₦airaland Forum

blandish:
@ Vacora,


You are a bloody a**hole!!!!!

You call it a racial slur, I call it a description, if you live abroad, or whereevr the f*** you live where the word half cast is not acceptable, that does not mean it is not acceptable in nigeria,

half of what you ask.

Half of white and half of black I say!!!

The problem with you uptight lot is that you always want to create an issue where there is none, do you realise that 99% nigerians refer to a mixed race/mullato as a half caste are you now telling me that the entire nation is racist??, and do not bother asking where I got that statistic from except you are daft!!!!, Only when you cross the border to UK or US do you realise that they do not accept dem words, Hence my reason for saying people do not always mean bad, to nigerians, it is a description.

Most informed Nigerians-whether living inside or ouside Nigeria-no longer use the word 'half caste'.  Those that still do are not informed. It has nothing to do with 'our culture' and 'way of life'.  Quoting 99% as the number who still use it, is rather embarrassing because what you are implying is that 99% of Nigerians are ignorant. I agree with you that their intentions are not necessarily racist though.

Leilah:
Apparently the poles have these type of signs up in their county about us Irish. They came here and absolutely milked the social welfare system!

Can you explain the type of 'signs' you mean?

eldee:
Yeah . . . let them stop wearing wigs just because you think it's awful
Infact,the nurses should stop wearing those hats and while we're at it, we need get rid of the white jackets for doctors too.

The nurses wearing 'those hats' and the 'the white jackets for doctors' serves a function, relevant to the duties they perform. That uniform is theoretically part of their hygiene protocols to protect themselves and the patient from germs.

What i don't quite understand is the function the wigs serve and it's relevance to our legal justice system? If their only function is 'cosmetic', which it seems to my uninformed perspective, then this topic is very relevant. If it's more than to look the part, then can somebody who is 'informed' kindly enlighten those of us who are not 'learned' enough, what it's all about?

pres-elect:
the word slave was derived from the slavs.

Interestingly, the word slava, from which 'slave' supposedly takes its root means 'Glory' in some of the slavic languages (one of which i speak fluently). What irony! 

Anyways, I am not quite sure, as pre-elect asserts, that 'these people (as in the Slav's) suffered hell under the ancient russian empire for centuries and were only freed after the russian king(csar) stopped it in the I860s' because the Russians themselves happen to belong to the group of Slavic nations. Though the etymology of the word 'slave' is still in doubt, it may be strongly linked to the spate of enslaving that occured in most of Europe during the Viking Era during which a lot of peoples of Slavic origin, including the Russians, were forcefully taken across most of Europe, enroute to the Nordic lands. You can find some interesting stuff about it here. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1513588

I think it's interesting that the word  'Caucasian', which describes somebody from the Caucasus mountains, a place located on the borders of the lands of the Slav's, is sometimes used to describe Europeans as a 'racial' group. One wonders why most of them, 'Caucasians' i mean, prefer to be called 'white' as opposed to 'Caucasian'. Has it to do with a denial of their own history? One wonders!

ChinenyeN:
Do you by any chance know, specifically, which cultures those are in those two pictures?

Swazi Culture.The occasion is the Swazi reed festival.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&rlz=1T4DKUK_en-GBGB294GB298&q=swazi+reed+dance&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=Sib0Sp76I4-r4QbWo9nmAw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBAQsAQwAA

vines007:
Hi am a Medical lab Scientist abroad, am looking to come into the country how can i registe with the nigerian council or how can they asses my qualification.

I doubt that it's the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council that register Medical Lab scientists. To the best of my knowledge you guys have a different licensing body, so it's difficult to point you in the right direction.

Kenezi:
Nigeria adopted the English legal system and has the same traditions as the English because it it. If you don't like it, go and take up sharia for the national legal code.

