Nigeria will forever remain the giant Of Africa - because of our enormous population.

Good economic managers don't see large population as a disadvantage- see USA, Germany, China, India. It's only in Nigeria that people are blaming over reproduction for the nation's woes.

How about appropriate and resourceful management of those populations. Instead of diverting resources to focus on densely populated areas like Mbaise(most densley populated area of W.Africa, b/4 naija people started manipulating the numbers), one of the constitutional amendement committees actually agreeed to vote more money for land mass than people mass.

My point? It's the policy, not the population that's killing naija.

If you understand how bad policy is killing naija, you'll understand that naija is blessed, uniquely positioned, and equipped to lead Africa, except that we have very bad, ignorant, and short sighted mangers at the helm of naija's affairs.

Until we fix our bad managers, there is no need to compare us with Ghana.

Good economic managers don't see large population as a disadvantage- see USA, Germany, China, India. It's only in Nigeria that people are blaming over reproduction for the nation's woes.

lol what are u talking about, have u heard of the one child per family policy in china?? in india, only new delhi and a few other cities are developed. the chinese countryside where many people live is underdeveloped. yes we have poor management. but management is harder when u have too many people to feed.

Nigeria and communist China are not same. Was the one child/family policy a success? No.

A large population helps tax base, manpower, and resources, please redirect your energy on how Nigeria will improve, not how to decrease the population. We're post-industrial age for goodness sake.

naijaking1:

Nigeria and communist China are not same. Was the one child/family policy a success? No.

A large population helps tax base, manpower, and resources, please redirect your energy on how Nigeria will improve, not how to decrease the population. We're post-industrial age for goodness sake.

Do you think the current Chinese economic success story is not related to the 1 child/family policy? because the children of that policy are now adults.

Nigeria's Large population is majority tax-evading, high on illiteracy and low on High-level Skills (some of the skilled manpower are victims of brain drain) and the Government is not very concerned because of the Oil earnings.

Nigeria need 1 child/woman policy in the cities and 2 Children/woman in the rural areas and also make it criminal for a man to have more than 1 wife because that is the real root of the endemic corruption we are battling with as a result of 1 husband "bitting more than he can chew".

When parents have children they can cater for, they will be less dependent on Government and there will be less criminal behaviour and corruption.

A large population helps tax base, manpower, and resources, please redirect your energy on how Nigeria will improve, not how to decrease the population. We're post-industrial age for goodness sake.

you don't get it, do you?? you can't progress with an overblown population. lots of sub-saharran africans below the age of 21 aren't employed. how do u expect them to pay tax. the large size of nigeria is more of a burden than a blessing. family planning should be emphasized and we seriously need more sex education and contraceptive distribution. what manpower does a large population create if most of the population is unskilled and uneducated? a large population actually exploit more of a country's resources. even the US is having issues paying social security to baby boomers that have begun to retire. poor people shouldn't be having kids they can't take care.

folem:

Do you think the current Chinese economic success story is not related to the 1 child/family policy? because the children of that policy are now adults.

Nigeria's Large population is majority tax-evading, high on illiteracy and low on High-level Skills (some of the skilled manpower are victims of brain drain) and the Government is not very concerned because of the Oil earnings.

Nigeria need 1 child/woman policy in the cities and 2 Children/woman in the rural areas and also make it criminal for a man to have more than 1 wife because that is the real root of the endemic corruption we are battling with as a result of 1 husband "bitting more than he can chew".

When parents have children they can cater for, they will be less dependent on Government and there will be less criminal behaviour and corruption.

China's one-child per family policy is not the main reason why they are succeeding. The main reason is simply a better economic approach.

Large population translates into economic base, larger market, and larger tax base. The same reason why Nigerian population don't pay taxes is the same reason why no one is held accountable for anything.

Nigeria can't collect taxes from all it's citizens, because it can't even count all its citizens accurately, it can't count it's citizens accurately because it's not politically expedient to have accurate census figure, and so on.

When you break the Hausa/Fulani objection to having an accurate, documented, ID card based/ social security numbering system of Nigerians then you would know that our population is a blessing not a curse.

If you can't break that objection, then stop worrying about smaller African countries doing better than naija.

bawomol:

you don't get it, do you?? you can't progress with an overblown population. lots of sub-saharran africans below the age of 21 aren't employed. how do u expect them to pay tax. the large size of nigeria is more of a burden than a blessing. family planning should be emphasized and we seriously need more sex education and contraceptive distribution. what manpower does a large population create if most of the population is unskilled and uneducated? a large population actually exploit more of a country's resources. even the US is having issues paying social security to baby boomers that have begun to retire. poor people shouldn't be having kids they can't take care.

Your social engineering can't work. One of the main reasons why some US politicians want illegal immigrants is because they would swell the population and help pay the social security benefits of retiring baby boomers- quite the opposite of what you think.

Large population is always a blessing, but it's left for a government to learn how to utilize everyone of them, that is the real task of a good government. All your arguement is based on the false premise that there would always be something to share, ie oil.

