this is a good way to tackle unemployment. Nice one.

Analysts at Renaissance Capital believe the Naira will have to be devalued again following President Muhammadu Buhari's assumption of office.

naira dollar

“Post-inauguration, we think the naira – which has essentially been pegged at N199/$1 since the mid-February devaluation – will be devalued, to reflect the $4.5bn fall in FX reserves since the February devaluation.” a report from RenCap said according to PUNCH.

Noting that a weaker naira implied a build-up of inflationary pressures, they observed, “We see inflation breaching the central bank’s inflation target band of six to nine per cent and entering double-digits in Q3 2015. This rules out any prospect of monetary easing in 2015, in our view.”

They explained that the devaluation might be smaller than the market projects (1015 per cent), because authorities seemed to be focused on medium-term fundamentals, which they expect would turn in favour of the naira, primarily through a fall in import demand – particularly of agriculture products (via continued improvement in production) and fuel imports (due to 650kb/d of fuel coming onstream from Dangote’s refinery), which account for 60 per cent of forex usage.

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Lagos (AFP) – President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as Nigeria’s new president on Friday but he will find that Nigeria has changed drastically compared to when he was at the helm more than 30 years ago.

STATS:

– People –

Nigeria’s population reached 173 million in 2014, according to the World Bank, against 100 million in 1984-1985, a growth of 73 percent over three decades.

Life expectancy at birth was 53 years in 2013, up from 46 in 1984-1985.

Infant mortality dropped by 60 percent in almost 30 years, with 76 deaths per 1000 births in 2012 against 125 in 1984-85.

The country comprises about 250 ethnic and linguistic groupings.

The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausa in the north, the Igbos in the southeast and the Yoruba in the southwest.

Muslims, who live predominantly in the north, and Christians in the south each represent about a half of the population. Animist rites are practised by a minority.

– Economy –

Oil provides 90 percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings. The country is currently the eighth exporter of oil in the world and the biggest in Africa.

It pumps about two million barrels of crude per day against 1.4 million in 1984-85 but is still reliant on imports of fuel products due to a lack of functioning refineries.

Nigeria’s natural gas reserves are the eighth biggest in the world. After years of unrest in the oil-producing Niger Delta in the south, which led to a fall in its production, oil production has increased since 2012.

Nigeria in April 2014 became the biggest economy in Africa with a revised GDP of $521.8 billion (2013), overtaking continental powerhouse South Africa.

Income per capita came to $2,710 in 2013, compared to just $400 in 1987.

The country has seen an annual growth of 7.0 percent over the past decade, making it a target for overseas investors. But most of the population lives in poverty, with vast differences in development and standards of living in the north and south.

While a part of the population has profited from development of the banking and telecommunications sectors, a majority of the population lives on less than two dollars a day.

– Electricity –

Nigeria lacks crucial infrastructure and power cuts take place on a daily basis. In 2014 electricity production was 3,000 megawatts a year, against 2,300 at the end of the 1980s, well below the population’s needs.

Last Friday, the government said production was at a record low of just 1,327 megawatts.

– History –

Before the arrival of Europeans, the region that is now Nigeria was home to various kingdoms and city-states. The appearance of European slave traders from the late 15th century had a profound effect on the region.

In the 19th century, the gradual abolition of the slave trade went hand-in-hand with increasing colonisation by Britain and the penetration of Christianity, particularly in the south.

Nigeria achieved independence from Britain in 1960.

A bid for secession in the mainly Igbo region of Biafra in the southeast led to a civil war that left about one million people dead from combat, illness and starvation between 1967 and 1970.

Nigeria’s post-independence history has been marked by six military coups but it has been ruled by civilian governments since 1999.

Recent years saw major unrest in the southern Niger Delta from militants demanding a larger share of oil revenues.

The country also suffers from periodic violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups in its central region.

