cap28:

Nigerians in my opinion are the most delusional set of human beings on the face of the planet.

How on earth can any nigerian say with a straight face that they are a nation of smart people when they havent even been able to throw off the shackles of colonialism?

surely a smart people would first of all focus on the right to self determination before any other thing.

I couldnt help but laugh when one poster mentioned the nigerian that is involved in the Gatwick airport partnership - okay for the sake of argument - so what if he "owns" it - what difference does that make to the average nigerian? does he have any say in the hiring and firing that goes on in that company?  
Does his presence in that company add value to the lives of the average nigerian?

The fact of the matter is that nigerians brag about superficial minutiae that make no real difference when you take the time to look at the bigger picture.  

Nigeria is a wealthy nation but  still under the control of  foreigners - Shell, Chevron and Exxon Mobil  exert massive control over the nigerian govt, the international banking institutions which incidentally are controlled and run by Jews exert massive financial control over our own central bank, lebanese , indians and chinese are moving into nigeria at a rapid rate and are setting up businesses, hiring indigenous  nigerians and paying them a pittance (with the support of the nigerian govt) and some nigerians still have the nerve to talk about being smart.
Where have  you seen a nation that gives prefere4ntial treatment to foreigners at the expense of its own people?
Can a nigerian dream of going to india, china or lebanon to buy up a business for next to nothing and then hire the indigenous people and pay them a pittance with the support of that country's govt?

There is a big difference between acquiring academic knowledge (which by the way is not that difficult to do, because all you really need to have is the ability to regurgitate information fed to you by somebody else) and developing wisdom and self awareness.  Nigerians are good at soaking up western education and extollign the virtues of western ideology, forgetting that many of these ideas were tailored to suit the western culture that they were created for.  Isnt it about time we came up with our own economic theories and ideals which will be more suited to our own unique cultures and traditions instead of being proud to be told by western academics how good we are at learning, copying and regurgitating THEIR ideas?

The fact of the matter is that it is so easy to  copy somebody else's template, nobody respects people who cant come up with their own ideas.  The reason that the europeans respect the japanese and chinese is because they are innovators and pace setters not followers, this is why they are treated as equals and allowed a seat at the table of important nations of the world.  Nigeria is a follower nation - content to copy and pretend as if that somehow makes you a nation to be reckoned with.

Lets stop this self deception and start looking inward, we need visionaries and innovators not half baked copy cats who are content to keep doing what has been done centuries ago.

Omo_Tier1:

Okay maybe it is pertinent for me to stay alittle while and I will respond thus;

Firstly, I seek to differ  with your assertion that solutions abound in Nigeria, but the reverse (looking at Nigeria as a whole)is actually the case!How can you arrive at solutions when you fail to comprehend in entirety your challenges? Obvious case of which Nigeria belongs.
Look at Nigeria geographically and you would see a picture clearly spelt out; more progress is made regionally (i.e by collective groups of people who have live there for over 100years) than as a whole!
Permit me to use this trivia example albeit in the hope you would 'see' the picture clearly. It is far easier to find several road networks connecting town and cities within each regions in Nigeria (albeit most not in good shape currently) than you would for region to region and you wonder why this is? The answer lies in living cohesiveness that has developed between the tribes/groups within these region for years, as a result,they now have a collective aspiration of what they want to be like or be known for. Same can not be said of the country as whole 'cos the time frame we have been together as a country is not enough to bring about nationhood 'collective aspiration' and this only come about as time passes by. Can you say collectively but separately, the Hausas, Yorubas, Igbos,Binis,Ijaws are not productive or lack collective aspirations?

What we have currently in Nigeria can be described thus; Individual 'progressive ring' of severally groups ALL inter twined by a 'Massive ring'. And it this massive ring which mends all the individual progressive rings that is failing, and that 'massive ring' is leadership at the FG - the central. Hence such failures, no doubt due to the importance of that massive ring will paint a picture such as postulated by the OP - an opinion I seek to differ on.
In a nutshell, for SMARTNESS to manifest nationally, there must be a nationhood 'collective aspiration' which can only come about by long period of 'living cohessiveness'. China is a very good example. Years ago, Chinese were not seen as SMART atleast by most Westerners however that picture is gradually changing as the peoples through her central leadership has now defined a 'collective aspiration', which is being realized on the platform of 'living cohessivness' albeit with some moral reservations.

