PDPwayoo: This is not a question. Will ur family allow u to travel from Lagos to Onitsha at night? or can u have risk having 100,000 naira cash and walk along mile 2 by 11 pm?
Answer these question and see if naija is safe or not.

Allohrandy: My brother, I agree with you but the writer of the article is trying to say is that Nigerians should be constructive when criticizing the country. CNN and ABC will never show the thousands of homeless people living the streets of South Central Los Angles or the Tenderloin Area in San Francisco because they always wanna protect the image of USA in the eyes of the world.There is no country in this world that does not have its own peculiar problems. First world countries has first world problems while third world countries has third world problems. Nigeria has lots of problems like any other country but that doesn't mean I will talk shit about my country. Nigeria is my country and I love my country. Naija4life

AjanleKoko: Nigeria isn't safe.
Even in Ikoyi, the richest neighbourhood in Nigeria, you can't go on a run at 6am. You are very likely to get mugged or even kidnapped.

What you call safe is places like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, where you can get up at 3am and walk on the streets and not even see anybody. Yet nothing happens to you. Without sentiments, Nigeria cannot be classified as a safe country abeg.

gustdableman: guy you are a lier, i live in ikoyi presently since 1980, igo out anytime i like, even because of the huge traffic i go out very late to club with my foot or flashy car, ikoyi is the safest place you can think of

payless:

What is wrong with saying spoken English. The guy actually writes the way he speaks. What about your won writings? You wrote "you" instead of your. You think you know, but you wrote "the referring". Explain why you used "the" before referring. What kind of grammar is that? Confisticate was an honest typo error. The whole world knows it is confiscate. By the way, look at my writing again if I actually typed "confisticated" as you claimed. Is your reading glasses dirty, lost or stolen? You better don't dare me when it comes to English Language. I don't think you know the difference between making mistakes when someone fails to proofread their writings and when someone just plainly writing nonsense.

chucky234: English is dead,guy you cool down murder Queen's language.
advanced gbaguan

Rossikk: [size=15pt]Nigeria: Is the Country Really Unsafe?[/size]

BY IDANG ALIBI, 25 APRIL 2013

Daily Trust, Nigeria


OPINION

What does it matter if Nigeria is secure or not when it has to do with the rich.Nigeira has no food and job security for its populace so lets focus.

My going around with the National Good Governance Tour team has opened my eyes to the fact that Nigeria is not in any way near the picture of it created, largely by sensational reporting, which portrays her as a possibly dangerous and unsafe place unfit as an investment or tourism destination.

In all nooks and crannies of the 18 states so far visited in the course of the tour, we see foreign consultants, contractors and expatriate workers and business men be they Arabs, Europeans, Americans, Latinos and Asians, especially Koreans, Indians, Chinese and Philippines, going about their business without any sign of agitation or feeling of insecurity whatsoever. Some of these men have fruitful liaison with Nigerian women and seem at home in Nigeria and at ease with the local communities in which they do business. I was pleasantly surprised to see Chinese in some of the remotest parts of Kebbi State which we just visited constructing roads and bridges in some of the most difficult terrains in the state.

But media portraiture often seems to indicate that Nigeria is at war with itself. In some of the most remote parts of the country where you do not expect to find any strangers, let alone complete foreigners, you see them mixing freely with the natives and other Nigerian workers from outside those domains. They cut a picture of a people who are going about doing their businesses unchallenged and unfazed by any threat of danger of any kind. They are not surrounded by gun-toting security men to provide them free movement or to ensure their safety and security.

You do not see any signs of anxiety or concern of any kind on their faces. As I said earlier, some of those communities are so remote that one does not expect even non-native Nigerians to be found in them. Yet, you see these foreigners in those places, clearly passing a vote of confidence on the safety of Nigeria as a tourism and business destination. I was shocked when we saw some Italians constructing the Ogoni-Nkoro-Andoni road which is meant to link those places by road with Port Harcourt. The Rivers' State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has become so familiar with these contractors that he is on first name terms with them. They emerged from the remote creeks and seemed to be so familiar with the terrain than even the native owners of the land. This is not a country which is portrayed as a haven for terrorists of all hues. Yes, we have Boko Haram and now a breakaway faction Ansaru. Yes, we used to have Niger Delta agitators who used to kidnap for ransom. But that is not nearly as frightening as is portrayed. My humble counsel is that our media must deliberately tone down the reportage of violence in our country, because as we have seen in other societies, violence cannot be completely absent in any place. We just must tone down because we cannot afford to feed others with the ammunition to use to do harm to our country.

There is no denying it that like other countries at this level of our development, we have cases of kidnapping, armed robbery, abduction, senseless murder and rape here and there. But the image of Nigeria created by these criminal acts is grossly distorted. It is exaggerated to the point of a deliberate campaign of calumny against the country. Who is the main culprit? The answer is unmistakeably the domestic media of mass communication. When one who is a journalist says this he is often accused of being bought over by government.

