₦airaland Forum

mukina2:
i am not commoting nothing

O boy, this vocabulary na grammatical cataclysm 

@poster, I got nothing to say, but I gots to do the

Candylips

aje49ja:
i love evry body

But the question to ask is, does everybody love you?

There really are folks content to remain victims of ignorance and false paradigms. Its obvious to see that the country has got a long way to go in correcting the infiltration of a foreign and alien mentality. Sorry. . .

When folks like Jesse Owens were breaking records in the 1930's very few thought the day would come when the human being would be running sub 10 seconds. Carl Lewis took it another level, consistently running sub 10 seconds before a Ben Johnson came on the block. Although we all knew the end of that story. With the 21st century came athletes like Maurice Greene and and the rest of the pack, Powell, Gay etc, and to the discerning, it was just a matter of time before a full half second is cut from the now common sub 10 second times. And along came Usain, like a Bolt out of the blue.

Well, I wish him the best, and hope he makes excellent use of his time in the spotlight. But for athletics lovers who are ever inspired by the abilities of man to jump higher, throw farther and run faster, its only a matter of time before we start seeing sub 9 seconds races. Is that gonna be by Usain, I doubt it though, but it definitely would occur in about a decade or thereabouts. The rest of the athletes should think of catching up with Bolt's times first. Methinks someone is just waiting in the wings to burst into the scene when the time is right. We're definitely gonna see a sub 9 race, sooner or later. . .

Its a testament of the societal decay thats taking place on a global scale. Thankfully, these warped songs and their meaningless lyrics will be a thing of the past when the new generation of songs, with revolutionary and spiritually uplifting lyrics would hit the Nigerian airwaves. Thank you Holla, I know there are millions of Nigerians out there yearning for music with meaning, we shall recognize these songs when we hear them, only patience I plead, with you and all the brothers and sisters who are not carried away with tomfoolery and inconsequential nonsense. . .

mukina2:
i don report you to mama
she say make i  beat you

Mama is in Afghanistan, collating their election results  She got enough on her hands. And I keep telling you its impossible for the wind to catch up with the wide eyed fly. Your beat no be my portion, I'd rather have Ikamefa's soup (eeeuuuwwwww). . .

What is the perfect definition of kolosynthesis? See below. . .

candylips:
muko muko

And ably corroborated by the following. . .

mukina2:
Coka Coka

What else can a brother say, Kolo kolo

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of Jehovah our creator, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest with us, amen. . .

And I am yet to see any disputation to this fact even if Judaism, Christianity and Islam have evolved so many points of divergence. . .

This has to be the most unguarded, undemocratic and unpatriotic statement that has come out of the INEC czar thus far. For one that had rose to the status of an academic professor, it begs the question where his intellectual inspiration emanates from. This is not meant to be demeaning, but for someone saddled with the responsibility of conducting free, fair, transparent and credible elections for the country to be credited with such a statement, I believe he has shown his obvious incompetence to man the sensitive and critical position that he currently enjoys. The honorable thing left for him to do is to resign and let some other person assume the responsibility of conducting elections for the country, without the input of the military if I might add.

NOBEL Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka was in Benin City, Edo State, last weekend, on a private visit and guest of the State Government, but, he took time off his schedule to appear on a current affairs programme of the state-owned Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS), “Head On”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/15/nigeria-heading-towards-a-failed-state-say-soyinka/comment-page-1/#comment-32678

I was privileged to watch this programme, and am only surprised that it is just making the news now. The erudite professor was as sharp and concise as we all know him to be, and it was refreshing to hear him restate his commitment to humanity, at least this would put paid to some of those that tend to impute elements of atheism as a chink to the seeming impenetrable intellectual armor of this rarest of the creme of scholastic accomplishment that the homo sapien sapien specie can aspire to. What was said by the Prof. is something that should not surprise an avid follower of domestic events since the independence of the Nigerian nation, as our attempts at nationhood has been sabotaged by the quality of leadership that we have been unfortunate to have been saddled with since the failed revolution in January of 1966.

It was somewhat ominous that this publication came prior to the United States Secretary Of State’s lambasting of the nations leadership, and I believe that the editors of the Vanguard would be biting themselves that this report did not come as a prelude to Mrs. Hillary Clinton’s castigation of the political and ruling elite class of the Nigerian project during her recent visit to the nations capital.

Kongi has always been principled and concise when it comes to the analysis of governance nd contemporary issues in Nigeria, and this has shown throughout the struggles he has engaged himself in throughout the history of Nigeria, from the Radio station incident in the Western Region, to the June 12 battles as personified by Radio Kudirat and the NALICON and JACON, NADECO and PRONACO things, and the attempts at convening a true convention of the Nigerian peoples to define together the agreed terms of our togetherness via a national conference that is imbued with people sovereignty. This is beside the fact that he is arguably the one individual that has earned the highest and most credible international accolade that can be accorded a national, as he remains at the moment the single Nigerian to have been awarded the Nobel prize, on merit if I might add. Some (like most are well aware) have sought to buy this with power and influence, but “e no fit work”, how?.

Like was amply identified by the US Secretary of State, leadership in Nigeria has been less than satisfactory, and it gives reasonable and rational Nigerians hope that individuals such as Professor Soyinka stand with the struggle. Reason must prevail over ignominy at some point, and a true nation need to be born. It is our sincere prayer that icons like Soyinka would live to see the birth of a new Nigeria, a Nigeria where the true potential of the citizen can achieve reality and productivity and sustainability.