Adopting the English legal system doesn't really excuse wearing those crazy looking wigs they wear! I am not sure whether wearing those things is really relevant to our legal system, but even if it was, which i doubt, our lawyers certainly don't look smart in them. And going by the state of the legal justice system in the country, it's as if the wigs put a woolly cap on their ability to interprete the law.

ababda:
Sad isn't it, the way we allow our valuable things to be violated, discarded and then forgotten.

the sad thing beneli, many africans don't know about timbuktu. they brought into the idea mainly coming from europe that africans culture is only oral and relegated to singing and tribal dancing. needless to say, from their perspective the only african cultures that have merit is nile valley area or sometimes ethiopia, if they consider those countries as black. however, from the perspective of westerners and some africans alike, sub saharan africa is devoid of any past intellectual culture, but relegated to dancing, singing, primitive tribalism and superstitions. that is the image most outsiders have toward sub saharan africa.

That is the image outsiders want to retain of africa. And unfortunately, it is the image most of us 'sub saharan' africans have internalised about ourselves. That's why many of us seem so eager to treat the Caucasian and other lighter skinned peoples, as superiors, only to turn round and continue to hold ourselves down with the iron clutches of the rabid tribalism manifest in forums such as this one and in the political discourse of most african nations. A culture which only leaves us vulnerable to the 'altruistic' outsiders who are only to willing to come to our 'aid'. Sad, i say.

Interesting stuff really.

I understand that after it's decline, many europeans such as the man, Mungo Park, believed to have 'discovered' the river Niger came in search of Timbuctu's fabled riches. I wonder why little is spoken of this city and the era in Africa's history, which it represents. One can blame our writers whose role as the custodians of history must not be ignored. Other peoples would have come up with loads of writings and scripts (both fictional and non-fictional) aimed at engraving Timbuctu in our minds, so that it's history, culture and all that it represents is not lost to the future generations, and that it is not just associated with 'remoteness' and 'lack of civilisation' as it is today.

The other day, there was a programme on TV where a young Caucasian American gentleman came searching for the trail of Timbuctu's gold. The trail took him to Morocco where it is believed a lot of the gold was cartered to after the city was finally destroyed by the Arabs, where he found some gold coins in a jewellers shop that were said to be from Timbuctu. The young man, however acknowleged that Timbuctu's greatest treasure must have been it's books, hidden away in an attempt to save them by those who valued them. Many many thousands of treasures now left to decay, gradually under the sands of the ever encroaching sahara.

Sad isn't it, the way we allow our valuable things to be violated, discarded and then forgotten.

axeman85:
i am nigerian living in uk for 6years, but notwithstanding, despite the availability of amenities and infastructures in uk, i still love naija despite anything else, i love naija so much i have been there 3 times this year and cant wait to go back again and looking forward to go back finally. there is no place like home, for the last year my routine has been the same here in uk, wake up in the morning, go to school and after go to work and come back home same thing monday to saturday. i dont want to live my life like that, i want to be free to go out, hange out with friends, collegues on the island or cinemans after work, enjoy the weather naija has to offer, dont have to keep buying shoes all the time and having flu as well as having to put up with so many rubbish and bullshit with plenty things.

i was born and grew up in naija , spent a few god years of my life in lagos and coming to the uk doesnt mean i will despise naija, i have gained my qualifications and skills from the uk which i paid for, so i will take it back to go and develop my beloved country and hopefully together naija can change for the better. forget mosquito, forget nepa, forget bad roads, there were there when we were born so we cant say because we have travelled abroad we will not want to go back home.

Your perspective is faultless, except for the part in bold. And yes, i did see the part where you mentioned wanting to come back to develop the country etc, but my questions remain:

Why must we forget the mosquitoes, when their scourge could have already been (nay should have been) curbed by a responsible and functioning public health system?
Why must we forget about 'NEPA when having a constant supply of power and electricity is NOT a privilege, at least not in a society like Nigeria?
Why must we forget about the bad roads? Abi na curse?! If na curse, why are our 'prayer warriors' and 'men of god' only focused on personal enrichment and financial break throughs and not trying to do anything about it? Why is it okay to live perpetually at such bewildering poverty levels that makes others dismiss us as an unserious people with no self respect and think that this is 'living'? Some teenagers across the pond would probably ask 'are you guys (i.e.nigerians) for real?'

