Joel Brinkley: Nigeria's squandered opportunity…Joel brinkly L A Times (A MUST READ)

JD:This piece by Joel Brinkly of the LOS ANGELES TIMES is a must read for all.read and please leave a comment here so we can discuss the issue to the fullest.

“Egypt has lost its place as the Arab/African worlds’ leader, and Saudi Arabia never had it. So for Nigeria, the time is ripe. But its leaders seem interested only in stealing the state’s money to make themselves rich beyond imaging. Think about it: $81 billion a year just from the oil, while most every local government official still tells his people the nation just doesn’t have enough money to fix the roads, schools or hospitals. (Roads are in such terrible shape that government officials generally travel any distance by helicopter.)

And Nigeria’s people — well, they are as mistreated as any on earth. In only nine nations — among them Liberia, Sierra Leone and Somalia — do more mothers die during childbirth. And in only 10 states, including Chad, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, is the average life expectancy lower. Right now the average Nigerian’s average life span ends at 52. That may be why the median age of Nigerians is just 18.”

FULL TEXT

4 Comments

  1. For all those who think politics is all about religious and ethnic solidarity and not competence and goodwill for the protection of the greater-good,I guess there is an urgent need for a serious rethink because primordal sentiments will leads us nowhere;just as the GEJ example as clearly shown.

  2. we need a conscious and deliberate effort in value re orientation, and we must start at the grassroots, communities, families insisting on teaching morals. for those ‘at the top already’…the exigencies of life will teach and deal with them. Its for us to stop talking and start imparting those within our immediate sphere of influence.

  3. Mr JD The greatest problem facing us as a country is that we lived as if everything is okay,after reading this article I asked myself which planet did Our rulling elite came from?Then we the people, we need to go back to our old values and stop worship “MONEY”

  4. He hasn’t told us what we don’t already know. It just sad because its coming from a foreigner. The truth is bitter.

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