Katsumoto:

Debenhams is more likely to make money from middle class shoppers than heavy spenders because of the numbers of middle class shoppers. If its only the Debenhams on Oxford street or if the retailer was a luxury brand, then I might have been convinced that they are appealing to their usual customers. In this case, I am just going with the retailer trying to reach some of its illiterate customers.

Sagamite, Nigerians on holiday shop on Oxford street and the West end in general. You are right in stating that many southerners stay with families and friends but that also means that they have more money to spend on shopping. Lets not also forget awon ike (credit card) boys that shop heavily in the west end. 10 Northerners spending £10,000 can not outspend 150 southerners spending £2000 and 15 (ike and yahoo boys) spending £5000.

Honestly the arrogance of we southerners is disturbing and our ignorance is painful. It is a shame we have been brainwashed to the extent we think anyone who does not speak english is illiterate. Now how can Debenhams be reaching out to illiterates by writing something on shop walls.

Last time i checked illiterates are not meant to be able to read otherwise they would not be called illiterates. There is hardly any hausa you will find in london that cannot speak english the same way any average southerner does. Writing something in other languages is simply a marketing tool to make the shoppers that speak the language important. It is not to aid shopping in anyway otherwise they will have to speak hausa to them at the till and write hausa on everything in the stall. Simply writing thank you in someones language is a mark of appreciation nothing more and this thread is in fact becoming meaningless.

@aaidel

U r going off tangent. The discussion in my opinion should focus on what each individual state (government) can produce & not whether or not we should stay together. And yes, most of what I eat come from the middle-belt because I eat lots of tubers, and my opinion is there is the producer & then there is the transporter. You can guess who the producer is & who the transporter is. And I doubt the state governors of Benue or Plateau will travel with a harem of (English) illiterates to shop in London.

logica:

@aaidel,

Firstly "most of the food" u talk about come from the "middle-belt" (Idomas and other ethnicities who are not Hausa speaking btw) & not the north (but ignorant people generally don't know the difference), but then let's even allow that. So in your opinion, non-export food production (which is more or less subsistence farming) is the only claim u can pull up? How much of this food production come from or is supported by the state governments?

As for Sagamite, he remains a dunce & I'll do well 2 ignore.

Moooron, you are chatting shyt!

So are you saying the North does not produce any agricultural products? Ode!

Why don't you list for us what Southern states produce.

blacklion:

Federation Allocation derived from the blood money of Niger Deltans + VAT + tax revenues generated in the South.

What do Niger Deltans produce?

Lagosboy:

Honestly the arrogance of we southerners is disturbing and our ignorance is painful. It is a shame we have been brainwashed to the extent we think anyone who does not speak english is illiterate. Now how can Debenhams be reaching out to illiterates by writing something on shop walls.

Last time i checked illiterates are not meant to be able to read otherwise they would not be called illiterates. There is hardly any hausa you will find in london that cannot speak english the same way any average southerner does. Writing something in other languages is simply a marketing tool to make the shoppers that speak the language important. It is not to aid shopping in anyway otherwise they will have to speak hausa to them at the till and write hausa on everything in the stall. Simply writing thank you in someones language is a mark of appreciation nothing more and this thread is in fact becoming meaningless.

You might be right about your postulation that anyone that can read is not illiterate but:

1) Some form of literacy is useless. E.g. if you can only read and write in Hausa, then that is useless because I cannot recall any higher institution, or even secondary school, that teaches in and uses materials in Hausa. That was why the comparison with Chinese auwal made was dumb.

2) Majority of Hausas are illiterates that is why the international media organisations have a Hausa service.

I am not going off tangent the producer and transporter are both northerners even the precious oil is dependent onhausa transporters.and its exactly this kind of superiority syndrome that is affecting the progress of yoruba's you can't assume every other person is useless just because in your mind you imagine you are the best at everything

@aaidel,

Again u go off tangent talking about the "Yoruba superiority complex". How do u even know I'm Yoruba? In any case talk about what state governments produce if u do have any 2 talk about.

Lagosboy:

Honestly the arrogance of we southerners is disturbing and our ignorance is painful. It is a shame we have been brainwashed to the extent we think anyone who does not speak english is illiterate. Now how can Debenhams be reaching out to illiterates by writing something on shop walls.

Last time i checked illiterates are not meant to be able to read otherwise they would not be called illiterates. There is hardly any hausa you will find in london that cannot speak english the same way any average southerner does. Writing something in other languages is simply a marketing tool to make the shoppers that speak the language important. It is not to aid shopping in anyway otherwise they will have to speak hausa to them at the till and write hausa on everything in the stall. Simply writing thank you in someones language is a mark of appreciation nothing more and this thread is in fact becoming meaningless.

