The answer is NO. We are NOT. At least, most of us sha.
Our leaders reflect what we are as a people - perfectly. Everything they do depicts our culture. That's why we do the same damage to the country; religion notwithstanding. Muslim o, christian o. We have similar approach to what we call National Cake.
I can give you at least 10 Yoruba proverbs that support being unfair. I mean sheer nepotism.
Some of these proverbs/sayings support corruption. The same with Igbo and Hausa languages.

Even in our respective families we are not very fair. Now imagine a mere geo-political expression called Nigeria conceptualized by some colonial overlords.

Due process will remain a dinosaur in that entity.
Ododo oro!

Eziachi:

Not until Nigerian get a leader or leaders ready to live by their salaries or live even moderately poor, things will never change. It is impossible for some one with ambition to be rich to fight corruption, as he cannot have the clean conscience required to do so because he has his own skeleton.
Buhari/Idiagbon succeeded to a certain extent because they are both not materialistics persons, hence they can go after someone without having to feel guilty about their own skeleton.

Quite true but that is where phase two kicks in. After those two the establishment realised in order to prevent a recurrence it will do one thing. Crush the middle class, weaken education and depress the bottomline and I tell you what this would do. Split collective reasoning. It is only the middle class that can work independently of government. The top patronizes them for wealth and sustenance, e.g the Dangote's, Bergers, etc. The bottom would do anything to survive even physically carry the loot to the aircraft as they escape for stipends.

Now for the middle if you severe education and opportunity they become empty barrels, lots of noise, no power, no influence. That is why IBB went after both the middle class and education with equal venom. That is why private universities are promoted at the expense of private ones. Control. That is why (sorry to say so) the north does not have a middle class and is a dead wing when it comes to education despite the billions appropriated and stolen by its leader sons. How can you check bad leadership without these two pillars of society - the educated and the liberated (financially). It is deliberate. That is why they say the north is unified and politically weighty. Sure, there is no discord, no views, no opinions just plain old feudalism. It is the south I pity. You know the taste of food but are deprived from feeding. This is worse. But all these are known factors.

The big question is how to get out of the cycle. How can we like Eziachi say resist the money bug. How can we see the cheques they send from government house and if we cannot stop it, make a copy and send to AIT, EFCC, Wikileaks or CNN instead of smiling and expecting a tip, then coming here to moan and moan. HOW?

By principle,a leader is a reflection of his people's core values.

Reference:

This is one question I have been asking in other words without much of a credible response. Perhaps because I love practicality and it hurts somewhat. Once again for example, where were the average, hardworking, ethical, professional bankers looking when the pastor and madam were robbing their banks, great institutions they collectively built, eh? Did it have to take the incarceration of that young man for Tafa Balogun's misdeeds to be exposed. James Ibori, Lucky Igbinedion, Bola Tinubu, Joshua Dariye, etc endless list. Shell petroleum, Julius Berger, Dangote, PHCN, Nigerian Customs, the Judicial Council, etc. The list is endless. If you work in Nigeria, I mean earn an income in this country, you perhaps could lengthen the list and perhaps are of have enabled someone corruptly enrich himself, transfer loot, hide it or expend it positively or negatively. For which you have benefitted directly or indirectly from the transaction at the expense of someone else or the society in general, KNOWINGLY.

I really want to know the extent of social (not legal) complicity and I once asked the question, if I was dispensing burgers at a stall having made no sales that day whatsoever and James Ibori (no pun intended) walked by with a ten dollar bill for a coke what will my response be. Or my sister was engaged to his cousin will I gladly break open a bottle of Moet on the happy day. You see these are the questions we face daily and have to come up with the kind of responses that match or rhetoric and most of all desire for change. If I can't help it I may as well not talk about it.

Unfortunately what annoys me most is that the structure of society is such that the flash point (the point where people wake up and realise what they are doing to themselves by aiding this corruption vortex) is never reached. For example. IBB pressed and pressed, when the thing was about to explode he let go, the carnage remains, institutions are still in their infancy but we are just glad to have a democracy (in name alone) so we let him live. The NLC will protest and hang on, when someone in government realises that the lid on their jumbo salaries and pipeline for their ill-gotten wealth is about to be breached they let go and the masses return to the offices to push files, that ultimately push the loot to Geneva. And here you are wondering when we will ever stage a protest on mismanagement or financial injustice.

