.A Nigerian Girl And Her Edinburgh Dream

The fact that the roads are still bad, the school system is abhorrent, the hospitals are ineffici...Read the full article.

Hello Reuben,
Can you please place or cause to be placed and advert for a President for the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Such a vacancy should be made open to local and foreign candidates. The ideal candidate must have held a position not below a senator or secretary of State in a developed economy and must have at least a Masters degree.

.....and does anyone who knows Bill Clinton, please encourage him to apply for the job of President of Nigeria? Let him come and run this country for at least 6years by which time we should have 'balanced our budgets' and made a clean break from these 'armed forces' gangsters who have plunged our nation into developmental abeyance.

[akuluouno]

Sir,

You have indeed said it all. Roma locuta, causa finita est or was there not a saying like this akin the the VW Santana advert of yore "nothing more too add". What shall we do to remove all the tribal, religious and cultural sandbags on Nigeria's way to enable our schools and other instititutions be like those in Edinburgh. This to me does not call for rocket science. A beg let us continue to play the ostrich and invoke all the cowardly proverbs to justify the same, such as a living dog is better than a dead general joo. etc etc. Happy 46th independence anniversary.
Villagers, I like the independence trailer on top of the website. Webmaster, one bottle of liquid contents only on me.

[Adewale Adebimpe]

Mr Abati appears eager to indict the British High Commision. Student Visa applicants are required to clearly give source(s) and evidence of ability/proof to meet financial and tuition expenses. STANDARD.

Abati could have done better by asking a simple question. who did you say will be responsible for your expenses, your Parents or a supposedly Limited liabilty company owned by your parents

On the VAF and supplementary student questionaire forms, Nigerians submit strong visa applications listing Parents and immediate relatives as sponsors and then go ahead to contradict by providing financial statements of other business entities.

This simple analogy may explain my position, General Obasanjo owns Obasanjo holdings. The British High commision needs to see Olusegun Obasanjo's financial records i.e though not limited to verifiable bank statements, stock/share ownerships certificates etc to be conivinced Seun,will have enough funds to complete his studies without recourse to public funds at cambridge not Obasanjo Holdings account statements.

Mr Abati may have done better by seeking information and then enligthen the Parents,if his interest was more than trivial or just to make discourse of their plight, than to wait for things to go wrong and steal a photo opportunity by potraying us, again as victims.

Yes. foreign education is desirable not unlike travel for relative reasons. I subscribe, though not totally to Abati's views on that. yet still we should empasize the point of telling our people the truth about getting things done right to get desirable results.

If I where to be in Mr Abati's shoes, with the clout and goodwill I asume he enjoys, and the reality of difficulties encountered by genuine Nigeria students wishing to study abroad, I will get the British High Commision to give more explicit VISA requirement information on their website www.ukinnigeria.com, as they do on their High Commision webpages in China, and India for instance.

[Abraxas]

Hi, folks!

It never ceases to both amaze and amuse me concurrently, that the very same people who brought Nigeria down to its present state of lamentable ruination and total systems collapse, over the past 40 years or so (i.e. Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, and Abdulsalami Abubakar), would actually have the nerve to still show their faces up to the Nigerian public, and demand political relevance. I just cannot believe it.

It does not require post-doctoral familiarity with the generalised theory of gravitation, or the principles of plasma hydrodynamics to eradicate the juvenile criminality that has ravaged and overwhelmed Nigerian universities, under the convenient euphemism of “campus cultism�, or to address any or all of the recurrent problems of overt sexual harassment of female students by male lecturers, inadequate and generally substandard student welfare and hostel facilities in particular, unmotivated, distracted, and sometimes demoralised lecturers, unpredictable school calendar, sporadic rioting on campus, etc.

The irony of the Nigerian condition is that, the very people who, because of their educationally sub-normal circumstances, could not make it to proper secondary schools in the 1950s and 1960s, when they were teenagers, got into power in Nigeria as soldiers in their 30s and 40s in the late 1970s and 1980s, then proceeded to ruin the country’s educational system completely, and now yearn ernestly to summarily bury the remains of Nigeria in their 60s and 70s in the early 21 century! (Anyway, sha, one day go be one day.)