@Ilekede-Idi
While your assertion might be true in the US, you fail to consider the proportion of working class population wise. Currently approximately 6millions Nigerians are said to reside in the US compared to how many Latinos/Hispanics? Again issues of social-cultural barriers is another factor!
Unlike in the US, in the UK, Nigerians who graduate from places of higher learning do readily get jobs and currently, despite thier decimated population, Nigerians in UK still rank among groups (other than  BRITS) VERY LIKE to be employed, only slightly behind Indians, and very marginally below Pakistanis even though these two groups have far larger population of working class compared to Nigeria's.Again this is possible 'cos Nigerians in the UK does not suffer much from social-cultral factors (compared to those in the US)mainly due to the period of time Nigerians have "customized" themselves in the UK compared to that of US - Again none of these factors have anything to do with whether Nigerians are SMART or not. They are external factors which can not be used as a yardstick to measure the "SMARTNESS" or otherwise of Nigerians.

If you want to know if "A PEOPLE" is SMART, then examine how they respond to challenges that confront them daily due mainly to EXTERNAL FACTORS. And I am sure when one examines Nigerians through that perspective, no doubt that Nigerians will be adjudged as very SMART!

aribisala0:

some people seem to conflate smartness with intelligence.

for me they are not the same.

intelligent people do not always [b]BEHAVE [/b]intelligently e.g. using drugs,not studying for exams,breaking speed limits,spending more than you earn,
going late to work, arguing with your boss/referees in football etc.

in other words persistently following a path you know to be wrong.
so for me smartness is more a behaivoural than mental thing.even people who are not very  intelligent can be trained to act smartly by acquiring habits that make them achieve twice as much as more intelligent people.

what we need to address is not how intelligent we might be but how do we behave from a collective perspective

Omo_Tier1:

Okay maybe it is pertinent for me to stay alittle while and I will respond thus;

Firstly, I seek to differ  with your assertion that solutions abound in Nigeria, but the reverse (looking at Nigeria as a whole)is actually the case!How can you arrive at solutions when you fail to comprehend in entirety your challenges?  

Omo_Tier1:

Permit me to use this trivia example albeit in the hope you would 'see' the picture clearly. It is far easier to find several road networks connecting town and cities within each regions in Nigeria (albeit most not in good shape currently) than you would for region to region and you wonder why this is? The answer lies in living cohesiveness that has developed between the tribes/groups within these region for years, as a result,they now have a collective aspiration of what they want to be like or be known for.

Omo_Tier1:

What we have currently in Nigeria can be described thus; Individual 'progressive ring' of severally groups ALL inter twined by a 'Massive ring'. And it this massive ring which mends all the individual progressive rings that is failing, and that 'massive ring' is leadership at the FG - the central. Hence such failures, no doubt due to the importance of that massive ring will paint a picture such as postulated by the OP - an opinion I seek to differ on.
In a nutshell, for SMARTNESS to manifest nationally, there must be a nationhood 'collective aspiration' which can only come about by long period of 'living cohessiveness'. China is a very good example. Years ago, Chinese were not seen as SMART atleast by most Westerners however that picture is gradually changing as the peoples through her central leadership has now defined a 'collective aspiration', which is being realized on the platform of 'living cohessivness' albeit with some moral reservations.

Omo_Tier1:

@all,
Don't you all agree that we discussing this issue is in itself a 'mark' of SMARTNESS? Why because we are seeking albeit in the alternative (as oppose to through our leadership)to define a nationhood collective aspiration we can all seek to work towards.

Omo_Tier1:

Check the history books and you would realized that nations we claim today are SMART did exactly what we are doing on here and after a certain period of living cohesiveness, thier SMARTNESS became evident to all! Watch out, Nigeria will not be different!

Omo_Tier1:

Sorry yo have made no point! That the whole SOUTH- WEST UK electricity distribution is owned by American company does not mean BRIST aint SMART okay! That e-on a French company now controls close to 68% of UK Nuclear energy generation does not mean the BRISTs are not SMART. I do not know where you got this assertion from that CBN is control by some jews! I hate conspiracy thoerist just like i abhore evil.

All the above you mention, .i.e inventors, blah, blah, we have them in abundance. The real substance you left out is lack of collective aspiration of what we Nigerians actually want to become or known for - an issue that can be hinged on leadership/rulership.

cap28:

Nigerians in my opinion are the most delusional set of human beings on the face of the planet.

How on earth can any nigerian say with a straight face that they are a nation of smart people when they havent even been able to throw off the shackles of colonialism?

surely a smart people would first of all focus on the right to self determination before any other thing.

I couldnt help but laugh when one poster mentioned the nigerian that is involved in the Gatwick airport partnership - okay for the sake of argument - so what if he "owns" it - what difference does that make to the average nigerian? does he have any say in the hiring and firing that goes on in that company?

Does his presence in that company add value to the lives of the average nigerian?

The fact of the matter is that nigerians brag about superficial minutiae that make no real difference when you take the time to look at the bigger picture.