I personally think Nigerians and perhaps blacks in general are great individals but no doubt when it comes to what makes for a functional society we are pretty useless. Call it a legacy of colonization, something sown by the whites to make collective progress unworkable and you may have a point but except if it is uranium surely such devices would have decayed by now.

But we have been independent for half a century now so it will be a stretch to keep blaming our colonial masters for our collective national failure.

What does the white man have to do with the behavior of the average Nigerian today?

It seems that our problems is either due to the "government" or the "white male"

Holla!:

By principle,a leader is a reflection of his people's core values.

If that is the case, then why do Nigerians want leaders who are not like them?

Why do we pray for leaders that do not behave like us or the average Nigerian Is this realistic or possible?

Eziachi:

An average Nigerian is far worse than his leaders, afterall, the leadership comes from among the people.

Looking at the New crop of leaders we have produced since the return to democracy in 1999, the Bankoles, the Fayoses, the Ribadus, the Segun Onis et al. These are the young Turks of Nigeria's politics now. Are they an improvement to the old corrupt generation?

all bad leaders were once followers, even HITLER !

@poster,

Is this question of yours not an error? What I'm trying to ask is that are those you are referring as Nigerian leaders not Nigerians too? Are they perhaps immigrants, aliens, or impostors?

By the way, are you not a Nigerian yourself? Why don't you instead ask "Are we really better than our leaders"?

What do you think?

Get over yourself already!!!

Idehn said it all!!

It is a rare case that a rotten egg became rotten all by itself. My father has always said this; "give any Nigerian the chance to be the president, and they would do exactly the same thing". It's also our influences from our environment, the people on the inside, the people with the power are all corrupt, and even a good egg will catch something. . and of course become rotten.

topup:

Idehn said it all!!

It is a rare case that a rotten egg became rotten all by itself. My father has always said this; "give any Nigerian the chance to be the president, and they would do exactly the same thing". It's also our influences from our environment, the people on the inside, the people with the power are all corrupt, and even a good egg will catch something. . and of course become rotten.

I beg to disagree with such general statements. The fact is that we still have practically the same set of lunatics ruling us since the mid seventies. In fact they are now being replaced by their wives, children and other family members. Those agitating for a bottom-up approach to change are missing the point, Nigerians need to be handled with a bit of steely hands to make us tow the path of honour. Buhari did it when he ruled, however black the corrupt media may want to paint him.

We've seen it happen in the past and so it can surely occur again. We can make it right, it just takes having a leader who's committed to making the right choices and selfless sacrifices.

9ijaMan:

I beg to disagree with such general statements. The fact is that we still have practically the same set of lunatics ruling us since the mid seventies. In fact they are now being replaced by their wives, children and other family members. Those agitating for a bottom-up approach to change are missing the point, Nigerians need to be handled with a bit of steely hands to make us tow the path of honour. Buhari did it when he ruled, however black the corrupt media may want to paint him.

We've seen it happen in the past and so it can surely occur again. We can make it right, it just takes having a leader who's committed to making the right choices and selfless sacrifices.

Buhari had to deal with Nigerians to get them to tow 'the path of honor', but did he get rid of that nature or just forced Nigerians to submit to new rules/laws. Remember many had to be treated like animals to get them to act civil, but as soon as Buhari was removed from the picture, many of the same went back to the old ways, even worse. So, again, are the lunatics in leadership to blame or is it the case that from the bottom up, Nigerians are on the major part made up of exactly the same thing many of those in leadership today are composed of?

Another way to look at this is to consider the many more leaders we have at the grassroots/local levels. Are they any different from those we have as leaders at the national level, many more of whom you can maybe claim have been around since the 70s? Are the managers, the supervisors, both in private and public sectors any different in their dealings?

Kobojunkie:

Buhari had to deal with Nigerians to get them to tow 'the path of honor', but did he get rid of that nature or just forced Nigerians to submit to new rules/laws. Remember many had to be treated like animals to get them to act civil, but as soon as Buhari was removed from the picture, many of the same went back to the old ways, even worse. So, again, are the lunatics in leadership to blame or is it the case that from the bottom up, Nigerians are on the major part made up of exactly the same thing many of those in leadership today are composed of?

