My Beauty Best Teacher

Femi Ajayi writes about the need to strengthen institutions and deemphasize personalities:

I believe one of the lessons from Nuhu Ribadu's saga would be for Nigeria and Nigerians to start building INSTITUTIONS rather than INDIVIDUALS or PERSONALITIES. Nigeria and Nigerians should start building institutions rather than personalities. Nigeria discouraged Obasanjo in making himself an Institution, so also it should be done in all segments of Nigeria public service. We should end the popularity showcase.
Nuhu Ribadu has done creditably well, nonetheless no one is indispensable. Nigerian mindset needs to be changed from hero worshipping to the substance of Nigerian Institutions. Nigerians are still suffering from the mishmash imposed on them by the Military to get excited and emotional on issues. Please don't blame Nigerians on this. Nigerians have been traumatized for over 30 years of Military rule that ruled with Decrees.

Okey Ndibe writes in Sahara reporters:

At the slightest provocation – in fact, often at no provocation at all – Nigerians invoke God’s name. In today’s column, I imagine a letter God has written to Nigerians titled “You’re on your own.” Here goes. Beloved Nigerians (yes, I call you beloved even though many of you are among the world’s most unrepentant sinners), I’m going to be blunt.

Within an analysis of Hillary Clinton's scathing speech to Nigerians Salisu Suleiman writes and asks:

True, our backs are broken, our dreams stolen, our resolve molten. But we must ask: Where are those to fight to change? Who will tell Nigerians that dying in silence would be a great betrayal of our heritage? Are Nigerians ready to fight for true liberation? Are we ready to wrestle our fate from with the motley that claim to be Africa’s biggest party; but have reduced governance to a banal cabal who only pledge the perpetual pillaging of public property for private purpose?

Within an analysis of Hillary Clinton's scathing speech to Nigerians Salisu Suleiman writes and asks:

True, our backs are broken, our dreams stolen, our resolve molten. But we must ask: Where are those to fight to change? Who will tell Nigerians that dying in silence would be a great betrayal of our heritage? Are Nigerians ready to fight for true liberation? Are we ready to wrestle our fate from with the motley that claim to be Africa’s biggest party; but have reduced governance to a banal cabal who only pledge the perpetual pillaging of public property for private purpose?

Sam Ikoku calls for the development of tradable instruments to facilitate the efficiency of remittances:

"...if you want Nigerians(read Africans) to bring their money back home, you have got to give them the instruments which they can use, tradable instruments. You have got to create markets, capital markets..."We need to have instruments to create markets for Nigerians abroad. The Chinese people don't just send the money into the streets. They send the money into banks and institutions that are known to sponsor or support industries, we don't have these structures...."We don't have instruments. Every Nigerian sending money home is doing Western Union, take this to my brother, take this to my sister, give them clothes let them sell, It's such a pitiful way but if Nigerians can have instruments like in other countries, they will send large amounts of money home..."It is time for us to stop begging people to invest in this economy of 150 million people. There are Nigerians here and abroad that can invest in this economy. When we start it by example, then guess what, everyone else will be running after us. That's was what happened in China. So let's start it ourselves, lets not beg,"

Reviews of Daniel Jordan Smith's A Culture of Corruption Everyday Deception and Popular Discontent in Nigeria :

The heart of the book concerns how Nigerians cope daily with the need to 'settle' with those who hold power, but are also experiencing a breakdown of the system that at least allowed for survival. -- Nina C. Ayoub Chronicle of Higher Education [Smith's] book offers a sophisticated and deeply troubling portrait of a contemporary Nigeria. -- Nicolas van de Walle Foreign Affairs Smith has written a sharply critical, yet finely judged, book that every student of African politics should pay heed to. -- Ebenezer Obadare International Affairs [Smith's] primary concern is with the perception of corruption amongst Nigerians and the impact this perception has on the behavior of Nigerians. Anyone who is concerned with the discussion of corruption and how it relates to the development of African economies should read Smith's book-Amazon

Emmanuel Franklyne Ogbunwezeh writes about the arrest of Jonathan Elendu in Nigeria:

Mr. Jonathan Elendu, one must remember is a Nigerian-American online journalist and internet blogger. With his website Elendureports.com, this guy was among the pioneers who took it up themselves to liberate Nigerians from the massive dosage of falsehoods that our governments and men of power dish out on Nigerians on a daily basis. These online frontiersmen took their passion for their country seriously. The ferreted information that asked hard questions about the outright lies that the Nigerian government have been feeding Nigerians. That was his only crime...[continue reading]

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writes:

South Africans and Nigerians (and indeed other African immigrant groups) have simply not had the time or the neutral space to grow an organic understanding of each other. The Nigerians arrive with their different, more distant colonial experience, with their mercantile spirit, with none of the conditioning of the South African menial wage-earning experience and – yes – with that swagger. They arrive in a vulnerable country where the legacy of institutional exclusion still thrives. They create spaces for themselves in whatever way they can and, of course, they arouse resentment.

