Maxymilliano: Nigeria is not corrupt, Nigerians are.

Nigeria is not dirty, Nigerians are.

Nigeria is not cruel, Nigerians are.

Nigeria is not hopeless, Nigerians are.

Nigeria is not tribalistic, Nigerians are.

It is just so unfair for us to expect Nigeria to change without Nigerians changing

... Pastor Sam Adeyemi

Rossikk:

Thank you. So because we have not turned to Japan or Germany, it means we've made no progress? For your information on many things you mentioned we have improved, such as infant mortality rates, poverty rates, and even access to clean drinking water. Evidence:

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/nigeria_statistics.html

Even the World Bank the other day admitted that poverty was reducing in Nigeria. What about the roads and rail? What about communications? Was it not under the military that all the infrastructure crumbled, something we're now fixing to great acclaim by Nigerians? Will your foreign visitor/writer know any of this? Afterall he just pops in and out and can write anything.

BoboYekini: poverty rates have not improved, you beast. They are much worse and staring us all right in the face. What is wrong with you?!

luvmijeje: Cry me an ocean! The guy just sat down in a place and started analyzing rubbish! Oyinbo, I don't believe you added anything as you wrote but I don't blame you if not for those that sees you guyz as mini gods at our expense.

Obi1kenobi:

Why would he cry you an ocean? He comes from a first world, industrialized nation and has a high powered career travelling round the world. Who should care more: you living in denial or him telling you what every rational person that isn't deluded knows about your utterly hopeless country?

ba7man: If there was a way this post could be summarized without affecting the key message, it deserves to be on FP. All Nigerians need to read this.

This is a neutral point of view and its also the truth. The truth is always bitter but its acceptance leads to improvement.

james_ibor: Summarising it will not only make the article less interesting but also take away some salient points and messages. Every paragraph seem to carry a specific message.

ono:

Indeed bro, indeed. I have taken the pains to read the write up about 3 times now. Every time I read it, I get new information about Naija again. Kai! This is serious.

BoboYekini: poverty rates have not improved, you beast. They are much worse and staring us all right in the face. What is wrong with you?!

Kamanda: Naija is DOOMED

Obi1kenobi:

Why would he cry you an ocean? He comes from a first world, industrialized nation and has a high powered career travelling round the world. Who should care more: you living in denial or him telling you what every rational person that isn't deluded knows about your utterly hopeless country?

I came to the conclusion about 2 years into my assignment that Nigeria is probably the only genuinely classless society I have seen. Class is very different from wealth. Upper class people can be dirt poor (bankrupt dukes) and lower class people can be fabulously rich (Russian oligarchs). Class is about behaviour and attitudes, not wealth (a point made very well in Kate Fox’s excellent book Watching the English). And insofar as behaviour goes, I didn’t see a shred of difference between the top politicians, down through the officials in the national authorities, through the middle class professionals, through the service providers, right down to the area boys. The behaviour was identical across all strata: I want more money, and I will do absolutely anything to get it. If you were to replace the politicians – let’s say our 109 senators from before – with 109 random people from the Nigerian citizenry, you would get no change in behaviour. You could repeat the experiment a thousand times, and you would get no change. There is no ruling class in Nigeria, there is just a set of rulers. Where any change is expected to come from I don’t know.

Obi1kenobi:

Why would he cry you an ocean? He comes from a first world, industrialized nation and has a high powered career travelling round the world. Who should care more: you living in denial or him telling you what every rational person that isn't deluded knows about your utterly hopeless country?

BoboYekini: poverty rates have not improved, you beast. They are much worse and staring us all right in the face. What is wrong with you?!

james_ibor: If yours haven't improved, pele! Most people I know have had improvements in their standard of living.

bankoleben: 'Our leaders are selfish!' 'We only have self-serving Governors'. 'The President is corrupt!' How many times have you heard those statements from Nigerians? We are quick to put blames solely on the leaders. We blame everyone else but us for our misfortune. It's them when things go wrong. We seem comfortable living in denial. We pretend to be blind to the foundational truth of the causes of bad governance we have in our society today.

The bitter truth everyone seems to be running away from is that the leaders we have today are just the true reflection of the Nigerian state. The difference? They have only gotten a bigger platform, a higher office to do what what most Nigerians would do - use every paraphernalia of public office to pursue selfish interest. Isn't it funny that the same set of people - head teachers and Principals that have mismanaged their school resources, student leaders who have sold out their conscience on the altar of Mammon, leaders of small groups who have not been accountable for the little committed to their hands - all complain about bad leaders, when in fact, they could be worse if they lay their hands on higher offices. We have too numerous pretenders these days, masquerading as democrats.

Where are the Labaran Makus of yesteryears? Or shall we ask of the outspoken Reuben Abatis of not too long ago? We all know the stories. Just make your voice heard, and when the opportunities come, you grab them. Is that not what we have around us today?

A lot has been said about corruption in Nigeria and what it has degenerated to. Our President recently claimed that the issue of corruption is exaggerated. In my opinion, I think it is much worse than we think. Many years ago, towards the end of the military era of the 1990s, I had a conversation with one of my childhood friends that I still remember vividly till date. We were primary school kids playing around one evening in my village when the issue of governance popped up. We all agreed that the leaders of that time were 'bad', and to an innocent kid, bad is bad. But then, my friend asked if I wouldn't 'swallow money' (a direct translation of what he said in Yoruba) if I occupied such position. My response was simple and straight forward: No way! I was however startled with what he said afterwards. He said he would 'swallow money'. That's how low our fatherland has fallen! The seed of corruption has long been planted in our hearts and entrenched in our culture, and now it has matured and producing fruits in multiple folds.

Everyone is part of this problem. When somebody gets into a public office his family and friends expect him to build bigger houses and acquire new cars. He is termed stupid if he doesn't. And the same people who mount such pressure on them to steal complain about bad governance.

We are in a fix and urgently need a way out. Do we go for a revolution? Well, Rotimi Amaechi said the other day that Nigerians are not ready for a revolution, and I can't agree more. Revolution in Nigeria - as we have it today - will only succeed in removing a set of corrupt leaders and enthroning a new set of corrupt, perhaps more brutal leaders. We need a change, but that change must start in the hearts of individuals. When that is done, even the most brutal and corrupt leaders would find no hiding place among us. Anything short of this, a million revolutions would change nothing. A vivid example of this is Egypt. They wanted a change, they wanted freedom, but what did they get after sending Mubarak away? A new set of leaders that are even more dictatorial and restrictive than the previous administration. We must not commit the same mistake. There are many people who are only interested in using the masses to meet their selfish interest.

Are our leaders corrupt? Certainly! And so are many of us. Until individuals, who are the constituents of the larger society change nothing changes. Our destiny is in our own hand. Each time we vote based on sentiments or don't ask the right questions, we demonstrate our approval for such inept leadership. We are our own problem, and only we can solve it. The ball is, and has always been in our court!

ba7man: If there was a way this post could be summarized without affecting the key message, it deserves to be on FP. All Nigerians need to read this.
This is a neutral point of view and its also the truth. The truth is always bitter but its acceptance leads to improvement.

ono: Why on earth is this not in the front page yet?? EVERY living Nigerian on planet earth MUST read this article urgently!