Well, well, well--- I was only away for a couple days and look what has happened!?

mingi14 and all the others who were so quick to jump on board and label me racist, or posting on the forum with racist undertones, all you have done is shown yourselves up as racist or possibly suffering from an inferiority complex because of your skin colour! Why is it always a damned colour issue?!?

Correct me if I am wrong, but did I say it is because a black man has been running South Africa since 1994 that all is falling apart I definitely did not! So why did you immediately jump on the "racism" train?! I was refering to the corruption! Unfortunately you cannot deny it. The corruption has become rife and that, AND ONLY THAT, my friends has let to the deterioration I spoke about! If you want to put a "colour label" on it, go ahead and do it, but dont call me the racist.

Whether you want to hear it or not, I support the South African leadership, ie. ANC and have voted for them since the first democratic election in South Africa. I met with and was fortunate enough to have had tea and dinner with Mr Nelson Mandela on a few occasions too. I get upset and angry about the corruption, but will support the ANC till my dying day. The one major difference is that corrupt officials are arrested and tried in a court of law without any preferential treatment. Not even the deputy president is immune! Transparency has made this possible!

I have been in Nigeria for approximately 8 1/2yrs now and love it here. I hope to stay here for quite some time longer. I am a happily married man with a wonderful family back home and I can, with a honest and clear conscience and heart say that I have never taken advantage of Nigeria or Nigerians, including the unfortunate "students" who prostitute themselves to the shameless, disgusting expatriates that visit Nigerias shores.

Whatever your opinions about me, I do not really care about it and would under normal circumstances not have lowered myself to having to defend myself on such pitifull allegations.

Okay, now that that is all out of the way, lets get back to the issues/topic at hand!

What happened to MEND? Have they taken a step or ten backwards? How much money did they accept to release the 6 hostages? Dont get me wrong, I am glad they were released and hope that nobody else has to experience such a traumatic ordeal. My point is just that for once everyone believed that finally here was a group that were actually going to carry out their threats (ie. further attacks on oil installations, pipelines, etc) and they could not be bought. Suprise suprise!!!

MEND have now, after releasing six of the hostages, threatened further attacks and warned all expats, oil workers, multinationals, etc, etc to get out or face their wrath, etc, etc, etc. and all that before 5 March??

Jakumo,

Point taken. I am white, but I am African. And I LOVE Africa. I come from a line of very liberal thinking oyibo's and we have always believed in and fought for Africa and Africans. It pains me to see what has become of our beautiful continent. If we look at the world as a whole, the most barbaric incidents of violence, continuous war, etc, etc, finds itself on our shores.

I honestly dont have hope that things are going to improve during my lifetime, but I hope and pray that our children and their children can reap benefit from the evils that are bringing Africa to its knees.

Nigeria has a lot to offer to those who are prepared to "listen" to her, put aside their (silly) differences and work together as a nation and not as a group of nations. With corruption almost at the top of the long list of problems, that should be rooted out first.

Nigeria has a population in excess of 130million, how can a handfull of people, most likely less than 20%, have control over Nigeria destiny People have far too long just accepted that everyone is corrupt and thats the way it will stay. If so many are against the corruption and want it rooted out, THEN WHY NOT STAND UP and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT??

Well, if MEND have the balls to carry out their threats and it spills over from the Niger Delta, which is very possible, we are definitely faced with a civil war.

Jakumo,

Why is it that whenever an African country fails itself and its people, blame goes to the Western world, the white man or most often colonialism?

Whether it is Nigeria, Zimbabwe or South Africa, always the same arguments. Nigeria has enjoyed independence for almost half a century!?!? Stop forever shifting the blame.

If a poor man is given the opportunity to be rich, but he would have to kill, mame, rob, plunder or de-fraud, etc, etc to obtain the wealth, is it acceptable for him to do so? Just because of past injustices

I am a Christian and my faith tells me NO!

When you are dealt a hand it depends on you how you play it out. Majority of the African countries that have gained their independence after colonialism have had ample opportunity to make a difference and do the right thing,  have they? NO! The "new" leadership have everytime screwed up and screwed their own people. But then it just gets blamed on the past injustices.