Hailings Professor, its good to see the light still shining bright.

Ideally and realistically, none of the above. The emergent and true leaders of a new Nigeria as yet do not have their names as topics of public discussion. But when the time comes, we shall one and all come to know them. . .

Asjdkhdld kjhdbfsa plewdj klehlkuf shbwchb bfy xfuy lcaifjnox, gfjub aslj hkjfad alejm  niuehi fdyfu. Gjkity acnb halsddxm aluxdb tsbqi fdiunmh dljaknc. Zhytrfxb ofvblqh wretuy dfjqgd, sdfgeyhuan hdkajshm. 

Which kin thing dey happen for here sef? Make all of una take time oh. . .

make somebody hold me oh, i go soon vex counterblaster Jet Li oh

Meeen, this kin soup get name?



^{No pun intended}

NOBEL Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka was in Benin City, Edo State, last weekend, on a private visit and guest of the State Government, but, he took time off his schedule to appear on a current affairs programme of the state-owned Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS), “Head On”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/15/nigeria-heading-towards-a-failed-state-say-soyinka/comment-page-1/#comment-32678

I was privileged to watch this programme, and am only surprised that it is just making the news now. The erudite professor was as sharp and concise as we all know him to be, and it was refreshing to hear him restate his commitment to humanity, at least this would put paid to some of those that tend to impute elements of atheism as a chink to the seeming impenetrable intellectual armor of this rarest of the creme of scholastic accomplishment that the homo sapien sapien specie can aspire to. What was said by the Prof. is something that should not surprise an avid follower of domestic events since the independence of the Nigerian nation, as our attempts at nationhood has been sabotaged by the quality of leadership that we have been unfortunate to have been saddled with since the failed revolution in January of 1966.

It was somewhat ominous that this publication came prior to the United States Secretary Of State’s lambasting of the nations leadership, and I believe that the editors of the Vanguard would be biting themselves that this report did not come as a prelude to Mrs. Hillary Clinton’s castigation of the political and ruling elite class of the Nigerian project during her recent visit to the nations capital.

Kongi has always been principled and concise when it comes to the analysis of governance nd contemporary issues in Nigeria, and this has shown throughout the struggles he has engaged himself in throughout the history of Nigeria, from the Radio station incident in the Western Region, to the June 12 battles as personified by Radio Kudirat and the NALICON and JACON, NADECO and PRONACO things, and the attempts at convening a true convention of the Nigerian peoples to define together the agreed terms of our togetherness via a national conference that is imbued with people sovereignty. This is beside the fact that he is arguably the one individual that has earned the highest and most credible international accolade that can be accorded a national, as he remains at the moment the single Nigerian to have been awarded the Nobel prize, on merit if I might add. Some (like most are well aware) have sought to buy this with power and influence, but “e no fit work”, how?.

Like was amply identified by the US Secretary of State, leadership in Nigeria has been less than satisfactory, and it gives reasonable and rational Nigerians hope that individuals such as Professor Soyinka stand with the struggle. Reason must prevail over ignominy at some point, and a true nation need to be born. It is our sincere prayer that icons like Soyinka would live to see the birth of a new Nigeria, a Nigeria where the true potential of the citizen can achieve reality and productivity and sustainability.

Hailings Professor, its good to see the light still shining bright.

naliakar:
But pray was Africa really autonomous economically during precolonial area? And were there  bad and good governance in equal and at time disproportionate measures? And must African leadership depend on western tutelage and patronage to do the right thing?

As to your first question, yes, pre-colonial African societies were involved in economic activities that were more or lss beneficial to their respective populations. Although most of these activities were purely agro based, and they were endeavours engaged in on a subsistence level, the level of organization around household/kinship consumption patterns meant a situation where enough was generated for immediate consumption and more often than not, surplus was generated for trade and commerce with other communities. This system of economics was first of all sustainance oriented ahead of profit making and accumulation. The sustainability of such a pattern of economics was obvious as the incidence of poverty was almost near non existent (if at all it was present) as at the time of Europe's engagement with African societies, even prior to the transformation of mercantilism into imperialism and then colonialism. Much as international trade is a necessity for economic development in the contemporary world, the pattern of integration of African societies into the international capitalist system as exemplified in the dynamics of a world market economy had more or less underdeveloped the many societies of the global South, and this has not been helped by the failure of governance that African leaders have been more than happy to indulge themselves in (with rare exceptions of some like you actually identified). But we must be mindful of the fact that a lack of sustained and commited policy implementation, and visionary leadership has led to some of these identified countries falling far behind in the development indices, making sub saharan Africa the least developed region in the globe today.

I am in no position to judge the level of quality in the governance structure of pre colonial African states, but I believe that we were at our own level of political development, just as our economics was evolving its own unique form. However, we know of the great Kingdoms and Empires of the forest belt of West Africa and how they had moulded their own unique and complex political systems. I would be biased if I say it was a perfect situation way back then with tribal wars, etc, but even we must agree that prior to the 19th century Berlin conference, Europe was convoluted in brutal wars that eventually led to the formation of most of their societies today. Africa might have arrived at their own stable pattern of political organization had Europe not altered the course of history via slavery, imperialism and colonialism. But all that is in the past, and we can only debate the preferred choice of political organization, and leadership. The question to ask is, what are we doing about our politics today?