Dude, please speak for yourself; I am not arrogant. I am simply stating a fact that is known worldwide. I already addresses similar posts as yours. Please see below. Sagamite as equally done justice to your post. WRT the point you made about ALL hausa speakers in London being able to speak hausa, clearly you haven't met some of the hausa speakers on Edgware road or Oxford street who require famiky members/friends to translate.

Katsumoto:

Keep denying the problems that exist in the North of Nigeria. English is the lingua franca in Nigeria and not hausa. Nigerian citizens who are unable to read and write in English are illiterate (it means they are unable to communicate with other citizens who don't understand Hausa); especially as these citizens have the means to pay for expensive plane tickets and articles but can't find their way to classrooms.

Besides, southerners are able to read and write in their mother tongues as well as in english.

Sagamite:

You might be right about your postulation that anyone that can read is not illiterate but:

1) Some form of literacy is useless. E.g. if you can only read and write in Hausa, then that is useless because I cannot recall any higher institution, or even secondary school, that teaches in and uses materials in Hausa. That was why the comparison with Chinese auwal made was dumb.

2) Majority of Hausas are illiterates that is why the international media organisations have a Hausa service.

What is the basis for saying majority of hausas are illiiterates? you acknowledged literacy is the ability to read and write and i am not here to talk about the relevance of a language but your wild assertion that majority of hausas are illeterates should be backed up with facts please.

Now the reason you gave for your assertion does not hold water IMO because can we say majority of PAkistanis are illiterates for having a BBC urdu service or majority of iraninas are illiterates for having a CNN farsi service. What we fail to acknowledge is that Hausa is an international language spoken all around west africa an even in some remote parts of Sudan. It is the 2nd or 3rd most important african language and it should be preserved.

I acknowledge that some of our northern bros and sis are uneducated but that should not be the focus of this thread. The thread simply states Debenhams wrote thank you in hausa and some of us southerners out of whatever reason are wrong for linking it to the fact that hausas are not educated.

As africans we should simply be proud one of our languages was acknowledged by a hight street shop and leave it at that.

Well if state govts can take credit for what there citizenery produce then in addition to food they also produce hides which is tanned and exported in addition to gold silica and other precious stones

Lagosboy:

What is the basis for saying majority of hausas are illiiterates? you acknowledged literacy is the ability to read and write and i am not here to talk about the relevance of a language but your wild assertion that majority of hausas are illeterates should be backed up with facts please.

Is this enough facts for you:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=668925

It says 67% of people are illiterate. I would assume 67% can be regarded as a majority?

If 70% of people have never attended school, what do you expect them to be? Literate?

Are those facts sufficient for you?

Lagosboy:

Now the reason you gave for your assertion does not hold water IMO because can we say majority of PAkistanis are illiterates for having a BBC urdu service or majority of iraninas are illiterates for having a CNN farsi service. What we fail to acknowledge is that Hausa is an international language spoken all around west africa an even in some remote parts of Sudan. It is the 2nd or 3rd most important african language and it should be preserved.

If you show me where I said "Anytime a foreign media organisation offers a braodcast in a language, then the people of that language are illiterate" then I will be able to respond to this.

I maintain, the main reason these organisations offer an Hausa service is because Majority of Hausas are illiterates and would not be able to understand the English version.

Note: Saying that does not mean I imply that when they offer a Spanish service, then all spanish speakers are illiterate.

Lagosboy:

I acknowledge that some of our northern bros and sis are uneducated but that should not be the focus of this thread. The thread simply states Debenhams wrote thank you in hausa and some of us southerners out of whatever reason are wrong for linking it to the fact that hausas are not educated.

As africans we should simply be proud one of our languages was acknowledged by a high street shop and leave it at that.

People are responding to the fact that when people have money and can spend alot, you expect them to have worked hard for the money. Working hard for money as we understand it in the modern world evinces some level of being highly educated.

Most Northerners are not educated, talkless of highly educated, so to get a news report that suggests that a large amount of them are spending so much to the point they are recognised whilst a lot of Nigerians are struggling can get up people's arse.

Not that Hausas are the only people that have stolen in Nigeria but to hear a news report shaped to show they are that rich despite being the least educated can be offensive to a lot of people struggling in Nigeria, where we know public corruption is epidemic and Northerners have unworthily held power most times and get most of the public posts.

@Saga

They probably used school enrollment, a lot of the hausa peeps are literate and educated, but not in english or western education.

hercules07:

@Saga

They probably used school enrollment, a lot of the hausa peeps are literate and educated, but not in english or western education.

Maybe.

But whatever form of education they are getting that is not in English is useless junk in my opinion.

Evident in the murderous, hopeless, futureless Almajiris we see on the streets.

