Saturday, August 04, 2007

Dear Chxta,

I know you care a great deal about this fucked up country we call home, and you always have good ideas about what we can do to fix it, but the sad truth of the matter is that things will never improve unless certain persons are sent swimming to the bottom of the ocean. And, sadly, that looks like it ain't never gonna happen.

One prominent businessman, who had his fingers in the attempt to steal Nigeria's refineries, and has over 1000 trailers, would never allow the rail system to work as that would end his business. And, seeing as the said Dangot... *sorry* businessman is heavy into the government, I don't see how he, for one, would allow the improvement of the railway system. Hell, enter Abuja. Their idea of mass transit is to buy hundreds of buses. And they call Abuja a "modern city". I'll bet they always say that tongue in cheek. For, what modern city in the world doesn't have a viable and working inner city rail system? The traffic jams are growing as more and more people pour into Abuja in search of the golden fleece, and the roads are beginning to choke up. I guess the consolation is that every weekend, Abuja becomes a ghost town.

Our Igbo brothers, who have considerable interests in the luxurious bus transport business, vowed never to allow the government construct an airport at Onitsha, and the airport has truly never been built. Never mind that doing so would drastically reduce the number of senseless deaths caused by accidents, armed robberies, etc. on the east-west highway axis. My sole trip to Onitsha to date left a lasting impression on me. It was late evening, and myself, my elder brother and our dad were passing through Onitsha on our way to Port Harcourt. And what did my young and impressionable eyes see? Huge buildings on either side of a road that was no more than a dirt track. A rain-hammered dirt track. The ride through town was a rollercoaster of highs great enough to see glittering jeeps in compounds, and lows deep enough to invoke impressions of Hades. A slalom of lefts and rights, with a bit of freestyle swimming thrown in. If the French hadn't engineered the Peugeot 504 to be the meanest road machine ever built, we'd never have made it out. I wondered how people could live like that and came to the realisation that the jeeps were for the road. So, it was a case of "Nna, if you can't buy ya own jip, go an fix de road." So how, then, could this me-first mentality allow anything that would help others?

Our generator importers have vowed never to allow NEPA/PHCN work as that would end the generator business. In Abuja, the nation's capital, virtually every single traffic warden's box has been donated by a generator company, in demonstration of their prosperity. Naturally, they feel like they're giving back to the community. Never mind that the community would be better off without them. No doubt, closer inspection will show that the people behind these companies are some of the big shots in Naija.

So, therefore, my good man, how the hell is anything in this country supposed to work? How can we fix Nigeria?

Well, we could ask Ghana to borrow us Jerry Rawlings, for starters...

8 comments:

Nilla said...

In PH, lots of traffic warden boxes are donated by generator manufacturer's as well.

Omodudu said...

radical approach which may work...

Omodudu said...

radical approach which may work...

Unknown said...

Since it looks like Naija is a country of people who have taken "vowing" as a pasttime, i believe its time we vow we will make sure all their kids don't grow (RIP 2Pac)...abi which kain fcukery be all this one?, and you wonder why some of my friends have vowed never to return home anytime soon, they will rather live as fugitives till they can sort things out. God save naija sha..walahi.

Anonymous said...

Nah, this doesn't even register on Chxta's radar because it contains references solely to Naija people.

Be comforted though, i'm sure our mutual friend Chxta is combing the net looking for evidence that CNN or any other white person (preferrably an American) is involved in any of these, THEN you'll see action!

Atutupoyoyo said...

We will not see a viable transport system in Nigeria in our collective lifetimes.

Advances will be made no doubt and I am optimstic about Madueke. However, as you have stated, it is in way too many people's interest to keep subjugating Nigeria.

We will continue to pray.....

NigeriaPolitricks.com said...

there are so many that thrives in a failed state and it is in their best interest to keep Nigeria that way. A change of attitude and mindset and being selfless by all Nigerians will get us out of this economic and political quadmire!

bighead said...

I beg to differ; don't blame the corruption in leadership and the public sector on business men. A business man sees an opportunity whether its provided by the laxity of the government or not and takes advantage.

If the government closes up such and such, other opportunities perhaps even bigger and better opportunities are opened which these same business men take advantage of.

Who told you that Dangote doesn't know it would be cheaper to transport his goods by rail instead of trailers. He probably looks forward to the day.

Even if airports are opened in Onitsha, who said luxurious buses would stop moving. Afterall, there are airports in Enugu and luxurious buses still go there.

The politicians can do what is right when they want. Nobody's stopping them and most poeple probably look forward to that.

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