As per whether African leaders should depend on Western tutelage, this question begs the reality of global politics and economics today. The mantra is democracy, liberalism or its emergent form and international free trade and sustainable development. But you find that each western society has its own unique version and interpretation of the ideal, and while most might be economic successes, other aspects of social and human development from a 21st century perspective are far from being utopian. Majority rule is non negotiable, and it gives room for plurality in society, and this has got to be practiced in principle as well as in sincerity. We do not need outsiders to do this for us, outsiders do not need to tell the guy in Niger to alter the constitution so as to be able to stay in power indefinitely; outsiders did not have to motivate a Yayya Jammeh to be in power for what, 15 years now; our own OBJ attempted such, so did Thabo too in SA; Omar Bongo had to die in power and we still have a Gaddafi who calls himself a king of kings  

But seriously, even the Western model democracies also have issues with their own modes of democracy. Each unique situation presents unique challenges, and the panacea for foreign problems cannot possibly be expected to work in Africa. African leaders have just got to wake up from their slumber, we need African solutions, and if the present crop of leadership continent wide cannot meet up with the minimal expectations of governance, African citizens have to take up the onus to effect a necessary change.

The Hillary thing is just one out of many of the political faux pas in leadership, she's only human, just like any one of the over six billion inhabitants of the Earth today. She proved it with the response provided to an understandable and unintended gap in communication; she proved it with her emotional outburst against a failing Nigerian leadership class; and she's proven it again with her support for Ellen Sirleaf despite a Liberia commission report that she refrain from contesting forthcoming elections. Now tell me where does contradictions lie. She's just out to protect United States interest, and she can justify that. But whose interests are our own leaders trying to protect?

I agree with Mrs. Clinton on the state of the nations leadership, but as usual with any myopic critique of Nigeria's quest at development, that is only stating one side of the story. Any rational observer of international relations can tell that the leadership morass in most African states today can be remotely traced to the structure of the international political economy.

This is not trumping up that obsolete notion that colonialism is to be blamed for the continents woes. However, we must be pragmatic enough to identify the role of the international system (including the United States) in the encouragement, preservation and support of inept leadership on the continent, especially when issues of "national interest/ security" is concerned. Right through the cold war era of the latter half of the 20th century into the contemporary "terror wars" of the 21st century, double standards and support for puppet regimes that assured the stability that the United States so desired from African states had led to the present situation where African leaders could do whatever they liked within the purview of their domestic polity as long as the apple cart as constructed by the United States and her allies were not upturned.

Thus, it is little wonder that we have the crop of leadership that had underdeveloped Africa, to the detriment of the majority of her indigenous population, and to the benefit of Western Big business, multinationals and pro capitalist apologists, inspired by neo-classical liberalist ideologies as foisted on the world by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980's.

It is nice though that the rhetoric is taking this trajectory as it is high time that a stop is put to the "business as usual" attitude that has led to the corrupt and anti-development practices that African regimes have grown accustomed to. It is only hoped that this statement is not intended to be a platform for some negotiated agreement that would be to the detriment of the Nigerian citizens.

Being the most scathing criticism thus far coming directly from the mouthpiece of the (arguably) remaining super power, it behoves on the Secretary Of State to put her governments action where her mouth is. We hope that it will indeed shake the Nigerian political and ruling elite from their reverie into the onerous task of genuinely working for the Nigerian people to reduce inequality, and poverty, which currently stands at least 54.4%; infant mortality and maternal health; reliable power generation, transmission and distribution; uninterrupted and qualitative education; effective transport network; rapid environmental friendly industrialization, and all the other parameters used in the measurement of development in a 21st century world of which Nigeria is lagging extremely far behind.

But with the present crop of leadership, even this hope is far fetched. It remains to be seen the effect of Mrs. Clinton's visit. But like we say in these parts, only time will tell.

RichyBlacK:
There can be no overemphasis when it comes to outlining the failures of the Nigerian government!

Thank you, my point exactly,

@Tayo D, Tpia and Naliakar, e be like say the ninglish strong for una small. I am trying to express how the status of Nigeria's leadership cadre has been rubbished by Hillary coming on the heels of Obama's spat in Accra. I am not saying anything's wrong with her statement(it is the most frontal attack on the decadent Nigerian governance structure since political independence by a super power), rather I am drawing attention to the salt that her statement rubbed on top of the injury inflicted by Obama's message.

E never reach time wey our leaders go open them eyes to good governance, transparency and accountability? If they ain't ready, then we should help them leave the stage for more capable, effective and efficient Nigerians. Yar Adua and his team led by Baba and IBB have shamed us enough. . .

After President Obama castigated Nigerian and other African leaders in Ghana a few weeks ago, Secretary of state Hillary Clinton, speaking in Botswana has added salt to the injury by presenting a scathing criticism of the nations leadership which according to her has been unable to manage the nations oil wealth. Contrasting Nigeria's governance style with that of her hosts, she lampooned successive governments for contributing to a situation where the domestic economy is powered on imported petroleum products.

What more can one say about the nations disarticulated and disillusioned political and ruling elite?

And when she arrives Nigeria later today, I bet every one who regards him/herself as someone (within the upper echelon of state) would be falling over themselves to have a handshake from her. Pity. . .

http://allafrica.com/stories/200908100885.html

ikamefa:
[flash=200,200]http://www.serenity-bookmarks.com/images/ChakraWaistBeads.jpg[/flash]

Ermmm, I wonder who get this pompu?