The Islamist group Boko Haram has been fighting an insurgency in the northeast since 2009, which has claimed more than 15,000 lives and displaced at least 1.5 million people.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/05/30/buhari-now-and-then-nigerias-stats-that-will-blow-you-away/

Following President Muhammadu Buhari's inauguration yesterday, rumors are starting to make the rounds that cute prince Yusuf Buhari isn't really the president's son, 360Nobs says.

“Who told us that is Buhari’s son? The general didn’t introduce him to us as his son. We saw Buhari’s family picture and the so-called Yusuf is not there, so what is this argument all about.” a woman querried.

A banker said: “I never knew Buhari had a son. I was shocked when the picture appeared on twitter this morning and many people were talking about it. To me that is not fair. Why did Buhari choose to hide his son from the people he’s coming to rule? We remember that before Obama was elected president of the United States, he made his two daughters, Malia and Sasha public and the world saw them. To me the general didn’t do well if that is truly his son.”

Another said: “I have been having a serious time on twitter since morning. Nigerian ladies have been fighting over Yusuf, who is said to be Buhari’s son. Well, not until now, I never knew Buhari had a son that is this handsome. Buhari should explain to us why he hid his son from us”

The visage of the new prince of Nigeria has ripped apart the hearts of many young Nigerian women as some desire the young man for husband.

Some social media critics further accused Buhari of hiding Yusuf from the general public, saying that there was more to it than met the eye.

[img]http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/attachments/yusuf1-jpg.51266/[/img]

Dorrobucci:
Or are you ingraned with DNA of a necrophillia?

are you Delirious?

Dorrobucci:
@OP... Are you coprophilia?

Dorobucci? are you an impersophilia?

1. The inauguration ceremony will be held at the Eagle Square, Abuja, starting from 8.00am.

2. 5,000 cards have been reportedly printed for the event. Entrance is strictly by invitations.

3. A total of 50 heads of states from Sub-Sahara Africa and from across the globe are expected to witness the inauguration of the president-elect.

4. John Kerry, the US secretary of the state, will lead the American delegation.

Chinese President Xi Jumping’s special envoy, Agriculture Minister Han Changfu, will lead the delegation from China.



5. Also expected at the inauguration are President Alpha Condé of Guinea, who is already in Nigeria, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who is expected to arrive in Abuja for the inauguration on May 28, and dozens of other African leaders.

6. The outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan has promised to attend the momentous occasion.

7. The Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase, on May 27, Wednesday, has ordered policemen to deploy tight security at the Eagle Square, hotels, key and vulnerable places within the capital city ahead of the ceremony.

8. Tactical operation points are mounted on all the roads leading into and out of the FCT.

9. The Federal Road Safety Corps has deployed 23,000 personnel to the designated routes during the inauguration.

10. Over 150 patrol vehicles, 15 ambulances, 35 motorbikes and seven towing trucks have been deployed to the designated routes of Abuja as part of measures to enable whole traffic flow in the capital during the swearing-in ceremony.

11. Nigeria flags have been mounted on polls in the capital city to signify the historic day, alongside with the flags of the countries whose leaders and representatives are expected at the ceremony.


12. The Nigerian Army will fire a 21-gun salute for Buhari.

13. Iyanya, P-Square and Faze picked to perform at Buhari’s inauguration.


14. The president-elect will be sworn-in as Nigeria’s president by the Chief Justice Mahmud Mohammed.

15. Presidential state car, which will convey both the president-elect and the outgoing president during the event, was re-checked on May 28, as a part of preparations for the ceremony.

It would be recalled that Buhari, 72, received 15.42 million votes against President Jonathan during the general election held on March 28-29. Goodluck Jonathan secured 12.85 million votes.

Buhari first seized power of Nigeria in a military coup, and was in charge from 1983 to 1985. He was elected of the platform of the All Progressives Congress after three unsuccessful attempts to return to the top post in the past (2011, 2007 and 2003).

Jonathan, 57, of the Peoples Democratic Party, became the acting president in 2010, won the 2011 election, but failed to secure a win in 2015.