The fact that the things you mentioned were there 'before we were born', makes it even more shameful that the problems continue to plague us even today! Like somebody already said, we have run out of excuses for the state we are in today as a nation.A lot of the people abroad come back, just like you do but that does not mean they should 'forget', by which you probably mean 'ignore' the unforgivable level of neglect and decay that assaults ones senses from the moment the aeroplane starts to descend into Naija.

So my good friend, we should not continue to ignore or even forget that we are being taken for a ride in Nigeria. Because the next generation will certainly not forgive us if we do.

This https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-344244.0.html is the kind of thing that a lot of us are unhappy about and it has nothing to do with hate. And i bet the soldiers in the link posted will get away with it and everything will as always continue as 'normal' until the next victim's brain is splattered across the streets in broad daylight, or the next elderly woman is wipped by a crazed illiterate in uniform who is young enough to be her grandson. And then the next victim. And then the next.

What is heard and is mistaken for hate, in some, is just the resonance of hearts that are broken by the pain of a failing nation, which they still call theirs. A nation where all the aging heroes have become emasculated and the future leaders are either too blind or too corrupted to raise their voices. This is the meaning of shame because the rest of the world can see us and are bewildered by our docility.

@poster,
I have never met any 'diasporan' who hates Nigeria, so i wonder where you got that from. The fact that a lot of people who know how things should work and who aware that there is really no escuse for Nigeria to remain the laughing stock of the world, are bitter and sometimes complain doesn't mean they hate Nigeria.

Honestly, the sense i get from reading some of the things written by some of the guys in Nigeria who 'defend' Nigera in the name of patriotism and love for Naija, is that they are in serious denial. Someone thinks that they are jealous but i won't go down that route. Loving something or someone doesn't mean you shouldn't say the truth about that person or thing. Keeping silent in the midst of such immoral violation of ones basic rights to dignity, such as is pervasive in Nigeria, is actually more indicative of antipathy than the professed love these guys in Naija think they have. But still i won't say the 'J' word, because i think that would be like 'adding salt to injury'.

I sense that it's this denial of some and antipathy of the majority, which has us stuck in the decay we're in in Nigeria. How can change then happen, if people are 'satisfied' with the status quo or won't speak up for fear of being labelled unaptriotic? Perhaps 'satified' is not even the word i should use. I think that the majority are not really 'satisfied'. Theirs is more of a learned helplessness. A resignation to an 'ee go better mentality' that have made people to live in squalor and think they are living in a functioning society. People have become so overwhelmed with helplessness and hopelessness that they have become oblivious to the fact that they don't really have to continue living like animals in a country that has so much potential. Yet some dare to call speaking out against it as 'being unpatriotic!

Seriously, some people are actually more phucked up than i thought!

@loser2,
Contact the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council via the following link http://www.mdcnigeria.org/ They're the ones responsible for licencing and that sort of thing, and should be able to guide you. It may be best to call them on the numbers provided on their website, as opposed to sending them an email.

Good luck!

I lost my post and can't be bothered to do the write up all over again. The gist of it was to explain to bennyboy11 why i don't agree with him that my view on Intelligence is 'narrow'!

Bennyboy11:
The ability of African’s to survive under conditions that others would commit suicide under is seen as emotional intelligence which is definitely a form of intelligence. When people who are less intelligent in the traditional sense are able to give the impression that they are, this is also emotional intelligence. People like Tony Blair have tonnes of that and have achieved more than the likes of Gordon Brown who have superior conventional intelligence. Anyone that has been on a top MBA programme would know what I’m talking about and realise the emphasis placed on it.

