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Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by igbo2011(m): 12:39am On Oct 06, 2011 |
We also need to cut the government and their pay. Thomas Sankara was the President of Burkina Faso. He was being paid too much so he reduced his salary to 450$ a month. He made his entire staff sell their Mercedes and ride cheap cars. All Nigerians in ministries must ride an Innoson car. The government should support them with money to grow the infant industry. @Logic1 Also you were talking about foreign capital coming to Nigeria and leaving the country with profits. But this is a necessary evil. Creating a factory is hard and you need to have technology. The best way to get the technology is having a foreign company do it for you. Unless we have the resources, knowledge, and power to do it the foreign company will create jobs, tax, and profits for the company. The thing about FDI is that most companies dont want to transfer over their technology because they have an advantage if you don't know it. That is just part of business. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by ebere1712: 7:14pm On Oct 06, 2011 |
This is what I would do if I have the chance. Economic 1) Massive decentralization and deregulation of every industrial sector. Any ministry that cant sustain itself would face serious sanctions and would have to appear on a public panel to defend itself. 2) Stop the clamor for foreign investors and radically encourage and develop local know how 3) Support small businesses and make sure they have all the opportunities to grow bigger. (I would aggressively lobby with local bank directors to lend more to Nigerian businesses and reduce interest rates. Would also ensure that loan fraud is adequately persecuted. There might be a need for a well integrated national database of residents ) 4) massively reduce the size of government and remove all unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks to successful business operations. 5) Pursue a well documented and liberal business startup requirements.(All ministerial regulators must publish their license requirements on-line and must ensure that every citizen is guaranteed "equal opportunities" ) 6) massively reduce crime rates in all parts of the country by setting benchmarks and demanding results from the inspector general of police. This may involve adequate use of modern crime fighting techniques and massive eviction of convicted police criminals and CCTV surveillance in very public places. 7) I would stop the spend thrifts and introduce a well planned out and sustainable social security scheme. This may involve reduction in the size of the civil service. Government has no business funding sectors like the power industry, tertiary education and lots more. I would engage citizens that want to get tertiary education; set up a reasonable, fair, and generous tertiary education loan scheme. Nothing is for free. Reduce the number of public schools and encourage private investment in education. Things like fuel subsidy must go and be replaced by a well planned out social security scheme. Stop the nass stealing jamboree and suggest serious cuts to both salaries and allowances. 9) My Government must generate revenue by investing tax payers money in areas that are not likely to have private participants but are very fruitful. Politics 1) I would propose a 4 year maximum term and 2 year election interval. Unlike popular belief, a reputable election doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. 2) I would propose a sovereign national conference so every individual nation in our "nation of nations" can determine its faith. 3) I would decentralize government and give more power to states; and in states more power to local governments, and in local governments more power to communities. 4) Every aspiring electoral candidate must declare assets and explain source. 5) Educate people on how to call back their senators and make sure the process is straight forward Police 1) Reduce the police force and settle the dismissed officers fairly. The remaining officers have to be retrained and be properly equipped. 2) Increase salary of average police officer by reducing the salary of the average police boss 3) Make sure the new officers understand that they are investigators and prosecutors and not judges 4) All allegations of police brutality or recklessness would be taken seriously 5) They must learn modern and better ways of generating revenue legally. Military 1) Propose a no secret military policy (Everything must be made public, no classified information; especially when it involves money) 2) Throw away old and dysfunctional military artilleries. 3) Force the military to develop own defense systems. If they cant, we might as well have no military. 4)Reduce the size of the military. 5)Record keeping of all military activities is mandatory. Other critical areas Power 1) Deregulation and innovation - Deregulate all sectors of the power sector whilst still running the dismal PHCN as well as possible. Mandate PHCN officials to collaborate with and help genuine potential investors in the field. 2) Encourage small business involvement by setting clear and minimal guidelines. I would remove all fiscal and bureaucratic requirements and replace them with well articulated, detailed and enforced guideline of safety and standards requirements. This is important because Nigeria is a nation of small businesses; so that anybody can easily participate. The ministry in charge of the power sector must be able to assist people in every way possible. 3) Encourage industrial production of alternative energy sources and give incentives to both potential investors and students willing to get a qualification in that field(limited time only). 