As people from the north push the truth and reality as far as they can, then certain things would become self evident. Inability to tax a wrongly calculated census figure is just the tip of the iceberg. The problem is not in the population but in the system of administration and management of that population.

I don't know the level of your education, but the issue of over population was answered 200 years ago during the industrial revolution by Adam Smith.

naijaking1:

Your social engineering can't work. One of the main reasons why some US politicians want illegal immigrants is because they would swell the population and help pay the social security benefits of retiring baby boomers- quite the opposite of what you think.

Large population is always a blessing, but it's left for a government to learn how to utilize everyone of them, that is the real task of a good government. All your arguement is based on the false premise that there would always be something to share, ie oil.

As people from the north push the truth and reality as far as they can, then certain things would become self evident. Inability to tax a wrongly calculated census figure is just the tip of the iceberg. The problem is not in the population but in the system of administration and management of that population.

I don't know the level of your education, but the issue of over population was answered 200 years ago during the industrial revolution by Adam Smith.

nobody said that China's one child per family policy is what's causing it's economic boom. Of course even with the boom, majority of chinese citizens are poor because there are just TOO many people for the wealth (available food, water, sanitation and other infrastructure) to go around. the cities are overpopulated etc. that's one of the reasons they needed the policy.

what we're trying to argue is that Nigeria is the population "giant of Africa" (which isn't necessarily a good thing)
economics wise, political stability wise,. . . we are NOT the giant. lol

of course, underpopulation is not a good thing either. Thats why many european countries and especially the US accept millions of immigrants each year. many whites give birth to a maximum average of 2 kids per family. The problem of underpopulation is worse in developed european countries. . .
its not because they want their population to exceed Nigeria, China and India's population combined but because underpopulation can be just as disastrous as overpopulation.

Underpopulation is usually defined as a state in which a country's population has declined too much to support its current economic system.
overpopulation deals with the total possible population that can be sustained by available food, water, sanitation and other infrastructure in a country.

we're not talking about the amount of people a land can carry. but the amount of people the economy can carry.

I don't know the level of your education, but the issue of over population was answered 200 years ago during the industrial revolution by Adam Smith.

Nigeria and many third-world countries aren't industrialized so I don't see your point.
only south africa, out of all African nations, is classified as industrialized.

We're not going to loose sight of the topic are we? Nigeria's current poorer development when compared to Ghana is not caused by it's larger population?

Nigeria's resources- both human and natural are advantages that can't be turned into a disadvantage, because of mismanagement.

Sure Nigeria and many 3d World countries are more industrialized than 1600/1700 Britain, moreover we have people versed in economic and political theories that could easily change our sparse 150 million redundant population to a population capable of generating enough economic base, tax base, and market force.

You're complaining about too many people because you're focused on sharing the national cake, on the reverse, if the 150 million Nigerians are somehow made to contribute for the upkeep of our nation, then larger numbers become an advantage.

You're on the wrong side of this arguement, because there is no cake to share in Nigeria.

Oil no be cake.

Large population is always a blessing, but it's left for a government to learn how to utilize everyone of them, that is the real task of a good government. All your arguement is based on the false premise that there would always be something to share, ie oil.

large population isn't always a blessing. if it was, go ask the lower caste in india or the countryside residents of china. go ask them how believe their life is. plain and simple, smaller countries like norway(an oil producing nation by the way) and denmark have advantages over overblown countries like bangladesh and nigeria.

Nigeria's resources- both human and natural are advantages that can't be turned into a disadvantage, because of mismanagement.

u keep talking about human advantage, what human advantages are there if most of the population is unskilled and barely educated. what good is a country of zombies. u think a country of that many people would easily find good managers and not illiterates in the army.

I don't know the level of your education, but the issue of over population was answered 200 years ago during the industrial revolution by Adam Smith.

and what makes u think nigeria is an industrialized nation.

You're on the wrong side of this arguement, because there is no cake to share in Nigeria.

there is cake in nigeria, our per-capita income is just so low due to many nigerian citizens

From a governmental point of view, people are better resources than minerals. It's for the govt. manager to organize and utilize all human resources.

Once again, Nigeria today is more industrialized than 1600 Britain!!!!!!

The earlier we see a need to contribute tour our dear country, and not look for what we can get from her the better.

Then and only then can we expect to do better than Ghana.

From a governmental point of view, people are better resources than minerals. It's for the govt. manager to organize and utilize all human resources.

no productive citizens are better than resources.lots of nigerians don't have the avenue to use their talents.

Once again, Nigeria today is more industrialized than 1600 Britain!!!!!!

this is 2008, i bet even zimbabwe or congo is more industrialized that 1600 britain. ur standards are very low.

The earlier we see a need to contribute tour our dear country, and not look for what we can get from her the better.

u have to control ur population to contribute effectively. i guess u don't mind kids being born into poverty.

bawomol:

no productive citizens are better than resources.lots of nigerians don't have the avenue to use their talents.

this is 2008, i bet even zimbabwe or congo is more industrialized that 1600 britain. your standards are very low.

u have to control your population to contribute effectively. i guess u don't mind kids being born into poverty.

