I don't want to generalise, but it seems to me that most Africans are lazy. nothing is done properly. The Cyber cafe i'm typing from has network issues, but the attendants don't give a Bleep, the mechanic does trial and error, some teachers are still teaching that there are 54 countries in Africa, a computer scientist cannot write programs properly, a chemistry graduate has never seen Hcl or chlorine in his life before, our scientists cannot produce things and the list is endless. Why are we like this? and we need to do something very urgent to reverse this.

Especially in Nigeria, certain jobs are seen as demeaning. That's just sick! and laziness.

PocketEconomist: I don't want to generalise, but it seems to me that most Africans are lazy.

You ''don't want to generalise''. But you DID.

Why don't you paint your skin white so you won't be lazy?

The millions of Africans, from farmers to truckpushers to traders to market women and hawkers, who eke out a living in conditions a ''hardworking'', wastrel like you and your white masters could never contemplate in a million lifetimes, can never be classified as ''lazy''.

ROSSIKE:

You ''don't want to generalise''. But you DID.

Why don't you paint your skin white so you won't be lazy?

The millions of Africans, from farmers to truckpushers to market women and hawkers, who eke out a living in conditions a ''hardworking'' wastrel like you and your white masters could never contemplate in a million lifetimes, can never be classified as ''lazy''.

THAT IS THE PROBLEM. AS ONE WITH VAST KNOWLEDGE OF LABOR ECONOMICS, LAZINESS TO ME IS DEFINED AS LOW PRODUCTIVITY PER PERSON, OR LOW OUTPUT PER HEAD. AFRICA HAS THE LOWEST OUTPUT PER PERSON AND THAT DEFINES US AS A GROUP AS LAZY. HOWEVER, NOT ALL ARE LAZY. A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE ARE RELATIVELY PRODUCTIVE. BUT MOST AFRICANS ARE LAZY. BEING HARDWORKING DOESN'T MEAN PUTTING A LOT OF EFFORT, IT IS GETTING THINGS DONE. ARE WE GETTING THINGS DONE AS WE SUPPOSED TO? ASK YOURSELF. LET'S PUT OUR POINTS AS INTELLECTUALS AND NOT TOUTS. THANK YOU.

productivity should be priority when quantifying laziness. What percentage of Nigerian youth are productive in the real sense of the word? Ask yourself.

PocketEconomist: THAT IS THE PROBLEM. AS ONE WITH VAST KNOWLEDGE OF LABOR ECONOMICS, LAZINESS TO ME IS DEFINED AS LOW PRODUCTIVITY PER PERSON, OR LOW OUTPUT PER HEAD. AFRICA HAS THE LOWEST OUTPUT PER PERSON AND THAT DEFINES US AS A GROUP AS LAZY. HOWEVER, NOT ALL ARE LAZY. A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE ARE RELATIVELY PRODUCTIVE. BUT MOST AFRICANS ARE LAZY. BEING HARDWORKING DOESN'T MEAN PUTTING A LOT OF EFFORT, IT IS GETTING THINGS DONE. ARE WE GETTING THINGS DONE AS WE SUPPOSED TO? ASK YOURSELF. LET'S PUT OUR POINTS AS INTELLECTUALS AND NOT TOUTS. THANK YOU.

Sorry, but you're talking a load of RUBBISH. Productivity is a function of industrialization, and has NOTHING to do with ''laziness'' or the work ethics of a population. Industrialization allows automation to replace the role of physical labour, leading to increased productivity.

ROSSIKE:
Sorry, but you're talking a load of RUBBISH. Productivity is a function of industrialization, and has NOTHING to do with ''laziness'' or the work ethics of a population.

oh seriously... so why is there no industrialization. isn't it the same laziness? or intellectual laziness

PocketEconomist: oh seriously... so why is there no industrialization. isn't it the same laziness? or intellectual laziness

That is a layman's analysis that is shockingly inept for a supposedly educated person. Industrialization is a function of a nation or region's historical development trajectory, which is influenced by a combination of factors including social, economic, geographical, political and geo-political congruences. The increasingly symmetrical interaction of those factors is what leads ultimately to a nation's development.

PocketEconomist: I don't want to generalise, but it seems to me that most Africans are lazy. nothing is done properly. The Cyber cafe i'm typing from has network issues, but the attendants don't give a Bleep, the mechanic does trial and error, some teachers are still teaching that there are 54 countries in Africa, a computer scientist cannot write programs properly, a chemistry graduate has never seen Hcl or chlorine in his life before, our scientists cannot produce things and the list is endless. Why are we like this? and we need to do something very urgent to reverse this.

