I shudder in disgust when I see new roads being built in residential areas with open sewers.

It is not as common as before however. These days, most new urban road developments in Nigeria come with pedestrian sidewalks and covered drains, as is the convention across the world.

What I'd like to know is regarding already existing urban roads which still have these primitive open gutters with no sidewalks.

Do our leaders actually have plans to change that?

I mean, cities like Lagos, Benin, Enugu, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Ibadan etc... are they really saying that all those open gutters are not going to be covered, ever?

And that pedestrians will continue walking along the main roads meant for vehicular traffic rather than on designated sidewalks, as is the norm all over the world?

I just need clarification from these leaders.
.
.
The way streets are built in the normal world.

Im here to learn

Well, I have most times argued that drainage should be project different from road construction but our government na thieves as they squeeze it into the budget.
For states like Lagos, we sit below sea level, and such projects will be converted to water treatment projects.

Do Nigerians want to pay the higher taxes needed for such urban development?

(No, we are too too poor)

Open gutters is what we can afford, when we earn just as much as the UAE for a population some twenty times larger.

A country where roads are built without gutters



We nor care whether you open or close am oh

Majority of our leaders/politicians have never considered that

helinues:
Majority of our leaders/politicians have never considered that

They probably have....Abuja has a lot of covered gutters in the central areas.......(yes it is the capital, but still)

But the issue is sometimes what you can do on available budget. Nigeria is not a rich nation...and there will always be looting unfrutantely on any government project....

Slackerpenguin2:


They probably have....Abuja has a lot of covered gutters in the central areas.......(yes it is the capital, but still)

But the issue is sometimes what you can do on available budget. Nigeria is not a rich nation...and there will always be looting unfrutantely on any government project....

How did you arrive at the bolded

helinues:


How did you arrive at the bolded

let's see...we rely on oil, we have a budget that some countries use to fund their police force, and we also arenot an active exporter of manufactured goods.....(most rich countries got rich by being active manufactruers of goods and services the world needs.)

Our income is equal to that of the UAE, for a population more than that

The bad thing is, deapite our low income, we don't want to take the economic measures that will get us out of poverty....we prefer to sell raw materals and share the money...and said raw materals are used to make products elsehwere which are much higher in value than our export revenue...and we won't see any of that money.

And our tax to gdp ratio is too too low.

Our education budget for this year is 2-3 billion dollars. Last year, South Africa spent 23 billion dollars on education alone. SA has something we don't have...active manufactruing, diversified economy and a higher tax to gdp ratio.

If we want to be rich, well...we should remove subsides on power and petrol, so that we can attract the investment we need to buld up those sectors, which can in turn be used to power manufactring and a host of other stuff.

Slackerpenguin2:


let's see...we rely on oil, we have a budget that some countries use to fund their police force, and we also arenot an active exporter of manufactured goods.....(most rich countries got rich by being active manufactruers of goods and services the world needs.)

Our income is equal to that of the UAE, for a population more than that

The bad thing is, deapite our low income, we don't want to take the economic measures that will get us out of poverty....we prefer to sell raw materals and share the money...and said raw materals are used to make products elsehwere which are much higher in value than our export revenue...and we won't see any of that money.

And our tax to gdp ratio is too too low.

Our education budget for this year is 2-3 billion dollars. Last year, South Africa spent 23 billion dollars on education alone. SA has something we don't have...active manufactruing, diversified economy and a higher tax to gdp ratio.

Nigeria is stinkingly rich just that both our past and present leaders are clowns.

Considering the amount they have been stolen for years, all those listed countries are not in the same league with Nigeria. Apart from the money budgeted for development which they are not utilizing the way it supposed to be, how about the tax Nigerians have been paying? Where are they going?

There are so many natural resources to tap from apart from oil.

Kogi for example, have abundance of Uranium, scarce elements.

helinues:


Nigeria is stinkingly rich just that both our past and present leaders are clowns.

Considering the amount they have been stolen for years, all those listed countries are not in the same league with Nigeria. Apart from the money budgeted for development which they are not utilizing the way it supposed to be, how about the tax Nigerians have been paying? Where are they going?

There are so many natural resources to tap from apart from oil.

Kogi for example, have abundance of Uranium, scarce elements.

I don't deny we have resources, but what are we using them for?

Most of the time, we just sell them and share the money....

And the buyers take our raw materails and use them to create stuff that is far greater in value ...and we don't see any of that cash.

And let's not get started on the fact that we don't even control any of the pricing of these raw materails....so we can't raise prices to our benefit.

That project will cost three trillion dollars. A way to embezzle money

Slackerpenguin2:


I don't deny we have resources, but what are we using them for?

Most of the time, we just sell them and share the money....

And the buyers take our raw materails and use them to create stuff that is far greater in value ...and we don't see any of that cash.

And let's not get started on the fact that we don't even control any of the pricing of these raw materails....so we can't raise prices to our benefit.

I don't deny we have resources

A country like Nigeria blessed with such resources shouldn't have been poor to start with .

And the buyers take our raw materails

That's another clueless part from our past and present leaders.. They are not creative enough on how to make use of those materials.. Why are we still shouting UP Nepa?

And let's not get started on the fact that we don't even control any of the pricing of these raw materails....

If you have uncommon raw materials, no body can dictate the pricing for you..

Let's take Agriculture for example, you see those Yams you are seeing around everywhere in Nigeria, it's a scarce commodity in most otyer country.. There are so many things you can make from Yam apart from cooking it

Slackerpenguin2:
Do Nigerians want to pay the higher taxes needed for such urban development?

(No, we are too too poor)

Open gutters is what we can afford, when we earn just as much as the UAE for a population some twenty times larger.

