₦airaland Forum

Also take lots of ice cream, donuts, pies and cake.

.

Eat very generous amounts of normal Nigerian foods and you will be robust in no time. Eba, Yam, Rice, Goat meat, Chicken, Ojojo, Porridge, Okro etc are all good.

.

Although eaten the world over, the Club Sandwich has always been closely associated with the USA, where it was first conceived and served.

History of The Club Sandwich

As with many such recipes, the exact origin is subject to a little speculation however the most popular theory suggests it was first served around 1894 when Richard Canfield purchased The Saratoga Club House, a private gentlemen only gambling club in New York. 


Although there are other stories including a more elusive one about some gentleman somewhere returning from his club late one night to find all his servants had retired.  Being hungry, he just grabbed what he could from the larder and having enjoyed it so much, then began to spread the word to other club members.


Whichever is true, the name almost certainly came about due to its initial popularity at country clubs and it definitely existed in the United States by the late 19th century.

The Club Sandwich was also a favourite of the former King of England, Edward VIII  and his wife, Wallis Simpson and it is said that she took great pride in making it. 


Traditional Club Sandwich Ingredients

Although today there are many variations the original club sandwich consisted of Chicken, Bacon, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Mayonnaise and not forgetting sliced bread.

How to make a Club Sandwich

Although it's believed that the original club sandwich was only made with two slices of bread, today it's customary to make it with three which creates what is known (in other circumstances) as a "double-decker" sandwich.

The bread should be thinly sliced and toasted and the fillings should be relatively thinly sliced - no door-steps here please. You can vary the order of the ingredients according to your personal preferences but here's a general guide.

1. Place some lettuce and a generous layer of mayonnaise on the first slice of toast, top with the chicken then place another slice of toast on top.

2. Place the bacon, tomato slices on the 2nd piece of toast, spread with more mayonnaise if you like, then top with the last slice of toast.

It's traditional to secure the sandwich at the four sides by spearing through all the layers with long wooden toothpicks before cutting into quarters which helps keep the fillings in order, and in place.

Modern Club Sandwiches

Over the years, changes have made to the basic recipe, in particular the use of turkey rather than chicken and addition of honey mustard. Below are some common variations and substitutions:-

Turkey (instead of chicken) a "Turkey Club Sandwich"

Thins slices of Roast Beef (instead of chicken) a  "Beef Club Sandwich"

Sliced ham (instead of bacon)

Additional thin slices of cheese

Additional Honey Mustard

You all are blaming the man. What he's doing is extremely bad but the poster needs to find out the reason why he's doing it. It might be that the woman annoys him excessively. That said, @poster PLS TAKE YOUR MOTHER AS FAR AWAY FROM HIM AS POSSIBLE, DON'T LET HER DIE A DEATH THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED.

Then you can talk to your father and try to counsel him. I think your mum should stay away from him for life and try to live AN ESTEEMED life for the reminder of her life. Please your father may be wrong but please DON'T DISRESPECT HIM.

I think that if they had titled the documentary "Welcome to the slums of Lagos" or something similar, it would not have gotten enough attention and THESE PEOPLE AND THE SLUMS DEFINITELY need attention and lots of it. We should be grateful for this alone.

Babcock cos in Covenant you have to donate your blood for whatever reason (AIDS, pregnancy tests and maybe spiritual) before you leave

I think it is because most men won't marry a woman who is richer than them,or who will be the provider. A man can be poor and the his woman can be rich but as a typical African he will never marry her. He will wait to be rich.

So in marriage the money has to come from somewhere i.e. the man.

To find a good man, one gas to shine eyes and PRAY!!! Some men are just wicked. Don't know why. The thing is God sees the heart and if you pray even if your eyes are closed, he will give you a warning. That said people do change.

