texazzpete:

This is one of the best articles i've read in a long time. It's a shame people aren't paying it any attention here.

AjanleKoko:

Well, maybe we should do what Indonesia did.
Appoint a dictator, let him rule for 40 years, and let him make a decree forcing all Nigerians abroad to return to their country.
Dictatorship, not 'democracy' is the fastest way to develop a country in this modern era. Just look and India and China, and you'll see the stark difference.

AjanleKoko:

Well, maybe we should do what Indonesia did.
Appoint a dictator, let him rule for 40 years, and let him make a decree forcing all Nigerians abroad to return to their country.
Dictatorship, not 'democracy' is the fastest way to develop a country in this modern era. Just look and India and China, and you'll see the stark difference.

violent:


Forcing people back home will only increase unemployment levels and raise poverty percentage band.

oyb:

sadly, this is probably true for the following reasons

with the exception of lagos, there has been no continuity in projects etal between administrations - this means that only investors are unlkely to engage in projects that cannot yield returns within the administration - ask Richard Branson

in theory, the theft of a 40 year dictator cannot match the theft of 5 successive presidents (assuming 8 year terms)

AjanleKoko:

Well, maybe we should do what Indonesia did.
Appoint a dictator, let him rule for 40 years, and let him make a decree forcing all Nigerians abroad to return to their country.
Dictatorship, not 'democracy' is the fastest way to develop a country in this modern era. Just look and India and China, and you'll see the stark difference.

violent:


Forcing people back home will only increase unemployment levels and raise poverty percentage band.

The country with its weak currency has got all kinds of potentials to rival with economies of the rest of the BRIC nations if and if it could improve on its exporting activities besides selling petroleum product, cocoa and rubber to the rest of the world.

AjanleKoko:



But Nigerians will scream at this I am sure. But ironically, many 'developed' countries actually utilize this model. China has aggressively moved in this direction. A so-called communist country where the citizens actually pay for everything

AjanleKoko:

You see now, men are already distancing themselves from the Indonesian model

@Topic,
My point of the previous post is very simple. No two countries/situations are the same.  The exercise of making comparisons in itself is tiresome, and doesn't really help.

There's actually a theoretical alternative, that Nigerians will never accept.

Let's privatise the whole country, hand over the infrastructure development to the private sector, and force everybody to pay for the social services. Pay toll on roads, pay health insurance, pay for education after a particular level, pay for power/water/gas, etc.

Government will be reduced to merely regulating the polity, and will only collect a fraction of what they collect as tax. They'll make money from sector operating licenses, import/export licenses, and revenue share/taxation of private bodies. They can use that money to develop security (which will also be privatized to some extent, maybe police and Customs), and also provide needed infrastructure, education, and healthcare to the rural sectors. Urban sectors should just be cash and carry. If you can't afford to live in the city, you have no business there, and should stay in the village.
If we do this, I am sure public office will become less attractive, or people will care less who is in power.

But Nigerians will scream at this I am sure. But ironically, many 'developed' countries actually utilize this model. China has aggressively moved in this direction. A so-called communist country where the citizens actually pay for everything

edoyad:

I doubt if there's ever been a situation like Nigeria's in history, where a few silly people have so effectively conspired to keep the destiny of an industrious people a mere mirage.

MaziUche0:

Another reason is that Nigerians are coward. The only time a people has rose up in Nigeria, and I hope people do not misconstrue my words but was in Biafra. That was the last rebellion I should say, that shook Nigeria to its core. However, now that the Igbo has been pacified and became cowards like the rest of the Nigerian people. It is a shame though.

Popular rebellion in Nigeria will never happen as long as people look to their tribe.

AjanleKoko:

You see now, men are already distancing themselves from the Indonesian model

@Topic,
My point of the previous post is very simple. No two countries/situations are the same. The exercise of making comparisons in itself is tiresome, and doesn't really help.

There's actually a theoretical alternative, that Nigerians will never accept.

Let's privatise the whole country, hand over the infrastructure development to the private sector, and force everybody to pay for the social services. Pay toll on roads, pay health insurance, pay for education after a particular level, pay for power/water/gas, etc.