I actually travelled all the way from Benin City to Osun State to keep a date with someone I was weak in the heart for some few years ago. But I won't really call it stupid, cos she called it romantic

ikamefa:
did i hear pammy?

Et tu Ikaaa?

Muki, the only packing we'd be doing is the one to the paradise behind the sun

U wanna guzzle some pammy, abi? I know you're the godmother of the "guzzlers from the nuzzle". But I believe I hear the neck muscles dey complain say too many pammy has passed through the gullet super highway, and the potholes inherent are reminiscent of the 'Oshodi Apapa Federal Highway' in Tinubu's town. Too many pammy no good for the menduloids, and in the absence of the special imported consignment of tombo liquor (due to reasons as highlighted above), sacharine is the new fermentation methods of preparing the age old concotion. I no go suggest dat one for even Yar Adua sef

Patience my dear, I hear the supply behind the sun is exceptional. Iice go do us well, (I hope). . .

Pammy be dey come for road, before boko haram people hijack the special consignment

I sorry for the sun wey Iice go vacation behind, na to off naim remain hooraaayyyy!!! No more global warming

Ermmm, muki, dat guy musician, e use style take resemble you sha. Na ya brother?

Ikaaa, you too like food

When sanity is compromised, the ridiculous becomes the norm. . .

In these troubled times:

Anytime one domiciled within the Nigerian territories picks up any of the nations many dailies, he is immediately greeted with stories of other Nigerians from the other parts of the country, from the far flung reaches of the fringes of the Sahara to the coasts bounding the African continent with the two Atlantics. Once in a while, they might catch glimpses of stories from other continents, especially if it might have some connection with nationals. In a manner, the average citizen might seem helpless in the face of the many complexities and contradictions that the contemporary international system have foisted on a 21st century world. But more importantly, the things that will concern him the most are those things that have an immediate impact on his existence and livelihood. Within the context of today’s Nigeria, a great many issues have led to a feeling of solemn despondency by the at least 54.4% of the population living in relative poverty of $1.08 at the 2005 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Almost on a daily basis, news stories and reports ranging from the criminal to the scandalous, and all the negative concepts and terms in between, continue to feed the dumbfounded throng of eager Nigerians, whose sole reward is to argue subjective opinions spiritedly after the daily dose of state ineptitude and inefficiency had been guzzled. The fact that most of these issues become ‘yesterdays news’ at the point of consumption plays little or no role in the gusto into which parties put into their individual analysis of issues, either in the hallowed halls of university faculties or in the many selling spaces of the various street side vendors strewn all over the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

By now, even when the citizenry await the much talked about electoral reforms, and the Nigerian populace have come to question the electoral process, the only one means by which a Nigerian citizen can have a say in this complex grill of uneven integration that the Nigerian polity had become, other issues such as unending industrial actions, spurious developmental claims, disarticulated policies, private and public corruption, the sophistication of organized violence, and an ever rising crime rate exacerbate the tensions within the polity leading to one living in a state of perpetual insecurity. However, the incidence of wanton and institutionalized violence becomes salient in the sense of its questioning the monopoly of force that underlie the preservation of security, a principle which defines an effective state. On a regular basis, reports of brazen criminal operations assail our sensibilities. When it is not mobilized and armed religious centered groups meting out mayhem to hapless and innocent citizens, it is often times violent agitations for resource control by disadvantaged and marginalized ethnic groups, venting their spleen, albeit justifiably. We should not forget the popular militants from the Niger Delta, couching their competition with the state for the regions resources with genuine demands that obviates the need for asking the question, “What has the state been doing for the last 50 years?”

The avid follower of events since political independence would recall the concept of the ‘developmental state’ that heralded the proliferation of new states since the culmination of the Second World War. But while it can be argued that these brood of former colonies were merely reinforcements of the prevailing international political economy, and that their development have either been stymied or supported to grow, benefiting from catalysts provided by the political and economic power poles of the international system, consideration is given of the fact that there exist an embarrassment of endowments spread across the vastness of the landmass of Nigeria that it can well provide in abundance for the nearly 200 Million peoples that have been destined to live as one within her geographical confines, leaving considerable surplus that can well be invested in the millions more unborn Nigerians that would inhabit these lands long after our generation must have departed.

A flip through the nations dailies would indeed raise serious questions on the sustainability of the Nigerian project on the eve of her golden jubilee of sovereign existence. Judging from the reports being provided by the heroes of the contemporary struggle, the courageous newshound, who permeate the armour of the petite bourgeoisie to provide us common proletarians with much needed enlightenment, a projection into the next fifty years seem littered with pain, with the peoples perennially subjected to a vicious cycle of poverty.

It must be mentioned that the heart which one shows in actually purchasing a newspaper publication reflects the unrelenting spirit of the average Nigerian citizen who is not put off by the economic tailspin which the global financial meltdown had inflicted on an already dysfunctional domestic economy. Many have remained unrelenting, sacrificing at least 100 of our distressed Naira currency, to be in the know of the scheming and shenanigans of the political gladiators that bestride the political space. This token amount could well be the difference between ones status and position in the international classification of poverty. These ones actually contribute to the contemporary Nigerian debate, with their hope that it would yield to a genuine social contract that would bind the essence of our togetherness and genuine nationhood.