Since, fly been done dey chop sore, and nobody talk, or make noise about am. The time wey the person wey get the sore go want kill the fly, make people no start to dey cry.

Dog say the reason why he dey follow man wey get big belly be say, the big-belly man go either shiiit or vomit

The breeze shall blow and the fowl’s nyash shall be fully exposed.

Man no fit tall pass the cap wey ‘im dey wear.

Tales of hunting expeditions would always glorify the hunter unless the animals produce their own historian.

Because say you cut your head com’o’t no mean say you don cure the headache wey dey worry you.

A goat that walks with dogs will surely eat shyt.

Weda wota pass garri, or na garri pass wota, na di same t’in ni-o-o-o-O!

Anyway, sha, please do not remember to forget that we have precisely 7 months, 27 days, 20 hours, 5 minutes, and 19 seconds more to go, before our Messiah, who art in Aso Rock Villa, Asokoro District, Abuja, Nigeria, makes his FINAL exit at 12:00 noon sharp, on Tuesday, 29 May 2007!

Hip! Hip!! Hip!!! Hurray!!!! Happy 46th anniversary, Nigeria!

Glory be to GOD Almighty Most High!


Muchas gracias.

Don Juan Carlos ABRAXAS (III)
(Director of Operations, Logistics, Tactics & Strategy, Special Task Force on the Effective Evacuation of OBJ from Aso Rock Villa to Owu)
(Director of Propaganda & Enlightenment, Global Alliance for the Impeachment of OBJ & ATK)
(Member, International Lobby for the Total De-militarization of Nigerian Politics, post-OBJ)

[Alata]

Omo ti ko ba keto nile, a ko lode: the child that refuses to learn its lessons at home, will be taught abroad.
For too long, the better-off in Nigeria/AFrica have sought mostly to be parasites on the efforts of other people. Self love + Self-help = Self-improvement. Until the various people of Africa learn to love themselves and seek to improve their competitiveness in the world, so long shall their lot be beneath the contempt of others.
Abati should inform his beggardly friend to invest his sweat, time and equity in a privately funded project. All over the world, the well-off invest in education, health, housing, and other social improvements. The state then tries to help the less well off. In Nigeria, the well off invest all energies in aiming to cream the state at home and abroad. Long may foreign countries refuse visas for spurious claims. At least it may prevent charlatan institutions (not the University of Edinburgh) from preying on impressionable foreigners!

Some things to concentrate the mind.
If a town/village knows that its indigene refused to invest wealth or effort in improving the village during his/her lifetime, the village should refuse the indigene's burial within village grounds. Likewise, government officials who die abroad on 'medical checkup' should be buried abroad.

[salstep]

My sis recently went through the same situation. But i don't blame the high commission. The problem as Adebimpe point out is people going ill prepared for visa interviews. What nigerians don't seem to factor in is that the british think differently.

If the embassy request particular documents, then produce them and back them up if u have to attend an interview.

Sadly, people take things for granted and go based on hearsay.

[cdimkpa]

The father of the Manchester-bound girl was being naive. He prepared poorly prior to the first interview at the embassy. I am almost certain that typical of Nigerians, he would have walked to the VISA officer majestically and cockily, hoping to be begged to 'come take the VISA'. It does not work that way, what with the bad 'ambassadors' that many Nigerian students out in Europe are to Nigeria.

And, once any doubt has been created, it becomes a problem to erase such doubts. Unlike yours sincerely (no immodesty intended), many Nigerians are studying in Europe on their own (OTO). By OTO I mean without scholarships, yet they were able to secure student VISAs from the embassies back home. There is indeed a difference between company funds and personal funds, even if the company belongs to the person in question. By no means should he expect the embassy to begin to attempt to confirm the ownership of the company from the CAC.

Before approaching the embassy, he could have done some of the followings:

1. Get in contact with those who passed through the process before him to seek their opinion.

2. Transfer reasonable funds from the company account to his personal accounts long time before approaching the embassy.

3. Make an arrangement with the foreign university by way of paying the fees and rentals for at least the first session and depositing some maintenance funds with the students affairs. The university will then provide him with documentations regarding this transaction, that will expedite the VISA process. This worked for a friend of mine and now he's concluded the program.

