Fhemmmy:

I wasn't trying to make sense, but trying to state the fact.

You shouldn't have bordered replying that guy you know.

Falana should shut the hell up. I cannot imagine an intelligent man in this day and age asking for reparation payment from europeans for slave trade. Are the people living in Africa today descendants of slaves? If anyone should talk about reparation, shouldn't it be the afro-americans in america?

When those people aren't interested in reparation, why should he be angling for money?

why has he not demanded the Arab nations from the middle east pay africans slave trade reparations? Is the learned fellow not aware that more blacks were shipped to the middle eastern arab countries than the trans-atlantic slave trade?

Wikipedia tells me that a large amount of the slaves taken to the Americas were sold to the white men by Yoruba Obas and chieftains. Perhaps femi Falana should ask his Oonis and Obas to pay reparation money as soon as possible.

I don't care how accomplished the fellow is, or how smart he's supposed to be. he's temporarily lapsed into idiocy, and it's shocking!

Obama NEVER IN HIS SPEECH mentioned that the US was HOLIER, that is your delusion, sir!!

NoWhere in his speech did he call for everyone to BE LIKE THE US, in fact he never really tried to compare Africa with the US, so again, I fail to see the fact you speak of here.

I never said that Obama mentioned US as being holier than thou, I only practically measured and looked at his possible stand point of view.
You can't begin to point accusing fingers at Africa if you don't believe you are upright yourself, else you will amount to a hypocrite and that is exactly the point I was making.

I believe you are matured and you should be able to make sensible conclusions. Did I quote Obama? No!

What even shocked me is how Africans are blaming America for the nonsense in Zimbabwe.
How come we always refuse to hold ourselves responsible for our own stupidity?
How come always wanna blame others?

kokoA:

You shouldn't have bordered replying that guy you know.

U were right, i will take note for next time

Africa wants to REMAIN a BEGGER CONTINENT.

The African country that can SUBSTAIN its own people will be the African Country that Thrives.


All other African Countries will suffer!!!!!

Ghana, Botswana, Angola and South Africa are TRYING hard as hell to sustain their OWN people within their OWN borders devoid of outside forces.

STOP BEGGING!!!!!!!!!

I am seriously dissappointed in Falana if he made these comments

His arguments make no sense whatsoever.

The Geopolitical landscape in Middle East and Africa are never the same.

Obama can choose to visit where he likes first but the truth of the matter is he will surely come to deal with Nigeria, whether he likes it or not. We have the largest ground force in Subsaharan Africa and are playing a key role a peace keeping in Africa.

However if I understand Falana very well, is he suggesting that Obama's choice of schedule is more important than the fact that our country is collapsing under the weight of corruption. bad leadership, inability to conduct elections etc.

Falana should be ashamed of himself.

deb:

United States may be sweeping theirs under the carpet and dealing with t privately, but the fact remains that they are corrupt too.
Therefore, let them not open their rubbish mouth to talk about how bad others are and how holy they are .
Its a simple fact. Obama should shut up!

How many of you have watched the film 24, all the 7seasons? That is how they do their corruption and deal with it privately, not like
Nigeria where we are the first to tell the world our own wrong and later we start spitting fire that we are not being treated well
outside of the country.

Any more facts that you want??

how dare somebody include my best fiction of a show, 24 as a backup to support a point in an argument?

The blame game again abi? Maybe we now have to blame the Developed world for making us push the causes of our misfortune on any venerable foreign country. Africans wake up from your sleep and think straight!

I never said that Obama mentioned US as being holier than thou, I only practically measured and looked at his possible stand point of view.

In essence, you judged his speech not by what he ACTUALLY said but what you drew from your mind painted of what was said? Isn’t this a problem?

You can't begin to point accusing fingers at Africa if you don't believe you are upright yourself, else you will amount to a hypocrite and that is exactly the point I was making.

Arrrggggh!!! The classic “do not tell me to correct my house when you are have yet to PERFECTLY correct your house”, even though your house is 50 times better than mine. Do you see how illogical your argument is here? Since we know PERFECT cases are nonexistent and we know this man NEVER said his house was PERFECT but only urged you to clean up your house so it can be at least BETTER than it is today, what point do you think you have made here?

