“Please do not compare your country with Malaysia. Every place is unique.”
UPM information booklet.
Haba! Wouldn’t it be a crime not to compare Nigeria with Malaysia? Actually, all the human does is comparison. Am I as intelligent as my colleagues? What does she think of me in relation to others? How do I compare with others on this test? How crazy does my idea sound to others? Etc.
Even if I wasn’t willing to compare the two countries, my mind will do it anyway. Sorry, UPM, I’ve no control over this task. So below is the little comparison my mind has made between Nigeria and Malaysia. I’ll tell you more as they form.
Grassroots
Local government officials here are appointed not elected. It has not always been so, though. Prior to 1964, there were proper local government elections. In the face of a confrontation with Indonesia in 1964, local government elections were suspended. Five year later, they were abolished altogether after the racial riots of May 1969. Some say the racial riots were engineered by the British through discriminations between bumaputra (natives) and the Chinese. They favored the Chinese over the natives. We’ll more on this, another day.
Because local gov’t officials are appointed, some people argue that they are not accountable to the people. Cheryll Dorall echoed this sentiment when writing in the Malay Mail of June 20, 2008, “Malaysia’s communities cannot send anyone packing because local government is not elected, it’s basically thrust on them.”
But when yu compare the local gov’t administarton in Malaysia with what we have in Nigerai, the selected officials in Malaysia are more accountable to the people than our elected officials.
Here’s an example. Two weeks ago, a certain community woke up to the sight of a billboard. The board had the picture of a local official and a slogan reiterating his commitemnet to serve the people.
Immidiately people expressed their displeasure. They said it was a waste of public funds. Even newspapers found it newsworthy and reported it as a headline. The government officials absolved themselves of any wrong doing and claimed that the billboard was put up by a private organization without the government’s consent. But they promised to talk to the organization to remove it immediately.
Now compare that with the situation in Nigeria where erecting billboards by elected officials is the norm. In some local government areas that’s all dividend of democracy they get. The governor will erect his own. Party will erect its own. The chairman will erect his own and the councilor not to be out done erects his own. So you’ve the boards everywhere.
And their pictures on the bill boards are cast in giant sizes directly proportional to their egos. Ask them to remove even one of the billboards and they will brand you as an enemy and treat you as one.
Some of the billboards don’t even have messages at all. Sometimes all you see is the governor waving his hand. Some that do have messages are too muddled up for yo to decipher. But one wouldn’t expect any better from the brains that are too confused from thievery and fingers much gnarled from pilfering.
I saw a billboard recently in my state – Niger State - that purported to call tourists to the state. But all I saw in the foreground is the governor’s head as if his face were a tourist centre.
Let go closer home and give another example from my local government. Bida local government has just elected a brilliant engineer as their chairman. But just before I left Nigeria, he’d started showing signs of being caught up in what psychologists call the herd effect.
In the face of biting hunger amongst his people, he put in an advert of about N300,000 in a newspaper celebrating his governor. I’m not saying the governor didn’t deserve to congratulated for his modest achievements. After all, he successfully murdered the trees (oxygen factories) lining the streets along old air port road in the name of expanding the road, jumped on top of Zuma Rock and imported elephants to celebrate sallah. So the governor deserved to be congratulated. But an inexpensive card can do that. The most you spend on those cards is N3,000. And the remaining N297,000 can be used to put a child through school. And Mr Chairman needn’t search far to get such a child. There are some children in his own family house that are inordinately intelligent but have no one to pay their school fees. I know all these because my family house is a stone throw away from his and my father is the imam of the community mosque there.
Friday, 27 June 2008
Four-one-nine 101
"Is there a school called the Goon University in Nigeria?" Bashir, the Indian driver asked me as he drove us away from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. I was still smarting from the fact that I knew I was overcharged (RM180, $59, N6, 660) for the ride.
So I wasn't enthusiastic about any conversation. But I knew where the question was leading. And it was a chance for me to start information gathering."No. There's no university with such a name in Nigeria" I answered."Are you sure?""Of course I'm sure. In my country I write in the newspaper, and education is the subject of my column. So I would know if there was such a university."
"Last week, I took a Nigerian guy from the airport and he told me he finished from Goon University in Nigeria and wanted to continue his studies in KL campus of the Goon University.""So where did you take him? Did you take him to the Goon University?"
"No. He said he had to see his brother before going to the university. So I'd to drop him somewhere in the city."
"Obviously he's not in Malaysia for studies."
"I knew that."
"Did you? How did you know?"
"He left all his papers in my car! Here, take a look."
