Ask a Nigerian Christian how to improve the life of Nigerians, and he will give you a party-political manifesto. He will tell you about the need for non-stop electricity. He will talk about the need to curtail armed robbery and kidnapping. He will talk about the need to improve the medical facilities. But would such developments improve the life of Nigerians? Certainly not!

I was present last weekend at the Achebe Colloquium in Providence, Rhode Island, and I was struck once more by the irony of the situation, and the incongruity of Nigeria’s neo-colonial situation.

“We salute the men and women who kept our nation together, especially those who paid the supreme price…The only way we can honour their memory is not to re-open old wounds but to resolve that never again will our people’s blood be shed by their own people. We must harness our diversity to make our union perfect”. Governor Babatunde Fashola, at Colloquium Fair, held at Brown University, Rhode Island, USA by Professor Chinua Achebe.

In November 2009, the Nigerian Senate, speaking through Senator Ayogu Eze, suggested that most of the projects earmarked in the budget were not implemented “because Civil Servants in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) lack the capacity to implement the budgets and appropriations they ask for every year”.

“We will not enjoy security without development, we will not enjoy development without security, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights.”-Kofi Annan