4) create generous loan schemes and benefits for those individuals who decide to buy their own energy source. Transportation 1) I will instruct the ministry to develop acceptable technical standards for all road construction. This would require proper assessment of the climate and general environment by region. 2) All roads must have minimum service periods and maintenance would be scheduled according to this information. All roads have to be maintained 3) All road constructions must be durable and meet all the standards required by this ministry 4) Contracts for construction must be very public and any registered business should be allowed to bid 5)Road construction would be divided and separated into smaller job chunks and everybody can bid for as many as possible. 6)You get paid as a contractor, after you have met the documented milestones and your work has been investigated by the ministry 7) If every business can bid then, I believe I can save a lot of money from road construction. Rail transportation and air transportation would be left entirely for private investors. However I would invest in this if it is absolutely essential or it is very profitable. Health care Government health insurance would be mandatory for all residents without a private health insurance. Working individuals would be required to pay part of any medical bills if they don't have private health insurance. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by juman(m): 8:56am On Oct 07, 2011 |
The thread is good. @logic1 is contributing his part. ebere1712: Okija_juju: If I have the chance I will simply divide the country. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 1:35pm On Oct 08, 2011 |
@juman Simply dividing the country may seem to be a solution to the problems we have but if we examine our current situation more closely we will notice that there are already factions inside the various parts. For example, the Abia state govt. has said that they will obviously dismiss imo state indigenes on their payroll to make room for the abia state indigenes sacked in imo state! We have the Jos Crisis, the Ijaw-Itsekiri crisis, the call for an Ijebu state et cetera. The call for secession will continue to break us down should we start the trend. I firmly believe that every part of the country has its unique significance and we as a nation have a lot of problems because we most often only try to exploit the uniqueness of one region! We need to stop this state of origin nonsense! Why should a man born and raised in Lagos be said to come from Abia state simply because his father was born and raised in Abia state? Every Nigerian citizen should have equal rights everywhere regardless of where his parents are from. The problem is however deeply rooted in the faulty African maxim that "blood is thicker than water". There is no serious psychological difference between 2 people who were born and raised in the same place even though they are from different parents. In fact if 2 children born of different parents are raised by a third party they will grow to have pretty similar ideologies! There is nothing inherently wrong with any part of Nigeria. We have great people from the west and we also have great crooks from the west. We have great people from the east and we also have great crooks from the east. We have great people from the north and we also have great crooks from the north. The real problem is that politicians from the various zones like to highlight what makes us different for their personal gain to the detriment of the populace. We gain more together than we do apart, we are more alike than we are different. This is something no politician wants us to know! The reason why for example someone says Tinubu is from Osun state is because that person wants to win the election! The truth is that Tinubu is as much a citizen of Lagos as anyone born in Lagos because he obviously grew up in Lagos! Let's come together as one against the current corrupt political class. Let us jointly protest their wanton greed and turpitude so that we may free our Nation from their deadly grip. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 4:38pm On Oct 08, 2011 |
@igbo2011 We also need to cut the government and their payYou are absolutely right! We do not need most of the ministries that we have. The only perpetual government agencies should be those pertaining to security and regulation! security: Police forces, intelligence agencies et cetera regulation: financial regulation, regulation of specific industries et cetera The perpetual government agencies should also be run professionally much like the way the CBN or the SSS is run! Ministries like "Ministry of Agriculture", "Ministry of Sports" et cetera should be scrapped. The government can implement an agriculture project without a ministry of agriculture! Project teams rather than ministries should be set up to carry out projects! the NFF is enough for football and the other associations for other sporting activities are enough! The associations should be in charge of administering the infrastructure dedicated to their activities e.g. stadia Special advisers are only needed on an ad-hoc basis and should therefore not be permanent and definitely will not require special offices! All personal assistants should be paid out of the salary of the appointed official! If a minister decides to have a special adviser who also has a personal assistant then that minister is either totally incompetent for the Job or is an invalid in which case he should not be a minister or a government official. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 8:32pm On Oct 10, 2011 |
