I dey always trip when dis guy write sha. No be lie d guy dey lie.

http://chxta..com/2007/08/wallowing-in-ignorance.html

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.

---Maya Angelou

It may be bliss, but I wonder whether the promotion of ignorance in the world might not be going just a little far at the moment.

In his regular Times column, Rod Liddle argues that people who understand "gibberish" about "the present world credit crunch" should be shunned as "tiresome acquaintances, dangerous dinner party guests, unsuitable sexual partners, etc." I'm so with Elliott in his take on that article, and the new and dangerous habit humanity seems to be developing, shunning knowledge and enlightenment in favour of insert word here (personally I'm inserting Paris Hilton),

The problem with far too many people in Nigeria is ignorance. There are so many Nigerians that have chosen, by accident or design, to remain within their little shells. So many of our people have no clue as to how the rest of the country is, and even worse, do not want to know. This problem is endemic particularly in the far North, and the West of the country. One of the great things I can say about people from the East, and to a large extent the South is that they are more mobile than the others. But then again, even with that mobility, how many of them actually open their minds to the conditions of others?

I was once called a liar when fresh from my first ever trip to Minna, I told some friends that neither IBB nor Abdulsalami Abubakar did much for the place. The guys chose to stick to their (rumoured) stories of eight lane super highways and solar powered street lights all built with oil money from the South. Thankfully, a quick peek through Nilla's blog should just about set that impression right. As long as we don't know anything about one another, we would continue to be suspicious of one another.

Personally, I like to think that I am a realistic fellow. While I would not go so far as to call myself blindly optimistic, I prefer to see the glass as half full, rather than half empty. You see, I believe that a healthy dose of optimism is extremely necessary for the attitude to exist such that things can get done. Simple example: back in my Itex days, I was told to go to Northern Nigeria to set up a payment scheme for VMobile as it was then known. On arriving, I found that their link to Lagos in Kano, Jos and Abuja, was basically messed up, nevertheless, I still tried my best to make the thing work until it became evident that their IT department needed to sort themselves out. In much the same way, I complained on this 'ere blog that I hate programming, still do. Nevertheless, I didn't sit down and despair (which would have meant failing my exams), but got my head down, did the best that I could, and managed to finish with a C in the blasted module. A third example from my own life again was just a few days ago, when the lift at my place broke down. My neighbours were willing to let sleeping dogs lie, but I took the initiative, spent my time and money to get the people responsible to come and do their jobs. That is adopting a 'can do' attitude to things, and that is the only way things get to work. Sadly, a lot of my country men aren't made of that cloth. No, a lot of Nigerians are overly pessimistic, and the anonymous army that has been visiting this blog in recent times is a good example of that pessimism. As someone pointed out, pessimism is a very dangerous animal. The effects of which include despair. I don't know which is worse, the despair in itself, or the fact that many Nigerians are involved in painting the country with all sorts of lurid colours to foreigners. While there is a strong need for criticism if Nigeria is to move forward, some of this so called criticism is borderline disgraceful. People seem to forget that at the end of the day they are still Nigerians, and when they make comments such as, 'I can't do business with Nigerians,' the listener would involuntarily add you to that list of Nigerians that he can't do business with.

When a person gives in to despair, there is absolutely no way back for that person whatsoever. Things are done, finished, ended. That is what a lot of Nigerians seem to be giving in to in recent times, and it baffles me because there is no reason for Nigerians to despair of Nigeria yet. Why do I say there is no reason for us to despair? My response is one word, India.

India is currently building up to the celebrations of 60 years as an independent nation, and is widely looked upon, along with Brazil, China and Russia as one of the next set of super powers on the planet. Yet, having spoken at length with Indians in my class over the last year, I realised that this country has more problems than the problems that seem to be weighing Nigeria and Nigerians down. I have said before, and I would say it again that whatever problems we think we have in Nigeria, they have them on an even larger scale in India. Population growth rate is a problem; Corruption is a problem; Lack of infrastructure is a problem; Power (NEPA in Naija speak) is a major problem; Cost of doing business is about the highest in their region; Rich versus poor divide is a problem; Ethnic tensions are a problem,

Recommended viewing: BBC Hard Talk interviews with an Indian politician and a businessman. While the politician is more negative, the businessman is positive, and we are seeing signs of that in Naija as well. Like in India, I believe that it is the world of business, not the world of politics, that will pull Nigeria forward.

