DEMOCRACY TAKING ROOT IN NIGERIA

If you have been watching developments in Nigeria recently you will notice that we have somehow managed to elect a new president. The method used may not be very conventional but we do have a new president. for a while we did consider a street protest but by the time we had listened and heard his inaugural speech we had a change of heart and are ready to give him a chance to prove his worth. He sounded a lot humbler than we expected. We Nigerians are not very fond of arogant people (that is why we could not get along with mr. Obasanjo) but have a lot of regard for humble people and if the new president keeps to that humble attitude he wil win our hearts for keeps. so long as does not stay beyond his term as president

Back to the main business of what we expect of our president. we do not ask much just that he makes the lives of the Nigerians on the street better off. he creates jobs or creates the opportunities for the citizenry. we are a very resourceful and creative people and will snap up whatever chances there are. we are also very accommodating, may be to a fault.

To the rest of the world we are stereotyped as a lazy, crooked, swindling lot of people. This is far from the truth. We are as hard working as any group of people. we have had it a little bad because of a small percentage of the population that has gone overboard with their crooked tendencies. we are taking care of them now and in a couple of years all that will be history. if you think i am being over ambitious just ask anyone you know that has been to Nigeria or has come into contact with a Nigerian in his workplace any where in the world and he or she will tell you we have the brains to beat any other. when we mean to do anything we get it done any which way.

The president has taken a few positive steps that tend to give him some credibility. For instance he has opened up dialogue with the Niger delta youths, he has invited the opposition parties to a parley with the hope of including them in his cabinet, he has promised to serve and lead by example. In his native Katsina State where he was governor for two terms he has left the treasury bouyant and put the state economy on a sound footing. That is an encouraging sign.

I am not doing an image laundering job, i have never met him, i did not work in his campaign organisation and neither am i his image maker. I am only interested in what you think about my country, one of the best places in the world to live in, and thought if i told you the truth of what is happening in my country you might have a clearer picture.

Do please let me have your comments. I have an open mind so do not worry how i will feel if your comment is negative. Ask any question about my country that you want and I will do my best to give the real facts on the ground.

have a great time.

abbah r. agor-agalanga.