Sunday School

Reuben Abati on When Will Nigeria Ever Make It?

There is nothing more exasperating, living in Nigeria, studying Nigeria, and analysing Nigeria, and being Nigerian, than the realization that our lives have become one long piece of monotonous repetition of failures and uncertainties. We celebrate our capacity to manage the crisis in our lives, the optimism that is derived from our religiousity and our capacity like tragic heroes, to suffer and endure, but for a nation that seeks to make progress, the biggest challenge remains the development challenge. We seem rooted in one spot, gyrating on our axis, and nothing, absolutely nothing appears to work.

Abati is best when he is not writing platonic dialogues.


Meanwhile Nigerian pilgrimages to arabland discovered that no place holy like home.

OF the 181 countries that participated in the 2007 Hajj operations that ended a few days ago in Saudi Arabia, only Nigeria had a separate camp, as departure point for airlifting of pilgrims back home.

Disbelief and disappointment etched boldly on the faces of the third batch of pilgrims from Lagos State as they arrived at the King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah on Tuesday night.

They discovered that only Nigerians were being attended to at what looked like an abandoned place hurriedly prepared for the operation.

However, investigation, especially from the regular guests to the Holy Land, revealed that the port of arrival used to be the same spot for departure for all pilgrims.

In fact, nationals from other countries such as Togo, Benin Republic, Ghana and Senegal departed from where they arrived for the hajj operations. But not so for the Nigerians.

Continuing, the irrelevant and incompetent Oyo state government wasted N17.5 million building statue of an unknown soldier in place of Awolowo's statue destroyed by Ladoja and Adedibu's thugs back in 2003. No one is amused. From the News editorial:

The revelation that the statue was constructed at a whopping cost of N17.5 million is quite ridiculous, annoying and leaves much to be desired. It is an eloquent testimony to the fact that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is a party given to wastefulness and corrupt tendencies. Alao-Akala’s action has been condemned by prominent citizens. Lam Adesina described it as sacrilegious and regretted that anti-democratic forces had taken over the reins of the Oyo State government. His predecessor, Alhaji Ladoja, said the step taken by the governor showed his low level of reasoning and mentality regarding democratic norms.

And Rivers state government take over Ateke Tom’s properties here

RIVERS State government yesterday moved to cut Tom Ateke to size when Governor Rotimi Amaechi said that the militant leader’s properties would be converted to government’s use.

And to give effect to the move, the governor directed the state ministry of health to move into the Evil Forest, an area considered to be Ateke’s base in Okochiri, Okrika, and build a health centre for the use of the people there.

Amaechi, who spoke, yesterday, in Port-Harcourt, pointed out that his administration would not relent on its onslaught against militants and cultists in Rivers State.

Explaining that his administration had a responsibility to protect lives and properties, he urged residents of the state to ignore text messages and newspaper reports of plan to invade the state by unknown gunmen.