The Nigeria must break up people

One of the fondest claims of the 'break Nigeria up' brigade is that having ethnically homogeneous nations would hasten development. Such a claim is terribly erroneous. The most successful country on the planet at the moment is undoubtedly the United States of America, and that country is in no way ethnically homogeneous. If you look at the five biggest economies in the world right now (after the US), Germany, Japan, China and the UK, only Japan can lay claim to being an ethnically homogeneous country. At the same time, these people forget that probably the best example of a failed state on God's green earth at the moment, Somalia, is largely ethnically (and religiously) homogeneous. Breaking Nigeria into nations with single tribes or ethnic groups will not make the current problems disappear. People like Adedibu, Uba and Yerima would still have their mortgages to pay in the West, and would continue as is usual.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, I would say that most of the advocates of break up are either semi-literate, or have simply failed to think things through. To be honest, aside from the cry 'break up', I have never heard any one of them ever put forward a plan as to how he would make his new country successful if such a break up should occur,

Nigeria may well be a "contraption", an amalgam of various ethnicities but so is the US - a colonial contraption that was acquired through genocide against Native Americans, conquest and theft of land from Mexico, etc. Germany is a "contraption" that was brought together by Otto von Bismarck's hand of iron in various wars during the mid nineteenth century. Italy is also a "contraption" of city states brought together by Garibaldi, and sacrificing their sovereignty to become part of a bigger entity. So is Spain with Andalucians, Basques, Castilians and Catalans. Spain still has its own separatist groups, part of the legacy of Franco's regime. The UK is a country whose constituent countries were all conquered by the English. India has at least 25 active separatist groups, some of them with governments in exile!

Our people should stop trying to rewrite history by suggesting the existence of nations of antiquity to which Igbos, Ijaws, Yoruba, etc can return to. Yes, the Soviet Union failed and broke up, but that was a case of the constituent republics returning to their pre-Soviet existence. As the Soviet Union was breaking up, "contraptions" like Italy, Spain, the UK, etc, were subsuming their sovereignty into an even bigger "contraption" - a European super-state. We are still waiting for the "contraption" of the US to return California, Nevada and Arizona to Mexico. While all these peoples are consolidating their strength, a lot of our people in their myopia and selfishness are calling for division.

What to do?

We talk about the lack of infrastructure in Nigeria, but then we all sit down and wait for the government to provide it. True, it is the government's responsibility, but when government continuously fails, a little bit of self help would go a long way. We hardly see that in Nigeria. Compare a mindset like that of the Malawian kid, William - who went out to build a windmill from scrap plastic and wood to power his family home in rural Malawi - to the typical Lagos residents whose homes and streets always get flooded every year but will choose to grunt and grumble and live life as it is.

At this juncture, I'd like to point you towards the fine article on this issue in Grandiose Parlor.

What to do? Change our attitude. As Gandhi so eloquently put it, 'You must be the change that you wish to see in the world.'

Ignorance is rife amongst Nigerians O!

Especially those that know little, yet believeth that they know much, and those that know nought, and they know not that they know nought.

These sets of people are highly dangerous.

Very Intelleigent right up, I am really impressed, well written, objective and thought proviking. My brother i must warn you that some of this half baked illiterates will come and attack your write up and (ignorantly) challenge your write up.
People sit somewhere and without research just come and write very shallow, sentimental analysis about Nigeria. It is sad to see that Ignorance , hatred , and strife is prevalent among Nigerian youths.
I want to encourage you to continue looking at Nigeria as Half way forward rather than half way backward, It is only with that type of mentality that we will movew forward. There are a lot of people who share your conviction, we will make it as a Nation, I know.

