It is irresponsibility in Nigeria or elsewhere when a citizen shows little or no respect to their president, especially if the president has not shown himself or herself unworthy of respect. If you do not like or respect the person, you should respect the office. There are ways to disagree with a person without using vitriolic words.

It is also shameful, to say the least, that people who tout "freedom of speech" appear to know little about what the phrase means. Freedom of speech is not tantamount to saying everything that drops into your mind. I will take umbrage with anyone any day who shows disrespect to the presidency. If we do not respect ourselves none will.

Further, to excuse foul and abusive language simply because this is an internet setting is inexcusable. The very fact that this is a public forum should evoke a sense of decorum from people who desire to interact on the forum. We only expose the barbaric side of ourselves if or when at every turn we spew out abuse after abuse over issues we can settle in respectful and amicable ways.

We "the internet generation" should do better than our forebears. Our attitude should show a promise of progress and hope for our country.

A word to the wise____

Nigeria vs USA, 2010  U-20 Quarterfinal

Nigeria win 4:2 on penalties after drawing 1:1 at full and extra-time with the USA.

Naivete caused the Falconets to concede a goal from a corner kick in the 9th minute of the game, when they failed to mark a USA player on the near side of the post who ran away from her marker to redirect the low driven corner into the Nigerian goal.

In the whole of the first-half, USA had Nigeria on the back foot, with Nigeria looking ragged, unable to string together decent passes. The USA had the better share of possession and it showed in the number of corners Nigeria conceded.  The former however failed to convert that advantage into goals.

On resumption, Nigeria was the better side, dominating possession, and easily dicing the USA midfield. They had to contend with the officiating in the process, as the referee from England awarded a number of questionable decisions to the USA. The crowd voiced its disapproval through cat-call, boos, and whistling.

Nigeria managed to get one call their way from the referee in the 79th, a few yards outside the 18-yard of the USA. Taken indirectly, Helen Ukaonu, the Nigerian number 17, collected the subsequent pass and let fly a right-footer that flew into the far right corner of the USA goal, leaving the USA goalkeeper, Bianca Henninger, stranded and beaten.

It was the wind in the sail that the Falconet needed as they proceeded to dominate the USA for the rest of the second-half, the game however ended a draw at full time.

The first half of the extra-time saw Nigeria continuing were they left off, easily besting the USA and would have taken the lead through Desire Oparanozie who shot wide with only the goalkeeper and the goal at her mercy.

The second-half of extra-time, however, belonged more to the USA than Nigeria, where the former came near to scoring twice, with only the Nigerian keeper letting the Falconets off the hook by a splendid save and then the cross-bar, when a dipping shot taken from the midfield bounced off the woodwork, which the Nigerians scrambled to clear away. Nigeria improved towards the end of the second-half of the extra-time to force the game to penalty kicks.

With Nigeria's first kick converted by captain, Joy Jegede, goalkeeper, Alaba Jonathan did enough to stop the USA's first kick. Nigeria proceeded to convert four more kicks, although the third had to be taken three times, with the USA keeper saving the first two but being adjudged both times to have moved before the ball was kicked by Esther Sunday, who made no mistake the third time around.

The final kick by the USA flew over the bar to immediately draw cheers and jubilation from the Nigerian players and fans but despair and tears from the USA players, especially Sydney Leroux, the otherwise influential player, who missed the final kick.

It was a tale of players who began the match with little confidence but soaring high as the match progressed and in the process finding and believing in themselves.

The Falconets  played more like the Nigeria we've known over the years rather than the lackadaisical way they played against Mexico.

If they can maintain this level of intensity and confidence in the semifinal against Colombia, reaching the final of the competition would be a strong possibility.

We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, however.

Nigeria vs Mexico, FIFA U-20

The Falconets are playing like the Super Eagles!

After scoring a goal through a goalkeeper's mistake, they proceeded to strut around like Peacocks, hardly breaking a sweat. This is unlike Germany who impose their will on their opponents, hammering them with goals.

Naturally, the Peacocklets, I mean, Falconets conceded a goal in the final quarter of the game and looked shaky to the end. They could have been easily eliminated.

They are still only under-20s. What will happen when they become full grown Falcons?

A beg Naija pipul, na una be dem papa and mama o, make una tell dem word o!

Exactly what I was thinking Cheesy Smoked turkey all the way!

Please, save some for me!

Please, someone should tell me. Did our forefathers and mothers have tongue cancer from eating smoke delicacies or is this a modern phenomena?

Last time I check, cancer was a rare disease in Africa. At least, not a frequent affliction as it is in the west. Or am I misinformed?

Sure sounds like a poem and u shud be up for the next Nobel prize on Literature based on Evolution

LOL, punch and all!

I love your writing man/woman

Thanks. I appreciate it.

Even Time Magazine and CNN are reporting the news.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/07/20/black-parents-shocked-to-give-birth-to-white-baby-girl/?hpt=C2

http://www.cnn.com/

Doctor Explain How Black Nigerian Couple Give Birth To White Baby. Read at http://questionmarkmag.com/2010/07/black-parents-give-birth-to-white-blue-eyed-baby/

It is called conjecture.  

There cannot be conclusive explanation until tests are carried out.

Even so, scientific tests themselves are seldom devoid of ideology. If a certain geneticist wants to prove that the baby is an albino, guess what, the baby is an albino! If another wants to prove differently, you'd have contradictory results. Objectivity is not always a welcome friend, despite what those "learned" people want the rest of us to think.

On another note though.

Since this generation is so gong ho about evolution, with the human intellect and powers employed to prove that we descended from monkeys.

Now having shed our tails and descended from those trees we loved so much to swing from, and having trained ourselves to discard those annoying habits of eating nuts and making monkey noises, the question is, how difficult was it for some of our brothers and sisters to shed their melanin and turn white?