Art and musical ability is definitely a sign of intelligence. If an individual is able to time perfectly and put notes together what do you thing that is? Don’t forget the important like between Mathematics and Music which was established a very long time ago. A key part of intelligence is Judgement which is inherent in an Artistic person and exercises a lot of it whether when painting or putting poem together.

If William Shakespeare was rubbish at Mathematics which he possibly was, would you dare call him unintelligent? Even more basic than that if an individual did a Music or Art degree and got a first class could you call them anything but intelligent?

You should take a flexible approach to intelligence and not be bugged down with definitions like you are. It’s like beauty, Pamela Anderson, Michelle Obama, Cameron Diaz, Genevieve Nnaji and Marilyn Monroe are all beautiful women. All have very different features but non the less beautiful.

I have an issue with the part in bold above. While you are right that in modern discourse Intelligence as measured by the Intelligence Quotience is no longer of much significant value, and that some of the definitions that have surfaced on this topic opens up a lot of room for debate, Emotional Intelligence, which has more to do with our ability to functionally navigate interpersonal and social relationships is not what has enabled the African to survive harsh conditions. I am of the school of thought that Emotional Intelligence is one of those areas that a cohort of Africans from Africa may be slightly deficient in when compared to there counterparts from Europe who have a similar educational background. This difference would be accounted for by their different social experiences and values.

Global Intelligence, at the end of the day, is a cognitive function. The ability to plan, make judgement, assess danger, appreciate music, understand that somebody else is in pain etc are all functions of the brain, which depending on the wiring of a particular brain may be more developed in some individuals than in others. For instance, a type of wiring of the brain can result in an individual being able to do mathematical calculations at the same speed as a calculator, yet in that same individual there may be problems with being able to put on their own clothes. This is not a far-fetched anecdote. People who suffer from Aspegers syndrome with dyspraxia would present like that. Some people are able to appreciate music to the point when they are able to tell the colour of different musical notes (you can find that in people who have a condition known as synaesthesia) and so on and so forth.

Our ability to solve problems, make plans for the immediate and distant future, appreciate art and literature, interact with those around us (in other words our ability to be intelligent)  is a function of how our brains have been wired up and the environment within which we have been nurtured.

Race has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence.Those that want to argue that race is assocaited with intelligence have an agenda that has little to do with science.

The environment within which the genetically coded intelligence is nurtured is very very significant.

Our environmental experiences actually start in the womb. It is in the womb that our nervous system, the skeleton for intelligence, is formed. During this period the brain begins to get wired up, using the template laid down in our genes.

It is in the womb that our brains are first made vulnerable to environmental influences such as the medication consumed by our mothers; the nutrients that nourish the developing brains; the untreated illnesses of the mother; the mother’s emotional well-being and exposure to such stress hormones (like serotonin), which incidentally are also implicated in subsequent development of aggression and other criminogenic behaviour, depression, psychosis etc. All these influences are implicated in the subsequent development of the individual’s intelligence, irrespective of what the genes were coded for.

The environment includes those things that make us vulnerable to early life traumas, like growing up in a remote village with no access to water and healthcare as opposed to growing up in Aso Rock. Woman in poor societies are more likely to give birth to children who are traumatised at birth. A low Apgar score (the apgar score is used by midwives and obstetricians to determine how healthy the newborn child is) has been associated with an increased likelihood of low IQ scores at age 18 years’! The environment also includes exposure to good early years mental stimulation etc. etc. etc.

So to conclude, much as the genetic coding is important in how the brain starts to get wired up, its significance pales when one considers the role of the spectrum of environmental influences.

The IQ testing, even the non verbal one, which is supposed to control for culture etc, should be viewed with a lot of suspicion.


PS: Albert Einstein had a peculiarly wired up brain, the cause of which, if one tried to hazard a guess would only continue to befuddle the debate…

I used to think that Joe Igbokwe was an intelligent man. Perhaps this is somebody with the same name!

The consensus is that Nigerian Youths must start to do something about the hostage situation that we find ourselves in. The question that remains is 'How do we go about it?'