A great write-up. The indiscipline within the Nigerian system coupled with lack of faith in the system is too much. What I have noticed is that an average nigerian is ready to tow the line once he knows that there is a committed leader at the front. Nigeria needs that urgently now, someone who would lead by example - not necessarily an iron-handed ruler. Nigeria is destined for greatness and it shall surely get there!

The problem with Chxta is that he talks[b] too much[/b]. Two things are evident in his write up:

1.0 Ignorance and its effect on the Nigerian masses.
2.0 The folly inherent in advocating for a break up of the Nigerian State.

These are purely his opinions - the way he sees issues within the larger Nigerian society. And thank God they're not binding on all of us. We all have our views about Nigeria, shaped largely by what experience we all have in one part of the country or the other.

Attitudinal change will not go far to help bring about the needed reforms we so much crave in Nigeria. At best it will only scratch the surface. What we need is leadership change and the earlier we have this the better for this country of ours. We need credible, forthright, sincere and visionary leaders to take us to the next level in all facets of human endeavour in Nigeria. Soludo has been doing a lot in that regards in Economics; same with Akinyuli in drugs administration. We need more people of this calibre to move on.

Oh No! It's ono again.!

Another "i love nigeria" write up. You'd think the rest of us wanted Nigeria to completely disappear from the planet.

- Chxta addresses the issues with Nigeria's retrogression and basically boils them down to attitudinal problems and ignrorance of the masses. How wrong can that get? Are the people of the USA relatively less ignorant than Nigerians? Do they have a better attitude than us?
The larger percentage of Americans cannot point to Africa on the map of the world, millions have never been out of their states before and YET that nation remains the most powerful nation on earth.

The big difference between Nigeria and the developed world boils down to one fact - leadership! Until we solve that problem we can keep going on a merry go round about the ignorance of the masses, we will go no where.

To claim that the US is also a contraption like Nigeria is to make a false allegation. America is not a homogenous nation but you fail miserably to realise it has a 70% white population and every other shades of color are described as minorities.
Nigeria on the other hand is almost roughly divided into 3 powerful regions each strong enough to be a nation of its own. Same with the british, almost similar cultures, almost similar languages, almost similar histories.
Can we say the same of the ethnicities that make up Nigeria?

PTH:

Another "i love nigeria" write up. You'd think the rest of us wanted Nigeria to completely disappear from the planet.

- Chxta addresses the issues with Nigeria's retrogression and basically boils them down to attitudinal problems and ignrorance of the masses. How wrong can that get? Are the people of the USA relatively less ignorant than Nigerians? Do they have a better attitude than us?
The larger percentage of Americans cannot point to Africa on the map of the world, millions have never been out of their states before and YET that nation remains the most powerful nation on earth.


The big difference between Nigeria and the developed world boils down to one fact - leadership! Until we solve that problem we can keep going on a merry go round about the ignorance of the masses, we will go no where.

To claim that the US is also a contraption like Nigeria is to make a false allegation. America is not a homogenous nation but you fail miserably to realise it has a 70% white population and every other shades of color are described as minorities.
Nigeria on the other hand is almost roughly divided into 3 powerful regions each strong enough to be a nation of its own. Same with the british, almost similar cultures, almost similar languages, almost similar histories.
Can we say the same of the ethnicities that make up Nigeria?

Ignorance, Backward thinking, Your contribution sounds like a broken record.

aisha2:

Ignorance, Backward thinking, Your contribution sounds like a broken record.

the usual contribution from the "i love nigeria" brigade. No attempt to make their point clear rather choosing to slander and insult those who have a differing oppinion to their mostly myopic point of view.

We do not have to look too far to see why Nigeria is in the morass it is in presently, we believe it is backward thinking to advocate good leadership. We have members of a brigade who think the only way to show patriotism is to pretend that all is well in a nation where more than 70% live on less than $1 a day, the same nation where brigands like Andy Uba can declare more than N3 billion as assets!  I dont really blame you all, you are comfortable enough to afford to log unto the internet and insult others, maybe the day you start putting ur self in the shoes of the millions who will NEVER have access to a computer keyboard in the same country that makes budgets in the billions of dollars yearly you will start seeing things in a different light.

