FOOD FOR THOUGHT - by Oluseyi Vandy

It seems every day in this beautiful country of mine, the bar gets to a new all-time low, and incompetence takes a step forward, even when you'd think there was no more land to claim. The latest being GMOs, which by the way have been in the works for years now. It's just the implementation phase that's brought our awareness to it. I won't go into the meaning as I am not a scientist, and Twitter already has so much on that. I am going to speak on the issue from a different perspective. The best way to sum this up is to see a 6-foot handsome man saying to himself, "No, I need more height." Or a beautiful perfectly endowed lady saying "BBL is still needed." To add more spice to this visualisation, there is the off-chance that this procedure could drastically negatively affect their lives. A true case of "Trouble dey sleep, yanga go wake am." Nigeria and Africa as a whole have one of the most fertile lands, which they export raw produce, including cash crops and natural resources. All these are then processed and sold, you get the cycle. Now, bear in mind that some of those cash crops aren't being sold for cash, they could be in exchange for debt. They could say.... "Give us crude and so and so crops," what this does is to incentivise more cash crops than planting for food, which creates hunger, and creates the loop of borrowing. Even if that wasn't the case, you'd find more people making the smart play of exporting for foreign currency.So, someone please explain to me why people are logically considering a system where a poor nation, in debt, plans to purchase seeds that the currency for transaction is pummeling our local currency in exchange markets, seeds that you legit see on view once, you plant and can't replant, so you just keep buying them. Even if they say they want to give us for free, wisdom and discernment should let us know that "Nothing is free, and we will pay for it some way." Still, because of the lack of values and monetisation of everything, people are willing to jump into deals without looking at the fine print. Now don't get me wrong, I've found that it is used in some countries like China to grow plants like cotton for textiles, which is brilliant, investing money to make money. Some say the idea is that it will help solve hunger, my reply to that is, what caused the hunger? There are farmers unable to go to their lands because of insecurity. The story of Sunday and his self-defence when he was attacked by a herdsman, which ended in him facing actual prosecution for defending himself, has been a topic for a while. Another question I'd ask is, would a plant that has the chance of making that farmland unable to grow normal crops for a while if you decide that you don't want GMOs any more, be a better solution to solve hunger? It's a really sad joke, because why should a sovereign nation trust another nation to feed its citizens? We have become so used to everyone but those in office doing the needful that we are even entertaining the idea. To quote an old post, the devil is in the details. If I give you all you say you want and make you reliant on me, you have no say or power later on. I can simply withhold what you have come to rely on. A country in debt and at the mercy of another when it comes to feeding is unable to stand up for itself. Technology is meant to make lives better and easier. Before we embrace certain advances, we need to ask the necessary questions. Through history, we've been made to feel our natural God given gifts are inferior, then we trade them to get the "superior" foreign products which are made from the natural products we look down on and sell off for cheap. This is the sad reality of mental slavery, we do not know who we are, and because of that, we believe what we are told we are. We also do not realise and value the things we have.

Other insights from Oluseyi Vandy

Referral Earning

Points-to-Coupons