oduastates:



Merge O, Unmerge O, "Dismerge" O, or discharge.
Nothing will change.
Yes the tax collection system is archaic but in reality, Our people are already over taxed without any benefit.
Education trust fund tax ? We pay most of that as well while other states piggyback on our little allocation and social infrastructure.
Fact is the people are simply beating about the bush and denying the truth.
NO STATE,TOWN, CITY OR FARMING SETTLEMENT IN YORUBALAND IS UNVIABLE. THAT IS WHY THEY EXIST.
All of our cities were all viable city state before Nigeria. They remain so because of the way we organise ourselves, our culture and our values.
The western region was not organised as stated but as more compacts provinces.
The Ondo province
Akoko province
Ijebu province
Ekiti province
Abeokuta province
Benin province
Ife province.
Warri province
And so on.
The fact is that those provinces ensured even development of the homeland without swaddling us with the baggage of a useless FG and the expensive presidential system of government.
I some debates on tourism yesterday and I laughed.
We are never going to get a developed tourism industry without the peace dividend.
There will be no peace dividend as long as we remain in Nigeria.
Sorry to say, some people in Nigeria simply default to crime and violence.
Tourism alone has the capacity to feed the SW. Our people do not spare the change in order to indulge.We simply need to get out of the country first.

but the south west is relatively peaceful, do you not think we can capitalise on this re tourism? There aren't many people in the region clamouring for regionalism or secession, so in the meantime we must find a way to make the current system work for us.

I agree that we should look at regionalism or secession as a long term solution because the more development recorded in the SW, the higher the number of economic migrants from other parts of the country and we MUST have the power to control this.

Vyolet:



Oh yeah..
It didn't look like it all these while,esp when it is only five state governors(Oyo,Ogun,Ekiti,Osun, and Lagos) we read about.

If you had been following the thread from page 0, you'd have known every part of Yorubaland is inclusive.

The title says Yoruba Commonwealth and Politics. We have been inviting Yoruba's from Yoruba states to represent their states.

You are welcome. We are waiting for your contributions so we can discuss about your state. You are the one to tell us what we are to discuss about your state.

E kaabo.

anonimi:


The governors that you have been praising are they performing?

Like who?

Osomalo:
Jesus.

The thread is becoming something else.

Oga Chidozie, please remove the pincshure. Please.


Aareonakakanfo, you need to come online and talk to people ooooo.

Mr Fire.fire and Mr Anoni.mi, it's okay. Let it go. I've asked you guys to bury the hatchet and let's move on.

O ti to bayen.

I like how you guys contributed in d beginning but some went off track under d disguise of being blunt and started attacking personalities(e.g referring to passing shot as passingshit etc). it's really unfair! Yorubas are known for diplomatic approach n respect for other people's opinion without crucifixion, OP himself won't be happy d way incessant attacks are going on here, let's us all address we failed ourselves as omo iya and form unity to conquer against all odds. we disagree to agree! I love you all

oduastates:



Merge O, Unmerge O, "Dismerge" O, or discharge.
Nothing will change.
Yes the tax collection system is archaic but in reality, Our people are already over taxed without any benefit.
Education trust fund tax ? We pay most of that as well while other states piggyback on our little allocation and social infrastructure.
Fact is the people are simply beating about the bush and denying the truth.
NO STATE,TOWN, CITY OR FARMING SETTLEMENT IN YORUBALAND IS UNVIABLE. THAT IS WHY THEY EXIST.
All of our cities were all viable city state before Nigeria. They remain so because of the way we organise ourselves, our culture and our values.
The western region was not organised as stated but as more compacts provinces.
The Ondo province
Akoko province
Ijebu province
Ekiti province
Abeokuta province
Benin province
Ife province.
Warri province
And so on.
The fact is that those provinces ensured even development of the homeland without swaddling us with the baggage of a useless FG and the expensive presidential system of government.
I some debates on tourism yesterday and I laughed.
We are never going to get a developed tourism industry without the peace dividend.
There will be no peace dividend as long as we remain in Nigeria.
Sorry to say, some people in Nigeria simply default to crime and violence.
Tourism alone has the capacity to feed the SW. Our people do not spare the change in order to indulge.We simply need to get out of the country first.

Administratively, states can be unviable in the long term. When you have too many states, you create too many ministeries which slows the pace of development and eats into revenue. What you want really are local governments that are closer to the people.