My dears, you people are not 10% as patriotic as the average american and yet they probably bash America much more than you all do. George Bush has an approval rating of less than 30%, most Americans consider his tenure the worst in since Richard Nixon and yet he has achieved a whole lot more than all Nigerian leaders since 1966 put together.
Until we learn to rise above ethnic and emotional sentiments we will NEVER develop as a nation! Why will we develop, when we are busy patting Yar Adua on the back for appointing ministers more than 2 months into his tenure. Gordon Brown of the UK made his appointments under 24hrs - those are nations who are serious with moving forward not ours peopled with individuals who are ever ready to whip upp a thousand and one excuses for executive failure under the garb of patriotism!

Keep up the insults, Chxta talks about the attitude of the Nigerian masses and i just wonder, if things were so rosy why is he doing a masters programme in the UK? Is it not a part of the problem that whilst we all condone corruption and massive political and economic brigandage we sit tight in foreign countries paiinting a false picture about Nigeria? Of course others here prefer to turn issues of concern to each and every Nigerian into a war of "us vs them". Such a shame.

ono:


Attitudinal change will not go far to help bring about the needed reforms we so much crave in Nigeria. At best it will only scratch the surface. What we need is leadership change and the earlier we have this the better for this country of ours. We need credible, forthright, sincere and visionary leaders to take us to the next level in all facets of human endeavour in Nigeria. Soludo has been doing a lot in that regards in Economics; same with Akinyuli in drugs administration. We need more people of this calibre to move on.

On the contrary Ono, attitude is the first thing that needs to be altered before you can change human behaviour. Ask any psychologist. And the power of ONE, goes a long way, if that One person is determined to effect change. When you talk about leadership, from where are the leaders elected or selected? Is it not from the pool of the masses who have been followers, at one time or the other?  Are leaders born, not made? Is leadership an automatic thing? Isn't it learnt? I don't want to go into leadership theories and psychological factors, but I must say that I agree with Chxta (as cited by Sijien), on this issue.

Like someone once said: "The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings." Can't remember now, if it was Shakespeare or another writer. Socrates also said: "States are made up of the men in them. Therefore we cannot have better states, unless we have better men. . ." Think about it!

Well Laudate, it's been said time and again that some people are born leaders, while others are get leadership bestowed on them. . . . . I too can't remember where I read that; I'll read it up later.

In this thread:

Chxta is of the view that:
(1) Nigerians are ignorant people, generally. Probably he's the only enlightened one amongst us, because he helped fix a lift and managed to get a 'C' in programming through ''sheer hardwork and determination''. He's also widely traveled, and has seen a lot about the country. So, only he can talk about Nigeria.

(2) People canvassing for a breakup of Nigeria needs to have their brain examined (my understanding of his statement as regards breakup of Nigeria).

Then, he finally said Nigerians need to change their attitude towards the problems they face.

Remember I said in my initial reply that changing our attitude can only scratch the problems at the surface. I did not completely rule out that fact. There abound several cases where good Nigerians go out of their way to help rescue dying accident victims and take them to hospitals in this country, only to be told by the doctors that ''you cannot just bring an accident victim to this hospital without a law enforcement officer'' Please go tell Chxta to help us pass this attitude change gist to the doctors nurses, police, governors and others in positions of authority. Might be of help somehow.

No one can feign ignorance of knowing how to do that which is good - even the devil knows that which is good. This is why I faulted his (Chxta's) claim that Nigerians are generally ignorant because they careless about what happens around them; they rarely move around (North and West). Almost all Nigerians know how to do that which is good and in this day and age of infotech, everyone is enlightened to a large extent.  This forum alone hosts more than a hundred thousand Nigerians, all over the world. You don't have to travel to Siberia to know which company is trying to set up an oil company in there. What ignorance is Chxta talking about?

Nigerians need people to lead them by example. They need morally upright people to take the mantle of leadership from the corruption-infested lot that sits in the core of the nations[b] strategic positions[/b]. Corruption is another bane of Nigerians. Until then, our problems will largely continue to stare us in the face.


