. So, the developed countries are in another planet or what? Truth is constant, it is not malleable. Inconsistency and heresy are clear symptoms of a die-hard liar. Iwu is a hardcore liar!

What are the terms governing the operations of INEC? Can the National Assembly do something about it? Apart from an unwillingly and a slow presidency, who else can we turn to for the removal of this cankerworm called Iwu? What about the Integrity Group? This man MUST go! The removal of Iwu is one of the steps we must take to move Nigeria forward. Let us rise up against all the evils in our society and their platforms.

If we don’t probe and try the previous and serving administrations and their key players, we will be taking steps that will only reveal that we are not destined for greatness. We need to stop thieves and deceivers like Iwu in high and low places and put everybody on alert for national revamping. Making Nigeria great is not going to be a day’s job. It will be a collective duty on virtually on frontiers of our lives. But Nigeria will never be great if we don’t resolve to take the first step. Many more generations will be wasted and people will continue to wallow in poverty despite the wealth of the nation. My heart has been bleeding for Nigeria, a rich country where values are not placed on human existence but which instead has become a place for the glorification of sycophants.

Let us not coat evil with honey. Nigeria must do away with Iwu, he is the resident evil, the remnant of the 2 dream killers who disenfranchised 140m people in a world record scandal and farce called election in April 2007. Let us continue to make all the sincere and necessary inputs that are needed to salvage Nigeria even if we have to do that a million times on the same issue. We are living with many evils in Nigeria, from Babangida to Obasanjo, and the rest of them. One of these evils is very much at large and for as long as he remains relevant and influential in the order of things in Nigeria, this country will know no peace and the disappearance of the entity called Nigeria can be catalytically enhanced by such a fellow. If Iwu remains in charge of elections or electoral reforms, Nigeria’s doom day is surely at hand.


He MUST GO NOW!

Adeola Aderounmu

The < Nigerian Light House ) will join in the marking of the UN Anticorruption day.
Now, this is a delicate issue…..yes it is.
How sincere is the UN in the establishment of this campaign? That question should be a BIG debate in the public arena considering all the injustices going on around the world which bother on corruption. But I’ll leave that, it’s global, it’s huge.

How should anti-corruption campaign be marked in Nigeria?
Nigerians (as in the civil society) should mark this day on Dec 9 and on other days probably the last Friday of every month!!!

Yes it is that necessary for Nigeria. I will not speak for Bangladesh, Haiti or any other country. I speak on behalf of my country only where possibly 90m people will sleep tonight without the security of waking up to a breakfast.

Our Politicians are so corrupt and selfish that I think a sustained mass action has become imperative so that corrupt people like Babangida, Ibori, Obasanjo and Odili among other should be made to answer for their corrupt practices.

If Nigerians stay away from work every last Friday of the month demanding on each occasion the investigation or prosecution of one or two corrupt politicians, I think in 5 years time, we would have succeeded by a gradual process to put the guilty ones in jail.

The eventual investigation, prosecution and sentencing of corrupt leaders will serve as a deterrent for others who are going into politics to steal and loot. The effect will also be felt in public service as everyone will now know that their ineptitudes and corruption are no longer tolerated.

GRADUALLY, sanity will return to Nigeria and by 2011 we will be able to conduct a more credible election as the riggers and cheaters in the past would have been drilled or perhaps serving jail terms for crimes against humanity.

So, DEC 9, just one day out of life is not going to have any effect in Nigeria. Corruption in Nigeria (and in other places no doubt) is a very BIG UGLY MONSTER.
My proposal is a signal to the Labour Unions and Agents of Democracy in Nigeria. Let us talk, let’s have a plan. Call people out every Friday and have a peaceful plan of how to send the message across board.

Dec 9 may be investigate/prosecute Ibori day for example. We’ll keep on with that before we move on to the next person. Dec 16 can be prosecute/investigate Obasanjo day and so on.

A non-useless government will not want the citizens out every Friday, it would quickly round up all the sacred cows before the country becomes ungovernable.

Someone may be whispering that it is better said when some of us are abroad but the CACOL-Corruption against Corrupt Leaders- I am sure is based in Nigeria and believe me, some of us abroad can carry placards and do one man demonstration if possible. It will not be that bad, we will support you from here. We will march to Nigerian embassies here every time you call for a mass action.