Since we know, of course, that the white species or rather race are our errant siblings that crossed the seas to colder climates, acquiring long noses and horse hair in the process.

Which was more difficult, shading their tails and bodily hairs and those monkey habits or changing from black to white?

For those of us simple minded folk, don't you think that we are on to something if we venture a guess for the latter?

How then is it so hard to believe,  if nature chooses to show us in our time how she did it in the past? Or have we forgotten that

"In the beginning there was black, with melanin coursing through the veins of all.

And nature said: 'Let there be white;' and there was white. And nature saw that it was good, the blond hair and all.

And nature separated the white from the black. The black he called 'Africans,' the white, 'Caucasians.' And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day."


Have we forgotten?

A Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) source said it is to boost the morale of the players who almost saw their dreams of playing at the global stage punctured by the Federal Government’s decision to ban its national teams from international competitions.

Culture of stupidity and wastage continues. No amount of money offer during a competition can make a team achieve what it was not prepared to achieve.

ACT I SCENE 1

Interior of a Conch House in a high rise area of Abuja.Towards the hall way, just beyond the Lounge. Shards of glass on the floor from a shattered floor Lamp, appearance of disarray: upturn chairs, sofa cushions on the floor, fallen photographs and paintings off the wall, smash television set, et cetera. Two men: One unconscious, the other cradling him, blood running from the side of the unconscious man's head.[/i]

Corruption ([i]alarmed and agitated, cradling Greed's head):

Can you hear me, Greed, are you alright?, Greed, Greed,

Greed (stirring, regaining consciousness)
mhm, where am I? What happened? ahh, my head, why am I on the ground?
stop cradling me! (sitting up) Corruption, why are you crying? What happened!
Ah! my head! What's the meaning of this?

Corruption (snorts, takes out a handkerchief from his front pocket, loudly blows his nose, covers
the snot in the folds of the kerchief and shoves it into the side pocket of his trousers)
He hit you in the head!

Greed: Hit me in the head? Who!

Corruption: Goodluck!

Greed: What? (thinks Corruption is attempting humor but sees his face still bears the
same expression) good luck? Please don't,

Corruption: I'm not joking! He hit you in the head, the president, Mr. Jonathan,

Greed: Why? For what? (holds his head and utters an expletive)

Corruption: He's blaming us for the, the (expletive) Super Eagles! I'm gonna kill that boy,
(something occurs to him) but don't you remember? he just stormed in here, not
ten minutes ago! He hit you with the Doubleban! He was out of control (breaks off)
You really don't remember?

Greed (nursing his head): mmhm! (there's blood running down the side of his head) Ah!!
(he shouts when his finger touches a gash at the hairline of the left side of his face)

Corruption: Here, let me see, (produces the handkerchief from his pocket)

Greed: Don't touch me with that! Are you crazy?

Corruption: Sorry! I'm not thinking straight, wait, (heads into a door by the right.
There's sound of running water. Comes out with a towel and a small bowl.
Greed is holding his head, sitting flat on the floor with his legs stretched out)
Come sit here ( Puts down the bowl and drapes the towel on his shoulder. Grabs a fallen chair and places it by the wall. Goes to where Greed is sitting and assists him in getting up. Leads him to the chair. Kneels before him, wets the towel in the water contained in the bowl, and proceeds to dab the blood off the face of Greed. Greed cringes when the cloth touches the gash on his face)

Greed: Careful! It hurts!

Corruption: Sorry, but don't be such a baby,

Greed: My head is splitting! The Doubleban? Are you serious?

Corruption: He's crazy,

Greed (moaning): My head is killing me!

Corruption: Let me get you some aspirin (disappears into the same door as before, returns
with a glass of water and a bottle of Panadol, hands the bottle to Greed, who
opens it, takes out two tablets, seems to think about it, adds two more, throws
them into his mouth, tilts his head back and swallows the pills with a gulp of water)
There, you'll feel better soon. (bends and leans forward to inspect Greed's gash.)
Yes, it's like I thought. You'll need stitches. 'Already called Dr. Quack.
Come sit on the sofa. (They both move to the lounge. Greed, still holding his head, sits on the bigger sofa and Corruption sits close on one of the smaller ones by Greed's right hand. They sit quietly for a while).

Greed (stirring) Where's everyone? (getting agitated) where are my boys?
Where's Sani, where's Taiwo, (calls out) Amanze! Ah!! (he holds his head)

Corruption (with a rare colloquial slip): Take it easy o!

Greed: Where are my kids, What happened to them, did he kill them, oooh,

Corruption (alarmed): Greed, calm down! your boys are fine! they ran away. Everyone ran out
when that, that crazy man came in! (expletive) He was too wild! He cornered us
in here! But your kids got away. They're fine, unharmed.

Greed: (calming down) Are you sure?

Corruption: Of course, I'm sure!

Greed: (with realization) but if he cornered us, how come I'm the only one that got hit?

Corruption: Don't be silly! He went for you first. I ran and hid in the closet in the hall way.
He was too wild to to think straight. He didn't think to look for me there.
I came out as soon as he left. I've never seen him like that. I think he's gone crazy.

Greed: mhm

Corruption: He was cursing everyone! Lagerbeer,

Greed (interjecting) Lagerback!

Corruption: Yes, of course, he kept saying chicken, chicken. (pause) I don't know what he meant by that,

Greed (after a short pause) I think he meant "super chickens"!

Corruption: Ah! Right! Super Chickens! I'll kill those boys!

Greed: They got away? (obviously still thinking of his boys)

Corruption: who?

Greed: Who? (shouting) My boys, who else?

Corruption: Yes, sorry, they ran away. (pause) Knowing them, I'm sure they're doing the right thing, especially Sani.

Greed: They could be downstairs.

Corruption: Yes, I heard him drive away, the sirens, your boys should be back.
(thinking) They should be doing the right thing. Can you walk? Let's go see!