And no, tourism alone can't feed the SW. The nations that rely on tourism alone are very small nations with small populations. How can you develop the huge expense of SW Land and approximately 50-60 million people on tourism? Not all parts of the SW will contribute to tourism. Have you visited countries who mainly rely on tourism to see how the common folk live?

Leaving Nigeria is not going to be a solution because old feuds/rivalries will re-surface. It's better to be unified based on competition with other regions.

Current Yoruba leaders, from administrators to Afenifere, do not espouse the concept of Omoluabi. The ordinary yoruba person will be at the mercy of charlatans in an Odua only country. Pragmatic solutions can and must be found within the current dispensation because those at the center have not shown the appetite to change the structure of the country.

oduastates:



Like Shymmex said , It is like not learning to crawl before walking .
Journeys to ancient towns like Esa-oke will reveal the inherent potentials .
We are never going to get a developed tourism industry without the peace dividend.
There will be no peace dividend as long as we remain in Nigeria.
Sorry to say, some people in Nigeria simply default to crime and violence.
Tourism alone has the capacity to feed the SW. Our people do not spare the change in order to indulge.We simply need to get out of the country first.

Smart guy.

Jobneeded12:
Please add Yorubas of Kwara and Kogi we are 100% Yorubas Biko
We have produced
Oyedepo
Omokere
Premier of western region
Successful people has a whole
Pls add us

Including The late Apostle Ayo Babalola also

Yes you guys are not left out

Katsumoto:


Administratively, states can be unviable in the long term. When you have too many states, you create too many ministeries which slows the pace of development and eats into revenue. What you want really are local governments that are closer to the people.

And no, tourism alone can't feed the SW. The nations that rely on tourism alone are very small nations with small populations. How can you develop the huge expense of SW Land and approximately 50-60 million people on tourism? Not all parts of the SW will contribute to tourism. Have you visited countries who mainly rely on tourism to see how the common folk live?

Leaving Nigeria is not going to be a solution because old feuds/rivalries will re-surface. It's better to be unified based on competition with other regions.

Current Yoruba leaders, from administrators to Afenifere, do not espouse the concept of Omoluabi. The ordinary yoruba person will be at the mercy of charlatans in an Odua only country. Pragmatic solutions can and must be found within the current dispensation because those at the center have not shown the appetite to change the structure of the country.

Katz,

It's really very refreshing to see you back here.

I miss your posts.

Please we need cerebral veterans on this thread. The likes of you, Dayokanu, Gbawe, Mayoroflagos etc.

@ Your Post,

Our economy might not be able to run entirely on tourism, but it can form an integral part of our economy, alongside agriculture, solid minerals and service/entertainment industry.

One of my fears about secession, as against regionalism, is the opportunity it will create for uncontrollable monstrous lords to rise within us and if care is not taken, there might not be a counter force to checkmate such.

I also strongly believe fixing power, solid minerals and rail system holds the key to the prosperity of SW and the unofficial regionalisation of our economy.

Jobneeded12:
Please add Yorubas of Kwara and Kogi we are 100% Yorubas Biko
We have produced
Oyedepo
Omokere
Premier of western region
Successful people has a whole
Pls add us

We need more Kwaran and Kogi Yorubas onboard

Osomalo:
Jesus.

The thread is becoming something else.

Oga Chidozie, please remove the pincshure. Please.


Aareonakakanfo, you need to come online and talk to people ooooo.

Mr Fire.fire and Mr Anoni.mi, it's okay. Let it go. I've asked you guys to bury the hatchet and let's move on.

O ti to bayen.

Aare can't be here. Just heard that his wife is in labor.

Ibebe:


Aare can't be here. Just heard that his wife is in labor.

Wishing her safe delivery.

PrincessJaneDoe:


but the south west is relatively peaceful, do you not think we can capitalise on this re tourism? There aren't many people in the region clamouring for regionalism or secession, so in the meantime we must find a way to make the current system work for us.

I agree that we should look at regionalism or secession as a long term solution because the more development recorded in the SW, the higher the number of economic migrants from other parts of the country and we MUST have the power to control this.