This emerging national debate, which if it must be said have been consistently and consciously shirked by the party going on in the Federal Capital Territory is proving to be like the proverbial light that cannot be hid. Unfortunately however, the appropriate mechanisms for engaging in such debates under the contemporary constituted order are rather preoccupied with more mundane things, as both the green and red sides of the divide are as yet enmeshed in their attempts to define and redefine protocol over a year after their respective committees were convened. Meanwhile, quite ominously, the continuous search for where ‘Satan’ is domiciled makes headline news. How else could have the Nigerian populace been aware of the fact that ‘sciances’ and exorcisms still exist in the upper echelon of both the national state and its sub national appendages?

The average Nigerian is indeed rewarded when he debates the hypocrisy of the assumedly religious politicians. For the same pages one confronts state and public officials, indicted of one deviant act or the other, gleefully posing for nude photographic shots within the deep recesses of fetish primitivism, are the same pages that these officials give thanks with pomp and pageantry in various religious institutions and denominations, thanking God probably for aiding them in their successful actions of primitive accumulation. Makes one to wonder which God is actually being served?

It is no more news when gross incompetence is reported. What becomes news is the size and degree of appropriation. For that observer since independence, the brazenness of the late 20th century pale into insignificance when compared with the bizarre of the 21st century thus far. Some years ago, $12 Billion was lamented to high heavens and personal aggrandizement was redefined with platforms constructed for the storage of filthy lucre in some quarters. Those were the heady days of the ‘gap toothed general’ and the ‘dark goggled one’. However, little did we know that we were being primed for the incredulous when colossal sums were mentioned in a plethora of graft cases, from Halliburton to Siemens, to the unspecified monies of the power probes and the irony of the Rural Electrification scam where a hunter has paradoxically become the hunted, amongst countless of others.

Expectations that the emerging democratic order would bring with it the goods that the battered people badly needed continue to fizzle with the passage of time, and the Nigerian people who marched on into democracy and the new century with a hope borne of the fact that our collective experience as a nation would place the new political and ruling elite in good stead to recalibrate the trajectory of the nations political and socio-economic development have been disappointed to say the least. What has become of the sacrifices made in sweat and blood, the aftermath of the post June 12 pro democracy battles? Have they all been in vain? Where is transparency and accountability? What happened to the rule of law that we were all promised?

The story since the turn of the century have been founded on hollow growth and a haphazard and directionless policy regime, that does the common man no good. Governance has been abused and the system had been intentionally and consciously corrupted to maintain the access which some small fraction of the populace have to the paraphernalia of state. By incorporating segments of the economic, military, traditional and religious elites, this hybrid Polygarchy have let loose the fangs of the state on other sectors of the society, replicating itself at various sub state levels, for the sole purpose of self preservation. Protecting its networks of puns by promoting double standards, while meting selective justice for appeasement purposes, and for the benefit of the sycophantic cadre who see their role as official applause providers for state policies, good or bad. Under this reality therefore, it is hardly surprising that there is a morbid competition to accumulate bordering on the insane. With a false paradigm orientation entrenched by the discredited capitalistic notions copied from the colonial dispensation, capital accumulation had been turned on its head in its expression in Nigeria, and her economy is being sabotaged from within under a presumed logic of neo classical liberalism.

A computation of figures arrived at from some of the alleged misappropriations since 1999 would amount to all or most of the annual budget of many of the states in Sub Saharan Africa. With the political class consuming almost half of the nations budget each year, it is begging the question why the country has remained the way it is in an increasingly globalizing 21st century, disarticulated, disjointed, disillusioned and underdeveloped.

However, this piece is not meant for lamenting the subsisting state in Nigeria, as that job has become the favorite pastime of our political leaders, who when not lamenting our absence from the congregation of states that would form the core of the emerging international economic order (if not political as well), are either lamenting the snub given by the American head of states’ below par rating of the country’s efforts at governance, or lamenting their incapacity at providing a paltry 6000 Megawatts, power capacity that would not be able to scratch the surface of our drive towards being amongst one of the top 20 economies in about a decade from today. Even consistent failures at ensuring that the federal road networks are failure free are no longer news, not when the Lagos/Apapa federal roads he vein of the nations economy, are in a critical condition of disrepair.

Our leaders should know by now that tears and emotion laden tones do not make good roads, nor do they lead to development and economic prosperity. Even, their various throng of ‘abracadabra’ specialists would have told them so. One can recall a few years ago when a federal minister, fully fatigued in construction gear with a safety hat to match, along the Benin-Ore-Lagos Federal Highway, exhibited her enviable talents at ‘stagecraft’ in the glare of lights and cameras, but two years down the road, we are yet to see concrete action, and she was appropriately rewarded for that spectacle with another ministerial position and her continuous presence in the midst of the noveau aristocrats in their midweek backslappings and camera sessions.

Now when the nations educational sector lie prostrate, parties are being held by actors in the midst of the crisis, and more fundamental issues are trivialized with an emphasis on income. It is beyond the rationalizing of the authorities that education and a sound academic base provide the fulcrum on which growth in knowledge is firmed upon, and that for our educational institutions to rate at par with its contemporaries from other parts of the world, infrastructural development and better funding is required. While talks of accelerating the development efforts of the Niger Delta was ongoing, the subsisting regime chose to mark its two years in office with carnage in Gbaramatu, following this up with an offer of amnesty that few have subscribed to due to it’s disregard for the local oil bearing communities exploited these past fifty years and its lack of a sustainable post amnesty framework.