Patrick Obahiagbon has referred to the removal of the petroleum subsidy as a self indicting admittal of the failure of governance. The annoying part is that as with other IMF supported policies it is a case of the poor subsidizing the rich! It is nothing short of evil! First GEJ opened the borders so that importers who are already wealthy can increase their wealth while the poor suffer miserably as a result of the destruction of local industries. GEJs excuse was that he wanted to save the money (import duties) being lost by the country. As usual no one can account for the purported savings! Nigerians must actively reject all IMF policies. Nigerians should demand that Okonjo-Iweala comes to debate her policies before an open panel the same way we had in the presidential campaigns because Okonjo seems to be the real force behind the removal of the fuel subsidy! Okonjo and her mates were responsible for the global financial crisis! they did not see it coming and in the words of Nicholas Taleb, by giving them another chance to run our finances we are invariably asking a pilot who just crashed a plane because he didn't see what was coming to fly another one immediately! NN24 or some other news channel should organize a public hearing where brillant Nigerians can debate, Reuben Abati and Okonjo Iweala on the removal of the fuel subsidy |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 3:30am On Oct 11, 2011 |
Lagos state accounts for 12% of Nigeria's international debt and I guess Fashola has borrowed to the hilt. He recently said that the reason infrastructural projects have slowed down is due to lack of funds. This is exactly what I predicted. The next governor of Lagos is in for a lot of trouble because he or she won't be able to borrow money and will thus be viewed as a bad person. There should be legislation restricting how much government can borrow to the amount that can be paid back within the same tenure! On deregulation! It may kill the average Nigerian if we deregulate. Deregulation is an IMF policy with the end game being complete globalization. Competition should be local! Local industries should not have to compete with foreign industries for the most part. It is inherently unfair! Deregulation destroys local content and enhances global trade! Those documents you referred to were created in part by the same financial goons that brought the global financial crisis on us, Its contents should come with a Surgeon General's warning! One last thing, I think Nigeria is in a better position that Ghana, South Africa and Angola - countries that are almost totally owned by foreigners "shudder". more than 90% of the citizens of those countries are suffering while the world focuses on the maybe 2% that are enjoying the benefits. The real beneficiaries of those economies are global banks and corporations! Nigerians should say no to IMF type deregulation! |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by ebere1712: 4:56am On Oct 11, 2011 |
Say No to borrowing because they are just gonna put people in debt and do nothing. Every time we are told we owe so much billions but we cant see any thing they have done with the money. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by emiye(m): 5:21am On Oct 11, 2011 |
logic1:I think i share your views on de-regulation, but some of your statements defies logic, until you answer the following questions. (1) What fraction of the 12% international debt has Fashola borrowed? (2) What fraction of the past lagos state bankrolled and executed Federal Projects/roads has the PDP federal government paid back? (3) When was the last time and by how much did the PDP led federal government invested in the former capital Lagos State, led by the ACN government? (4) Why did you assert that the next Governor wont be able to borrow, since you are also aware of no legislation to restrict borrowing? |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 9:54am On Oct 11, 2011 |
@emiye I should actually revise the "won't" to "may not". The logic is as follows: If Fashola is already complaining of lack of funds, it means that either he cannot borrow himself out of the situation or borrowing himself out of the situation is very inconvenient or difficult. Fashola still has 3 years to go and since we know the problem of lack of funds can only get worse because the budget of most states including Lagos is usually financed by deficit spending or PPP, by the time the next governor comes along the problem will be much worse than it is. The solution is legislation to break the cycle! |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 10:03am On Oct 11, 2011 |
The question of how much of the problem was caused by Fashola may be irrelevant because whether Fashola caused it or not (and I don't think he did) the problem is here and we must fix it to survive! I don't know if there is an agreement for the FG to pay Lagos state for federal projects implemented, but even if there is that would only constitute a temporary reprieve. Nigerians should realise that borrowing to solve a problem only offers temporary reprieve and causes more problems in the future. We need to look for alternative ideas and solutions rooted in the idea that capital is not money! Money can buy capital but capital is not money! Capital can be aggregated by a joint consensus for example a community can choose to have some of its members take turns at vigilante groups rather than using money to pay for security guards. The community can pay them in other ways apart from money like food from the farmers in the community, shelter from the carpenters and some sort of community voucher programme whereby they can purchase goods and services within the community. Money is a very convenient means of exchange but it is by no means the only means of exchange |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 10:06am On Oct 11, 2011 |
If one concedes that financial markets largely rule the world, then all that is left for governments and central banks is to try to please these markets by pursuing the policies the bond traders demand: low inflation enforced through monetarist policies of high real interest rates and high unemployment, and policies of fiscal austerity, In essence, this means abandoning the most basic principles of democracy. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 10:12pm On Oct 12, 2011 |