Another way to look at this is to consider the many more leaders we have at the grassroots/local levels. Are they any different from those we have as leaders at the national level, many more of whom you can maybe claim have been around since the 70s? Are the managers, the supervisors, both in private and public sectors any different in their dealings?

Yes most of the lunatics went back to their old ways because we didn't have Buhari there long enough to have discipline and uprightness well entrenched in our national psyche. We need a leader who'll be forcefull and who'll be in power for a reasonably long enough time for us to retrace our path to greatness. A two term rule of 8 years (4 years each) for such a strong leader will certainly be a good enough to start with. Fashola from Tinubu is a testimony albeit the fact that there are still some form of unclean deals going on. The real truth is that Lagos is moving forward.

The answer on the average is No. (even though I believe there are still many exceptionally good and rare breed Nigerians out there)

But I agree with 9ijaman, an effective solution will be top-down approach. Give us some good, inspiring and exceptionally good leaders, and you'll see many Nigerians inspired to walk the path of honor.

Also, I think the corruption was top-down, cos many Nigerians stop believing in Nigeria cos of the attitudes of their leaders, so the solution should naturally follow same approach, even though i agree it will take time.

Ordinary Nigerians can only be better than their leaders if they revolt, arrest and kill the looters parading themselves as leaders.

@topic, Nigerians are not any better, or worse, than their leaders. As Chinua Achehbe argued in his book, corruption thrives because it is such a profitable, reasonably risk-free venture, one with the propensity to yield extremely high returns compared with the more honourable means of making money.

In countries where the rule of law prevails, Nigerians are known to behave themselves.

Mai Suya:

@topic, Nigerians are not any better, or worse, than their leaders. As Chinua Achehbe argued in his book, corruption thrives because it is such a profitable, reasonably risk-free venture, one with the propensity to yield extremely high returns compared with the more honourable means of making money.

In countries where the rule of law prevails, Nigerians are known to behave themselves.

I agree with you totally

OAM4J:

The answer on the average is No. (even though I believe there are still many exceptionally good and rare breed Nigerians out there)

But I agree with 9ijaman, an effective solution will be top-down approach. Give us some good, inspiring and exceptionally good leaders, and you'll see many Nigerians inspired to walk the path of honor.

Also, I think the corruption was top-down, cos many Nigerians stop believing in Nigeria cos of the attitudes of their leaders, so the solution should naturally follow same approach, even though i agree it will take time.

Thank you. That is the only way out. That top-down approach.

A leader should be selfless and public-oriented. A good leader must coax people to behave well. Use force if necesssary.

But, when you have leaders who are enmessed in this ignoble act called corruption, then it becomes a norm for the common man.


A leader should be an epitome selflessness, patriotism and honesty and this wand will eventually rub off on the masses.

When i first read this topic i laughed and asked myself: where are nigerian leaders from, and who are the real nigerians?

The irony of life as a Nigerian: Everybody agrees to this topic, and as always provides the right answer.

If we're this aware, how come the problems in Nigeria are not history? Very simple: We all dey find wetin to chop, just like the people we put in power. Which makes us look pretty weak-minded and greedy, not to mention daft, and always seeking for excuses and somewhere to dump the blame.
Most people have one highly placed Nigerian in their families, but are too busy seeking for one favour or the other rather than letting those people know we want a change. Traditional rulers are busy chasing looters about with titles, and young indigenes prefer to beg for scholarships and jobs with Shell and Chevron, rather than letting the community leaders know that the Niger Delta needs help. We get to chop, that's the Nigerian way. Period.

AjanleKoko:

The irony of life as a Nigerian: Everybody agrees to this topic, and as always provides the right answer.

If we're this aware, how come the problems in Nigeria are not history? Very simple: We all dey find wetin to chop, just like the people we put in power. We get to chop, that's the Nigerian way. Period.

Na im oo.

It is now a norm. Even for 'born-agains' .

ola olabiy:

Na im oo.

It is now a norm. Even for 'born-agains' .

My bro. I just find it sickening. Nigerians are so eager to beg anybody for anything.
People who know people that are close to IBB were so happy that he was contesting. They thought that was their ticket to the best jobs in either govt or private sector, or maybe even contracts. That's how weak-minded, self-seeking, selfish, and greedy Nigerians can be. I know a couple of chaps like that, who argued with me to no end that IBB is the best person for Nigeria today. The really funny thing is, we even know what we're doing. After all, the Yorubas have a saying that 'ohun ti mo fe je ko je ki n'gbon', i.e. that thing I want to eat has made me daft.

