THE PALAVER WITH NIGERIA with a reference to that PHRASE popularised in the NIGERIA VOCABULARY by the late EMINENT WRITER CHINUA ACHEBE via his BOOK / BOOKLET titled THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA

COCO AUSTIN a.k.a COCO NICOLE AUSTIN a.k.a NICOLE COCO AUSTIN

[ THIS MATERIAL WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED SOMEWHERE ON THE INTERNET AND HAS BEEN COPIED FROM THERE, RE-ADAPTED TO SOME EXTENT AND PASTED BELOW ] 

THE PALAVER WITH NIGERIA
with a reference
to 
that PHRASE 
popularised
in 
the NIGERIA VOCABULARY 
by 
the late EMINENT WRITER 
CHINUA ACHEBE 
via 
his BOOK / BOOKLET 
titled 
THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA 

it would seem that 
in the view of 
that great writer 

THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA 

includes 

the Challenge of Leadership. 

perhaps the erudite scholar was right. 

still,
in my view 
.. which is not necessarily correct .. 

THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA 

is 

a 

COMPOSITE  

of 

BOTH 

(1) the Challenge of the Followership 

and 

(2) the Challenge of Leadership 

COCO AUSTIN a.k.a COCO NICOLE AUSTIN a.k.a NICOLE COCO AUSTIN

in effect, 
it is my humble view that 

the Leadership 

and 

the Followership 

come from 

the same general pool of humanity 
and 
merely reflect 
the inherent values 
Intrinsic to their fountain-spring 
in whatever position(s) in life 
they find themselves 

these essential core values 
only being moderated 
and/or 
impacted on 
to some extent
by 
the personal individual character traits 
of each person 

if my memory serves correctly
that book / booklet
was
written sometime
around about

circa 1985? A.D
or
circa 1986? A.D
or
circa 1987 A.D 

or
thereabouts. 

this was
way before the internet
became : 

(i) available as a service and as a utility in Nigeria 

(ii) generally available to the public across Nigeria
and
accessible to anyone
who
has a working android phone
and
can pay the data service charges
of
the GSM network service provider
that
he / she patronises

e.g

MTN, 

AIRTEL .. formerly ECONET WIRELESS originally
and
at a later point in time VODACAM
or
is / was that name VODAFONE or VODAPHONE ? 

GLO, 

9MOBILE ... originally ETISALAT 

that circa 1985? A.D 
is
at date 
SEPTEMBER 2025 A.D 
around about 
( 2025 - 1985 = ) 40 years ago. 

so
one is not at all sure 
if
the book/booklet 
is
still in print 

and/or 

if
.. and where ..
it can be purchased
if
one wishes to buy a copy
of
the booklet / book
for
one's self
today SEPTEMBER 2025. 

COCO AUSTIN a.k.a COCO NICOLE AUSTIN a.k.a NICOLE COCO AUSTIN

perhaps

Google Search

and

the tangibly noticeable increase in the use of AI
by
global humanity
in matters relating to

information seeking,
information gathering
and
information collation

may be able to
help us here.

perhaps. 
perhaps not.

still,
one seems to recall
that

the book/booklet made quite an impact across Nigeria
at the time of it's publication

with reviews and mentions
being done
in

Newspapers,
Magazines
and
on Radio
and Television. 

COCO AUSTIN a.k.a COCO NICOLE AUSTIN a.k.a NICOLE COCO AUSTIN

this was many years ago. 

█ this was
at / in
an era in Nigeria History
when
CHINUA ACHEBE's books
e.g
his superb work titled
THINGS FALL APART
were still studied as textbooks for literature
across all Nigeria
.. including
in Yoruba-land Nigeria
i.e
in South-Western Nigeria. 

COCO AUSTIN a.k.a COCO NICOLE AUSTIN a.k.a NICOLE COCO AUSTIN

█ this was
at / in
an era
before a leading political figure and a giant of the Yoruba tribe died
and
when? i.e while?
encomiums and tributes were still? being showered on the late leader,

CHINUA  ACHEBE
who had
studied at University in Yoruba-land, Nigeria
and
who had his Heinmann? Publishers
( .. a book publication outfit
critical to
the availability of the works of
the African Writers Series
which the brilliant writer CHINUA ACHEBE himself pioneered .. )
located in Yoruba-land, Nigeria

averred 

perhaps somewhat - - un-advisedly? - - mis-advisedly - -
given the timing
and
the prevailing circumstances
i.e
the event of a recent death,
the event of a recent death of a notable and highly respected personality,
etc ..

that
the late political juggernaut 

( ... political juggernaut is a Nigeria phraseology
that was
popular in Nigeria
in the 1960s and 1970s .. ) 

who was described by many leading figures in Nigeria and across Nigeria
as
a National Leader
in their tributes to him

was not a National Leader. 

█ this was before
CHINUA  ACHEBE
wrote
ANTHILLS IN THE SAVANNAH
which
is sometimes indexed
in some quarters
as

the first novel
CHINUA  ACHEBE
had written
since
the NIGERIA - BIAFRA WAR
i.e
the NIGERIA CIVIL WAR happened (1967 - 1970 )
as
his other major works
known in the public space at that time

( e.g
NO LONGER AT EASE,
ARROW OF GOD )

were all rumoured
to have been written
before
the 1967 date. 

█ this was before
CHINUA ACHEBE
had
a motor car accident
as a result of which

he
became wheel-chair bound
and
could no longer walk
for the rest of his life. 

█ this was before
CHINUA ACHEBE
wrote
the highly referenced

( .. highly referenced by
both
detractors of the work
and
supporters of the work .. ) 

book / novel
THERE WAS A COUNTRY 

in any case, 
the situation today SEPTEMBER 2025
is that

█ a lot of time has passed 
since
that book / booklet 
THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA 
was written 
 

█ a lot of events
have
happened in Nigeria .

. economically,
socially,
politically,
socio-economically,
politico-economically,
socio-politically,
etc ..

since that book/booklet
THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA
was written 

and

the book / booklet may
both : 

(a) no longer be generally easily readily available
in
the Nigeria public space
as well as
in other public space(s)

and

(b) the book may not even be known at all
to / by
Nigeria residents and citizens
born after
the circa 1985? A.D
to
circa 1987? A.D date

especially as

Nigeria seems to
have tampered somewhat
somehow
with
the teaching of it's History
( .. including
it's
LITERARY? HISTORY? )

despite of all that,
it is still my view
that

perhaps
it is best for the reader to have
some sort of acquaintance / acquaintance-ship
with
the work 

so
i will search to see
if
i can find a link / URL
that
can lead the interested reader to the work

and
include the work in this piece.

that way
the reader 
who may previously not have been familiar with the work
may get or have

some sort of contextual framework

within which
i.e
templated on which

to

disagree with me
or
agree with me

when i reference
some positions of
the late
PROFESSOR CHINUA ACHEBE
as
indexed in that work. 

Having said that,
it is also my considered view

.. and on this
i stand to be corrected..

that

the TROUBLE
and therefore
the PALAVER WITH NIGERIA 

includes, 

among others 
i.e 
is/are not limited to, 

the following : 

[ TO BE CONTINUED ]