EXUENT

This is simply to have fun although it does have some moral! There's Part 2 and 3. I'll post those, depending on the reaction to this.

ACT I SCENE 1

Interior of a Conch House in a high rise area of Abuja.Towards the hall way, just beyond the Lounge. Shards of glass on the floor from a shattered floor Lamp, appearance of disarray: upturn chairs, sofa cushions on the floor, fallen photographs and paintings off the wall, smash television set, et cetera. Two men: One unconscious, the other cradling him, blood running from the side of the unconscious man's head.[/i]

Corruption ([i]alarmed and agitated, cradling Greed's head):

Can you hear me, Greed, are you   alright?, Greed, Greed,

Greed (stirring, regaining consciousness)
mhm, where am I? What happened? ahh, my head, why am I on the ground?
stop cradling me!  (sitting up) Corruption, why are you crying? What happened!
Ah! my head! What's the meaning of this?

Corruption (snorts, takes out a handkerchief from his front pocket, loudly blows his nose, covers
the  snot in the folds of the kerchief and shoves it into the side pocket of his trousers)
He hit you in the head!

Greed: Hit me in the head? Who!

Corruption:         Goodluck!

Greed: What? (thinks Corruption is attempting humor but sees  his face still bears the
                same expression) good luck? Please don't,

Corruption: I'm not joking! He hit you in the head, the president, Mr. Jonathan,

Greed: Why? For what? (holds his head and utters an expletive)

Corruption:        He's blaming us for the,  the (expletive) Super Eagles! I'm gonna kill that boy,
                               (something occurs to him) but don't you remember? he just stormed in here, not   
                                ten minutes ago! He hit you with the Doubleban! He was out of control (breaks off)
               You really don't remember?

Greed (nursing his head): mmhm! (there's blood running down the side of his head) Ah!!
                              (he shouts when his finger touches a gash at the hairline of the left side of his face)

Corruption:        Here, let me see, (produces the handkerchief from his pocket)

Greed: Don't touch me with that! Are you crazy?

Corruption: Sorry! I'm not thinking straight, wait, (heads into a door by the right.
                                There's  sound of running water. Comes out with a towel and a small bowl.
                                Greed is holding his head, sitting flat on the floor with his legs stretched out)
                Come sit here ( Puts down the bowl and drapes the towel on his shoulder. Grabs a fallen chair and places it by the wall. Goes to where Greed is sitting and assists him in getting up. Leads him to the chair. Kneels before him, wets the towel in the water contained in the bowl, and proceeds to dab the blood off the face of Greed. Greed cringes when the cloth touches the gash on his face)

Greed: Careful! It hurts!

Corruption: Sorry, but don't be such a baby,

Greed: My head is splitting! The Doubleban? Are you serious?

Corruption:         He's crazy,

Greed (moaning): My head is killing me!

Corruption:         Let me get you some aspirin (disappears into the same door as before, returns
               with a glass of water and a bottle of Panadol, hands the bottle to Greed, who
                                opens it, takes out two tablets, seems to think about it, adds two more, throws
                               them into his mouth, tilts his head back and swallows the pills with a gulp of water)
              There, you'll feel better soon. (bends and leans forward to inspect Greed's gash.)
              Yes, it's like I thought. You'll need stitches. 'Already called Dr. Quack.
              Come sit on the sofa. (They both move to the lounge. Greed, still holding his head, sits on the bigger sofa and Corruption sits close on one of the smaller ones by Greed's right hand. They sit quietly for a while).

Greed (stirring)     Where's everyone? (getting agitated) where are my boys?
                                               Where's Sani, where's Taiwo, (calls out)       Amanze! Ah!! (he holds his head)

Corruption (with a rare colloquial slip): Take it easy o!

Greed: Where are my kids, What happened to them,  did he kill them,  oooh,

Corruption (alarmed): Greed, calm down! your boys are fine! they ran away. Everyone ran out
                   when that, that crazy man   came in! (expletive) He was too wild! He cornered us
                                in here! But your  kids got away.             They're fine, unharmed.

Greed: (calming down) Are you sure?

Corruption: Of course, I'm sure!

Greed: (with realization) but if he cornered us, how come I'm the only one that got hit?

Corruption: Don't be silly! He went for you first. I ran and hid in the closet in the hall way.
                                He was too wild to to think straight. He didn't think to look for me there.
                                 I  came out as soon as he left. I've never seen him like that. I think he's gone crazy.

Greed: mhm

Corruption: He was cursing everyone! Lagerbeer,

Greed (interjecting) Lagerback!

Corruption: Yes, of course, he kept saying chicken, chicken. (pause) I don't know what he meant by that,

Greed (after a short pause) I think he meant "super chickens"!

Corruption: Ah! Right! Super Chickens! I'll kill those boys!

Greed: They got away? (obviously still thinking of his boys)

Corruption: who?

Greed: Who? (shouting) My boys, who else?

Corruption: Yes, sorry, they ran away. (pause) Knowing them, I'm sure they're doing the right thing, especially Sani.

Greed:           They could be downstairs.

Corruption: Yes, I heard him drive away, the sirens,  your boys should be back.
              (thinking) They should be doing  the right thing. Can you walk? Let's go see!

EXUENT

This is simply to have fun although it does have some moral! There's Part 2 and 3. I'll post those, depending on the reaction to this.

look back to what u call our glorious days, it is nothing but abacha's regime. the man abacha loves football more than anyother thing but after him, we have presidents who love crude oil more than anyother thing.

chidichris, you're exactly right. Abacha may have got it wrong in just about everything, but it was in his time that Nigeria did well in football. As you said, he liked the game. But for his politics that stopped the Super Eagles from defending their title at the '96 edition of the Nations Cup or from participating at the '98 edition, Nigeria would have probably (if not certainly) won these two editions.

Obasanjo didn't seem to care. In fact, he was hostile towards the Super Eagles.