For once, I agree with you: lots of Nigerians don't have the avenue to use their talents. Do you know why they can't do that in naija, but do so in Ghana, US, South Africa, etc? The Nigerian government.

I surely don't mind being born into poverty. You certainly don't know how many poor children end up as famous World leaders.

Your knowledge base is becoming more questionable. You're speaking as if you're totally unaware of the Jefferson principles about human ingenuity.

I surely don't mind being born into poverty. You certainly don't know how many poor children end up as famous World leaders.

you certain don't know how many more children continue the cycle of poverty. it's one thing to have a family but it's another to have a family u can't take care of.

Your knowledge base is becoming more questionable. You're speaking as if you're totally unaware of the Jefferson principles about human ingenuity.

lol who cares about thomas jefferson. we are talking about overpopulation here.

@bawomol
If 150 million is too large a population to share Nigeria's cake, what is the appropriate number you recommend in order to have adequate development?

This is not a time to moan.

This is rather a time to groom ourselves intellectually and character-wise to become better leaders than our predecessors . . .

When the leadership mantle falls on us.

We can only make better leaders than our ancestors if we avail ourselves of time and tested economic and political theories of our time.

@naijaking

The cedi equivalence is only part of the story. In general Ghana is moving in a more positive direction than Nigeria.

A real proud and smart Nigerian would check all the parameters of greatness, ie healthcare, power supply, education, infrastructural development, etc as compared to Ghana.

To overtake Ghana is to understand its greatness, and then improve on it,

You just can't deny it, because you're a proud and patrotic Nigerian.

Soon, Nigerian governors and Presidents would be going to Ghana for Medical check-up, a country that already has a near perfect power supply system.

true talk!!! All ye patriotic and fanatic citizens, let the truth be told, giant or no giant, socially, politically, economically GHANA is better off, atleast for now, how can we improve when issues like this that we get no monetary reward for we can hardly speak truth, eventually when it involves money we will bury the case and say it never existed.

zheroes:

@naijakingtrue talk!!! All ye patriotic and fanatic citizens, let the truth be told, giant or no giant, socially, politically, economically GHANA is better off, atleast for now, how can we improve when issues like this that we get no monetary reward for we can hardly speak truth, eventually when it involves money we will bury the case and say it never existed.

We have to give them 'benefit of the doubt'--- they just don't know what's up, but then their diversionary argument could just be for secondary gain, eg money or power, but certainly not the truth.

Anybody who is educated would remember American response to superior Japanese cars- just an example.

na wa o
We don die!
Ghana dis, Ghana dat.
When r u going to leave us alone
Bite me if u can

I am surprised that some people still think Nigeria is the giant of Africa.The truth is Nigeria is a failed state and only God can save us in this country.Ghana is a far better better place

Sorry, just passing!

Nigeria as a state has nothing to be proud about. I just came back from Ghana after spending 9 months there and I will tell you that there infrastructure is surpassing our own.

Good governance is found throughout the country and they are curbbing corruption. Soon after they tap into that oil, they will not make the same mistake that Nigeria has done with their oil industry. Nigeria will soon look like Ethiopia and I do not mean that in a good way.

Nigeria as a state has nothing to be proud about. I just came back from Ghana after spending 9 months there and I will tell you that there infrastructure is surpassing our own.

Good governance is found throughout the country and they are curbbing corruption. Soon after they tap into that oil, they will not make the same mistake that Nigeria has done with their oil industry. Nigeria will soon look like Ethiopia and I do not mean that in a good way.

MAYBE?

Yet Facts are FACTS!

Ghana took out a HUGE loan from the IMF. (google it)

Ghana will have to pay that back. If Ghana Defaults, God help them. They will have to devalue their currency.

As you probably know, African countries that have oil have not fared well because of corrupt oil companies

Ghana is NOT exempt. There are oil companies with 10x's Ghana's GDP.

They WILL try to corrupt Ghana's politicians. (they probably already have)

as we all know , politicians are some of the most EGOTISTICAL mofo's to ever walk the earth. Especially, here in the United States. Corporations RUN this country.

What makes you think Oil Companies are not going to try to RUN Ghana?

I'm on the fence with this. At first I was PROUD of Ghana's rise. Yet because of past precedents - I'm very leary that Ghana can overcome its own Greedy politicians.

For example:

If someone handed you a suitcase with 30 million dollars would you sell out your country, for you own self gain?

This is the question facing all developing nations that deal with OIL Corporations.

OIL is the DEVIL

never know say e don reach this level oh

Proudly Nigerian
NAIJA 4 LIFE ANY DAY ANY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

>> Fast Forward to 2014

ono:

LOL!! In that case, Ghana is the giant of Asia or the world. LOLL!!

Abi ooo.
Ghana has been redominating ever since I came to planet earth yet the zeros keeps coming up again and again!

Yes, it is the giant of Africa when it comes to currency redomination but I thought Zimbabwe holds that record but ghana seems to have up its game.

Congrats Ghana.