My grandma (over 70) and her friends are always discussing about how bad men are. My granny has been a widow for over two years but everytime the man's name comes up, she gets soooooooooo bitter about how he treated her and how she stayed and endured for the kids' sake. Her friends have the same story and mind you from an objective point of view these are very good women.

They keep telling me that all men are worthless, they maltreat women and less than 1% are useful.She and her friends keep "abusing" them. Its like she just wasted her life with him, a life of no love. And yet these old women don't believe in gender equality , my grandma encourages women to do what she did.

I have heard countless scary stories about men. Here are a few:

1. Our family friend separated from his wife because she had just two kids, a boy and a girl. He wanted more. So he remarried. His first daughter around 20 years, a student of OOU got sick and was admitted at OOU teaching hospital. She called her dad who resides in Sagamu to come because of the bills. He thought it was a trick by her and her mother to collect money.

Do you know that this man did not come until hours later when the girl's mum had arrived from Lagos and he was in Sagamu. So the doctors had to wait and the girl died of just a simple illness. If the man had come earlier, the doctors may have acted fast and the lady may have been alive today.

Now guess what the man said to his wife after the girl died? He said (in Yoruba): thats why we said you should have many children. Imagine!!!!!!

2. I know a man who said that the day his wife builds a house before him, he will kill her.

3. My family friend (over 50) who graduated from Oxford Univeristy with a First Class (was on government scholarship) almost refused to go ahead with his daughter's wedding a few days to the day. Why? he was not buoyant at the time so could not afford much fanfare (band, etc). His wife wanted to assist but he said that if she should use her money to pay for anything extra, the wedding would not hold. And this man is educated oh.

4. I know a man (close to 80) who said casually that his wife never chooses  whether she wants to have s.ex or not.  She always has to accept each time. Now tell me, is that not pure slavery and r.ape?

The thing is men are funny, for example it is well known that Yoruba men care for their children more than their wives (I am an Ijebu).  Really on a reigious note, I think its the curse God placed on us in Eden and we gas to fulfill the curse:

Gen 3:16      To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy and the pangs of childbearing; with spasms of distress you will bring forth children. Yet your desire and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

I have been talking about men from the older generation. I am sure this younger generation will be better and not repeat the mistakes of their fathers.

Here are some interesting responses:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2010/04/welcome-to-lagos-itll-defy-you.shtml

lagerwhenindoubt:
A lot of Nigerians continue to miss the point, There is a lot of solid good men working for the improvement and better image of this country Nigeria.
We have seen great leadership performances from Nigerians Abroad and locally.

But there is one key point we keep missing, you cannot pour clean water into a glass of piss and expect it to turn to drinkable water.

Nigeria is polluted, even when we have a few good men, their efforts will simply become polluted by the many corrupt men.

The Palm Oil that stains one finger will eventually stain the entire hand, that is how corruption works.

We must look inward and tackle our deepest evils before we can begin to fight negative perceptions outside, there is no need saying you are aggressively fighting corruption on international TV when the continues to experience corruption 1st hand in Nigeria

Larger, na the real thing you dey talk!

Haba, Nigerians are wicked, so they are not happy that these scavengers have been exposed so they can get help /action.They should put themselves in these peoples shoes. If these things are not shown, they will continue. There are more dignified and refined ways of carrying out recycling. Also, whether you are a pauper or a prince everybody deserves a decent environment. Children deserve free education.

So they want these people to continue suffering in silence and go unnoticed. I am sure Olusosun is still much better than so many places in Nigeria, at least that is just Lagos, what about Oyo, Osun and then the East and the North etc? Do you know that there are some places in Ogun State where electricity has never reached since the creation of electricity in Nigeria. And they are heavily populated.Men, women, children live there. Ogun State o! Some don't even have road (only a river connects them to the world).

What is so special about Ikeja GRA, VGC, Lekki, Ajah, Ikoyi, V.I., Magodo, Abuja that the BBC or the world has not seen before? I pray BBC continues exposing the stinkiest and dirtiest slums so that those people there will get help. Nigerians will not help them now BBC is making an effort and all we get is noise.