We have done it before, Nigerians at home and abroad under the umbrella of Concerned Nigerians Worldwide (an offshoot of the Nigerian Village Square ) have succeeded before in conducting a global protest on the same day worldwide. Who says that cannot be repeated in the fight against corruption? Let’s borrow the slogan from NIKE, Impossible is Nothing!

Nigeria, may your Glory come!

By Adeola Aderounmu.

You have read about this several times, I know. Writers, critics and the civil society have proffered solutions too BUT nothing or very little has changed. Nigeria is still corrupt! Counter critics say that they are tired of reading our problems, they want solutions. What kinds of solution do we want to proffer again?

It seems to me that the best way to keep our unreliable and unelected politicians in shape is to continuously remind them of their grave and unacceptable shortcomings and that millions of Nigeria are still very are angry, hungry and unhappy with the way things are being handled.

These public administrators and officials are present in all levels of the government and so is corruption. Public administration is supposed to be about service to the citizens of the country, some of the many careers in this field are explained on this public administration degree site. If the officials that serve and communicate with the public are corrupt, what hope is there for the government and country as a whole? Indeed, corruption is a worldwide phenomenon and no country in the world is free from it but it varies in degree and intensity. It also varies on its impacts on the general population.

Many Nigerians observe foreign news with keen attention and they try to discern the truths from fallacies. Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world is a popular expression that one comes by anytime one reads or listens to news about Nigeria in the western press. That Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the world is actually a fallacy. The correct comment is that Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world. Else, what have been the effects of anticorruption crusade in Nigeria since the veil of immunity left the last sets of looters? By the way, one patriotic Nigerian, not Oprah, wrote recently in the Punch newspaper that
All Nigerians are corrupt How about that?

The only solution to eradicating or minimizing corruption in Nigeria is to punish ALL living and serving offenders. For more than 47 years now it has been difficult to prosecute quite reasonably well any of the key players who have aided the demeaning of Nigeria. From the first republic to the fourth or fifth and through all the reigns of absolute dictatorship and tyranny, only on one or two occasions were allegedly corrupt politicians hypocritically sent to jail en-mass. But what the military did immediately after those pretentious acts was absolutely way of it-they looted and milk the country to dryness. Eventually, corruption became not only organized and institutionalized but also an acceptable was of life. Our fellow NIGERIAN Chukwudi, in a recent post, gave a chronological account of corruption in Nigeria

If a country is credited with the worst election in human history, it can only be possible if that country is the most corrupt in the world. Otherwise, how do you categorize, in the absence of any election, the occupation of thousands of political offices from the level of ineffectual local government chairmen to that of a power-drunk presidency across a landscape of over 900 000 km sq?. I don’t think any country in the world (today) is competing with Nigeria at this level of charade, scandal, idiocy and shamelessness. Nigeria is a remarkable country thriving on a dirty home grown version of conventional democracy.

I have been to a number of places and countries in the last 6 years of my life and at no time have I followed global news than this period of my life. I have never seen any country in the world where the anticorruption agencies do so very little while making so much noise. I have never seen anywhere in my life where a self-styled so called chief law enforcer in any country apply the rule or ruse of law to the detriment of the society at large. I have never seen where such a fellow uses unnecessary delay tactics or abnormal protocols to obstruct or deny due justice. The Attorney General of Nigeria enjoys more popularity than all Nigerian politicians together including the lukewarm president for the wrong reasons .

Nigeria is one of the very few countries in the world where a politician can steal or loot more than 20 billion dollars and walk free and the only place where such a looter can be a presenter or key speaker at a function organized by Nigerian writers. That will definitely confirm the allegations that many Nigerian writers are indirectly busy writing for or on behalf of corrupt politicians and looters who are directly killing the citizenry slowly and steadily. Conscience remains the greatest judge of all time. Nigeria is the only country in the world where state governors will build or buy several houses abroad while leaving no trace of housing foundations in their own domains in Nigeria. I have never seen (in my entire life) where a mayor for example develops a foreign country while the local citizens suffer. Our politicians are remarkable. England does not have to
worry or fear. after failing to reach the EURO 2008 finals. We will send ONLY one of our governors to pump 2 billion pounds into their economy. Chicken change!