4. On the other hand, the man could get his company to offer a scholarship to the girl so that the company account can be then acceptable at the embassy.

Postscipt:

It beats me to imagine that Togo and all such countries have become a favorite destination for Nigerian students. If this be the case, the Nigeria's situation is pitiable.

[averynicedoctor]

I have always enjoyed Rueben Abati's write ups.But on this occassion he missed the point when he attacked the U.K High Commission for refusing his friend's daughter a visa despite all proof that he is a rich man who can take of his daughter anywhere in the World.

I am a Nigerian(an immigrant) working and living in London.I am widely travelled and I can categorically state that the British are the fairest of all countries in the West when it comes to issuing visas.

Whenever you are refused a Visa,the consular officer must state categorically why he is refusing you a visa and he also states if you have a right to appeal.Now the problem is,Nigerians think Britons are like them.We give every reason other than the simple reasons the consular officer has given as the cause for the refusal of the visa.Instead of trying to correct the situation and re-applying we brag and insult the consular officer.We are so eager to rush off to lawyers(some of whom have never been inside an embassy) to help file appeals.
An appeal panel will only adjudicate over the reason given by the consular officer,nothing else.So in appealing you must convince the appeal panel that the consular officer was wrong, by producing new evidence or evidence the consular officer either over looked or were not presented to him.
Instead of Abati's friend appealing all he needed to do was re-apply and write a humble letter stating that he owns the company and stating exactly how much he earns from the company(with proof) and how he intends to take care of his daughter.Simply because you own a multi million naira company does not mean you have the right to use the company's money.That is one mistake many Nigerians applying for Visas make.Never use a company's bank account when you do not have proof that you are entitled to the company's coffers even if the company is yours.The company might be held in trust by you for someone else for all we know.

I am not British,I am a Nigerian who has applied for almost all the types of U.K visas available to me and who has never been denied(I started with visit in transit,then visitors visa,then I went to study in London on a student's visa,then I got the Permit Free Training Visa,then I got a work permit and when that was expiring and I had no job to apply for a visa,I converted to become my wife's dependent and today I am on the HSMP).So I speak from experience.

British consular officers are like robots,once they tick all the boxes,then you get a visa.You just have to know the right things to produce and what you can't produce you are allowed to write a letter attaching to your form stating the reason why you could not produce a document.Never lie or produce fake documents.

It is not enough for Mr.Abati's friend to have blamed the High Commission for refusing to give his daughter a visa.Afterall it is their country and if we want to enjoy the good things they have we might as well fix ours.He should have done his home work well,instead of taking the system for granted simply because as a rich Nigerian ,he possibly thinks the world owes him everything!

Originally Posted by iyaalata

Omo ti ko ba keto nile, a ko lode: the child that refuses to learn its lessons at home, will be taught abroad.
For too long, the better-off in Nigeria/AFrica have sought mostly to be parasites on the efforts of other people. Self love + Self-help = Self-improvement. Until the various people of Africa learn to love themselves and seek to improve their competitiveness in the world, so long shall their lot be beneath the contempt of others.
Abati should inform his beggardly friend to invest his sweat, time and equity in a privately funded project. All over the world, the well-off invest in education, health, housing, and other social improvements.

Please speak it. The Nigerian elite for all their verbose pomposity cannot educate, provide medical treatment, or safe transport for their families. They still wonder why they are treated like bums by people who have shed sweat, tears, and blood to do so.

[emj]

The unfinished nature of our society, the collapse of public institutions, the crisis of confidence in the Nigerian system is most felt at the individual level and this story, which is archetypal of the experience of many parents and families, is proof of this. It is a comment on the measure of public confidence in Nigeria's education system. Twenty-five years ago, our compatriot would not have needed to send his child to a special school because the Nigerian school system was very strong, the teachers were dedicated, the quality of instruction was excellent; he would not have been under pressure to send her to Europe because Nigerian universities were ranked among the best in the world. But with the collapse of everything around us, the education sector has been worst hit. To give your child good education, you have to send her to a private school, and these private schools are not cheap at all.

