₦airaland Forum

SWG25:
I'm not really impressed. I stopped halfway because the writer goofed in so many areas. The article is full of sentiments and it is purely subjective.

I knew some people would say it's "one sided" and full of sentiments- This, incidentally, is the problem that the OP just tried to point out.

I am also a firm believer that corruption is not Nigeria's problem but a symptom of a much bigger problem. But I differ with writer on what the core problems of Nigeria are.

In fact, the three reasons he gave can be summarized into two. Poverty and Ignorance.

and this thread never for once hit frontpage
cc-plaetton,seun,lalasticlala

modath:
After reading this to the last punctuation.. I finally see that there is no hope for the "concept" called Nigeria......

After reading this and juxtaposing it with current realities i will say we are doomed.


We will continue moving in circles because we refuse to see the problem rather we are tackling it from the top.



Cc Dfinex kindly take time to read the piece because its part if what I've been teling you.


We are going into utopia with tambourine and harps playing melodies of our dirge

Mynd44 kindly read this thread and move it to FP please



Cc Seun

kenny987:
This is so true! The effort put into this piece is undeniable and I must appreciate the op. It's easy on the eyes particularly with respect to grammar and arrangement/structure.

If there will be honesty and preparedness to grow, the truth will set us free indeed! A clear sign of our complete enslavement however, is the reaction of print media and members of the press. They deliberately refuse to publish this because it's too 'strong' not because it's false or untrue and so the writer is expected to 'water it down'! What's the point then?

That date with the truth must be had!

Corruption is a symptom of the deep rooted malaise or cause. Corruption thrives because the system is constructed to let it so be and the pipe through which our resources are sucked is so long, reaching way beyond the thieves we see parading themselves as leaders from the president to the local govt councillors and everything in between!

Once the system can be overhauled with determination to see it work at all costs, those dark n foreboding 'interests' determined to keep siphoning our resources and stymie every effort at true revolutionary development will be weakened and eventually thrown off!

This school of thought of blaming D system or d structure for our problems is entirely wrong, no matter how efficient D system is, it can never work on auto pilot. It's still human bins that would run d sys..... So if u have a superb system and have people with no integrity running them, d system would be corrupt in no time..... So even if u bring d US system here, we would mess it up in no time

Man this thread is lit.

hahn:
Cotonou sef make sense

This article, though lengthy, is an insightful one. The writer made a number of salient points. And like the writer, I believe if we are well-educated about the history of Nigeria and her Peoples, it will have a huge impact progressively on the development of this nation.

However, I don't subscribe to the notion that the concept of belief in the power and existence of God (religion), is a mere tool for the expansionism and hegemony plans of the British colonial masters and the Arabs. IMO, religion is not among the root causes of underdevelopment in Nigeria. It is religious extremism, fanaticism, and most importantly, illiteracy that have long served as major cogs in the wheel of progress of this country.

I said this because even before the Europeans and Arabs brought Christianity and Islam to Nigeria, our forefathers had always believed in the existence of a Supreme Being. There are various names used to describe God in Nigerian languages and cultures: Olohun in Yoruba; Chineke in IBO; Allah in Hausa and other related terms in minor ethnic groups.

Before the advent of Islam and Christianity, it is common knowledge that our forefathers used to worship God through smaller gods such as Sango, Ogun, Amadioha, etc. So religion (paganism) has long been practised in the land area now called Nigeria, even during the so-called prosperous pre-colonial era, before the white men and the Arabs brought Christianity and Islam respectively.

Owing to this fact, I make bold to say one of the root causes of underdevelopment in Nigeria is the fact that majority of Nigerians don't read. For instance, most people on this forum will not read these long articles you just shared. When we find it difficult to read as a People, we will forever remain ignorant of our history. And that, IMO, is the major problem whose symptoms and signs are corruption, social ills, underdevelopment.

gensteejay:
This article, though lengthy, is an insightful one. The writer made a number of salient points. And like the writer, I believe if we are well-educated about the history of Nigeria and her Peoples, it will have a huge impact progressively on the development of this nation.

