What will you change about Nigeria?

[gogannaka]

It is surprising that:
Nigeria ranks twenty fifth worldwide and first in Africa in farm output.
The agricultural sector accounts for over 26.8% of GDP and two-thirds of employment.
Agriculture has failed to keep pace with Nigeria's rapid population growth, so that the country, which once exported food, now relies on imports to sustain itself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Nigeria

[Dave_McEwan_Hill]

When the oil runs out it will not be able to afford imported food.

[Suleman]

Ummutameen,
Funny enough I have long held a view that we are not a rich country. Not yet anyway. Untapped resources does not equate to wealth as far as I am concerned. There is the potential, though, to convert same to wealth but unless the process is successfull then we cannot be called rich. The stats speek for themselves. I will not be harsh if I say the view that "Nigeria is Rich", is a wrong one held by many a Nigerian and unfortunately some even tend to think that no matter how much is stolen, there will still be something left in the coffers i.e the ocean never dries.
Interestingly, I also have a very differing view about "resources". Could you guess what I think is our country's biggest resource, which if developed will gurantee us a place in G20?

[nasr19]

Could you guess what I think is our country's biggest resource, which if developed will gurantee us a place in G20?

1. Human?
2. Agric?
3. Solar power?

[Dave_McEwan_Hill]

Your resources are not untapped. Billions of dollars of your resources have been syphoned off into the pockets and bank accounts of a handful of people for at least forty years.

Your biggest resources are of course your people and your land. Neither of them are being properly utilised.

[Suleman]

Could you guess what I think is our country's biggest resource, which if developed will gurantee us a place in G20?

1. Human?
2. Agric?
3. Solar power?

Bang on the Money Nasr, Human, people, whatever you call it is the biggest resource that we have and Dave you have actually accepted my point that the biggest resource remains untapped.

[bakangizo]

That is a no-brainer; every country's biggest resource is its human resource. I don't know what you mean by "untapped" in this context, but I believe the  problem with Nigeria's people is the mentality and the orientation. Whenever this is changed to a positive direction, things would begin to look up.

[gogannaka]

Of course our biggest resource is our population.
Sadly though the populace do not believe in themselves nor the government.
In my own opinion,we over rely on government and see only its fault (not that the govt is faultless) but the greater majority of the populace depend on government to solve very problem without the co-operation of the people.

I was reading an interview with the CBN governor and he lamented the way the N200billion agriculture fund is not being utilized by small scale farmers. It has reached to a level where the CBN has guaranteed the loans given by the commercial banks to the local farmers. Before, the small/local farmers cannot access the loans because of the harsh conditions meted out by the banks but now the CBN has issues simpler condition whereby farmers can access the loans through their co-operative societies. But still the funds are lying there,underutilized.
So here we are blaming government for not helping the sector and then here is government giving out money and people are not willing to collect.
I am confused.

I think if i had my way i would change the attitude of Nigerians from the typical cynical and pessimistic attitude to a rather positive and optimistic attitude.
With all the population we have,if we don't believe in ourselves and the nation then it is another wasted resource.

[Suleman]

I don't know what you mean by "untapped" in this context, but I believe the  problem with Nigeria's people is the mentality and the orientation. Whenever this is changed to a positive direction, things would begin to look up.

By 'untapped', I mean not fully utilised (developed to full potential). I believe the main purpose of any government is to provide the enabling environment for its people to develop their various potentials. Take away the thought of 'basic necessities' and you will be amazed at how people can help themselves.

Sadly though the populace do not believe in themselves nor the government.
In my own opinion,me over rely on government and see only its fault (not that the govt is faultless) but the greater majority of the populace depend on government to solve very problem without the co-operation of the people.

I think if i had my way i would change the attitude of Nigerians from the typical cynical and pessimistic attitude to a rather positive and optimistic attitude.
With all the population we have,if we don't believe in ourselves and the nation then it is another wasted resource.

Again, this is only as a result of leadership failure. I class mankind into 2 simple groups. The leadership and the followership. Every man is a natural follower and only a few are born with strong leadership capabilities. Leadership in this sense, the ability to develop human potential. Most of our so called leaders have had one common trait and that is selfishness. If the people are cynical and pessimistic, then it is down to years of misrule and unfulfilled promisses.
I'll use Kano state as a casing study to elaborate. I can see 4 classes of leaders in Kano. The politicians, the 'masu sarauta', the western educated and the ulama. Each one of these, has got a followership who are looking upto their leader(s) for guidance, encouragement, direction, e.t.c. I have been asking myself, which one of these groups would I regard as a succsessfull model of leadership? None in my view. All have failed their constituents in the provision of good leadership.