[img]http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/attachments/goodluck-jonathan-3-jpg.51127/[/img]

In a few hours, President Goodluck Jonathan will hand over the baton to Muhammadu Buhari. He’ll cease to be President and move into the league of former Presidents.


To some his exit from office is long overdue, to others his departure is a little too soon. Here are 5 things I know most Nigerians will miss about President Jonathan:

1. His Ijaw cap

2. Patience Jonathan

3. His weird analogies (yam and goat)

4. His tolerance

5. Blame shifting game

6. Decision to concede defeat

Add Yours

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Outgoing Governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Fashola is currently trending on Nigerian twitter as Lagosians shower him with encomiums as he leaves office tomorrow May 29th. Indeed he was an exceptional leader. See some of the kind words said about him on twitter after the cut...

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Add Yours

eagle square

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Dorrobucci:
ENJOY MY MINISTER. YOU'RE THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO NIGERIA.

more

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari tomorrow, May 29, will be inaugurated in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.

Reportedly, the Federal Secretariat almost finished all the preparations for the inauguration ceremony when Buhari would formally take over the reins of government.

The outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan, who promised to attend the inauguration, has already officially presented his handover notes to Buhari.

Check out photos of how Abuja was transformed to meet Nigeria’s new president:

goodmorning40:
He deserves some commendations. These are stuffs youths should be up to not some useless senseless trecking game

you are right!

i think the journalist trespassed. it is not everywhere that you can approach anyhow. we need to start respecting boundaries.

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Wow! Never seen a watch like that ... lovely! A very busy woman needs to know what time it is all over the world.

dude don shit for im boxers finish.

A federal High Court sitting in Bauchi presided over by Justice Muhammed Garba Umar granted an injunction to stop the auctioning of scrapped and obsolete items belonging to NITEL and MTEL valued at about N300 billion nationwide.

The order came following the court process initiated by the Nigeria Association of Pensioners through their counsel Barrister Ahmed Accanny for Baushe Chambers Bauchi.

The Association led by its National President Alhaji Kiliya Babagana and the Bauchi State chairman Abdullahi Abubakar Uba had dragged the Bureau of Public Procurement and six others to court following loopholes observations that breached the Procurement Act in an advertisement placed in the Daily Trust newspaper notifying the public of the auctioning of NITEL and MTEL.

Speaking through their counsel Barrister Accany the association said that the laid down rules which stipulated that before such items are placed for public auction six weeks’ notice had not been followed by the liquidator appointed to the scrapped and obsolete items belonging the NITEL And MTEL nationwide.

When the case came up for hearing in the court, Counsel to the defendant Barrister Tokumbo jayi Agoro argued that said in response to the motion for interim injunction served his clients have decided not to proceed with the auctioning adding that an advertisement was placed in the same paper to that effect.

The Judge justice Umar said it would be better to be cautious and give more time to the applicants who sought for it and both parties agreed to appear in court over the matter again on June 8, 2015 and asked both parties to stay execution and stopped the liquidator from auctioning the obsolete and scrappeda items of NITEL and MTEL.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Auctioneers through their council have written to the Inspector General of Police to enforce the injunction of the court restraining the liquidator from disposing the said items pending further hearing.

Worried that it has received reports that some had already been disposed in Lagos and some parts of the country, the National Chairman Alhaji Kiliya Babagana in a circular said: “This is to inform all registered members of the National Association of Auctioneers that anybody who participates in the disposing of NITEL items will punished and will lead to serious dismissal from the association.

“Remember the court order has been served to the relevant authorities for the stoppage in disposing the said items . NAA has been directed to go round and ensure strict compliance.”

Daily Sun learnt that the last minute disposal were parts of efforts by officials and their collaborators to grap items belonging to public institutions before the coming of the new government on May 29, 2015.

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=121568

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday said Nigeria could've broken up during the elections if not for the intervention he made.

