So, the other day, a young brother of mine posted an aerial picture on his Facebook page of the NECOM Building (or NET Building), with the caption ‘the tallest building in Nigeria’. As I admired the aerial view, I was taken aback. What?!! NET Building is STILL the tallest in Nigeria? This could be the perfect metaphor confirming that Nigeria is not improving, has become ambitionless, has stopped growing, literally, since NET building was completed in 1979. Advertisement Now, Nigeria External Telecommunications (NET) Building as it was first known – before the rechristening to whatever name it bears today – was then an iconic building and a symbol of our progress, ambition, independence, creativity, modernity, and quest for achievement back in the late 70s. I recall as a 12 years old kid in 1983 when we learnt that the building was torched allegedly by people who had embezzled money and needed to obliterate their tracks, I felt personally angry and defrauded as I read the story on the front page of the newspaper I had just bought for my dad at the junction of our street. This is because as a child, I remember being driven past NET Building by my Dad several times as we made for the Bar Beach. I recall vividly even the ships that used to berth at the Marina then. There were so vivid, so close, and I used to imagine what went on in their lighted cabins and how far they had sailed. Those were great days of NNSL (Nigerian National Shipping Line).