Look at Americans - even in the face of trouble and calamity, they speak hope, faith, love, oneness, harmony, they see hope always.

Look at Nigerians - in the face of "peace", they see trouble, they see calamity, they speak, failure, they loose faith, they preach hate and they never see hope.

Look at Americans - When a black man aims to become the President of America, he uses the term, we can do it, and the whole citizen supports him.

Look at Nigerians - When anything great is planned, they shout it down and say - it can never be done, meaning - "we can not do it because we are black and foolish". They see their country as a country where nothing good can come out.

In America - They sent men to the moon, noone was there before, they made it happen.

In Nigeria - Ask them to wear hemet to protect themselves from accident, they shout it down and say it is never necessary.

In America- Everyone is sane - noone drives on the wrong side of the traffic. Noone breaks traffic laws.

In Nigeria - Noone is sane - noone obeys traffic laws, everyone, including the educated, drive on the wrong side of the road.

In America - you dont have to be told to wear a seat belt, wear helmet, dont overspeed.

In Nigeria - make such laws and you are doomed, they say you are a fool.

In America- plan to spend millions on security, on a war, on building roads, everyone welcomes it.

In Nigeria - come to NairaLand, they rubbish everything planned, they say no need for roads, no need for security, it will not work.

God, why, why, why - why have you made all Nigerians fools?

rotflmao

I am watching the Obama Inauguration right now on CNN and I am really feelling sad about Nigeria. See how everything is going smoothly without a single drop of blood. Please, should young nigerians come together against our so called foolish leaders.

Wathcing the inauguration makes me happy for Americans and the world in general because there is renewed hope in the land.
Also makes me sad because Nigeria is so far off. What is it going take for Nigerians to reach there? Where do we start from? Well, it can be done.

May God help us and may we be committed to helping ourselves.

i_laugh:

Look at Americans - even in the face of trouble and calamity, they speak hope, faith, love, oneness, harmony, they see hope always.

Look at Nigerians - in the face of "peace", they see trouble, they see calamity, they speak, failure, they loose faith, they preach hate and they never see hope.

Look at Americans - When a black man aims to become the President of America, he uses the term, we can do it, and the whole citizen supports him.

Look at Nigerians - When anything great is planned, they shout it down and say - it can never be done, meaning - "we can not do it because we are black and foolish". They see their country as a country where nothing good can come out.

In America - They sent men to the moon, noone was there before, they made it happen.

In Nigeria - Ask them to wear hemet to protect themselves from accident, they shout it down and say it is never necessary.

In America- Everyone is sane - noone drives on the wrong side of the traffic. Noone breaks traffic laws.

In Nigeria - Noone is sane - noone obeys traffic laws, everyone, including the educated, drive on the wrong side of the road.

In America - you dont have to be told to wear a seat belt, wear helmet, dont overspeed.

In Nigeria - make such laws and you are doomed, they say you are a fool.

In America- plan to spend millions on security, on a war, on building roads, everyone welcomes it.

In Nigeria - come to NairaLand, they rubbish everything planned, they say no need for roads, no need for security, it will not work.

God, why, why, why - why have you made all Nigerians fools?

We are not fools. Its our cultural regression.

We want our country to change but most of us cannot handle it.

America is NOT perfect like written in the excerpt. However America is ahead of Nigeria because Americans, and white people in general are more willing to change regressive culture (Segregation, Slavery, Bigotry, excessive family ties, etc etc). Nigerians and most Africans, and most third world folks are such because they have allowed their regressive backward traditions to taint their logic and corrode their minds.

@poster

you are saying america just put ideas together without thinking properly about it?
will same american govt advise its people to wear such helmet , there are ghethos in america here and there but nigeria as a country is ghetho, and our leaders galifant , stealing today and taking our future generation dreams away.
can you compare like for like pls.
i think tou r wrong.

is this nt d persn seein hope in nigeria and being proud?
Stupid and confused duck.

I see hope in NIGERIA !

