blog

NIGERIAN YOUTHS AND EMIGRATION - A CASE STUDY OF GERMANY

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 15:42:33 +0100

Years ago many Nigerians travelled overseas to study after which they return home better equipped educationally.These bulk of graduates quite often then , got easily employed or had no problems in setting up their own companies.Nowadays with the current economic hardship and a lot of socio-political problems many Nigerian youths have resorted to travelling overseas.This new trend or wave of travelling outside Nigeria includes young graduates who would have been the developmental backbone of the nation.They crave to travel anywhere like neigbouring West African countries but the most sort after destinations are Europe and America.Some who travelled to Europe have had to risk their lives through harrrowing experiences just to get there.A typical illegal journey of getting to Spain starts with trying to get to Morroco and crossing over with a boat to main land Spain or merely settling down in Cueta, a Spanish territory in Morroco.From Spain migrating to other European countries like Germany become easy legally or illegally.

Germany is located in the centre of western Europe with a total area of 356,974 square kilometers and a population of about 82,438,000.It is a federal parliamentary rebuplic with 16 bundeslaender the German word for states.The country´s capital is Berlin and is headed by a president whose position is largely ceremonial and a chancellor whose position is equivalent to a prime minister.

Germany has the world´s highest level of education ,technological development and economic productivity.A per capita income of $27,000 and is a middle class society.It has a generous social welfare system which provides for universal health care, unemployment compesation and other social needs.This social welfare system came under strain in the 1990s which led the goverment to push through a wide range of reforms.Germany is a founding member of the European Union.

Most Nigerians living in Germany are there for economic reasons.Few of them come directly from Nigeria to study or on employment exchange programmmes between companies.When the economic bound Nigerians arrive , they find ways to live legally in Germany.The most popular is gettting married to a German.Thereafter the German goverment gives them residence and work permits.Without work permit no foreigner can work in Germany.Some Nigerians work for sometime and thereafter go back to study either in the university or learn a trade or a particular professsion like nursing.Nigerians who already possess a certificate from higher institutions can not work with their certificates because it is neither recognised nor acccepted.This could be both frustrating and discriminatory.In such a situation they are obliged do a re-training,continue with odd jobs or go into buisnesss.

One set back that Nigerians and many foreigners face is the language barrier.German language is structurally and grammatically difficult.It is not the best to learn it from the street but from a German language schoool.Since 2005 the german govrnment has made it compulsory for every foreigner to learn German langauge and write a proficiency exam in it. There are some form of rascism in Germany an equivalent of tribalism in Nigeria whereby Europeans are mostly favoured on the labour market.There are some attacks on foreigners but not rampant.In fairness to the German government they are doing all they can to protect foreigners but not fast enough.Less Africans including Nigerians are found in the German universities because of the language,segregated educational system at the secondary school level and personal preference of individuals.The secondary schools are divided into different types Gymnasium (full fledged secondary school with intensive programmes and industrial training)which leads to the university,Real Schule(a little lower than the first and fairly intensive)this leads to the university but through a longer route and the Haupt Schule a secondary school which is basically to train students to learn some trade or handwork.A large number of foreigners are found here including Germans who did not do well in the primary school.One factor that determines what secondary school a pupil will attend is the ability to pass well in the German language as a subject apart from general performance.The class teacher quite often determines the secondary school a pupil will attend;consciously foreign pupils are sent more to the Real /Haupt Schule and more Germans to the Gymnasium.They always have the advantage of learning in their mother tongue which enables them understand faster what is been taught.There are other types of tertiary institutitutions and company appretinceship programmes which enable students to get basic professional eduacation.

Germany is not all that a sad story but from experience Nigerian youths better not risk their lives to come to any European country .There are a lot of investments that they could go into especially with help from the Nigerian government.

MANAGING A HOME IN NIGERIA

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:19:40 +0100

This topic may be startling or funny but managing a house any where in the world is very important.Managaing a house consist of two aspects ;the home and activities in it.House mangement is simply the way a house is organised , ran, and generally structured for effieciency.A typical house in Nigeria is not well organised.It is common to see documents scattered all about the house or crammaed in a cupboard only for rats and cockroaches to feast on them.It´s day to day management is by coincidence, trial and error or not even thought about at all.In contrast, in a European country like in Germany, organising a home/house is almost compulsory.The house /home there is a an office which needs to be well managed.
A house which is simply a dwelling can be divided into different departments depending on individual and families.There could be the health , the social , the electricity , bookkeeping , kitchen/house keeping ,rent department , official or external transactions, internal transactions and family correspondence. The head of this house office is normally the husband and father of the house.If it is a home where there is just an individual the office organisation may be different. The important thing here is , a house should be organised in a structured way by opening a file for each department .These files must be well labelled accordingly and placed on shelves or in a good cupboard devoid of insects , pest or rodents.
The gains of organising a house this way will help reduce chaos and the problem of locating documents no matter how irrelevant they maybe.It will help a long way to help keep records properly.For example if records of electricity bills of a house are well kept, they could easily be retrieved any time an official requests for them.Because the bills were well kept, it will save time and prevent arguments ( putting the issue of corruption aside).The single drawback to organising houses in Nigeria , is the level of literacy.The uneducated and people living in villages may not be able to apprecite the need for an organised home.Enlightenment programmes maybe organised by the government,NGOs and churches.

NIGERIAN CHATROOM AGGRESSION

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 00:18:06 +0100

The chatroom is a social network and communication tool invented in 1988.It enables people meet , get to know, make friends,exchange views and generally meet minds online or in the cyber space.It is a place for relaxation and catching fun.There are private and public chatrooms.In the last few years, the number of people using chatrooms have increased astronomically .For this topic, focus will be on public chatrooms in Nigerian websites.To participate one needs to have a user name or an identity.Every website offering chatroom facility makes clear , the method/mode of gaining access to the chatrooms.Guide-lines of chatting are usually provided.Participants/users of the chatrooms must have a username or identity.The user name could be funny and bewildering.In chatrooms, there is usually no central topic of discussion and no moderation/moderator.The lack of moderation becomes apparent when there are arguments ,differences and when sessions become rowdy.
Each user has his own way of chatting.Some are polite ,reasonable,relgious,hilarious,vulgar, insultive or aggressive.One begin to wonder whether insults and aggression are excellent ways of relaxation.Aggression is a very common behavioural characteristic in the the Nigerian society.Reports and observations have shown that, an average Nigerian is not very polite.Ruyi Igiebon in his article AGGRESSIVE ARGUMENTS A MAJOR NIGERIAN TRAIT published on the Nigerian Village Square website in 2008, concluded that it is common for Nigerians to adopt aggression in settling disagreement.The result could be sometimes fatal. Advocates of aggression in Nigerian chatrooms believe it is fun and a defence mechanism by some users ,to distract or discourage intending lovers.They are also of the opinion that aggression generates debate.Critics say in a mature setting , there ought to be an overall sense of decorum.To them ,chatroom is all about friendship and relaxation.In the event of differences in opinion , people should be allowed to air their views.
Which ever way we see aggression in Nigerian chatrooms, it is a behaviour and pattern that will continue for a long time because chatroom is a melting point of people with different temperament.