I disagree that "oil has inadvertently given us a reason to be in the same nation " because Oil was found after the Nigerian experiment was created/designed.

I agree and fully appreciate your erudite presentation on the state of the Nigerian system. I have always wondered why things are 'backwards in naija' Your write up helps a lot, thanks.

I appreciate your kind words, my sometimes incoherent writing is an attempt to summarize my gleanings from different well informed sources on the issue. I am still on a path of discovery myself as to why our nation has persistently failed to live up to its potential.

As for my previous opening statement, what I meant to say is that Oil inadvertently gave us a reason to remain as a nation, when other differences and disagreements would have otherwise led to our breakup.

Whether this continued existence or 'united Nigeria drive' is one borne out of genuine love, or simply a case of a bag of goodies too good to be left behind as exemplified by the greed of many political office holders is still undecided at this point. One thing is sure - when creation of a nation is something foisted on a diverse group of people without any real input from them, we are bound to find ourselves in the present chaos sooner or later. The greater tragedy would be to refuse to address the underlying issues as to what basis we exist as a union and what we can expect from each other as constituent groups - whether as geo-political zones, tribal kingdoms or states.

ill say oil is a growing curse on nigeria.cos it appriciates every day.

First and foremost, Seun, why don't we get notifications anymore? It is kind of frustrating for me to have to guess whether or not someone has responded to my post. It used to help in the past. Even the RSS feeds helped in the past as well. Please look into these.

The problem with oil and naija is akin to the proverb, "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail to you".

On another note, someone up top implied that without oil, pple would have nothing to eat. Isn't that a blanket statement? Is okpenkulu from Mbanu chopping oil money? If so, why is he still tying that old wrapper and riding on that black bicycle left to him by his great-grandfather? It is in the hands of a few. If everyone indeed had something to eat as the writer posted, why is there MASSOB?

Look at dubai. I don't know if it has a lot of oil but from my readings, I can tell that they are starting NOW to diversify by coming up with numerous tourist attractions. Look at Norway, I believe. They sell their fuel for $7 a gallon. Yet they save that money for their citizens who are guaranteed a good retirement. They take advantage of the black gold.

Upon all the oil we have, we can't even provide constant electricity. Yet, countries we provide electricity to haven't had a blackout in years. I just watched a Ghanaian movie. I was stunned at the development of a country we used to laugh at in the 80s. Sure, it is possible that the movie is showing the good parts of town. I will say this though, when I watch Naija movies, they show the same aerial view with that tall white building. In the Ghanaian movie, they showed the streets, houses, etc. Made me want to visit the place.

Until we effectively utilize our oil revenues (build *solid* roads, have constant electricity, workers get paid on time, constant water supply, we have a national airline that we are proud of, I don't have to sleep like a cat when I visit Naija cos of fear of being robbed, I don't have to send money home to relatives. Should I go on?), the crude oil will remain a curse.

Remember, prior to the discovery of crude, Nigeria was surviving via Agric exports. Once the oil came in, it was the typical, "teach a man to fish". We go lazy overnight. Now, we have white people in states like Kwara growing the food we should be growing. All we want to do is do white-collar job when in truth, if you put your minds to it and dump the ego and pride, it is the blue-collar guy that stands to make more money.

As always, my 2 cents.

oil oil oil?
which one?
red oil, vegetable oil, or mai shanu?

I'm afraid I cannot continue any further in this discussion. I have things to think about and people to call. I can't waste valuable call credit in educating the ineducable.


Whe somebody is telling me that the Roads, Schools, Houses and Electricity acquired with Groundnut and Cocoa money is what is sustaining us till today, then I know there is serious mental decay in this forum.


Go to Isale Eko and see the houses and Streets that were constructed pre-Crude Oil, then compare those with the ones on the Marina that were built post-Crude Oil. Or you can even compare them with those in Abuja.


The bloody railway you keep mentioning, it was constructed as a makeshift structure. Have you ever travelled on the railway from Kano to Lagos? For your information, I have. And I suggest the Government should dismantle those rails and ship them back to England.


The only reasonable thing you've mentioned since you stepped onto this thread is TAXATION. It makes people hold their government accountable. But what do you suggest? We abandon our main source of income and start taxing what?