Nigeria is a wealthy nation but still under the control of foreigners - Shell, Chevron and Exxon Mobil exert massive control over the nigerian govt, the international banking institutions which incidentally are controlled and run by Jews exert massive financial control over our own central bank, lebanese , indians and chinese are moving into nigeria at a rapid rate and are setting up businesses, hiring indigenous nigerians and paying them a pittance (with the support of the nigerian govt) and some nigerians still have the nerve to talk about being smart.

Where have you seen a nation that gives prefere4ntial treatment to foreigners at the expense of its own people?[/b]Can a nigerian dream of going to india, china or lebanon to buy up a business for next to nothing and then hire the indigenous people and pay them a pittance with the support of that country's govt?

[b]There is a big difference between acquiring academic knowledge (which by the way is not that difficult to do, because all you really need to have is the ability to regurgitate information fed to you by somebody else) and developing wisdom and self awareness. Nigerians are good at soaking up western education and extollign the virtues of western ideology, forgetting that many of these ideas were tailored to suit the western culture that they were created for. Isnt it about time we came up with our own economic theories and ideals which will be more suited to our own unique cultures and traditions instead of being proud to be told by western academics how good we are at learning, copying and regurgitating THEIR ideas?

The fact of the matter is that it is so easy to copy somebody else's template, nobody respects people who cant come up with their own ideas. The reason that the europeans respect the japanese and chinese is because they are innovators and pace setters not followers, this is why they are treated as equals and allowed a seat at the table of important nations of the world. Nigeria is a follower nation - content to copy and pretend as if that somehow makes you a nation to be reckoned with.

Lets stop this self deception and start looking inward, we need visionaries and innovators not half baked copy cats who are content to keep doing what has been done centuries ago.

monkeyleg:

Nope it has very little to do with living with each other, but more to do with our inbuilt selfish nature. That is were we get it all wrong.

Simple examples, ask Nigerians to come together to choose a leader and we can not have a unifying view of who we want to lead us

Ask Nigerians to come together an form or run a company. before you know it, EGO's have come into play, everyone wants to be the owner or leader of the company.

I have 3 friends who are good at what they do individually. I sit back and see that if they come together, they will be a force to be reckorned with. But pride would not let them come together for the common good, each of the 3 wants his or her name in lights.

Nigerians are simply selfish, greedy, and sometimes downright wicked. They is a saying "Jealously, Hate and G

Behrend,

Wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a real exciting NEW YEAR. I miss you so much . I miss all the action there…all the fun… He !

But the only thing that makes it better is the good atmosphere at work : Too many projects to control, in different fields, a lot of experience to get, and the ****** guys here are real close and gentle, we leave like brothers than when we ar at home!… Believe it or not we’re working not less then 13 hours each day !

Most of Nigerian people are real poor and dirty!: schwarz ist nicht gut, Es ist eine Krankheit! but they very smart and it amase me many times how smart good they are…but you will be really shocked when you see the way they live…there houses built by sand…

Their foods like posion and better than what you will feed Gerhard with!  …their wear like rags, ! And the big guys of the government, those who are in power…you don’t mant to know how reach they are : Wörter werden sich wie reich nicht zeigen!!!! And they still want and beg us to come to their villages with them, go around town with them, even pay. Hannes and Rafael wher paid to come to a party!! Nigeria government people want people to see white men around them…komische Leute!!!

[b]Anyway, our situation here is a lot better : We have our own house, and three Nigerian guys to cook and clean…we have uncounted mobile armed guard with AK47 that stay with us 24/7, I have two pamanent drivers that drive me around sites and towns, he works as long as I work, only for 125£ every monts, we have big how with fence and big like Brandenburger!!! I am more than president ******* here in Nigeria …we also have television with dish, stereo, AC…and each one of us has a brand new car: a 507 peugeot designed especially for Nigerian roads that most of it are still made with sand without asphalt (those are the roads inside the towns), still they have good highways that link the cities with each other.

Prostituierte! Prostituierte!! Every where, for 10$! and the fine girls that are good are also Prostituierte for 15$, Ich habe nichts wie das vorher gesehen!, the girl will do anything for money! Rafael use mädchen howless and to abuse them with sex and treet them like sluts and dogs every night with different mädchen … schlecht und verrückt! Sometimes we stay in camp’s common room and watch via CCTV!!!! At midnights… [/b]

I am just few months, but I will always keep you posted….Bye and greetings to Janh!
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/rowland-adewumi/an-expatriates-email-from-nigeria.html

Nigerians are good at soaking up western education and extollign the virtues of western ideology, forgetting that many of these ideas were tailored to suit the western culture that they were created for.

