Download your applications yourself!

It is very tempting to collect apps from other people's phones (via
Bluetoooth, Xender, Flash Share,etc) than "waste money and battery
life" downloading the apps yourself from your phone's app store.
However, it is not a good idea because it can damage your phone.
Here's why.

* Do you know where your friend downloaded the app from? Apps
downloaded from other sources apart from your phone's built-in app
store (e.g. Google Play Store , for Android phones) may be
incompatible with your device or may even be rogue apps that may
infect your device.
* Even if the app is downloaded from a phone of the same brand as
yours (and is therefore compatible with your phone), you will have to
"allow installation of apps from unknown sources" before you can
install the app , since you didn't download it from your own phone's
app store. As time goes on, malware will appear in your phone's File
Manager as faded-icon files and folders. If you delete them, they will
soon reappear. They will later prevent your phone's Bluetooth from
functioning, SIM switching will take forever, text messages will not
be sent/received, etc.

THE WAY OUT

Deleting the bad apps from File Manager won't solve the problem. Copy
your photos, videos and other clean files you need into your memory
card and then remove the memory card and SIM card(s) from the phone.
Then take the phone to your phone manufacturer's repair office (e.g.
Carlcare for a Tecno phone) for flashing. Carlcare flashes (or
formats) Tecno phones free of charge. Flashing will preserve only
your phone's built-in (or system) apps and wipe out everything else.
Thereafter, the phone will start functioning normally.

You can now download and install any other app you need from your app
store. For optimum browsing speed, avoid downloading an app that has a
good substitute among the system apps . Use Google Play Protect (via
Google Play Store or any other Google app) to scan your Android phone
for malware 24/7. You don't need any other antivirus app.

In conclusion, you may collect pictures , videos, documents and other
files which need no installation from other people's phones but not
apps (that you will need to install on your phone).

The roles of parents, teachers and students in education.

A Yoruba proverb says, " One person gives birth, but everybody minds the child"(Ẹnìkan ní í bímọ ;gbogbo ayé ní í bá a wò ó). Note that the proverb does not say "everybody else". "Everybody" here includes the parents, teachers, relatives, neighbours, pastors, etc and even the child himself or herself. Teachers, parents and students all have their roles to play in the educational development of students. 

THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER.

🔯 Have a thorough knowledge of the subject and prepare for your lessons adequately. 

🔯 Go for your lessons without waiting to be reminded by the students. Set alarms on your phone for your lessons ,if need be. Even at the university level, each lecturer is already waiting at the door about 10 minutes to the end of the previous lecture. 

🔯 Write the notes yourself on the chalkboard. If you hand over your lesson note to a student to copy it on the chalkboard, when will he/she write his/her own notes? The student will also see your senior colleagues' correction of your lesson notes in red biro and start disrespecting you. 

🔯 Explain the subject matter, answer the students' questions, ask them questions, give them written exercises and mark the exercises yourself.

🔯 Set, mark and record test and exam questions accurately.

🔯 Recommend good textbooks for the students.

  

 THE ROLE OF THE PARENT. 

Another Yoruba proverb says, " The owner of a load carries the heavier part" (Ẹlẹ́rù ní í gbé e níbi tó ti wúwo). 

🔯 Do not have more children than you can adequately feed, clothe, shelter and educate. Even God did family planning back in Eden. Even with His limitless resources, He created only 2 people, who produced today's 8 billion people worldwide. 

🔯 Choose a school whose fees you can afford and pay your children's school fees on time. No teacher will toy with his or her salary by begging the proprietor to let your child stay in school. Your child cannot be academically sound if he spends more days outside the school than within. He can also fall into bad company while loitering the streets. 

🔯 Similarly, choose a nearby school for your child. Why should your child spend hours in transit and fall asleep on getting to school? Why should your child's transport fare be higher than his or her school fees?  There is always a vacancy for students in every school!

🔯 Buy good textbooks for your children.