“I cannot be a party to the disintegration of the country. I am quite pleased with what has happened. We have a country, the country will be more united," he said according to PUNCH.

jona buhari

“We only pray that the incoming government should appreciate the contributions of everybody and see how we can run Nigeria as a country that belongs to everybody: all citizens, irrespective of political affiliations or creeds.”

He said it was one thing to hold office, and it was another thing to be happy and be satisfied with one’s conscience.

He reinstated his position that once he leaves office, he would dedicate the remaining part of his life to issues that will bring unity and peace to the country.

He urged Nigerians to commit themselves to the strengthening of those things that can unite the country rather than things that can further divide it.
http://www.nigerianherald.com/news/nigeria-couldve-broken-up-during-2015-elections-president-jonathan

[img]http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/attachments/jona-buhari-jpg.50934/[/img]

Suspected Fulani militias on Sunday morning killed no fewer than 30 persons, including a traditional rulers in Iorza village of Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.

Logo LGA is Governor Gabriel Suswam’s council, where the suspected Fulani militants have continued to kill residents for undisclosed reasons.

The PUNCH gathered that the armed Fulani mercenaries stormed the village in the early hours of Sunday while the people were preparing to go for Sunday church services.

It was further gathered that the people killed by the attackers were mostly women, children and the aged while several others are critically injured.

An eyewitness, who simply identified himself Chigh, told our correspondent that the armed Fulani herdsmen attacked the community and shot indiscriminately.

Chigh said he and others escaped the killings by the whiskers.

He alleged that the invaders equally burnt several houses in the community.

Police Public Relations Officer for the command in the state, Austin Ezeani, confirmed the report but said four corpses had so far been recovered.

He said security had already been beefed up in the area.

Source?

okay

all these approvals. is he trying to up the cost of running the government for the incoming administration?

warri, delta state.

fuel scarce small. 120 per litre.

water don pass garri.

strain ko stress ni.

these are trying times. Nigeria needs serious prayers.

lol

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari in an interview with Daily Trust at his hometown in Daura revealed that his meetings with President Goodluck Jonathan last less than fifteen minutes.

He blames this on the refusal of the president's ministers to handover details of the situations in their ministries.

Why is it that your own meetings with President Jonathan are too short? You spent like 30 minutes.

It’s not up to 30 minutes. It’s not more than 15 minutes, except that with General Abdulsalami.

But you have so many problems to discuss…?

But I have to know what to discuss. If I’m denied the opportunity to know the problem, what do I discuss? If the ministries presented their handover notes or whatever, it is to the interim committee; the committee will be able to quickly go through it and produce a summary, which I would have been able to read.

I could have spent time with the president. But when I don’t know what is happening, what do I discuss?


[img]http://www.nigerianbulletin.com/attachments/buhari-vs-jonathan-jpg.50818/[/img]

http://.com/discussion/8460/buhari-why-my-meetings-with-jonathan-last-less-than-15-minutes#latest

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http://.com/discussion/7369/check-out-a-jss-student-s-definition-of-herbicide/p1

Most of the universities then were of new facilities; they had good classrooms, hostels; and the graduates faced little or no competitions after the university. Nigerian educational institutions were so strong then, you dare not cheat in exams etc. Today, Nigerian Universities are suffering from a reversal of fortunes. University of Ibadan, for instance, then, was amongst the best ten in Africa. The same university today is the 35th in Africa according to the current Webometrics ranking of African universities. My father’s generation never cared to sustain the quality of education they enjoyed for my generation. Today, they are the big professors of today, vice-chancellors, principals, headmasters etc. They are in charge of all sectors of our national polity. They never thought of maintaining the standard of education in these universities, secondary schools, primary schools, all of them. They never paused to wonder if my generation will enjoy the privilege of being accosted by prospective employers for jobs the same way they all got jobs the next day after graduation. Most of them today are Principals, and have their schools being used as special centres during WASSCE, NECO and JAMB exams. Most of them that work in senior positions at the bodies that administer these exams are the ones that release these question-papers through the backdoor to my own generation for financial gratification. They are the professors and lecturers that my generation sorts today to get better grades. Worst of all, they never thought of population explosion and so have no safety net to cushion its dire consequences.