But the truth is that the enemy for this campaign against Mother Nigeria is not the foreign media but the home one. I say so because the foreign media tend to take a cue from what is reported locally.

Many foreigners who defy the usually ugly picture that is painted of Nigeria and come and live here to do business have often pointed out that we tend to be very unfair to our country and by implication, to ourselves. The Honorary Adviser to Nigeria on Investment, Baroness Linda Chalker, has been crying her voice coarse appealing to even our local journalists to treat their country more kindly. We write as if we want to write Nigeria out of existence. To some of our people, bashing Nigeria is another form of patriotism. In expressing our frustration at the failure of some of our leaderships, we must not end up spiting our country.

Let us make no mistake about it. Nobody is calling on the media to gloss over any cases of criminality in our country. They indeed have a duty and responsibility to draw attention to crimes or any other actions that are capable of harming the country in any way. But I dare to say that although we have our fair share of crimes, some of the crimes the media blow out of proportion have not reached the extremely worrying height they have reached in other countries at this level of our development. The few criminal cases we see in Nigeria is not in any way different from what happens in other countries. In fact there are more rapes, more carjacking, more robbery in some African countries than in Nigeria. Nairobi, for instance, is often mischievously called Nairobbery because of the many cases of robbery in that country. We are not by any means calling for them to reach such levels before action is taken but the media must display extreme discretion in the handling of negative news reporting.

What is happening today is that those who are supposed to be media gate keepers throw caution or discretion to the dogs and act as if they are foreign mercenaries hired to run down their country. Nigeria is being deliberately libelled and treated as if a rival competitor is out to de-market the country. Since a country is a corporate person, our government should treat this truly criminal offence as if Nigeria was a gentleman whose name is being dragged in the mud.

Nigeria is a victim of scare-mongering, sadly with local journalists as accomplices. President Goodluck Jonathan must regard this particular threat facing his country as a big one most deserving of a full national retreat in order to be able to find a solution. If the murders and rap.e that take place in the USA and South Africa are handled the way we Nigerian journalists handle some clearly minor infractions, the USA and South Africa would be places where no one would want to visit for business or for pleasure.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201304250421.html?viewall=1

publisher: [size=14pt]All I can say is that most young patriotic Nigerians end up being the most successful in Nigeria. You'd never hear the likes of Psquare's,Dbanj's,Basket mouths, Wizkids,Jim Ike or Banky W lament that Nigeria is a failed state. Genevieve Nnaji is unbelievably patriotic,I've spoken to her once and she's addicted to Nigeria. A CNN reporter once tried to make Genevieve 'diss' Nigeria but she out-smarted him and declared her patriotism. What some of them like Banky W do is to engage in constructive criticisms and contribute their own quota through NGOs or stuff,in making Nigeria better.

A lot of Nigerian-born UK aspiring artistes have been rushing back to Nigeria to restart their careers,many are breaking even. Outside the USA and a few western/Asian nation, Nigeria boasts of one of the most financially buoyant showbiz industry in the world.

Most of the serial failures I've met in Nigeria are people who like much of Nairaland are disillusioned and extremely lazy, waiting for GEJ to knock on their doors and offer them a good job and good life.

In Mexico,they've had brutal drug wars for years,dismembered corpses sometimes litter some Mexican streets every morning. In fact it got so bad that sometime in 2011,and entire police unit in one of Mexico's drug war regions resigned. Yet many Hollywood A-listers visit Mexico daily for vacations and weekend breaks. But look at Nigeria,in spite of Boko Haram's onslaught in Maiduguri or Yobe,have you ever heard of an entire Nigerian Police unit resigning their posts out of fear?

Nigeria is a great nation with a lot of foolish domestic critics.

I also blame our opposition groups; they don't know the difference between destroying Nigeria's image and destroying PDP's image.[/size]

AjanleKoko:

See what you just wrote.
And you said you live in Ikoyi. Even a mai-guard would have written better

tonididdy: i wont lie NIGERIANS live in fear...i swear

as early as 8pm the streets are empty.houses have sealed their gates.

you cant be rich and have piece pf mind even when u know your money is in the bank.

my neighboir came from spain with her spanish hubby and their 2kids who are clearly white.their gates were sealed @least 22hours of the day.the only day they asked me to take em out for a stroll of my area,i was trembling in fear but i did manage to take dem past 5-6different streets.THEY LOVED IT,the weather was just right and the kids didnt want to go indoors BUT they had to lol.

I FELT SO BAD COS THOSE KIDS and even the parents wanted more BUR FEAR WOULDNT LET EM.