When you want to tax, it is still from Crude Oil that the larger percentage of taxation will come. What the government (which includes us) have to do is to relinquish the ownership of the Crude Oil to the people of the vicinity. But because the structures of resource control and a Federated Economy has not been part of our system and culture for the past 100 years, it is difficult to implement in overnight.


If we divest Resources to the individuals who have it on their land right now, there will be massive chaos.


If the Government had not stepped in to develop Crude Oil in Nigeria, do you think we could have done it ourselves?


There is Gold and Uranium in Nigeria, how come we have not explored them ourselves on a massive scale? The Government has to still take up monopoly of all these other resource and develop them with partner companies before all resource can be handed down to the people for onward taxation of proceeds.


Even then, there will be communal clashes for another 10 years on who really owns what resources. Whose house is on top of a Goldmine and whose is just nearby.



The problem with Nigeria is not any Crude Oil curse. The problem is the system of Government imposed on us by foreigners.


Who started Military Rule in Nigeria? Who was our first Military Ruler/Dictator some of you will say it is this and that. What about Frederick Lugard?


Who enacted the subsidy of everything in Nigeria including water, fuel and Pilgrimage? Subsidies that were not in place during their half decade of colonial rule.

That's why someone is saying Public Education has gotten worse. When you don't know what percentage of Nigerians were educated in 1965 and the University structures and numbers in place back then. And if the Public Education System in not to your level, is it not the same you who will fight against privatising it? Why don't you even school at a Private University and quit whining? Or has the Crude Oil Curse prevented you from attending a Private University too?

Who introduced an Absolute Centralised Government in Nigeria? Before the British Colonization, South Eastern Nigeria had its Oligarchies, where no single man can wake up in the morning and destine the lives of the entire population.


Northern Nigeria (except for Maiduguri) was running a perfectly Federated Government. Each Emirate acted independently and only consulted with the Sultan for advice and remitted a percentage of taxes to the Sultan of Sokoto.


The British came in and introduced Military Rule and an Authoritarian Centralised Government headed by a Dictator. All Resource in Nigeria were declared property of The Crown. Our Federation Account was operated by The Crown who saw it fit to tax Fulani Cattle, Ijaw Fish and Palm Oil. Our Federation Account that the British used to fight their European Tribal Wars I & II.

I have been asking and nobody has told me how many billion Pounds we made for 70 years of being the world top Cocoa, Groundnut and Palm Oil producer. Please somebody riddle me this.


It is that system that has put Nigeria where it is today.


Oil has just made Equatorial Guinea the second richest country per capita. And what do the British do? They send Sir Mark Thatcher, Jeffrey Archer and du Toit to go and initiate a Coup in Equatorial Guinea so that they can go in there and buy 100 barrels of Crude Oil at the cost of 1 AK-47. Then they will tell the Guineans that it is the Crude Oil that is their curse. Even as these British Military Government installers, Coup Plotters and Civil War Financiers are caught red-handed, Africans will still be saying we're under a Resource Curse.


Sierra Leonean civil war was sponsored by diamond dealers in Switzerland (the most peaceful country in the world) an CNN was making documentaries to con the Sierra Leoneans into accepting that their diamonds are a curse.





Again, I would like to ask how many tonnes of Beans, Cassava, Yam, Tomatoes, Pepper, Millet, Sorghum, Plantain, Maize and Melon we were producing during our so-called Agricultural BOOM.


Perhaps most of you think that the British came to Kano to meet Groundnut Pyramids.


The Colonial government used taxation to drive food crop farmers from their farms to farming what the British wanted to export to factories in Britain.

If you farm Cassava, you pay a 40% tax. If you decide to abandon your Cassava to farm Palm Oil which is what the Masters want, you get to pay a 20% tax and a boss is imposed on you in your own farm to supervise and account.

If you decide to quit farming altogether, you pay a 15% community tax or a 10% housing tax for the mud shack you Grandfather built. Therefore you were forced to return to farm Palm Oil under a Master on your own farm.


Same thing if you farm Melon, you will soon be converted into a Cotton farmer.


If you didn't have any solid day job, a levy will still be imposed on you so that you either start building a railway or road that leads from the Farm Depots to the Ports from which they will ship off the Produce to Britain. If there are no openings in rail or road construction, you either become a human donkey for transporting goods from the farms to the depots or from the rails to the Ports.
If no job there, you join the Army and fight the Germans so that you can earn enough to pay your taxes to The Crown.