Nothing will change and nothing will improve until such time that the Nigerian people stop making excuses and start proving what they are really made of.

Just a final thought,  South Africa was under colonial rule and gained independence in the 60's as well. Yes, it fell into the hands of apartheid leadership, but face the facts, look at South Africa today,  its a 1st world country on a 3rd world continent! How come the "new" leadership were able to build & develop it to what it is today after independence?

Hmmm,  after thought though, since the change of leadership in South Africa in 1994 infrastructure, service quality, etc, etc is starting to deteriorate, makes one think,  where does the real problem lie in Africa?

Hi everyone, I am also quite new to nairaland and I just have a few comments regarding the posts I have seen on this thread sofar,

Firstly, wow, for peeps that are proud to be Nigerian, some of you surely are racist! Hating purely because of tribe or culture Instead of standing together as one and making a difference, you fight amongst each other?! How will Nigeria ever survive if its people cannot get along? This is one of the reasons why Nigeria is still so far behind. Must be honest though, I have worked and lived all over Africa and its not much different in any of the countries I've been in. Wondering if its an Africa thing?

Secondly, MEND are terrorists. Have a look at the definition (Oxford Dictionary),
terror  n. 1 extreme fear. 2 a terrifying person or thing. b colloq. formidable or troublesome person or thing, esp. a child. 3 organized intimidation; terrorism. [Latin terreo frighten]

terrorist  n. (often attrib.) person using esp. organized violence against a government etc.  terrorism n. [French: related to *terror]

terrorize  v. (also -ise) (-zing or -sing) 1 fill with terror. 2 use terrorism against.  terrorization n.

Do I need to elaborate? I dont think so!

Thirdly, The Nigerian politicians, tribal leaders, etc, etc are probably the biggest problem and the primary factor in the problems faced by Nigeria today. You cannot have corrupt and inept leaders, I have to admit OBJ has made some changes for the better over the last 2 yrs, but hey, a leopard cant change its spots! He has been involved in a few corrupt dealings and may well still be. And even though he has probably been one of the better presidents to date, he should still not be at the helm of a great country such as Nigeria! Nigeria has the potential to be a wonderful, rich (in more ways than monetory) country, but it needs a good leader.

Finally, Yes, I am the first to agree that the multinationals have taken alot from Nigeria (and other countries), but face the facts, if they had not come to Nigeria and started extracting oil, it would still be underground. They have on the other hand paid billions of $$$ to Nigeria, which includes the government and communities. They are not in control of the manner in which the money is spent (or pocketed!) If the money paid was used for its intended purpose, the communities and the people of Nigeria would have been far better off than they are today. The so-called leaders of the country and the communities have abused their positions and used the money to their own personal benefit.

MEND or any other group should direct their anger and actions to the "real" guilty parties, not the multinationals who have actually "realized" the wealth to Nigeria!


Just a question, how far do you guys think MEND will really go? What will happen once they are offfered money? All the years I have been in Nigeria that seems to have been the norm, pay, and it goes away!

otitoloju,
you are so damn right. Their love is so strong, only death do them part, which seems to happen far too often!

charlisco,
do yourself a favour and check up what terrorism means, if you had any clue whatsoever, you would know that the acts committed by MEND are terrorist acts. Maybe you are a wannabee "freedom fighter" and cannot or will not accept the truth?

Their are many other means to resolve the issues without violence. But first and foremost, lets remember who brought the wealth to Nigeria? Yes, the oil has always been there, but who explored and who turned it into something Definitely not your beloved "brothers & sisters"!

The multinationals have always paid HUGE amounts of money over to the communities in which they operate, just a damn pity that the so called leaders (Chiefs, Kings, Princes, etc, etc, etc) keep the money for themselves and dont distribute it amongst THEIR people like they should!

And then come the political leaders, governors, etc, as corrupt as can be!, and your own NNPC! Majority of the multinational oil companies have to pay over 60% to the NNPC. Where is the money going?!? And then, just to top it off, the oil companies still haveto assist the NNPC with their own facilities, beacuse they "dont have the funds"?!?!?!?!?