Perhaps Goodluck Jonathan cares. If he does, there may yet be hope for Nigerian football.

Will the glory days of Nigerian football ever return? Those were days of innocence. Pre-internet saturation days, and not everyone had access to cable or Satellite tv. One or two benevolent well-to-do persons in your neighborhood would have access to satellite. There we gathered on weekends to see our stars--Tijani Babangida,  Finidi George, Sunday Oliseh, Daniel Amokachi, et al. We were so proud. We adopted as our own the club sides in which our players plied their careers.

Those days were days of innocence. We were not worldly-wise then as we are now. We knew we had potential. We suspected we were good, but we didn't think we were the giant of anything.

Then we became worldly-wise and our eyes opened. Suddenly, we were the giants of Africa, no longer Green Eagles, but Super Eagles.

Our players grew fat with pride and the whole nation got drunk with delusion. We are Nigeria, don't you know? Who is Ghana? Who is Cameroon? Who is Zambia? Zimbabwe? ho,ho, ho, ,
Angola? Who born monkey?! Even if we are half awake or playing with one leg hobbled, Angola cannot even dare, haba!

Fiam!
We did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Forget about that, we are still Nigeria, Super Eagles, giant of Africa. Angola did not really beat us, you see. We only allowed them. Even Jay-Jay alone, ehn! Jay-Jay alone,  ah tey you!

2010.

Sani Lulu: "Lagerback, le' me tey you, Nigeria is di giant of Africa. You ge' me? Super Eagles! so derefore, we ca' no settu for anytin le' dan semifinal a' de wol cu', she u ge' me! dat is you bench-mark, shebi--em, da' mean, em--wat is de wor? neva min'. dat is our yar stick, semifinal at South Africa, aw rait? gut!"

Nigerian Fans: Yeh! Semifinal!

Nairaland forum: hey! wat do you tink shul be the lineup of di supa eagle! wat about de twin-strikin'  DUO, of Yakubu and Obinna.

1st respondent: u de craze? your head no correct! u even went tu school at al at al? de best option 4 naija go be Osaze n Martins! olosi!

2nd respondent: chineke! wa do u mean? triple striking no quesion!  Martins, Yakubu, Ogbuke. 4-3-3. a beg if you no sabi footbal  make u no open ya mouth! nonsense!

President Goodluck Jonathan: As we are sending you off to South Africa, stop at nothing but victory. Bring back the cup and make us proud.

Super Eagles: We are the giants of Africa, we are the Super Eagles!

CNN: In another development, the president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has ban his nation's soccer team from all international competitions for two years. This follows the Super Eagles' disappointing run at FIFA World Cup, currently taking place in South Africa, where they finished at the bottom of their group. Viewers would recall that the USA won their group that included England.

The rest of the World: This people are crazy!  Don't you know? Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries in the World!

Nairaland forum: Kill Kaita! slaughter Yakubu! tank u mister president! If ah catch Largerback ehn! de wan kill nigerian football! Nonsense! Mendacious, pell-mell! u de use big-big words ehn! Uwaka, ubanka! wawa! Olosi! Olori buruku! e no go to skul! see im maut!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/414568-president-goodluck-jonathans-decision-smart-or-fatal-move

What do you think?

Every African, no matter where in the world, must be glad for Ghana's successful progress to the quarter final of the World cup. More so, because she is the only remaining flag-bearer for the continent.

Support in the stadiums was never going to be a problem for Ghana. South Africans have done the right and proper thing by getting behind the team after Bafana Bafana failed to qualify.

The large contingent of Nigerians and indeed of other Africans in South Africa is surely and solidly behind Ghana.

The Black Stars are living up to their name. We are all proud of them and hope and pray that they progress in the competition as far as possible. In fact, we pray that they win the cup.

Victory for Ghana is victory for the whole continent.

This is as it should be.

This overwhelming support should be a lesson for Ghana and should inspire a change of heart in their attitude.

We should naturally expect that Africans would support other African nations at international competition. Thus, when Cameroon played in the 1990 World Cup, the whole of Nigeria was behind them. There was no distinction. This wasn't just Cameroon playing, it was Africa playing.

But what a surprise it was for me to hear that this is not assumed in Ghana. That, in fact, Ghanaians have been known to rejoice at Nigeria's defeat at international competitions where Nigeria had represented Africa. I heard that they rejoiced when Italy stopped Nigeria in the second round of the '94 World Cup.

Rivalry is understandable. But to rejoice at the failure of a nation representing the whole continent goes beyond the pale. It is unacceptable.

Nigerians are rejoicing for Ghana. We wish you well, and we will be praying that you carry the torch further in the competition. Let this inspire you to do the same for other African countries in the future.

The farther you go in the competition, the more foreign nations would be silenced. They have begun gloating at the failure of the other five representatives. Go on with the wind in your sail and prove them wrong.

Your are the Black Stars. You are our pride.

United we stand, but divided we fall.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/412012-whole-continent-behind-ghana-but-ghana-need-a-change-of-attitude

You meant this or you fabricated it? that means the Americans started watching football free years ago.

They were.

what's wrong with celebrating with a neighboring country?

Apparently, love your neighbor is no longer in the Bible.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/411904-rude-awakening-ghana-silences-the-usa-wins-21

Read and continue the celebration.

You can gloat as well, if you want. Africa has the right.

Not only are they gullible, dem over-sabi too much. Because their team scored in the 91st minute, ,we no dey hear word for here anymore.

Exactly.

They were even saying on CNN that no team ever comes back from two goals down to equalize, which makes the USA equalizer in their game against Slovenia extraordinary!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/411640-are-the-usa-team-and-fans-naive

What do you think?

You may post your opinion here after you read the article.

Follow the link.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/411135-how-the-usa-can-win-against-ghana

Odemwingie's criticism of Lagerback should be taken with a grain of salt.

