I love going to work in the morning. It's a 30-minutes drive from Gwarinpa into Wuse II. Even though it is the same route every morning, I find it exciting and fascinating every day. Starting from the market and the corner shops in my neighbourhood, the chicken and goats wandering around the streets, from the mama-puts and sellers on the street (rather on the highway) that sell anything from plastic toys to chewing gum, to Jabi lake, and the entry into the central area, where people get off the bus and take a taxi, which results in chaos every morning.
People dress very well. Anyone seems to put at least some effort into choosing what to wear. Apparently, clothing is used as a sign of well-being; only the very poor cannot afford to dress passably well. Also, I envy how dark skin just goes so well with bright and beautiful colours. Nigerians dress in the most beautiful colours, and many wear traditional clothing on an every day basis. I hardly see anyone wearing sunglasses, which I couldn't stand for long.
Something I noticed while talking about politics with people here (it always comes up when they ask me what I do and I tell them that I work for a German NGO), many do still wish for a military ruler, thus a dictatorship. The question of leadership is considered very important, many of the apparent problems are blamed on the lack of suitable leaders. While I agree that most Nigerian presidents have not exactly shown extraordinary leadership capabilities, I m afraid that the desire for a military ruler indicates the lack of democratic values, which in turn might also be a reason the Nigerian democracy can only be considered a farce. I don't want to go into too much detail here, this is just an observation, and not representative.
Another observation concerning a totally different topic is the following: apparently Cussons "morning fresh - best ever formula" dishwashing detergent has a strong monopoly on the Nigerian market for dishwashing detergent. Everywhere I have been to I have only seen this specific dishwashing detergent. Same for black tea and coffee. It's lipton's yellow label black tea and nescafe instant coffee respectively. I should consider finding a market niche and come up with my own monopoly. So much for my plans for this weekend.
hmm,... have u considered though that some cultures are just not designed for democracy?..i.e. the people just have a differnt way of thinking and hence a democracy doesnt really work for them...im a fan of democracy..but i also am wary of this one size fits all approach to governance that the west and particularly the united states advocate so very strongly. Let people decide what government works for them best - that is the true value of democracy anyways.
AntwortenLöschenI think it is a vicious cycle, consisting of more than one factor. Democracy is strongly linked to economic development, and there are only a few exceptional cases in which there is a functioning democracy but no strong economic development (e.g. India). Nigeria is a rich country, rich in resources, but it is not able to effectively utilize its wealth to benefit its people. Also, Nigerian democracy is defective, it is not able to trigger the development of democratic values, which are vital not only for the acceptance of democracy within the public, but also for the actual functioning of democracy. People do not benefit from democracy as much as they should, due to corruption, mismanagement, and fraud. Thus people do not and cannot support the system that is in place. I do not believe that certain "cultures" are not designed for democracy, I have to say that I consider this a racial argument, which I cannot support. I rather think that the defective system in place, as well as economic mismanagement have triggered a substantial disagreement with what is supposed to be "democracy". In fact, it is not. I am sure that a functioning democratic system would gain support of the public, but the "civil rule" in Nigeria (Which is not actually democratic) does not experience suppport in the country.
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