NAIJA IS NOT SAFE ET'all

publisher: [size=14pt]

Most of the serial failures I've met in Nigeria are people who like much of Nairaland are disillusioned and extremely lazy, waiting for GEJ to knock on their doors and offer them a good job and good life. [/size]

Babzilla:

HE IS PROBABLY A HOUSEBOY IN IKOYI
HOUSEBOY SINCE 1980

chucky234: Piece of mind?
bros na peace of mind oooo

solidbroda: For now, it is. Unlike mexico and brazil, the murder capital of the world, pakistan: the most dangerous place for journalist. Syria, war zone and no respect for human right by any mean.
So, naija is still safe oo. Since u can wake up and sleep peacefully, and you still eat 2 to 3 meals per day...

Rossikk:

Why are you quoting Maiduguri and Kano? The writer himself stated clearly that those were areas where insurgents operate. His point was that Maiduguri and Kano constitute less than 0.2% of Nigeria, and therefore ought not be used to categorise the entire country as unsafe. I think he makes a great point.

As for armed robbery, LET'S GET ONE THUING STRAIGHT, RIGHT HGRE, RIGHT NOW:

99.99% MINIMUM of Nigerians who travel our roads every day and night arrive safely and comfortably at their destinations. The fear of harm is greater than the scale of its occurrence.

sol2galay:


My brother i am in pakistan right now owing to what i am seeing here i begin to share tears for my dear country nigeria. It is always good to defend your own any day anytime but you ve to do dat in honest manner,it is always good for us to be telling ourselves home truth so that we will be able to fashion solution to our problem, remember the worst thing that will happen to a man is when a man started lying to himself. We know we have problem in this country and lets all agree we have problem so that solution will come. My sojourn through Pakistan made me believe that nigeria is the unsafest place on earth,i travelled to Lahore yesterday and i waited behind to watch chelsea and Basel match and the match was concluded about 2:30am,after the match i boarded tricycle to catch a bus going to Islamabad by 3:00am.could u believe that by that odd hour that children are still playing cricket in the street. i traveled from Lahore and get to Islamabad by 8:00am and no harassment from and form or security men.

The only problem the have is terrorism which is targeted unlike nigeria.please don't ever compare nigeria with pakistan in terms of security of life and property,even in food security.

AjanleKoko:

I'm sorry friend, your comments are ridiculous, and smack of poor judgement.
If the bulk of Nigerians are lazy and disillusioned, you don't think that is a failure of leadership?
If your children grow up as layabouts and menaces to society, who do we blame? Themselves or you the bad parent?

Like all other GEJ apologists, a small chop change has confused your brain, and you're here using Dbanj and some musicians as sterling examples of good and patriotic citizens. You didn't bother to cite lots of professionals, doctors, engineers, etc, the real people the country needs to develop. People who are unemployed or underemployed, and voting with their feet. Abi they are also lazy and disillusioned.

Ode

AjanleKoko:

I'm sorry friend, your comments are ridiculous, and smack of poor judgement.
If the bulk of Nigerians are lazy and disillusioned, you don't think that is a failure of leadership?
If your children grow up as layabouts and menaces to society, who do we blame? Themselves or you the bad parent?

Like all other GEJ apologists, a small chop change has confused your brain, and you're here using Dbanj and some musicians as sterling examples of good and patriotic citizens. You didn't bother to cite lots of professionals, doctors, engineers, etc, the real people the country needs to develop. People who are unemployed or underemployed, and voting with their feet. Abi they are also lazy and disillusioned.

Ode

Babzilla:

LMAO!!!! U MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A HAVEN 4 THUGS.

publisher:

[size=13pt]@Bolded: Bros are you for real? Is it 'leadership' that will make one to apply his/her talents in such a way that it yields good returns? A failure is a failure - Linda Ikeji makes over N5 million a month from blogging in her bedroom,wetin concern Nigerian 'leadership' with her hustle? The fact that she's making so much money from Nigerian corporate sponsors should tell you the immense opportunities in Nigeria.

A failure is a failure ,full stop.[/size]

Rossikk: [size=15pt]Nigeria: Is the Country Really Unsafe?[/size]

BY IDANG ALIBI, 25 APRIL 2013

Daily Trust, Nigeria


OPINION



There is no denying it that like other countries at this level of our development, we have cases of kidnapping, armed robbery, abduction, senseless murder and rape here and there. But the image of Nigeria created by these criminal acts is grossly distorted. It is exaggerated to the point of a deliberate campaign of calumny against the country. Who is the main culprit? The answer is unmistakeably the domestic media of mass communication. When one who is a journalist says this he is often accused of being bought over by government.


http://allafrica.com/stories/201304250421.html?viewall=1

woodcook:

After reading publisher's position on this issues, it became clear how the system as failed his people. I supposed that guy is an adult and knows not to bring sentiment into serious issues. I am glad someone else spotted that but my suggestion is you should please reserve your "lecture" for someone that worth the "trouble".

Godogwu:

How about the people that died in boston, the cinemas, sandy hook, the stabbings in colleges in the US...pleasee!!!! here's a bench \_____