₦airaland Forum

Dear Dora,

I remember seeing someone like you at evening masses with some of her family and of course a faithful NPF guard.
That woman always went for Holy Communion and had people greeting her afterwards. She apparently had the respect of many. They said she fought for the lives of many by attacking those who imported or peddled fake drugs. I thought to myself often that such a woman can only get her strength from God and by His grace will continue to fight evil. I honestly wished her well and still do. I don't know where that woman has gone now.

I'm beginning to see someone else who has a striking resemblance to you again! This time though, she hurries out of church. Noone seems to care. The cute smile that shows a broken tooth is gone and is now replaced with a permanent grimace. Worse still, they say this woman has accepted the worst job in the world. People make her put a lipstick on a big dirty pig and make her call it Cinderella. No wonder people stare at her with incredulity. Even worse is the fact that she does this job with pride, the money in it is good they say. .

which one of the above are you?

yours

how's that for a polite letter to a very impolite, self-serving woman?

Utter nonsense! Who is in charge here? Nairalanders need to set up an opinion poll or something which we can make our local newspapers publish. It will reflect our opinion on certain issues -especially this kind of madness!

A friend of mine approached me asking for information for her Ph.D thesis. She wanted to know if religious leaders in Nigeria were a viable optin for reconciling Nigeria - not just in the wake of interreligious crises but generally as a nation with different constituent parts. " I understand Nigeria is the most religious country in the world with countless religious leaders. Does their moral prescence amount to anything?"

I said no. I told her that politicians had infiltrated the ranks of religious leaders and they have become compromised. I could think of any positive things to say about our religious leaders but i know smart people are on Naira land.

I wonder what you guys think? any other ideas? she wants her questionnaire back in two days and i don't want to give oyibo yet another negative impression about Nigeria.

Help pls, give me opinions, any at all postive or negative.

2 viewpoints:

The personal side of Ribadu's 'resurfacing to Nigeria'. While he was fighting graft, GF was one of the very few who gave him any kind of support. Ribadu is probably not aware of the kind of support he enjoys on nairaland. My point is, the man suffered a personal loss - like that of a 'father'. His coming back might make a political statement but he is in mourning.

Secondly, Nigeria simply needs persons who can help itis people forge a collective identity and sense of solidarity to this 'group of many nations in one' called Nigeria. We can unite around the fight against corruption to do that. We can suceed at it if we can. Ribadu could be the one of these persons but definitely not the only one. Nairalanders like all Nigerians ought to eschew the habit of clinging to one personality. We are the new voice of Nigeria and should not follow the same paths as those who clung to individuals and their patronage systems. They put us in this mess.

They have used and are using ethnicity, regionality or religion as a weapon of mass distraction in Nigeria making us forget albeit momentarily of the identity of crime, graft and corruption which they have bequethed to us. The state apparatus may have failed but we live,

fight graft,

everyday for the Iboris one day for the 'ribadus'?

Nigeria rising,

PS: back2back - you need to have your posts edited from time to time. if you want to air an opinion, make it an informed one, good luck.

Chimo! Someone wake Reuben up! I don't think he's seen this!

Yes - shame on the generation that failed us. Shame on the generation that continues to fails us. Wake up those in any generation who think there's no way we can get beyond this quagmire. The entertainment industry has shown us that WE CAN! Perfection however is not attained in a day. Work still dey.

The [s]serpent[s] servant leader can pump money into that industry to help with the rebranding, rather than pouring it into hiring bloggers to counter Saharareporters and co - putting lipstick on the lion who they've turned into a pig. tchewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Just wondered if people had seen this - i know nairalanders see everything the minute it is thought of- not even published. Much as i don;t like looking at the pessimistic side of things, the realistic side keeps me in check and lets me know what I stillhave to do or at least lend my strength to. Let's lend ourselves to the giving birth of our country- Before we start rebranding her.

I am Hungry, Please Re-brand me
By: Salisu Suleiman

June 2009

I am Nigeria. I have millions of acres of arable land and billions of cubic litres of water, but I cannot feed myself. So I spend $1 billion to import rice and another $2 billion to import milk. I produce rice, but don’t eat it. I have 60 million cattle but no milk. I am hungry, please re-brand me.