Reuben-----------i emphatise with the father of the brilliant lady, but like someone said, we take things for granted when it comes to filling and submitting Visa Forms. Whatever you put in your application has to be consistent with what is reqd. There is a difference between Personal Account details and Company account details, most of the times, and at most of the Embassies they follow what their Manuals says.....they always work within the BOX. Your friend can still get his daughter into a university early next year. She can apply to the university in South africa or Canada now and resume in January(the Winter session )



It is quite unfortunate that our educational system is decayed and parents have to struggle to get their children the best they can outside the nation. Other countries are reaping from our own carelessness and lackadistical posture. We don't have a govt that is sensitive to the plight of the people. What we have are pack of illiterate literate Ministers and govt officials..........all karikachops

[lionking]

the saddest aspect of this whole saga is right here on this thread. the adebimpes, the nicedoctors, dimkpas etc etc are so eager to exhibit their knowledge of the intricacies of uk immigration law that they miss the key point entirely which our good old abraxas unfailingly zeroes in on viz -

"The irony of the Nigerian condition is that, the very people who, because of their educationally sub-normal circumstances, could not make it to proper secondary schools in the 1950s and 1960s, when they were teenagers, got into power in Nigeria as soldiers in their 30s and 40s in the late 1970s and 1980s, then proceeded to ruin the country’s educational system completely, and now yearn ernestly to summarily bury the remains of Nigeria in their 60s and 70s in the early 21 century! "

Add to this the escapist mentality of our people -

no light = buy generator

no water = sink your borehole

no roads = buy SUV

no decent public schools = headlong flight to private schools often of dubious quality

no world-class universities = mass migration to foreign universities

i sincerely wish there was a way the uk high commission could detect the children of our ruling elite and deny them student visas in perpetuity. that would make the parents sit up

[AFUAA]

It is Ironic Dr Abati is complaining about the decadence in the Nigerian Educational institution as this brilliant Doctor of words was part and parcel of the disgraced system.
But I am sure if Dr Abati were to take his mind back he would surely remember this song:

Doctor O, aa o yo e o
Doctor O, aa o yo e o
Afomotie o,n basun
Afomotie o,n basun
Doctor O, aa o yo e o

For the non Yoruba in the village, the song simply translates as follows:

Doctor we will remove you from your post
Doctor we will remove you from your post
We left our daughters in your care and you choose to sleep with them
We left our daughters in your care and you choose to sleep with them
Doctor we will remove you from your post

Well since the father of this poor girl is a friend of Dr Abati he might have joined his bosom friend in the sharing spoils of war (innocent girls from decent homes) during his lecturing days.
As you can see what goes around comes around, Mr. Abati writes about decadence but he also farmed his portion in the cultivation of this negative culture and now his friends do not want their innocent daughters to end up in the grasp of the modern day Abatis.
So Doctor please choose your topics carefully as there is the tendency they could come back to haunt you.
You were part and parcel of the system so please tell the village what efforts you made while you were a lecturer to change it for the better or shut up and hold your peace for ever.

It is sad that great universities like Ibadan, Ife, Nsuka, Benin and Lagos have been turned into breeding grounds for hoodlums, prostitutes and vagabonds, but one thing we should never deny is the fact that a good number of these so called half baked graduates have come to realize their inadequacies in life and are struggling hard to improve them.
There are hundreds of such graduates in the UK and USA who have gone on to achieve great feats in the various PG schools around the world and they are also proving their mettle in industry.

We can not deny the fact that some left the university system as Agberos, but a good number still benefited from their stay in the Ivory towers. Yes things are bad but for some of us who do not have a choice we were able to turn around a desperate and hopeless situation into one of hope and achievements.
We lived by the jungle rules as implied by our lecturers
We never associated with the good looking girls in public
We knew how to dress in order not to intimidate a bush lecturer with a complex
We avoided the regular student hangouts for fear of being seen by the hungry lecturers
We knew the cult members and avoided pressure from them by joining the various campuses Christian and Islamic groups.
And most of all we prayed never to come across lecturers who know from day one the students that will fail certain subjects no matter what they put down in their answer scripts.
They tried hard to make us miserable but they never succeeded in killing our minds and drive.

[Exxcuzme]

Adebimpe wrote:
__________________________________________________ ____________________
Abati could have done better by asking a simple question. who did you say will be responsible for your expenses, your Parents or a supposedly Limited liabilty company owned by your parents

On the VAF and supplementary student questionaire forms, Nigerians submit strong visa applications listing Parents and immediate relatives as sponsors and then go ahead to contradict by providing financial statements of other business entities.