Why are we like this, you asked? Its because you the op is an African, if what you wrote above qualifies one as an African. Most Africans don't have dignity in labour would had been more appropriate than calling people that walk 8 miles to collect a bucket of drinking water on their head lazy.

Laziness and productivity very too different things but closely related.
You can be hard working and be under productive. Productivity is a function of Education, economical and geographical resources.
We all know African is lagging in one of those.

Laziness and productivity are two very different things but closely related.
You can be hard working and be under productive. Productivity is a function of Education, economical and geographical resources.
We all know African is lagging in one of those.

I agree with you to an extent, Africans seem lazy until they travel out and the whole choice thing is because parents allow their 20 something years olds stay at home for free.

bolayei: I agree with you to an extent, Africans seem lazy until they travel out and the whole choice thing is because parents allow their 20 something years olds stay at home for free.

thank you. At last, someone can see where i'm coming from. Maybe i did not explain myself properly, and i will try. Laziness comes in various forms such as Intellectual laziness, Mental laziness, e.t.c. Most Africans today suffer from intellectual laziness. What do i mean? I give a few examples... A man is cutting grass with cutlass. He's hard working right? Not quite. He's intellectually lazy, as he cannot figure out better methods of cutting the grass to save time do more and have time for other productive ventures. Let's go to the academia. Alk we hear is Newton's law, Ohm's law, Graham's law and the rest. Why don't we have Chinedu's law, Bayo's law, e.t.c. Don't we have thousands of Professors in Africa, what's the reason? Intellectual laziness. What successful research has been carried out? A few i guess.

Let us consider the village people who go 3 miles to fetch water.. They are hard working right? Not quite.... How about devising a method or channel that will send the water to their village. For those of you who know, this can be done with primitive technology, as the Ancient Egyptians did such with the River Nile, channeling the water to their cities such as Luxor and Thebes. How many African languages have a standard dictionary, adding new words every year. Don't we have linguists? What are they doing? Nothing! I dare say that this is another form of intellectual laziness? In the Niger Delta, the locals devised a means to refine crude oil, although illegal. Instead of the Federal government to encourage them secretly to enable them build local refineries im medium scale,thus making us self sufficient in the long run, they destroyed it and arrested thdm. That's wickedness. There are a lot of science students in Nigeria, yet they cannnt make Keke Napep. What senior secondary students in India your mate are doing. In fact, if you watch Asia today, you will weep for Africa. We have cocoa plenty, yet we cannot produce chocolate. To me all these is laziness. Not being able to fashion out better ways of doing things over the years to save time and increase productivity is laziness. Thus Laziness amd Productivity are correlated.

PocketEconomist: productivity should be priority when quantifying laziness. What percentage of Nigerian youth are productive in the real sense of the word? Ask yourself.

I think a few. But I see this laziness, in answering your question, as a fallout of poor adaptation to the Western way of life. Manual labour is looked down on, and only resorted to when one hits rock-bottom, never mind that bricklayers, carpenters, blacksmith etc are the basis of the ostensity and developments seen in the Western world. Again we are in an environment that encourages laziness, by not inculcating in kids the habit and importance of manual and technical labor. Till date, colonial style rote learning takes precedence. I believe the former apprenticeship system our forefathers used is somewhat superior.

A better title would have been "Why is Africa Relatively Unproductive"?

PocketEconomist: thank you. At last, someone can see where i'm coming from. Maybe i did not explain myself properly, and i will try. Laziness comes in various forms such as Intellectual laziness, Mental laziness, e.t.c. Most Africans today suffer from intellectual laziness. What do i mean? I give a few examples... A man is cutting grass with cutlass. He's hard working right? Not quite. He's intellectually lazy, as he cannot figure out better methods of cutting the grass to save time do more and have time for other productive ventures.

Europeans were using cutlass to cut grass for thousands of years before ONE MAN invented the lawnmower a mere century ago. Does that mean the millions of whites who used cutlass for thousands of years prior were all ''intellectually lazy''?

Let's go to the academia. Alk we hear is Newton's law, Ohm's law, Graham's law and the rest. Why don't we have Chinedu's law, Bayo's law, e.t.c. Don't we have thousands of Professors in Africa, what's the reason? Intellectual laziness. What successful research has been carried out? A few i guess.