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 7:49am On Oct 15, 2011 |
For our economy to grow we have to focus on local production for the consumption of Nigerians. It is pretty straightforward to understand that import dependent economy is on its way down because the locals have to depend on loans for importation and with no commensurate local production to offset the loans they begin a downward spiral into economic slavery. Being an export oriented economy on the other hand is bad but most people don't realise it because it is not as easy to understand as the case of importation. An economy is made up of buying and selling but unknown to many people, one of the fundamental pre-requisites for a balanced market economy is that production as well as consumption must be local MOST of the time (say about 80% - 90%). If an economy is dependent on exportation, then there must be another economy that is ready to consume what the export dependent economy is exportng. Since, all nations put their self interest first, in most cases the export dependent economy must agree to also become an import dependent economy which brings us back to the easy and straight-forward case of import dependent economies. It happened to America and Japan and is already happening to china! Another point to note is that if consumption is not local as in the case of Nigeria exporting crude oil, the seller becomes over dependent on the buyer and since the buyer's main interest is to be able to get the commodity at ever reducing prices, the seller is at risk of becoming bankrupt if he has produced inventory and the buyer refuses to buy. Moreover, international trade comes with all sorts of fine print that most times it is global corporations rather than nations that profit for the major reason that nations do not usually have specific targets and even when they do a simple change of government can reverse their direction. The reason why India, despite their huge population density is succeeding where many other developing countries are failing is that they decided to produce for local consumption and greatly limited their dependence on international trade. Another potentially deadly point is that most buyers through corporations acquire stakes in the production of export dependent economies and publicly trade them on their stock exchanges! This produces what is known as absentee-ownership where the owner does not have any stake in the welfare of the workers nor the preservation of the community where the production takes place. The result is what is currently being experienced in the Niger delta. Note that the shareholders of shell petroleum corporation can simply divest if there is any trouble (and that's precisely what they've done) leaving the host community to suffer the consequences of their actions for decades! No militant is disturbing anyone in holland yet that's where most of the owners of shell are! it is the poor residents of the Niger Delta, who were not the owners or perpetrators of the crimes that have been left to bear the brunt. This is a typical case of[b] Privatising gains and socialising losses[/b]! |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 4:37pm On Oct 15, 2011 |
“Great men are true men, the men in whom nature has succeeded. They are not extraordinary— they are in the true order. It is the other species of men who are not what they ought to be.” - Henri-Frédéric Amiel |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 9:20pm On Oct 16, 2011 |
Market Theory starting with Adam smith assumed that firms are locally owned by persons who work in them and live in the community in which they are located. They are full stakeholders in a way that absentee owners rarely are. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 7:31am On Oct 17, 2011 |
First, any reform strategy must begin with the political logic that led governments to create the subsidy. Fixing the subsidy Culled from "The politics of Fossil-fuel subsidies" by Dr. David Victor (2009) |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 8:36pm On Oct 17, 2011 |
"Representative institutions are of little value, and may be a mere instrument of tyranny or intrigue, when the generality of electors are not sufficiently interested in their own government to give their vote, or, if they vote at all, do not bestow their suffrages on public grounds, but sell them for money, or vote at the beck of some one who has control over them, or whom for private reasons they desire to propitiate. Popular election thus practiced, instead of a security against misgovernment, is but an additional wheel in its machinery." --John Stuart Mill, Considerations on Representative Government |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 5:41am On Oct 18, 2011 |
Starting from 18th century britain through to late 19th century US, germany and sweden down to late 20th century france, finland, japan and south-korea, virtually all of today's rich countries became rich through the use of trade protection, government subsidies and regulation rather than free trade, free market policies.23 things they don't tell you about capitalism Professor Ha-Joon Chang. Professor of development Economics, University of Cambridge |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 10:08pm On Oct 18, 2011 |