This simple analogy may explain my position, General Obasanjo owns Obasanjo holdings. The British High commision needs to see Olusegun Obasanjo's financial records i.e though not limited to verifiable bank statements, stock/share ownerships certificates etc to be conivinced Seun,will have enough funds to complete his studies without recourse to public funds at cambridge not Obasanjo Holdings account statements.

Mr Abati may have done better by seeking information and then enligthen the Parents,if his interest was more than trivial or just to make discourse of their plight, than to wait for things to go wrong and steal a photo opportunity by potraying us, again as victims.
__________________________________________________ ______________________

Thank u O jare, when someone wrote about Abati being a lazy journalist in one of his write up on the citizenship issue with wife of late Solarin, his cousin, Auspicious, would start attacking to defend Abati.

If u r in a position to make a change and educate people, please use your clout and priviledge to redress things. Abati assumed without facts, that the student was denied unjustifiably but he could have inquire from the embassy or come to NVS for ideas on this type of issue.

[Auspicious]

Reuben Abati, in my opinion, is right to focus on "us" than on the British High Commission and its visa application procedures and policies. I think the issue here simply about us as a people. It is about our "me mentalitity". My child, my company, my work, my life etc.

When the Oyibo man stumbles over something good, he tries work on making that good thing he discovered available to all his people: boat>ship>automobile>train>airplanes. When the black man finds something good, a-ha, it is time to help my child, my mummy, my daddy and my friends.

It is no wonder then, that since the 60's when the Obasanjo's, the Danjumas, the Babangidas the Ojukwus - all of them - have been travelling to places like London, Washington, Paris etc, it never occurred to them to bring the many good things they "discovered" in those places back home - things like underground mass transit systems, superb road network/interstate systems, state-of-the-art health infrastructure, reputable educational institutions etc.

Rather, they find these things and keep it to themselves and their families and friends; away from the rest of their fellow blackmen who don't have the means to get them. They are the tortise who finds a treasure throve where he goes to feast every so often, while the village population gets decimated by the starvation and hunger of a bad famine. Like that tortoise, these people send their kids abroad for the best education, send their wives and children to medical check-ups and run abroad at the slightest unrest in the land..while the rest of their people are left to 'manage' at home.

We deserve all that we currently endure in Nigeria..we deserve the kind of leaders we have, we deserve those useless hospitals and quack doctors..we deserve guys like Fayose, Atiku, Obasanjo, IBB as present or past leaders. And we would continue to deserve our general backward lot until such a time comes when we summon the courage to adopt a selfless approach to better ourselves as a people and a society.

The only reason why the black man is where he is, is because he is a selfish being. I wonder if the selfishness is as a result of the insecurity that slavery engendered in our collective psyche.

Auspicious.

[NaijaPRO]

As an adjudicator myself (not for the State Dept oh), I agree! We think strictly within the box. Our govt policies and procedures are set in place and that is what we go by to make our decisions. Anything that is out of norm may require some kind of discretion, but even the discretion sef get guidelines that you need to follow. So most times, you are working strictly from a set of rules. Once the evidence before you deviates from the rules that you have to follow, shikena, o kpari. The next step is to send denial notice.

[Oluvision]

That man is a citizen of Nigeria, he carries the passport. Every other country reserves the right to deny you entrance into their own country. Good grades or no good grades.
When elite spoil the systems, they will then want to send kids abroad. Why not work with systems you are in. This guy needs to talk to Obugi to give him some sense.

Oluvision

[BABAKE!]

I totally agree with Adebimpe. The typical Nigerian attitude usually tries to introduce unecessary complications into an otherwise straight forward process. The fact is that these people have a standardized format to assess an applicant which is usually supported by clearly stated requirements. Now, my people will see these requirements and still resort to mago mago and stories. Like somebody mentioned "these guys work like computers" and I am a living witness to this. With sympathies for your daughter's plight, my advise to Mr Abati's "friend" would be: If they ask you for 1, 2, 3, plesae give them exactly 1, 2, 3 in that order without jara or stories. It may be frustrating especially in a country where record keeping is not considered important.
Many Nigerians who are living in developed countries are also still guilty of refusing to shed some of our negative attitudes e.g filling forms inaccurately and hoping to explain your way out with some grandstanding story.....emm excuse sir.... I, I thought..... Nobody will put themselves at risk for the sake of stories. Needles to say, people like this are always frustrated.