Why did the british people gather us and call us Nigerians? Instead of working to help ourselves we are hoping for the Gods to come and save us from all our mad made endless litany of problems.

@ poster

First of all God did not pack us into one country neither did He call it Nigeria. The British did that.

Second to compare Nigeria to America is like comparing apples and Oranges. They are not in the same catergory by a long shot.

So called "third world" or developing world root problems are not being addressed. The illiterate government are busy trying to catch up to the west by beocming Pseudo-westernized states. how can you want to Fly to the moon when you haven't taken baby steps to get your self there in the first place.

How can you expect an illiterate okada driver to obey helmet law when all he is thinking about is feeding his family and cuttin corners to do so. You haven't tackled the problem of his illiteracy to the world around him before elling him to observe a law which in his senses don't mak sense at all.

Good post, wrong conclusion.

America didn't get there in a day.

Too much monkey sense makes Nigeria what it is today.

i laugh abeg, i no fit laugh , E be like say na u write lamentations for bible. anyway naija be like e be becos everybody be like u dey lament 4 internet and 4 their house, ol boy i no fit laff

I have a feeling the poster would have been happier if he were a Zimbabwean, of Afghan.

i_laugh:

Look at Americans - even in the face of trouble and calamity, they speak hope, faith, love, oneness, harmony, they see hope always.

Yes they do. But they’ve not been oppressed by their leaders and their leaders don’t run away from problems. Most of their leaders that mess up actually get punished. Unlike in Nigeria. Loot and go free.

i_laugh:

Look at Nigerians - in the face of "peace", they see trouble, they see calamity, they speak, failure, they loose faith, they preach hate and they never see hope.

Which Nigeria are you living? The only peace in Nigeria is with the rich and the poor just seek solace in alcohol and the likes. Nothing else.

i_laugh:

Look at Americans - When a black man aims to become the President of America, he uses the term, we can do it, and the whole citizen supports him.

Look at Nigerians - When anything great is planned, they shout it down and say - it can never be done, meaning - "we can not do it because we are black and foolish". They see their country as a country where nothing good can come out.

No we didn’t say that. We want to know the whole details of the plan and I think it’s not rocket science nor is it disrespectful asking about these things.
In America - They sent men to the moon, noone was there before, they made it happen.

i_laugh:

In Nigeria - Ask them to wear hemet to protect themselves from accident, they shout it down and say it is never necessary.

Before America sent men to the moon, they made sure everyone (at least almost everyone) have a roof over their head, good roads, constant electricity, good water supply and also more importantly they can feed themselves.

i_laugh:

In America- Everyone is sane - noone drives on the wrong side of the traffic. Noone breaks traffic laws.
In Nigeria - Noone is sane - noone obeys traffic laws, everyone, including the educated, drive on the wrong side of the road.

You are insane for trying to compare Nigeria with America. When things are wrong, the ordinary Americans tried to correct it for free. When people drive on the wrong side of the road, police arrest them while in Nigeria police collect bribes and in fact escort them on that same wrong side of the road which they’re driving. At least in Nigeria, you don't read of any working psychiatric hospitals while they have a lot of them in America (does that make the patients that are taken there insane?). Plus the American government have not kept the hospital budgets in their own personal bank accounts while Nigerian government have done exactly the same.

i_laugh:

In America - you dont have to be told to wear a seat belt, wear helmet, dont overspeed.

In Nigeria - make such laws and you are doomed, they say you are a fool.

No. In America, if you fail to wear a seatbelt, you know the consequence and that’s why you don’t need to be told. More so, the law applies to everybody not just the ordinary citizens. In Nigeria, big men don’t care neither do the politicians. Also, the transport
In America, the government still spend money on advertising and making sure you are aware of the consequences (health and penalties) of not wearing a safety gear while driving.

i_laugh:

In America- plan to spend millions on security, on a war, on building roads, everyone welcomes it.

