When you read about how great leaders from other countries made the decision to stand against corruption, divisiveness, nepotism, selfish enrichment, family favoritism, partisan politics and what have you to make their country a great nation it is today, you can't help but weep for Nigeria.

I know we all as Nigerians try to claim and form patriotic, but deep down our hearts, we are patiently and religiously praying for an opportunity to become a political leader of any level to enable us grab from the so-called national cake to enrich ourselves, our family members, tribesmen, political associates and chosen followers/supporters....yes....this makes the situation of Nigeria so pathetic and complex to solve.

It's really a sad situation because Nigeria have gotten it wrong for too long that makes me scared we may never get it right again as some of us desire because the corruption, tribalism, discrimination, partisanship, etc have eaten deep into the hearts of every Nigerian, including our past and present leaders starting from the president to the LGA Chairmen

Now back to the topic, how did Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew savaged his country Singapore to make it one of top performing nations of the world today

See the attached image for answer

When can we have such a selfless determined leader to savage Nigeria, is there hope for Nigeria

[quote author=franchasng post=72758430]When you read about how great leaders from other countries made the decision to stand against corruption, divisiveness, nepotism, selfish enrichment, family favoritism, partisan politics and what have you to make their country a great nation it is today, you can't help but weep for Nigeria.

I know we all as Nigerians try to claim and form patriotic, but deep down our hearts, we are patiently and religiously praying for an opportunity to become a political leader of any level to enable us grab from the so-called national cake to enrich ourselves, our family members, tribesmen, political associates and chosen followers/supporters....yes....this makes the situation of Nigeria so pathetic and complex to solve.[/qoute] pls how does that pic of a man waving hand change a country? our leaders have been waving at us right from 1914 till date, nothing changed. pls give us details what and how he did it so we can learn . if not stay quiet

Ok

I thought u were about to tell us how he did it not the options he chose from

The tiny nation, whose main industry was manufacturing at independence, saw its GDP per capita skyrocket under Lee to one of the highest in the world in 2013, behind just oil-rich Qatar and private banking centre Luxembourg, according to the IMF. Its population has doubled to more than 5m.

Singapore flourished on the inherited advantages and foresightedness of Lee to transform into the ranks of New York, London and Switzerland as a global financial hub. As a key port in the British Empire, Singapore was in a strong position for trading activity. Lee built on this, as the country had no natural resources of its own to exploit.

Even though Lee was criticised by many for leading the country in an authoritarian style that stifled political dissent and press freedoms, his firm grip on power and maintenance of stability gave little scope for corrupt financial practices. The orderliness that Singapore became known for was attractive to foreign investment – billions of dollar poured in, ensuring the country’s success.

Lee maintained a tight grip on domestic finance by preventing the internationalisation of the Singapore dollar and limiting the operations of foreign banks. This meant international firms saw an opportunity to establish themselves in the tiny island nation. Sound financial and economic policy coupled with a corruption free environment and technological advancement meant many multinational firms chose Singapore as a regional hub. Lee championed free trade, which helped Singapore attract a free flow of foreign investment and multinational giants such as General Electric.

Keeping locals happy

Lee knew that for Singapore to compete with global giants, he needed to provide Singaporeans with housing and employment opportunities that would bring the nation economic stability. For this purpose, he established the Housing Development Board and Economic Development Board. The housing board transformed this space constrained island into a world class metropolis that helped its citizens to move out of small ghettos into carefully planned mixed townships and provided superior living conditions for its citizens.

Lee Kuan Yew's emphasis on growth, the thrust on making Singapore attractive as a destination for investment as well as the focus on drawing world class manpower; building state of the art infrastructure and excellent air and sea linkages; a low and transparent tax regime; clean and efficient bureaucracy; a strong regulatory and legal framework; a neutral diplomatic policy which has ensured it is an ally of the US as well as China; and developing a clean and green city, have ensured Singapore's stupendous economic success.

These factors have led to the emergence of Singapore as a powerful and wealthy financial centre.

President Muhammadu Buhari and every other incoming Nigerian President must learn from this, how

For Nigeria to grow, and for Nigerians to have enough jobs, Nigerian government and leaders must learn to attract investors not by traveling up and down to every country of the world to beg them to come and invest in Nigeria, but by building strong institutions that attract investors naturally, such institutions and policies include and not limited to:

1.) Ensuring Nigeria is safe and secure by fighting with all seriousness and dedication, every form of national insecurity like: religious extremism that leads to terrorism, kidnapping for ransom that targets high income earners and of course rich investors and entrepreneurs, every form of secession movement by making sure every Nigerian tribe (majority or minority) is not marginalized in the Nigerian national affairs, policy making, revenue allocation, and developmental project executions.