More like "relatively less violent or less lawless ."
I am with Shymmex on almost all his arguments.
There are really very few things to celebrate. All I see is a sea of mediocrity and mortgaged future.
Some were celebrating 6 ministerial appointments the other day forgetting that they could have 100 ministers from the homeland who understand their challenges, if they choose to do the right .
Celebrate 6 servants at the whims of the unitary Fg when they could easily have all if they choose to do so.
Can you walk the streets of Lagos,Abeokuta etc at 2 a.m without being maimed by an armed robber or kidnapper . If the two do not get you , some vigilante would. If not , someone would probably have to come to the station to bail you at the police station.
No one refers to the SW from overseas, the SW carries the same Nigeria tag as the boko haram infested north.
Tourism is built on not only sights but night life . A substantial chunk of the income is made from night life.

oduastates:

More like "relatively less violent or less lawless ."
I am with Shymmex on almost all his arguments.
There are really very few things to celebrate. All I see is a sea of mediocrity and mortgaged future.
Some were celebrating 6 ministerial appointments the other day forgetting that they could have 100 ministers from the homeland who understand their challenges, if they choose to do the right .
Celebrate 6 servants at the whims of the unitary Fg when they could easily have all if they choose to do so.
Can you walk the streets of Lagos,Abeokuta etc at 2 a.m without being maimed by an armed robber or kidnapper . If the two do not get you , some vigilante would. If not , someone would probably have to come to the station to bail you at the police station.
No one refers to the SW from overseas, the SW carries the same Nigeria tag as the boko haram infested north.
Tourism is built on not only sights but night life . A substantial chunk of the income is made from night life.

I beg to disagree. Even in tourism states like NY/Washington, shoit still happens and the possibility of criminal activities still exists. I wouldn't go walking around at 2am around here.

We need a good security system that people can rely on.

I still want my own country though

superstar1:


Wishing her safe delivery.

Yep. Aareonakakanfo don turn to baba ibeji.

Expect him to be back in a few days.

Ibebe:


Yep. Aareonakakanfo don turn to baba ibeji.

Expect him to be back in a few days.

Congratulations Aareonakakanfo! Oluwa a wo wun o

WHEN YOU STAY IN A ROT INFESTED ROOM FOR A LONG TIME , YOU NOT ONLY GET USED TO THE STENCH , YOU BECOME A PART OF IT .
By Diran apata