More research has been conducted in Africa than your lazy brain and ignorant mind can begin to contemplate. I bet you cannot name a single research institute in Africa. The real problem is YOUR intellectual laziness and your terrifying ignorance.

HNosegbe: A better title would have been "Why is Africa Relatively Unproductive"?

I think you are right. But i still believe that laziness and unproductivity are highly related. If you cannot solve your problems using your head, you are lazy.

PocketEconomist: Let us consider the village people who go 3 miles to fetch water.. They are hard working right? Not quite....

I get your point. But still carrying water for 3 miles is no mean feat. I count you can even pull it off.

PocketEconomist: How about devising a method or channel that will send the water to their village.

I don't think it is feasible as such given the seasonality of our rivers. That and they aren't as voluminous as the Nile save for the 2 main rivers we have. Irrigation is desirable though.

PocketEconomist: For those of you who know, this can be done with primitive technology, as the Ancient Egyptians did such with the River Nile, channeling the water to their cities such as Luxor and Thebes.

True.

PocketEconomist: How many African languages have a standard dictionary, adding new words every year. Don't we have linguists? What are they doing? Nothing! I dare say that this is another form of intellectual laziness?

Who will give them money as incentive against laziness ? You ? Or an inept government ?

PocketEconomist: In the Niger Delta, the locals devised a means to refine crude oil, although illegal. Instead of the Federal government to encourage them secretly to enable them build local refineries im medium scale,thus making us self sufficient in the long run, they destroyed it and arrested thdm.

Goes to show the level of myopia we have in governance. No different from what Gowon did to Biafran army. Destroy talent that could be nurtured (notwithstanding being misguided) to better the nation.

PocketEconomist: That's wickedness. There are a lot of science students in Nigeria, yet they cannnt make Keke Napep.

True, true. I find it ironic I'm a Comp. Eng student who can't even design an inverter circuit, or repair a laptop, talkless of design a novel microchip. My laziness inclusive, and those of other students, I would say using me as an example that Iack of early solid grounding in technical education, an ill-organised student-work experience scheme as part of the general rot in our education sector (evidenced by poor WASSCE and UME results over the years) are crucial factors involved. Consider that a high-scool student in Japan, known for its AI and robotics innovations, can replicate or even best what university students here struggle with. They are that well-taught.

PocketEconomist: What senior secondary students in India your mate are doing. In fact, if you watch Asia today, you will weep for Africa.

Oh ho ! You set sabi we yin I dey talk.

PocketEconomist: We have cocoa plenty, yet we cannot produce chocolate. To me all these is laziness.

Can we make the cocoa sef ?

PocketEconomist: Not being able to fashion out better ways of doing things over the years to save time and increase productivity is laziness. Thus Laziness amd Productivity are correlated.

Correction. Inversely correlated. I think we need good leaders. Daz all. This non-challance and 'you need connection to make it' will persist as long as the likes of Suswam and Jonathan think You win et al is changing the fortunes of our country.

ROSSIKE:

Europeans were using cutlass to cut grass for thousands of years before ONE MAN invented the lawnmower a century ago. Does that mean the millions of whites who used cutlass prior were all ''intellectually lazy''?



More research has been conducted in Africa than your lazy brain and ignorant mind can begin to contemplate. I bet you cannot name a single research institute in Africa. The real problem is YOUR intellectual laziness and ignorance.

Wow! So tell me, how many laws have Africam professors propounded? How many science and technical education students can make a simple extension wire, what reliable statistics has NIMR released? What of IITA, do they publish their latest discovery. What of NBS? Can we rely on their statistics? What of CRIN? Rossike, you are a JOKER.

PocketEconomist: Wow! So tell me, how many laws have Africam professors propounded? How many science and technical education students can make a simple extension wire, what reliable statistics has NIMR released? What of IITA, do they publish their latest discovery. What of NBS? Can we rely on their statistics? What of CRIN? Rossike, you are a JOKER.

The problem with ROSSIKE is that he thinks admitting your faults makes you inferior. The fact is you can't solve a problem you don't acknowledge and Africans like him should understand we point out certain things so they can be corrected. Not because we are white stooges, or ashamed of our skin or all that nonsense.

PocketEconomist: Wow! So tell me, how many laws have Africam professors propounded? How many science and technical education students can make a simple extension wire, what reliable statistics has NIMR released? What of IITA, do they publish their latest discovery. What of NBS? Can we rely on their statistics? What of CRIN? Rossike, you are a JOKER.

Dummy.. So you DON'T KNOW what any of these institutes have done?