The thing is Nigerians are too emotional, worship appearances and they only make noise. They don't like to act. Instead of shouting about the issue, get to work and make a change. After a while, the world will notice. Fashola is doing great things but he cannot repair and re-construct the system all in four years. Development takes time and time lost can never be regained.

But Nigerians enjoy living a lie sha.

I am sure IBB will give the leaders some change and they will keep shut as usual. This has happened several times in the past. Black people may be cursed, we keep selling ourselves short, from infants, pupils, students,parents,civil servants,local government officers, police, judges to the leaders. Africa may never move forward till Jesus comes.

The thing is God will not do for humans what they can do for themselves. Never.

Ranks007:
I think a protest(similar to anti-yardua) should help Nigeria scare away IBB. But I wonder why the U.S of all would support him to run for office after the mess he put us through.

US and UK want Babangida so they can get their hands on Nigeria's oil and fuel their own economy. Theirs is super saturated and they need an an emerging economy like ours.Thats why Tony Blair and Bush came to Nigeria to support him through Thisday festival.

Personally, I think Africans (blacks) may be cursed. Cos we keep selling ourselves short. WE DO NOT LOVE EACH OTHER. Our kings sold us to the whites during the slave trade and our leaders are still selling us short.

Make no mistake, OBJ and IBB planned this since after June 12. OBJ was used to get peace and settle the Yorubas and they then deliberately put a dying president in place so that by the time he dies, election time will be close.

IBB wants to rule Nigeria forever, he only "stepped aside" because of June 12. We must fight him with all we have whether there are good alternatives or not. If we can fight first and he withdraws or loses then our opposing force will extend into other areas and help us move forward.

Even Satan is stoppable, IBB CAN be stopped whether there are good alternatives or not. Stop IBB first and then deal with the other problems.

[size=14pt]HOW DO WE STOP THIS MAN?[/size]

Nothing new. I have heard of 1billion naira fraud in Access Bank before from a very good source, a friend to one of the bankers. Nobody was caught and no one was worried since everything is insured.

More

More pics

Source: http://www.trendhunter.com/photos/50388

http://www.nigeriancuriosity.com/2009/10/time-magazines-nollywood-pictorial.html

;

@deluxecard, Fine, life is about risks. But shouldn't one try to minimise risks? I believe the riskier the job, the more should be the benefits. Generally the TRUE pastors are not always that rich.

Which is why I believe they should have other jobs or sources of income.

Another thing about ministerial job is that, one mistake and you are dead. . God expects them to use wisdom and the Bible to guide themselves at all times.

So if they don't, it is either He strikes (after warning) or the devil strikes without warning

The risk is too much. People attack them (scandals), women seduce them , demons attack them, witches attack them, occultists attack them, poverty(might be lack of knowledge or wisdom though) attacks and life does its own as well.

And if they don't know what to do and and don't know how to ask, listen and receive, they lose badly.

No way!!! I don't want to be seeing demons at 1.00am in the night in my bedroom all because my husband delivered someone from the claws of witches . When other people are busy enjoying themselves  . Or seeing human-snakes in my kitchen Lai lai. It is a very risky job.

Having invisible demons come after you anyday, anytime, anytime whether you are spiritually prepared or not is crazy and scary. They could even come after the children.

Any spiritual lapse or dozing by the pastor could lead to attack and then death. They have to be strong all the time, pray like mad and fast endlessly.To be a TRUE PASTOR requires suffering on earth and enjoying in heaven.They can't let down their guard anytime. No way!

Ujujoan:
Wow Fresha, I can't help but agree with you. Your analysis of the situation is practical and consice. Kudos!

Uju, its actually Reuben Abati's analysis. He is the chairman, editorial board of The Guardian newspapers. Thanks anyway

The remaining part of the article.

