Still shocked by NGA sometimes!

We had an interesting conversation with our driver on the way into the office this morning. In a nutshell, he believes that he and about 70% of all Nigerians would VOTE for a return to military rule if allowed to do so!

For the average Nigerian, this pretend democracy is a failure and has negatively impacted their lifestyle options considerably! Jide was quick to clarify that they would prefer democracy because they know that it works in other countries but because the civilian government has only meant an increase in corruption at every level of power, he says that this is not really a democracy. In the absence of a real democracy, military rule is better than a corrupt civilian government, it appears.

Under military rule the streets were clean, traffic flowed properly, people obeyed the laws. The schools were high quality and there were public schools that were actually public, with no charges other than minimal fees to the families. The government subsidized many items and there was free trade from the neighboring countries and beyond so prices were affordable on clothing, food, and even non-necessities.

The only negatives that Jide could think of if there was a return to military rule were -- loss of free speech to some extent and the presence of soldiers to keep order.

However, it's interesting that the loss of free speech must not be too severe because he also said that the military government listened to the people better than do the elected officials and responded to their concerns. His examples -- adjusting the prices of bags of cement, fuel, etc. when the people complained -- seemed valid.

Here's a practical way for you to see the differences. This is what began our discussion this morning:

As we ventured out into the jungle of traffic yet again, I was asking Jide how drivers obtain their licenses in the first place (if they even have one!).

Here's the deal -- for N3,500 they can fill out a form, provide a passport photo, sign the form, and the license will be processed. This could take up to 9 months. No driving test. No written test.

However, if they don't want to wait so long ... They can pay N6,000 ($42ish), turn in a photo and a signed form and they'll have the license in 3-4 days! The N3,500 goes to the government (or the gov't leaders) and the rest goes to the people processing the request.

He went even further with his explanation -- Jim and I could each sign an empty piece of paper. Jide could take our signatures and our photos to the office. He could fill in the form and provide our signatures and photos and we'd have licenses by next Monday!

And, a little further. We could get licenses in the same manner for Jeri, who has visited NGA once. And ... for Brad and Joey ... who have never set a foot in this country.

And a 6 year old child could have a license if the person put age 18 on the application.

And ... Jide knows of men who have licenses, get them renewed every 6 years, and have never sat in a driver's seat of a car, don't know how to put a key in the ignition, don't know anything about a gas pedal, ... you get the picture!

What a place is this Nigeria!