Grandiose Parlor writes:

Nigerians have written volumes of commentary on political issues, appraised government policies, and even staged protests and demonstrations, but there is one thing they have yet to do: Grab elected officials by their throats and hold them accountable. Nigerians have failed to look at them eyeball-to-eyeball and ask questions. And in few times they did ask and got unsatisfactory answers, they have lacked the courage to wrestle them down and kick then out.
Nigerians must be able to assess their elected officials via their voting records, public statements, issue positions, and constituency engagements. These data can be aggregated and refined into blocks of information to demonstrate how well elected officials have served...[continue reading]

Chippla comments on the hypocrisy of Nigerians and their supposed religiosity"...Nigeria may boast more places of worship per square kilometer than any other nation on earth but the amount of sins being committed in it each day calls into question the efficacy of these 'Houses of God.' ...while most Nigerians describe themselves as believers (predominantly of the Christian and Islamic faiths, sometimes doused with traditional beliefs), faith and good works seem confined to churches and mosques. Outside of these, greed, malice, deceit and looting have become the norm..."

Eremipagamo Amabebe of Global Voices reports:

Yar'Adua's absence created a leadership vacuum which  frustrated many Nigerians,  particularly in the wake of crises such as  Umar Abdulmutallab's attempted terror attract and the religious conflict in the central Nigerian city of Jos. Many Nigerians called for Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to step into Yar'Adua's shoes, but the situation was complex: As a southerner, Jonathan's assumption of the Presidency would threaten to destabilize the delicate power-sharing arrangement between Northern and Southern Nigeria. Further, without written instructions from the President himself, the legal extent of Jonathan's position were unclear.

Economically, the majority of 130 million Nigerians impoverished by unemployment, unresponsive and repressive governments, lack of basic social infrastructure and amenities, marginalization and rising inflation, have clung to the church as the last refuge, while basically throwing their energies behind the precepts of tithes and offerings for manner to fall from heaven. Religion’s promise of prosperity has greatly influenced the mental psychology of the masses. The quest for a divine intervention in the dire situation of most Nigerians has also led to the increasing influence of an array of spiritual advisers who have become part and parcel of official structures of power across the country, creating a select theocratic class with direct phone lines to the corridors of state power.

Philip Shenon reports on Omoyele Sowore's investigative media house Sahara Reporters in the Daily Beast:

From a cubicle in midtown Manhattan, a Nigerian publishes staggering examples of his country’s government corruption online—information that would get him killed back home...“This is evidence-based reporting,” said Sowore. “We are here as a check against corruption and bad government. If we have photographs of the corruption, we post them.” He said “a lot of our leaks come from Nigerians who are angry—who want to see a different country.” The site has given Nigerians a journalistic watchdog that local reporters back home in West Africa could not hope to duplicate. In Nigeria, reporters are routinely threatened with violence or bribed into silence.

Gani Fawehinmi was one of the ever resilient few,along with Nobel Laurete Wole Soyinka and other figures,who insisted on fighting causes whose primary or only relationship with their own well being was that it affected all Nigerians.He endured imprisonment,harassment and the climate of assassination created by the Babanginda and Abacha regimes in battling causes which,even though,they did not always succeed against totalitarian governments who controlled the organs of the law,succeeded in focusing national and international attention on the villainy represented by a significant number of the activities of such governments,as well as highlighting their illegitimate means of coming to power...[continue reading]

Imnakoya writes about the "right mindset":

People always look up to the government as if it holds a magical wand which can be used to willy-nilly reverse the rots in the society. People talk of, and look up to “leaders” to fix problems -as if they are extra-terrestrial beings that dropped from the sky. The last time I checked, these “leaders” share one major characteristic with an average Nigerian: The same mindset."

Until Nigerians start taking baby-steps to effect changes, changes that can only be brought about by a change in mentality and orientation, Nigeria will remain broken. These steps will commence when we learn to ask questions…simple but meaningful questions. The simple “What”, “Why” and “How”. Identify the problem, figure out why they exist, or remain protracted after several failed remedies, then imagine how it can be fixed.

Jeremy Weate writes:

...it might be an idea to begin to compare what the recent influx of diasporic Nigerians has done for the country's corporations. Compare and contrast with India.Ten years ago, Indians with Californian technology experience started to return home during the dot com consolidation that began in late 1999/early 2000.On the back of this migration, India's IT services sector began to boom from Bangalore to Pune, with the incumbent early-starters such as Infosys the tip of a large iceberg.What have diasporic Nigerians brought to Nigeria?