The Beauty of a Peafowl and the Intelligence of a Monkey

A pidgin saying goes thus; "monkey no fine, but in mama like am". This means that, no matter how ugly a monkey is, the mother will always appreciate it. What do we classify as beauty? Sometimes it is in the eyes of the beholder, sometimes it is the outward look that is appreciated, other times it is classified as good character. Beauty is a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. It is often used as a general term of approval.

Monkeys are one of the funniest animals on earth.  They have over 250 breeds of their species and their intelligence can be measured according to the human intelligence. In this vein, monkeys can be regarded as having a beautified intelligence despite their ugly looking nature. They have feelings, emotions, love, hate, compassion just like a man. If a baby monkey is groomed, it can reflect the beauty in its nature to man.

A peacock is beautiful, but it is known as a proud bird (animal). Most people know this bird as peacock, but the general name is peafowl, while the male is peacock, female is peahen,  and the babies are called peachicks. A peafowl believes in its beautiful feathers and this makes it feel like the most beautiful bird in the world.

The monkey and the peafowl have been enjoying a general term that is not meant only for them. There are so many ugly animals in the jungle, even in the river, and there are so many beautiful animals on earth. Humans have not been adventurous enough to see some wonders of nature and this has caused the peafowl to feel too relevant, and also caused the monkey to feel less loved.

In a research done by Thomas Swan, he rated some animals as most beautiful animals. Mandarin fish, Fennec Fox, Black Backed Kingfisher, Zanzibar Red, Colobus Caracal, Candy Crab, Swallow- tailed Humming bird, Poison Dart Frog, Tiger, Sunset Moth are the animals classified as 10 most beautiful animals from the bottom to the top and it amazed me that Peafowl is no where to be found in the classification. In another research, Blobfish, Tarsier, Angora rabbit and some others were ranked as the 10 most ugly animals, and to my surprise, monkeys, gorilla and chimpanzees are no where to be found.

You might feel you are the ugliest human being on earth, or probably the most beautiful, that means you have not been adventurous. If you move far from your comfort or oppressing zone, you will see people that are uglier than you and the ones that are more beautiful than you. Beauty is indeed in the eyes of the beholder, let's appreciate nature and creations.

BUHARI AND THE LEGISLATORS MUST DANCE NAKED IN THE PUBLIC;"The Criminality of the Constitution that Allows Legislators to Earn so Much out of an Economy Wallowing in Penury"

Nigerians are not interested in your naked body, but are interested in how transparent and selfless your service will be after the exercise under the scorching sun at the polling booths favoured all the legislators. A cogent question to be asked is; Why is the salary and allowances of the lawmakers are so much at variance to the GDP ( Gross Domestic Product) of the nation, as some workers are not paid or less paid? The absentia of working social amenities and enjoyment of fat and seemingly illegal salaries and allowances by lawmakers are spotted as loopholes in the Nigerian way of leadership which is back tracking the development of the country, and these are the reasons for looking into the following.

Nigeria has a population of over 180 million people. Out of this 180 million, over 120 million now live below poverty line. This means that about 66% of the population of Nigerians live below poverty line......& this is a country that claims to be THE GIANT OF AFRICA!?!?!? This is the deplorable situation we find ourselves due to decades of gross mismanagement and pillaging of our resources by our so-called leaders. In the past forty-five years, countries like Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, who were not as developed as Nigeria in the 1960s have vastly developed because of visionary leaderships that drove their nations. These countries are flourishing in their economy, maximising their GDP by spending it on institutions, being less corrupt and diverting their religiousity to boom their economy by not using it as an excuse to remain stagnant. The twisted irony is that of a rich father with poor children: He invested the money he should have used to develop his own family on other families' growth and expects a good reaction from those families. Those other families can only see such a father as a fool, and they continue to flourish with their members as the foolish father faces the wrath of abuses and witch haunting by his children. This is the analogy of most of our so-called leaders in the past 40 years, particularly in the past 25 years. These stolen monies are used to develop the economies of the countries where these monies are kept. If these monies have been invested in Nigeria, it would have greatly helped the growth and advancement of the country.


Reuben Abati says in a piece titled 'Nobody Comes to Abuja to Read' that; "Ideas drive and build nations. A country without a positive and deep current of thought is bound to run into crisis" as we see in Nigeria's economy today. " So it is with Nigeria where the leaders only become animated when they want to share money or  play partisan politics..... Try and compare the cabinet list in Singapore with that of Nigeria, for example. The difference is clear. The message is clear. The answer lies in a re-configuration of the leadership recruitment process and the vigilance of civil society insisting on higher values".

We have a prevalent situation where our legislators refuse to study how their counterparts in other flourishing countries administer their law making that helps to promote consistent growth and advancement. Our Nigerian lawmakers are content with the part of the constitution that allows & affords them fat bank accounts and living lavishly in the midst of socio-economic crisis; they refuse to make it possible to change the aspect of the constitution that will slash their salaries & allowances but they are more than happy to debate and amend 'Social Media Bill' that will restrict freedom of information because the restriction of such information will suit them and allow them to carry out their nefarious acts that the flawed constitution allows. The 'clan based approach' in recruitment exercises has crippled most sectors of the economy. This has led to 'brain drain' whereby most of our capable citizens have had to migrate to foreign countries where their skills & know how are appreciated, to be used for the development of their host countries. This brain drain is a massive challenge for the present Buhari government who needs competent Nigerians to help the country out of this period of crisis"

Singapore's economy has been ranked as the most open in the world, 7th least corrupt, most pro-business, with low tax rates and has the third highest per-capita GDP in the world in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The lesson derived from this is that the Rome of Singapore was not built in a day, and the parliamentarians there have worked so hard to gain this record. Nigeria's economy is not to be run like the personal affairs of a select few who want to subject the masses to a state of fiefdom with their feudal mentality. Nigeria is meant to be run in a business-like manner by great, thoughtful visionary leaders whose handiwork would manifest the dividends of a well run state. Nigerians should uncompromisingly demand for a leadership with the political will to sanction those political office holders who fall below expectations.

Electorates should no longer be subjected to the politics of 'stomach infrastructure' whereby those, who should hold the persons seeking political power to account, are reduced to the status of beggars.

Nigerians NOW demand an enabling, business-friendly environment where myriad taxes & rates levies won't cripple budding businesses or organisations that want to contribute to the socio-economic advancement of the nation. Most start-up businesses are crushed by the draconian levies by local, state and federal governments; there are no tax moratorium given that would give these businesses a breathing space to develop. THIS MUST BE ADDRESSED FOR THE SAKE OF THE COMMON MAN WHO GENUINELY WANTS TO MAKE HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA!!!

The citizens want to see the allowances & salaries of the legislators to be commensurate to the GDP of the country. In other countries in the world, their constitutions does NOT allow their legislators to earn outrageously more than the level of their GDPs dictate. I make bold to claim that our legislators at the National Assembly make more than 1000% of the GDP of our nation. It is evidently clear that most of our people seeking political office are ready, willing & able to commit all sorts of heinous atrocities to gain power purely because of the financial & material gains they are targeting to achieve, not because of the nobility of service to the nation. Examples abound of so many people who got into politics and have acquired stupendous wealth overnight whilst their constituents, who they claim they want to serve, still wallow is poverty and nothing to show as the dividends of democracy.