You’re a liar and you obviously don’t read newspapers. How many people supported the Iraq war? That’s one of the most unpopular wars and in fact when America went ahead, the people thought, we might as well support our men in the war zone and not otherwise.

i_laugh:

In Nigeria - come to NairaLand, they rubbish everything planned, they say no need for roads, no need for security, it will not work.

How many people have said that? In Nairaland, all I’ve seen you do is criticize people for being intelligent and having a say. All you do is abuse people on taking you at your game. All you do is abuse people for saying their opinions. You’re such an illiterate.

i_laugh:

God, why, why, why - why have you made all Nigerians fools?

Including you!!!


"Once you get the foundation wrong, as Nigeria has done, you don’t get no development of any sort. You can sleep and dream as much as you like but all you will get is blurred vision, whether 2010 or 2020!Never mind dubious Nigerian politicians telling you they are in politics to “move Nigeria forward” whatever that means!"

Seeing what I saw yesterday on Tv in America, am just damn ashamed to comment freely here.

God!!, when are we going to get it right in this country??.

God did not create that trash we call Nigeria. It was a British man that packed us into one unworkable entity.

@ boss thanks for that post

"Yes they do. But they’ve not been oppressed by their leaders and their leaders don’t run away from problems. Most of their leaders that mess up actually get punished. Unlike in Nigeria. Loot and go free."

stop trying to compare Nigeria or Africa with the western world we face a very different situation we have a different story what works for that world doesnt always work for this world.

B118:

@ boss thanks for that post

"Yes they do. But they’ve not been oppressed by their leaders and their leaders don’t run away from problems. Most of their leaders that mess up actually get punished. Unlike in Nigeria. Loot and go free."

stop trying to compare Nigeria or Africa with the western world we face a very different situation we have a different story what works for that world doesnt always work for this world.

Hope you really don't take offence at this but i think you might need to go read up on your history a bit to see if it was always that way. There was opression in france, opression of the poor by the welathy and the 'ordinary' people revolted and changed their history.

Take a city like New York for example, the ammount of corruption that was so intrinsic in the running of New York in its early days might shock you. I understand where you are coming from when you use the term 'different situation' but i really don't buy it if used as a means of excusing the situation in Nigeria. It has throughout history been a case of people getting involved and changing their own history even though the situations might be different.

Sky Blue I am not in anyway excusing the situation in Nigeria not at all, and I am all for the idea of the people standing up against thier opressors.
But you will be right to agree with me that thier some things that go on in Nigeria that are so "in your face" "don't you people get it we dont care about your problems we just want to fill our pockets and leave" for example I watched a show on channel 4 the other day that made me cry my eyes out (and i'm not talking titanic type cry my eyes out lol). Children where being brutalized and murdered because they are accused of being witches, there were several complaints to the local government ot do something but they ignored until the international journalist got involved even after that it was minimal effort. It was so obvious thier were mutilated dead bodies of chidren all around These are ppl being brain washed by religious beliefs, and many more such problems how do you compare the kind of problem to something like " a maniac got drunk and shot his wife in the head for no good reason" I'm not saying the western world or the like do not have thier own problems too i'm just saying we cant just simply say if this is what they do we must do the same

Yes we have real ghettos in the states , where people have diabetes related complications and cannot get treatment because they have no welfare, thier are people having to live on welfare (we dont even get welfare in Nigeria). Thier are people selling thier hair in parts of russia for money. I am not down playing the seriousness of thier issues. but in Africa in place of some1 dying from obesity because they ate too much or from diabete because they had too much sugar (could be other causes such as genetic) we have people starving to death or sufferring because thier once clean stream water or healthy soil has been destroyed in the process of crude oil refining, (wont even continue on that too tragic)

Another example is in the uk they have to put a law in place that prevents kids under certain age from purchasing alcohol. Nigeria doesnt need this kind of law becaue for one thins thier is no means to enforce this, thier is hardly any need for it anyway because we dont have cases of kids vandalizing the bus stop due to intoxication, we dont even have such bus stops to worry about in the first place.

