Thursday, May 25, 2006

"Home made" restaurant food and a dash of Naija politics

Oh, last week I also read the rather charmingly titled Is it Just me or Is Everything Shit? The Encyclopaedia of Modern Life. It had me rolling with laughter on the plane with its opinionated rants on various issues from Tony Blair to pre-washed vegetables to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera....and while reading I fell into the authors style of thinking. So when I walked into a restaurant in Venice and saw an item on the menu that said home made spaghetti, I thought to myself that's another abused word in modern life. You go into a restaurant and they have home made this or home made that on the menu- like the chefs prepared it at home and brought it in?? As the Americans would say gimme a break.....

I haven't talked about Nigerian politics in a while, partly because I'm still shellshocked at the way the Third Term brouhaha collapsed like a pack of cards. And as much as I was opposed to the third term, there's a bit of me that can't help thinking....now what? I know, I know...there are glimmers of hope what with talk of an Utomi candidacy and an Okonjo-Iweala candidacy, but I can't help but feel that at the end of the day, the small elitist cabal that has long held sway in Nigerian politics, unless the Nigerian people unite as the people of Anambra state did and resist all attempts to rig the 2007 elections. If Obasanjo can sort out a smooth transition to a credible successor, I promise to overlook all his failings henceforth....

On the subject of criticism, I get tired of people who suggest that all criticism, especially of "baba" Obasanjo is bad criticism. I am NOT anti-Obasanjo, I have no vested interests beyond my Nigerian citizenship and I acknowledge wholeheartedly what he has achieved- from securing a period of relatively peaceful civilian rule to paying off the debt, the GSM licences and so on. But to whom much is given, much is expected and Obasanjo had a whole lot of goodwill and could have done so much more....why for instance isn't there a similar health, education and science team to match his economic team?

4 comments:

Nkem said...

Speaking of abused words, World Cup fever has brought "great" to the fore again. Bekcham saying each player on the England team is a "great" player. Claptrap, and it annoys me no end.

I'm with you on the "what next" of the 2007 elections. Not forgetting Soyinka's candidacy as well. If he does indeed run, it'd be a miracle if he even managed to win the votes in his village.

I've never actually thought about why the other teams aren't as grand as the economics team. It might be a case of fixing the finances before anything else can happen. One would hope that Nigeria finally has the fiscal foundation on which to build education and healthcare systems Nigeria deserves.

Olawunmi said...

my brother,

you keep asking the same questions that i have been asking for a while. why not a dream team for all areas of the economy?
why do obasanjo apologists refuse to tolerate any criticism of the man?
what happens in 2007?

i think as a specie, nigerians (or the people in power) would rather sabotage than salvage their nation, hence the choices they make.

Nneka's World said...

Uhu! On point.
@Olawunmi, well said.
@nkem, dont worry you are not the only one

Morountodun said...

What about the World Series (Baseball) isn't this only played by USA and Canada? Since when are 2 Countries the 'World'.