England’s economy is being taunted by the fear of parting with a paltry sum of 2 million pounds in 2008 only. Very interesting! Does anyone know how much Nigerian politicians loot monthly while we are pursuing mirage of economic rejuvenations? If Sweden is looted a quarter of the same way as Nigeria, all the 9 million inhabitants will be penniless and the world acclaimed social system will suffer a fatal fate. A Swedish lady visited Nigerian during the Tafa saga. Today, she is yet to recover from the shock of that mild but shameful revelation about the looting police boss. If anyone tells her how much some key looters have stolen in Nigeria, she will suffer a heart attack, instantly. Paradoxically, Nigeria is one of the few countries in the world where politicians will be mocked if they didn’t become rich while serving . .

A typical Nigerian is corrupt and highly opportunistic. It is a reflection of the rot and decadence of governance that has always lacked probity and accountability. If we have done appropriate justice (as the solution in this case) to all previous looters and thieves, perhaps this mentality would have been eroded for long. But we have not and we are still not carrying justice appropriately, so the mentality that I must steal, loot and plunder remains inherent and lingers.

There is no point writing forever about what you already know. We conducted the worst election of all time, we glorify politicians who steal from us and we therefore encourage armed robbers in their own evil ways. We paid assassins as little as 10 000 naira to take invaluable lives. For every little misdeed we propagate in our professional or occupational endeavors, we add to the pile of rubbish created by the greedy politicians and looters. Indeed for every unpunished corrupt politician, millions of souls are sent to everlasting penury in Nigeria. Millions of people have lived and died in Nigeria knowing nothing but poverty! Additionally, corruption in Nigeria has taken a new dimension. After years of speculations, foreigners are now finally confirmed as part and parcel of the menace in Nigeria. The corrupt SIEMENS have rekindled the burning flame of corruption in Nigeria. So is the involvement of unnamed SHELL workers in the celebrated WILLBROS scandal. Nigerians are waiting anxiously to know the names of the foreigners who are helping to propagate corruption in our land. They must be named too!

Truth does not change, it remains bitter! In my own very personal opinion, Nigeria is the most fertile country for corruption to thrive. The consequences are numerous including the 60-90 million people/family that will groan today while surviving on less than 1 dollar for the next 24 hours. But Nigerians are still happy people no doubts, having reasons to celebrate sports, arts, banks, western union, American thanksgiving, religions, births and deaths among other things. All these show that we still have hopes but with handicaps like EFCC and the office of the attorney general and a tepid illegal presidency, help is not near, it’s not even in sight. Hoping is not enough; we need to do something to actualize all the solutions overflooding in the books! How can we go about this?

______________________________________

Are you in doubt if Nigeria is the most corrupt country or do you think my views are unpatriotic? Then please give me the answers to the following question

Just a few questions….and maybe I’m wrong with the headline.   

1.       Which country is credited with the WORST Selection in human history?

 2.       How many countries in the world are political offices occupied over an area of 900 000 km sq. without any election?

3.       Regarding question 2, what other phenomenon apart from corruption (or is more important than corruption) that can aid such a hopeless possibility?

4.       Name another country in the world where someone stole more than 20 million dollars and still had the gut to seek re-election WITHOUT having answered in any way whatsoever for past misdeeds (which also include murder of innocent citizens among which is a reputable journalist)?

5.       Name 2 countries in the world that the anticorruption agencies go global to make noise while doing little or nothing at all?

6.       Name 2 countries in the world where the AGs are openly known worldwide for delaying (under the guise of ruse of law) investigation and prosecution of looters?

7.       Name one other country in the world apart from Nigeria where the AG is an open enemy of the Financial Crime Commission and yet became the AG particularly for that reason in the first place?

8.       Name one country in the world where the former minister of transport had the worst road leading from the business capital to his hometown?

9.       Name one other country in the world that has failed over a period of half a century to successfully prosecute a handful of looters (and the looters have not been on exile)?

10.   Name 2 countries in the world where plea bargaining is an alternative to prosecution?

11.   In which country is one man stronger and more powerful than 150m others put together?

12.   In which country in the world can 150m people be disenfranchised without stress?

13.   Regarding number 11 and 12, if not corruption (what is the source of this anomaly or the man’s power)?

14.   Regarding 11-13, the 2 men openly known to have brought about number 12 are still alive, name 2 countries where such men can be walking free on the streets without facing justice?