Two friends were trying to figure out why Nigeria is finding it so difficult to make progress. They came up, in their own way, with a rather intriguing list,


- The wrong people are in power and politics in Nigeria

- The wrong people are in the civil service. All the good people avoided the military, the civil service and politics, thinking that it is better to go into more noble professions.

- All the good hands are where they should not be. The country wastes its best and brightest.

- Nigerians are too emotional. They talk. They don't like to act.

- The country has lost its moral compass. Nearly every Nigerian is looking for money and more money.

- Too much energy is devoted to religion
- Nigerians enjoy living a lie. They have a great capacity to suffer and smile at the same time.

- Polygamy is a major obstacle to the objective of good governance. Many public officials divert energy that should be used to serve the state, settling home-front squabbles. Shouldn't we insist on a one man, one wife policy for anyone seeking a position in government?

- Ideas do not count for much among Nigerians. That is why churches and mosques are doing better than educational institutions.


- To build a good society requires imagination and innovation. Over-dependence on crude oil resources and unchecked access to public treasury have robbed Nigerian leaders of imagination.

- Nigerians love public holidays. They are excited by any opportunity not to work. They want the good life, but they'd rather not work for it.

- Nigerians worship appearances; they are impressed by finery, not substance.

- Nigerians lack a sense of nationhood. Every one is invariably an ethnic hero at heart.

- We are a fun-loving people. That is why every weekend, there is a party on every street corner. By the time Nigerians report for work on Monday, most of them are exhausted. The merry making starts on Friday, continues all through Saturday, with half of Sunday spent in church, on what would pass in most instances for hard labour.

- Nigeria is not investing in its young population. We probably have the highest record of child abuse in the world, with old men going about with girls young enough to be their daughters, with parents sending their children onto the streets to beg, with children school of age on the streets.

- Nigeria is 50, and yet it is still crawling, and there is no outrage yet am
ong the people.

- Nearly every Nigerian family has someone or knows someone who is in Europe, Asia or wherever in the world, and a long army of others also planning to abandon the country. So sad.

Afam:
It's not a myth, its is the usual excuse that people give to justify their interest in crime or lack of success in life.

I really think it is the lack of originality amongst other related and unrelated factors that is affecting most Nigerians from getting ahead. Below is an article by Reuben Abati of Guardian Newspapers


I ONCE wrote a piece about the character of the average Nigerian. To be added to that, by way of update is what seems to me to be the Nigerian's lack of originality. It is a controversial point, but there is no doubting the fact that the average Nigerian is greedy; functioning very close to the state of nature. Aristotle it was who had said that "a child learns by imitation"; there is something child-like about the Nigerian lack of originality. As a people, we like to imitate; we lack the capacity to write our own stories, even if as individuals we are among the most gifted human beings on planet Earth. Why are we the way we are? Forever short-changing ourselves. Reducing the national potential in the process. Subjecting the environment to a curious herd mentality. I speak of majority tendency of course, there is still a minority that keeps the country going with its distinction, but the efforts of that majority are dangerously abbreviated by the omissions of the antithetical minority.


You only need to take a look at the organisation of the Nigerian business environment to confirm this. Start a line of business. Build it up. Make it successful. Before long, every manliness. and Harry in town will rush into that line of business. Nigerians don't know how to give credit to pioneers. "Who does she think she is? Is she the only one? I can do better." But they are not interested in making anything better; they are attracted by what they perceive to be the profit end of the enterprise. Before long, they'd ruin the business, destroy standards, overpopulate it so much that profit will become impossible. It is natural for human beings to measure themselves against each other and to compete, but social competition in Nigeria is driven mostly not by the search for excellence, but greed and mischief!


Ten years ago, you could count the number of fast food joints on your finger tips across Nigeria . The moment it became a successful business, everyone rushed into it. People resigned from their professional careers and set up eateries. Today, there is a fast food joint on almost every other corner. They are becoming almost as ubiquitous as the churches. Standards of service have not improved, rather they have dropped. Nigerians do not believe in investing their energies in areas where they are most suited.