Omo_Tier1:

Okay maybe it is pertinent for me to stay alittle while and I will respond thus;

Firstly, I seek to differ  with your assertion that solutions abound in Nigeria, but the reverse (looking at Nigeria as a whole)is actually the case!How can you arrive at solutions when you fail to comprehend in entirety your challenges? Obvious case of which Nigeria belongs.
Look at Nigeria geographically and you would see a picture clearly spelt out; more progress is made regionally (i.e by collective groups of people who have live there for over 100years) than as a whole!
Permit me to use this trivia example albeit in the hope you would 'see' the picture clearly. It is far easier to find several road networks connecting town and cities within each regions in Nigeria (albeit most not in good shape currently) than you would for region to region and you wonder why this is? The answer lies in living cohesiveness that has developed between the tribes/groups within these region for years, as a result,they now have a collective aspiration of what they want to be like or be known for. Same can not be said of the country as whole 'cos the time frame we have been together as a country is not enough to bring about nationhood 'collective aspiration' and this only come about as time passes by. Can you say collectively but separately, the Hausas, Yorubas, Igbos,Binis,Ijaws are not productive or lack collective aspirations?

What we have currently in Nigeria can be described thus; Individual 'progressive ring' of severally groups ALL inter twined by a 'Massive ring'. And it this massive ring which mends all the individual progressive rings that is failing, and that 'massive ring' is leadership at the FG - the central. Hence such failures, no doubt due to the importance of that massive ring will paint a picture such as postulated by the OP - an opinion I seek to differ on.
In a nutshell, for SMARTNESS to manifest nationally, there must be a nationhood 'collective aspiration' which can only come about by long period of 'living cohessiveness'. China is a very good example. Years ago, Chinese were not seen as SMART atleast by most Westerners however that picture is gradually changing as the peoples through her central leadership has now defined a 'collective aspiration', which is being realized on the platform of 'living cohessivness' albeit with some moral reservations.

@Ilekede-Idi
While your assertion might be true in the US, you fail to consider the proportion of working class population wise. Currently approximately 6millions Nigerians are said to reside in the US compared to how many Latinos/Hispanics? Again issues of social-cultural barriers is another factor!
Unlike in the US, in the UK, Nigerians who graduate from places of higher learning do readily get jobs and currently, despite thier decimated population, Nigerians in UK still rank among groups (other than  BRITS) VERY LIKE to be employed, only slightly behind Indians, and very marginally below Pakistanis even though these two groups have far larger population of working class compared to Nigeria's.Again this is possible 'cos Nigerians in the UK does not suffer much from social-cultral factors (compared to those in the US)mainly due to the period of time Nigerians have "customized" themselves in the UK compared to that of US - Again none of these factors have anything to do with whether Nigerians are SMART or not. They are external factors which can not be used as a yardstick to measure the "SMARTNESS" or otherwise of Nigerians.

If you want to know if "A PEOPLE" is SMART, then examine how they respond to challenges that confront them daily due mainly to EXTERNAL FACTORS. And I am sure when one examines Nigerians through that perspective, no doubt that Nigerians will be adjudged as very SMART!

aribisala0:

being united is part of being smart.no?

lagcity:

true, being united is part of being smart. But, Nigerians suceeding against all odds in foreign countries (despite lack of unity) is simply genius.

my Naija ppl, i hail una ooo. 3 gbosas for you wherever una dey!!! make una no forget home ooo.

lagcity:

true, being united is part of being smart. But, Nigerians suceeding against all odds in foreign countries (despite lack of unity) is simply genius.

my Naija ppl, i hail una ooo. 3 gbosas for you wherever una dey!!! make una no forget home ooo.

Ileke-IdI:

Which Nigerian is succeeding?

Name one that is as successful as the European/Asian/Latino immigrants. We continue to work under those people.

Shey the successful Nigerians that get killed everyday or which ones?

lagcity:

Kase lawal is pretty successful. stop comparing us with Europeans or Jews, they own America. yes they do! stop lumping Asians together. u wanna talk abt chinese, they were here way before us and they are not doing better. the indians, they are not doing better than us in America if you take their population into account. yes i know: they have vikram pandit and bobby jindal.  the pakistanis? please don't even go there. the bangladeshis? are u kidding me? the cambodians? the vietnamese?
what latinos do you have in mind? the mexicans? how are they doing better than us? they have a huge poulation, NAFTA and a widely-spoken language in America. still, they are punching way below their weight, economically and politically. those Mexicans can be very powerful if they get their acts together. actually, they are quite powerful. . . IN JAIL i hope the mexican mafia don't see this.

i am not saying Nigerians are all that. but we aint doing as badly as some here would like us to believe. we are mediocre all becos of our disunity. as for the confidence and/or arrogance, just let it be ppl. that's not going to change.

deli.cious:

Of course Nigerians are smart. They just need to channel their energy into more positive endeavors.
And to the OP saying jews, chinese, indians are smarter- sorry if you've got inferiority complex. Seems like you are looking down on yourself. No one has a monopoly on intelligence.