Unit 3: Public Document

Hammed Oseni
Eng 3301



Blog on Nigeria
Added By: Hammed Oseni























Unit 1: context note
The purpose of this public document/Blog post is to bring to the forefront to the Nigerian
government officials, those in a position of power who are not familiar with the current state of
affairs in Nigeria. With this blog post, I will include personal opinions and perspective on the
various challenges facing Nigeria and their negative rippling effects. As a Nigerian in the
diaspora, I am no longer directly affected by some of the effects of these challenges but I will
give personal examples of direct account when I use to live in Nigeria. My blog post will contain
materials that one cannot simply know unless one has visited or lived in Nigeria. The blog post
will contain a simple and easy language so that the general public can understand. Nigeria is a
developing country in West Africa and. This document will be to raise awareness to those in
power and could additionally reach the small portion of Nigerians with access to technology
Since my major is in engineering, I will emphasize the need to improve educational system, and
science and technology. I will try to explain in my own word how I feel about the current state of
Nigeria science and technology wise. My readers may or may/may not be familiar with Nigerian
society. I will use large images and diagrams to attract readers to the document. Once Im able to
engage my audience, I will throw in questions in my public document to get them thinking to
encourage them to form their own opinions. I will use descriptive languages such as anecdotes. I
will also make use of first, second and third person perspective. I will use first person to relay
some of my own personal experiences to spark some empathy in the reader to ultimately deepen
their investment in the topic (Nigeria). My public document will be written in a blog style. The
persona of this document will be a concerned citizen attempting to draw attention to problems
facing Nigeria.
To better organize this research paper, I will break down the paper into five blog posts according
to dates and they will addresses the audiences wants and needs. The five blog posts will each
target a different challenge related to education or corruption in Nigeria My target audience
could additionally reach Nigerians with internet access.








June 5-2014
Nigeria
To start with, what is Nigeria? Where is it? Why should you care? It is a developing country in
West Africa. Nigeria is currently fazed with many challenges. Finding solutions to combat these
challenges has become a matter of constant discussion in Nigerian media. The cause of the
challenges can be traced back to the corruption
occurring within the government. Elected officials
embezzle public funds and get richer while the
Nigeria population remain poor. In Nigeria today,
corruption has spread and is pervasive throughout
society. Notwithstanding, there are Nigerians who
have a high level of discipline in the government
who are afraid to speak out for fear of reprisal. I
believe that where there is a will, there must be a
way. The Nigerian society can put an end the
various societal challenges.

The Government needs to provide funding for
facilities that will allow for the acquisition of practical training especially in STEM fields.
Practical training will ultimately produce students with the technologically know-how and thus
put the Nigerian society on a path to scientific advancement. Adequate educational training of
Nigerians will reduce the rate of unemployment in Nigeria. Moreover adequate educational
training of indigenes will go a long way to reduce Nigerians dependence on foreign skilled
workers. As the saying goes, youth are the leaders of tomorrow, thus the future of Nigeria rest on
likes of me and many other Nigerian youths. The only way to improve educational training and
reduce unemployment is for the government to provide adequate funding and ensure
transparency and accountability.






June 6-2014
Corruption

After perusing through many of the Nigerian newspapers that my parents brought back from
their travel to Nigeria, I realized a lot of discussions in the newspapers were centered around the
problem of corruption and its pervasive effects on Nigeria. Why is the effect of corruption so
pervasive and how can it be minimized, if not completely eradicated?
Other Nigerians Government officials have stood by and looked on while other Government
officials embezzled public funds. The likes of ex-Nigerian presidents Sanni Abacha and cohorts,
who embezzled $485 million dollars of public funds and hid it in banks around the world. In
order to end corruption, we have to start with our leaders. Corruption can be curbed by
increasing transparency in the Government Officials actions and ensuring every money
allocated is accounted for. The Nigeria government needs to put in place measures that will hold
all politicians to a high degree of integrity. In my opinion, corruption is the challenge in which
all other challenges stems from.
Some may argue that the Nigerian governments corruption has reduced over the years. The goal
should not be reduction but total eradication of corruption. Are there still cases of corrupt
practice within the Nigerian government? Apparently, the answer is yes. For Nigeria to progress
and become a developed nation that its meant to be, we cannot leave room for corruption within
the government.