They would try their hands at anything, with the hope to make profit the way the other man has. As it is with the fast food business, so it is with the churches. Church business used to be a very sober business. The clergy were taken seriously because the average clergy man of old actually conducted himself and sounded as if he had been one of the original disciples of Jesus Christ or a witness to the emergence of the Church at Antioch . The moment someone turned the business of Christian worship into something glamorous and eclectic, everyone else jumped onto the bandwagon.


There has been a competition since then over whose church is the most spirit-filled and with the greatest anointing, resulting in an inversion of the Doctrine and the introduction into Christian worship, of pagan practices that belong more to the province of commerce and deception. It used to be the case in this country that if anyone was found to be articulate, others would say of him or her: you would make a good lawyer". These days, the first career consideration for such persons is: "You will make a good pastor; you can start a church in the future." Becoming a pastor is the easiest thing of course you only need to claim that you saw a vision, you heard voices, or you were called (by Satan or Belzeebub, nobody ever bothers to check!) .


Go and ask the first set of persons who established the foundations of Nollywood. Twenty five years ago, actors and actresses in Nigeria were looked down upon as unserious people. The moment a few gifted persons raised the profile of the performing arts and it became fashionable for actors and other artistes to live well, become celebrities and be respected by society, everyone rushed in there. Talent didn't matter. Engineering graduates, architects and lawyers suddenly discovered that they too could look good in front of the camera, and so began the rush of mediocrity into Nollywood. Today, Nollywood is at a crossroads. Every actress is a producer or a would-be producer. Every actor is a potential Local Council Chairman or Special Assistant to a Governor, or President of the Actors Guild. The few who claim to be committed pay more attention to their good looks rather their skills.


There are actresses whose claim to fame is their exposure of their anatomy and the fact that this has set the imagination of paying audiences on fire. Every week, there is a young lady or a young man seeking to get into Nollywood, not to contribute to art, but to become a celebrity and also make quick bucks. There are fewer persons willing to pay the dues, or come up with original ideas that can move the industry forward. When a committed artiste speaks up and makes a case for improvement in standards, he is shouted down by those who call themselves "the rave of the moment." That is what most artistes do these days. They rave.


Is there any point reminding us of the number of persons who wished they could play football and actually tried to play it by force when Nigerians gained a foothold in professional football in Europe and elsewhere? And should you assume that I describe an elite tendency, how about the okada business. The okada is a product of both expediency and necessity. As soon as it became a lucrative business, there was a big scramble to get into that line of business. Even University Professors abandoned research and became okada entrepreneurs.

When you visit a typical Nigerian university campus these days, I mean those ones that still have staff quarters, you would be pleasantly surprised to discover that the once serene staff quarters populated by contemplative minds and their once upon a time, equally sober families, have been taken over by kiosks, pepper soup joints, recharge card retail sheds. Those businesses are not necessarily owned by the Professor's wife, but by the Professor himself! The aluminium business is trying to catch up. When ordinary people do not buy the okada, they try to learn how to play around with aluminium windows and roofs. There are fewer persons willing to learn such trades as bricklaying; mechanical engineering, vulcanizing, painting , too strenuous.


As it with trades, so it is with fashion styles. It takes only one woman to wear something nice; before you know it every other woman is copying the same style. That is why fashion pictures and magazines are so popular: female readers are interested in fashion styles. I once attended a society function where more than 20 women wore the same design and this was not the notorious aso ebi, just a display of lack of originality, every Janet trying to look like Jane. The urge to belong, to be seen to be part of the crowd, childishly interpreted in some circumstances as being progressive has also since affected the NGO community.


