Category: Reviews

Hi folks,

In this post, I will talk briefly about a few lessons learnt from reading the book My Watch, by Olusegun Obasanjo. The book is composed of three volumes.

The book talks about history of Owu, Abeokuta and Nigeria, Obasanjo’s early life, career and distinguished service to Nigeria and Africa in general.

The book also expounds on Obasanjo’s philosophies about life, leadership and economics and spirituality among other subjects.

Some lessons I learnt are as follows:

A leader must surround himself with capable advisers

For a leader to be effective, he must surround himself with high quality advisers, not mediocre people.

Nation above tribe

To keep Nigeria united, one must be willing to put love of the country above love for a particular tribe within the country, even if it’s the tribe the person comes from

Solve problems by bringing all relevant parties together

Whenever two groups have a disagreement, to solve the problem you must be able to bring all the relevant parties together and have a heart to heart talk with them until you reach a good conclusion. Don’t just support one side automatically because they are from your tribe, or some other reason.

Good people are everywhere

There are good people all around who can help you achieve your goals in life. You just need to be able to search hard for them sometimes. Never settle for mediocrity due to “lack” of good people around.

When arguing with someone don’t bring up your past glories in a way to bring them down

When arguing with someone, referring to the good you have done for him/her in the past is not in good taste. If you do good for someone, take it that it is God that made it possible for you to do that good for the person.

Strive to excel in all things I do

If you get into any venture, aim to make a great success out of it. Don’t just do it for the sake of doing it. Do it to win.

Learn to get the best out of people regardless of their deficiencies

Nobody is perfect. So when working with people, find out what their strengths and weaknesses. Help them play on their strengths. Also work to manage their weaknesses so that it doesn’t become a big problem for you or your team.

Put God in all endeavours

God has a factor to play in any endeavour. Regardless of the preparation we humans make, there’s always that part God plays in determining whether it succeeds or not. Be prayerful and keep God in all endeavours.

Be prepared

Always prepare for the worst-case scenario in all projects. This way, you won’t be taken by surprise if it happens that way, and if it turns out better than worst case, you can feel good about it.

Be courageous

If you have a clear conscience, you should never be afraid of any man. Have courage and do your best to achieve your goals. When Obasanjo learnt that Abacha was trying to arrest him, Obasanjo was brave and came back into Nigeria even against advice from friends to flee. We only die once in this world and life is a risk. Achieving anything significant requires some risk and he who takes no risks is likely to live a boring unremarkable life.

Biographies are an excellent way to learn about human relationships

Read biographies extensively to learn about human behaviour and relationships.

Corruption and mismanagement are two key problem in Nigeria

Privatisation is an effective means of reducing waste by government and boosting productivity in the economy.

Consequences of corruption and mismanagement

Some of the consequences of corruption and mismanagement are disunity, poverty, chaos, ethnic and religious tension, lack on investment in the country by investors home and abroad, and lack of respect for the country by international peers

Make friends by visiting people

To really make friends, it’s best to visit people. Phone calls, letters, etc. are not as effective as going to see a person live in his/her home.
Keep your word

Be a man of integrity. When you say you will do something, then do it. Don’t back track on your words. When Obasanjo became military head-of-state he promised he would transition to a civilian rule and he did so, despite some of his friends abroad advising otherwise.

Be wary of mass media

Mass media should be believed with a pinch of salt. Before believing something in the news, do a bit of research and see if the information is credible. Generally, media publishers tend to publish information that makes their paper sells even while tarnishing the images of their subject. The media spread a lot of lies about Obasanjo trying to run for a third term even though he never wanted to.

Have a thick skin

There will always be critiques for any successful person on this world. You can’t afford to react to every negative thing people say about you. Most times, you just need to ignore undue criticism. Only respond when it’s absolutely necessary.

That’s all for now.

Hi folks,

Today I’ll like to talk about a relatively new phenomenon I noticed in my neighbourhood Sainsburys. It’s called SmartShop.

What is Smart Shop? Smart Shop is a system a shopper can use an in-store handset to scan items as he/she picks them from the shelves. Then at the end of the shopping, he/she goes to a special SmartShop checkout section to load all items scanned into the checkout machine and pay. There’s even a SmartShop app available on Google Play and on the App Store which one can use according to Sainsbury’s website.