As if to rub the scale of its insensitivity to the Niger Delta in, the state had proposed, via the suspect Petroleum Industry Bill some unacceptable proposals that underlie the constant insinuations held by this most deprived of peoples that some individuals within the polity actually feel that the state exist at their behest. What can one say about a minister who has been in the corridors of the petroleum industry, and have not only amassed stupendous wealth as a result, but has also contributed to the rot over the last three decades making unguarded statements and utterances belying his comprehension of the immensity of a problem he cannot deny not being a major party to?

It is a sad testimony that when some elements should be called to account for their years of association with the development of underdevelopment in the country, statements that emanate from them are fraught with provocation and an air of imperial aloofness. Over $400 Billion have been frittered away by previous regimes and governments, according to the United Nations and the World Bank, many of the current officials of state were at various points active partakers of previous governments, but no one is asking for stewardships, much less prosecutions. Similar events are unfolding before our very eyes as the rate at which the nations surplus crude accounts and foreign reserves is being depleted, decreasing over 30% the last 12 months with no significant improvement in any of the ntions domestic developmental index, gives one cause for concern. At this rate, by the time of the 2011 elections, the nation might not have up to $10 Billion in her foreign reserves, while calls are already on for a second term for the present regime. At a point when reasonable rational heads of governments of more developed countries apologize for government failure and take responsibility for inefficiency, our African leaders continue to foist themselves on their hapless peoples, disregarding norms and harboring interests of self perpetuation in power irrespective of performance or otherwise.

Rather, this piece is for the Nigerian citizen who see through the crocodile tears and unguarded statements of state officials, and hold a firm belief in the bright and positive future of our nation without cosmetic attempts at (re)branding. This piece is for all those who daily flock the news stands, wanting to know, and still wanting to know more, for their belief that one day they will gather and comment on the positives that emanate from the system and reminisce on the dark days of the insane polity when the ‘lunatic minority’ held sway. This piece is for the brave news editor/reporter who despite threats, blackmail and a hostile working environment, where the freedom of information is stifled and harangued and mere reporting of the state of health of public officials could land one in the comfortable confines of State Security detention centres, continue to hold tenaciously to the principles of their profession. This piece is for all Nigerians who feel betrayed when the nation has to stand in line and beg the G8 and other High Income Countries for bread crumbs when the nation is fully capable of baking her own pies and teaching others the art of industry and productivity.

This piece is also for the African brethren domiciled in Africa. As our leaders have restated their determination to make those difficult choices that will enable them deal with the complex challenges facing Africa, and since they have recognized that the responsibility for peace and development rests squarely on their shoulders (paraphrasing President Umaru Yar Aduas recent G8 speech), it is only a hope that Africa can hope. That rhetoric begin to be backed up with action, and that genuine efforts be made by African leaders towards meeting the welfare and developmental needs of her peoples by genuinely working towards realizing the goals and targets of eradicating poverty and human suffering.

According to the United Nations Under Secretary General For Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang, writing in the 2008 Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) Report, all citizens of the world, especially the poor and the most vulnerable, have the right to expect that their leaders fulfill the commitments made towards achieving these set of developmental goals. The Nigerian citizen has a right to development, and it is not a privilege.

But a flip through the dailies imbues one with less cause for confidence. But to the good Nigerian citizen, and to the African who have gone through the trouble of flipping through the days dailies, this writer says courage. Trouble may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

In these troubled times,

Anytime one domiciled within the Nigerian territories picks up any of the nations many dailies, he is immediately greeted with stories of other Nigerians from the other parts of the country, from the far flung reaches of the fringes of the Sahara to the coasts bounding the African continent with the two Atlantics. Once in a while, they might catch glimpses of stories from other continents, especially if it might have some connection with nationals. In a manner, the average citizen might seem helpless in the face of the many complexities and contradictions that the contemporary international system have foisted on a 21st century world. But more importantly, the things that will concern him the most are those things that have an immediate impact on his existence and livelihood. Within the context of today’s Nigeria, a great many issues have led to a feeling of solemn despondency by the at least 54.4% of the population living in relative poverty of $1.08 at the 2005 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Almost on a daily basis, news stories and reports ranging from the criminal to the scandalous, and all the negative concepts and terms in between, continue to feed the dumbfounded throng of eager Nigerians, whose sole reward is to argue subjective opinions spiritedly after the daily dose of state ineptitude and inefficiency had been guzzled. The fact that most of these issues become ‘yesterdays news’ at the point of consumption plays little or no role in the gusto into which parties put into their individual analysis of issues, either in the hallowed halls of university faculties or in the many selling spaces of the various street side vendors strewn all over the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

By now, even when the citizenry await the much talked about electoral reforms, and the Nigerian populace have come to question the electoral process, the only one means by which a Nigerian citizen can have a say in this complex grill of uneven integration that the Nigerian polity had become, other issues such as unending industrial actions, spurious developmental claims, disarticulated policies, private and public corruption, the sophistication of organized violence, and an ever rising crime rate exacerbate the tensions within the polity leading to one living in a state of perpetual insecurity. However, the incidence of wanton and institutionalized violence becomes salient in the sense of its questioning the monopoly of force that underlie the preservation of security, a principle which defines an effective state. On a regular basis, reports of brazen criminal operations assail our sensibilities. When it is not mobilized and armed religious centered groups meting out mayhem to hapless and innocent citizens, it is often times violent agitations for resource control by disadvantaged and marginalized ethnic groups, venting their spleen, albeit justifiably. We should not forget the popular militants from the Niger Delta, couching their competition with the state for the regions resources with genuine demands that obviates the need for asking the question, “What has the state been doing for the last 50 years?”

