.

ono: @james_ibor,
That's the ''class'' distinction and ''degree'' thing the British expat explained from the start of his article. It's not like the corruption plague is not rampant in other places of the world. But the one in Nigeria is UNIQUE. It's a SPECIAL kind, and like X-Imhotep rightly pointed out, it's in OUR genetic make up. Corruption par excellence. The classless type where a PhD holder, if allowed to rule the country, will not do anything different from what a street urchin will do.

I have seen that many folks on this board can read articles, and reading they sure do very well - like my little 6-year old girl. But when it comes to comprehension, it's a different kettle of fish altogether. Many Nigerian ''readers'' can hardly comprehend what's been read. It has degenerated to that level. Yes. So so sad.

[b]WHat i enjoy in this article is how he hits the nail on the head in exposing the continuous rot of every strata,every level, every sector of the Nigerian persona and his society, we are a different bunch, even though what happens here is peculiar to other Nations, the propensity,the zealousness and the craftiness in which it is exhibited in Nigeria is ludicrous and mind boggling to say the least and it seems its an irredeemable situation considering that is a top bottom problem..almost hopelessly unsolvable and is one of the reasons why even the unchangeable few are beginning to change. At times i feel the only thing is to sit and watch cause inasmuch as we inertly want to drag ourselves into this self consciousness and treat the next man of this disease, he sooner than later infects us and renders our 'drugs' useless to ourselves or him. Nigeria is lost and i have given up on her..no wonder the calls for a separation into smaller governable entities and not this false lie we call 'NIGERIA'.

ooseven: Latest Topic: "Firm introduces refined Garri"....imagine that!!

haha when dealing with fools apply a fools approach

BoboYekini: vile name calling? Someone outrightly lies and scoffs at such magnitude of suffering in the streets, tell me what greater evil is there? It quacks and waddles like a duck, ergo it is a duck.
Sometimes I think that the 'tiny' middle class are the most viciously evil group in Nigeria. I have seen countless cases where 'the rich middle class managers move against company drivers receiving benefits totaling $10( N1500) per week'. How many pay this same drivers N30,000 monthly, not because that is all they can afford, or because that is even a fair wage at all, but because they feel that is the maximum this 'inferior' drivers should get. Afterall the minimum wage is set at N18,000.
A country where being kind and good and honest is something to be ashamed of.

my brother...what we have here is not even worthy of the name wickedness..evil doesn't even nearly describe it enough and what hurts is the 'eye for an eye' approach that some of these people at the receiving end exhibit when they eventually get up there and to think that we are so much a religious crop yet our ever growing religion institutions cannot stop people from exhibiting such crass discipline and monkey like behaviours that has rightly branded us as monkeys as our brothers over the Mediterranean see us as. i pity Nigerian, I pity her Future if she has one. sometimes it pains me why we all including i are so chicken hearted and lilly livered that no one wants to bell the cat. we all wanna live and in Nigerian only fools live!

.

ooseven: Latest Topic: "Firm introduces refined Garri"....imagine that!!

LMAOOOOO.....Friday comedy central.


Frawzey

james_ibor: The corruption, theft, and graft can take many forms: falsifying a CV (I don’t mean enhancing, I mean pretending you’re a Lead Piping Engineer of 12 years experience when actually, until yesterday, you were a fisherman); selling positions in a company; stealing diesel from the storage tanks you’re paid to protect; issuance of false material certificates; impersonating an immigration officer to access an office, from which you then tap up the people within to fund your latest venture; selling land which isn’t yours; deliberately running down the country’s refining capacity in order to partake in the lucrative import of fuels; falsifying delivery notes of said refined fuels in order to receive greater government subsidies; deliberately restricting the country’s power generation capacity in order to benefit from the importation of generators (which must be run on imported fuel); theft of half-eaten sandwiches and opened drink containers from the office fridge; tinkering with fuel gauges at petrol stations to sell customers short; conspiring with company drivers to issue false receipts indicating more fuel was supplied than actually was; supplying counterfeit safety equipment; falsifying certificates related to professional competence (e.g. rope access work); paying employees less than stipulated in their contract (or not at all); cloning satellite TV cards, meaning the legitimate user gets their service cut off when the other card is in use (the cards are cloned by the same people who issue the genuine cards); the list is literally endless.  There is no beginning or end to corruption in Nigeria, it is a permanent fixture.

