One of the best Lovers Rock (reggae music subgenre) lyricist and composer, Gregory Isaacs died in London yesterday, after a battle with lung cancer at the age of 59.
His most popular song and memorable hit was Night Nurse (1982). Apart from recording artists like Dennis Brown, rapper Lady Saw recorded a remix of Night Nurse in 1996.
Isaacs was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 15 July 1951. He was rumoured to have died in 2009 but survived the 'rumours' like the title of one of his songs.
His last album, Love Songs was released in 2010. Isaacs aka the Cool Ruler was featured in Lovers Rock – Serious Selections Vol.1 (2009).
He was a famous Lovers Rock star like Freddie McGregor, late Dennis Brown, late Sugar Minott, late Louisa Marks, Janet Kay, Winston Reedy, Carroll Thompson and late Jean Adebambo etc.
Cholera: Sack the Health Minister Now!
It is appalling to keep reading and watching news of cholera outbreak in Nigeria. Why should cholera continue to spread from state to state like wild bush-fire? The Health Minister, Professor C. O. Onyebuchi Chukwu should have swung into action by now. What is he doing? It may be better to sack him since cholera has killed over 1,500 people.
Since it is an emergency, why not redeploy Professor Dora Akunyili to the Health Ministry from the Information and Communications Ministry? Akunyili should have been the Health Minister in the first place. It is a pity that Chukwu is not as ‘competent’ as his predecessor, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin. Osotimehin was up to international standards during the swine flu epidemic with adequate information and medication. Nigerians were informed before there was a record of swine flu in Nigeria. Why was Osotimehin not retained in the cabinet reshuffle?
President Goodluck Jonathan should take some of the blame, for the current cholera death rate in Nigeria. He should show more 'interest' in the cholera outbreak, apart from his Facebook explanation. After all, most Nigerians do not have access to the internet.
Jonathan is probably ‘recuperating’ from the shocking *Independent Bomb Blast (IBB) of October 1st. If I were him, I would sleep with an eye open like former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State. In fact, I would even go to bed in a bullet proof vest.
*That was what a newspaper reader and online commentator satirically called it, "Independent Bomb Blast (IBB)".
Cholera kills more than 1,500 people in Nigeria
Update: Professor Babatunde Osotimehin became the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on November 19.
Nigeria's Jet Age…
Gabriel Nderitu with his aeroplane. Photograph: Xan Rice/the Guardian
‘Using the engine of a Toyota Corolla, the wheels of a Mini, instructions downloaded from Wikipedia and a professed grasp of the lift equation, the 42-year-old IT engineer has built his own aircraft’. Gabriel Nderitu has built a collapsible propeller plane in his front yard in Kenya reports the Guardian.
Nderitu's two-seater aircraft is too small for Nigerian millionaires. The rich dream and live big without much consideration for the poor. One of the best Nigerian presidential candidates, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu revealed that 28 jets were bought by rich Nigerians in 2008/2009.
Some Nigerian children were suffering from polio in 2009. Billionaire Bill Gates went to Nigeria, paid toward oral polio vaccine in Nigeria via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the World Bank. He advanced his anti-polio campaign in 2010 while some rich and influential Nigerians continue to spend their monies on jets and frivolity.
Jets became so important that even a lawmaker bought a jet and President Goodluck Jonathan bought three new presidential jets at once. Pastors were not left out of the ‘jet age’ saga as pauperized congregations continue to increase the boom of the church industry. Some pastors were probably contesting to see who could buy better jets. Amen?
