casalaburst:


Admitted, I blame GEJ for allowing the pressure from the governors to share the revenue from excess account get to him. But I remembered that issue was in the front bunner and the debate on whether to share was practically thrown opened to Nigerians. At the end the blackmailing governors had their way with a second- term conscious president.

My point is GEJ tenure should have been period of consolidation and not reset,If the leaders before him had done their bits.

wachakuta:
Mhen dis guy nailed it! Kudus!!!

chookudi:
This write up may be long but it is worth reading. The source is from Facebook where the author by name Pius Adesanmi posted it. Read and share your thoughts.

OJO TO RO S’EWURO LO RO S’IREKE
By Pius Adesanmi

I’ve been think in...

Apart from running Nigeria’s dirtiest and filthiest state capital, Ochendo pays salaries by ballot and lottery.

Lekewatt:
the book wey u and ur gene read ba, wey make 9ja neva get sense. How on earth does my write up affect ur drunk ass father? U beta mind wat u post here.

Sweetguy25:
Nigeria cannot cope without oil. Thats the painful truth.

Besides, I'm tired of everyone blaming Ngozi for our problems. She is not you president, governor or local government chairman. As a minister of finance, she does what the law requires of her and nothing else. Ngozi has done nothing wrong, let her be.

989900:


But, seriously, not being sexist or . . . how did we let 2 women occupy arguably the 2 most sensitive ministries even create a new one (coordinating or what), in a country of 170m of "I sabi pass u" homo sapiens?

demantruth2:


Look in the mirror, you'll see you are your own problem.
You just define what you are.

Don't go blaming the witches in your village ooo.

ideykwum:
See the kind of childish abuse that you posted here? If you are still talking about fathers at this time and age? Lol! Grow up and stop being silly!!!

ideykwum:
See the kind of childish abuse that you posted here? If you are still talking about fathers at this time and age? Lol! Grow up and stop being silly!!!

Sweetguy25:
Nigeria cannot cope without oil. Thats the painful truth.

Besides, I'm tired of everyone blaming Ngozi for our problems. She is not you president, governor or local government chairman. As a minister of finance, she does what the law requires of her and nothing else. Ngozi has done nothing wrong, let her be.

Kay17:


Is resource wealth the cause of underdevelopment?

No, the true cause is poor governance system. States that have good systems manage their resources better. Examples UAE, Saudi Arabia, Norway etc.

Keneking:
Great write up...

Guess its time for Seun to put up a strictly "intellectual" section on Nairaland. Criteria should include; minimum of first degree (second class upper or equivalent). others are Masters and doctorate degree respectively.

To be a member, individuals would have to apply online to intellectuals@nairaland.com and I bet you would have another class in this forum.

The issue is that the current public domain is similar to a fuel station where everyone is carrying kegs and jerrycans and queuing up waiting for an attendant to dispense the product. Transporters, mechanics, fish sellers and the likes....

Pls make your remarks...

alexlee50:
your suggestions on strictly intellectual forum is okay but the truth is that it's not only those with first class, masters and PhD that are intelligent. Many of them are empty heads with paper qualification.I would suggest rather that if such a forum is approved by seun, the moderators should screen whatever topic that makes it to the board or front page.

Nihilist:
Nigeria is buckling under the weight of it's overbloated beauracracy, that much is true....but that is NOT the reason we are in penury.

And an over-dependence on Oil is also not the reason we're so poor...even though it looks that way.

We are poor simply because the amalgamation of 1914 was a mistake of epic proportions.

By forcefully merging several previously sovereign and culturally disparate nation states into one, the British inadvertently created a never ending struggle for power and resources among the 265 ethnic groups, that has manifested in the forms of corruption we see today: Nepotism,theft and Militant ethnic jingoists.

The race to Aso rock has now become a race to plunder, with the Efik man not giving two fvcks about his countryman from Gombe, and why should he? He is Efik first, and Naija for life at football or when bragging to the Ghana man.

It is too late now to break Nigeria up into smaller more governable fragments, but what we must do at least put Nigeria on the right path is to truly federalize the Government, by devolving more powers from the centre and moving it closer to the grass roots.

We need to foster economic and infrastructural competition between states, with the Federal Government taking more of a 'Big Brother' approach.

This is not the way to fix the country, but in my opinion, it's the best way to start.