🔯 Ensure that your child does his or her homework every day before doing anything else. No teacher can go round the homes of all his students to do this. Neither can he afford to waste 20 minutes out of a 45-minute period waiting for a child who is just reading yesterday's notes and studying the examples before doing yesterday's homework. He will have to leave your child behind after marking his mates' work to do the corrections and begin today's work. Don't come to school to complain over this. Do YOUR job.

🔯 You are your child's primary moral educator, though teachers and pastors may assist you here. The parent:child ratio is always more favourable than the teacher:student and pastor:member ratios. Besides, most children rebel against outsiders' discipline unless it is reinforced by their own parents. Teachers and pastors will come and go, your children will progress from one level of education to the next but you will always be their parent. They also bear YOUR surname. You are their first and only permanent educator. Give them HOME training. 

Do the above duties and watch your child perform excellently in any school he or she attends. The "best" school won't be of help if you fail to do your duties. Even "Heaven helps only those who help themselves".

 THE ROLE OF THE STUDENT.

Yet another Yorùbá proverb says, "Only a child with outstretched arms can be lifted up by even his mother" (ọmọ tó bá ṣí'pá nìyá ẹ̀ ń gbé). 

After your parents and teachers have done their duties, you have to help yourself before Heaven can help you. Nobody can read your books for you or legitimately write your examinations for you. 

🔯 Come to school on time and don't absent yourself from classes. You can use your phone's alarm to wake up and leave home at the right time.

🔯 Do your homework first on getting home, before doing anything else.

🔯 Remind your parents to pay your school fees, especially when they are planning to buy expensive cloths, organise big parties,etc.

🔯 As an above-average student, you are likely to finish writing your notes and doing your classwork earlier than the others. Use the waiting period to study your textbooks and do the homework you have been given earlier in other subjects, instead of disrupting the class out of boredom. The teacher has to carry everybody along. Get a copy of the syllabus and read up every topic from the recommended textbooks. Again, the teacher may not be able to cover all the topics , due to trying to carry every student along.

🔯 If you are below average, make friends with your brighter colleagues and learn from them. Also, spend extra time at home reading your books (including those of lower classes) to regain lost grounds, especially at weekends and during holidays. Don't expect your teachers to FULLY teach you a lower grade's work. 

🔯 Never depend on examination malpractice. You may be disappointed at the last minute by your "helpers" due to strict supervision. Even if you successfully cheat your way through school, who will help you do your job (especially as a teacher)? Will you be able to give your children extra lessons or have to hire exam "helpers" for them later in life? Exam "helpers" are actually helping you to cheat yourself.

💎 By the way, a mercenary (or soldier of fortune) is "a soldier who will fight for any country or group that offers payment", not a person who helps a student to cheat in an exam.

"Idà ahun" by Bísí Adéṣígbìn.

In Yoruba land ,a late king's wife who leaves the palace before the new king's arrival remains an "olorì" (queen) all her life , while a wife who waits to be inherited by the new king is called an "ìyáàfin ". The new king's wife (married by himself and not inherited) is also an "olorì". "ìyáàfin "≠Mrs.

A Yoruba proverb says "Idà ahun la fi í p'ahun" ( "the sword of the tortoise is used to kill him"). "Idà ahun" has a plot that is strikingly similar to that of the Bible book of Esther. 

The king of Ọ̀jẹ́tẹ̀dó has 8 queens (olorì) and 3 inherited wives (ìyáàfin ). The king , Arékèémáṣe ( the Ọlọ́jẹ̀ of Ọ̀jẹ́tẹ̀dó ), is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his coronation. Surrounding kings come because he is a good king, unlike his predecessor. Each queen (inherited or not) makes her own feast but Jókòótọlá (the favourite) outshines them all. 

Later on , all the other queens sit with the king while Jókòótọlá is nowhere to be found. Like Vashti in the Bible, Jókòótọlá refuses to come out when sent for 3 times. The council of chiefs decides to downgrade her to the oldest queen's slave and choose a new favourite queen. 