15.   If not corruption, why should they be free men? What other phenomenon could be responsible for their freedom?  

Adeola Aderounmu. 

No, Nigeria is not for lease. Before you crucify me, I am not for the leasing of Nigeria to the Brits, not again! 

But if you want to know how this idea came about, you have to read the story here:

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/adeola-aderounmu/shall-we-lease-nigeria-for-a-10-year-pe.html 

I must say that I don’t understand why Nigerians cannot ask for decent people in governance. I don’t know why we don’t eliminate corruption or the corrupt people who are ruining our lives. It beats my imagination how thieves who called themselves politicians are living among us and destroying lives of the unborn generations. It is very pathetic that Nigerians have not been able to manage or sustain their pre-independence glory. 

Are there no good people in Nigeria?

Is everyone mad?

Is the curse of the talisman upon Nigeria? 

Please wake up Nigerians, remove all corrupt people in your midst, demand for good governance, demand for the prosecution of the likes of Obasanjo, Odili, Ibori, Igbinedion, Tinubu, Babangida, Adedibu…make the full list of the people who are destroying the system, ask them to refund our monies and petition the police/EFCC to investigate and bring to trial where necessary.  

Let’s make sincere judicial examples of some thieves, let’s see where we go from there, if there will not be positive change or not.

If we continue like this, our children will spit on our graves.

Wake up Nigerians, you are a great people, a blessed nation, get out of your hideouts and get hold of your future. The solution to all our problems rest on removing corruption and greed in our system. Once that is done, every other thing will fall in line. I am sure of that.

We do not have to lease Nigeria to anyone, there are men and women of honour and integrity among us, let’s find them and give them the tools to rescue us from the hands of the evil ones.

Adeola Aderounmu. 

Today, I decided I will not write about the problems created in Nigeria by the useless politicians and their accomplices. There is obviously more to life than what those morons and idiots are doing out there.

So, I am sorry to disappoint you if you are on my blog to find out how Ibori stole all the money as Delta State governor or how Obasanjo who had nothing 9 years ago can now boast of over 100billion naira worth of investments. I should also take a break from Babangida who stole more than 20 billion dollars from Nigeria. Today is not about how Mr. Lucky stole all the money in Edo state and left them with bad luck. When these men die, I will be utterly disappointed not to see them being buried with these monies. It will break my heart if they leave these monies, houses, cars and gold behind.

 I don’t have time for them today….

Now, I want to say a big thank you to my mother! Yes o! My mama! Today after more than a year, I decided to cook moimoi again. And for every step on the way, I remembered my mum. Just a few days ago, an Australian friend of mine asked me for the recipe for pepper soup. I gave him the version that would of course be sensible to come by in Sweden. And you know why he asked. Because I have served a group pepper soup when we watched a football game at my work the other day. They liked it, means I am good. THANKS  MUM! 

Let me share some intimate story here. When I was a little boy up to my teenage years, my mother made it compulsory for all her children to learn how to cook. You would have thought it was a punishment that my mother wanted you to be at home or in the kitchen with her when she was cooking. But it paid off when we left home. When I was in the University for my post graduate studies, I discovered that one of my friends could not cook any kind of food. This is not an exaggeration, Tunde cannot make tea, and he cannot fry an egg. If you ask him to make eba, that is more than a 4 unit course for my friend Tunde. He never did anyway. Tunde is a medical doctor and now lives in South Africa. I must ask him how he is surviving since he hasn’t told me that he is married. Does he still eat out? 

Anyway, I will come back to that another day. I must have woken up on the right side of my bed today-Dec 1. Just before frukost (breakfast) which was yoghurt and sandwich as usual, I found myself soaking 450g of beans in water. The idea was to get it soft so I can eat some beans for lunch or dinner. But immediately after lunch which turned out to be spaghetti and some spicy tomato stew (plus meat of course), I found myself pouncing on the soaked beans and converting it to moimoi. Ordinarily, I would have used the powdered beans if I wanted to make moimoi in Europe. I mean, who goes about in Europe soaking beans to make moimoi? This is the story… 

You can use brown beans or white beans depending on either your taste or which one you can lay your hands on.