I drive the latest cars in the world but have no roads. I lose family and friends everyday on roads for which funds have been looted. I lose my young, my old, and my most brainy and productive people to the potholes, craters and crevasses they travel on everyday. I am in permanent mourning, please re-brand me.

My school has no teacher and my classroom has no roof. I take lecture notes through the window and live with 15 others in a single room. All my professors have gone abroad, and the rest are awaiting visas. I am a university graduate, but I am illiterate. I want a future, please re-brand me.

Malaria, typhoid and many other preventable diseases send me to hospitals which have no doctors, no medicines and no power. So my wife gives birth with candle light and surgery is performed by quacks. All the nurses have gone abroad and the rest are waiting to go also. I have the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world and future generations are dying before me. I am hopeless, hapless and helpless, please re-brand me.

I wanted change so I stood all day long to cast my vote. But even before I could vote, the results had been announced. When I dared to speak out, silence was enthroned by bullets. My rulers are my oppressors, and my policemen are my terrors. I am ruled by men in mufti, but I am not a democracy. I have no verve, no vote, no voice, please re-brand me.

I have 50 million youths with no jobs, no present and no future. So my sons in the North have become street urchins and his brothers in the South have become militants. My nephews die of thirst in the Sahara and his cousins drown in the waters of the MeMediterraneanMy daughters walk the streets of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, while her sisters parade the streets of Rome and Amsterdam. I am ininconsolableplease re-brand me.

My people cannot sleep at night and cannot relax by day. They cannot use ATM machines, nor use cheques. My children sleep through staccato of AK 47s see through the mist of tear gas. The leaders have looted everything on the ground and below. They walk the land with haughty strides and fly the skies with private jets. They have stolen the future of generations yet unborn and have money they cannot spend in several lifetimes, but their brothers die of hunger. I want justice, please re-brand me.

I can produce anything, but import everything. So my toothpick is made in China; my toothpaste is made in South Africa; my salt is made in Ghana; my butter is made in Ireland; my milk is made in Holland; my shoe is made in Italy; my vegetable oil is made in Malaysia; my biscuit is made in Indonesia; my chocolate is made in Turkey and my table water made in France. My taste is far-flung and foreign, please re-brand me.

My people are cancerous from the greed of their friends who bleach palm oil with chemicals; my children died because they drank ‘My Pikin’ with NAFDAC numbers; my poor die because kerosene explodes in their faces; my land is dead because all the trees have been cut down; flood kills my people yearly because the drainages are clogged; my fishes are dead because the oil companies dump waste in my rivers; my communities are vanishing into the huge yawns of gully erosion, and nothing is being done. My livelihood is in jeopardy, and I am in the uttermost depths of despondence, please re-brand me.

I have genuine leather but choose to eat it. So I spend a billion dollars to import fake leather. I have four refineries, but prefer to import fuel, so I waste more billions to import petrol. I have no security in my country, but would rather send troops to keep the peace in another man’s land. I have 160 dams, but can not get water to drink, so I buy ‘pure’ water that roils my innards. I have a million children waiting to enter universitiesuniversitiesry dungeons can only take a tenth. I have no power, but choose to flare gas, so my people have learnt to see in the dark and stare at the glare of naked flares. I have no direction, please re-brand me.

My people pray to God every morning and every night, but commit every crime known to man because re-branded identities will never alter the tunes of inbred rhythms. Just as the drums of heritage heralds the frenzied jingles, remember - the Nigerian soul can only be Nigerian - fighting free from the cold embrace of a government that has no spring, no sense, no shame. So we watch the possessed, frenzied dance, drenched in silent tears as freedom is locked up in democracy’s empty cellars. I need guidance, please re-brand me.

But then, why can I not simply be me, without being re-branded? Or does my complexion cloud the color of my character? Does my location limit the lengths my liberty? Does the spirit of my conviction shackle my soul? Does my mien maim the mine of my mind? And is this life worth re-branding? I am not yet born, please re-brand me.

I agree. "Rebrand what you believe in. Believe in what you rebrand".

Though It's so difficult to see how Mrs. Akunyili is doing both by sending her children abroad?

She was and continues to be a driver of change in the Nigerian nation. However i have my concerns about this latest assignment. She's been given a rope - while some hope she'll use it to hang herself, I pray others will encourage her to use it as a lasso to climb to greater heights.

