I watch the news every day and each day there's a new complaint about the state of certain things in the country. After each round of the complaints, the complainer usually makes recommendations. And the recommendations usually start along these lines;

"Government  should, "
"Government has to, "
"Government must, "

My question is, why must government do everything? Why must government be the total solution to all the problems we have in this country? Aren't there solutions we can plan and execute on our own, for our own good? So many of us have accepted that Nigeria's successive governments are largely inept and that waiting for government to do certain things is like waiting for saturn to come to earth, i.e not happening. Why then do we keep including government to every solution we have to problems we face in this country. Surely there are solutions that don't involve government, or at least not too much?

NO, people need to take responsibility. there is as much corruption at the bottom as there is at the top.

i admit that our leaders do need to change, but what about we the people? it's not as if we are not partially at fault for where Nigeria is now and we are not part and parcel of the semicfailed system called Nigeria.

senbonzakura_kageyoshi:

I watch the news every day and each day there's a new complaint about the state of certain things in the country. After each round of the complaints, the complainer usually makes recommendations. And the recommendations usually start along these lines;

"Government  should, "
"Government has to, "
"Government must, "

My question is, why must government do everything? Why must government be the total solution to all the problems we have in this country? Aren't there solutions we can plan and execute on our own, for our own good? So many of us have accepted that Nigeria's successive governments are largely inept and that waiting for government to do certain things is like waiting for saturn to come to earth, i.e not happening. Why then do we keep including government to every solution we have to problems we face in this country. Surely there are solutions that don't involve government, or at least not too much?

Before you start braying, it's only fair that you tell us what the people were complaining about. If it concerns Power, roads and healthcare, it's only natural that 99% of the blame must lie on the Government.

YES, everything that enable people to make something out of nothing.

Enabling environment
Good road
Constant (not stable) power supply
Sound health care system

You know the rest, just add to the list.

@poster, I like your thinking!! I think we share the same philosophy on this issue.
I have observed that much of what we expect of Government, we as citizens actually have the capacity to solve by ourselves. All it takes is a different kind of thinking. A thinking that focuses more on the community and less on ourselves.

There is a non governmental solution to virtually all the problems we face in this country be it Power Sector, Agriculture, Security and the likes. We just need to rearrange our thoughts to see possibilities.

I see every existing problem as a potential opportunity. If we can create a solution to an existent problem, we would benefit financially from that problem.

The only hindrace to our ability to solve many of our problems is our inability to come together and create synergies!

I did research sometime ago and came out with a solution I termed Private Governance. In that research I realized the importance of Social Entrepreneurship in futhering the development of our society without much input from government.

senbonzakura_kageyoshi:

Aren't there solutions we can plan and execute on our own, for our own good?

OK . . can you give us a an idea of what solutions you believe we can plan and execute all on our own?

senbonzakura_kageyoshi:

Why then do we keep including government to every solution we have to problems we face in this country. Surely there are solutions that don't involve government, or at least not too much?

Right off the top of my head, I would say that people include Government because unlike other societies where there is near true freedom, Government in Nigeria still has in place lots of policies that hinder people's chances to a great extent.

But again, back to you, what solutions do you think we can implement all on our own?

texazzpete:

Before you start braying, it's only fair that you tell us what the people were complaining about. If it concerns Power, roads and healthcare, it's only natural that 99% of the blame must lie on the Government.

Agreed. FG refuses to privatize these things, sabotages those who try to come up with their own solutions (Tinubu's Enron/AES Barge being a good example), and doesn't maintain what it owns (Lagos-Ibadan expressway.)

So a bit unrealistic to suggest "People should do X instead of the government" if government will impede you from coming up with a solution yourself.