Every single one of us, we are just silly. Some people think once they are sorted, the problem of the country doesn't concern them. That is so absurd, if you graduated with a first class in Engineering in a country with no job, you might as well have not gone to school. Just like the Esau of the bible, we are ready to sell our birthright over and over again for a quick meal, while we go around postulating and blaming everybody else for our problems.

AjanleKoko:

My bro. I just find it sickening. Nigerians are so eager to beg anybody for anything.
People who know people that are close to IBB were so happy that he was contesting. They thought that was their ticket to the best jobs in either govt or private sector, or maybe even contracts. That's how weak-minded, self-seeking, selfish, and greedy Nigerians can be. I know a couple of chaps like that, who argued with me to no end that IBB is the best person for Nigeria today. The really funny thing is, we even know what we're doing. After all, the Yorubas have a saying that 'ohun ti mo fe je ko je ki n'gbon', i.e. that thing I want to eat has made me daft.

Every single one of us, we are just silly. Some people think once they are sorted, the problem of the country doesn't concern them. That is so absurd, if you graduated with a first class in Engineering in a country with no job, you might as well have not gone to school. Just like the Esau of the bible, we are ready to sell our birthright over and over again for a quick meal, while we go around postulating and blaming everybody else for our problems.

In fact, you have said it all. Our idea of the 'big society' (the term they use in the UK) is warped. We are all greedy and selfish. Once we are sorted; then the system is perfect. And, we derive this excessive pleasure from being oppressive. It's sickening.

Above all, I don't see an end to this madcap attitude/culture.

Mai Suya:

@topic, Nigerians are not any better, or worse, than their leaders. As Chinua Achehbe argued in his book, corruption thrives because it is such a profitable, reasonably risk-free venture, one with the propensity to yield extremely high returns compared with the more honourable means of making money.

In countries where the rule of law prevails, Nigerians are known to behave themselves.

Preach bro!
Damn! Thats called shooting straight.

^^^^
That's why we need a top-down approach if we intend to address this untoward way of life.

ola olabiy:

^^^^
That's why we need a top-down approach if we intend to address this untoward way of life.

I agree with you. It doesn't make sense to accuse the masses who have been neglected for decades as being the same as their leaders. Despondent people will scramble desperately for mere crumbs and be reduced to a near animal state as base survival insticts take over.
The masses have had little choice in their leaders for the most part anyway; most of Nigeria's years have been spent stairing up the barrel of the guns of coup plotters.

The overly aggressive nature of the average Nigerian is due to being repeatedly kicked, shot and spat on by military interventionists and their goons, so a traumatised people have sought solace in religion and ethnic bigotry. Before the soldiers took over, Igbo's won elections in Yoruba land and Fulani's won elections in Igbo land.

What Nigeria needs is a really long period of civilised government.

One of the major problems of nigeria as a nation is recycling of leaders, when sm1 that is 'a beginner' comes in, we tag s/he an "inexperience". Let's get fresh hands and see if we will remain same and stop recycling our leaders.

Yes we are. These leaders are criminals. Most Nigerians are not.

Reading the responses on this thread tells me that there is a big philosophical difference in the way some of us approach the solution to our national failures. I belong to the school of thought that says change comes from the bottom up while some people think change comes from the top to the bottom.


So which way Nigeria?

kalokalo:

Reading the responses on this thread tells me that there is a big philosophical difference in the way some of us approach the solution to our national failures. I belong to the school of thought that says change comes from the bottom up while some people think change comes from the top to the bottom.


So which way Nigeria?

The answer to our problem is not like a "one size fits all" type of solution. Where there is a need for bottoms-up approach, it ought to be introduced but the bulk of it all at the moment stops right at the door of the leaders. If we are able to get a selfless and string leader Nigerians will begin to realize there are better and healthier ways to make money as against the current corrupt trend. Most Nigerians living abroad obey the laws of the various country they reside in, because these countries have a fully functional system./ We do not have any system at the moment but individuals. Hence policies are evolved based on the whims of whoever is the current leader.
I still believe we'll get there somehow!

No