Coupled with the poor conditions of service and the high incidence of cultism, education has gone to the dogs. In each of these sectors, both private and public, Nigerian society is plagued by such vices as tribalism, nepotism, and favouritism beyond the endemic corruption that is well-documented. The consequence is that incompetence and indiscipline hold sway in most departments and academic institutions. The universities, polytechnics and colleges of education even provide the most brazen display of these vices. Religious intolerance, especially in communities with large followerships of separate faiths, has ever been a source of mutual suspicion and hostilities.
Conflicts usually result in bloodshed and widespread destruction of property.
The cumulative result of these anomalies is the steady deterioration of communal life in virtually every respect. Even though the report focused on the 4.4 billion people who live in developing countries, its findings reflect local conditions in Nigeria. At the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London, a Nigerian graduate student, Osita Onuma, accomplished a feat undreamt of in the 124-year history of the institution. Beyond strict academics, Nigeria boasts of world renowned sportsmen and women all of whom, ironically, made it abroad - not at home in Nigeria. Hakeem Olajuwon, in Surulere, Lagos, had potential but the Nigerian environment suppressed its actualisation.