The German Machine' is the other name of the German National Football Team; the name attests to the efficiency of the team, as well as the dogged, fighting spirit of the Germans. See what a proud German says of his country: Germans are highly disciplined, hard-working, and make generous use of commonsense. Their far-sightedness causes them to preserve the agricultural harvest of the Fall season for consumption and future seedlings for new planting seasons. Though modern Germany now doesn't have a class system, it used to be a society of three levels of the king, the nobility and the free men. The British monarchy which ensures that members of the Royal Family learn the German language, like most of the ruling houses of Europe, has German origin, and still owns vast tracts of forest in Germany. Unlike the British who trade with money, and employ fewer people, Germans prefer farming and manufacturing that employs more people. He adds that after the Fall of Socialism and the Berlin Wall, West Germans agreed to pay additional 10 per cent tax, for 12 years, and raised about 1.5 trillion Deutsche Mark, to rebuild East Germany, which was practically a Third World country, to First World level. He however, expresses respect for the Chinese, whom he says, have a legacy of obedience, industry and an elaborate bureaucracy which prepared them for the wonders that you see today.
This German says that Germans like to produce the primary tools and equipment that they need to produce the secondary products that they consume; and because they have eye for detail, and insist on getting things right from the outset, their products are always durable. And that explains why Germans make sure that they first put infrastructure, like telephone, electricity, roads, drainages, even pedestrian sidewalks, in place before they build new cities. He discloses that education is free in Germany up to the university level, and those who are not bright enough to attend university are apprenticed to Master Craftsmen in trades like plumbing, carpentry, and bricklaying, under the Duale Ausbidung (dual education) programme, that enables them to attend vocational schools where they can learn the theory of their trade. He concludes that though Adolf Hitler failed to dominate Europe by subjugatioin, today's Germany, with huge chunks of its people in the USA and Venezuela, and spread all over Europe in countries like Holland, Austria, former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, and parts of Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Poland, dominates the EU politically and economically. Have you met a Nigerian who is so enamoured of his country, and describes its beauty and prowess in such superlative, if exaggerated, terms?
Research reveals that Julius Caesar first used the word, Germany, for the people who originated from southern Scandinavia and north Germany, but now occupy most of Germany, Austria, southern Bavaria and western Rhineland. They had pagan kings, or kuningaz, who were elected as sacral and military leaders from noble families. The kings were to be the judges during the popular assemblies, priests during sacrifices and military leaders during wars. A testimony by Tacitus says that Germans “… chose their kings by birth, their generals for merit.” After the fall of Napoleon, the 1864 Congress of Vienna founded the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund), a loose league of 39 sovereign states. Hitler's vision of a Germany of the super race is captured by his declaration that: “As world capital, Berlin will only be comparable with Ancient Egypt, Babylon and Rome,” and his query: “What is London, what is Paris, compared to that!” Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative, democratic republic. The chancellor, like the Prime Minister of Britain, is the head of government and exercises executive powers.
Germany, with a population of 81.8 million, and the 4th largest economy of the world, produces iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, foods, beverages, ship and textiles. It had 3.056 per cent growth rate, $3.577 trillion GDP, and $43,741 per capita in 2011. Germany is the largest economy in Europe, and the world's largest exporter with $1.408 trillion exported in 2011. It is the largest contributor to the budget of the European Union, third largest contributor to the United Nations, and foundation member of the EU, the G8 and the G20. Thirty seven of the 500 biggest companies in the world are German. But Germany had not always been an economic success. It was far behind Britain, France and Belgium, until 1850, when Napoleon conquered the motley German countries and caused reforms like the abolition of feudal restrictions on the sale of large landed estates, reorganisation of the agricultural sector, maintenance of low tax rate, reduction of the power of the guilds, and introduction of efficient commercial laws. The real industrial take-off in Germany came with the textile industry, and the introduction of railroad in the 1840s; this opened up new markets for local products, created a pool of middle managers, increased the need for engineers, architects and skilled machinists and stimulated investments in coal and iron.
By 1900 Germany industry was in the same league as Britain and America. Its Government encouraged big business, but (sadly) abolished trade unions, and thus prevented workers from changing jobs easily. But the German work ethics, which ensured long, hard hours of work, coupled with a modern infrastructure, gave a big boost after the defeat of Germany in the Second War. Even though the GDP of Germany contracted in 2008, and its industrial output dropped by 3.6 per cent, Germany made a rebound as early as 2009 through a $70 billion economic stimulus plan. An important factor for the resilience of the Germany economy is that it is polycentric, with several economic hubs spread all over Germany: Only three of Germany's 100 largest companies are based in Berlin; the stock exchange is in Frankfurt, the largest media company in Gutersloh and the largest automakers in Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and Munich. Even though Germany must import major important industrial inputs like oil and natural gas, its high quality labour force, high quality infrastructure, low level of corruption and high level of creativity and innovation continue to stand it in good stead. In 2011, Germany's infrastructure, with its high quality of roads, railways, airports and port facilities, was ranked second in the world, after Hong Kong
One more thing. More than 27 million Germans, about one-third, belong to sports club, and another 12 million pursue sports individually. And the German Football Association, with more than 6.3 million members, is the world's largest sports organisation. The German football league attracts the second highest average attendance in the world. More importantly, German sportsmen excel where it matters most, at the Olympic Games, ranking third in an all-time Olympic Games medals count.
One may need to add that this German is married to a Nigerian, and his children are therefore half-Nigerian. He expresses his frustration about Nigeria's poor economic performance: He has lived here for more than 30 years. And, more to the point of this eulogy or citation. The major factor responsible for the strength of the German economy is simply the work ethics, strong values and pride in the fatherland. Germans have high dreams and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. Nigerians have a thing or two to learn from the Germans.