2.) Making financial institutions transparent and entirely free of monopoly or government interference!

3.) Building strong, reliable infrastructures across the major cities of Nigeria: our government must declare emergency on bad roads and sub-standard road construction...and if possible concession our roads to private organizations and local communities such that street and community roads will be taken care of by communal committee headed by landlords and tenants of that community to bring management of these roads closer to the grassroots who feel their impact.

Nigeria cannot afford to continue to operate one major seaport(s) in 2018 with over 200million population.

Our president and government must understand the need to open up more constantly working seaports in southsouth, southeast, middlebelt, northeast, northwest and in every other region of Nigeria to ease the stress and pressure on Lagos seaports and Lagos roads leading to the seaports in Lagos.

4.) Power must be solved once and for all!

No nation develops in darkness! When God started creation, He first of all created light to enable Him to see clearly to start the creation of other things, so we must solve our power problem first!

Educations of All Nigerians Must Be Made Top Priority!

Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore's chief architect in harnessing social cohesion despite ethnic and religious diversity of Singapore just like Nigeria; and in engineering an economic miracle.

His defining economic policy is arguably uncompromising standards for a universally accessible, top-flight public education system - astutely identifying human capital as Singapore's key competitive advantage - supplemented with rigorous application of meritocracy.

This understated principle accelerated economic ascendancy by unleashing the forces of upward social mobility for all, with little tolerance for complacency or corruption. Complemented by a fair and transparent judiciary, businesses thrived.


In comparison with Nigeria, for Nigeria to become a great nation, we must pay attention to education of all Nigerians irrespective of their tribe or location!

Northern Nigerian youths must be carried along when it comes to educational upliftment....

We must focus on ensuring every Nigerian child gets adequate, uncompromising education to enlighten them on the need to make Nigeria a great nation that will become a force to reckon with in the international scene.

This thread is beautiful, filled with nuggets for nation building. Am even looking adopting these on a personal development level. Hope you haven't abandoned this thread? It would be nice to see these points raised discused and expanded upon.

To get more details on how Lee and his team developed Singapore, read his book "From Third World to First World". I wept the day he died three years' ago.

Singapore tops many rankings:

- Second safest place on earth (EIU, 2015).

- Best airport for five consecutive years (Skytrax, 2017).

- One of the busiest seaports globally and second busiest for transhipment after Shanghai Port.

- Third global financial city defeating arch-rival Hong Kong (Z/Yen, 2017).

- Founded in 1901, The National University of Singapore and The Nanyang Technological University founded in 1990 (same as Uniuyo) are among the top 20 universities globally (QS Rankings, 2018).

- Amongst the top ten least corrupt countries (Transparency International, 2017).

- Easiest place to do business (World Bank, 2017/2018).

- Singapore Airlines has been voted many times as the world's best airline (Skytrax, not sure of the year).

- One of the cleanest places on earth.

Although, his son (current PM of Singapore) is goofing every now and then, Lee Kuan Yew remains my political mentor.

Gerrard59:
To get more details on how Lee and his team developed Singapore, read his book "From Third World to First World". I wept the day he died three years' ago.

Singapore tops many rankings:

- Second safest place on earth (EIU, 2015).

- Best airport for five consecutive years (Skytrax, 2017).

- One of the busiest seaports globally and second busiest for transhipment after Shanghai Port.

- Third global financial city defeating arch-rival Hong Kong (Z/Yen, 2017).

- Founded in 1901, The National University of Singapore and in 1990 (same as Uniuyo) are among the top 20 universities globally (QS Rankings, 2018).

- Amongst the top ten least corrupt countries (Transparency International, 2017).

- Easiest place to do business (World Bank, 2017/2018).

- Singapore Airlines has been voted many times as the world's best airline (Skytrax, not sure of the year).

- One of the cleanest places on earth.

Although, his son (current PM of Singapore) is goofing every now and then, Lee Kuan Yew is my political mentor.

I'm currently reading the book. Stopped at chapter 2 and from the little I've read, the methods the Israelis used to train the army and how he reoriented the population about defending the country is one to be amazed at.

Curiously, I jumped to where Nigeria was mentioned at pg. 3xx and I read what was not so encouraging. Just a paragraph. (don't give me spoilers please)

bassette:
This thread is beautiful, filled with nuggets for nation building. Am even looking adopting these on a personal development level. Hope you haven't abandoned this thread? It would be nice to see these points raised discused and expanded upon.

Good morning bro, I created to enable young, promising Nigerian youths deliberate on how our past and present leaders failed us and how to start afresh to ensure Nigeria catches up with other developing and developed nations, so your contributions are also needed here