I used to think this as well. But mehn....how much would it cost just to add a damn sidewalk to the road you're building?

what's the need of creating this post when you know that is of no use

helinues:


Nigeria is stinkingly rich just that both our past and present leaders are clowns.

Considering the amount they have been stolen for years, all those listed countries are not in the same league with Nigeria. Apart from the money budgeted for development which they are not utilizing the way it supposed to be, how about the tax Nigerians have been paying? Where are they going?

There are so many natural resources to tap from apart from oil.

Kogi for example, have abundance of Uranium, scarce elements.

Please economically speaking Nigeria is an extremely poor country. I just pity for anyone thinking otherwise. We have abundance resources that if well utilised could have lifted the country from poverty but resources does not equate to wealth. You are talking of kogi having Uranium. Every state have one abundance raw material or the other but having it is not wealth, it is what you use it for. You are complaining that leaders are stealing money, have you taken out time to consider where those monies being stolen recently comes from? The recent Dasuki loot we are talking about was actually borrowed, approved by the senate. Paying civil servant is a problem to the Nigeria govt. The money generated from crude oil alone cannot pay for Nigeria's expense.

If you say Nigeria is rich, quantify it in terms of money. All the north African countries budget is higher than ours, their expenses is higher than ours, their income is also higher than ours. Or do you think Nigeria is the only country with resources in Africa?

gaddafe:


Please economically speaking Nigeria is an extremely poor country. I just pity for anyone thinking otherwise. We have abundance resources that if well utilised could have lifted the country from poverty but resources does not equate to wealth. You are talking of kogi having Uranium. Every state have one abundance raw material or the other but having it is not wealth, it is what you use it for. You are complaining that leaders are stealing money, have you taken out time to consider where those monies being stolen recently comes from? The recent Dasuki loot we are talking about was actually borrowed, approved by the senate. Paying civil servant is a problem to the Nigeria govt. The money generated from crude oil alone cannot pay for Nigeria's expense.

If you say Nigeria is rich, quantify it in terms of money. All the north African countries budget is higher than ours, their expenses is higher than ours, their income is also higher than ours. Or do you think Nigeria is the only country with resources in Africa?

You do have a point.

Nigeria's annual budget is 35 billion dollars for 206 million people.

That actually makes us a poor country, to be honest.

South Africa's annual budget is 125 billion dollars, for 60 million people.

The USA's annual budget is 7.6 trillion dollars, for 300 million people.

UK, France, and Germany each have an annual budget of just under 2 trillion dollars each.

We need to diversify our economy further, and be more efficient at tax collection.

My person, may God bless you for these thoughts.

I have always thought I was the only with this mindset. Always asking why government keep open gutters and sewage system which makes everywhere untidy and breeds dangerous bacteria



[quote author=Rossintii post=98141174]

That's not even my concern, mine is that Nigerians have turned such open drainage systems into a refuse dump, even the ones that are closed, they still find ways to open them and turn it into a dustbin. It's really pathetic, when the rain comes, they blame the government.

SweetJoystick:
That's not even my concern, mine is that Nigerians have turned such open drainage systems into a refuse dump, even the ones that are closed, they still find ways to open them and turn it into a dustbin. It's really pathetic, when the rain comes, they blame the government.

If it is built properly, you can never open it. The picture at the top of this thread, how do you open the underground drainage there? It's impossible.

I have a couple of family members married to foreign blacks like Jamaicans etc. They come to Nigeria regularly and love the country. They just can't stand the open gutters, and don't understand why we tolerate it. I feel so embarrassed when I see them staring at the gutters. We can do better.

SweetJoystick:
That's not even my concern, mine is that Nigerians have turned such open drainage systems into a refuse dump, even the ones that are closed, they still find ways to open them and turn it into a dustbin. It's really pathetic, when the rain comes, they blame the government.

Sometimes we gotta clean up the street and make it look nice. I love this country but leaving it is my highest priority.

There is something called "city plan".. You have to have a well thought out city planning policy that encompasses plans to stop open gutters, have pedestrian walkways, underground power and telecommunication lines and paved road..... Then you have to train the government department or agency responsible for enforcing and monitoring these policies very well.. Make sure to employ the best qualified and sack those who take bribes from developers to cut corners. Make sure that before every construction, the supervising agency must-have signed off on the plan! Then, monitor and watch those eyesores disappear... That's how it's done. But as long as the building codes and regulations are muddled up and folks can build as they want.., bribing government departments to cut corners.., these problems will persist.

When people like you stop supporting incompetent and bereft leaders like Buhari and Tinubu

But then, how do water or rainfall flush out from this kind of roads

helinues:




A country like Nigeria blessed with such resources shouldn't have been poor to start with .



That's another clueless part from our past and present leaders.. They are not creative enough on how to make use of those materials.. Why are we still shouting UP Nepa?



If you have uncommon raw materials, no body can dictate the pricing for you..

Let's take Agriculture for example, you see those Yams you are seeing around everywhere in Nigeria, it's a scarce commodity in most otyer country.. There are so many things you can make from Yam apart from cooking it

Anytime people say this "Nigeria is rich, Nigeria is rich," all i say is "numbers don't lie."

Nigeria IS NOT RICH. Our income is TOO SMALL for even half of our 200 million plus population, and that's why we are borrowing anyhow and anywhere and using a quarter of our annual budget on debt servicing. Unless we keep remaining credit-worthy and things remain the same in terms of oil prices or get better, this country will implode economically to the point where we can't even afford to pay salaries let alone fund capital projects.

The only reason you feel Nigeria is rich is because 1000 people are stealing and sharing a small cake meant for 10 million people and displaying affluence with the loot. If everybody were to get their fair share of the cake, it would be so small that you'll begin to wonder how your supposedly "rich" country turned out this poor.