Nepotism is rife: family members are employed and promoted before anyone else.  Outright theft is rife: from a pen lying on a desk, to billions from the state coffers. Dishonesty is rife: from the state governors to the street urchin, lying to enrich yourself is the norm.  You name the scam, it is being done in Nigeria.  Eventually, nothing surprises you.

As I said before, you’ll find such practices everywhere, but to nowhere near the extent found in Nigeria.

hmnnn...na wa o. So, oyinbo people dey see these things too?

There is a culture so prevalent that it is a defining characteristic of Nigeria whereby no amount is ever enough, and no sum too small to be pilfered.

This reminds me of a pastor asking for those who can donate 1 billion naira to see his secretary....and everyone else, those who can donate 100 naira as well, to give towards the building of a humongous 3km by 3km auditorium.

From 1 billion naira to 100 naira - no amount is too small to be pilfered. It seems there's some kind of parallel relation between the Pentecostal church style of ''giving'' and the ''pilfering'' we see in every sphere of our national life. Pity.

ooseven: Religion is the Opium of the masses.

It keeps them fixated on a better tomorrow while their futures are being pilfered today by those in whom they trust.

OR

Or it helps clear the conscience of those stealing from the masses and the gullible...come to think of it, i think this was alluded to in this write up.

Denial dey say is d first stage of insanity and acceptance Is d last. Let everyone who likes defend d indefensible, its obvious to an unbiased mind dat Nigeria suffers of a peculiar and myopic levels of corruption; vertically, horizontally and systematically....D religion aspect was more exhilarating; d oyinbos understands us better; a nigerian will rada marry a fool of d same religion dan marry a sage of an opposite religion; wrap and cover everytin wit religion and superstition. Likewise, we are always quick to condemn atheists and pagans, we r indeed God's Chosen....

Wher are d laptop dogs, I expected sane reactions from deir trainees who already commented?

Maybe a couple more requests to : www.nairaland.com/938835/lets-complaints-suggestions-enquiries-here/195#17620981 would get this thread pushed to frontpage eventually.

Rossikk: A lot of what the guy says is wrong, such as that peoples' lives have not improved since the military, and that democracy has delivered no dividends etc etc. Typical shallow analysis by a person who's never lived in Nigeria, but is just a visitor who now thinks he knows everything.

Why don't you tell us how the lives of Nigerians have increased and how it's different from the widespread fleecing that the writer alluded to.

I agree with the author 99%.

Afam4eva:
Why don't you tell us how the lives of Nigerians have increased and how it's different from the widespread fleecing that the writer alluded to.

I agree with the author 99%.

And why is it not on the front page?

I agree with you....but I disagree on the 'you and Nigeria women' part
u clearly were being economical with d truth.
No one wouldn't want to come back after a taste of that pudding...

ono:

This reminds me of a pastor asking for those who can donate 1 billion naira to see his secretary....and everyone else, those who can donate 100 naira as well, to give towards the building of a humongous 3km by 3km auditorium.

From 1 billion naira to 100 naira - no amount is too small to be pilfered. It seems there's some kind of parallel relation between the Pentecostal church style of ''giving'' and the ''pilfering'' we see in every sphere of our national life. Pity.

.

There is actually a symbiotic relationship between the Pentecostal church style of 'giving' and the ''pilfering''( and ''fraud'').

The depth of the writer's understanding of the Nigerian situation is mind boggling. The absolute truth.

Nigerians especially the youth have a demented sense of self entitlement.

I agree with most of the things the guy observed and wrote about but after all said, what are the solutions to these myriad of problems or are we going to continue with it till the end of time? To me, this is the crux of the matter.

desgiezd: I agree with most of the things the guy observed and wrote about but after all said, what are the solutions to these myriad of problems or are we going to continue with it till the end of time? To me, this is the crux of the matter.

can a frog give birth to a lion cub?