This is the same player that was mutinous against Siasia during the Olympic campaign and the same player who openly criticized Amodu after the Nations Cup. And now he is attacking a third coach. Which coach will ever satisfy him then?

In fact, Odemwingie comes off as a spoiled brat. He doesn't seem to be respectful of others: remember his angry shout-down at Martins in the match between Nigeria and Argentina, all because Martins asked for the ball, which Odemwingie should have passed but didn't and so wasted a good looking opportunity?

Benching is good for a player who does not know how to be a good team player, who seems to think too highly of himself.

Nigeria is greater than any one individual player. He should have been decamped during the Olympic campaign.

But I suppose that since the only song Nigerians know to sing after unsuccessful football campaigns is "Sack the Coach," Odemwingie's mutinous comments will be music in their ears.

For a people who refuse to use their heads but are negatively reactionary, disaster will yet attend them. It doesn't take a seer to see that.

For those that read the PART I of this and commented on it, I believe the issues you raised are addressed in this second part. I still look forward to your comments. For those who haven't read the first part, please do so. I was heartened to hear great comments from fellow concerned Nigerians.


The problem with the National Football Federation is a minuscule version of the Nigerian problem. What is frustrating is that there seems to be no way out of this quandary.This is so because the nation lacks a system of accountability.

The difference between Nigeria and, say, Britain or the United States is not so much that these countries don't have corrupt officials as it is in the fact that these countries have systems that work. First, they have working infrastructures that renew themselves through budgetary allocation and execution, tangibly visible to the citizenry.

For instance, in the state of Minnesota, the long and harsh winters mean that roads are in need of constant repair as a result of expansion that causes them to crack and break when temperatures warm up in the spring, so much so that natives joke that there are only two seasons in the state: winter and construction, and construction there is. No state has better roads than Minnesota despite this constant need for repair. Remember that this is the state where, tragically, a major bridge collapsed in 2007, yet within a year the bridge was rebuilt.

Second, there is a judicial system that works. Corrupt officials in these countries engage in a sort of tango with the system, attempting to beat it, with the knowledge that if caught, they would be ruined. In these countries, there is no broad daylight thievery as it has become wantonly customary in Nigeria.

Although no one, I suppose, would condone acts of corruption, I have a suspicion that Nigerian would not worry or mind too much were there working infrastructures that keep them happy, or were there a punitive system that really works, which routinely tries and jails (really jail) corrupt officials. I am wont to think that it would be a lesser evil, for instance, were those who embezzle national funds to invest them in their local communities in industries and companies that employ the masses.

Nigeria has the resources, natural, human and otherwise, and the wherewithal to industrialize (in fact, this is truism that hardly needs a mention). Industrialization will benefit every strata of the society. For one, it will stem the tide of exodus of Nigerians to foreign countries. For another, it will empower the Nigerian and make him/her self-sufficient. To do so, the common good must be foremost.

As it is, the Nigerian mind does not think of the common good. It is hopelessly narcissistic and self-aggrandizing as well as simplistic and uncultivated, so much so that the first thing a Nigerian thinks of as soon as he/she attains a public office is how to buy a car and furnish a house, inflating the cost in the process, this being an a priori objective, naturally. Car for him or her is still a symbol of achievement, pity!

Recall, the recurring contemptible clamor by members of the congress for the refurbishing or refurnishing of official houses and the purchasing of new cars after every election cycle. This is always their first order of business, which immediately exposes their class. With such a mind that is so darkened, like the mind of Mammon in Paradise Lost, Book I, the Nigerian is hopelessly condemned to mediocrity. John Milton describes Mammon as

the least erected Spirit that fell
From heav'n, for ev'n in heav'n his looks and thoughts [ 680 ]
Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of Heav'ns pavement, trod'n Gold,
Than aught divine or holy else enjoy'd
In vision beatific: by him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught, [ 685 ]
Ransack'd the Center, and with impious hands
Rifl'd the bowels of thir mother Earth
For Treasures better hid.

Like Mammon, the basic inclination of the Nigerian is to despoil the nation in blatant disregard of common decency and conscience. The mind of the Nigerian is lost, it seems.

The mind, of course, is the seat of consciousness and of knowledge. Here is constituted that which makes and drives the person. Within it are stored memories, attitudes, mannerism, ideology, et cetera. These are elements that form the mind and consequently determine the behavior of the person.

Memories, once entities of the conscious present are forces, heaped together in the mind like the tectonic layers of the earth. They are encoded information, if you will, showing how a particular personality developed. How did the person respond to the reality that was in the past? What informed the response? How did this response prepare or fail to prepare the person for future realities? This preparation may be understood as the "culturing" of the person. At its most basic, it involves the development of appropriate manners in the individual, and at its elevated level, it develops principles.

While principles are often understood as traits of a personality, they are also collective and known as customs. These are specific to a local context and determine the behavior of people within this local context. Nigeria, of course, consists of a swelter of customs as numerous as its many ethnic groups.

There is yet again, a higher level of principles. This is ideology. Ideology informs national thought or mind. This, Nigeria lacks.

What drives the national consciousness is a rat race mentality, where nepotism, sectionalism, tribalism, and narcissism reign. At present, the nation lacks a unifying identity besides the necessary geographical glue that loosely holds the squabbling and variegated ethnic groups together. There is yet to be a unified Nigeria, held together by a common ideology and aspiration.

While the phrase "the common good" may surface periodically in essays like this and in speeches of government officials, I doubt that anyone can define what this common good is. The common good can, of course, be a common goal. But who can say what this common goal is for Nigeria?

To cite a negative example, it was Nietzsche who thought that the goal of humanity is to march towards the production of a new generation of Übermensch (the superior man or the superman). The mad man, Hitler, thought that this meant the Aryan race and set a goal for the German people to conquer the rest of the world--negative, but nevertheless a definite goal that was pursued, if unfortunately.