[bakangizo]

I don't know what you mean by "untapped" in this context, but I believe the  problem with Nigeria's people is the mentality and the orientation. Whenever this is changed to a positive direction, things would begin to look up.

By 'untapped', I mean not fully utilised (developed to full potential). I believe the main purpose of any government is to provide the enabling environment for its people to develop their various potentials. Take away the thought of 'basic necessities' and you will be amazed at how people can help themselves.

Then you are no longer talking about the development (or realisation) of human resource potentials. I think to a reasonable extent, Nigeria's human resource is highly developed. And highly tapped, for that matter. Only in a negative way. The issue really is that of orientation. Like goga said, do away with pessimism and overreliance on the govt to do anything and everything for us. In anycase, we might be talking about the same thing in a different way ;)

[gogannaka]

A friend of mine once made an observation while we were discussing the over reliance on government to do everything.He gave me an example.
Wai mutum ne a kasuwa zai siyo tsire da pure water. Ya ci dadin shi shi kadai and idan ya gama sai ya wullar da takardar da leda a kan titi don gwamnati ta zo ta kwashe. Idan bata kwashe ba kuma a zage ta. Duk da cewa baya biyan haraji

[ummutameem]

SULEIMAN im sure ur question has been answered, so i neednt say more, its simple, we have resources that we dont use properly, so we dont see any benefits, but it ll change IA. and what u guys have been doing here is a good indication that change is near, amen!

[Suleman]

Bakangizo, I believe when you say "I think to a reasonable extent, Nigeria's human resource is highly developed. And highly tapped, for that matter. Only in a negative way." you actually mean labour. In my view a country with a "highly" developed human resource should not have the illiteracy rate we currently have. It is all about developing the individual to think for himself. No doubt out of over 140 million people in Nigeria, God has given us the Einsteins, the Warren Buffets, more of Sardauna of sokoto and many others, who at the moment, are so impoverished, that all that occupies their able minds is the next meal and where to safely put their heads for the night. Even amongst the hundreds of thousands of graduates we produce each year, I wonder how many (what percentage rather) have actually thought, 'right in the absence of a job, I shall create one for myself and others'. It is really depressing. The system produces dependants and supports dependancy. Very few defy the odds and have the courage and confidence to actually think of utilising their god given talent to achieve their aim in life. I shall reiterate once more that the purpose of any government is to, in my view, 'provide an enabling environment for the people to develop', in other words achieve their respective potential.

[Dan-Borno]

each time i come across a debate that has to do with identifying possible
solutions to nigeria's numerous problem i become more confuse as to where
the problem is?

everyone will tell you the same story - unwillingness of the government to
implement people oriented programs and or unwillingness of the nigerian
man to do as it is expected of him.

as i grow, i begin to realise that, you cannot separate 'government' and
'nigerians', it is always the nigerian man that becomes minister that will
approve a plot meant for commercial purposes to be used for residential
and it is the same nigerian man that will revoke it later - confusion.

madam dora akunyili has been busy trying to justify the budgeted millions
set aside for campaigning her pet project ''re-branding nigeria'' and to my
dissappointment, huge sums of money are spent were it is never suppose
to be spent - you can imagine spending millions on the production of
campaign posters, flyers, t-shirts, face-caps, jingles and what have you.
the re-branding campaign was recently launched in maiduguri, meant to
cover for the whole of borno state at a hall that could only accommodate
note more than 200 people, and all the 200 people are drawn from government
offices and other top giant private corporations not minding if really the
hungry man at the grassroot is not a target of rebranding.

i always say: the whole system needs overhauling, everything about nigeria
needs formating to start a fresh if we are to expect results, else, na only
recycling we go dey do as we dey see now.

[bakangizo]

Gaskiya nigeria's problem cannot just be explained away in a few sentences, I agree with you. But back to the earlier responses on this, the biggest issue is corruption. And corruption does not just stopped at the doorsteps of government officials. It involves everybody - from teh president down to the commonest man on the street. Corruption is not only about stealing public funds. It covers everything from the president stealing from govt coffers down to that fuel attendant that pinched off a litre/half a litre of petrol from you when you go to fill your car tank, due to tampered fuel pump. And me think that's very crucial - meaning the average nigerian believes only the govt officials are corrupts. He/She would cheat you when you go to the market, dilute or adultrate products and still have the gut to sit down and abuse the govt. Their excuse? It is the govt that cause it? A pity, really.