Saying "Nigeria isn't so bad" is a serious case of denial. Nigeria is a big "agbaya", a sleeping giant that needs to wake up soon.

Looks like I'm having difficulty getting my point across but hope u get a bit of d gist

Isn't this the same person that called me names for rejoicing over Obama's inauguration yesterday.
So you finally opened a thread to vent.

shammmmmmmmmmmmmmme on nigeria politicians shame on you politicians in nigeria.

B118:

@ boss thanks for that post
"Yes they do. But they’ve not been oppressed by their leaders and their leaders don’t run away from problems. Most of their leaders that mess up actually get punished. Unlike in Nigeria. Loot and go free."
stop trying to compare Nigeria or Africa with the western world we face a very different situation we have a different story what works for that world doesnt always work for this world.

I have to disagree with you there. We do not face different situations at all. We do not have different stories per se. We are both all trying to deal with politics, right? And these politicians are all human beings with one head on their head necks, right? Why does it seem harder for us to deal with our problems while it appears to be easier for those in America to deal with theirs? Why do they go scot free in Nigeria when they do wrong but we hear of governors, senators etc. in the USA that end up serving Jail term for their crimes and losing their office? Please do not try to write that people in the US have thirty heads or something and please do not come up with history as reason. Try to focus on the questions and ask why it happens in America and some other developed countries but not in Nigeria.

@Poster


The picture of the analogous concepts between Nigeria and USA as being painted by the poster looks so foolish that it depicted the poster as one of the fools parked into Nigeria.

I wondered aloud if the poster actually conceptualized the makings of the two nations from cradle, through tribulation of the civil war, to the present. It would amount to mockery of oneself to brazenly indulge in comparative analysis between Nigeria and USA without soaking in the effervescence of obvious relevancies. 

For example, the USA had civil war and the victorious side never declared anybody's
property as abandoned within the union after the war.

The victorious side never indulged in the financial punitive measures to make
sure that the defeated side should lack miserably behind in acquiring wealth in USA.

There was no draconian boundary adjustment initiated by the victorious side in order
to cede some of the crude oil producing areas belonging to the vanquished side to
their neighbors in USA.

There was no quota system adopted in military intake, government
agencies and universities so that victorious side can surpass the vanquished side in
all human endeavors.

There were no changes to the name of landmarks in USA as a punitive measure against the confederacy of the south. Today in Nigeria, there is no Bight of Biafra.

Some streets in the USA capital were named after the confederate generals and even memorials built in there name too.

There was no sublime political or economic machination to undermine the position of the confederate states. 

There were massive reconstruction activities and upgrade of infrastructures in the south due to the devastation brought about by the war. This can not be said about Nigeria where the war scar is still visible especially on the roads in eastern Nigeria. 

The mainstream of the USA citizenry does not get twisted out of human form or attempts to jump off cliff at the mention of the southern confederacy.

I am not even going to deliberate on issues that led to civil war in Nigeria or the activities during war but what followed when both sides declared truce.

All of the above, including certain omissions, have constituted into a scar of machete cut on the palm that each time the Biafrans looked at it incites the emotion of getting even.

I must honestly confess that Nigeria lost her innocence of being great united nation because of the civil war and she has practically done nothing to redeem herself since the war ended.

is this supposed to be a huge joke or something

Look, I'm not a big fan of Nigeria, but the poster got it all wrong. The history of America is not the same as the Nigerian history. The success of America comes from the fact that they together with Europe have for decades invaded and looted other countries thats why they're successful. Thiefs are generally richer than law abiding citizens.

Kobojunkie:

I have to disagree with you there,  Why does it seem harder for us to deal with our problems while it appears to be easier for those in America to deal with theirs? Why do they go scot free in Nigeria when they do wrong but we hear of governors, senators etc. in the USA that end up serving Jail term for their crimes and losing their office?