NGOs used to be extremely effective in this country; their potentials and achievement were demonstrated during the struggle for Nigerian democracy in the 90s. Foreign agencies supported Nigerian NGOs with donor funds. But that was also the undoing of the NGO concept. Before long, too many Nigerians had set up NGOs, so many of them inside the briefcases and bank accounts of their promoters. It became so notorious that every wife of an important government official found it necessary to set up one. In their case, it is a special purpose vehicle for raising funds from their husbands' friends and associates and the public treasury. Although two or three First Ladies showed how much could be achieved through good intentions.


I assume that it is the same copycat syndrome that drives Nigerians who experiment with homosexuality and bisexuality. And the militants who have adopted Western methods of terrorism. And the latest revelation that there are Nigerian children who are signing up as suicide bombers. Do we say all of this is human, all too human? Perhaps, But it is also a reflection of the corrosive environment in which Nigerians have found themselves. Our society is so dangerously lacking in higher values, the environment is so harsh it allows for very little creativity. Innovativeness is discouraged and so the young and the not so young can be easily recruited onto available bandwagons.


To imitate is human but we can encourage the scope for creativity and originality by expanding the scope for human expression through good governance. In more progressive societies, young children asked what they would like to become in life could answer: "I'll like to be a fireman." A teacher. A nurse. A salesman. A diver. A driver. Plumber. Horologist, knowing full well, that whatever he or she chooses to do, society will offer him or her the best opportunity for growth and fulfilment. Should a Nigerian child make such a suggestion, the mother is likely to scream with every ounce of energy within her: "I reject it in Jesus name. No child from my womb will end up as a fireman or plumber in Jesus name!" It is a pity that this is so.


http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/reuben-abati/our-lack-of-originality.html

Another one

Nice pics of her

I agree with Jagunlabi. Whether we pray or not, God will NOT come down and

1. repair the deadly roads. Human beings have to repair them. If they are repaired, accidents will definitely REDUCE, no need for prayer.

2.enforce security. Human beings have to enforce security on the streets.

3. Infact God will be watching as they are rigging elections and smiling at our foolishness. Human beings have always had to fight for themselves. No angel will do that. All prosperous countries had human beings who fought for them, NOT God.

The thing is, prayer is not always the ONLY solution.

[size=15pt]what about tights and underwear shorts for women cos they are also mini trousers (have two legs?)[/size]

Every woman wears these.

Our Lack Of Originality
By Reuben Abati

I HAD once written about the character of the average Nigerian. To be added to that, by way of update is what seems to me to be the Nigerian's lack of originality. It is a controversial point, but there is no doubting the fact that the average Nigerian is greedy; functioning very close to the state of nature.

Aristotle it was who had said that "a child learns by imitation"; there is something child-like about the Nigerian lack of originality.

As a people, we like to imitate; we lack the capacity to write our own stories, even if as individuals we are among the most gifted human beings on planet Earth.

Why are we the way we are? Forever short-changing ourselves. Reducing the national potential in the process. Subjecting the environment to a curious herd-mentality.

I speak of majority tendency of course, there is still a minority that keeps the country going with its distinction, but the efforts of that majority are dangerously abbreviated by the omissions of the antithetical minority.

You only need to take a look at the organisation of the Nigerian business environment to confirm this. Start a line of business. Build it up. Make it successful. Before long, every manliness and Harry in town will rush into that line of business.

Nigerians don't know how to give credit to pioneers. "Who does she think she is? Is she the only one? I can do better."

But they are not interested in making anything better; they are attracted by what they perceive to be the profit end of the enterprise. Before long, they'd ruin the business, destroy standards, overpopulate it so much that profit will become impossible.

It is natural for human beings to measure themselves against each other and to compete, but social competition in Nigeria is driven mostly not by the search for excellence, but greed and mischief!

Ten years ago, you could count the number of fast food joints on your finger tips across Nigeria. The moment it became a successful business, everyone rushed into it. People resigned from their professional careers and set up eateries.