No.

The bad leaders are a product of a bad society. And as they continue their misrule, society slips closer to the edge and as such future generations become more embolden to corruption and vice as a way of life.

The situation can only come from home. The average Nigerian is reared like an animal and unleashed into the surronding jungle to prey on the weak.

desgiezd: I agree with most of the things the guy observed and wrote about but after all said, what are the solutions to these myriad of problems or are we going to continue with it till the end of time? To me, this is the crux of the matter.

You and I have been here long enough, desgiezd. Since we both joined this forum (05&06), have you seen anything written like this about Nigeria from a foreigner?

As per solutions, I'm all eyes I am waiting for people to write something different from the killings and bloodshed that will follow the systematic elimination of people feeding from the rot that's Nigeria at the moment. I noticed that at some point, the writer implied that there's no way out for us - as far as he knows. Perhaps we Nigerians can be sincere enough for once in our life and call a spade a spade, accept that we have problems bedeviling us. That's the first part, then we can now move forward to other steps.

Jakumo, please, I need you here. I will like to read your response to this burning ''report'' on Naija.

I can't agree more with the writer of the article. His description of the unimaginable high level of corruption and pilfering on virtually all strata of life in Nigeria is so vivid and 'tangible' one can almost reach out and touch it! I agree with him all the way!

The Nigerian Experience. I have lived it. And I ain't living it again. Sorry I don't have 'connections'.
Nigerians in Nigeria think it's patriotic to defend evil. Debating with these types is like pouring water into a basket. I have washed my hands off them. These 'patriotic' Nigerians are the real enemies of Nigeria. Only a thief, a crooked and indecent fellow would prefer to live in denial that there is not an evil spirit in the form of humans hovering in that nation. And that evil spirit even follows you out of the country. That is why you are the butt of many jokes and crime outside the country. Most congratulate themselves they are the loudest and arrogant bunch among Africans. Nigeria isn't as poor as some African countries, but still we come first in crime. A Nigerian child today would be born into bribery and corruption, insecurity and chaos, strife, lack of social amenities and infrastructure, loud and uncouth personalities and sycophants, politics of the select thieving few and their numerous worshippers, same way I was born into it in the 80's. So nothing has changed.

luvmijeje:
Hopeless country? He is still coming back to the same hopeless country in 3 months time to do bussiness.
We all knew our biggest problem is corruption. Majority of what he wrote is not news. I can even do better by summarising the issues he listed- LACK OF POLITICAL WILL BY THE CITIZENS AND RULING CLASS TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
The issue I have with this write-up, is him making it a statement of fact that Nigerians prefer military rule. For christ sake the guy didn't see anything good about this country. The one he wrote seem patronising.
Mod, pls don't take it to fp, we don't need more of them reading it and turning expert over-night on issues concerning Nigerians.

Well, granted that all most everything he stated are not new to us but a constant reminder such as these may bring about a sense of awakening. You can't entirely fault him, he just stated the obvious.

Nigeria needs drastic help!
People attribute the police demanding for bribe to the government's inability to pay them well. That if they are paid well they wouldn't collect bribes. So I ask what's our leaders excuse in collecting bribes, cos our leaders are paid handsomely, beautifully and gorgeously? The answer lies in this...

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.

Thank you Tim.

@Stillwater,
You brought out one of the main points in that write up. Bullseye!

ooseven: Ordinarily this sort of topic requires 3 actions:

Read - reflect - act.

I got this message years back and I :

Listened - reflected - jetted out.

....best decision I ever made.


Why: THEY are more than US. Even on Nairaland (microcosm of Nigeria). I can see sycophants already crawling out of the woodwork.

you're not serious, how much did it cost you to jet out? truly poor people can just jet out, you're more like a sellout!

Afam4eva:
Why don't you tell us how the lives of Nigerians have improved and how it's different from the widespread fleecing that the writer alluded to.

I agree with the author 99%.

First off, I'll briefly mention the grand and unprecedented infrastructural improvements and upgrades across the board, at both federal and state levels, in rail, road, air, and power, in recent years, which many have attested to by various revealing posts and threads on this very forum.