In contrast, influenced by the ideas of philosophers such as John Locke, pilgrims set sail from England for the New World to escape repression. They set themselves a goal to create a new democratic world, where the Four Freedoms would reign: Freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

They aimed to create a country where people would be free to pursue a dream of prosperity, which is now known as the American Dream. The full charter of this nation is contained in its Declaration of Independence. It is safe to say that these goals have been etched into the American consciousness and that they have been tenaciously pursued, such that it may be truly said that America is really the place where dreams can be achieved.

In the age of colonization, European nations determined to explore the rest of the world and colonize it. Great Britain outdid other nations in this endeavor and created a vast empire, over which it reckoned the sun would never set. If the sun did set, Britain nevertheless enriched itself greatly. It should be sufficiently clear from these examples that specific goals have transforming power for any given nation.

The goal in reference here is informed by a particular ideology, specific to a nation. It is not mere statement of vision that is only as good as the paper upon which it is written.

National ideology, in time, transforms into a collective custom. Ideology may otherwise be known as a mutual or collective intentionality, which may manifest in what John Searle calls "intension in planning and acting," or "collective prior intensions and collective intensions-in-action," expressed otherwise, as he says, in such assertions as ""we are doing such and such," "we intend to do such and such," "we believe such and such."" (Making the Social World: The Structure of Human Civilization (Oxford: University Press, 2010), 43.).

As I see it, Nigeria lacks such intentionality. Thus, she fails to progress and rather flounders about like a rudderless ship. Ideology is deliberately nurtured. The history of the founding of the USA and its specific aims and goals provides a good example. This nurturing, in its negative form, manifests as propaganda, with tokens such as posters, magazines, schoolbooks, music, and movies, et al, which pervades the national consciousness.

These are tools that Nigeria could use to advance a national ideology, a common goal for the nation, for propaganda needs not be negative. It may be understood as reeducation or reorientation, without which the nation is doomed.

Although I have so far singled out the ruling class, the root of the Nigerian problem does not really lies with them, otherwise, a change of leadership would alleviate the problem. The fact is, almost everyone that is elected into office becomes a national thieve. Why is this so? Surely, the propensity for corruption is already inherent in the individual before he/she becomes a leader.

In fact, isn’t it true that the very reason why people want to be government official is so they could steal from the public? The implication, naturally, is that, it is not the office that corrupts, but the intention or nature already in existence in the person. One example of its manifestation is in our infamous 419 stigma.

Of course, it is not the elected officials that conduct these scams (although one may not put it beyond them), it must rather be the common Nigerian. And why does he/she do this? Does it not flow from a culture of greed, which manifests itself in every strata of the Nigerian society, for instance the religious sphere, where every Sambo, Chidi, and Bola erects a structure to play church, profiting from the offering that gullible people freely contribute, if hoodwinked?

Most of the so-called "men or women of God", the reader would agree, are in the business for the money: note the flashy cars and attires. How many of them would willingly go to the villages to minister (as they say) to the destitute?

Greed beside, the Nigerian mind needs reorientation because the average Nigerian is uncouth and uncultured.

Those who have the privilege to travel outside the country would note that disorderly conduct begins at final boarding lobby to Nigeria, where almost everyone is now Nigerian. Surprisingly, Nigerians find ways of bringing aboard carry-on luggage beyond the restricted weight and proceed to force them into the overhead luggage bin, often resulting in run-ins with hostesses. At Nigerian airports they jump queues, are rude, and display lack of basic decorum.

An African abroad can be identified as a Nigerian by how loudly he/she talks. Less this be interpreted as taking cheap shots at Nigerians or as a desire to cast aspersion on them, let me state here that the foresaid behavior is not the fault of the individual Nigerian. How can he/she behave otherwise, having never been educated to behave differently?

To change him/her, he/she needs to be cultured. This begins in the kindergarten and continues through the national communication system. It manifests in art, in literature, and in the entertainment industry, and continues in religious institutions, which should shift their focus from preaching greed to preaching more constructive topics, such as how the Nigerian can become a better neighbor and a better citizen, or how he/she may serve his/her fellow human being and society, and how a good name is better than the hoarding of wealth.

A reeducation or reorientation of the mind such as the above will in time produce a cooperative behavior, manners by which Nigerians may be identified. One of the greatest benefits of such a drive would be the birth of a new generation, not of Übermensch, but of principled Nigerians, who would rather have a good name than steal and hoard wealth in Swiss banks.

Another benefit might result in a collective language of ideas and concepts in the common consciousness of the nation, similar to the American Four Freedoms. This reorientation and reeducation would need to focus on art; it would need to borrow bits and pieces from our rich and diverse cultural heritage and weave them into a national narrative; it may lead to the creation of monuments and an appreciation of those already there; it may also cause a reevaluation of some of our national symbols, such as the flag or the national anthem, aiming at enriching and grounding them in our cultural heritage.

Above all, it might lead to the articulation of a singular ideology, a goal for the nation, which will serve as beacon to steer the nation through today's fast-paced world. In essence, emancipate ourselves from our nature of greed, for indeed, none but ourselves can free our mind.

Please, join the conversation.

Guys,

I am greatly heartened by your well reasoned response. There's nothing to disagree with in everything each of you has said. Thanks for commenting. Please, let's keep the conversation going.

I will proceed to post the PART II. I look forward to hearing your next comments.

Again, thanks.

I swear if i catch una,

Please catch them, though I can imagine what will happen if you do! Funny!

It was an agonizing thing to watch. As a Nigerian, even though the outcome of this match had not been in doubt for me, I still had a glimmer of hope that Nigeria might just show up to play in their last group match against South Korea, Tuesday at Durban, to determine who goes through to the next round of the World Cup from Group B. In the end, it was Argentina and South Korea.