Nihilist:
Nigeria is buckling under the weight of it's overbloated beauracracy, that much is true....but that is NOT the reason we are in penury.

And an over-dependence on Oil is also not the reason we're so poor...even though it looks that way.

We are poor simply because the amalgamation of 1914 was a mistake of epic proportions.

By forcefully merging several previously sovereign and culturally disparate nation states into one, the British inadvertently created a never ending struggle for power and resources among the 265 ethnic groups, that has manifested in the forms of corruption we see today: Nepotism,theft and Militant ethnic jingoists.

The race to Aso rock has now become a race to plunder, with the Efik man not giving two fvcks about his countryman from Gombe, and why should he? He is Efik first, and Naija for life at football or when bragging to the Ghana man.

It is too late now to break Nigeria up into smaller more governable fragments, but what we must do at least put Nigeria on the right path is to truly federalize the Government, by devolving more powers from the centre and moving it closer to the grass roots.

We need to foster economic and infrastructural competition between states, with the Federal Government taking more of a 'Big Brother' approach.

This is not the way to fix the country, but in my opinion, it's the best way to start.

Keneking:
Great write up...

Guess its time for Seun to put up a strictly "intellectual" section on Nairaland. Criteria should include; minimum of first degree (second class upper or equivalent). others are Masters and doctorate degree respectively.

To be a member, individuals would have to apply online to intellectuals@nairaland.com and I bet you would have another class in this forum.

The issue is that the current public domain is similar to a fuel station where everyone is carrying kegs and jerrycans and queuing up waiting for an attendant to dispense the product. Transporters, mechanics, fish sellers and the likes....

Pls make your remarks...

TheFilmmaker:


Sadly, education does not quantify intelligence.

Criteria should include; minimum of first degree (second class upper or equivalent). others are Masters and doctorate degree respectively.

Keneking:


Education is the suppression of the animalistic tendencies in the human person

bushdoc9919:


UAE, and Norway also have diversified economies. (The Saudis wish they had one too....that's why, for example...they opened a University of Science and Technology several years ago.It certainly was not for show).

UAE produces about 800,000 barrels per day more than Nigeria does....for a population of 11 million, compared to Nigeria's 170million people. Saudi and Norway are the world's no 1 and two oil producers....ie they produce far more oil than Nigeria....and BOTH of them have populations less than 12 million people.

Our oil is definetly not ENOUGH for all of us.....even for the South South. That is why we need to diversify. Resource dependency is sooo 1960's.

And don't start signing about agriculture....or even solid minerals...that is even another resource dependency.....especially as Science renders raw materials useless every day.

No...Nigeria has to develop an industrial and innovative economy. Oil is a CURSE.

989900:


Corruption and greed is the curse!

The amount of oil we have is just enough, not to make us live like the Qataris, or Emiratis, but more than enough to help us as a spring board/stepping stone if you will, to greater things.

A good example is Malaysia/Petronas; 30 million thereabout population, producing just a little above 500,000 barrels/day. They've done exceedingly well for themselves, despite a noticeable tinge of corruption in the country.

An we'r far more blessed naturally than they are. A huge Population does not necessarily have to be an Achilles heel if the managers know what they are doing (like you rightly suggested à la diversification) -- we'r not over-populated yet, could be, but not yet.

bushdoc9919:


Malaysia also has a diversified economy....including a rather good industrial sector. Diversification kicked off in the 1970's..(See WikiPedia for more).

So, it isn't just corruption. Nigeria needs to get off oil. Malaysia is NOT reliant on oil alone.

(BTW...PETRONAS ....Malaysia's state oil company is a global powerhouse. Can you say the same of NNPC?)

Malaysia is a good example of why Nigeria needs to get off oil.

Yes we need to get rid of corruption. But even minus corruption, we still do not have enough money to live well. That is why we need to diversify (Unless you want to tell 150million Nigerians that they are citizens of Niger and Benin and Cameroon.).

Oil is a curse.

bushdoc9919:


UAE, and Norway also have diversified economies. (The Saudis wish they had one too....that's why, for example...they opened a University of Science and Technology several years ago.It certainly was not for show).