And by the way, I need to know if I'm dealing with a woman or a man here!

They are here already?

@Sienna


PTH is the professional debunker formerly known as "davidylan".

denex:

@Sienna


PTH is the professional debunker formerly known as "davidylan".

who be sienna abi eye dey pain u? wetin do davidylan? seun ban am? na so seun go dey ban all im better members dey go

@Sijien

actually, eye dey pain me.

It is davidylan that transmutated into PTH. I don't know if Seun banned him, but I'm certain he had used up the last iota of credibility on the ID and decided to "refresh" without necessarily repenting. I wonder how long it would take him to use up this new ID.

but the guy yarns alrigth as per isreal and palestine issues now

Sijien, i know that stuff you quoted came from chxta eh. . .  or whoever. I will be back to take on the issues raised on that rejoinder much later. Its sad that such an individual refused to put the quote under their own ID rather choosing to hide under urs to continue perpetuating ignorance and myopia.

PTH:

Sijien, i know that nonsense you quoted came from aisha2 eh. . . or whoever. I will be back to take on the issues raised on that rejoinder much later. Its sad that such an individual refused to put the quote under their own ID rather choosing to hide under urs to continue perpetuating ignorance and myopia.

it looks like denex is correct about you.

are you really davidylan?

@All,

The rate at which insults are traded on nairaland is becoming legendary. An article that is the product of such careful and deep thoughts shouldn't be bringing out these demons from people. What is wrong with us? Something tells me a physical assembly of Nairaland users might produce fisticuffs like we sometimes witness in our House of Assembly! Wetin now? Can't we trade ideas without insult? I am persuaded of better things concerning us all and I trust we can live up to such an ideal standard!

@topic,

I am in absolute agreement with Chxta with respect to the break up of Nigeria. I do not advocate nor advice for such a situation to ever happen. The reason is very clear. Any situation that involves two or more people will necesarily engender conflict. The high rate of divorce these days is an eloquent testimony to that. Our problem is not the conflict, but lack of the skills for effective conflict resolution.

To what extent should Naija be broken down before there is peace? Will the break up of Naija solve the problems between Ife and Modakeke or relieve tensions between the Ijaws, urhobos and Itsekiris? Are we now going to break up along the lines of every ethnic nationalities? That sounds more like confusion to me. As long as conflicts exist within the smallest unit of the society - the family, there will be problems within the society. Even siblings could find themselves sworn enemies of each other. We really need to wake up and realise that our problem is not our unity, but our prejudices.

Sijien:

it looks like denex is correct about you.

are you really davidylan?

whatever.

Pth talks about making a false allegation based on the ethnicity of Americans, then goes on to define ethnicity as race. He has gotten it so totally wrong. The ethnic issues in Nigeria are rivalries between people of the same race. The ethnic issues in India which I used as an example are rivalries between people of the same race. The history of the US is littered with cases of rivalries between people of the same race: Italian Americas versus WASPs as an example. In America at the moment, there is a sort of rivalry brewing between African Americans and blacks who emigrated from Africa. That is the difference. He also shows a total lack of knowledge of British history by attempting to gloss over the differences in the United Kingdom. But that is not the point under discussion here, he should go and watch Braveheart.

There is very little to hold unto here, more like trying to make a lot of rabble to pass on a point that wont stick.
Yeah there are "ethnic rivalries" between people of the same race in America but have you ever heard of Italian Americans demanding that political office be zoned to only Americans of Italian origin for a particular period?

Have you ever heard of Latinos demanding a state of their own within the US? Ever heard of blacks demanding it is now the turn of the black man to rule the USA? Is federal allocation based on ethnicity in the USA? Is there evidence of quota system (dont mention affirmative action here pls), federal character operating in the US, India, Britain?
Where is the rivalry brewing between black americans and blacks of african origin? Is it really a political issue in the USA that would cause Bush to lose his sleep? Lets' be candid here!

Please when we make examples let us be sure we even know what we are arguing about. Whatever differences exist in Britain, i am yet to hear of a zoning formula. No where did i define ethnicity as a race.