How do we reclaim our nation from the clutches of those who have held us down in such a manner that the very essence of our being is drained from us, leaving us increasingly bereft of the little (in)sanity that had once allowed us to continue smiling in the midst of our unrelenting suffering? Perhaps it is a good thing that the (in)sanity is lifting and that the smile is now fading from our lips. It is a good thing. Because that same thing that had given us the frame of mind to smile in the midst of our suffering, that same veil of doltishness, is the same thing that has been manipulated by the vagabonds in power, to chain a lot of us to our retrogressive tribal allegiances and prejudices.

It is a good thing that we are being driven to the point where we are all beginning to recognise that the hostage situation is a Nigerian experience. An experience that was not caused by or is exclusive to, any particular ethnic group. Nigerians are suffering and it has nothing to to with whether they are Anang or Bini or Kalabari or Gwari. Nigerians are suffering and as the veil continues to lift and we recognise that a lot more bind us together than separates us, a fire will be kindled in our bones that will make us to move beyond our internet-based rhetoric to an action that is equitably Nigerian.

Methinks that the veil is not completely lifted and the fire is not kindled.

To add to my post above, I think it's important to balance out the good news with the bad news! Here goes.

To work as a locum in the UK you will need to register with locum agencies. Somebody coming directly from Nigeria may have some difficulties sorting out the registration immediately, because of some of the requirements :

1. You need to get up to date serology reports (i.e. evidence of your Hepatits B and C status. Some ask for evidence of your HIV status, especially if you will be working in some surgical specialities. All will request for evidence of your immunity to Measles, Mumps and Rubella), and will want confirmation that you have the post manteux scar (for TB). A lot of agencies want the reports from UK laboratories, so you may need to go private to get them done. The reason for this, is that the process of getting a GP and becoming eligible to access 'free' healthcare, takes a bit of time.

2. You must have at least 2 referees. One of which must be from your most recent Clinical supervisor/clinical director. In these desperate times, they'll probably accept referees from Nigeria. But the letters from your referees must have clear contact details (email and telephone).

3. You will need to have what is called a CRB check. CRB stands for Criminal Records Bureau. In essence you will fill a form detailing where you have lived for the past 5 years, amongst other things, and send off to the CRB office. They will use the information you have provided to check if you have committed any crimes. For residents of the UK, the whole process can take 3 months and more. For people coming from outside the UK, it will defintely take longer.

4. There are other minor documents that you'd be expected to submit, such as evidence of your qualifications and registartion with the General Medical Council, immigration status etc.

As a result of the need to sort out the above documents, anybody planning to come to the UK must be prepared for a wait of up to 6 months after passing PLAB before they can get into the system! Perhaps that's why some people end up working in places like McDanolds, while they are waiting to sort out their papers!

igbo-boy:
G'day to you all. Even though I am not yet a doctor,i have enjoyed this forum as i have learnt loads of stuff. I am a 300 level med student at NAUTH and i have a question. What is the benefit of having a DISTINCTION in any of your MBBS papers/e.g anatomy/? I heard that it gives you an edge in professional exams. Thanks[color=][/color]

A distinction in your MBBS papers is of no great significance to professional exams abroad but you can highlight it in your CV. In a lot of the job application forms for training or none training posts, there usually is a section asking about any special awards and stuff like that, that you have recieved. You could mention your distinction there. It will also give you something to talk about at job interviews that may make the difference in your getting the job or not! Methinks that the consensus would be that getting a distinction in your MBBS papers is NOT a bad thing at all!

To add to what liquid7 has said, training posts (residency) in the UK have become extremely competetive for JJC Doctors and are very difficult to get, so locumming is the way to go for any body wishing to come to the UK.There are jobs everywhere and the rates are very reasonable. The thinking is that this bubble will burst sometime in the next 2 years, but until then, this is the locummers market! Ideally, if you are a junior Doctor, you should be thinking of progressing in your career, so locumming should be a stop-gap thing while you try to pass the USMLE and get matched for a training programme in the US.