The avid follower of events since political independence would recall the concept of the ‘developmental state’ that heralded the proliferation of new states since the culmination of the Second World War. But while it can be argued that these brood of former colonies were merely reinforcements of the prevailing international political economy, and that their development have either been stymied or supported to grow, benefiting from catalysts provided by the political and economic power poles of the international system, consideration is given of the fact that there exist an embarrassment of endowments spread across the vastness of the landmass of Nigeria that it can well provide in abundance for the nearly 200 Million peoples that have been destined to live as one within her geographical confines, leaving considerable surplus that can well be invested in the millions more unborn Nigerians that would inhabit these lands long after our generation must have departed.

A flip through the nations dailies would indeed raise serious questions on the sustainability of the Nigerian project on the eve of her golden jubilee of sovereign existence. Judging from the reports being provided by the heroes of the contemporary struggle, the courageous newshound, who permeate the armour of the petite bourgeoisie to provide us common proletarians with much needed enlightenment, a projection into the next fifty years seem littered with pain, with the peoples perennially subjected to a vicious cycle of poverty.

It must be mentioned that the heart which one shows in actually purchasing a newspaper publication reflects the unrelenting spirit of the average Nigerian citizen who is not put off by the economic tailspin which the global financial meltdown had inflicted on an already dysfunctional domestic economy. Many have remained unrelenting, sacrificing at least 100 of our distressed Naira currency, to be in the know of the scheming and shenanigans of the political gladiators that bestride the political space. This token amount could well be the difference between ones status and position in the international classification of poverty. These ones actually contribute to the contemporary Nigerian debate, with their hope that it would yield to a genuine social contract that would bind the essence of our togetherness and genuine nationhood.

This emerging national debate, which if it must be said have been consistently and consciously shirked by the party going on in the Federal Capital Territory is proving to be like the proverbial light that cannot be hid. Unfortunately however, the appropriate mechanisms for engaging in such debates under the contemporary constituted order are rather preoccupied with more mundane things, as both the green and red sides of the divide are as yet enmeshed in their attempts to define and redefine protocol over a year after their respective committees were convened. Meanwhile, quite ominously, the continuous search for where ‘Satan’ is domiciled makes headline news. How else could have the Nigerian populace been aware of the fact that ‘sciances’ and exorcisms still exist in the upper echelon of both the national state and its sub national appendages?

The average Nigerian is indeed rewarded when he debates the hypocrisy of the assumedly religious politicians. For the same pages one confronts state and public officials, indicted of one deviant act or the other, gleefully posing for nude photographic shots within the deep recesses of fetish primitivism, are the same pages that these officials give thanks with pomp and pageantry in various religious institutions and denominations, thanking God probably for aiding them in their successful actions of primitive accumulation. Makes one to wonder which God is actually being served?

It is no more news when gross incompetence is reported. What becomes news is the size and degree of appropriation. For that observer since independence, the brazenness of the late 20th century pale into insignificance when compared with the bizarre of the 21st century thus far. Some years ago, $12 Billion was lamented to high heavens and personal aggrandizement was redefined with platforms constructed for the storage of filthy lucre in some quarters. Those were the heady days of the ‘gap toothed general’ and the ‘dark goggled one’. However, little did we know that we were being primed for the incredulous when colossal sums were mentioned in a plethora of graft cases, from Halliburton to Siemens, to the unspecified monies of the power probes and the irony of the Rural Electrification scam where a hunter has paradoxically become the hunted, amongst countless of others.

Expectations that the emerging democratic order would bring with it the goods that the battered people badly needed continue to fizzle with the passage of time, and the Nigerian people who marched on into democracy and the new century with a hope borne of the fact that our collective experience as a nation would place the new political and ruling elite in good stead to recalibrate the trajectory of the nations political and socio-economic development have been disappointed to say the least. What has become of the sacrifices made in sweat and blood, the aftermath of the post June 12 pro democracy battles? Have they all been in vain? Where is transparency and accountability? What happened to the rule of law that we were all promised?

The story since the turn of the century have been founded on hollow growth and a haphazard and directionless policy regime, that does the common man no good. Governance has been abused and the system had been intentionally and consciously corrupted to maintain the access which some small fraction of the populace have to the paraphernalia of state. By incorporating segments of the economic, military, traditional and religious elites, this hybrid Polygarchy have let loose the fangs of the state on other sectors of the society, replicating itself at various sub state levels, for the sole purpose of self preservation. Protecting its networks of puns by promoting double standards, while meting selective justice for appeasement purposes, and for the benefit of the sycophantic cadre who see their role as official applause providers for state policies, good or bad. Under this reality therefore, it is hardly surprising that there is a morbid competition to accumulate bordering on the insane. With a false paradigm orientation entrenched by the discredited capitalistic notions copied from the colonial dispensation, capital accumulation had been turned on its head in its expression in Nigeria, and her economy is being sabotaged from within under a presumed logic of neo classical liberalism.

A computation of figures arrived at from some of the alleged misappropriations since 1999 would amount to all or most of the annual budget of many of the states in Sub Saharan Africa. With the political class consuming almost half of the nations budget each year, it is begging the question why the country has remained the way it is in an increasingly globalizing 21st century, disarticulated, disjointed, disillusioned and underdeveloped.