Bashir gave me an admission letter addressed to one Okechukwu of the Goon University of Nigeria. Attached to that was a yellow card. But Okechukwu conveniently forgot to leave his passport in the car."Did you attempt to take his papers back to him?"
"Yes. I drove to where I took him earlier but he wasn't there." Bashir answered."Last week there were fights here." Anwar, Bashir's collaborator in the taxi driving business who was sitting in the front passenger seat spoke for the first time.
"The fights were serious and they resulted in several injuries and dead bodies. We're told that the fights were over a girl.""Were the Nigerians fighting other nationals or they were fighting themselves?" I asked."I'm not sure." Anwar who's Malay and seemed to be better educated than Bashir answered.
"But Nigerians featured prominently in the fights. Today when you open a newspaper there's one crime or the other reported. Ten years ago, it wasn't like this. But now that we've open our doors to the foreigners, they're wreaking havoc in our society.
"What Anwar said about Nigerians fighting others and even killing people in the process was later confirmed by some Nigerians. But when I asked Dr. Ibrahim Anka, he said he'd not heard about Nigerians killing anyone. But, "I know that there's prostitution in the Nigerian community especially among the Ibos. Both men and women dress up at night to be picked up for a night's ride."Northerners here do not want to be identified with the southerners.
"When I go into KL, I try to avoid them as much as I could because, if you associate with them, you're likely to end up in a police net together with them." Sule Mundi from Niger State told me.To another northerner, "Nigeria shouldn't be one country. For God's sake we've nothing in common with these people and they're the ones doing the image branding for other Nigerians because they travel more. But fortunately for us, even the Malaysians are beginning to differentiate between us and them."
Another Taxi driver Muhammad Habib, told me about his own experience with Nigerians."You're Nigerian?" He asked me immediately I settled in the seat and closed the door of his cab. " I know some drivers will not stop for you because you're a Nigerian.""So why did you stop?" I asked. "I stopped because, although I knew you were a Nigerian, when I looked at your face, you didn't look like a bad person. I knew you're a Muslim and Muslims have faith and this faith is our conscience. But some Nigerians are very very bad. Some will enter my car and threaten to report me to the police. I'll tell them, 'I should report you to the police; I'm a citizen and you're not'."
Some Nigerians assume what obtains in the West where many taxi drivers are aliens is also true of Malaysia. But the practice in Nigeria where you've all taxis driven by Nigerian citizens is also true here. Even Indians and Chinese who drive taxis are Malaysian citizens.Muhammad Habid continued, "A Nigerian lady once entered my cab and asked me to follow her to her house, that I only need to pay RM100 (N3, 700). I told her I wasn't interested.
She pointed out that every man had needs for a woman. When I told her I had a wife she said she had a better body. I told her I wasn't interested in her body and demanded for my money. She asked me if she didn't pay, what I would have done. I told her, I would've called other taxi drivers and they would force her to pay. She paid me and left."
Malaysia beckons!
Malaysiabeckons! For the next few months, I'll be writing this column from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), where I'm doing research in psychology. In the coming weeks, I'll share with you my experiences and impressions of the Malay society, its people and its guests. This I hope will encourage more Nigerians (especially graduate students) to come here.
The first impression you get of Malaysia is that of a place where everything works. Telecommunication is excellent, water flows from taps, and you hardly have down time in their internet connection and no power outages.
You'll see the order and beauty of Malaysia even before your plane touched down in the lovely palm plantations, well lined houses and the almost unnatural cleanliness of the place. I'm not exaggerating here. You can travel for miles and miles without seeing a piece of paper on the road. I've seriously looked and seriously searched for a piece of trash on the road but I didn't find any until this morning when I was taking my morning walk. I reasoned that it may be possible for a place to be this clean but certainly not probable.
Thus, I beamed my searchlight again. This time I went behind the trees and under the flower beds. And behold! I found it! I found dirt in the streets of Malaysia! If you think I engage in this frivolous activity because I don't have much to do, you're right. The school has not resumed. My work will commence on the 7th of July. So I've a month to move around, read newspapers, visit shopping malls and even search for dirt in the streets. I also have time to look for other Nigerians. I'm not the only Nigerian in this school. I was pleasantly surprised when so many Nigerians were introduced me at the Juma'a mosque.
We've very interesting and brilliant folks doing important research here. I've met AbdulAziz Ibrahim, a jolly good fellow from Kano state who is doing PhD in community development. I share the same hostel with an ingenious scientist from Niger state called Sule Mundi. Sulaiman is a fellow of IDB and is doing a PhD in food technology.