Because most of the farmers had been driven from their Beans, Cassava, Plantain, Melon, Maize, Onion, Yam, Tomatoes and Pepper farms, these commodities became very scarce and thus expensive.


Immediately the British abandoned Nigeria and went to source for it's Agricultural raw materials elsewhere due to the German blockade of West Africa, the Nigerian Cocoa, Groundnut, Palm and Cotton farmers didn't have any market to export to and therefore returned their farms to the production of Yam, Cassava, Beans, Tomatoes, Pepper, Maize, Rice, and even Poultry.

If you calculate the entire volume of Agricultural goods produced in Nigeria today, and the entire Agricultural goods produced in 1967, today is more. Far more. It's just that we're not producing what another nation wants us to export to them. We're producing what we need. If anybody wants to export what we're producing for ourselves, good. If not, then that's their business. Nigeria recently became the largest producer of Cassava in the world overtaking Brazil from where Cassava was originally introduced to Nigeria. Now we're exporting it to Britain and China yet no one has applauded. Nigeria just broke the cycle of Poultry importation and is now about the highest Poultry exporter to the rest of Africa. Nobody said anything.

Must we completely turn ourselves to a foreign country's Farm before we'll be appreciated.

Do we start massive production of Palm Oil when there is no extra demand for it in the world?
The British consciously and with great premeditation, moved their Plantations out of Nigeria during their war with Germany. They are not coming back. If we tripple our Palm production today, the only thing that will happen is that Palm Oil prices will crash to one third its current prices and farmers worldwide including Nigeria will run down.

If we double our Cocoa production, Brazil and Ivory Coast will have economic decline due to low prices. Cadbury will buy Cocoa for half the price worldwide and still sell Chocolates at the very same prices. Farmers in Ibadan will gather their Cocoa and set them ablaze as they usually do.

Have you people never asked yourselves why that happens? Why Cocoa farmers burn they Cocoa during some years rather than sell. And you want us to produce more. So that this time around, the prices will go so low that the farmers will not only set their Cocoa Ablaze, they will go home and set their entire families ablaze.


We really suffered. Our Grandparents were shipped off to Burma to fight Germans who we previously had never met just because they wanted to pay taxes owed to The Crown. Taxes paid for being a Nigerian under British Protection. Need I tell you that most of these honest pay seeking Nigerian soldiers that went to the war in Burma very few could afford to come back because the Government provided free transportation for them to get to the warfront, but after that, you're on your own.


Well, considering all this I think we were faring quite well.




The Question am still asking is: HOW MANY BILLION POUNDS WAS IN OUR FEDERATION ACCOUNT AND OUR FOREIGN RESERVES AFTER MORE THAN 70 YEARS OF BEING A TOP AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS EXPORTER IN THE WORLD? HOW MANY BILLION POUNDS?

If you cannot place a single billion pounds in the Nigerian Federation Account during the Agricultural BOOM, then please, forever hold your PISS!

Oil is suppose to be of great blessing to our nation but these very greedy political leaders of ours will not allow the country to utilize it to the benefit of all, rather they make it seem like a curse.May God eradicate them all

@denex,
how you de bro. long time no see
I think you should know by now when some pipu wants you
to lecture dem on some issues, will argue blindly and at times stupidly
who will say the almighty crude oil discovered in naija some years back is not
what keep the country going?
if not for oil am not talking of mai geda,mai kede, mai shanu or any other type of mai
there wont be ABUJA today. and am sure there wont be Abacha loot, Ibb loot, Abdulsallam loot
THERE WONT BE OBASANJO LOOT part 1 and 2

God is not going to do anything for us. Or do you still think it was God who killed Abacha and gave Abiola tea?

If you want to get something done, you have to do it. The first thing is to let every country round the world to know that they will gain nothing by destabilising Nigeria. Nothing! We are already beginning to produce our own weapons ourselves, and we will consciously shut down 2 million barrels of Crude Oil supply to the world and everybody will suffer, no one will gain.