The fact that you DON'T KNOW, and you've taken your ignorance to mean they've done nothing, shows you are an intellectually lazy, arrogant ignoramus with more lips than sense. Next time, go and conduct your research before coming here to spill racist garbage.

ROSSIKE:

Dummy.. So you DON'T KNOW what any of these institutes have done?

The fact that you DON'T KNOW shows you are an intellectually lazy ignoramus.

They have done stuff. But they are for the most part underfunded. I don't know the Nigerian government to take research seriously. It seems building roads and estates, buying Hilux trucks is even taken more seriously than such.

@ PocketEconomist: What possible solutions do you have to stop this laziness ?

Uyi Iredia:

The problem with ROSSIKE is that he thinks admitting your faults makes you inferior. The fact is you can't solve a problem you don't acknowledge and Africans like him should understand we point out certain things so they can be corrected. Not because we are white stooges, or ashamed of our skin or all that nonsense.

You are almost as bad as him. ''Admitting your faults'' indeed. How can you ''admit your faults'' when you are too lazy and presumptuous to identify what your faults are in the first place?

The guy comes here saying Africans are lazy, intellectually lazy etc etc. Wrong diagnosis.

Wrong diagnosis leads to wrong treatment.

To reduce Africa's problems to mere 'laziness' is in itself laziness allied to ignorance and naivety.

Uyi Iredia:

They have done stuff. But they are for the most part underfunded.

Aaaaah!!! So we are no longer ''intellectually lazy''?

So you know we have hundreds and possibly thousands of inventions sitting around in our institutes and unis which have not been given support for mass production etc?

Ok... So kindly DITCH THE TERM ''intellectually lazy'', since clearly, that is not the problem.

I don't know the Nigerian government to take research seriously. It seems building roads and estates, buying Hilux trucks is even taken more seriously than such.

You can't blame them for concentrating on those basic bread and butter issues at this stage in our development. It really should be the private sector's role to harness our discoveries and inventions.

PocketEconomist: THAT IS THE PROBLEM. AS ONE WITH VAST KNOWLEDGE OF LABOR ECONOMICS, LAZINESS TO ME IS DEFINED AS LOW PRODUCTIVITY PER PERSON, OR LOW OUTPUT PER HEAD. AFRICA HAS THE LOWEST OUTPUT PER PERSON AND THAT DEFINES US AS A GROUP AS LAZY. HOWEVER, NOT ALL ARE LAZY. A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE ARE RELATIVELY PRODUCTIVE. BUT MOST AFRICANS ARE LAZY. BEING HARDWORKING DOESN'T MEAN PUTTING A LOT OF EFFORT, IT IS GETTING THINGS DONE. ARE WE GETTING THINGS DONE AS WE SUPPOSED TO? ASK YOURSELF. LET'S PUT OUR POINTS AS INTELLECTUALS AND NOT TOUTS. THANK YOU.

Most of them think of the physical when u call them lazy, forgetting that the brain is where the real strength resides.

Mentally, they are disgustingly lazy.

To solve our problem, we must admit we have a problem. Then we have to change our attitude. With respect to research, how many indigenous companies dedicate a certain percentage of their profits to research? Is dangote doing so? They prefer to sponsor reality shows. Think about this.

PocketEconomist: To solve our problem, we must admit we have a problem. Then we have to change our attitude. With respect to research, how many indigenous companies dedicate a certain percentage of their profits to research? Is dangote doing so? They prefer to sponsor reality shows. Think about this.

More crass and wild generalizations without foundation in research or empirical investigation. You cannot conclude Dangote has no R & D department simply because it is a Nigerian firm, and based on absolute zero research by yourself.

kingoflag: Most of them think of the physical when u call them lazy, forgetting that the brain is where the real strength resides.

Mentally, they are disgustingly lazy.

And what have YOU done with your brain to distinguish yourself?

You seem pretty much like a non-entity off the street passing judgement.

@ rossike, it was a simple question. Answer yes or no. I repeat, how many indigenous companies pledge money to research ? I didn't answer yes or no, answer it yoursekf with all sincerity. Now, we all need to think of better way of doing things.

ROSSIKE:

And what have YOU done with your brain to distinguish yourself?

You seem pretty much like a non-entity off the street passing judgement.

Not true. I beg to disagree. Going by your posts on this forum...Ure of no use to the earth because its always so damn difficult for you to admit fault--- like a Child, Old person, mentally re.ta*rded person or a chronic liar.

Which one are u?