BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON 2023, Nigeria’s year of ghen-ghen

In this New Year, we have to move towards a Nigeria, with Nigerians, we either continue the self deceit and watch the nation crumble like cookies. As I welcome us into this new year let me say that this is our nation, we are the only ones that can stop the drift, people that claim to love us are few, many nations are watching and waiting. Let us remember that we cannot continue to massage the ringworm and leave the sore. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria without teachers...

I weep for this nation because we cannot have a nation with a generation of young persons who lack qualitative education baptized in the waters of the 4E’s Enlightenment, Exposure, Experience and Emotional Intelligence. Beyond those well-prepared speeches at convocation grounds and occasions, the Nigerian School system is dead and most of us cannot see any reason this should be the portion of a nation that has and continues to produce a lot of first-class brains nationally and internationally. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria, what is the way forward?

What are our core shared value, what binds us, how are unified, what we have is a state held together at gunpoint, the reason we have all the agitations, the state is stronger than the citizens, we are moving in the wrong direction, so how can we move. We have no shared core value, Infact there are no values, except we talk about football whose ‘god’ presides over many of the affairs of Nigerians.

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BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Tom and Jerry and Nigeria

There is an ideology of hatred, one that props up again and again, Lagos in West, Anambra in the East, North vs South, Muslims vs Christians. This is a factor that reactionary elements within the system use in battling the progressives. Like the first coup, or the IPOB saga, the problem still persists, our problems borrows a lot from bourgeois theories, which essentially is directed at confusing our intellect, like we try to argue within the parameters of “anti-class theory”, “theory of undevelopement”, “take off theory”, “theory of cooperation”, “theory of external push”, “end of ideology theory”, “convergence theory”, “the theory of the periphery in the periphery”. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON "Abracadabra” Nigeria 2023 - Quintus Serenus Sammonicus

Abracadabra Nigeria would not break; Nigeria will not fail or fall, because it already has. Nigeria will not break, and we will not restructure, should we continue like this either. Allah forbid! We are not united, but we are one in corruption, one in greed, one in maladministration and poor governance, we are united in the blame game and none of the men on parade comes with answers, they only raise more questions! Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigerians are multidimensionally happy...

'Multidimensional my foot, tell that to the birds--we bribe the police and accuse them of taking bribes. We don't really pay electricity tariffs yet we say 'there's no light', when actually it’s a case of Aso Rock owes PHCN, PHCN owes gas company, that one owes staff, the staff is in debt of school fees, rent and utility. We are happy people! Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Does Nigeria have a problem or a situation?

Welcome to Nigeria, in Nigeria we don’t have problems, because we are the problems, no. We don’t have problems, we have situations. If your wife catches you with a neighbour’s wife you don’t have a problem, you have a situation. Problems are had to solve; situations can be solved. If your girlfriend is spending more time with another guy, if you don’t have money, all these are situations. Change your girlfriend or change your mindset, your work or something. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Buhari, bushmeat and bush fish

Nigeria, we tell all kinds of tales by moonlight, you hear all the kinds of stories. Like the snake and altitudes. Like Mr. Babangida that stole Mariam from Bongos that made him sing searching for true love. Do you remember that late Dora was cooking for Mrs. Turai, or that Mr. Obasanjo and Mrs. Iweala were very good friends. That one former vice president was not straight, even the media is not left out in our bush fish, have they told you that everyone that Mr. Buhari shakes or meets is trailed with bad luck, (sic) go and verify from Anthony Joshua. Super cops become super culprits, monies are found lying on the fall of the national assembly, when they are not found on the Kaduna Airport fall, or in some highbrow apartments, and have no owner. Let me not bring into this conversation the animals that are either eating, or absconding with public funds. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria 2023, I dey Chemnitz finding Chemist

The country Nigeria will continue to be plagued by local chemists with fake, expired drugs and many losing their lives not directly as a result of their ineptitude but because our hospitals are not working, and in seven years the last man standing could not get the clinic in the villa working. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON He is Indian not Nigerian

So, let me end this take, for my beloved Nigeria it is scary that ancient Nigeria now looks so much greater than the future Nigeria. We are not Nigerians because we are born in Nigeria, we are Nigerians because we manage to win soccer games, we are Nigerians because we all want a VISA to migrate anywhere and everywhere. We are Nigerians because we beg everyone to come solve our problems but ourselves. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria, the floods and the ‘we never ready culture’

Generally speaking we have no national frameworks, policies, plans, guidelines, and risk assessments, as well as well-stocked warehouses for emergencies and revised building codes specially formulated for disaster preparedness and resilience. When we find one, they are merely limited to paper. In a practical sense, the country has never taken disaster management as a serious matter. There is hardly any work done on improving the institutions that work on disaster management. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria, exits, hopes, and ‘mobments'

