The 2016 Rio Olympics and the Perpetual Failure of a Nation

As we ecstatically inch towards the finale of the greatest sports fiesta in the world, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil, it is becoming increasingly apparent to many Nigerians that this time, Nigeria is going to end up without a single medal of any colour in any of the sports event.

(I started writing this article in March 2014, but for some unknown, warped reason, never completed it. I have now decided to finish it)

"Nigerian leaders on Friday (28 February 2014) called on Nigerians to work harder towards ensuring the country’s unity", with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo averring that Nigeria will not break up. They made the call in separate interviews with State House correspondents shortly after they were honoured with the nation’s centenary awards at the Presidential Villa, Abuja”.

Our Politicians, the NURTW and Us

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, “The National Union of Road Transport Workers is a Nigerian organisation which functions as a mixture of a public transport company, street gang, and a transport worker's union. The organisation raises fund through several methods, but the largest of these is charging fees - of approximately 20 Nigerian Naira at illegal checkpoints, and from local shop owners. A large number of the NURTW have been arrested in recent months after a government crackdown on these unregulated fees, after the government embarked on a plan to stop people from collecting dues outside motor parks. These people are known as “agberos”.

Education Ain’t Cheap!

The decline in government funding of higher education, the economic downturn, the long decades of unforgivable neglect, along with rapidly rising costs of the different services and products that universities have to provide, have led to steady increases in student and parents outlays over the last two or three decades. There are no indications that costs will go down, neither are there signals that one day university education will be free – as called for by many segments of the society.