If you are a middle grade doctor or higher, then now is the time to come and enjoy the gravy train!

@poster
What do you REALLY enjoy doing?

How you answer the question is what will set you on the path of discovering your talent. What you do with the answer is what will give you the 'something to do' bit of your question.

Having said that, the finding and the doing is a lot of hard work. Both will involve a lot of investment in time and other resources.

There is no easy way.

allycat:
Medical care is not free anywhere in the world. Where it seems government pays, people pay taxes to fund it and the practitioners are always paid. Someone must pay either as taxes, insurance or cash. Better soup na money kill am even if the soup is health care. It is only in communsit countries that it is ever 'free' and go and read about the quality of care they get.

Spot on, my brother!

Even in so called 'Communist' countries, healthcare is NOT free per se! In those places, the resources generated from the labour of the working population is used to fund the healthcare, and other, needs of the vulnerable ones, resulting in a less sophisticated version of the welfare system that is becoming increasingly available across Europe. The NHS in the UK is a prime example. 

Where we need to start in Nigeria is by first putting a figure on the annual cost of our healthcare and making this known.Not locking it away in some obscure office, manned by a pot-bellied politician who doesn't know what's going on. Once we have the figures, it becomes easier to explore opportunities for its funding. A lot of money is being wasted in building so called '5-star hosptals' and other such ludicrous health projects than could have been more meaningfully channelled into a healthcare provision pool. If there is a clear costing, which is broken down to show what it would take to make good evidence-based health care universally accesible to service-users even in the remotest villages, then we would know what can be realistically funded from taxing the working population etc, and what needs to be sourced from elsewhere. Until then the policy makers and other stake-holders can be dismissed as unserious and, quite frankly, ignorant.

The guys in the US are able to have their debates because they KNOW what it costs to run a functional healthcare system. Their disagreements is about the funding. Here (in Nigeria) nobody, least of all the policy makers, seem to have the faintes idea!

@poster,

I don't think that we can honestly answer the question of whether Homosexuality should be legalized in Nigeria, without taking into consideration what one can call our own Cultural values. I know that this is a rather vague term, but things like taking care of our old folks who can't take care of themselves, respecting our elders, not french kissing in public etc would most likely tick the boxes.

'Democracy is, and always will be, flavoured by the 'cultural values' of those who practice it. And that is why the version practiced in the worlds largest 'democracy', India is most certainly different from the one you'd find in small democracies like Lichenstein etc. Culture is important and must never be ignored when we try to make those decisions that we think will make us to appear 'progressive' and 'democratic' in the eyes of those, whom we think are developed.

When we make the argument about 'consenting adults' , we should also bear in mind that a 21 year old brother having sex with his 18 year old sister is frowned upon even in the most 'democratic' of societies though they would certainly pass as 'consenting adults'.

With regards to the issue of the role of genetics and environment, there is currently no conclusive evidence of what is what when it comes to sexual preferences and behaviour. People have developed the habit of quoting scientific articles that sides with what they want to believe in, conforms with the expectations of their funders or is not politically incorrect at the time of publication!

Without doubt, as a nation we are lagging behind in so many spheres of human development but if we will define our progress by the yardsticks set by others, then we will most certainly continue to lag behind. Having said all that, my opinion is that the issue of legalizing (or not) homosexuality in Nigeria, should not really be among our list of priorities as a people at this point in our collective development, anyway.

Here's a job opening for any of you guys with a MPH and a bit of experience http://unjobs.org/vacancies/1252057108462

And here's one for those without the MPH http://unjobs.org/vacancies/1250846544597

@missgalaxy, here's an NGO job for you http://unjobs.org/vacancies/1253784936989

All of the jobs are in Liberia though.

Good luck!

Epi:
Ma'am, you may want to take out The Caribbean out of that because I have never heard of Caribbean countries practicing voodoo. However, we have duppies walking the street at late night, I think

Its called Obeah in most of the Caribbean countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obeah