28042019 - No delaying minimum wage, go ahead and pay, FG tells MDAs, states, others

PAGE 20 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 28, 2019
Is the bad economy enough reason
to ‘Go on the Game’?
As to be expected, the cur
rent economic melt-down
has created a lot of people
who grapple with he menace
of the credit crunch – not only
have they lost their jobs, the prospect
of finding any other, not to
talk of one commensurate in remunerations
is zilch! When
Eunice, a personnel director of an
insurance company was asked to
reduce the work force by a third,
she felt like a real hatchet man.
“It was a most heart-wrenching
experience dolling out retrenchment
letters and watching the
bleak expressions on the faces of
staff who have lost their jobs”, she
said sadly. A few weeks later, I
was her turn to get the dreaded
`golden handshake’. In her
wildest dreams, she never seven
believed she would get the chop.
“One morning”, she alleged,
“my boss called me into a meeting.
`I’m sorry’, he said, not
quite catching my eyes, `the
company’s in a bad shape here
as you know. We have to let you
go’. I drove home in a terrified
daze. I’d come to work that
morning with an official driver.
Now, I had to drive myself home
as the driver too had got the
sack! How could this happen
to me with no previous official
warning. How were we going to
cope, feed the kids and keep a
roof over our heads! We needed
my salary to meet the mortgage
payment and the children’s
school fees. The kids were in a
very expensive schools and I was
panicky. My redundancy
money wouldn’t last forever.
My husband’s business had depended
heavily on bank loans
that he often quickly paid back
but now that the banks are being
whipping into shape, the
loans have simply dried up. He
was as shocked as I was by my
redundancy and I tried to be
sympathetic as I made efforts to
get a job – any sort of job.
“Then a friend approached
me to start a sort of financial
consultancy. We would work
from her home by sourcing for
bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk
08056180152, SMS only
S
capital for budding businesses.
It was hard going at first, and I
was too proud to accept I’d
failed. So, I contacted mostly
business associates from my insurance
years. I never used to understand
why people suffered
from depression, because I always
thought that if you knew
things were bad, you’d soon
change them for the better. As I
hit the brick wall with most of
my contacts, a friendly one asked
out of the blues if I wanted lunch
in his office. I’d had so many
failures that I was frustrated
enough to give things a go. After
all, my proposal with him was at
stake. If I wasn’t happy with what
he had to say, I’d leave, it was as
simple as that.
He was a nice man, in his fifties
with sexy greying hair, a bit
of a paunch and a friendly smile.
He made my visit much easier
than I’d expected. What surprised
me the most was the speed with
which things happened. If it were
a real date for instance, there
would be a long intimate buildup,
lots of chatting, kisses and
foreplay. But this one wasn’t
interested in all that – he told
me he had less than an hour to
get back to the pile of files on
his table. So, within minutes
of arriving, I was completely
naked and we were about to
have sex. At first, I just found
it really weird. It was odd having
sex with a virtual stranger,
but he had positive sides I
could focus on which made he
whole encounter less sordid –
on top of which was his word
that I would get the contract.
“From then on, it became
easier to have `lunch’ with a
few of my contacts. One or two
have now become regulars.
Others were one-offs. Some of
these men are heavy weights’
in the society and quite goodlooking,
some are rude, but
I’m lucky so far that a lot of
them have kept their promises
and as soon as most of our
debts are cleared, I will stop
...”
When Jumi got admitted into
one of the universities, she was
ecstatic. “When I was growing
up”, she explained, “my dream
was to make a name in the fashion
industry, and my admission
was a step towards achieving
my goal. I was just 20, pretty,
slim and had many friends. In
my naivety; I started to feel a
bit invincible. But when I arrived
at the university, everything
started going wrong. Most
of the girls on my course were
really lovely – and from welloff
families. Some shopped
abroad and carried the latest
`it’ bags and knew about all the
leading fashion houses. In contrast,
I was from a small town
and my style was more second –
hard `grade, As’’ than glossy
and well groomed.
‘It was as if I’d come from another
planet. I withdrew into
myself and became disheartened.
On my first holiday home,
my friends didn’t behave quite
the same as I noticed. They believed
I was not a bit more su-
perior. Determined not to sink
back to the level of a ‘town girl’
I agreed to go on “dates” that
were so common on campus, especially
the ones organised by
worldly-wise girls with their
‘aristo’ money bags. It was
plain prostitution, and if I
wanted to buy the expensive
books and clothes I needed to
get by, it would be a small price
to pay. You may think all the
reasons I’ve given are lame excuses
for deciding to sell my
body. But the truth is that taking
my destiny in my hands actually
turned my life around. I
had a focus and I told myself,
I’d only do it for as long as it
took to pay-off my bills at the
university.
“I stopped as soon as I graduated
and had enough money to
set up my own business. Now I
love my new life and I’ve never
once felt ashamed of how I got
where I am today. In fact, more
students than we want to admit
turn to prostitution to pay their
massive debts. The way I see it
is that I made a smart business
decision,. And it saved my life.
So, what’s there to feel guilty
about …?” Are our women getting
too hard-hearted” I was
still mulling over the blatant
declaration of these women
when a friend of mine called.
“Have you heard of the number
of women who `share’ their
good fortunes with her friends?”
She asked in between our chat.
`What do you mean?’ I wanted
to know, ears perked. “Three of
four women could now share the
prowess of a stud, that’s all”. So
what was new? We already knew
of gigolos who go after rich
women. `Are you listening’, she
asked impatiently. According to
her: “These women are friends
and well connected. As soon as
one of them gets on to a good
stud, she calls another in a
group to inform her to expect
new find. “O dun b’áje’ she coos,
meaning `he’s as tasty as hell’.
So on trots super stud to his next
customer until he does the
round of all four or five and is
well rewarded for services well
rendered.
I took this news with a shovel
full of salt as I recounted its
probability with an older male
friend I always use as a sounding
board. ‘Of course, it goes
on all the time’, he agrees. ‘At
say 40 upwards, most men are
rearing to go and wifey is too
busy running the home, looking
after the kids and holding
down a job. Where else would
such husband and single adventurous
men find solace but in
the arms of bored women with
money to burn and less than
their ration of sex? They (the
women) are always a delight to
be with – they scream and yell
and are grateful as hell! In
short, the man gets handsomely
compensated by making his
clients purr like a well-tuned
engine – both sides to the contract
are happy end of the credit
crunch for him and a fulfilling
sex-life for the mama kes”.
Y
OUR column to express your loving
thoughts in words to your sweetheart. Don’t
be shy. Let it flow and let him or her know how
dearly you feel. Write now in not more than 75 words
to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007,
Apapa, Lagos. E.mail: sundaylovenotes@yahoo.com
Please mark your envelope: “LOVE NOTES"
The Oceaner
Life is like a voyage in an ocean.
All around blueness inundates the farther.
An island ahead just saves the day.
I stop over for an hour’s rest…
Hours become days, then weeks,
Then months, then years, then the waters.
Love is like a tour in an ocean.
You are the island in my vast blueness,
The reason I forget I am lost.
Kingsley Alumona
kingsley.alumona@yahoo.com
08030872649
What are your plans for her?
What are the plans you have for her if you want
her be your wife?
Don't just take things for granted. If you love her,
you can just go ahead and tell her before another
person tells her and give her the attention that she
desires.Then you will find yourself to blame if you
do not take the necessary steps to win her
to your side now
Michael Adedotun Oke
maof2020@gmail.com
08027142077