Here’s how I first became aware of it. About a month ago, I noticed a sign close to the entrance that said Smart Shop. I was a little curious about it. So, that day when checking out at the till, I asked a cashier about it. He said it was a system where one could buy items without having to come to the cashier till. I found that interesting, but I didn’t pursue the idea further. A few weeks later while walking down the shopping isle to pick up a few groceries, I heard a beep a few meters away. The peculiar thing about this beep was that it was the same beep one would normally hear from the checkout machines at the till. But this beep emanated from somewhere in the isle! So I looked at where the beep was coming from and saw that a someone had just scanned a grocery item. The person had a shopping cart and looked quite pleased with himself. It then occurred to me that shoppers could actually scan their items as they shop and that this must be the smart shop concept I had asked about earlier. So, after checking out, I went to the stand where the handsets were and started looking around for some instruction on how to use it. A friendly staff found me and helped me register.

Now to my experience of actually using SmartShop. I attempted buying groceries via SmartShop and have a few observations.

Advantages:

• You can put items in your grocery bags as soon as you scan them
  No need to take groceries out of shopping cart into the line at the checkout counter
• No need to load groceries back into your shopping bags after paying at the checkout counter
• You can see the total cost of your groceries on the SmartShop handset as you shop. This can help you manage costs
• No need to join queues at the checkout counter

Disadvantages:

• If you are buying items that don’t have barcode scanners on them, e.g. loose tomatoes and onions, you need to first weigh them yourself on a scale to print out barcode tags, then place the tag on the item
• You need to be make sure you remember to scan each item before placing it in your cart
• You need to make sure when you scan an item, the item is registered and quantity updated correctly on the handset. There was a time I had to scan an item twice to get it to work, probably due to network failure.

Overall, SmartShop is a very good idea if you have just a few items to buy. If you have a lot of groceries to buy, you may want to go the traditional route of using the checkout counter to minimise chances of forgetting to scan items. Also, SmartShop is a good idea if the items you buy have barcodes on them already. If you buy lots of items without barcodes, be ready to weigh and print out barcodes yourself.

There’s this really awesome educational game I came across recently while surfing popular games on Google Play. It’s called New Words With Friends. Having given the Android version of this game a thorough test, I’ll share my review. Published by the famous game studio, Zynga, New Words With Friends is an excellent and engaging educational game to play with both friends and new folks. Essentially, it’s like playing Scrabble on a phone and it works cross-platform as an Android app, iOS app and even a Facebook app. Without further ado I’ll discuss the high points.

First, the game has really cool graphics. The game has a cool trendy look easy on the eyes and sure to please. It’s got a Facebook-like theme and a good combination of warm and cool colours. There really isn’t much to fault in terms of its looks. The game icon even has a winter feel to it.

Second, New Words With Friends is very social. It’s possible to invite Facebook friends to play. You can even nudge those unresponsive friends to get them in faster. You get ranked alongside friends you’ve played with by total and average scores, ramping up that competitive spirit as you strive towards first place! New Words With Friends also has a Community Match feature that allows you to find avid players nearby just waiting to play with you or to choose who you will like to play with. There’s even a Smart Match feature that immediately finds a game for you to play. The game also has a handy chat tool to help you converse with your buddies or new found friends as you play.

Next is Statistics. Being a lover of all things mathematical and scientific I naturally enjoy a healthy dose of Statistics. New Words With Friends keeps track of your game statistics daily showing valuable metrics of how your verbal aptitude appreciates over time. Some statistics tracked include highest scoring words, longest words used, highest score in any game, average game score, score of words over time, etc.

Fourth is the Educational value. While playing this game, you have access to an in-built dictionary apparently based on the famous Dictionary.com. There is also a Word of the Day feature showing you new words each day to beef up your vocabulary.

Alright alright. So it’s obvious I really like this game. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any criticisms. First of all is the adverts. You have to watch an ad for at least a few seconds after every game move. I understand the makers of the game have to make some dough so it’s not so bad though. There’s an option in settings to buy the game.

Second, the dictionary is quite laggy. When searching for words in quick succession the dictionary doesn’t always keep up. For example you may open the dictionary feature and search for a word only to discover after a moment the meaning of a previous word show up. I feel the dictionary should be made a little more responsive. The app could cancel pending searches for example when a user submits a new query.

Third, there are some words you can play but can’t find meanings for using the dictionary. I suppose this is because that dictionary does not have the words. Perhaps Zynga could integrate other dictionaries to find meanings of words outside the default one.

By and large, New Words With Friends is a fantastic game with great social tools and educational value. I highly recommend this game to anyone with a decent smart phone looking for a game to pass time.