The Ifa oracle does not choose any of the other queens as the new favourite but says a poor woman from another town would be the right favourite. Oyíndàmọ́lá, a poor honey seller's daughter from Ògún-Olówu, becomes the new favourite queen. She is a complete orphan adopted and reared up by her uncle, Oyínmáyọ̀wá, after his wife died childless. Oyíndàmọ́lá is both beautiful and humble, kneeling down to greet even the servants, let alone fellow queens and the chiefs. 

Fáṣílọ, the oldest queen, is happy and feels loved when Jókòótọlá is made her slave. The other queens , especially Òrìṣádájọ́ (the second-to-be-married queen), are unhappy and jealous of Oyíndàmọ́lá. While the other queens eventually resign to fate, Òrìṣádájọ́ resents the king and even Fáṣílọ (who she sees as part of the plot because she inherits Jókòótọlá). Òrìṣádájọ́ plots with Jókòótọlá and the chief cook to poison the duo at a feast Òrìṣádájọ́ would organise to "avert danger from the king". Jókòótọlá hopes to be the new king's favourite after the deaths of Arékèémáṣe and Fáṣílọ. 

 The chief cook serves the king and the queens their food. The king asks her to call a servant and starts eating before she leaves. The 3 conspirators meet and dance happily. 

The following day, the king and Fáṣílọ wake up unharmed. The 3 crooks go to their herbalist in anger. Unknown to them, Oyínmáyọ̀wá's servants have eavesdropped on the trio's conversation in the bush while looking for bees and told Oyínmáyọ̀wá, who then tells the king of the plot before the day of the feast. The king and Fáṣílọ have fed the chief cook's food to their goats and are eating something else when the chief cook returned. Both goats die. 

 

The king calls the townspeople together, promotes the chief guard and orders the execution of the 3 crooks. The chief guard is sorry for Òrìṣádájọ́, as if he has a secret relationship with her. The king makes him his confIdànt and spy, next to Oyíndàmọ́lá in importance. 

Soon, smallpox breaks out in the town and sacrifices seem to increase the outbreak. The herbalist invited by the chief guard tells the king to prohibit the sale and use of honey in Ọ̀jẹ́tẹ̀dó and its subordinate towns. Remember that Oyíndàmọ́lá's uncle sells honey. The smallpox outbreak goes down but not out. Oyíndàmọ́lá's uncle and the entire family lose their means of livelihood to this new law. Oyíndàmọ́lá gives her uncle feeding money, but what of his apprentices? The chief guard's spies catches those secretly selling honey and throws them into jail to await their execution. Oyínmáyọ̀wá sends for his niece, the favourite queen, and asks her to plead with the king to cancel the law. He suspects that the smallpox outbreak is stagemanaged to justify the ban on their family profession. Oyíndàmọ́lá asks her uncle and her hometown's king to ask their herbalist to confirm the plot and pray for her success in talking to the king about the matter. The herbalist confirms the law is a trick and makes the necessary sacrifices. Oyínmáyọ̀wá duly informs Oyíndàmọ́lá.

Oyíndàmọ́lá first calls 3 chiefs ( Balógun, Ọ̀tún and Ìyálóde). She tactly begs them to convince the king to find out from his personal herbalist why the smallpox outbreak is yet to FULLY go away despite obeying the chief guard's herbalist by banning the sale of honey. They agree. 

The king dreams that he has smallpox and is cured when rubbed with honey. The chief guard discards the dream as meaningless and suggests calling that herbalist of his for clarification. Then the 3 chiefs Oyíndàmọ́lá talked with enter. The king agrees with them and sends for Famukomi, a herbalist from Kajola, who recommends the use of honey. Arékèémáṣe secretly calls Oyínmáyọ̀wá to supply the honey. Oyínmáyọ̀wá and his servants are caught and jailed by the chief guard's spies while returning from the assignment.

The king sends honey syrup secretly to all smallpox victims through the Ìyálóde and they are all cured the next day. The king asks for Oyínmáyọ̀wá but can't find him until one of the chief guard's servants feeding Oyínmáyọ̀wá squeals to Queen Oyíndàmọ́lá.