Africa, save thine own self ooo!!!

I believe you are matured and you should be able to make sensible conclusions. Did I quote Obama? No!

My conclusion still remains this man made no point but has instead done exactly what the majority of Africa has continued to do for ages, and that is wiggle his way around taking responsibility for the state of things in our nation, while trying his hardest to pass blame for the situation onto others yet again.

Of what difference is he from Yar adua who went to the G8 to demand other countries keep their vows to us when he has yet to keep a single vow he has made to us since he came into office?

mikeansy:

I am seriously dissappointed in Falana if he made these comments

His arguments make no sense whatsoever.

The Geopolitical landscape in Middle East and Africa are never the same.

Obama can choose to visit where he likes first but the truth of the matter is he will surely come to deal with Nigeria, whether he likes it or not. We have the largest ground force in Subsaharan Africa and are playing a key role a peace keeping in Africa.

However if I understand Falana very well, is he suggesting that Obama's choice of schedule is more important than the fact that our country is collapsing under the weight of corruption. bad leadership, inability to conduct elections etc.

Falana should be ashamed of himself.

If you listen to Obama's speech, he never said Nigeria is no good, he only said that the leadership of Nigeria has to change and be serious about leadership and not just stealing the money, he praised Nigeria on how the Muslims and the Xtians has been able to join force in the North to fight some diseases.
However, me and you as Nigerians knows that Nigeria sucks

those who says that Falana has a point or what ever.

Doesn't our leaders need to change their style of leadership? we should call a spade a spade and stop beating about the bush. WE ARE OUR PROBLEM

Beline:

those who says that Falana has a point or what ever.

Doesn't our leaders need to change their style of leadership? we should call a spade a spade and stop beating about the bush. WE ARE OUR PROBLEM

simple!

The blame game again abi? Maybe we now have to blame the Developed world for making us push the causes of our misfortune on any venerable foreign country. Africans wake up from your sleep and think straight!

You guys are not getting it. We are not saying that Africans should not take responsibility for their own misdemeanor.
We are only asking a question. What is the moral justification behind lashing at us as though you are holy.

You guys are not getting it. We are not saying that Africans should not take responsibility for their own misdemeanor.
We are only asking a question. What is the moral justification behind lashing at us as though you are holy.

Gbam!

deb:

You guys are not getting it. We are not saying that Africans should not take responsibility for their own misdemeanor.
We are only asking a question. What is the moral justification behind lashing at us as though you are holy.

OK, so what is the point of you asking questions now too as if you have all the answers?
My guy, here is the reasons, you dont have to be holy to be the stupidity of Nigeria.
Nigeria is a failed nation.
Would u have loved Obama praising nigeria?

back2back:

Gbam!

What is Gbam in that?
Nigerian leaders has been praised, has been pet by other other leaders and has been fooled and nothing has changed, so i think it is time they lash and yab them, maybe that will wake their sorry a$$ up

You guys are not getting it. We are not saying that Africans should not take responsibility for their own misdemeanor.
We are only asking a question. What is the moral justification behind lashing at us as though you are holy.

I am sorry but I think you are the one not getting it here. NO WHERE did this man claim to be HOLY, that is all in your head and in your interpretation which you can hardly link to the man himself. He is calling on you to change for the good of, not him or his America, but your own People.
• Every single year millions of Africans suffer for absolutely NO VALID reason
• Our leaders steal on a daily basis in the millions while the average Africa lives not knowing if he/she would be alive the next day
• Majority of Africa lives in abject poverty for ABSOLUTELY no reason at all
• Even North Koreans can boast of a better life than most Africans can
• Thousands of our children die each year of diseases that the rest of the world have not seen in over 40 years
• Our people, even the next generation are yet ready for change.

Why scold him to telling us to buckle up and stop whining, while the rest of the world rushes past us? You don't think the problems we have in Africa today are just now the extreme? Look around you, and see reality for what it is. We carry the world's worst cases. What do you want him to do? Pamper us with sweet words while we continue to walk down the road to wiping ourselves off the globe by our own ineptitude?