Secondly, when people like Magareth Thatcher's son are caught in Africa red-handed trying to effect a Military Coup and start a Civil War, the AU most prevent countries like South Africa from freeing them for small fines. Countries like Nigeria which spend the most to end Civil Wars all around Africa should seize such people and publicly behead them. So that Europeans will know that you can't just throw an entire African Country into Civil War or Military Rule simply because you want to buy resources cheaply.

Those that cannot be caught redhanded but are suspected of financing Military Coups, selling weapons to War Torn Countries or Cashing in on the Resources of War Torn Countries should be tracked down in their countries and given Abiola tea or Abacha apple and Viagra overdose.

Then the AU should always put together a massive Armed Unit to eradicate any militant group engaged in warfare for the sole purpose of selling their country's resources to foreigners at cheap rates. Eg our MEND.

African countries should stop exporting their resources as raw materials. Anybody who is interested in our resources must export them as Processed goods. Therefore no cheap resource seeker can start a war in Africa because their own factories will be destroyed. If Shell and TotalFinaElf each had 4 major refineries in Nigeria, they never would have wanted Nigeria to be caught up in a Civil War.

That is how we start utilising our resources better. Doing what needs doing.

Not by calling on God.

@denex

nice posts man, very insightful. Nigeria needs more peeps like you bro.

with the way denex de vex so,
if dem make him presido of naija,
e no go last two weeks befor the mafia kill am.
bush go label am terrorist, dictator and he go say
he don de plan to do atomic bomb!
wallahi dem go bombard naija becous of him.

Oil is a blessing,but the management is cursed,it is like exposing a dried fish to a hungry rat, not even a smart rat,because a smart rat saves for a rainy day.Give  nigeria oil reserve 10 to 20 years all is gone,the world consumption of oil is at a very high pace,with china's emancipation ,of every barrel of oil produce world wide,six is consumed.What will nigeria do without the blackgold with  little or no technological knowhow and lack of industries?We suppose to use oil to develop,buy technology and catapult ourselves form the middle age that we are in presently to the 21st century world,just like China.This is the age of information,possibilities at our fingertips.

Of course the war will soon be extended to nigeria for the sake of oil,soon america will be sending their special forces to guide the oil wells and reserves without any rule change on how the people are treated,the war has already started,it is just the beginning.The people are aware,they want a part of what belongs to them,when i mean the people,i mean the whole country.Either you live or you die,you don't have to live if you can't.Life is not for the weak,it is for the fittest,natural selection.

wishful thinking

It is difficult to say if oil is a curse or blessing to Nigeria. There is a term called RESOURCE CURSE. what it simply means is that most countries that are richly blessed with mineral reosurces are usually ranked as the poorest in the world. The paradox therefore is that the resources that are supposed to make these countries rich turns out to be the bane of the devt. of such countries.

Before oil became a great deal in Nigeria, people could work and earn honest living. There was a great belief in the dignity of labour. infrastructures were very good; there may have mbeen few roads, but they weren't death traps for the people. what is the use of having 1000 roads whose integrity are questionable and snuffs out life from citizens on a daily basis anyway?

The question is not how much we had in our foreign reserve then and how much we have now. the question should what is the quality of life of nigerians now vis-a-vis what was obtainable then? how does the amount in our foreign reserve reflect in the state of our tertiary institutions today? what about our health institutions? things are gradually falling apart and the center grappling seriously to hold them together.

Enough of the preambles. oil in itself is not a curse. it is the type of leadership we have had that is cursed and therefore made oil a curse to Nigeria. God in His wisdom gave the resource to us to be a blessing. However, rather than always blaming developed world and accusing them of trying to deceive us in order to take "our oil" let us begin to seriously think of how we can collectively reverse the resource curse and make oil the blessing God intended it to be. We can begin by stop being very insultive and try to be a bit matured in our analysis of issues on this forum rather than always picking on individuals whose opinions we don't agree with!

Shalom!

Oil is not the problem. The people of the country are.

Natural gift are a blessing to it's citizens, it's the way the citizen's handle the blessing becomes what it is?

What a shame

thanks magneto and osereka. I'm just saying what I know.