For us Yoruba, it’s a time of desperate urgency
EVERY nation in Nigeria is in trouble. Every nation in Nigeria is experiencing extreme hardship. Altogether, we the people and nationalities of Nigeria are heading for something unimaginably massive and cataclysmic.
I started in my message of last week to spell out the Yoruba share of this swelling tide of disaster. I mentioned our virtually impotent state governments incapable of doing much for the welfare and prosperity of their people; the masses of our highly educated youths roaming our streets unemployed and depending on their poor parents for sustenance; our nation living today in a depth of poverty that we as a nation have never before experienced in our whole history; and the growing danger that our people may suddenly erupt in a massive and uncontrollable insurrection.
We Yoruba traditionally loved to brag that no Yoruba person could become a beggar in the streets. [ Any beggars in our streets were usually persons from other lands. But in post-independence Nigeria, it has become more and more common to see Yoruba beggars in our streets. Today, the huge number of Yoruba beggars in our towns has become a Yoruba national shame, and the number continues to balloon.
[b]The famous German professor, Ulli Beier, worked in Yorubaland for years in the middle of the last century – in the 1950s and 1960s when the fabric of Yoruba society and life was intact and strong. A long time later, in his old age in another country, he wrote: “Between 1950 and 1966, during my first stay in Nigeria, I never locked the door of my house. In a closely knit society, theft was almost impossible. - - - During this entire period, I never saw a hungry Yoruba; nor was anybody abandoned by the community”.
But before Ulli Beier left Nigeria in 1966, the situation in Nigeria had already started to corrupt Yoruba society. By the late 1970s, the impact of Nigeria on the Yoruba nation had become remarkable. Many capable Yoruba citizens were giving up productive enterprises and hustling for some sort of share in Nigeria’s petroleum money. Under the impact of federal Nigeria’s seizure and control of the country’s produce exports, the unfortunate falls in export produce prices in the world market, and the grossly inept federal management of the situation, Yoruba cocoa farmers were quickly ruined. According to Ulli Beier, “the farmers could no longer afford to pay the labourers to harvest the cocoa pods. The cocoa began to rot on the ground - - . The large cocoa sheds (in Yoruba towns) stood empty”. Poverty tightened its grip on Yoruba life – as on the life of all other Nigerian nationalities, for a combination of similar reasons. Excessive and intensifying federal control on all aspects of the affairs of Nigeria, and the consequent loss of morale and initiative in our states, made sure that the poverty would grow stronger and stronger. Obviously, the right thing to do at this point was to relax the federal death-hold, reduce the powers of the Federal Government, and empower the states to revive their economies and re-energize their people. Rather than do that, the controllers of Nigeria continued to tighten the federal hold.
By the late 1980s, the disaster had become almost complete. Ulli Beier wrote that when he visited Nigeria again in the mid-1980s, he could not believe how totally the fabric of Yoruba life and society had crumbled. Even in the supposedly rich neighbourhoods of Ikoyi in Lagos, he saw Yoruba people begging. “Yoruba society had fallen apart”, he wrote sadly. [/b]
The crumbling is now at an absolute peak. While the masses of Yoruba university graduates are roaming the streets and suffering the shame of depending on their economically battered parents, even the types of Yoruba citizens who have traditionally managed to provide for their families and to help their kinsmen and neighbours have been robbed of most of their strength by the poverty in Nigeria. All over Yorubaland, some of such notable citizens now must look up to their politicians to help them sustain a semblance of economic self-respect. In the circumstance, it is no longer sufficient for the elected public official to perform his duties well (to build roads, renovate the school buildings, improve the quality of teaching in the schools, build water supply systems, etc); he is also expected by some of the notables among his people to give them more or less regular hand-outs. If a governor does not keep up with these expectations, he might risk a political storm rising against him in his state. In the circumstances of today, authentic Yoruba political parties or political leaders have become a rarity; and most of the so-called politicians and parties of these days are just crowds of self-seeking jobbers perpetually regrouping – likemindlessly shifting sands on a sea shore.
All these developments represent a vile and unacceptable destruction of Yoruba character,Yoruba political mores, and Yoruba governance ethics, and they embarrass most Yoruba people. They make it impossible to create and sustain the kind of constructive, accountable and dignified political leadership and governance that the Yoruba people are used to, profoundly negate the ways that Yoruba people want to live and be governed, and alienate the masses of Yoruba people. Obviously, the Yoruba nation must find some way out of this quagmire – and do so in a hurry, before the treasures of their culture are totally destroyed, or before their highly educated masses rise like a hurricane.
For the Yoruba nation in Nigeria, therefore, these are times of desperate urgency. The sad truth is that there is no real hope that the necessary change for the better can ever materialize inNigeria. If Nigeria’s history to-date teaches anything, it is that Nigerians do not, and cannot, have a unity of purpose – a unity of purpose to reorder the direction of Nigeria’s affairs, to restructure the lopsided Nigerian federation, and to deal effectively with public corruption. In the final analysis, it is each nation struggling through the Nigerian darkness and disaster that knows where, how, and how intensely the shoe pinches; and as one proverb of ours says, “Alatise lo nmoatiseara re” (it is the person whose foot is hurting terribly that knows what to do).And as for any of us who is inclined to doubt and dither, or to continue to hug and glamourize the unsupportable, when it is really time to poop the anus will open.

^^^^ Very interesting.

Can we ever get out of hole Nigeria has dug for the Yoruba nation?

Ibebe:


I beg to disagree. Even in tourism states like NY/Washington, shoit still happens and the possibility of criminal activities still exists. I wouldn't go walking around at 2am around here.

We need a good security system that people can rely on.

I still want my own country though

You are blessed jare my sister... People talk about ilu oyinbo like it is Utopia,...Pregnant me had a scruffy looking guy charge at me, asking to HOLD a Dollar on the street of Chicago, I WAS SCARED STIFF & no one even looked at us 2ce...

I spent 2 whole months & didn't venture to Southside..... Don't want any stray bullet...

The difference between the WEST & HERE is that things are organized & you are RELATIVELY safe , There is no TOTAL assurance of SAFETY..

Ibebe:


I beg to disagree. Even in tourism states like NY/Washington, shoit still happens and the possibility of criminal activities still exists. I wouldn't go walking around at 2am around here.

We need a good security system that people can rely on.

This is why I am a big fan of state policing.

Permit to think aloud and hopefully some of the veterans can correct me

Why can't our governments introduce road tax on state roads? e.g. Lekki toll

do indigenes and non-indigenes who do not reside in the state pay the same amount in state schools (primary - tertiary)?

Ditto state hospitals.

Ibebe:
^^^^ Very interesting.