They saw our value system die. They saw our set of morals die. They saw integrity got deleted from our polity. They saw the facilities they enjoyed in the universities depreciating, never to be sustained. While they went to the universities with scholarships in their days, today, we have nothing like that anymore. They saw everything got worse. They are the ones EFCC chases today. They are the ones that instituted corruption; practically taught us corruption; and saw most of our institutions die. They fuelled the decay of a lot of social services. They saw the military got corrupted. They saw the police got corrupted. They have been managing the affairs of the country for decades now. They rig elections, and ask my generation to help them carry ballot boxes. They are the ones that give my generation moneys that we share to voters at polling booths. They are the governors that do not perform today. They are the ones that now send their children who are part of my generation abroad to enjoy education of global quality, because education institutions here are pretty dead. They are the ones that boast of how many of their children they have sent abroad for quality education. They are the ones that widened the inequality gap in the country to a large degree. They are the ones that have fuelled the establishment of private universities as they watched the public ones die. Today, these public schools are so dead, that they are basically for the poor people, and one cannot rely on the low quality of education that Nigerians get in most of them. Even with the enormous school fees paid in those private schools, the quality of education delivered there cannot be compared to what my father’s generation obtained at the public schools of their days.

In the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, they were the military dictators that fuelled corruption, nepotism and tribalism. They inherited a young country and never made the best of it. The ones that were not within the circle of the military dictators were watching arms akimbo, while their very mates were messing up the country. They never bothered about National Unity. They fuelled tribalism, and practically made religious schism State’s policy. They championed ethnicity rather than to build a nation, and then taught us to hate each other based on our ethnicity and religion. They are the senators that write recommendation letters for my generation to get jobs in federal government establishments as nothing is by merit any longer – a deplorable development they encouraged. They are the very ones that give us moneys to pay to get jobs in federal government establishments. They are the ones that never really protested for anything in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s against the military dictators or showed sufficient resistance that would have prevented the military dictators from running the country the way they did. They are still the ones that tell us not to protest against the government.

While I am not trying to defend my generation, I really wish that the root of the systematic damage of the psyche of my generation should be properly examined. Who started voting along ethnic and religious lines? Who is in charge of INEC, Police Force, etc? My father’s generation. In reality, my generation has suffered because of the failure of my father’s generation. Our dreams are dying. We have no hope for the future. We are witnessing a country at the worst of her times. We are being subjected to even things you can call human experimentation just to get jobs. We are the ones that stay for years at home because there are no jobs while they treat us to tales of how the Naira used to have a very high value, how things were so cheap, and how they just started working after the university and started families immediately with adequate finances and basic necessities. Today, the Naira has been so devalued, with high cost of living, to the extent that my generation has seen young Nigerians that worked for years and cannot even start a family, can’t pay a bride price. These young Nigerians can neither pay rents nor afford basic necessities. Further, because of terrible pays, unemployment swells. Perhaps, we may also inquire as to the identity of the generation who devalued the Naira? Who watched things get extremely costly, unlike during their days when things were cheap? We are the ones that write five tests and go for series of interviews to get a 50,000 Naira job because of galloping unemployment, while someone of my father’s generation had already made his list, full of relations and friends’ children, to put in jobs. We are the ones that are facing a highly competitive polity, with a highly hostile environment to start anything. My generation is paying the price of a damaged society, a neglected society, neglected by my father’s generation. We are the ones everyone is asking to embrace entrepreneurship, while they graduated with companies and institutions knocking on their doors for employment. We are the ones that live nine-in-a-room in university hostels while the females among us are subjected to sexual assaults by them to get good grades in the universities. We are the ones that are suffering in a society where you hardly get anything done by merit. During their time, most of them who came from very poor backgrounds only just had to be intelligent and hardworking for things to get better for them. But this is not so anymore in this society that they have left for us. Now, it is all about who you know and corruption. By the way, who even started who-you-know?