Evident in the proportion of beggars we have in Nigeria that are from the region.

Evident in the highest poverty level the region has in Nigeria.

Evident in the majority useless and clueless leaders they produce.

Evident in their lack of ability to compete in the corporate/private sector.

Evident in their holding us back when they did not let us have a robust and comprehensive census.

Their system of alternative education is not churning out much things of value to society or of high intellect.

@aaidel,
Come on, a state government can't just lay claim to what independent entities and individuals produce without their support or direct funds.

And on the dependence of the oil sector on the "northern freight tankers", maybe u should see this as a conspiracy considering that everybody with half a brain knows rail transportation makes more sense; take a look @ the carnage those trucks cause on the roads & the damage they cause to the roads (due to overloading).

Maybe they're expecting an influx of hausa speakers @ topic.

Lord knows something has to be done about the huge educational disparities between north and southern nigeria.

Currently i think at least 80% of all visa seekers are from southern nigeria.

Well on that basis almost no state produces anything worthy of mention as for conspiracy I don't know about that but I'm sure you will blame the hausas for not developing rail transport

@aaidel,

Wrong again. Just track back a bit & read Katsumoto's post on the contribution to the GDP by Ondo and Ekiti. And they are not alone.

what is all this hate for

envy would not take u anywhere

aaidel:

Well on that basis almost no state produces anything worthy of mention as for conspiracy I don't know about that but I'm sure you will blame the hausas for not developing rail transport

That is exactly what I have been trying to tell the dunce.

On the basis of production:

1) Hardly any state bar 4 or 5 in Nigeria produce jackshit (bar agricultural products), so the South is not that better than the North. Most of the Niger Delta, if not all, produce nada!

2) Most that produce are not producing sufficiently enough to sustain their state without oil allocation.

Well as far as I'm concerned just because a state has a large population of farmers or artisans which it doesn't support in any way then that state cannot take credit for their hardwork the states in mention how many hectars of land is the state directly involved in farming? Keeping in mind that the major job of the states is not to produce but to provide an enabling environment for those that are interested in production to set up something therefore if those states have a lot of suucessful farmers through the generations then the state shouldn't be taking credit for what is only a natural way of life of its people

aaidel:

Well as far as I'm concerned just because a state has a large population of farmers or artisans which it doesn't support in any way then that state cannot take credit for their hardwork the states in mention how many hectars of land is the state directly involved in farming? Keeping in mind that the major job of the states is not to produce but to provide an enabling environment for those that are interested in production to set up something therefore if those states have a lot of suucessful farmers through the generations then the state shouldn't be taking credit for what is only a natural way of life of its people

Exactly!!!

Most people do not know this is the primary responsibilities of governments: To create an enabling environment.

Some silly people think governments are there primarily to provide jobs and run things.

blacklion:

Yes, there we have it. Here is an example of  Hausa-Fulani 'businessman' and 'professional' squandering money at Debenhams.

Where are the m o r o n s who were denying yesterday that the Hausa people shopping at Debenhams are the thieves and rogues?

Thank God this Mutallabist has confessed that his governor Bafarawa is among the Hausa thieves that shop at Debenhams.

What exactly does Sokoto produce for Bafarawa to be spending at Debenhams?

What does Sokoto contribute to Nigeria's GDP?

So whose money is Bafarawa squandering at Debenhams?

Federation Allocation derived from the blood money of Niger Deltans + VAT + tax revenues generated in the South.


Useless & hopeless parasites and leeches.  That region will remain the poorest and most backwards with all these Mutallbists we have here on nairaland.

in london most hausa are hard working professionals, most of them are educated from high insitutions from al madinah to al azhar so they can afford these things if want, i know some, as someone said hausa doesn't go outside to hustle, just stop the envy

namfav:

in london most hausa are hard working professionals, most of them are educated from high insitutions from al madinah to al azhar so they can afford these things if want, i know some, as someone said hausa doesn't go outside to hustle, just stop the envy

What is Al Madinah and Al Azhar?

Sagamite:

What is Al Madinah and Al Azhar?

universites

Sagamite:

What is and Al Azhar?

Al Madinah

Al Azhar

Not sure, but I'm curious too, What jobs will you get with those degrees? Anyway, what do I know


EDIT: Ok,  I see Al Madinah has some undergraduate ICT courses too. Maybe those ones.

namfav:

universites

I hope you mean getting jobs in the Islamic business world and corporations.

In the grand scheme of things, such schools are not highly regarded as top schools, ones requiring intellectual rigour or ones that make you competitive against other graduates.

namfav:

in london most hausa are hard working professionals, most of them are educated from high insitutions from al madinah to al azhar so they can afford these things if want, i know some, as someone said hausa doesn't go outside to hustle, just stop the envy

Your brothers that attended 'high institutions' such as Univeristy of Buckingham can not even find work in the UK talk less of some graduates from Islamic Institutions.