My personal opinion on this, as some one who believes in NIgeria, - She should do her best with all sincerity of purpose. Nigerians are not fools and can always spot the lie and insincerity. At any point where she begins to see herself compromise her integrity and credibility. by all means, she should stand down and do what the majority of Nigerians do - Sit in silent hope that someday someone will complete the work started by the good ones.


my 2 kobo worth

Is it possible to seperate politics from all the atrocities that is currently going on in that great nation Nigeria? Is is not likely that the reason why all this is going on is people not being able to make up their own minds? Could it be that a little education is all that is needed for people to look into their hearts and find that place where it is written in all our consciences " Blood is sacred"?

I am not islamophobic, never have been, never will be. I look at the Queen of Jordan and the Saudi Arabian princes and such, (I admire them, the queen has a sharp mind) and then i compare them with our own 'turaya'  Yar'adua who only knows how to orchestrate marriages and globe trot in place of her nearly invalid husband,  I also compare them with our own politicians who see Nigeria as a board game,  (not a chess game, cos they don't have half a brain to play chess). It all makes me wonder,  could it all be the resultant effect of poverty, idleness, a lack of motivation, sheer wickedness, a combination of all or some,

I conclude, though scant my evidence might be,  poverty, ignorance, idleness and religion is a bad combination. In Nigeria, there's a small twist to this,  This combination is no less hazardous in Nigeria. However, where this religion is Islam and the country is a lawless one such as Nigeria, it is the worst combination ever. The Lord Resistance Army in Uganda is also a religious rebel group-claims to be christian and is responsible for deaths and displacements, more than what is happening in Nigeria now. This little detail is just for me to maintain a balance and reiterate that I am not Islamophobic.

Government should deal with poverty, illiteracy, unemployment,  and stop this nonsense before some country barges in on us and declares us a failed state and starts drilling our oil before our very eyes,

Then again, what a stupid government we have,  though the country is so full of the best and the brightest,  some of whom are on nairaland,

Vonny:
Adaeze

The issue with most women is that they think that men think like them. This is clearly not the case, my solution to you is if your man is weary due to being smothered, cut back on the attention you give him just a little. He'll definitely take note of it and start to wonder why the sudden change and poof! goes the weariness he had in the beginning. Men hate to be responsible for their woman's happiness, and when you bombard him with too much attention, it makes him feel suffocated. The problem is women make their men their lives, and men make their women a part of their lives almost like an added bonus, and that is how men have an easier time moving on after a break up than a woman does. It is because they have only lost a part of their lives, in the contrary, a woman is left heartbroken because she's lost her life and airbag (her man). The best way to be successful in your relationship is to have a LIFE of your own, and I know as a woman you are an 'emotional being', but act like your man is an added bonus as well, you'll have him craving for your attention in no time. Good luck.

Thanks for your advice!

Awww thanks so much guys Vonny esp! So space, space and more space! eh?
Will try and give him space o before i start resenting him for just being, a man? but Space? I still can't justify why men need space to be honest but I'll try, at his own risk. I just might forget him, and totally space out, and I'd really hate for that to happen

I need candid advice because it would appear 'too much love' has even worse effects than 'too little love' in my experience. What if a girl doesn't want to do shakara and really wants to show a guy she appreciates him - with calls,- general attention not necessarily sex,  Is that a reason for him to become wary? or weary? why should that be a bad thing? Infact how much attention is too much attention?  Guys, help!

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the problem's not NYSC. it's the N in the NYSC, the Nation that has no control over its citizenry and resorts to premeditated conflicts to settle scores between the rich and powerful, the poor and young people are sadly aught in the cross fire

i think it would've been difficult for Ribadu

first: to refuse the appointment from obj in the first place
Second: to indict a sitting president

I would sympathise with him on the grounds that his strategy, as i saw it, was to mow the grass (419ners) and cutt the bushes(a selection of corrupt governors) sorrounding the big trees(obj and co).

perhaps if he had more support from the CSO's, INGO and the Diaspora and even the Nigerian populace, he would've fared better.

I personally think he was fighting alone and did something that very few Nigerians would have done - a thankless and risk-ridden job.

And i don't think he has ever cried wolf before now, he does deserve some help and at least sympathy.

and naval science and army science and ethics in security should be a core module, it's long overdue