Today, there is a fast food joint on almost every other corner. They are becoming almost as ubiquitous as the churches. Standards of service have not improved, rather they have dropped. Nigerians do not believe in investing their energies in areas where they are most suited.

They would try their hands at anything, with the hope to make profit the way the other man has. As it is with the fast food business, so it is with the churches. Church business used to be a very sober business.

The clergy were taken seriously because the average clergy man of old actually conducted himself and sounded as if he had been one of the original disciples of Jesus Christ or a witness to the emergence of the Church at Antioch .

The moment someone turned the business of Christian worship into something glamorous and eclectic, everyone else jumped onto the bandwagon.

There has been a competition since then over whose church is the most spirit-filled and with the greatest anointing, resulting in an inversion of the Doctrine and the introduction into Christian worship, of pagan practices that belong more to the province of commerce and deception.

It used to be the case in this country that if anyone was found to be articulate, others would say of him or her: you would make a good lawyer". These days, the first career consideration for such persons is: "You will make a good pastor; you can start a church in the future."

Becoming a pastor is the easiest thing of course you only need to claim that you saw a vision, you heard voices, or you were called (by Satan or Belzeebub, nobody ever bothers to check!) .

Go and ask the first set of persons who established the foundations of Nollywood. Twenty five years ago, actors and actresses in Nigeria were looked down upon as unserious people.

The moment a few gifted persons raised the profile of the performing arts and it became fashionable for actors and other artistes to live well, become celebrities and be respected by society, everyone rushed in there. Talent didn't matter.

Engineering graduates, architects and lawyers suddenly discovered that they too could look good in front of the camera, and so began the rush of mediocrity into Nollywood.

Today, Nollywood is at a crossroads. Every actress is a producer or a would-be producer. Every actor is a potential Local Council Chairman or Special Assistant to a Governor, or President of the Actors Guild. The few who claim to be committed pay more attention to their good looks rather than their skills.

There are actresses whose claim to fame is their exposure of their anatomy and the fact that this has set the imagination of paying audiences on fire.

Every week, there is a young lady or a young man seeking to get into Nollywood, not to contribute to art, but to become a celebrity and also make quick bucks.

here are fewer persons willing to pay the dues, or come up with original ideas that can move the industry forward.

When a committed artiste speaks up and makes a case for improvement in standards, he is shouted down by those who call themselves "the rave of the moment." That is what most artistes do these days. They rave.

Is there any point reminding us of the number of persons who wished they could play football and actually tried to play it by force when Nigerians gained a foothold in professional football in Europe and elsewhere?

And should you assume that I describe an elite tendency, how about the okada business. The okada is a product of both expediency and necessity. As soon as it became a lucrative business, there was a big scramble to get into that line of business.

Even University Professors abandoned research and became okada entrepreneurs. When you visit a typical Nigerian university campus these days, I mean those ones that still have staff quarters, you would be pleasantly surprised to discover that the once serene staff quarters populated by contemplative minds and their once upon a time, equally sober families, have been taken over by kiosks, pepper soup joints, recharge card retail sheds.

Those businesses are not necessarily owned by the Professor's wife, but by the Professor himself! The aluminum business is trying to catch up. When ordinary people do not buy the okada, they try to learn how to play around with aluminum windows and roofs.

There are fewer persons willing to learn such trades as bricklaying; mechanical engineering, vulcanizing, painting , too strenuous.






As it is with trades, so it is with fashion styles. It takes only one woman to wear something nice; before you know it every other woman is copying the same style. That is why fashion pictures and magazines are so popular: female readers are interested in fashion styles.

I once attended a society function where more than 20 women wore the same design and this was not the notorious aso ebi, just a display of lack of originality, every Janet trying to look like Jane.

The urge to belong, to be seen to be part of the crowd, childishly interpreted in some circumstances as being progressive has also since affected the NGO community.

NGOs used to be extremely effective in this country; their potentials and achievement were demonstrated during the struggle for Nigerian democracy in the 90s.