June 7-2014
A Vicious Cycle: Challenge begets challenge
The situation is getting out of hand.as challenges continues to give rise to more challenges.
Corruption gave rise to lack of public funds, half-baked education, high unemployment rate, low
standard of living, unequal distribution of wealth, and large unskilled labor force. The challenges
brought about by corruption has left many living from hand to mouth and more willing to accept
bribes to make ends meet. The societal challenges has definitely had a negative impact on
societal values. As a result
the average Nigerian is
greedy. Policemen, for
instance have resorted to
crooked means to extort
money. Growing up in
Nigeria, I witnessed
policemen take bribes
from drivers. What hope
do we have for a better
future if those meant to
protect us care more about
making a quick buck? In
addition, some
government official use
their positions to acquire
wealth rather than
implement policies thatll favor the Nigerian populace.
Moral decadence of Nigerian societal values can be fixed if all Nigerians put honesty above any
other thing. The government should reward honesty and scrutinize and punish individuals with
illegitimate wealth.








June 8-2014
Education


There is no doubt that, for Nigeria to progress forward, we need to rid ourselves of corruption,
increase educational funding and increase our stake in science and technology. If all Nigerian
have access to education, there will be an increase in skilled labor. For most Nigerians the odds
of getting an education is slim. The stark reality is that a majority of Nigerians come from
deprived socio-economic backgrounds. The odds are high and many resort to learning a trade
instead of going to school.
From personal experience, while I attended secondary school in Nigeria, I recall that many of my
friends were sent home from school because they sometimes lacked the fund to pay school fees.
My teachers went on strikes during school year and refused to teach when they werent paid on
time. My school lacked enough facilities such as libraries and laboratories. To make matters
worse, we sometimes had to go to neighboring schools to use their well-equipped labs. In
Nigeria, education is a luxury. It is for those that can afford it which puts the poor at a
disadvantage. The Nigeria government should subsidize education by increasing educational
funding thereby making education affordable for all Nigerian youths. Public primary and
secondary education is free in the United States. Making education accessible will definitely
provide Nigerians with some sense of security when thinking about their futures.


June-9-2014
Education, Science and Technology

The importance of education and science and technology in Nigerias development cannot be
overemphasized. No nation can develop without science and technology. Nations like the United
States, Russia, and UK pry themselves on their scientific advancements. Science and technology
are pivotal to Nigerians development and advancement in medicine. Nigeria currently lacks
behind in the treatment of certain diseases and that is why it is often common to hear of wealthy
politicians flying out to seek treatment in foreign countries. Advanced medical science in
developed nations have improved health care delivery. Unfortunately the reverse is the case in
Nigeria. Nigerians dependence on developed nation has continued to increase in recent years.
The path to development can only be paved by improving science and education and eliminating
corruption. Only then can the lives of Nigerian be improved. Lack of affordable education,
inadequate science and technology and corruption are the three challenge inhibiting the Nigerian
economy. Sadly, current economic policies have yet to improve or eradicates these three
challenges. Nigerian government need to look the policies of developed nations like the United
States to curb the banes confronting the Nigerian economy.

Response
While completing unit 3, I definitely enjoyed the freedom in creating the public document. I
enjoyed writing a blog rather than the standard typical essay. I wish to thank all my reviewers
Kimberly Champlin and Gasper Chan for their helpful feedback. Kimberly highlighted that I
needed to be more specific with my audience which I adjusted in my context. I took Gaspers
advice in regard to changing the title one of my blog sections which was great. The aspect of this
assignment I found most challenging was deciding on a format to write the topic that was of
interest to me. I thought a blog format gave me the freedom to go in any direction. Although I
recognize that a blog isnt the most effective style of document to address government officials, I
believe that the blog added a personal touch that really gets the point across which I feel is very
effective. In the blog, I highlighted what I believe were the most pressing challenges facing
Nigeria. A lesson I learned from this unit is that seemingly simple issues can actually be very
complex. The challenges in Nigeria stem from corruption but addressing only the root cause
(corruption) will not solve all the other challenges that corruption gave rise to. I feel that my blog
only scratched the surface of the challenges facing Nigeria and their impact on the Nigerian
population.