LordAdam:


Is it not media blackmail?

Did you not notice how the electronically controlled zombies jumped on the thread to scream anti-GEJ sentiments, without reading the article, like he was the one that managed the companies or oversaw the selection process?

It was an okay writeup but the intent was wrong especially when you look at the title. Why did the writer not say "Rice Mafia orchestrate massive fraud in Nigeria N117b rice import quota scheme"? Rather than use "massive fraud" to suggest that the whole scheme was ridden with fraud whereas only the marketers and their cronies defrauded Nigerians.

GEJ did his job of formulating good policies. The Minister of Agriculture did his best to ensure the policies were enforced. And saboteurs in the ministry that are still employed in the ministry under PMB's government today sabotaged the policy. These same people will likely sabotage PMB's policies too, like is evident with the fuel subsidy scandal.

As long as people like you and those I quoted earlier on continue to reason like jelly fishes, nothing meaningful will happen in Nigeria.

-Lord

the buck stops at his table.

omohayek:


Guess what? I do think it's also a terrible tool which is almost always misused by politicians to reward their followers and relatives with public funds. Isn't awarding inflated contracts one of the most common forms of corruption in Nigerian politics?



And who gets to set those terms? Do you think successful countries are built on politicians awarding contracts on favorable terms to their cronies and kinsmen? Because that's what you have today in Nigeria.



You must be joking. Nigeria doesn't even register as a blip on the radar screen in terms of manufacturing of anything whatsoever, let alone cars. The key car manufacturers in the world are the USA, Germany, Japan and South Korea, and they didn't get to where they are by Nigerian-style tariff manipulation.



Every country also has corruption, robbery, rape and murder, but that doesn't mean these are good things. Most try to reduce the incidence of such things, but in Nigeria we cheer greedy politicians as they attempt to cheat us by interfering in markets, just because they say their policies are on our behalf.




Why, because you don't understand it? Tell that to Hong Kong, which has had such a thing for most of its history. Tell it to the World Trade Organization, which has negotiated several rounds of treaties towards this same "unreasonable" goal.



And instead of trying to fight it, we should therefore surrender to it? Why fight robbery and rape either? After all, they will always be with us.



No, the question is that politicians are allowed to award quotas and subsidies to friends at all: this is precisely what is called "corruption" in civilized countries. The difference between Nigeria and better run countries is that instead of just shrugging their shoulders and saying "that's life", citizens of less corrupt countries get outraged and either go out on the streets to protest, or introduce recall initiatives to throw the crooks out of office. We need to stop making excuses for our thieving political class, even if they come from the same tribe or party as we do.

Finally, no offense, but it's clear that you don't have any idea of how free trade works, or why protectionism is such an awful idea. As a corrective, I suggest you read Frederic Bastiat's "Candlemakers Petition."

http://fee.org/freeman/the-candlemakers-petition/

No politician will ever be able to outdo the wisdom of the market in deciding how to allocate resources - let alone Nigeria's political class of thieves and senile ex-soldiers, hardly any of whom have ever run any business under conditions of fair competition in their entire lives.

you're arguing with a wild animal. very ignorant dude. better leave him and debate human beings willing to learn. are you an economist. BTW I believe in import substitution. even though the 'experts ' say it can't work

cao:
It's amazing how some of our elders just want to destroy our country, to line their pockets. After all this stealing, you'll not take it with you when you die. These SoBs should be tried for treason with a death penalty for them and their underlings. Every single one of them, they're all rotten to the core. Alas, the status quo will probably remain & we Nigerians will just keep suffering & smiling.

not if we challenge them. we can change it. only takes one dedicated individual