After knowing about Oyínmáyọ̀wá's imprisonment, the king tells the chief guard to suggest one person to honour as "Olú-ọmọ" of Ọ̀jẹ́tẹ̀dó and one person to punish for misleading the king at the next day's ceremony. He suggests himself as "Olú-ọmọ" and Oyínmáyọ̀wá as the person to be beheaded as a lesson to the other honey-sellers. The king accepts his self-nomination but pleads for Oyínmáyọ̀wá's punishment to be reduced to 20 years' imprisonment (and 10 years for the other caught honey-sellers), and tells him to prepare for the D-day.

Oyíndàmọ́lá is frightened when the king tells her to wait longer for Oyínmáyọ̀wá's release and she hears about the chief guard's preparation for his promotion. Despite her disappointment, Oyíndàmọ́lá walks in with the king on the D-day (unlike Jókòótọlá who refused to come for no reason). The chief guard, his fiancee and their friends wear uniform clothes. 

To the surprise of the townspeople (including Queen Oyíndàmọ́lá), Oyínmáyọ̀wá is made "Olú-ọmọ". The chief guard's favourite servants reveal how he imported smallpox into the town and instigated his herbalist to ban honey selling. The fake herbalist confirms the story. The chief guard keeps quiet. The chief guard's servants are spared because they can't have refused his orders while he and his fake herbalist are executed.

"Joys of motherhood" by Buchi Emecheta.

This novel centres on Nnu Ego, an Igbo woman from Ibuza , Delta State, Nigeria. She is the daughter of Chief Nwokocha Agbadi and his mistress Ona. The night she is conceived, Agbadi's first wife (Agunwa) dies of shock because of Ona's loud moans. A slavewoman who is buried with Agunwa promises to come back as Agbadi's daughter. Nnu Ego ("20 bags of cowries")  is as light-skinned as the slave.

Nnu Ego marries Amatokwu as a virgin  but has no child for him. Amatokwu takes another wife who bears children. Eventually, the marriage crumbles and Nnu Ego returns to her father's house.

She later marries Nnaife Owulum by proxy and goes to him in Lagos. When her first son (Ngozi)  dies , she attempts to jump into the lagoon but is restrained. She later bears a son Oshiaju ("the bush has rejected this") and 8 other children (out of which 2 die). Along the line , Nnaife has children by his late brother's wives, Adaku and Adankwo. He also marries 16-year-old Okpo. Nnaife has 12 children in all -  7 from Nnu Ego, 2 from Adaku, 1 from Adankwo and 2 from Okpo.

Nnaife expects Oshiaju to stop schooling after excelling in his Cambridge Certificate exams and take over the family responsibilities from him but Oshiaju gets a scholarship to further his education in the United States.  Later on, Nnu Ego's daughter  Kehinde wants to marry a Yoruba man (Ladipo) against Nnaife's wishes. Nnaife matchets Ladipo's relatives and is jailed for a while. Nnu Ego later dies on a road, neglected by her children who later organise an expensive burial.

The novel is a satire which bears out the Yoruba proverb " Having too many children brings much poverty and sorrow".

"Silas Marner" by George Eliot.

George Eliot is the pseudonym that Mary Ann Evans uses when writing
novels. Therefore the pronoun "her" is used for George Eliot.

THE NOVEL'S PLOT.

Silas Marner is a weaver and a member of a small religious community
in Lantern Yard. One day, the church deacon falls ill and members take
turns waiting on him at night. When it is Silas' turn, the deacon
dies and William Dane (Silas' best friend) slips in and steals money
while Silas is lost in thought. William makes everyone believe Silas
is the thief. Silas is disfellowshipped and he moves to Raveloe. His
fiancee, Sarah, marries the false friend a month later.

Silas has lost faith in God and becomes a hermit in Raveloe. He weaves
on Sundays and hoards his money. One day, the local nobleman's second
son, Dunstan Cass, steals his 5 guineas. Silas becomes very miserable
indeed.