Second, a few statistics from reputable sources:

Around 10 million Nigerians moved into the middle-income bracket, meaning they could buy more than just necessities, in the past five years, according to an estimate by London-based private-equity firm Actis LLP.


http://tradeflow21.com/2011/02/11/around-10-million-nigerians-moved-into-the-middle-income-bracket-in-the-past-5-years/


From the UNICEF site: Basic indicators


Nigeria Under 5 mortality rate (out of 1000)

1990 - 216
2011 - 126


Infant mortality rate (under 1), 1990
127


Infant mortality rate (under 1), 2011
78



Under-5 mortality rate, , 1970
259

Under-5 mortality rate, , 1990
214

Under-5 mortality rate, , 2000
188

Under-5 mortality rate, , 2011
124


Annual rate of reduction (%) Under-5 mortality rate, 1970-1990
1

Annual rate of reduction (%) Under-5 mortality rate, 1990-2000
1

Annual rate of reduction (%) Under-5 mortality rate, 2000-2011
4



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


...........................





I know that educated statistics from credible research agencies like the UNICEF makes for ''boring news'' which few have the intelligence and/or patience to seek out, against the widespread ''stand in my verandah and tell that nothing has changed'' mentality of many folks, including the ignorant oyibo writer.

Fact is if you depend on your 'verandah positioning' to determine the progress the nation is making, you will reach your grave believing nothing has changed, and what a waste of a life that would be.

@Op,u would have told us we are in for a marathon.I read,slept off,woked up to continue but decided to scroll down to see d lenght of d remainder but amazingly realised that i have not gone halfway.
Then i paused to ask myself if the stress is worth it - then came to a conclusion that it dosen't especially when it is coming from a foreigner who with due respect knows scarcely about Nigeria and Nigerians.
I rest my case.

.

laykhorn: If a car tumbled and tumbled and tumbled and tumbled and tumbled before finally coming to halt with the stopper of a tree, its not for the lucky watching grasscutter to say.

Nigeria is a failed state but not from the mouth of a BRITON. Nigeria is a poo of a country today because your dickheaded fathers and Grandfathers shi.t in it. They turned a nice place into a toilet.

Go and flush your dead self down a toilet you rotten, wasted entity.

Here's some REAL news pertaining to Nigeria. News that can help you, as opposed to rotten garbage from people who, like pigs in a sty, revel solely in negatives.


Did you know that the Nigerian economy is becoming so diversified away from oil that the telecoms industry in Nigeria is said to be worth $30 billion?






‘Nigeria’s telecoms sector generates $9.3b revenue in 2012’


A NEW report released by United States of America’s based research firm, Pyramid Research, has disclosed that Nigeria earned $9.3 billion (N1.5 trillion) from various telecommunications services and investments in 2012.

The report, which projected more growth for the sector, identified massive growth and opportunities in the country, presenting a window to attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).

According to the study, with a five-year projection into the country’s telecommunications sector, stressed that the fast pace of growth and large population exceeding 170.1 million will continue to make Nigeria one of the most attractive markets in Africa and the Middle East.

Indeed, the Nigeria’s telecoms revolution, which clocks 12 years this month, can confidently boast of various investments to the tune of over $30 billion. The sector moved from a meager of about 400, 000 telephone lines in 2000 to over 120 million active and 181 million connected lines respectively as at June 2013.

Interestingly, Pyramid Research, which has its headquarters in Massachusetts, USA, disclosed that the demand profile in the country for both voice and data service is high and by far, the largest in Africa.

The report further disclosed that Nigeria finished 2012 with 112.8 million subscribers, ahead of Egypt's 95.5 million and South Africa's 71.8 million.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/business-news/130474-nigerias-telecoms-sector-generates-93b-revenue-in-2012


This is the sort of news educated Nigerians should be dwelling on, or else their education is a monumental waste. If you would rather read 3rd rate, negative, pedestrian, one-size fits all drivel from some sniffy, visiting English twerp than engage in your nation's economy and future, then don't blame anyone for being left out of 'the system', or blame 'corruption' when you're left carrying the can.