Foreign agencies supported Nigerian NGOs with donor funds. But that was also the undoing of the NGO concept. Before long, too many Nigerians had set up NGOs, so many of them inside the briefcases and bank accounts of their promoters.

It became so notorious that every wife of an important government official found it necessary to set up one. In their case, it is a special purpose vehicle for raising funds from their husbands' friends and associates and the public treasury. Although two or three First Ladies showed how much could be achieved through good intentions.

I assume that it is the same copycat syndrome that drives Nigerians who experiment with homosexuality and bisexuality.

And the militants who have adopted Western methods of terrorism. And the latest revelation that there are Nigerian children who are signing up as suicide bombers. Do we say all of this is human, all too human?

Perhaps, But it is also a reflection of the corrosive environment in which Nigerians have found themselves. Our society is so dangerously lacking in higher values, the environment is so harsh it allows for very little creativity.

Innovativeness is discouraged and so the young and the not so young can be easily recruited onto available bandwagons.

To imitate is human but we can encourage the scope for creativity and originality by expanding the scope for human expression through good governance. In more progressive societies, young children asked what they would like to become in life could answer: "I'll like to be a fireman."

A teacher. A nurse. A salesman. A diver. A driver. Plumber. Horologist, knowing full well, that whatever he or she chooses to do, society will offer him or her the best opportunity for growth and fulfillment.

Should a Nigerian child make such a suggestion, the mother is likely to scream with every ounce of energy within her: "I reject it in Jesus name. No child from my womb will end up as a fireman or plumber in Jesus name!" It is a pity that this is so.



Postscript: Overheard

[b]Two friends were trying to figure out why Nigeria is finding it so difficult to make progress. They came up, in their own way, with a rather intriguing list,

- The wrong people are in power and politics in Nigeria

- The wrong people are in the civil service. All the good people avoided the military, the civil service and politics, thinking that it is better to go into more noble professions.

- All the good hands are where they should not be. The country wastes its best and brightest.

- Nigerians are too emotional. They talk. They don't like to act.

- The country has lost its moral compass. Nearly every Nigerian is looking for money and more money.

- Too much energy is devoted to religion

- Nigerians enjoy living a lie. They have a great capacity to suffer and smile at the same time.

- Polygamy is a major obstacle to the objective of good governance. Many public officials divert energy that should be used to serve the state, settling home-front squabbles. Shouldn't we insist on a one man, one wife policy for anyone seeking a position in government?

- Ideas do not count for much among Nigerians. That is why churches and mosques are doing better than educational institutions.





- To build a good society requires imagination and innovation. Over-dependence on crude oil resources and unchecked access to public treasury have robbed Nigerian leaders of imagination.

- Nigerians love public holidays. They are excited by any opportunity not to work. They want the good life, but they'd rather not work for it.

- Nigerians worship appearances; they are impressed by finery, not substance.

- Nigerians lack a sense of nationhood. Every one is invariably an ethnic hero at heart.

- We are a fun-loving people. That is why every weekend, there is a party on every street corner. By the time Nigerians report for work on Monday, most of them are exhausted. The merry making starts on Friday, continues all through Saturday, with half of Sunday spent in church, on what would pass in most instances for hard labour.

- Nigeria is not investing in its young population. We probably have the highest record of child abuse in the world, with old men going about with girls young enough to be their daughters, with parents sending their children onto the streets to beg, with children school of age on the streets.

- Nigeria is 50, and yet it is still crawling, and there is no outrage yet among the people.

- Nearly every Nigerian family has someone or knows someone who is in Europe, Asia or wherever in the world, and a long army of others also planning to abandon the country. So sad.[/b]
Source:

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article02/indexn2_html?pdate=100110&ptitle=Our%20Lack%20Of%20Originality

SEE THEIR FACES!!!

Yahoo Yahooo Boyz In A Lecture Room! God Help Us


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