The 'meat' of his assertion is that Nigeria's problems boil down to leadership. TRUE! Very true. But in making that assertion he has forgotten that age old statement which I have quoted on this blog before: The people deserve the government that they have.

He has to ask himself this question: the leaders in Nigeria, did they drop from space? Wasn't Orji Kalu a 'floor member' of the community 20 years ago? Fasola who is chasing shadows (sorry, women) in Lagos finished from UNIBEN. He wasn't a rich man then.

Once again let me reiterate: as long as the attitudes remain the same, people would always do the same crap when they get into office. Simple.

You are very right but is it so simple to merely claim that our problems are solely the fault of the people? Where we not the same people when we had leaders like Nnamdi Azikiwe and Awolowo? Like Ono rightly pointed out, is ignorance solely responsible for our problems? The citizens of Dubai are not as learned as we are and yet their entire country is a tourist attraction.

Our issue is not the people BUT the political institutions we have in place. As long as we have a political document (the constitution) that gives ample room for corruption, sacrifices merit on the altar of quota system and gives undue advantage to land mass rather than productivity, we will remaiin underdeveloped no matter how intelligent we becoome.

ono:

Well Laudate, it's been said time and again that some people are born leaders, while others are get leadership bestowed on them. . . . . I too can't remember where I read that; I'll read it up later.

Yeah. . . .please read up on that. Kindly read up all those leadership theories from the psychologists' perspective, too.
If there is still time, read The Power of One.

ono:

And by the way, I need to know if I'm dealing with a woman or a man here!

My gender has[i] nothing [/i] to do with the subject being discussed.

And you are[i] not[/i] dealing with me, you are dealing with the issues raised on this board!

PTH:

whatever.

There is very little to hold unto here, more like trying to make a lot of rabble to pass on a point that wont stick.
Yeah there are "ethnic rivalries" between people of the same race in America but have you ever heard of Italian Americans demanding that political office be zoned to only Americans of Italian origin for a particular period?

Have you ever heard of Latinos demanding a state of their own within the US? Ever heard of blacks demanding it is now the turn of the black man to rule the USA? Is federal allocation based on ethnicity in the USA? Is there evidence of quota system (don't mention affirmative action here please), federal character operating in the US, India, Britain?
Where is the rivalry brewing between black americans and blacks of african origin? Is it really a political issue in the USA that would cause Bush to lose his sleep? Lets' be candid here!

Please when we make examples let us be sure we even know what we are arguing about. Whatever differences exist in Britain, i am yet to hear of a zoning formula. No where did i define ethnicity as a race.

You are very right but is it so simple to merely claim that our problems are solely the fault of the people? Where we not the same people when we had leaders like Nnamdi Azikiwe and Awolowo? Like Ono rightly pointed out, is ignorance solely responsible for our problems? The citizens of Dubai are not as learned as we are and yet their entire country is a tourist attraction.

Our issue is not the people BUT the political institutions we have in place. As long as we have a political document (the constitution) that gives ample room for corruption, sacrifices merit on the altar of quota system and gives undue advantage to land mass rather than productivity, we will remaiin underdeveloped no matter how intelligent we becoome.

ave never seen a worse answer. if u r really davidylan then this effort is a pure disappointment i swear.

Sijien:

ave never seen a worse answer. if you're really davidylan then this effort is a pure disappointment i swear.

no stress buddy, everyone else is entitled to their oppinion. I havent seen A SINGLE post on what your oppinion is on this issue, rather you piggy back on another man's PERSONAL OPPINION and peddle it around like the holy grail and expecting every other post to agree with it. Not so brother.

i agree with it that is why i brought it here. abi no be so? see i know my limitation and i know that i cant argue long like other people. but i know something tha makes snese when i see it. and what u said makes no sense.

WORD!

Please stop shouting leadership! leadership! An ordinary citizen today will become a leader tomorrow if he doesn't change his attitude now, is it when he becomes a leader he will change?

The problem is with our attitudes! chxt has said it!

please don't spew jagajantis at this topic, some people have done nuff of that already in the naira-re denominated thread!

