Comments on: Nigeria: Ten years of civilian rule

By: nigerilist

nigerilist — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:40:58 +0000

As noted by Bola-Wola Makinde, the independence date for Nigeria was in 1960 and not 1964.

Although, the military rule in Nigeria until 1999 was horrible, I am not sure the civilian rule has brought much welfare to people. The wealth of the country is still as unequally divided as during military rule and not much economic and social development has occurred since then, though civilian rule has managed to keep stability and increase freedom in the country

By: Bola-Wola Makinde

Bola-Wola Makinde — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:59:23 +0000

\”Power was then transferred to President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007 – the first successful transition from one civilian leader to another since independence from Britain in 1964\”
The above excerpt from the article \”Nigeria: Ten years of civilian rule\”
posted by by: Tume Ahemba is slightly flawed:Independence from Britain in 1964? Except i have MY history wrong……what happened to 1960? I remember that on Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent within the Commonwealth of Nations. On October 7 it was admitted to membership in the UN. The first prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, headed a coalition government representing the major parties of the Northern and Eastern regions. The governor-general was Nnamdi Azikiwe, who became president when Nigeria adopted a republican form of government on Oct. 1, 1963.

By: african princess

african princess — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:35:50 +0000

Nigerian wondering if they were better off under military rule !!! Gimme a break.The military was the worst thing that happened to Nigeria.My parents used to tell me that civilian rule no matter how poor is always better than a military regime.I never understood it.How could I? Born in 1978 until 2003 when i migrated to Canada the only kind of leadership i had experienced was military rule.Don’t turn back the clock.

By: Nduka Tolefe

Nduka Tolefe — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:05:45 +0000

Nigeria is changing and many thanks to Olusegun Obasanjo for doing his best for the country, the problem of Nigeria cannot be solved overnight and patience is needed especially with the new regime. There are too many negative players who unfortunately are only interested in their selfish vested interests but even they cannot stop the tide of change which is sweeping the world.

By: Philippe Mandangi

Philippe Mandangi — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:34:16 +0000

Overall, there are substantial changes that have occurred in Nigeria over the last 10 years i.e. the freedom to choose is the greatest one. The country has now a good base to work on and consolidate the system. Democracy and good governance go hand in hand, and it is obvious that the delivery is in sharp contrast to promises from the manifesto. The current leadership is part of the old guard that does not has vision to re-engineer cultural change at the heart of Nigeria failure to deliver. The political paradigm shift has to happen as next step to harness corruption eradication and financial mismanagment. Politic parties methods of candidates selection has to go through major changes to allow ordinary people to get involved as at this stage, the elitism has not gone away from Nigerian politic making political competition impossible.

By: Barry Jaga

Barry Jaga — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:39:10 +0000

It is amazing to hear the Politicans talking about achievement in th last ten years. The only change the Country has experienced is a backward change (for the worse). Infrastructures have rather gone from bad to worse. I think we should rather celebrate ten years of political intimidation, (s)election rigging and manipulation, we should be ashmaed of ourselves by now. Is it any wonder that Mr. Obama is not coming to Abuja? They should bury their heads in shame.