http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/editorial_opinion/article02//indexn3_html?pdate=290608&ptitle=Our%20Attitude%20Is%20The%20Problem&cpdate=290608

I read this article and I believe it has told us some hometruths
I have posted the link here for your info, please read it.
If you need to comment, critisize the content and not the writer

The parts I find very instructive are:

"But you can't run away from such comparison in this age of globalisation. You use the same technology as the white man, you are setting up global banks, your country is trying to play big in the international market, your people want to live by international standards, your government wants Direct Foreign Investment, your footballers are playing in Europe. We are either part of the world or we are not. And my argument is that we do not have the right attitude, we are not bringing the right attitude to the world of competition. National growth is about attitude"

"Take for example the problem of gas supply to our new thermal stations, the thermal stations have been built but there is no gas because we are still flaring gas. And the gas that we are not wasting, we have sold to the mulitnationals and collected money upfront. President Yar'�dua himself said so. It means nobody ever thought that the thermal stations built by the Obasanjo government would need gas and that provision should be made for that. You get the impression that our leaders do not think"

"The difference is that the white man may collect bribe, but he will not go out of his way to jeopardise the public good. And if he gets caught violating the law, he knows he will go to jail. There will be nobody to say that he is a saint and should be forgiven or that he is too big to be subjected to the laws of the land."

"Here in Nigeria, all you need would be a former Head of State to speak up on your behalf and you can run away with your loot and even get a National Honour in due course."

Those best graduates will not be allowed to make any inputs. Big contracts are usually won by nonenties or by well-connected persons or those who are willing to offer bribe. The Nigerian system is not interested in merit. Your religion, your ethnicity, these are more importnat considerations."

"The thing annoys me. If Nigeria wants to be led by the best and the brightest, it must end the culture of quota system."

"You can still have a quota system but a quota system that will throw up the very best and not the relations of privileged persons who have captured the state."

"Intelligent and gifted persons who want to make a difference find it difficult to survive in Nigeria. You should know that. If you show too much promise, there is a standby crowd of nonenties who will come after you. Is he the only one? He is disturbing other people. Who does he think he is? Let him go and sit down. The mediocres get praised because they do not pose any threat to anybody's ego; and they are given responsibilities that they cannot handle. And they cause havoc, or they pull down everyone to their own evel."

"What bothers me is that there are Nigerians abroad who also behave exactly that way. I know Nigerians who live in England but who are no better than Nigerians in Lagos. They watch Nigerian movies. They work in Nigerian shops. They attend Nigerian parties. They don't listen to news, if they have to, they prefer AIT, NTA, LTV, Channels - local Nigerian channels that are now available on satellite TV. They attend Nigerian churches in London. They live in the South East. When you listen to them, you would think they have just arrived from Shaki. I guess the only time such people have contact with the white man is when they use the underground."

And lastly the buffet analogy:

"Teach Nigerians how to eat buffet"

"What kind of silly idea is that? My friend, what has buffet got to do with national progress."

"May be our friend is hungry."

"I am serious about this"

"Okay?"

"I observe that at many Nigerian parties these days, guests are treated to buffet or what you call serve-yourself. You watch how Nigerian eat buffet and you'd see a picture of our national crisis"

"I don't see the picture"

"Me neither"

"Can't see nothing"

"First, there is class discrimination. The high table gets the best part of the buffet: A reserved serving point with more than enough, or the right to go to the serving point first. That is class discrimination. Others are made to feel like second class citizens. Just the same way there is inequality in the society."

"� have no problems with the idea of a high table, and VIPs getting the best part of the meal"

"I do. There is too much oppression in Nigeria. Why invite me to a party if your plan is to humiliate me?"

"But have you not also noticed that even when other tables are called, those who get to the serving points first, are so greedy they scoop everything. People mix all kinds of things, salad with eba, goat peppersoup with salad, porridge with tuna. When you look at some plates, you wonder whether some people have drums for stomachs."

"You are abosultely right there. In fact, once I hear buffet, I try to jump tables because if you wait for your turn, you may not get anything to eat."

"You know some people will carry three plates at once. Appetiser, main course and dessert. At a buffet, you are supposed to take a little at a time and eat according to the size of your stomach. But some women will collect food and collect for their husbands who are sitting down and waiting to be served."

"I don't do buffet. I recruit hostesses who ask you what you want to eat and serve you. That way, the food will go round"

"But the funny part of buffet is that the people who have stolen all the food end up wasting it. At the end of the party, there will be angry guests who have had nothing to eat, and abandoned plates with mounds of food literring some of the tables. "

"So what you are saying is that if Nigerians can only learn how to share and manage food, most of of our problems will be solved."

"You think about it. I am not supposed to spell it all out. Use your brain my friend."

Thats the Nigerian story for you
How sad,

This article has spoken about the "Nigerianess" in all of us.
The problems are not only that of the government but the governed.
Everybody blames somebody else for the Nigerian problems

We all know what the problems are, but what are we doing as an individual
to profer solutions to these problems?

I think we may have to start from re-evaluating our value system

reuben got it all . . . . , . . our attitude as a people is bad.

Nice post. We need a type of miracle to change Nigeria similar to Obama's rise in power. I know it seems impossible but majority of peeps here couldn't place obama anywhere 4yrs ago.
Nigeria really needs a visionary leader and massive willingness by the people to save us from this hopeless pit of ignorance, greed, and arrogance.

I read this stuff days ago and i think some of these 'attitudes' are diplayed here on Nairaland

This was a fantastic article. Read it a couple of days ago and it aptly captured the typical Nigerian spirit.

"Our attitude is the problem", one of the discussants had declared, setting the tone for the conversation.

"How?"

"How? You are asking me how?