Obama only has the right to talk like this when he can guarantee that his country's foreign policy objective of regime change of governments that they don't like has stopped. Until then he should conduct himself with more humility. After all, he wasn't so brave when he had to face Putin or the king of saudi arabia.

A lot of africans believe that Obama will miraculously solve their problems. More fool them.

As for aid, Africa doesn't need it, in fact the aid they give is analogous to HIV, we simply don't need it. Food aid is the excuse used to prop up inefficient american farmers through subsidies. Charity begins at home let him solve america's social problems.

What Africa needs is fair trade and resource control.

There is nothing wrong with the AIDs from western nation, mind you the aids font have to be in cash, cld be services render and could be help in developing the continent, the problem is when the aids is given, what they do with it, and i think the aid givers should stop the aids if there is no activities of accountabilities.

@Fhemmy I understand all that, but I am against AID at this point. It is evident that we are not really WOrthy of all the help we have gotten so far. I mean we have had over DOLLArs 1.5 Trillion dollars in AID so far and have next to nothing to show for all that. How much more reparation does the world owe those who claim the world owes them? Sigh!!

The economics of foreign aid is a deception and damages us on several levels.

Food aid means that local farmer can no longer sell their crops because people can get the same food free with the result that there is no money to plant crops or look after their family, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

When money is donated most of the money returns to the donor country via expatriate NGO wages and the cost of purchasing equipment etc. So they end up benefiting more from the aid they give. We simply don't need it.

Kobojunkie - I think it would be interesting to really quantify how much of that $1 trillion has returned to the donor countries and how much was 'mismanaged'.

The economics of foreign aid is a deception and damages us on several levels.

Food aid means that local farmer can no longer sell their crops because people can get the same food free with the result that there is no money to plant crops or look after their family, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

WOW!!! What a way to see it! Never mind that it mainly means millions do not get to go to bed hungry. If the local farmers were effectively producing all the food necessary for sustaining their communities, why would there be need for the food AID?

When money is donated most of the money returns to the donor country via expatriate NGO wages and the cost of purchasing equipment etc. So they end up benefiting more from the aid they give. We simply don't need it.

Kobojunkie - I think it would be interesting to really quantify how much of that $1 trillion has returned to the donor countries and how much was 'mismanaged'.

Never mind that the donated money goes to helping provide goods and services that if our governments worked wisely with, would have actually helped boost our local economies as a result. Are you sure it is wise to blame the donors here for our incompetence and our lack of initiative? I mean should we now stone those who give money to the poor simply because the money does not remain in the hands of the poor for long or because the food they eat is out of their system in a week’s time or for the poor remaining poor afterwards?  I don't get the angle you are serving up here

Kobojunkie:

WOW!!! What a way to see it! Never mind that it mainly means millions do not get to go to bed hungry. If the local farmers were effectively producing all the food necessary for sustaining their communities, why would there be need for the food AID?

In the year that the live aid concert took place 1985 or 86, Ethiopia had a record harvest of cotton. Who were they growing this cotton for? An example of unfair trade.

Kobojunkie:

Never mind that the donated money goes to helping provide goods and services that if our governments worked wisely with, would have actually helped boost our local economies as a result. Are you sure it is wise to blame the donors here for our incompetence and our lack of initiative? I mean should we now stone those who give money to the poor simply because the money does not remain in the hands of the poor for long or because the food they eat is out of their system in a week’s time or for the poor remaining poor afterwards?   I don't get the angle you are serving up here

My angle is self sufficiency and not dependency, the sort that kwame nkrumah preached before he was extinguished by the benevolent aid givers. This is not a black and white issue there are shades of grey as well.

it's a delusion to think most slaves were illegally seized.

The economy of empires such as that of Oyo, Benin, Aro confederacy and Dahomey were supported by slave trading.

slave trading was a world wide phenomenon that africans willingly took part in. All that aid flowing into africa is enough reparation.

In the year that the live aid concert took place 1985 or 86, Ethiopia had a record harvest of cotton. Who were they growing this cotton for? An example of unfair trade.

