Rhino.5dm:

With constant light and good roads/transport system in place, Lagos would have to seat up to match Rivers. Those projects are what i refer to as concrete base.

Kobojunkie:

Again you are going off the issue. We are speaking here of states not generating funds and you are going on about how power sharing, which has been in place for well over 30 years, is affecting em. Why do you continue to inject the irrelevant into this?

If an unemployed man spent his only $10,000 in building a house, what does the beauty and wonder of the structure to do with the fact that he now has no money at all, and no job or business to help bring money in?

Kobojunkie:


Ok, so now the governor says the state has no money. How will the constant light, good roads and what nots pay for themselves?

Rhino.5dm:

If an unemployed man spent 10,000K in building a house that will give him a constant return as rents nko? This is my logic. Where has all "our cut and paste" take us to?

We need serious investment in infrastructure at the short run which will translate to wealth at long.
Mark you, the first phase of that project should come to live by first quarter of next year, hence more IGR for Rivers.

Rhino.5dm:

The governor says there is no money beacuse he has heavily invest them on various laudable projects, which shall yield profit on the long run. Finito.

Kobojunkie:

Sigh . . . . This unemployed man has been building for 4 years. If you beleive that the house will give him constant returns in rent, why is he here telling you that there is NO MONEY, that he owes 34 billion and will need to borrow more money, after 4 years of building?


OK! So on that long run, the constant light and good roads will need to maintain themselves right?

Rossikk:

I can't believe some people here are dissing the monorail systems springing up. What the hell is wrong with providing modern, affordable transportation to the masses?

Nnewi lost out to Lagos in motor parts business simply becos nnewi didn't invest in its infrastructure, even upto the market generating revenue, business got bigger, marketer go more frustrated, and what next? They left en mass. Nnewi lost out.

Onlytruth:

hahaha! I can see that some Nigerians are really struggling with the simple sense behind the points we are making.
Nobody said that government should not embark in "big projects". What we are saying is that they should be planned to be sustainable. In fact it should be planned like a business. If you cannot clearly envision where the funds will come from apart from FG, then you may want to rethink it because Nigeria's oil will finish one day. In the US here, high speed rail has not been implemented at the same scale desired simply because most high speed rails are not self sustaining. They are subsidized. So, it is waiting for now, lol. I wonder why a poor Nigerian state is busy borrowing left right and center to implement monorail. I can confidently say that it won't pay for itself! No be naija?

You have a valid point too but which is state is embarking on the monorail project and isn't rich??
Remember, Enugu and one other state (I think Anambra or Imo) are in it together as a joint project.
So, apart from Lagos, Rivers, Abuja and the above, which other states can't afford it?


Most of the so called "big" projects are done in cities of the "big" states. Therefore; I think these states can build and afford it especially with the private investors participating in it.

Onlytruth:

Posted by: jason123
I think you missed the point completely. We are not talking about "big" or "small" states. We are talking about broke or economically prudent states. lol.
Nigerians are easily thrown off balance by megalomania. If Rivers is not broke we won't be having this conversation.
If Rivers has to borrow N250 billion, how will the state pay for it? And borrowing is always addictive.
Who will pay these HUGE debts?

For your hypothetical question, I'll suggest the FG should pay. States like Rivers should be given a free hand, yes, even at the detriment of the smaller states and the country at large. After all, what is "Nigeria" without the top 10 states, in terms of PP?? Nothing!
If borrowing is addictive then these states better get addicted because they ARE Nigeria, IMO.

Onlytruth:

^^ Meanwhile the state should be lending money to other really poorer states like Ekiti. lol

Onlytruth:

Supposing oil prices crashes to $30 per barrel, how will Rivers pay back almost $2billion or more?

Onlytruth:

Posted by: jason123
Obviously, you are entitled to your opinion but I wonder what makes one state "big". If I wake up and decide to dream big and hope that the rest of the country would bail me out (through the FG as you suggest here), then, you would have 36 "big states"! lol. You are not making any sense my friend.

In that case, the FG should come in. My point is, there is no Nigeria without some certain states. We need these states to keep growing so as to average out the overall economic growth of Nigeria, after all, people from other states migrate to these states.
These states should be given a free hand (considerably) regardless of the price of crude. Doing this will force other "smaller" states to find way to meet up, thus, open a door way for a new economic "feed". As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

Onlytruth:

Posted by: jason123
So, what would you say if my state Anambra borrows $10 billion to develop Anambra state, and all other states does the same, we would end up with $360 billion national debt. Who would pay it? We couldn't even pay back $36 billion.  
Do you think any state would agree that it is "small"? How do you measure this your "big" states?

jason123:

What makes a state big? Diversity in people and economy, and sustained investment; and may be,viable natural resources which may come in terms of Sea ports, Crude Oil, Gold et.al.

For example, a state like Taraba or Gombe, we all know, cannot be viable, no matter how you look at it.
Yet, we both know that states like Rivers, Anambra, Delta and Lagos will forever be viable. Why is this so? Because the ticked the criteria above.

In my opinion, these states will always need capital projects to promote Nigeria because they are "Nigeria".

I just hope I conveyed my message to you better.

Onlytruth:

@jason123

I think your idea is tantamount to building a pyramid upside down. A state has to demonstrate self sustainability first before it can be allowed to borrow more.
Permit me to remain skeptical. My people say that " a person once stung by a bee, always flees at the sight of a mere housefly!". Nigeria was once HEAVILY INDEBTED, until God saved us through auntie Ngozi. We should flee at any suggestion of another debt burden.   I don talk me own o!

manny4life:

Having gone through some of the post on here, while I'm impressed at some people thoughts, I'm alarmed (though no surprised) at some people's reasoning.

There is no government that will be financially stable if it doesn't embark on capital infrastructures. Infrastructures encourages investment (business or companies), which in turn creates population and in-turn creates revenue for the govt. However, one has to be "prudent" when embarking on massive loan takeout and if you're going to take loans, use it for revenue generating activities ONLY. Monorail is important, however, it's NOT financial sensible to embark on such expensive projects. Why not start out small, yet efficient? Why massive project that is enough to bankrupt a state? Monorail do not pay back their expense until another 15years or more down the road; so for now it does not make any financial sense to embark on it.