My father’s generation was a very selfish one. They failed to lead by example. My generation has only mostly rogues to look up to. They never planned for us. And never mentored anyone positively. And they failed in a lot of respects when compared with their mates in other countries, especially outside Africa. They could not build sufficient infrastructures when there was a boom in oil revenue which are sine qua non for favourable economic environment. Yet, it was during this period that a former head of state, a member of my father’s generation, infamously declared that Nigeria’s problem was not money, but what to do with the money. Today, after he had failed to make the most out of the abundance in his days, he now traverses the length and breadth of the nation praying for divine intervention. Thus, we can say with an assured measure of confidence that my father’s generation also failed socio-economic wise. They saw everything deteriorate, while they inherited everything, brand new, good and fine. They never demanded anything from the government. They never wanted change. They are the ones that tell us how beautiful London is but never worked on any city in Nigeria to be that beautiful. My father’s generation failed in everything, from governance to administration. They never sustained social goods. And while they criticise my generation, they should look at what they are about leaving us with.

It took me time to decide finally to write this. Courage was needed to embark on this self-imposed assignment. This is because, while I thought very deeply inside of me that this should be written, I was also considering that I should not make some people feel really bad. But, then, this has to be written. And my reference to my father’s generation, for clarity sake, is a reference to Nigerians that were born in the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s. My father’s generation also comprises those Nigerians that were still pretty young or mostly in the universities or just joined the civil service in the 1960s (when most African nations got their independence), and suffered the Nigerian Civil War; the ’70s; the ’80s; and, therefore, definitely inherited a very young Nigeria. I am referring to the generation that started managing the country’s affairs since the late ’70s and has done so for decades. I am referring to the generation that is still currently handling the affairs of the country: the president, ministers, permanent secretaries, governors, senators, commissioners, House of Representatives members; retired and about to retire civil servants, judges, big business men, top shots in the army police, navy, custom etc. The generation that has started fading away; retiring from the civil service, military, businesses, superior and inferior courts of record and other aspects of our national life. Conversely, for clarity sake also, my reference to my own generation is a reference to Nigerians that were born in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s for now.

This exposition is necessary primarily because a generation prepares an enabling environment for the generation succeeding it, as obtained in most developed countries. These developed countries epitomise a functional society where there are public goods: functioning hospitals, schools, roads, and metro stations; with 95% of the population having access to food, shelter; with low inequality gap, great standard of living, strong working class etc. Such developed countries are also characterised by a responsive police force, where you call the police and within minutes, the police is knocking on your door. The policemen in these countries know everyone on the street, and can address everyone on this same street by their first names.

Though I see a serious lack of faith in my own generation, and harbour the suspicion that my own generation may be worse in managing the affairs of Nigeria, I seriously think that my father’s generation caused it, which you will have cause to believe too as we further explore this topic. Already, my own generation has started showing traces of pre-failure: a highly money-conscious and materialistic generation; a generation where someone leaves the university today and wants to own cars, houses, and all the modern gadgets within a year; a generation of showing off, and with little or no patience to grow in a responsible career; a generation afflicted by the worst side of corruption; a generation with apathetic attitude to academic excellence, exposed to low quality education characteristic of the Nigerian education sector with graduates that cannot speak good English as its regrettable products; a generation that graduates from the universities by sorting-bribing lecturers; a generation that browses answers with telephones during exams; a generation that depends on question-paper leaks to be able to pass West African Senior School Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), National Examination Council (NECO), Joint Admission and Matriculation Body (JAMB) exams etc; a generation of exam malpractices across all levels of education; a generation that wants to make quick money as soon as possible through any available means whether such means be by crook or by hook; a generation of a good percentage of school dropouts, all pursuing careers in the music industry, as a gateway to instant financial freedom and yet never sang anything meaningful; a generation of young men wearing dreadlocks, earrings, with funny guitars, sagged trousers and all manner of chains which they call “bling” hanging around their necks; a generation that is marked by eroded values, integrity, and morals with sex as the order of the day. A generation where the National Association of Nigerian Students’ leaders do not have any cause that they are pursuing, never criticise the government or demonstrate, except to follow politicians up and down for financial gains.