Ok!!! So , let me get this straight. In the same year that Ethiopia had his record harvest, people in Ethiopia were starving to death in the hundreds of thousands and you expected these people to wait for the country to sell their harvest before they be fed? I don’t understand

My angle is self sufficiency and not dependency, the sort that kwame nkrumah preached before he was extinguished by the benevolent aid givers. This is not a black and white issue there are shades of grey as well.

Self Sufficiency is not the problem of the donor but the problem those who accept AID need to deal with. It is NOT THE DONOR’s RESPONSIBILITY to come in to FORCE Africa to become self sufficient. We have ALWAYS had all the tools, skills and man power to help us get to that level if we wanted to. Look at what happened in Zimbabwe for example. The country USED TO BE the basket of Africa but due to policy changes and mismanagement, it no longer is. Are the countries and organizations that currently provide AID To the thousands without food there to blame for all this? Come on!!!

I am against AID myself as I feel Africa should be allowed to rise or die.  But I am certainly NOT, I repeat, NOT going to blame the situation on the donors. I happen to donate to causes in Africa and I am slowly holding back more and more cause it seems we are not ready for change. Am I to blame for the man who decides it is ok for him to, with no way of raising them, have 22 kids? Is that what you mean here?

i think he is trying to say a country starving shouldn't be growing cash crops.

To sapeleguy  and kobojunkie

I am sorry to say that you guys are missing the point and digressing.

Part of the problem of us in the south is the 'intelectual argument' that has not got us anywhere in nearly 49 years of independence.
Remember the word KISS - keep it simple and stupid, our brothers in the North has done that since 1954 and control political power.

OBAMA said that our leaders are very corrupt and he indicated that yes some of our problem may be colonialism/imperialism etc, but we should value ourselves first and others will value us. We cannot conduct a mere election to elect leaders to give us basic necessities of life, like infrastrutures and FALANA  was doing the exact bidding of our dubious, dishonest and very corrupt , fraudluent government by adopting  the aged long tested tactics of diversion.

As I said before, we in Nigeria in particular and Africa at large are where we are today because of the corruption and inhumane treatment of our own people by the people leading us.

Just in 2007-2009, compare leadership of YAR A'DO NOTHING to FASHOLA. One has 8 years of direct CEO experience and has done NADA in 2 years, the other has 8 years  as chief of staff and has achieve so much in such period.

'YOU CAN PUT LIPSTICK ON A PIG, IT IS STILL A PIG'  

Our 'leaders' are extraordinarily corrupt and on top of it shameless about it, and we to start to argue some other people policies that may or may not affect us is exactly what the 'ruling class' order- confusion , diversion of attention among us, the ordinary people.


OBAMA is spot ON, FALANA  is just seeking attention.

There is a Yoruba proverb that say

' We should call out a thief as a thief, rather than saying that the owner has made it accessible for the thief'

OUR LEADERS ARE THIEVES , IF THE ARE TO BE GIVEN THEIR RIGHT TITLE, FIRST CLASS THIEVES.

Have not the Jews suffered the most bondage in recorded history.
Yet they are progressing instead of sitting back and seeking arrears.
This Falana guy is definitely not sending the right message for someone who wields respect in Nigeria.

Whatever, anybody stupid enough to wait for the west to pay reparations for slavery is a fool who will die poor and waiting, even if the West did the money should be paid to the descendants of the slaves themselves, which would only makes America, the Carribeans and Latin American richer not Africa (except maybe Liberia), Obama was 100% right Africans dont need to be told they are victims of the white race or colonialism when they have the best natural resources in the world and could excel with effective and honest governments ,

Falana made a point there. Infact several points.
Obama got some of his statements wrong.
But then again, it is time we move on and forward as a continent (not sure about Naija sha.) 
In reality there is no such country.

Charles Taylor wants to go physical (WWF) with Obasanjo
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=148781

These are the kind of leaders we have been able to produce after these years. And some people still prefer that we sit, fold our arms and wait for reparation for these bunch of shameless leaders to feast on. Nonsense, I stand against any form of reparation from the whites.