Nigeria had a promising start. An early lucky goal, through Kalu Uche in the 12th minute, put them on course to qualifying. However, though there were some changes in today's line up, with Rabiu Afolabi replacing the injured Taye Taiwo, Kanu Nwanko starting in place of Osaze Odemwingie, and Yusuf Ayila replacing the suspended Sani Kaita, little was different from what we've seen from the Nigerians in their previous matches.

Sloppy midfield passes resulted in two set pieces that South Korea converted to their advantage, one, an equalizer in the 38th minute through Jungsoo, a result of poor marking from Afolabi, the other, to take the lead in the 49th minute through Park Chu Young.

And though Nigeria came into this match needing a win, it appeared as though they were playing for a draw: slow on the ball, not challenging for loose balls, retreating to their own halve when not in possession, and most of all, playing without verve.

They had a few chances to score goals but poor finishing was on hand each time to expose the poor quality of the Nigerian side. It required a penalty in the 69th minute, converted by Yakubu Ayegbeni, to get them leveled with the South Koreans, after Ogbuke Obasi had been tripped in the Korean penalty area.

While Obafemi Martins could have won the match for Nigeria in the 79th minute, his finishing wasn't any different from Ayegbeni's 63rd minute miss, where the latter had the goal mouth only a few yards from him, with the goalkeeper already beaten, but managed to put the ball wide.

Kanu had a good game but tired out in the second half of the game. Two substitutions for Nigeria, Martins for Kanu and Nsofo for Yakubu, injected some energy into the game, although the resultant play from Nigeria was far from qualitative. A last ten-minute scramble by the Super Eagles came a little too late.

Nigeria certainly did not deserve to go through to the second round. Any glimmer of hope I nurtured was for Africa, but come to think of it, with poor preparation, should Africa have deserved any better than their poor outing in South Africa?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/409899-nigeria-versus-south-korea-review

If the two matches played in the World Cup so far are anything to go by, it will require more than optimism for Nigeria to get pass South Korea  in their final Group B match today to berth a place in the second round of South Africa 2010. On paper, Argentina and Nigeria  were supposed to best Greece and South Korea as leader and runner up in Group B.

Before the competition commenced, Nigerians in touch with reality had their doubts about the chances of their national team at the World cup. Everything leading up to the tournament forecasted disaster in the making.

First, edged on by dissatisfied fans, the Nigerian Football Federation sacked their erstwhile coach, Shuaibu Amodu, five months to the World Cup, appointing the Swede, Lars Lagerback to take his place. The latter has had barely three months to get to know the players and to fashion a plan for the competition.

Barely a month to the competition, it was revealed that the Nigerian Football Federation had booked a substandard hotel for their team, which upon inspection by the newly appointed coach, was declared unacceptable. The NFF had to break contract with the hotel and book a new one. FIFA fined them $125,000, as reported by allafrica.com, 3 May 2010.

Preparation for their pre-tournament matches was a shamble, with their second match against Colombia almost not holding. To cap it all, the Super Eagles, as their national team is known, got stranded for 24 hours in London, after a plane mishap. It was revealed by Kick off magazine that the particular airline had been chartered against the directive of the Nigerian sport ministry.

But beside these teething problems, it was apparent, for those who cared to see, that Nigeria would not do well at the World Cup. The team's standard of playing has, for a long time, been woeful. It scraped through the Africa Cup of Nation held in Angola in January  2010 on life support, literally and metaphorically.

If the Super Eagles did beat Mozambique three-nil, and Benin one-nil, they had begun their campaign at the Cup of Nation with a 1-3 loss to Egypt. Although the two victories at the group stage of the competition do not suggest it, these were not pretty victories. Nigeria triumphed over these two countries on the strength of her individual players not on team strength.

This was clear in the quarter final match against Zambia, where the Chipolopolo outplayed the Super Eagles but were unlucky to lose the match on penalties. In the semi final, Nigeria would lose to a young but enterprising Ghanaian side. They however managed to beat Algeria by a goal to nothing to finish third at the competition.

The sack of their then coach, Shuaibu Amodu, was a direct result of the Super Eagles' poor performance at the AFCON, belied by their third place finish. Most Nigerians felt that that standard of play at the World Cup would result in nothing but embarrassment for the country, hence the agitation for the change of the coaching crew.

The agonizing way Nigeria had qualified for the World Cup under coach Amodu (doing so only because Tunisia failed to draw their last game against Mozambique) reinforced this sentiment. It was the repeat of this qualifying perturbation at the AFCON that led to the sack of coach Amodu. Needless to say, it should have been apparent that doing so was a bad move, as Nigeria's two matches at the World Cup have shown.

Since their loss to Greece, a similar agitation for the sack of Lagerback has begun, which I discuss in my piece here. (Follow the link below).

Always optimists, immediately after their loss to Greece, Nigerian fans began permutations to see how the Eagles might still qualify for the second round of the World Cup.

Here's how they figured it: a  goal defeat for Greece against Argentina will put them on 3 points and -2. And a goal victory for Nigeria against South Korea will put them on 3 points and -1, leaving South Korea on 3 points and -2. Voila, Nigeria qualifies.

Tall dream, I say. I do not see Nigeria beating South Korea, based on the performances of the two teams so far. (I do not mind eating my words afterwards. In fact, eating my words will be a good thing, as it means that Nigeria, for once, would have played well).

The South Korea we have seen has been an organized side, never mind their 4:1 loss to Argentina. They are a more ambitious side than Nigeria. The two team's head-to-head result against Argentina does not tell the true story of the respective matches. Nigeria were lucky to come away with a single goal deficit because of the heroics of their goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama. It could easily have been a four-nil, or five-nil loss.

Furthermore, based on their head-to-head games against Greece, South Korea were the better side, beating the former by two goals, looking good and formidable at it, while Nigeria were tentative and unengaging even when they got a lucky break-through-goal early in the match.