UAE produces about 800,000 barrels per day more than Nigeria does....for a population of 11 million, compared to Nigeria's 170million people. Saudi and Norway are the world's no 1 and two oil producers....ie they produce far more oil than Nigeria....and BOTH of them have populations less than 12 million people.

Our oil is definetly not ENOUGH for all of us.....even for the South South. That is why we need to diversify. Resource dependency is sooo 1960's.

And don't start signing about agriculture....or even solid minerals...that is even another resource dependency.....especially as Science renders raw materials useless every day.

No...Nigeria has to develop an industrial and innovative economy. Oil is a CURSE.

Nihilist:
Nigeria is buckling under the weight of it's overbloated beauracracy, that much is true....but that is NOT the reason we are in penury.

And an over-dependence on Oil is also not the reason we're so poor...even though it looks that way.

We are poor simply because the amalgamation of 1914 was a mistake of epic proportions.

By forcefully merging several previously sovereign and culturally disparate nation states into one, the British inadvertently created a never ending struggle for power and resources among the 265 ethnic groups, that has manifested in the forms of corruption we see today: Nepotism,theft and Militant ethnic jingoists.

The race to Aso rock has now become a race to plunder, with the Efik man not giving two fvcks about his countryman from Gombe, and why should he? He is Efik first, and Naija for life at football or when bragging to the Ghana man.

It is too late now to break Nigeria up into smaller more governable fragments, but what we must do at least put Nigeria on the right path is to truly federalize the Government, by devolving more powers from the centre and moving it closer to the grass roots.

We need to foster economic and infrastructural competition between states, with the Federal Government taking more of a 'Big Brother' approach.

This is not the way to fix the country, but in my opinion, it's the best way to start.

mfm04622:


India is much more bigger, much more diverse in all ramifications than Nigeria! India has over 1000 tribes with different languages. They have more religions than Nigeria. Why are they this prosperous? Look for another excuse

989900:


Basically, my post agrees with yours if you probably would go over it again.

That said, corruption and greed is the curse like I stated earlier.

Is it that we do not have capable technocrats to drive the country forward in the right direction, better than your ideas, mine, and Malaysia's? No.

We do have these people, the basic problem is corruption and greed.

Diversify all you want, put these same set of people there as managers, with the same mindset and motives, and we'll still be at "square1" -- it's not rocket science. Corruption is like trying to fill up a conventional basket with water, try as you may, get a 100cm wide pipe funneled from the river Niger into it -- you'll still get the same result -- an empty basket!

Actually, to a large extent in the private sector, the economy is considerably diversified (only roughly 10% of our GDP is oil). However, with the government not providing the enabling ingredients so to speak, we do not get the desired delicacy.

Earlier on, you named a few countries with oil: Norway, Canada, UAE, Saudi, throw in Malaysia and e.t.c, they are all able to diversify and grow their economies with oil money (for them oil is not a curse).

Having oil is like having a rich father leaving you with inheritances, you can either be smart and use it wisely, or be f00lish as we are, and some few other countries like Equatorial Guinea and e.t.c. Would that mean inheritance is a curse? ATEOTD, it is what you make of it.

We have a very skewed money policy by the FG/CBN+the banks/Finance ministry that is designed to make a large chunk of the population bar a few, remain perpetually poor, regardless of the amount of money that Nigeria makes.

That is why our Naira never appreciated considerably, even when oil was $147/barrel, and our reserves were at $62b. However, immediately prices drop, it falls "yakata".

As we speak, oil prices are in the $65-$70 bracket, even the Russian Rouble with all the sanctions have made a 20-25% appreciation, how about the Naira?

And you wonder how we were able to maintain far far better exchange rates in years past even when we had less than $4b in our reserves, and oil sold for less than $10, $20, and $30.

And this is so important because, take for example a man that earns monthly N120,000 (roughly $1,000) in 2007, but earns N150,000 now ($714), is that progress? And he is a lucky man, cause some have even had their salaries slashed, some lost their jobs, while some earn the minimum wage of N18,000 ($85) -- throw in the fact that, he still has to battle with double-digit inflation with the depreciation in his meager wage!

Unless corruption and greed is tackled, our money policies fixed with the enrichment of the average Joe foremost, regardless of how much more money the country as an entity makes, it will do little in favor of the poor, but more into the purses of the rich -- that is your 'real Mc Coy'!

Truman155:
I didn't even bother to read it