Squire Cass's wife is dead and he frequents beer parlours so his sons
(Godfrey and Dunstan) become wayward.Dunstan's evil influence makes
Godfrey to marry a low-class woman, Molly Farren. Molly has a child
for him. Godfrey later falls in love with Nancy Lammeter and bribes
Dunstan to keep his previous marriage secret.

One day, Molly decides to show up at Squire Cass's New Year party and
introduce herself (to punish him for abandoning her). Due to the cold
and her being a drug addict, she dies in the snow on the way, near
Silas' cottage, and her 2-year-old daughter crawls into the cottage.

Silas adopts the child , names her Eppie (after his late sister
Hephzibah) and starts going to church. Godfrey feels relieved at
Molly's death and marries Nancy without telling her about the child.
"There was no danger that his dead wife would be recognized...and as
for the registry of their marriage, that was a long way off, buried in
unturned pages" (chapter 13). The only other person in the know,
Dunstan, hasn't returned home after stealing Silas' money. However,
Godfrey and Nancy remain childless for many years, having only a
stillborn baby. Godfrey suggests to Nancy that they adopt Eppie from
Silas (without revealing she is his daughter) , but Nancy is against
ALL adoption.

Eppie grows up into a charming 18-year-old . She knows no father but
Silas and she serves to bring the former recluse into contact with his
neighbours.

Then, Dunstan's skeleton is seen at the bottom of a pond near Silas'
house. He has Silas' bag of money in one hand and Godfrey's whip in
the other. Godfrey is forced to reveal his past and he and Nancy go to
Silas to claim Eppie. However, Eppie refuses to leave Silas, the only
father she knows. Godfrey and Nancy return home dejected.

Silas and Eppie visit Lantern Yard, hoping that the truth of the
robbery allegation would have emerged, but the town has been razed to
the ground. They return to Raveloe, their permanent home henceforth.
Eppie marries Aaron Winthrop, an honest and diligent son of a
neighbour, and they live with Silas in complete happiness.

Number riddle

RIDDLE

There are 5 positive whole numbers. The first is the square of the
second. The sum of the 2nd and the 3rd is 10. The 4th is greater than
the 2nd by 1. The sum of the 3rd and the 5th is 14. The sum of all the
numbers is 30. Find the values of the numbers.

SOLUTION

Represent the 5 numbers by any 5 letters of the alphabet you fancy. I
am using a, b, c, d and e for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th numbers
respectively.

From the statements in the question,

a = b² ................ (1)
b + c = 10 ................(2)
d = b + 1 ................(3)
c + e = 14 ................(4)
a + b + c + d + e = 30................(5).

* Express any 4 of the unknowns in terms of the 5th unknown in
equations (1) to (4).

a = b² (equation 1).
c = 10 - b (from equation 2).
d = b + 1 (equation 3).
e = 14 - c (from equation 4) = 14 - (10 - b) (from equation 2) = 14
- 10 + b = b + 4.

* Substitute these values into equation 5.

a + b + c + d + e = 30.

b² + b + (10 - b) + (b + 1) + (b + 4) = 30.

b² + 2b + 15 = 30.

b² + 2b + 15 - 30 = 0.

b² + 2b - 15 = 0.

(b + 5) (b - 3) = 0.

Either b + 5 = 0 or b - 3 = 0.

b + 5 = 0 ➡ b = - 5.

b - 3 = 0 ➡ b = 3.

Therefore, b = 3 (positive number).

Hence, a = b² = 3² = 9 ;
c = 10 - b = 10 - 3 = 7;
d = b + 1 = 3 + 1 = 4;
e = b + 4 = 3 + 4 = 7.

Therefore, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th numbers are 9, 3, 7, 4 and
7 respectively.

NOTE: * If you express the other unknowns in terms of a, substitution
of the values will lead you to an equation involving surds which you
can manipulate into a quadratic equation (by isolating the surd on one
side of the equation and then squaring both sides of the equation).
You will get 2 values of a (a = 9 or a = 25). Use the smaller value of
a , or your
a + b + c + d + e will be greater than 30 (violating equation 5).