@osereka

why do you think Baba is going slow? Any rapid development in any African Country will warrant a visit from Sir Mark Thatcher and his gang of Coupists because the more an African Country developes, the more it uses up its own resources and the less there is for our Masters who only see us as their nation's Common Wealth (Ordinary Property). When I become president, I will not shine too bright lest the USA do to me what they did to Patrice Lumumba. I will move this country at an OBJ-ish pace and I will let most of the credit go to Ministers and other Government officials so that anybody who doesn't like the progress my administration makes can go and kill them instead.




just came online to remove my pictures from Yahoo Photos. There's me with my ex-Boss' beautiful lil' baby Zino

How can people say oil is a curse. Remove oil from 9ja then add bad leadership as we've add, 9ja will be a ghetto.
@Denex
you must be something else. How do you get the energy to type all those. Hmmn, now i know why Aisha2 calls you love.
U dey try sha. But, if you insult me again hen, ill see to your case.
Nice write up man. Goodwork.

That Abia oil is fake,they can,t even match Delta state, the second largest oil producer,talk less of Rivers state.OLY-D=XRIS74 The same fool who made this topic in the first place.if oil is a curse to Xris74/Oly-D why are you rejoicing with Abia state? hypocrisy.oil so overrated.how about fish.

It's not whether it can match or it cannot match. Yar'Adua is trying to make every state self sufficint so that we can move to a Federal Economy where everybody has full resource control and an independent economy, from there we can finally move towards having a truly Federal Government, not this gimmick we currently have that we are claiming as FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.

Even the states that don't have Oil, the Ministry of Solid Minerals is working on what they have and bringing in Mining Corporations. So thas is not a competition at all.




make I use opportunity post another p[icture jare, e don tey since I go through my pitures. Na me been fine like this? Suffer bad O!

from oil to Denex picture.

@pilas

Abeg no blame me jare. Na mobile browser wey I dey always use, na'im dey make me behave like bushman whenever I go full web.

Anyway, I'm back to mobile again so let's focus back on Crude Oil and Resource Curse which think I have nothing else to add.

denex:

It's not whether it can match or it cannot match. Yar'Adua is trying to make every state self sufficint so that we can move to a Federal Economy where everybody has full resource control and an independent economy, from there we can finally move towards having a truly Federal Government, not this gimmick we currently have that we are claiming as FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.

Even the states that don't have Oil, the Ministry of Solid Minerals is working on what they have and bringing in Mining Corporations. So thas is not a competition at all.




make I use opportunity post another p[icture jare, e don tey since I go through my pitures. Na me been fine like this? Suffer bad O!

Hmm denex where did you take the picture?
inside your okirika shed?

hey, stop that thngs u are saying.
OIL AS FAR AS AM CONCERN IS A BLESSING TO US. IS JUST THAT, THE PEOPLE THAT IS THERE IS NOT USING IT PROPERLY TO BENEFITS US. SIMPLE.!
SOME COUNTARY IS LOOKING FOR THIS KINDS, SO GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR THE RESOURCES.
I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SAYING THAT WHEN YOU GIVE THANKS TO GOD, U ARE NOT JUST THANKING HIM U ARE EQUALLY TELLING HIM THINGS THAT NEEDED TO BE PERFECTED! SO WHEN WE GIVE THANKS IT WILL BE TO US AS WE WANT IT

I see the emergence of oil in Nigeria as both a curse and a blessing. A curse in the sense that, as soon as the oil emerged, Agriculture was relegated to the background. A blessing for making the nation what it is today in the committee of Nations.

@+osisi

'twas at a friend's place in Benin City. There was a clothes hanger above me. Right now I wish I had an Okrika shed.


Anyway, back to Crude Oil, if it's a curse, then people should go to "Mountain of Fire and Miracles" to transfer the curse on me and my generations. The more the merrier. Come one, come all.

denex,
nna na your pikin be that ?
e fine o
abi na oyinbo be him mama?

@osereka

no be my pickin O! His parents are both Africans really pretty couple.


By the way, Osereka do you have some cursed Crude Oil in your area so that you can will it to me and my generations so that we can help you bear the curse. Because the way I dey look things, oil no boku for my own Edo State.

denex:

@osereka

no be my pickin O! His parents are both Africans really pretty couple.


By the way, Osereka do you have some cursed Crude Oil in your area so that you can will it to me and my generations so that we can help you bear the curse. Because the way I dey look things, oil no boku for my own Edo State.

ROFL.
This is hilarious.