They know how docile we are, and how we cherish the little luxuries of life pinched to us rather than taking our right in whole. They know that our so-called activists will betray us. They simply know way too much, so they manipulate us, make us worship them and make us glorify their stupidity. The Nigerian is peaceful, hospitable and friendly, not easily provoked, infact never provoked except when he is what I call 'politicoreligionized'. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria 2023 and the chicken

The Nigerian state is porous, it is open, it is not about religious affiliations, it is not about ethnic combo, and all the emotional hullabaloos of the same faith ticket. A Muslim-Christian, General-Professor/Pastor presidency has not manifested in many fields and poor showing in very visible areas has dwarfed loads of what ordinarily should have been giant strides. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Hypocritical Nigeria and Mahdi Shehu

For the better part of last week, a certain Mahdi Shehu was in the news, for all the wrong reasons. And apart from what we know about him in public space, I humbly reproduce Mahmud Jega’s description in his article Mahdi's Story Get As E Be copiously below.  Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria’s nonstop high margin for error

Do we know that our very survival depends on us having the right leaders. Leaders with integrity, dedication, and competence. Leaders with the conviction to make the tough calls and do the right thing, do we know, will we act—Only time will tell. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Naijanarratives, village people hand and zazu

In this essay I ask to be permitted to share the story of a group called the Naijanaratives, a group supervised by the gods and ancestors, they define the true Nigerian spirit. All may not be well with our motherland, but all is not extremely bad. This piece is one of hope...albeit cautious hope, it remains that of hope. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria 2023–emilikan, abi akoko wa ni

I wonder who really had the turn, when a national carrier without any planes, no roadmap, was busy spending millions designing a logo and with seven years, five failed take offs, some N14.6b in four years, under 5% govt’s equity, the only Nigeria Air flying are our numerous problems as we head towards the 2023 taking on us like local witches. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON The Nigerian rumour omelette

A nation that is scared of her own history, one full of all sorts of conspiracies, stories that are mostly tales by moonlight. Rumour omelette of all sorts, interestingly is how these tales have defined who we are, such that we have not corrected them, we have not addressed them either, we continue to live them, and it is even more disheartening the calibre of persons that believe them. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON For Nigeria, it is bleak but...

The Nigerian academics' strike is breaking all kinds of records, in some schools they are three sessions behind. While this is ongoing, those who should know better, and act better display in public spaces the graduation pictures of their wards in public spaces. (For me personally it is their right) but at the expense of who? Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Ladi Madaki, A dirge to beloved Nigeria

We are weak with thoughts that seem not to birth any positive outcome but we are comforted that the giver of life has taken home that which belongs to Him. Same way we believe that in the affairs of men, in the affairs of Nigeria and her leadership there is an unseen hand that will perfect that which concerns Nigeria but we need to do our part. Like Ladi did her part, we all must do our part knowing that Nigeria is a stage, and our performances will count from ward level to the national level. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria 2023: Las las everybody go eat breakfast

Nigeria is not hell, but she is not far from hell, but in context Rwanda is not heaven either. Let me put it in this manner, as far as the economic and social realities of its people are concerned, Rwanda has changed significantly over the past 20 years. Yet the country continues to be challenged by poverty, health, and environmental issues. In 2017, the Human Development Index ranked Rwanda 159th out of 188 countries, with an average life expectancy at birth of 64.7 years. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Nigeria’s complicit, complaisant, and complacent government

We pretend like it was not a while ago that the Nigerian Defence Academy was attacked or that there was an attempted robbery at the villa, did we suddenly forget all that drama of the vegetation is not similar to the vegetation in the North East when they (boko haram) shot down a fighter jet, and till date the bodies of the fighter pilots not yet found. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Poor Nigerians and the Duchess Treatment

We are almost certainly either a sick nation or a sick people, maybe a sick people inhabiting an equally sick nation. Our leaders continue to lie to us. The vice president’s handlers or that of the hospital cannot explain why the president who has in the last seven years embarked on more than a handful medical tourism cannot visit them, and subject himself to their care, beyond that flimsy excuse of his doctors are in the UK and they know his body balderdash. Details

BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON Soyinka @88 Will Our Children Be Literate?

We are a nation of largely intelligent illiterates so we do not bother about statistics, we have scholars who have built reputation for 'xeroxing' texts of others word for word as handout on a ‘buy and pass basis’, that is when the teacher is not a Mr. Lecturer insisting that Bimbo must go the whole length of her skirt to pass  Details