Any Nigerian's in the house

Student Lounge International Students
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<p>hey, since everyone here keeps boasting about their schools, let me indulge. from this thread, one would think most of the nigerians who study in US are either based in Abuja [LJC] or abroad, but i'm sure there are many dude's and girls out there who just don't have time/money to blast on CC....</p>

<p>...that said, let me start with ISI. ISI was once a prestigious school, with students from as many as 35 different countries in one class. The school offered 3 separate curricula [IB, A-lev, WAEC] until 1991. ISI was then a world-class school.</p>

<p>but what do we have now? the curriculum has been nearly destroyed - the same old story of all Nigerian public institutions and industries - exponential decay. Worse still, a school that is supposed to bring out the best in each student, focuses just on one, leaving others behind. It happens that every year, when a student emerges as the best in a class, they forget about the others, about other disciplines, and just focus on one person. i'm not speaking out of envy, for I've once been one of those persons, but i speak out of concern and a general ideology of what a school should be. yet there are many unsung heroes from ISI, who have struggled to make their way in the world - artists, poets, runners, you name them.</p>

<p>yet, from ISI, tons of students go to the US/UK. in the past 5 yrs, we've had students at MIT, Pton, MoHo, Williams, Caltech, and of course, many other schools like IIT, UCLA, Elon, etc.</p>

<p>but really, who cares whether you studied in Harvard or OSU [olabisi onabanjo uni]. what matters most is what you make of your life and how well you utilise your opportunities. making an impact is what counts.</p>

<p>and it's my dream that we all contribute from wherever we are to improve education in nigeria to the point that people from all over the world will come to Nigeria to study [or from africa, at least:D].</p>

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<p>Well said Jrock. well said. </p>

<p>I question everyday whether a physics and math double major can have a positive enough impact on our country. I debate whether to study economics to at least try in whatever way I can to help the country. I believe something in the medical field would be of utmost important to out country at the moment, however i dont have the stomach for medicine so i would leave that for others. But what ever i end up doing I hope to channel any sucess I made to the soil the motherland.</p>

<p>And yes, i cannot begin to understand the degrading state of the public school system. And i understand that there are so many untapped talents in Nigeria, so many decaying potentials, and wasting opportunities. I am extrmemly greatful for the exposure and doors that were open to me and to indeed many of us discussing on this site, but I can only pray that we can begin to make changes for our children. </p>

<p>bumpitybump, welcome. I am 100% sure that I know you. I was Loyola class of 2005(though I never graduated with my class).</p>

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<p>and I'm 100% sure I know you too! Glad I found you guys! Whoa! U guys are all soooooooo impressive! Keep up the patriotism! I'm an Econ/Polisci major but I dcon't think I'm that into all these stuff just yet- Proud of u all!</p>

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<p>ok I am Nigerian too.. probably the only girl here right....</p>

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<p>can i be girl #2? or maybe i don't even count cos i'm finishing up my first year in college now?
oh well, when i was college-shopping, there wasnt such a live african/nigerian thread! hehe</p>

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<p>hey pimpcess am almost done with my second yr of college.. just came across dis site wen i was applying to transfer..</p>

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<p>Hello dear african brothers. I'm a somali (living in sweden) myself here applying for the class of '11 this fall to HYP + Wharton. Just wanted to step by and leave some footprints. My sincere congratulations to all of you acceptees.</p>

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<p>welcome Corporatefinance:) thanks, and best of luck in your future applications.</p>

<p>bumpitybump, where are you studying now?</p>

<p>ah, pimpcess05! salut! ca va? je suis tres heureux de vous revoir. je crois que tout va bien. ou etes vous au present? Mcgill?</p>

<p>Afrikaan, you know, Nigeria has a special talent for killing talents...there are extremely intelligent Nigerian individuals, at home and abroad; that's fine, but as a society, we have failed to achieve the common good. there lies the tragedy of our nation...the average individuals in developed countries may just be ordinary citizens, but as societies, they've created lasting institutions which will outlive several generations. therein lies their pride.</p>

<p>the challenge now is to build institutions centered, not around one person, but built on solid values, which will provide lasting foundations in all areas, from education to politics, tech to business. if you have observed, this one-man trend is what is killing nigeria. changing this will lead to long lasting stability and will end all the wrangling from the corridors of power to walls of our very homes. for instance: schools. almost everday [hyberbole], someone comes up with his/her own vision. a school is born. there are millions of schools around now. yet, how has the education for the average nigerian child improved? we need to start thinking nationally, and not otherwise. why don't we improve on the schools we already have. same goes for our universities.</p>

<p>i don't believe the current govt has done well [i've been in ngr since birth till aug 2005]. i know we can talk about ngr's probs 24/'7. but i'll just mention one big issue we need to tackle FAST: information. 2 plane crashes occurred last year, nobody knows up till now how, why, etc. we don't know our Population. we don't have statistics. if we don't have information about what we need, then surely, there's no hope that we can meet those needs.</p>

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<p>freshman, illinois wesleyan-guys calm down! Don't get yourselves all depressed with nigerian issues- Excel in college and go back with positive dynamism- That's the spirit- I think we shud all quit complaining/whining-w e've been doing that for over forty years- hasn't helped much-</p>

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<p>And yeah, I agree with your conclusion: whatever we study we can surely always find a way of making it pay back to the common good of the nation. nigerians all over the world don't necessarily have to be friends. just because someone in my us college is a nigerian doesn't mean i have to become instant friends with him. truth is: nigerians are very very different people, but you see, we need a structure whereby, we'll each be able to contribute in our own way without persecution. and if the present structure in place has failed to do that, i don't see why we cannot slowly but surely begin to create one.
you see, nigeria's case is so special that no matter how different you are abroad, you can't but just come together at least once and spend a whole night discussing our problems and the solutions.
in reality, few people are bothered/concerned. but it is those who take the time to bear the burden of their country in their minds are those capable of taking it foward. others can follow.</p>