For real

However, I don't subscribe to the notion that the concept of belief in the power and existence of God (religion), is a mere tool for the expansionism and hegemony plans of the British colonial masters and the Arabs. IMO, religion is not among the root causes of underdevelopment in Nigeria. It is religious extremism, fanaticism, and most importantly, illiteracy that have long served as major cogs in the wheel of progress of this country.

Please note that I have read your comment but I want to break down my response.

Religious extremism is a product of religion. Without religion there would be no religious extremism and we would rid ourselves of that problem

I said this because even before the Europeans and Arabs brought Christianity and Islam to Nigeria, our forefathers had always believed in the existence of a Supreme Being. There are various names used to describe God in Nigerian languages and cultures: Olohun in Yoruba; Chineke in IBO; Allah in Hausa and other related terms in minor ethnic groups.

You have to understand that this "God" we believed in is neither of the Jewish or Arabic gods. Every single culture around the world have come up with the "God excuse" for their ignorance. That is why we have Sango here in Nigeria as the god of thunder while the Euopeans had Thor as theirs. Ever wondered at the similarities in the characters? The hot temper, the hammer and other things? It is simply a case of man trying to put an explanation to something he didn't bother to research but instead depended on ignorant assumptions

Before the advent of Islam and Christianity, it is common knowledge that our forefathers used to worship God through smaller gods such as Sango, Ogun, Amadioha, etc. So religion (paganism) has long been practised in the land area now called Nigeria, even during the so-called prosperous pre-colonial era, before the white men and the Arabs brought Christianity and Islam respectively.

And that is it right there @ the emboldened. You refer to our gods as "smaller gods" and theirs as "God". You seem not to realize that you only feel this because that is what the Europeans taught us using tools such as slavery and coercion. Our forefathers were whipped to believe that their gods were smaller than the white man's god. It is a simple case of psychological warfare enforced during the colonial and slave trade era. Just the same way they teach us that David Livingstone "discovered" Africa and Mungo Park "discovered" the river Niger. All these are distorted facts as we already occupied Africa and fished and traded on the river Niger. Ponder over this a minute

Owing to this fact, I make bold to say one of the root causes of underdevelopment in Nigeria is the fact that majority of Nigerians don't read. For instance, most people on this forum will not read these long articles you just shared. When we find it difficult to read as a People, we will forever remain ignorant of our history. And that, IMO, is the major problem whose symptoms and signs are corruption, social ills, underdevelopment.

I totally agree that religion is not the root cause. However, religion plays a major part in our lives as Nigerians. An average Nigerian will rather go to his pastor for "healing" instead of a hospital. Also, religion puts the practice of "faith" over reason.

Let us take a look at our education system. How can someone who just learnt about the reproduction system in biology class be made to believe that someone in far away Israel was born by a virgin. And they are not provided with proof aside from a bible which is full of contradictions, plagiarism and outright lies.

We are taught by religion to just "believe" and the bible even condemns education when it says in John 20:29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." How will people who live their life by such a verse be motivated to reason, research and study when they are brainwashed to be arrogantly ignorant.

I created a thread on why I feel religion, primarily Christianity and Islam, are bad for Nigerians. You can read it @ https://www.nairaland.com/3410838/reasons-why-abrahamic-religions-islam

having read this article, l just feel like placing my two hands on my head in lamentation and walk out nakedly....I Don tire....the thing tire me oo...Nigeria enormous problems Don tire me ooo.

Woaw!

Just through with reading....

This almost makes one lose hope on Nigeria....

I don't believe Christianity & Islam are the problems; I think not adapting it to the good aspect of our culture is.

It irritates me when I see a pastor on suit always with churches insisting their workers wear 'English'; didn't Jesus cross the sea with his gowns? Wasn't Moses able to part the red sea with his gowns/ kaftan? Or parents naming their kids 'Emmanuel'.. whatever happened to 'Oluwapelumi'?

Our history... Just learning Yoruba, Igbos etc are from the colonial masters. Can we have more films like 'Oyenusi' to tell our history from our own eyes? Can our script writers to our old ones to get the history passed down by word of mouth?

Lack of ideas... tell me about it. I often wonder if our leaders don't see or think!

See land, yet no thoughts on mechanized farming to curb the growing un/underemployment.

Constant preference of foreign stuffs over ours....

God help us.