Can we ever get out of hole Nigeria has dug for the Yoruba nation?

Which is why we should agitate for REGIONALISM..

Nigeria is not designed for the SW's benefit..

Ibebe:
^^^^ Very interesting.

Can we ever get out of hole Nigeria has dug for the Yoruba nation?

I was just about saying that.

It seems we are all lost on way forward.

State are indebted for at least 2 decades to come. The growing number of unemployed graduates is alarming. The climbing number of illiteracy is worrisome. The dearth of selfless leadership is heart rendering. The decadence in infrastructure is shameful.

Where do we go from here?

How do we get out of the mess?

Who can be the next selfless Awolowo. That c steer the ship of Yoruba Nation out of th stormy waters?

I believe hope is no lost. We just signed to think out of the box, to do the unthinkable before we can achieve the miraculous.

It is that unthinkable I cannot wrap my head round.

Ibebe:


I beg to disagree. Even in tourism states like NY/Washington, shoit still happens and the possibility of criminal activities still exists. I wouldn't go walking around at 2am around here.

We need a good security system that people can rely on.

I still want my own country though

You right but you fail to admit that dangerous neighbourhoods are policed like concentration camps. That those societies have little or no tolerance for crime and that the violent crimes happen well away from tourist sites. ( You still get the odd drug dealers selling their wares or pick pockets
Like you are not hearing someone being robbed in a traffic jam all the time or whole Streets under siege from armed robbers.

Katsumoto:


Lets look at the issues from a leadership perspective

It is clear to all that most states in Nigeria are not sustainable. Osun, Ekiti spring to mind in the SW. When a person becomes a leader, he must know most of the issues bedevilling his/her area of leadership. A first year university student should be able to tell you that most states have a bloated civil service. So why do governors maintain this bloated service? Isn't it so that they can use it a tool in the political arsenal?

.

The bolded has been my point since yesterday, it may sound as a joke or it might look drastic but we must cut down at least 60% of our civil service.

modath:


Which is why we should agitate for REGIONALISM..

Nigeria is not designed for the SW's benefit..

Agitating for regionalism online won't do much good. The relationship between representatives (senate, house) and constituents is broken in Nigeria for many reasons. If people start to pressure their reps to push for Regionalism, then discussions can start. This is why I posited earlier that the issue is mainly leadership. Can the current Yoruba leadership not see these issues or is it that they don't care?

PrincessJaneDoe:

This is why I am a big fan of state policing.
Permit to think aloud and hopefully some of the veterans can correct me
Why can't our governments introduce road tax on state roads? e.g. Lekki toll
do indigenes and non-indigenes who do not reside in the state pay the same amount in state schools (primary - tertiary)?
Ditto state hospitals.

It would be unfair to introduce tax on bad roads. To tax roads, the government must first deliver good roads.

modath:


Which is why we should agitate for REGIONALISM..

Nigeria is not designed for the SW's benefit..

Lagos and Ondo kicked against regionalism at the last GEJ's national Confab.

Lagos case is even more critical.

superstar1:


Katz,

It's really very refreshing to see you back here.

I miss your posts.

Please we need cerebral veterans on this thread. The likes of you, Dayokanu, Gbawe, Mayoroflagos etc.

@ Your Post,

Our economy might not be able to run entirely on tourism, but it can form an integral part of our economy, alongside agriculture, solid minerals and service/entertainment industry.

One of my fears about secession, as against regionalism, is the opportunity it will create for uncontrollable monstrous lords to rise within us and if care is not taken, there might not be a counter force to checkmate such.

I also strongly believe fixing power, solid minerals and rail system holds the key to the prosperity of SW and the unofficial regionalisation of our economy.

This is my very strong belief too and this is why I had and retain a big interest in who controls the centre to the extent I campaigned exhaustively for Buhari on and offline. This is why I cannot agree simplistically that SW Governors are failure who only deserve to be pilloried and lynched. in fact SW governors, and ahead of almost all others, drove the celebrated infrastructural boom during 2010 and early 2014 yet they can only do so much over the processes they control but what we must all understand as an indisputable fact, that should form the basis of some of our discussion, is that it is the crucial sector Nigerian governors do not control that will keep even the most developed States, by Nigerian standards, generally underdeveloped in comparison to their peers worldwide. Fashola can do all he wants, and we saw the man tried, and Ambode can perform out of his skin but Lagos will not look or function anything like London, New York or even cape Town in the next 20 years if the functioning of the state is not underpinned by adequate power supply, modern and efficient transport mix , adequate security et al.