The major issue here however still comes down to our Education. Frankly speaking, investment in education is the big key. The Nigerian Government (state & federal) with our current population cannot carry the burden alone. It can at best play the role of facilitator. From pre school to secondary will require heavy government investment to provide a solid foundation. Teachers and Infrastructure are critical here. Post Secondary is where the universities and colleges need to also get more resourceful. There is a lot of partnerships that need to be created with the private sector. That apart, from what I see in North America here, post secondary education is not cheap even for citizens that is why there are student loans, so you can see your education as an investment. Tell me if you will be ready to waste your time on distractions like cults when there is a heavy debt waIting for you at the end of your programme. For students (citizens & permanent residents) who finish university without scholarships, debts on graduation could range from $20,000 to $100,000 (canadian dollars) or more depending on the type of degree(Diploma - Professional Degree). Convert and see. There is a price to pay my people. Now, for all those who are coming as foreign students they must be ready to spend almost twice as much as citizens and residents and the add cost of boarding. The universities here just love foreign students because they pay much more. So, for all my people who are thinking education in Nigeria can go back to the the way it used to be, yes it is possible but are we ready to pay the price??

Next year is election year. Nigerians should demand to know right now from Pat Utomi, Donald Duke and Co. running for presidency. What are your plans for Nigerian Education. Tell us now because we dont want you to get there finish and in typical Nigerian fashion start to scratch head and emm.. emm, I thought.....em. Let them tell us Now!!

[Abamieda Wanderer]

Dear Mr. Abati,

Would it be wrong if I say it serves your friend right? I may be the only dissenting opinion on this and I really I don’t care what you or people like you say about me. It serves them right. Mr. Abati, I guess you are pissed about this because someday you will want to send your daughter or son too.

This is wake up call for all you; I am very rich Nigerians. The problem is, in our Nigerian society the rich man is expected to get anything he wants just by snapping his fingers because that is the way the society is structured and the poor or the middle class can just crawl up into hole and die.

I like it when situations like this happens and the Oyinbo people bring you rich Nigerians down a peg or two, then you will know that charity begins at home.

What happens to those 100’s and thousands of students who are far brighter than your friend’s daughter but can’t even get money to finish their exams because his/her father is owed 6 months salary in arrears? Or people with many stories that will break your heart.

So your friend can’t get British Visa for his daughter to go to school abroad Boo huu; cry me a river pal.

Selfishness and inferiority complex abounds amongst us; You and your friends should look in the mirror.

Shikena,
Abamieda

[Nkire]

Dear Mr. Abati,

Would it be wrong if I say it serves your friend right? I may be the only dissenting opinion on this and I really I don’t care what you or people like you say about me. It serves them right. Mr. Abati, I guess you are pissed about this because someday you will want to send your daughter or son too.

This is wake up call for all you; I am very rich Nigerians. The problem is, in our Nigerian society the rich man is expected to get anything he wants just by snapping his fingers because that is the way the society is structured and the poor or the middle class can just crawl up into hole and die.

I like it when situations like this happens and the Oyinbo people bring you rich Nigerians down a peg or two, then you will know that charity begins at home.

What happens to those 100’s and thousands of students who are far brighter than your friend’s daughter but can’t even get money to finish their exams because his/her father is owed 6 months salary in arrears? Or people with many stories that will break your heart.

So your friend can’t get British Visa for his daughter to go to school abroad Boo huu; cry me a river pal.

Selfishness and inferiority complex abounds amongst us; You and your friends should look in the mirror.

Shikena,
Abamieda
__________________________________________________ ________________________

Amen, Brother (or is it Sister).
The Black man does not understand the value of freedom. More in-your-face negative teatment is very much in the offing, as the black man continues to fumble, stumble and grovle, on his knees cap on hand beging. Remember, they want "Africa w/o the Africans". We are making it waaaay too easy by our actions of yesterday, today and unfortunately, tomorrow.