<p>it's time people were recognised purely by merit. in education alone, the current system is abysmal. JAMB is an annual nationwide FIASCO. Followed by WAEC. An "A1" is not worth much these days, maybe a little less than 100USD. Competitions are very few and far between, many are rigged regularly. SPORTS at the school level is nothing to write home about.</p>

<p>as long as we keep thriving on fraud, corruption, deceipt, incompetence, insincerity, etc, we shall NEVER progress. nigeria's FAME in the HALLS of FRAUD has embarrassed me on 3 horrible occasions even here in Zimbabwe. You know, we are just a special country, lol.</p>

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<p>JROCK wopt's ur major?</p>

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<p>hey, bumpitybump, so you've landed since last year! nice. i also finished in 04, but i'm just going now. </p>

<p>well, we've not been complaining for 40yrs. actually nigeria was rising steadily in the 60's and 70's. the world was watching. even as young as we are, our aged ones still fondly remember the "Good old days" when Coke was less than 1 naira. lack of vision, incompetence and reckless mismanagement of funds have taken us to the brink of collapse.</p>

<p>anyway, who's coming back, lol. i hope my future career gets me into a lot of traveling. i'll surely keep touch with home, but i may not settle down back there until 20 or maybe 30 yrs. let's wait and see...</p>

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<p>i don't know exactly yet. i'm strong in phy/math, also love music/history/lit/LANGUAGES....of course, i won't declare till junior year, and my major in college may not determine my profession: i certainly want to be a musician/author/artist....that's prolly why i'm just out for lib arts, or i could just go for a masters in eng after grad...</p>

<p>and more thing killing us back there: ETHNOCENTRICITY</p>

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<p>I'm definitely coming back- and yes I've landed since last year!
u'll be shocked, nigeria was rising but we still had issues, there was still military dictatorship for one and even in the good old days there was rampant corruption so there definitely still was complaining, but taht's a moot point-
My point is that I'll rather rising nigerians spread out positive encouraging messages rather than all these succession reminders of on our weaknesses. Plus if you really want to make a difference, go in your twenties-</p>

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<p>ethnocentricity is not a problem for me or you and we're the future leaders, so it's fine- wot school do you go to?</p>

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<p>i plan to spend at least 3 months in Nigeria annually during the peak of my career life. [the actual settling will be later, but i'm hoping for PRESIDENCY , though]. i also want to create the post of mayor, and drastically reduce the number of our LGs. I want to be the first mayor of Ibadan. I want to bring all our historians, lawyers, philosophers, writers, etc into the senate/house of assemblies. that's where they ought to be. our educational system has to be dynamic. after the secondary school, there's a huge break, and after university, a greater gap exists. if we don't utilise our graduates, why do we have unis then?</p>

<p>i'm the kind of world citizen who'll be all over. i want to make an impact at home first, west africa, etc....i didn't do much b4 i left, but if you knew me then, you'd know i was a very community-oriented guy. and MOST IMPORTANT: keep in touch. don't break serious relationships. i regularly discuss NIGERIA with intellectuals back home. i want to take a cross-country trip ROUND nigeria to see what my country actually looks like. I planned to do that in 2004, but it didn't work out. my friend and i had planned the whole route, etc...but i'll surely do that one of these summers.</p>

<p>btw, Nigeria just sold oil explorations rights to China yesterday. PLEASE VOTE ME FOR PRES, lol</p>

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<p>hey maybe we shud hook up cos I'm interested in public service too and I could do the country wide trip too--- I plan on going back in my twenties tho- looking more towards fostering entrepreneurship and training business owners-again, wot's ton majeur? plus I prolly know you-any clues- my clue is E-I-C literary club plus loyola house</p>

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<p>yeah, for us it definitely isn't....</p>

<p>i finished from ISI[intl sch ibadan] in 2004. a-level till 2005. now on a gap year in zimbabwe, pursuing further lang and music classes alongside a very worthwhile internship at the USEAC here. i'm going to williams this fall.</p>

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<p>cool! williams is awesome! I'm trying to transfer--- plus wot moved u to zimbabwe? i mean did u like just decide to go?</p>

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<p>yeah, def, we should hookup. unfortunately i didn't attend the great school LJC. it's prolly the greatest school in nigeria right now and is bringing many of nigeria's great future leaders - like you:) that plane crash was a tragic incident, and sadly, no one went to jail for that.</p>

<p>yeah, i'm def into public policy, and i'll prolly do a masters in that if possible.</p>

<p>last year i got in for architecture programs at IIT, USC etc. but under so much pressure from my parents who were against it, and so much unease within myself, i turned them down and took a gap. i still love arch, and i hope to foster the development of the discipline in nigeria and contributing to the available programs, [NOT SETTING UP my own arch school].</p>

<p>when i get to the US, we could communicate by letter writing. neway, me msn is <a href="mailto:folajimioke@hotmail.com">folajimioke@hotmail.com</a></p>

<p>it would be TERRIFIC if we could actually get down to taking such a trip! We'll take the media by storm...have you read "Around NIgeria in 80 Days" by the author of "koku baboni" i don't remembe his name. that's what inspired me.</p>

<p>are you really sure you wanna settle in NG by your 20s? Of course, if you do, you'll inevitably maintain ties abroad and might be doing a lot of travel, etc...but i think to build up the required capital [returning to nigeria isn't easy, and it's a big sacrifice], i'll prolly have to do 10yrs of serious work in the US or Europe, all the while, saving, investing and supporting projects for the public good back home....</p>