Below is a thread that typify my thinking. After unbelievable stagnation under the PDP the likes of Amosun came in and achieved so much in a short time to critical world acclaim.

https://www.nairaland.com/1399019/ogun-poised-overtake-lagos-development

I can therefore not join those calling him a failure and asking for his head because some events beyond his control overtook his good intentions. Human beings have that tendency of seeking a scapegoat and an arrowhead for our blame when things go wrong even when it is obvious our anger is misplaced.

Now is the time, due to falling oil price, to simply begin an FG-led effort to help every State of Nigeria diversify its economy away from reliance on FG allocation derived mainly from oil, which is 80% of all earnings of Nigeria, and , most crucially, develop a robust SME sector that can be the biggest employer of labour thereby solving a myriad of problems. People here should tell us what the Governors can do to influence sectors that remains under the control of the FG till today such as power, solid minerals, rail network et al. Very few States in Nigeria,as one poignant example, can build an interstate rail network without FG help and without taking large loans. Why then blame the fact interstate rail network is non-existent in Nigeria on governors?

This is the time to insist the FG deliver so that States with good leaders can stop swimming against the tide instead of us simplistically blaming Yoruba leaders at State level for everything when it is obvious they simply cannot perform miracles with hands tied behind their back. Nigerians are innovative and hardworking. Why not solve the issue of power and see the SME sector boom in every State to be the lifeblood of the Nigerian economy as is the case worldwide?

We must ask the FG to teach States to fish (give them what they need to thrive) rather than feed them for the day with allocation which are pittance in elation to what is needed for the infrastructural and socio-economic development of Nigeria. If the FG does not become an enabler ASAP then States will continue to borrow or watch their citizen starve and become unruly. That is the reality some do not wish to accept. Where Nigeria is now, with allocation to states diminished by 50-60%, nothing but an FG-led recovery can bail us out and position us on course for greatness. People should accept this fact and stop expecting governors to give what they do not have. Even the most modest interstate rail system will cost and how gargantuan the cost is in comparison to what State get as IGR and allocation from the FG. How will we see interstate rail networks throughout Nigeria if we carry on as things are whereby even the best efforts of good governors is defeated by developmental issues such as lack of adequate power supply and high recurrent expenditure accruing from the days when an indolent and unqualified Military ruling class just assumed that "we have oil money and we should proceed to employ most Nigerians as civil servants" instead of the approach worldwide whereby Government act as an enabler to allow the sector that will always be the biggest employer of labour, i.e the SME, thrive and deliver?

superstar1:


Katz,

It's really very refreshing to see you back here.

I miss your posts.

Please we need cerebral veterans on this thread. The likes of you, Dayokanu, Gbawe, Mayoroflagos etc.

@ Your Post,

Our economy might not be able to run entirely on tourism, but it can form an integral part of our economy, alongside agriculture, solid minerals and service/entertainment industry.

One of my fears about secession, as against regionalism, is the opportunity it will create for uncontrollable monstrous lords to rise within us and if care is not taken, there might not be a counter force to checkmate such.

I also strongly believe fixing power, solid minerals and rail system holds the key to the prosperity of SW and the unofficial regionalisation of our economy.

Thanks bro

On the money with the bolded. You run the risk of adopting feudalism if you secede as secession leaders will consolidate their power especially if its the current set of leaders.

superstar1:


Lagos and Ondo kicked against regionalism at the last GEJ's national Confab.

Lagos case is even more critical.

On that one, They do not speak for the people.

Nothing more than the shortsightedness of the clique in power.
Did afenifere forcefully push regionalism when they were in power under the platform of AD.
They know that regarding regionalism and self government, it is a very emotional issue in the SW.
Those greedy folks( I call them the AKINTOLA school of thought) who are benefitting from the current arrangement are all but against it.
An irrelevant man in the SW like Obasanjo,who derives all his relevance from Nigeria as it is, will never support regionalism.
All he does is antagonise the SW.

PrincessJaneDoe:


This is why I am a big fan of state policing.

Permit to think aloud and hopefully some of the veterans can correct me

Why can't our governments introduce road tax on state roads? e.g. Lekki toll

do indigenes and non-indigenes who do not reside in the state pay the same amount in state schools (primary - tertiary)?

Ditto state hospitals.