Right thier is my point, the WHY. The system of government in place seems to be working for them but it is obviously not working for us, there is something wrong somewhere, we need to go back to the drawing board and form a different strategy to deal with the situation we face,

Where we're comming from is inevitably a contributing factor to where we are going to. So dont ever try to push history to the side. I'll quote Obama here

"Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we face them may be new, but the values on which our success is based, honesty& hardwork, courage & fairplay, unity, those values are OLD, those values are TRUE"

Read Obama's biography he went back to Africa to find his roots and this part was a great contributor to who he is now, Mohammed Ali also had to go back home to find peace with himself. Its all about how it all started dont ever push aside history.

Even the Americans the british, i'm talking the real aristocrats who know the value of land, culture, tradition and values, they dont joke with it, they hold on to thier culture and history so they know where they started from they have a foundation which is why they are at a different stages in the cycle from a country like Nigeria, which is why we have a different story. A different struggle.

The very structure of Nigeria, the way its being built, the people, the resourcess. Nigeria is like a richly seasoned soup with no salt so we can't taste the essence. Those simple values of old which we ignore in our strife to be western, giving respect to the strife of our ancestors somewhere there lies the salt.

B118:


Right thier is my point, the WHY. The system of government in place seems to be working for them but it is obviously not working for us, there is something wrong somewhere, we need to go back to the drawing board and form a different strategy to deal with the situation we face,

Where we're comming from is inevitably a contributing factor to where we are going to. So dont ever try to push history to the side. I'll quote Obama here

"Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we face them may be new, but the values on which our success is based, honesty& hardwork, courage & fairplay, unity, those values are OLD, those values are TRUE"

Read Obama's biography he went back to Africa to find his roots and this part was a great contributor to who he is now, Mohammed Ali also had to go back home to find peace with himself. Its all about how it all started dont ever push aside history.

Even the Americans the british, i'm talking the real aristocrats who know the value of land, culture, tradition and values, they dont joke with it, they hold on to thier culture and history so they know where they started from they have a foundation which is why they are at a different stages in the cycle from a country like Nigeria, which is why we have a different story. A different struggle.

The very structure of Nigeria, the way its being built, the people, the resourcess. Nigeria is like a richly seasoned soup with no salt so we can't taste the essence. Those simple values of old which we ignore in our strife to be western, giving respect to the strife of our ancestors somewhere there lies the salt.

You and I are on completely different planes when it comes to this issue, I have to say. You are offering me exactly what I requested that you do not, lol

Kobojunkie:

You and I are on completely different planes when it comes to this issue, I have to say. You are offering me exactly what I requested that you do not, lol

No history lesson then. Since you seem to think they are utterly irrelevant at any point of discussion.
Solutions:

Revamp the whole educational system emphasizing discipline, sense of patriotism, and embed in the next generation seeds that will change the country.

Pumping more money into grassroot communities/Local government projects.

Stop trying to Weternize the country and build mega cities at the cost of the above two mentioned.

Pump money into research and development aimed at encouraging innovation particular to the nigeria economy and system. This includes staying competitive with regional and international markets.

Focus on industrializing other sectors of the economy besides banking and energy.

Were you not the one who said things are changing in Nigeria?

morpheus24:

No history lesson then. Since you seem to think they are utterly irrelevant at any point of discussion.
Solutions:

Revamp the whole educational system emphasizing discipline, sense of patriotism, and embed in the next generation seeds that will change the country.

Pumping more money into grassroot communities/Local government projects.

Stop trying to Weternize the country and build mega cities at the cost of the above two mentioned.

Pump money into research and development aimed at encouraging innovation particular to the nigeria economy and system. This includes staying competitive with regional and international markets.

Focus on industrializing other sectors of the economy besides banking and energy.

Now, how does our history HINDER us from achieving the above? Do we have excuses for why we do not have the above implemented in that country? No, we do not have excuses, but we sure try really hard to come up with reasons and such.

kobojunkie will make a very good technocrat but a bad leader.