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Re: Why Brazilians protest against the World Cup…

The people are of course protesting on the ground that the country is planning to spend millions of dollars on the hosting as against the…

Ahmed Balarabe Hamzah

Wed, 26 Jun 2013 4:00:00 WAT

The people are of course protesting on the ground that the country is planning to spend millions of dollars on the hosting as against the development of other social infrastructure, which to me is a very valid argument.

Sanusi wondered “ how come Nigeria gladly spends billions to host tournaments and yet the Brazilians are grumbling over an event that nobody asked them to bid?”

Well, in Nigeria, Dr Sanusi, you and I any other enlightened Nigerians know that two thirds of whatever amount is spent on hosting anything local, national or international event is stolen by the corrupt organizers. So in essence hosting events is a way of enriching a lot of people in a rather bizarre and absurd manner very much unacceptable to human civilization.

But that is Nigeria for you. Even if it is world faeces competition, it would be gladly hosted and the amount to be budgeted and approved by those in authority would boggle the mind.

However, the good lesson about this protest, aside from all the social and economic reasons Sanusi gave, is the fact that it has been on for over two weeks now and it had not yet turned into any religious or tribal protest.

If it was in Nigeria, by now some mosques and churches must have been burnt down, people must have been killed and mass exodus of people must have started across regions. That is the beauty of civilized nations, where national interest is at the forefront and not ethnic or religious sentiments or, worse, party affiliations.

I hope that one day Nigerians will be able to see things beyond these narrow-minded prisms.

Ahmed Balarabe Hamzah <[email protected]>

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