Musings from Nigerian Blogs · Global Voices
Imnakoya

Corruption in the Nigerian Society
Exodus muses on corruption, one of the major problems of the Nigerian society: “I have struggled to understand the phenomenon of corruption and how it became so deeply embedded in our society”, the author states.
“Don’t get me wrong – I believe some form of corruption exists in EVERY society, but I happen to be a Nigerian. So, home is my first port of call. I’m sometimes so upset about the “blatantness” (if there is such a word) of corruption in Nigeria. I was pretty miffed last week when our litigation clerk said a typist in the court refused to type a record of proceedings because he gave her only 400 naira as “thank-you-in-advance”. I was so upset. This had occurred before and I personally went to her to inquire. She said: “Don’t mind your clerk. So, he looked at me from up to down and gave me just N200?”
On Sino-Nigerian Trade
Molara Wood publishes a letter written to the Chinese president during his visit to Nigeria. The letter was written by some Nigerian writers ‘in different parts of the world’.
“In the wake of your two-day visit to Nigeria, we the undersigned Nigerian writers could not but draw your attention to and deplore some of the practices of the Chinese government. China is emerging as another economic and political superpower whose foreign policy will bear a vast influence in world affairs. It very unlikely that a government that is repressive at home would have a foreign policy that differs from what it espouses and offers at home…”
Still on the China,  Black Looks discusses that incursion of China into Nigeria and Africa, stating: “The West has not given up on Africa but its a hard battle when countries such as Britain insist on conditions like ending corruption and good governance in return for their aid. On the other hand China doesnt offer aid – she invests or rather buys and of course asks no questions. Why should they afterall they have an appalling human rights and corruption record themselves.  So on the one hand you have Brown Bono et al with their paternalistic lecturing and threats of bread and water punishment.  On the other you have China’s free for all bulk purchase sell and buy anything with no conditions attached.  There must be a third way”
Economics, Electric Power and Governance
“Despite debt relief, poor nations back in the red“,  states Africa Unchained. “The report by the Washington-based Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) says that in half the countries that received debt relief under the programme known as the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, debt has in fact climbed back up to where it was before the debt relief plan….”
Deni Africa- a new blog created to stimulate the private sector and the African economies announces  that the “privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) formerly National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), might have gone into limbo as it was learnt that a powerful cabal consisting of top government officials in the Ministry of Power and Steel and collaborators in the company were frustrating its sale to the private sector. NEPA, now PHCN, arguably received more funds from the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, since its inception in May 1999, than any single government enterprise, yet power supply has remained abysmal, in what has come be seen as, a conspiracy between government officials and generator dealers.”
According to Chippla's Weblog the Nigerian foreign reserve is expected to hit $50 billion by the end of 2006, the author wonders  if the Nigerian government should go on saving, “despite the poor infrastructure on the ground or is it about time it adopted a more radical approach to infrastructure decay?”
“…The time has come for the Nigerian government to dip a little bit into its forgiven currency reserve for the benefit of electricity generation. This may not be the classical textbook way of dealing with this issue but face it, imagine the number of homegrown startup companies one would find in Nigeria if an infrastructure such as stable electricity were guaranteed. And that's not even up to a tip of the iceberg!”
Nigerian Patriotism, Unity, and Political Rhetorics
Just Thots by a Naijaman rants about Nigerian patriotism and cohesion in a post titled: “ ‘One Nigeria’” as a paradox”, here is an excerpt:
“Nigeria is indeed not a nation, it's people do not behave as nigerians. Indeed the people care nothing for nigeria, they do not respect it neither do they love it. Citizenship and patriotism has lost its meaning in “one nigeria. Nigerians would rather be caught with a US flag than the green-white-green, millions of nigerians are fans of arsenal-till-i-die yet have no idea about the local soccer team in their local government. The average Nigerian kid with no knowledge of Nigeria's history can boldly tell you all the hottest night clubs in NY despite having never been there. In “one nigeria”, nothing belongs to the people. Public property is no man's property and thus can be vandalized at will. We do not care for our landscape, we don't like our schools, we hate our leaders and most of us would rather sleep at home than go out and vote or for census.”
The blog Exodus also has a posting themed along a similar topic: “What is Nigeria? Exploring questions of ethnicity and national unity”
In a post titled: Too many aspirants dying to rule in Nigeria The Blog- Akin,  in response to a topic on NaijaBlog dealing with possible candidates for the presidency of Nigeria states:
“In my humble opinion, I am getting fed up of people who try to express their earnest desire to lead their people through words of martyrdom. It is part of the martyrdom rhetoric used by President Obasanjo in his inauspicious quest for a third term to finish what he has not started to properly to date. Just because you are ready to die for your country does not make you any more earnest or more patriotic than those who are want to preserve their lives in service of their country…”
Unwanted Pregnancy and Adoption Services
The Kids’ Doc in Jos writes about Pro-Life Evangel, a program that offers “free pregnancy testing, counseling and pastoral care, adoption services, support of the new mother and baby with supplies and clothes, housing for needy mothers and post-abortion counseling” in the Jos metrpolitan area of Nigeria.
“Wednesday morning we got a wake-up call: a baby had been born Tuesday night, we could come and get her any time…  Baby Tina is the thirteenth baby to arrive in this world with the help of the crisis pregnancy program at Evangel Hospital, called Pro-Life Evangel. The program was started in November 2004 by Bill and Dorothy Ardill, after seeing many, many women coming to Evangel asking for abortions while we had little to offer besides some counseling. We were not doing abortions, but we did not have a lot to offer these women, either. Many were willing to have their babies, but were pressured by their families and even churches, perhaps indirectly, to “solve the problem…The program has just purchased a home where some of the young women can stay for a time, it’s called the Miriam House…”