"The Concubine" by Elechi Amadi.

The novel is set in the Igbo villages of Omokachi, Omigwe, Aliji and Chiolu.

Madume (in his early 30s) is annoyed that his only wife bore him 4 daughters without a son, despite the bride price he would collect on them. The thought of his brother's sons inheriting his houses and lands contributes to his laziness. In addition, he is greedy and never satisfied with his share in anything good. Hence, he is always quarreling over land, trees, etc with his neighbours (including Emenike). Madume also hates Emenike for being more popular than him and for Ihuoma's choosing Emenike over him.

Emenike and Madume quarrel over a piece of land and many of their fellow villagers speak in favour of Emenike. Madume waylays Emenike in the forest and wins the fight after dashing his side against the jagged stump of a tree. Anyika, the Omokachi village medicine man, is called to treat him. Nwokekoro is the priest of Amadioha (the god of thunder and of the skies). Ojukwu is the god of smallpox.

Ihuoma has had 3 children by age 22 after 6 years of marriage to Emenike. She is beautiful, sympathetic and reserved. She is able to bear a neighbour's stinging remarks without a repartee and earns the reputation of a peacemaker among fighting women. She is from  Omigwe, a neighbouring village. Emenike recovers from the fight but dies shortly afterwards of  "lock-chest". Many people link his death with his fight with Madume which had considerably weakened his resistance to any disease. Ihuoma wears the customary sackcloth for one year before the second burial ends her mourning period.

With Emenike out of the way and his brother Nnadi being "too reserved to make trouble", Madume plans to extend his boundary with Emenike indefinitely and take over Ihuoma. One day, he  tries to help Ihuoma put down a pot of water from her head against her wishes.  He hurts his right toe against a half-buried old hoe in her compound. Anyika holds some spirits from the sea and Emenike's father's spirit responsible and warns Madume to keep off Ihuoma and her compound. While Madume is  harvesting  plantains from the disputed land one day, a cobra spits into his eyes and he goes blind. He later commits suicide and is thrown into Minita, the evil forest.

Ekwueme is 2 years older than Ihuoma and interested in marrying her. Ihuoma rejects his proposal because of his engagement to Ahurole (her village girl) since childhood. Ihuoma's father is even "distantly related to Wagbara", Ahurole's father (page 193). Ahurole is 5 years younger than Ekwueme. Though otherwise intelligent and dutiful, Ahurole is prone to weeping over trivial matters. This weakness of hers stresses her marriage with Ekwueme and makes him long for Ihuoma and seek her company frequently (though on a platonic basis). Ahurole gets jealous and feeds him with a love potion which runs him mad. She runs away out of shame.  

Ekwueme insists on Ihuoma's presence beside him  before bathing and taking his medicines. When he gets well, his parents permit him to marry Ihuoma. Anyika says (after consulting the oracle), "Ihuoma is the favourite wife of the Sea-King in the spirit world before being incarnated as a human being. Her spirit husband eliminated both Emenike and Madume. The sea-king can be appeased to let her be someone's concubine (but never a wife) until she lives out her normal earthly span and returns to him".

Anyika says there is no way Ekwueme can safely marry Ihuoma but Agwoturumbe , a "dibia"(or medicine man) from Aliji, thinks he can bind the sea-king. The requisites for the sacrifice include a brightly-coloured male lizard. The sacrifice is to be done in the middle of a river at midnight.

After overcoming his fears about the midnight sacrifice , Ekwueme teaches Nwonna (Ihuoma's son) and his friends to shoot arrows along the wall so that the wall will direct their arrows to the lizards. After one of his friends has caught a lizard, Nwonna tries to kill another one by himself and for his own use. That is when Ekwueme steps out of his room and is hit by an arrow in his belly. He dies before even going for the midnight sacrifice.

Ihuoma can only be a concubine.