Sijien:

i agree with it that is why i brought it here. abi no be so? see i know my limitation and i know that i can't argue long like other people. but i know something tha makes snese when i see it. and what u said makes no sense.

no problemo, sociology can never make sense to a man who studies plant biology no matter how many years he spends reading textbooks.

You have not pointed out anything that does not make sense so there is really nothing to talk about here. Carry on with ur preconcieved notions of what the problem with Nigeria is.

50kobo:

WORD!

Please stop shouting leadership! leadership! An ordinary citizen today will become a leader tomorrow if he doesn't change his attitude now, is it when he becomes a leader he will change?

The problem is with our attitudes! chxt has said it!

please don't spew jagajantis at this topic, some people have done nuff of that already in the naira-re denominated thread!

Dear sir, how do you advocate we change our attitudes? What attitude do we have that is so radically different from that of every other member of the planet or are we a cursed nation?

things worked in Nigeria up until 1979, what made our attitudes change then?

Am I going mad? Can someone tell me why its a shame to belong to "I love Nigeria brigade"? Is this not better than saying "I love America" on a Nigerian website? Whats going on my people? Whats wrong with this PTH of a man?

I don't understand the point of this, how will you tell people like my dad who have lived for 50 years seeing things go from bad to worse to be optimistic about the country?. . .What can I say has improved in Nigeria since 1960, I can't think of anything. Even our soccer which we were proud of is going downhill!

People like my dad has had a positive attitude towards their own personal upliftment because things have gotten better for him personally over the years. His attitude towards Nigeria is a whole lot different, he has seen things get worse over the years. Where does Chxta's "ignorance" explanation play a part in any of his pessimism? He has lived all over the country, spending over 16 years in Sokoto. His pessimism is as a result of being "in the know", you don't remain optimistic after 40 years of seeing things go downhill unless you're completely unaware of what goes on around you.

You do not tell a wiseman to go under a shade and avoid direct sunlight. People do not become pessimistic out of ignorance, they have reasons based on past history that have forced them to become pessimistic. Asking anyone to remain optimistic when they haven't seen any improvement in the state of affairs all their lives on earth is ignorance on your own part. I will advice you to take your own advice, do not wallow in ignorance. Try to find out why people who are pessimistic about Nigeria are that way and you decide for yourself if your optimism is realistic given historical precedence. Your optimism is definitely not based on history, I wonder what it is based on, perhaps ignorance?. . .Just a thought!

@topic,

What to do? Change our attitude. As Gandhi so eloquently put it, 'You must be the change that you wish to see in the world.'

Now going back to the issues under discussion. I'm of the opiniion that a vague solution is no solution at all. Saying the average Nigerian needs an attitudinal change is vague to me. What kind of attitude are you talking about? Going by the context of the whole write-up, one can partly conclude that the writer will like to see us more informed. I'm sorry, but what we need now is not more information but rather some action.

Believe me that the average Nigeirian is well informed, more informed about their surroundings than most Americans I've met are informed about theirs. The difference between both is that while the Americans will make their leaders accountable, Nigerians are waiting on God to do it for them. Can you imagine a Nigeria where the leaders are held accountable by the people? That will be the Nigeria of our dreams. All of us are here talking and postulating, throwing information around like its going out of business, but until we put what we know to practice, we will definitely not make any changes.

So what practical steps should we take? What should be our next course of action? These are the things we need to be discussing now and not just pointing fingers at each other.

@ Donzman and TayoD, thanks so much for putting things in perspective.

@TayoD

If you attempt to hold leaders accountable, people will ask you why you have to depend on leaders for everything, can't you go and build a windmill like the kid in Malawi?. . .Obviously there are avenues through which people can help themselves without depending on leaders but in the same vein, there are things people cannot do for themselves without the leaders leading the right way. Infact a bad leader can suppress positive attitudes within a group, the case of Nigeria.

Chxta saying that most Nigerians are not goal-driven and have a sit and wait attitude is false. Nigerians have been helping themselves since God knows when and have been going out to grab as far as their hands can carry them. The extra push is just not there which is why people remain pessimistic.