They would completely fall apart after being reduced to ten men, due to the send off of one of their midfielders, Sani Kaita. That Greece did not beat Nigeria by a heavier margin is because Greece, themselves, are a very week side. They should not have been able to beat Nigeria, were the latter a good team, despite their one man deficit.

Today, I expect Argentina to easily see off Greece. My prediction is on the conservative side: 2:0 in favor of Argentina. There are only two outcomes to be expected from Nigeria-South Korea match: a draw (most probably goalless), or a victory for the South Koreans. I see a one-nil victory for them, most probably two-nil, though it could be two-one if the Nigerians manage to muster something.

I will consider it a miracle if the Nigerians are able to beat South Korea. I don't see it happening, but then perhaps, the Nigerians might decide to play today. You never know.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/409591-nigeria-versus-south-korea-preview-and-prediction

This is the first part of the essay, I shall post other parts in time.


Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
_{Bob Marley, Redemption Song}


As long as the mind of the Nigerian remains untransformed, drives by the Nigeria Federal Government to promote the country’s image are doomed to failure and may remain nothing more than a waste of resources. The measure of a person is not in the noise the person makes, but in the person's actions. After all, an empty container makes the loudest noise, and the proof of the pudding, they say, is in the eating.

But what is this Nigerian mind that needs changing?

The Nigerian mind is as metaphorically plain and uninspiring as the nation's aesthetically barren flag.

The flag exemplifies the lack of imagination and astuteness that plague the nation, which is magnified by the fact that the flag came about through a national competition, with the design selected as the best of the best! Before I am condemned for lack of patriotism, I should make my point:

What this analogy illustrates is the average mindedness and the lack of creativity that attend those that direct the affairs of the nation. The collective mind of the nation remains stunted and unenlightened. This is not an indictment on the educatedness of the Nigerian, no. Nigeria does have her own share of professors. The question is, how have they impacted the Nigerian society?

One can be in error concerning the distinction between enlightenment and educatedness (this last being simply book knowledge that fails to transform) and think that the Nigerian problem stems from an uneducated ruling elite. Simple evaluation, however, debunks the notion. One needs only to read the manifestos of newly elected or appointed officials to realize that the problem lies not in the lack of projective imagination (count the many visions so and so over the decades) but elsewhere.

Further, were this problem of education, we would at least see a measure of difference in the ministries and parastatals of professors appointed to governmental offices. The common denominator regarding these professors is that, in so far as they remain classroom teachers, they voice incessant criticism of the Nigerian system, but no sooner are they appointed to governmental positions than they out-thieve and out-graft the barely educated officials.

The vicious circle of corruption is so persistent, consistent, and pervasive that one wonders whether or not the Nigerian bent to corruption is not as inherent as his/her DNA.

Furthermore, the mind of the Nigerian is so warped that it seems incapable of planning for the future, beside the empty gestures of drawing manifestos not intended for execution in the first place. Similarly, this mind seems capable of singing only one song, and believe me, it is not the National Anthem. You hear it after every election cycle. It begins:

Now I may reap from the fields I've not sown,
Steal from the nation my greed to enthrone!
Now that I'm a kleptocratic elite,
Tell, how best may I embezzle and cheat?

But less we remain in the realm of high-flown abstraction, we should illustrate this point by concrete examples.

Let's examine an area that is surely dear to Nigerians: Football.

The World Cup debacle illustrates this seeming inherent bent to corruption. First, it was the thieving of not less than $200,000 dollars from the coffers of the NFF, meant for the Super Eagle’s Africa qualifier match against Mozambique; then there was the fiasco of the substandard hotel the NFF booked for the Eagles, which one can only assume was a ploy to save money on accommodation to be later siphoned into their own pockets; this was followed by the plane incident which resulted in the Eagles being stranded for 24 hours in London.

According to a report in Kick Off Magazine on-line (posted on 01-06-2010), the NFF had acted against the directives of the Sport Minister in chartering the ill-fated airline. The incident smacked of venality.

What becomes apparent very quickly is that what occupies the mind of the average Nigerian official is not how to advance the national agenda or how to find ways to help the citizenry but how to find ways to embezzle national funds. In fact, corruption is so entrenched in the system that public officials no longer steal by stealth.

The attempt by the NFF to send a 200-member "official" delegation to the World Cup, the institution of 14 committees for the tournament as if they were the host, the chartering of a plane by the members of the congress, that nearly crashed, on the pretense of going to South Africa to “support’ the president; all illustrate this corruptible mentality, which creates an appearance of duty but is however a ruse to divert money into private pockets.

All these are so glaring and apparent that Nigerians are no longer fooled by these pretenses. For instance, the very name "committee" is synonymous to embezzlement in the collective consciousness.

In examining the question of planning, the above-mentioned situations are good examples of the gross ineptitude of Nigerian leaders. Take the hotel incident. Common sense knows that in competitions, every advantage matters. It is baffling then that the NFF, which had stated its intent for the World Cup as winning it all, would book such a disadvantageous accommodation for the players.

The reappointment of coach Shuaibu Amodu after his disappointing run with the Super Eagles in 2002 is equally baffling, only outdone by his sack at the eve of the competition. Every turn the NFF made in the months leading to the tournament exposed a lack of basic planning, a fact that almost cost us a place in the competition.

Since such international competitions as this have a precise recurring calendar, one would imagine that this fact would afford an opportunity for those in charge of these affairs to make attendant concise and specific plans towards achieving the goal of winning said competitions, or at least, plan to make great impact at these competitions. Not so with Nigeria.

There is seldom any laid out plan, and if any, such plans exist in name only, hence the chaos that reign at the eve of every competition. Expect the frittering away to waste the four years we now have at our disposal to reboot for the next World Cup. What is sure is that there will be another sacking of a coach, the stealing of more money, and a return of disorder.

Watch out for Part II, and please leave comments