Joseph Eugene Stiglitz, ForMemRS, FBA, (born February 9, 1943) is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is also the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. He is known for his critical view of the management of globalization, free-market economists (whom he calls "free market fundamentalists") and some international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Stiglitz is an exception to the general pro-globalization view of professional economists, according to economist Martin Wolf. Stiglitz argues that economic opportunities are not widely enough available, that financial crises are too costly and too frequent, and that the rich countries have done too little to address these problems. In Globalization and Its Discontents, Stiglitz argues that what are often called "developing economies" are, in fact, not developing at all, and puts much of the blame on the IMF. Stiglitz complains bitterly that the IMF has done great damage through the economic policies it has prescribed that countries must follow in order to qualify for IMF loans, or for loans from banks and other private-sector lenders that look to the IMF to indicate whether a borrower is creditworthy. The organization and its officials, he argues, have ignored the implications of incomplete information, inadequate markets, and unworkable institutions—all of which are especially characteristic of newly developing countries. As a result, Stiglitz argues, the IMF has often called for policies that conform to textbook economics but do not make sense for the countries to which the IMF is recommending them. Stiglitz seeks to show that these policies have been disastrous for the countries that have followed them. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 10:08pm On Oct 18, 2011 |
The previous post was culled from wikipedia - Joseph Stiglitz |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 7:35am On Oct 19, 2011 |
Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, the sole recipient for 2008. This prize includes an award of about $1.4 million and was given to Krugman for his work associated with New Trade Theory and the New Economic Geography.[71] In the words of the prize committee, "By having integrated economies of scale into explicit general equilibrium models, Paul Krugman has deepened our understanding of the determinants of trade and the location of economic activity. New Trade Theory (NTT) is a collection of economic models in international trade which focuses on the role of increasing returns to scale and network effects, which were developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. New Trade theorists relaxed the assumption of constant returns to scale, and some argue that using protectionist measures to build up a huge industrial base in certain industries will then allow those sectors to dominate the world market. Less quantitative forms of a similar "infant industry" argument against totally free trade have been advanced by trade theorists since at least 1848 Although there was nothing particularly 'new' about the idea of protecting 'infant industries' (an idea offered in theory since the 18th century, and in trade policy since the 1880s) what was new in "New Trade Theory" was the rigour of the mathematical economics used to model the increasing returns to scale, and especially the use of the network effect to argue that the formation of important industries was path dependent in a way which industrial planning and judicious tariffs might control. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by Nobody: 11:54am On Oct 19, 2011 |
logic1 please keep this thread going! good work! When I get chance I would read all you have posted you are making a lot of sense. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 9:17pm On Oct 19, 2011 |
keynote Speech by Pulitzer winner, Dele Olojede at the NLNG Grand Award Night, Lagos, Oct. 8, 2005
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Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 8:40pm On Oct 22, 2011 |
The world needs more men who do not have a price at which they can be bought; who do not borrow from integrity to pay for expediency; who have their priorities straight and in proper order; whose handshake is an ironclad contract; who are not afraid of taking risks to advance what is right; and who are honest in small matters as they are in large ones.Lawrence W. Reed |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by Nobody: 10:33pm On Oct 22, 2011 |
Kill corruption elect anti-corruption leader like Gen. Buhari |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by Kilode1: 10:50pm On Oct 22, 2011 |
I have forced many Nigerians around me to read Dele Olojede's Speech and discuss it with me. I will continue to do that. YOU should do the same. As long as my country remains on the precipice, I'll continue to try and make sure those I have influence over see the big picture problems. I can only try. That's the best I can do for now, until I can raise an army. Great thread @logic1 |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 12:06am On Oct 23, 2011 |
When you see that trading is done, not by[i] consent[/i], but by compulsion When you see that[b] in order to produce[/b], you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors. When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed - Ayn rand |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by Kilode1: 12:15am On Oct 23, 2011 |
logic1: I'm not a big fan, but she nailed my country's problem with this one! |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by logic1: 9:28pm On Oct 24, 2011 |
- El Rufai |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by Nobody: 1:43am On Oct 25, 2011 |
Teach tribal tolerance in all schools A huge and sustained media campaign to encourage tribal tolerance Deal with ring leaders of tribal violence ruthlessly- long prison sentence or death penalty. |
Re: Suggestions To Make Nigeria Better by donguutti: 2:25am On Oct 25, 2011 |
great thread logic1, But our problem is not lack of great ideas/plans but bringing them to life -doing them we could generate good ideas from now till eternity but if they are not brought to life then they are not worth the effort spent thinking about them. "proposing a good idea/plan is easy, sticking to it and getting it done, thats the hard part" |
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