They will say it is anti people, as if bad roads are pro people.

Awo is gone. We do not need any Awo. We need ourselves

superstar1:

Lagos and Ondo kicked against regionalism at the last GEJ's national Confab.
Lagos case is even more critical.

The greed for special status

Gbawe:


This is my very strong belief too and this is why I had and retain a big interest in who controls the centre to the extent I campaigned exhaustively for Buhari on and offline. This is why I cannot agree simplistically that SW Governors are failure who only deserve to be pilloried and lynched. in fact SW governors, and ahead of almost all others, drove the celebrated infrastructural boom during 2010 and early 2014 yet they can only do so much over the processes they control but what we must all understand as an indisputable fact, that should form the basis of some of our discussion, is that it is the crucial sector Nigerian governors do not control that will keep even the most developed States, by Nigerian standards, generally underdeveloped in comparison to their peers worldwide. Fashola can do all he wants, and we saw the man tried, and Ambode can perform out of his skill but Lagos will not look or function anything like London, New York or even cape Town in the next 20 years if the functioning of the state is not underpinned by adequate power supply, modern and efficient transport mix , adequate security et al.

Below is a thread that typify my thinking. After unbelievable stagnation under the PDP the likes of Amosun came in and achieved so much in a short time to critical world acclaim.

https://www.nairaland.com/1399019/ogun-poised-overtake-lagos-development

I can therefore not join those calling him a failure and asking for his head because some events beyond his control overtook his good intentions. Human beings have that tendency of seeking a scapegoat and an arrowhead for our blame when things go wrong even when it is obvious our anger is misplaced.

Now is the time, due to falling oil price, to simply begin an FG-led effort to help every State of Nigeria diversify its economy away from reliance on FG allocation, which is 80% of all earnings of Nigeria, and , most crucially, develop a robust SME sector that can be the biggest employer of labour thereby solving a myriad of problems. People here should tell us what the Governors can do to influence sectors that remains under the control of the FG till today such as power, solid minerals, rail network et al. Very few States in Nigeria,as one poignant example, can build an interstate rail network with FG help and without taking large loans. Why then blame the fact interstate rail network is non-existent in Nigeria on governors?

This is the time to insist the FG deliver so that States with good leaders can stop swimming against the tide instead of us simplistically blaming Yoruba leaders at State level for everything when it is obvious they simply cannot perform miracles with hands tied behind their back. Nigerians are innovative and hardworking. Why not solve the issue of power and see the SME sector boom in every State to be the lifeblood of the Nigerian economy as is the case worldwide?

We must ask the FG to teach States to fish (give them what they need to thrive) rather than feed them for the day with allocation which are pittance in elation to what is needed for the infrastructural and socio-economic development of Nigeria. If the FG does not become an enabler ASAP then States will continue to borrow or watch their citizen starve and become unruly. That is the reality some do not wish to accept. Where Nigeria is now, with allocation to states diminished by 50-60%, nothing but an FG-led recovery can bail us out and position us on course for greatness. People should accept this fact and stop expecting governors to give what they do not have. Even the most modest interstate rail system will cost and how gargantuan the cost is in comparison to what State get as IGR and allocation from the FG. How will we see interstate rail networks throughout Nigeria if we carry on as things are whereby even the best efforts of good governors is defeated by developmental issues such as lack of adequate power supply and high recurrent expenditure accruing from the days when an indolent and unqualified Military ruling class just assumed that "we have oil money and we should proceed to employ most Nigerians as civil servants" instead of the approach worldwide whereby Government act as an enabler to allow the sector that will always be the biggest employer of labour, i.e the SME, thrive and deliver?

I quite agree that we cannot continue with this warped constitution and still expects things to turn around.

FG have to relinquish some of the sectors under its purview to the state, as a matter of urgency. Most especially power, rail and solid minerals. If care is not taken, we will find ourselves in a situation where FG will be the one paying the salaries of virtually all the civil servants in the country.

The liberalisation of those identified key sectors is important more than ever before, if we really want to jump start the economy of the various states and of the region.

With the oil wealth dwindling and the urgent need for Northern states to get out of their comfort zones, they will be more than willing to support the liberalisation of those aforementioned sectors and also incentives for SMEs and Agriculture, which they have always naturally opposed because they see the country as their grandfather's estate.

I hope Fashola, Fayemi and Amaechi know the good they can do for the country. May God give them the wisdom to deliver what will benefit the masses.