Every father that I have met criticises my generation, affirming that there is no hope in us. But the truth remains that every problem has a root; and this root, unchecked, developed into the socio-cultural malaise pervading the country today. Few of us have bothered to ascertain the origin of this trouble. I have therefore taken it as a burning passion to focus on the cause of the problem while looking at the problem. This is what I called a holistic approach. I am not trying to defend my generation. Hell No! What I have set out to do is to present my case. This is because while it is convenient for my father’s generation to blame my generation, it is also incumbent on my generation, especially those impassioned members of my generation who share the same ideals and values with me, to remind my father’s generation of their legacy of profligacy which has landed Nigeria into the very state in which they leave us.

My father’s generation suffered a disastrous war, and saw death of loved ones and friends. Wars have deep psychological effects on the people. While most of them participated in the war either as adults or child-soldiers, others were too young, or, even, babies, and bore the brunt of the war as its unfortunate victims. This bloody war affected mostly people of the South Eastern Nigeria. I must respect their courage at that time and how they were able to pick up after that and, indeed, recover within an impressively short time, especially, after their wealth was decimated and they were handed a paltry twenty pounds by the Government of the Federation of Nigeria no matter the amount standing to the credit of the Igbo holder of the account. The story of a typical South-Easterner is a story of inspiration and courage in the midst of adverse circumstances. One of my grouses with my father’s generation is that they have failed, either by default or design, to teach my generation about the Nigerian Civil War sufficiently. No effort has been made to incorporate the War in educational curriculums so that my generation can learn what actually happened, its remote and immediate causes, the effects of the war; and how to prevent same from recurring. Instead, the War is covered with a blanket. A recent example of the authoritarian muting of the lessons of the War is the initial refusal of the Nigerian Film and Video Censor Board to approve the viewing of the screen adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s novel “Half of a Yellow Sun” in Nigeria. In Europe, people still visit major sites of WWI to lay wreaths etc. Remembrance Days are still observed. But, in Nigeria, my father’s generation made no such plans.

They did well, though, in the evolution of meaningful highlife music which is still the best form of music that Nigeria can offer. Their generation saw dedicated and responsible highlife musicians. They had a lot of great souls that the country might never have again who sang about a wide range of issues: Rex Jim Lawson. Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Sir Victor Uwaifo, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, Dr. Victor Olaiya, King Sunny Ade, Sunny Okosun etc.

My father’s generation went to the universities in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. They got education of a superlative quality. They were educated when Nigeria’s value system and set of morals had not gone to the dogs or thrown out of the window. Those were the days when you dare not bribe a Headmaster. Most of them went to the universities with scholarships, with every single thing paid for. My generation is regaled by my father’s generation to the point of ennui of how their daily meals in the hostels were all of eggs and chicken parts and how their laundries were done by members of staff specially appointed for that particular assignment. It is an indictment on my father’s generation’s lack of foresight that the first students’ riot in the history of Nigerian university system was in the 1970s over a matter as mundane as the reduction of chicken ration in their meals. My father’s generation never sorted any lecturer; and they were taught by qualified, sometimes expatriate, other times foreign-trained Nigerian lecturers who were passionate about lecturing. My father’s peers had options of where to work immediately after their studies. Most of them were besieged by companies on their graduation days, wooing them to come and work for them. Most had up to five choices of where to work.

http://.com/discussion/6959/opinion-my-father-s-generation-failed-my-generation/p1

cramjones is musiwa when he is on his drugs.