Government will be reduced to merely regulating the polity, and will only collect a fraction of what they collect as tax. They'll make money from sector operating licenses, import/export licenses, and revenue share/taxation of private bodies. They can use that money to develop security (which will also be privatized to some extent, maybe police and Customs), and also provide needed infrastructure, education, and healthcare to the rural sectors. Urban sectors should just be cash and carry. If you can't afford to live in the city, you have no business there, and should stay in the village.
If we do this, I am sure public office will become less attractive, or people will care less who is in power.

But Nigerians will scream at this I am sure. But ironically, many 'developed' countries actually utilize this model. China has aggressively moved in this direction. A so-called communist country where the citizens actually pay for everything

Mbeki:

Reading is a declining culture in Nigeria, that explains why Indonesia ranks higher than Nigeria in anything including education.
If this post was to be a one sentence silly thread about tribalism, the comments will be running into pages, but a topical issue like this that ought to provoke Nigerian people's intellect are often ignored, once the post is more than one sentence, they'll scroll by and wish they never opened the thread. Nigerians are at a crossroad!

Aigbofa:

You forgot to mention that in China, stealing public funds is lke asking to be executed. In Nigeria you become a V.I.P.

AjanleKoko:

Well, maybe we should do what Indonesia did.
Appoint a dictator, let him rule for 40 years, and let him make a decree forcing all Nigerians abroad to return to their country.
Dictatorship, not 'democracy' is the fastest way to develop a country in this modern era. Just look and India and China, and you'll see the stark difference.

davidif:

India would eventually overtake China. China is just one big Depression away from imploding just wait and see. In china, they have around 70,000 rural uprisings each year according to some estimates. Just wait and see what happens when they run into an inevitable recession, the communist party would be thrown out.

India is a much better mode for development not China a country that is sitting on a powder keg that is about to blow any minute.

AjanleKoko:

I don't see the relevance of this to what I posted.
There is also corruption in China as well, among the ruling elite. They just use force to keep the plebeians in line.

More importantly, there is a sense of ownership and responsibility by the country's rulers. Which is what engenders development anywhere.

davidif:

Don't mind them jare! if its a topic like "Nigerian Idol About To Kick Off" everybody would flood here but if its a topic as important as this or the one i had on earlier; "what is the benefit of education to Nigeria", they wouldn't even come here.

davidif:
Divided nation
Certainly, Indonesia has many troubles. But today, for all its problems, Indonesia is holding elections that the world applauds, while Nigeria's last elections, in 2007, were said to be the worst in Africa that year.
So why the discrepancy? The reasons most commonly given for the trouble with Nigeria - for its failure to meet its enormous potential as an African giant - are many and complex. They range from the legacy of colonial rule to the problems of a divided nation, and the impact of the so-called oil curse.

Nigeria and Indonesia in figures
Life expectancy

Nigeria: Men, 47. Women, 48
Indonesia: Men, 69. Women, 73
Gross national income, per capita

Nigeria: $1,160
Indonesia: $2,010
Gross domestic product

Nigeria: $207.12 billion
Indonesia: $510.73 billion
Population below poverty line

Nigeria: 70%
Indonesia: 17.8%
Sources: UN, World Bank, CIA World Factbook
Nigeria was formed by Britain as two separate protectorates in 1900, and brought together as one in 1914.
Its close to 150 million people speak numerous languages, follow two major world religions and many more indigenous beliefs.

My own grandfather first arrived in Nigeria in the colonial days in 1928. Over the years, he rose to be part of the team negotiating independence in the 1950s. The way he and his colleagues framed the constitution probably set the country on the path to civil war. But the comparison with formerly Dutch-ruled Indonesia shows that colonial rule is not reason enough to explain the state of things today. Nor is a fractured society when a country as diverse as Indonesia can do as well as it has. And nor is oil, for Indonesia has that too but has managed its resource relatively well. So what explains the difference between them? I asked a friend, Bambang Harymurti, an Indonesian journalist. "Struggle is the reason," he suggested. Though the regime struck out at those who opposed it, Indonesians had put their leaders under pressure, he said.