However, this piece is not meant for lamenting the subsisting state in Nigeria, as that job has become the favorite pastime of our political leaders, who when not lamenting our absence from the congregation of states that would form the core of the emerging international economic order (if not political as well), are either lamenting the snub given by the American head of states’ below par rating of the country’s efforts at governance, or lamenting their incapacity at providing a paltry 6000 Megawatts, power capacity that would not be able to scratch the surface of our drive towards being amongst one of the top 20 economies in about a decade from today. Even consistent failures at ensuring that the federal road networks are failure free are no longer news, not when the Lagos/Apapa federal roads he vein of the nations economy, are in a critical condition of disrepair.

Our leaders should know by now that tears and emotion laden tones do not make good roads, nor do they lead to development and economic prosperity. Even, their various throng of ‘abracadabra’ specialists would have told them so. One can recall a few years ago when a federal minister, fully fatigued in construction gear with a safety hat to match, along the Benin-Ore-Lagos Federal Highway, exhibited her enviable talents at ‘stagecraft’ in the glare of lights and cameras, but two years down the road, we are yet to see concrete action, and she was appropriately rewarded for that spectacle with another ministerial position and her continuous presence in the midst of the noveau aristocrats in their midweek backslappings and camera sessions.

Now when the nations educational sector lie prostrate, parties are being held by actors in the midst of the crisis, and more fundamental issues are trivialized with an emphasis on income. It is beyond the rationalizing of the authorities that education and a sound academic base provide the fulcrum on which growth in knowledge is firmed upon, and that for our educational institutions to rate at par with its contemporaries from other parts of the world, infrastructural development and better funding is required. While talks of accelerating the development efforts of the Niger Delta was ongoing, the subsisting regime chose to mark its two years in office with carnage in Gbaramatu, following this up with an offer of amnesty that few have subscribed to due to it’s disregard for the local oil bearing communities exploited these past fifty years and its lack of a sustainable post amnesty framework.

As if to rub the scale of its insensitivity to the Niger Delta in, the state had proposed, via the suspect Petroleum Industry Bill some unacceptable proposals that underlie the constant insinuations held by this most deprived of peoples that some individuals within the polity actually feel that the state exist at their behest. What can one say about a minister who has been in the corridors of the petroleum industry, and have not only amassed stupendous wealth as a result, but has also contributed to the rot over the last three decades making unguarded statements and utterances belying his comprehension of the immensity of a problem he cannot deny not being a major party to?

It is a sad testimony that when some elements should be called to account for their years of association with the development of underdevelopment in the country, statements that emanate from them are fraught with provocation and an air of imperial aloofness. Over $400 Billion have been frittered away by previous regimes and governments, according to the United Nations and the World Bank, many of the current officials of state were at various points active partakers of previous governments, but no one is asking for stewardships, much less prosecutions. Similar events are unfolding before our very eyes as the rate at which the nations surplus crude accounts and foreign reserves is being depleted, decreasing over 30% the last 12 months with no significant improvement in any of the ntions domestic developmental index, gives one cause for concern. At this rate, by the time of the 2011 elections, the nation might not have up to $10 Billion in her foreign reserves, while calls are already on for a second term for the present regime. At a point when reasonable rational heads of governments of more developed countries apologize for government failure and take responsibility for inefficiency, our African leaders continue to foist themselves on their hapless peoples, disregarding norms and harboring interests of self perpetuation in power irrespective of performance or otherwise.

Rather, this piece is for the Nigerian citizen who see through the crocodile tears and unguarded statements of state officials, and hold a firm belief in the bright and positive future of our nation without cosmetic attempts at (re)branding. This piece is for all those who daily flock the news stands, wanting to know, and still wanting to know more, for their belief that one day they will gather and comment on the positives that emanate from the system and reminisce on the dark days of the insane polity when the ‘lunatic minority’ held sway. This piece is for the brave news editor/reporter who despite threats, blackmail and a hostile working environment, where the freedom of information is stifled and harangued and mere reporting of the state of health of public officials could land one in the comfortable confines of State Security detention centres, continue to hold tenaciously to the principles of their profession. This piece is for all Nigerians who feel betrayed when the nation has to stand in line and beg the G8 and other High Income Countries for bread crumbs when the nation is fully capable of baking her own pies and teaching others the art of industry and productivity.

This piece is also for the African brethren domiciled in Africa. As our leaders have restated their determination to make those difficult choices that will enable them deal with the complex challenges facing Africa, and since they have recognized that the responsibility for peace and development rests squarely on their shoulders (paraphrasing President Umaru Yar Aduas recent G8 speech), it is only a hope that Africa can hope. That rhetoric begin to be backed up with action, and that genuine efforts be made by African leaders towards meeting the welfare and developmental needs of her peoples by genuinely working towards realizing the goals and targets of eradicating poverty and human suffering.

According to the United Nations Under Secretary General For Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang, writing in the 2008 Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) Report, all citizens of the world, especially the poor and the most vulnerable, have the right to expect that their leaders fulfill the commitments made towards achieving these set of developmental goals. The Nigerian citizen has a right to development, and it is not a privilege.

But a flip through the dailies imbues one with less cause for confidence. But to the good Nigerian citizen, and to the African who have gone through the trouble of flipping through the days dailies, this writer says courage. Trouble may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.