There's also Alhassan who's doing a master degree in Chemistry although his Bachelor was in pharmacy. Alhassan seems to be impressed with the tools and equipment at his disposal so far. And he pays any amount of money to attend workshops and seminars. He told a story of how he struggled to understand a concept in his undergraduate years and how when he came here, all the pieces of the puzzle came together after he attended a day's workshop. I've not conducted the census of Nigerians here but we've up to ten doing PhD and several others doing master's degree. At least that was what Alhaji Muhammad Ajiya – another graduate student from Kano - told me. He said there're more than five PhD students from BUK alone. Muhammad Ajiya is doing a PhD in communication.
To him Malaysia has become a home. He drives his own car and is here with his entire family. I saw his children playing at the mosque on Friday. Dr. Ibrahim Abdul Aziz from Maiduguri also has his family here. He warned me that Malaysians think Nigerians are wealthy so they charge us more. He said I should always haggle down the price even if it's written on the product. Mal Ibrahim Abubakar Anka from Usman Dan Fodio University is also planning to bring his wife. Mal. Anka is doing a PhD in veterinary medicine.
I think it's a good thing that we've so many northerners going for PhD. The future of our education is in the hands of these young people. Almost all of them dislike what's happening in the education system back home and are eager for a change. Maybe these are the people that will change our education institutions for the better. Unfortunately, they're already been whizzed away by other countries who value merit and research. An example is the case of Sule Mundi I mentioned earlier. A university in Canada begged him on bended knees to come and teach and to continue with his research in Canada.
Language
(Almost) every educated Malaysian understands passable English. But the official language is Malay. The language of instruction in schools is also Malay. But about five years ago Dr M. (as the newspapers like to call Mahathir Muhammad, the former Prime Minister) introduced English as the language of instruction in teaching English, Mathematics and Science. But communication is still difficult because in the eyes of the Malaysian, Nigerians speak too quickly. Morgan my taxi driver friend said Nigerians speak 'hard' English. You may see a person in a big office – in size and function – whose English is almost zilch. Sometimes you may find it insulting when your greeting is not returned or even acknowledged. But the ones that avoid talking to you are those that do not understand English at all. Some Malaysians who can speak Arabic assume that you're from Arabic speaking country when they see you dressed in African attire. (I've not changed my mode of dressing and don't plan to). I lost my appetite at a restaurant recently and instead of leaving the food behind, I asked the lady that served me to pack it for me so that I could take it away.
The woman didn't understand me. A gentleman came and bailed me out. Then he started speaking Arabic to me. I told him in a smattering Arabic that 'look, we can continue this conversation in Arabic but you'll understand me much better if we spoke English.' He was surprised to learn that the official language in Nigeria was not Arabic. Morality Unlike the flesh show you see western countries, Malaysians are well dressed. Children are well behaved and no promiscuity – at least it's not apparent. But foreigners are changing the relative peace and security in Malaysia for the worse.
Those in the forefront of this transformation are Indonesians and – your guess was right – Nigerians! Sometimes you wonder if Nigeria is curse to other inhabitants on this planet. My advisor here told me that she's afraid of taking her children to the famous towers because that's where the foreigners congregate. She reasoned that if she was in Nigeria, it's okay for her to be afraid but it's not acceptable that she should be afraid of taking her family to relaxation areas in her own country. This is why some people are calling for tighter immigration laws in Malaysia.In this country, it's difficult to get a taxi if you look like a Nigerian. And each that eventually stops has a sad tale to tell about Nigerians. Because taxi drivers are the first Malaysians Nigerians come in contact with in Malaysia and they're the ones that drive them around the cities, the taxi drivers know Nigerians better than others.
I'll tell you more about the destructive activities of Nigerians another day. I'll also tell you about the food in Malaysia, health care, government, the recent change in fuel prices and why I feel more Nigerians (especially those who already have their first degrees) should come and study here. It's more affordable than you think.
The first impression you get of Malaysia is that of a place where everything works. Telecommunication is excellent, water flows from taps, and you hardly have down time in their internet connection and no power outages.
You'll see the order and beauty of Malaysia even before your plane touched down in the lovely palm plantations, well lined houses and the almost unnatural cleanliness of the place. I'm not exaggerating here. You can travel for miles and miles without seeing a piece of paper on the road. I've seriously looked and seriously searched for a piece of trash on the road but I didn't find any until this morning when I was taking my morning walk. I reasoned that it may be possible for a place to be this clean but certainly not probable.
