Letter to Billioniare Femi Otedola ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN AFRICA

[Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth]

Dear Mr, Femi Otedola

I am a scientist. By giving your DAUGHTER a million pound property TO MARK HER 30TH BIRTHDAY. you have just confirmed what i wrote  in an article on the web  titled, Scientific research in Africa, WAITING FOR BILL GATES?

 i did write on Nigerian's  preference for Birthdays, burials and betrothals as opposed to libraries laboratories and workshop'

Mr Femi otedola   you have an obligation and responsibility to Nigerians because wittingly or unwittingly  Nigerians  HAVE  somehow given you the privilege of making money, out of  a dysfunctional system directly or in directly,

what's more it's the intention that matters not the size of the birthday present. and two you are not supposed to be buying a birthday present for yourself. or singing a birthday song to yourself. these you have done somehow these you should have   OUTSOURCED to your grown-up daughters', but you are not really allowing them to grow they should have been left to organize your birthday surprise with their own resources. AND ALSO LEFT TO DOING OTHER THINGS WITH THEIR OWN HARD EARNED RESOURCES, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DESIGN THEIR LIVES FOR THEM it did not have to be with your own 2 million euros.it is the intention that maters not the size of the gift or the amount of money spent.

 Furthermore, Baba obasanjo had asked quite rhetorically, what ARE supposed to be doing on the moon?   LITERALLY OR FIGURATIVELLY Baba OBASANJO SAID"    Americans CAN GO THERE  IF they bring back rocks, we can buy from them. What if the Americans' refused to sell the rocks to us or are slow in selling   WHAT IF IT Is a matter of life and Death as it has happened before? IY rarely strikes the same place twice, but we ought to be careful

Each time there is a n epidemic or pandemic must We go begging for vaccine or stand the risk of being wiped out Epidemics come in various guises!

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Dear Sir,

Gotta Serve Somebody

Should it be OK to invade other people’s privacy? 

I would like to see a smile on your face as you read this. 

Well, today is Fathers Day, OK, and because the Oga gave his rose petal a million-dollar property for her 30th birthday  you want to use that to bludgeon him into submission as you make your plea. Him having so much money and not being more generous in the right direction, as you would like  him to be,  he ought to be ashamed of himself, you’re telling him., me, us. You want him to feel guilty, a little soft and tender-hearted , compassionate, pliable, for him to think “ Jesus!” become more generous and wholly compliant with your patriotism,  your nationalistic fervour, and your higher humanitarian ideals. How  admirable !

( As I told Angela whose Oga had just bought her a new Mercedes Benz,  this was at the Port Harcourt Airport in February 1983 : I said that I wasn’t impressed . I told her  if I had been the Oga I would have given her at the very  least a Boeing 707, the one in my  garage…

Beatles : Can't buy me love .

There are those who say that “Money is the root of all evil”, but the fact is that money can also do a lot of good,  one  Momodou Sidibeh once told me. 

 Money can always come in handy. Money can contribute to a  or the good final outcome,  just as you're saying….

Apart from directly (and humbly) and privately or secretly  begging  - to be given a piece of the cake or pie / some breadcrumbs from the Oga’s table, I think that we should stop harassing the Oga in this very public place and space, even if you believe that harassing or importuning him to provide funds for scientific research is one of your civic responsibilities on behalf of the beloved people of Nigeria , as if  he’s not fully aware that Nigeria’s science research needs more funding to improve on  this kind of marketable product….

He could very well tell you this : Please leave me in peace. Why don’t you go and make your own money?

After all,  if you put your mind to it, you too can or could go ahead and make use of the opportunity to make millions, billions,  even trillions out of the fertile grounds that you refer to as a “ dysfunctional system”. For instance, you / we could have wangled a monopoly for laying out some pipes to transport the several trillions of dollars worth of gas that the Nigerian government has been flaring for at least the past 45 years, day and night, non-stop the flames licking the sky, for nothing, and polluting the air on top of the bargain.

Furthermore, you should do your level best not to offend the Oga. You never know when you could be having to make a last ditch appeal to him to contribute to your rescue package after some unGodly ransom kidnapping, at  the sort of time when a friend in need is a friend indeed. 

There’s no telling the kind of philanthropist Femi Otedola is  - it’s possible that he’s not the type who trumpets his good deeds from the rooftops, but rather adheres to the New Testament adage from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6: 1 - 3 :

“Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. “ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing

Mind you, there’s no dearth of good causes to support - nearer to home for example there’s the appeal at the bottom of the three first postings in this link 

From the Paris Review, Daily Poem : Death Soup by Dave Mokshi

[Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth]

Hm Lessons learnt;thank you Cornelius

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[Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth]

Cornelius, another way of looiking at it is that the Editors are  bombarding my space if not invading my private space with stories of what are the private life of femi otedola. and this is not what they are supposed to be doing if its all sanctioned by Femi otedola,

when a dog bites a man i tis no news but when a man bites a dog it is news, but the question has also been asked" what if the dog bites a public figure? what about Dogs eating Dogs?

On Sun, Nov 13, 2022 at 11:37 PM Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Awesome 

Jeff Bezos donates $100 Million to Dolly Parton

Jeff Bezos to donate most of his $1224 billion fortune to charity

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[Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth]

Cornelius, should i ask.Is this just a cponcidemce? Is Jeff on this Platform? i mean  USA  AFRica Dialogue?

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Absolutely True Sir. The First Amendment goes a long way. In the craze to imitate / copy the West,  It's only a matter of time before Naija  produces a presidential candidate who will say that the people should have the right to bear arms  - as stated in the US  First Amendment 

 It's a vicious circle.

Publicity makes some people famous or notorious. Some people want to be famous or notorious , so they seek publicity, especially people in  politics and  in the entertainment industry. Last week  Kanye West was in the limelight. I understand  that  Hon. Minister Louis Farrakhan has been  weighing in on the latest charges of antisemitism being made against them 

Since the devil spawned blasphemy, newspapers, TV,  the paparazzi , private detectives, investigative journalists, spies, public figures such as royalty, people in the entertainment industry, film stars, big businessmen, saintly politicians, the need for bodyguards,  people are mostly not entitled to a private life anymore. Hence headlines such as this :

Jeff Bezos to donate most of his fortune to charity