Ingredients:

Brown or white beans

 Onions

Water

Pepper (fresh or dry), for fresh you will have to grind too and if you have a store of that in your freezer, then perfect!

Maggi cube or knorr cubes (Maggi cube is very Nigerian but knorr is found worldwide!-choose your preferred taste or brand)

Curry and Thyme (optional)

Salt (if you are a salt eater)

Egg (not compulsory you can have hard boiled eggs if you want to make the moimoi a luxury) 

_____________________________  

1. Find the beans! Soak in water.

In my case, I find it easier to buy the black-eyed white beans. My favourite African shop is not regular with Nigerian beans. So, I put my white beans (450g) in water, soak until such a time that it becomes easy or convenient to peel off the scales.

2. Remove the scales

Carefully, I removed all the scales which mean the black eyes are gone! This took about 1 hour. Other people could be faster in squeezing the beans to release the black eyes!  

3.Grind the beans plus Onions/change them to paste form

In Nigeria, we have grinding machines powered by electricity and if you have time, you can use the stony pestle and mortar. The latter takes time but it comes with fulfillment. Believe me, I did that many times on my knees! Thank you mum! You are the best! But now in Sweden, I have an electric grinder to do this in 5-10 minutes depending on the speed that I choose. One small or medium size onion is okay for 450g beans.

4.Add very little water to make fluid of the paste.

Don’t let it get watery unless you want to be too economical to making more out of less. It will affect the quality and taste.

5.Add all your ingredients!!

To the paste or fluid add,

Pepper to your desire

Two cubes of maggi or knorr

Salt to your own taste or desire

Curry and thyme if you like

  

6.Mix together by stirring.

My suggestion is not to do this with the grinder. Add the ingredients after you have grinded the beans and onions in the blender/grinder. Mix with spoon or something similar. At this point, if you have done everything right, you can even start to perceive the wonderful aroma of the food you are about to put on your table. 

Just before you add the ingredient, start the oven at 225 degrees. This is to give you 5 to 10 minutes of warming the oven before you put the uncooked moimoi inside it. This is of course optional. 

Set your clock to 1 hour, oven steady at 225 degrees, pour the preparations into small aluminum troughs. The troughs could be of any size but something that will go in your oven. Put pieces of hardboiled egg randomly in your fluid moimoi if you like to. This part is unnecessary but I do it sometimes.  

Leave the preparation for 1 hour, it will become thick and of course you’ll know when you are eating it if it was done or not. Don’t eat it when it is too hot. Let it cool down and it hardens more. Enjoy moimoi! 

Click this link to see moimoi made from beans

KITCHEN TIPS!

The kitchen can be a very stressful place to be in especially if you will be there for a long time

If you want to make moimoi, soak the beans well in advance. If you will have it for lunch, start the preparation immediately after breakfast. If you want it for dinner, start immediately after lunch.

Generally, when you want to cook, allow yourself plenty of time. This is the same you do when you are going to drive a car. Plan, have plenty of time. This keeps you safe and stressless. 

Before you start cooking anything at all in your kitchen, clean up first. Thrash the rubbish! Tidy up the stoves or heaters. Clean the plates, wash them if you have to and keep them away. Shine the sink top!  

Have plenty of space in the kitchen by keeping it tidy and neat before and after cooking. 

If you cook in a dirty kitchen, it is unhygienic and it adds to your stress. You’ll keep shouting on the kids or partner when it is all your faults! Plan! Ok! You must. And thank my mum for these tips. 

Imagine if you are a Nigerian and you have prepared to cook moimoi only to discover that you have no kerosene in the stove. Goosh, you’ll be mad and just drink garri only in your frustration or the food will be very late that everybody will be your enemy before it is ready. 

By the way, moi moi goes with many food. You can have it as extras on rice. Many people eat it with bread. The classic is to eat moimoi and drink garri with cold water with sugar. That’s what I did tonight in Sweden. It keeps me in touch with Lagos. Garri is dried grinded cassava.  Wao, that’s it! I am happy with myself. I will find time to tell you how I make peppersoup in Sweden. I will give you the recipe. I will also tell you how I make Egusi soup with dry fish and correct meat.               

Did anyone say that I was missing Nigeria? Yes, the sunshine, but not my favourite food/dishes. And who says I don’t like winter and a white christmas?

Thank you mum!