Thus, I beamed my searchlight again. This time I went behind the trees and under the flower beds. And behold! I found it! I found dirt in the streets of Malaysia! If you think I engage in this frivolous activity because I don't have much to do, you're right. The school has not resumed. My work will commence on the 7th of July. So I've a month to move around, read newspapers, visit shopping malls and even search for dirt in the streets. I also have time to look for other Nigerians. I'm not the only Nigerian in this school. I was pleasantly surprised when so many Nigerians were introduced me at the Juma'a mosque.
We've very interesting and brilliant folks doing important research here. I've met AbdulAziz Ibrahim, a jolly good fellow from Kano state who is doing PhD in community development. I share the same hostel with an ingenious scientist from Niger state called Sule Mundi. Sulaiman is a fellow of IDB and is doing a PhD in food technology.
There's also Alhassan who's doing a master degree in Chemistry although his Bachelor was in pharmacy. Alhassan seems to be impressed with the tools and equipment at his disposal so far. And he pays any amount of money to attend workshops and seminars. He told a story of how he struggled to understand a concept in his undergraduate years and how when he came here, all the pieces of the puzzle came together after he attended a day's workshop. I've not conducted the census of Nigerians here but we've up to ten doing PhD and several others doing master's degree. At least that was what Alhaji Muhammad Ajiya – another graduate student from Kano - told me. He said there're more than five PhD students from BUK alone. Muhammad Ajiya is doing a PhD in communication.
To him Malaysia has become a home. He drives his own car and is here with his entire family. I saw his children playing at the mosque on Friday. Dr. Ibrahim Abdul Aziz from Maiduguri also has his family here. He warned me that Malaysians think Nigerians are wealthy so they charge us more. He said I should always haggle down the price even if it's written on the product. Mal Ibrahim Abubakar Anka from Usman Dan Fodio University is also planning to bring his wife. Mal. Anka is doing a PhD in veterinary medicine.
I think it's a good thing that we've so many northerners going for PhD. The future of our education is in the hands of these young people. Almost all of them dislike what's happening in the education system back home and are eager for a change. Maybe these are the people that will change our education institutions for the better. Unfortunately, they're already been whizzed away by other countries who value merit and research. An example is the case of Sule Mundi I mentioned earlier. A university in Canada begged him on bended knees to come and teach and to continue with his research in Canada.
Language
(Almost) every educated Malaysian understands passable English. But the official language is Malay. The language of instruction in schools is also Malay. But about five years ago Dr M. (as the newspapers like to call Mahathir Muhammad, the former Prime Minister) introduced English as the language of instruction in teaching English, Mathematics and Science. But communication is still difficult because in the eyes of the Malaysian, Nigerians speak too quickly. Morgan my taxi driver friend said Nigerians speak 'hard' English. You may see a person in a big office – in size and function – whose English is almost zilch. Sometimes you may find it insulting when your greeting is not returned or even acknowledged. But the ones that avoid talking to you are those that do not understand English at all. Some Malaysians who can speak Arabic assume that you're from Arabic speaking country when they see you dressed in African attire. (I've not changed my mode of dressing and don't plan to). I lost my appetite at a restaurant recently and instead of leaving the food behind, I asked the lady that served me to pack it for me so that I could take it away.
The woman didn't understand me. A gentleman came and bailed me out. Then he started speaking Arabic to me. I told him in a smattering Arabic that 'look, we can continue this conversation in Arabic but you'll understand me much better if we spoke English.' He was surprised to learn that the official language in Nigeria was not Arabic. Morality Unlike the flesh show you see western countries, Malaysians are well dressed. Children are well behaved and no promiscuity – at least it's not apparent. But foreigners are changing the relative peace and security in Malaysia for the worse.
Those in the forefront of this transformation are Indonesians and – your guess was right – Nigerians! Sometimes you wonder if Nigeria is curse to other inhabitants on this planet. My advisor here told me that she's afraid of taking her children to the famous towers because that's where the foreigners congregate. She reasoned that if she was in Nigeria, it's okay for her to be afraid but it's not acceptable that she should be afraid of taking her family to relaxation areas in her own country. This is why some people are calling for tighter immigration laws in Malaysia.In this country, it's difficult to get a taxi if you look like a Nigerian. And each that eventually stops has a sad tale to tell about Nigerians. Because taxi drivers are the first Malaysians Nigerians come in contact with in Malaysia and they're the ones that drive them around the cities, the taxi drivers know Nigerians better than others.
I'll tell you more about the destructive activities of Nigerians another day. I'll also tell you about the food in Malaysia, health care, government, the recent change in fuel prices and why I feel more Nigerians (especially those who already have their first degrees) should come and study here. It's more affordable than you think.
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