Abubakar Audu's son was the only candidate in his MBA class at University of Cardiff who was awarded a diploma instead of an MBA. But I am sure he wont have any problems finding work in a top govt. institution in Nigeria.

Hausa folks are proud of their language Ibos &Yorubas will want to with queens oyibo thereby got lost in the crowd, its a lesson!

kabba7:

Hausa folks are proud of their language Ibos &Yorubas will want to with queens oyibo thereby got lost in the crowd, its a lesson!

Mate, I can guarantee you that the Yoruba Language is not lost in the crowd.

That is without a shadow of a doubt!

Yet Yorubas are reasonably/highly educated.

Sagamite:

I hope you mean getting jobs in the Islamic business world and corporations.

In the grand scheme of things, such schools are not highly regarded as top schools, ones requiring intellectual rigour or ones that make you competitive against other graduates.

al azhar is one of the top university in the world, most west africans there are hausa-fulani and alot are very successful, dangote also did business studies there, unkown to universities to you like like the university of khartoum (which you may also find hausa-fulani) produce very successful people, lamido  sanusi also did his studies there if i'm not mistaken, so don't under estimate just because you don't know the institutions

Katsumoto:

Your brothers that attended 'high institutions' such as Univeristy of Buckingham can not even find work in the UK talk less of some graduates from Islamic Institutions.

Abubakar Audu's son was the only candidate in his MBA class at University of Cardiff who was awarded a diploma instead of an MBA. But I am sure he wont have any problems finding work in a top govt. institution in Nigeria.

really? thats news, here in north america i got offers and i am not even done studying but really i don't hear of hausa hustling in the uk, just saying

namfav:

al azhar is one of the top university in the world, most west africans there are hausa-fulani and alot are very successful, dangote also did business studies there, unkown to universities to you like like the university of khartoum (which you may also find hausa-fulani) produce very successful people, lamido  sanusi also did his studies there if i'm not mistaken, so don't under estimate just because you don't know the institutions

really? thats news, here in north america i got offers and i am not even done studying but really i don't hear of hausa hustling in the uk, just saying

Are you pursuing a correspondence or online pogram with Al Ahzar or Al Madinah if you are in North America? If you are, and you hope to be employed with such pograms, you better get your dad to set up a company in NA. Yes, Northerners don't usually hustle OR find professional work in the UK. They usually return home where 'daddy' assists with heading govt bodies.

Katsumoto:

Are you pursuing a correspondence or online pogram with Al Ahzar or Al Madinah if you are in North America? If you are, and you hope to be employed with such pograms, you better get your dad to set up a company in NA.

no but i will study sharia'h there one day or even in khartoum

namfav:

al azhar is one of the top university in the world, most west africans there are hausa-fulani and alot are very successful, dangote also did business studies there, unkown to universities to you like like the university of khartoum (which you may also find hausa-fulani) produce very successful people, lamido  sanusi also did his studies there if i'm not mistaken, so don't under estimate just because you don't know the institutions

really? thats news, here in north america i got offers and i am not even done studying but really i don't hear of hausa hustling in the uk, just saying

Son, you must be having a laugh!

You have been severely mislead. If it is not too late, I hope and beg you that such level should not be your aspiration.

Al Azhar is NOT one of the top universities in the world. If they did a list of top 1000 universities in the world, Al Azhar will not be anywhere near the list. You have been completely misled.

Because a university produces some few exceptions does not mean it is a top Uni.

Al Azhar will not even be able to compete with the LondonMETs and likes in the west, talkless of the top unis.

Northerners don't hustle in UK because of the high dichotomy between the rich and the poor in the North.

- The poor are too wretchedly poor and illiterate (can't speak English) to even afford to go abroad or see the point.

- And majority of the ones that are rich are kids of contractors and civil servants that can have exceptional resources to be there without working.

namfav:

like the university of khartoum (which you may also find hausa-fulani) produce very successful people, lamido  sanusi also did his studies there if i'm not mistaken, so don't under estimate just because you don't know the institutions

Yes, Sanusi went to African International University in Khartoum after ABU I think.


BTW, @Namfav, I'm just curious, and you don't have to answer;

Do you have close family members in government? I mean in politics or maybe in top Civil Service?

Family as in Father, Mother, Uncle, or close siblings.

I ask because the few Notherners I know who go to school out of Nigeria hardly work, and they get their parents to pay their fees. Now, those parents are mostly top civil servants or Politicians, Not the same for most Sotherners that I know.

Are your parents in Private business as in Agriculture, banking e.t.c or you just work and go to school like most southerners?