₦airaland Forum

You find Nigerians everywhere in the world.
One of the most annoying questions I
encountered in my six year sojourn in America
was “Are you from Nigeria? “ It is one of
Africa’s best known countries.

Some think because of oil, but it’s because of
their early encounter with the west. It is
believed that the first Nigerian to get a degree
in UK got it in 1819. Some add that corruption
has made Nigeria famous for all the bad
reasons. Did slavery also connect the country to the West?

For all their economic aggressiveness, Nigerians
have a bad name, seen as dishonest. But I am
told most ordinary Nigerians are humble
people, the few bad ones give the country a
bad name. Nigerians are well known in Kenya
for a number of reasons. One is movies. We all know of Afrisonema and its characters. One
local TV station has been airing these movies
for a long time. They are very popular with the
general population; their themes like witchcraft
are very familiar to us.

Nigerians are also very spiritual, with several
churches having roots in the home country
before spreading out. You have seen their
preachers on TV. Their churches, unlike the
indigenous Kenyan ones, seem to target the
elite.

To be fair to Nigerians, other economic powers
like USA and UK have their churches which are
still influential. Even Koreans have churches in
Kenya. Nigerians are following a well-beaten
path. Contrast that with Chinese or Japanese
who seem to have no spiritual agenda as they expand their businesses abroad.

Nigeria’s economic size, spiritual and literary
prowess has made it a
tempting role model. Should she be
Kenya’s role model?

We have over the years copied the Nigerian
socio-political model -some say including
making corruption a way of life. Though we
never had coups like in Nigeria, our politics
have borrowed a lot from this West African
giant. We copied from their constitution. We got counties, which are states in Nigeria and
have powerful governors. We overdid with 47
counties while Nigeria has 36 states. We are
not a federal government, but at times behave
like one.

Paradoxically, we copied what had been
copied; Nigerians copied the American
constitution. That model does not seem to have
worked well. The American constitution itself
was a reaction to British monarchy and the
realities of 200 years ago. Why do we think it would fit the realities of today? It seems that
despite the advances in science and technology,
governance has remained the same, still
inspired by Greek idea of democracy 2000
years ago. What one innovation in governance
can we talk of?

Does that explain why we find it hard to fully
implement the 2010 constitution? American
states are large and own
resources, our counties are small and need to
be subsidised. Now we want to further copy
Nigerians by having regional governments between national and counties.

That will add another layer of bureaucracy. My
hunch tells me the new dispensation will get
lots of support; it’s a source of “jobs”. One
lesson we learnt from Nigeria is how to make
the government not work. Political power is so
distributed that no one has enough power to make a difference.

We shifted to the extreme; from too much
power in one person to too little power leading
to decision paralysis. It is for this reason that
the few ministers who try to go beyond the call
of duty like Fred Matiang’i and John Michuki are
so popular. While writing this piece, Prof George Magoha and his Nigerian connection
joined the Cabinet.

Much like in Kenya, ethnicity is a big issue
in Nigeria. The civil war in Nigeria from
1967-1970 was the worst part of ethnic flare
up fuelled by oil in the delta region and
marginalisation. Tribal clashes in Kenya in
2007/08 showed our soft underbelly. Both countries used devolution to partially sort out
historical grudges.

We seem to have borrowed the ethnic
balancing in public institutions from Nigeria.
They call it the federal character. Reading
through the constitution of Nigeria, there is
preoccupation with controls, very much
like ours. No wonder the two constitutions are so long.

Looking at Nigeria after her independence, is
she the best role model for us? Which country
would be an alternative? Some have opined
that Nigeria is slowly and surely coming of age
and will soon take her place as a global
economic power, the epicentre of African century. They cite regular elections despite
insurgency in the east.

If Nigeria’s economic potential was fully
exploited, the country would be far ahead. Her
journey to the top has been long and torturous.
What can we learn from it?

- The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001315052/should-nigeria-be-our-role-model

ok

chei ! See yabis. Na so we bad reach. Kenya is using us as case study. To the President of Nigeria, take this

hinwazaka:
chei ! See yabis. Na so we bad reach. Kenya is using us as case study. To the President of Nigeria, take this

I can bet my job that you didn't read the write-up

kitaatita:
I can get my job that you didn't read the write-up

I read it, back 2 back

If Nigeria is what it supposed to be, she is the hope of the black man on earth. If Africa is to be a gun then Nigeria should be the trigger

hinwazaka:
chei ! See yabis. Na so we bad reach. Kenya is using us as case study. To the President of Nigeria, take this

U refused to read and came rushing to be FTC buh still didn't make it. Nawao

hinwazaka:
I read it, back 2 back

If you read that piece and still went ahead to make such a comment, u need to go back to school ASAP or get a refund from your school if possible.

I want you to also stop commenting for now too.
Thanks in advance, I'll miss you.

This is the reason most Nigerians are angry and sad. I mean we know our potentials and the black race is waiting for us to realize it and bring back the African pride lost as a result of slavery. We have a date with destiny yet kept on dragging our feet as a result of clueless leadership that is so interested massive wealth acquisition. Nigeria please wake up nah.

They have not copied ASUU strike yet.