₦airaland Forum

A chinese friend of mine who works here in Lagos had this interesting assessment of Nigerians, which tickles me to no end.

He says Nigerians are the first to wake up, always. But unfortunately they are always the last to get off the bed. They wake up, their eyes fully open, but never get off the bed. They spend all their time talking about what they plan to do when they eventually get up, but when they do, everybody has already left the building.

Soo true! Always planning and building in our head, without getting dirty to dig the foundation.

Instead of resorting to personal Insults, Why dont u use your time to Lay out your points carefully, like someone who actually visited the four walls of college, Or even High school, and go straight to the point, Instead of calling a brother ''Boko Haram'' Economist
Yes, Power is necessary for development, But It is still not everything, because If that was the case, U should decide to start living in North Korea, since it seems like POWER is all that matters to u!!!
South African has had a longer time in development,, hence why there is sufficient power supp;ly {Abeit not Constant, since Power cuts still occur]
Moreso, SA needs that Huge amount of power , Not becasue they just love generating power for no reason , But because they need it to power their Mining sector, and Mining as we all know, requires tremendioud amounts of power


So Nigeria doesn’t require power because we dont have mining? How indefensible is your argument? U dont  see anything wrong that RSA with 1/3 of Naija's population generates  more electricity than Naija  by  over 1000%. Egypt generates about 24,000MGW with 88million population which is about 600% more than what Naija generates.  Can you point any country that can grow without manufacturing? What facts are you talking about when you have refused to see the obvious? It's your job to tell us how economic progress is not tied to manufacturing that is powered by electricity. I cannot argue against emotion, but facts. So far, you have provided me with emotions not facts. Keep making up  excuses or do you accept the fact that RSA is the  real giant , then we roll up our sleeves and go back to rebuild our country.

Is Powe generation everything?? So If Sa generates 40,000 MW,  All that power goes into people's homes abi?? Be Pro-active, Mr man!!
And who told u that RSA is not third world by HDI ,  I don tire for people on NL ooo!!

Boko Haram economist is sounding off! How can a nation grow without manufacturing that this powered by electricity? Have you ever wondered how much NB PLC, MTN-Nigeria and Dangote are burning to keep their companies running?  Let have your facts stating that RSA is a 3rd country? U need to unmask yourself from blind patriotism; cos all the power generated by PHCN does not  only light up  homes, but factories as well.What makes you think that RSA is different? Go  and do your research on their  manufacturing output,  capacity  utilization and production capacity and compare those with your Heaven- Naija.
Even if there were a third world country, why do we have to judge ourselves from the rear? It's like saying that last position is the best position.

When I was at school we use grades not positions.

I wasn't good at Mathematics but my best friend was very good at Mathematics.
I was very good at Biology but my best friend wasn't good at Biology.

SA has a good Economy, but Nigeria doesn't.
Nigeria has a good Defence, but SA doesn't.

I was still in the same class with my friend for 6 years.
SA is in the same class as Nigeria (3rd World)

I will only believe my friend was better that me if he got a promotion into senior class before me.
Nigeria will only believe SA is a better country if SA gets promoted into a 2nd world.

RSA is  not a third world country  going by UN Human Index.  Next time ,  if you want to make comparison, look at Naija's power generation output which is 3800MGW for 150 million people, while RSA generates over  40,000MGW f45 million people.

this writer is delusionally deranged? he sounds like he lives Aso Rock?

Why did this topic  become about "harakiri"? The question is what do women bring to the table in a relationship? We are not talking about marriage yet.

come and marry me; I have no demands!

What's the capacity of this tanker? Cubic feet and tons?

Yes, I understand the laziness and incompetence of Nigerian mechanics. Which is odd, given a diesel-engined vehicle, especially older ones are less complex than a Peugeot 504 with a carburettor, very little electrics, and no ECU to deal with.

Nigerian mechanics have been dealing with diesel engines since the early '70's, in the OM series Mercedes-Benz trucks - 911, 1113, 1518, 1621, 2624 etc. Same goes for older diesel cars, so not sure why this experience can't be applied to cars!

This summarizes everything you have said. I would also like to add  that Naija buyers over-rely on quacks as mechanics. They believe anything an incompetent road side mechanic tells them.  I had a similar exprience in heavy trucks: a "mechanic" advised his client that it is more efficient to buy an old truck with 235HP,6spd  than to buy a newer truck with 350HP, 9spd. Mind you the truck with 235Hp does only one long trip about 500Km in a week, while the truck with 350HP does 3 trips of similar distance in a week.
Mechanics just conjure up tales as facts and buyers believe them as god.

Why is it that someone who is a dentist and police officer is seen as having more baggage than someone who has had 4 kids from different men? Why do most women like to blur their baggage?
Dentist/Police Officer, no kids, no baggage,   portrayed as a villain
OP/MSc                      4 kids from different men, baby mama drama,   too many baggage;  portrayed as a victim.

Sometimes, its damm hard to work out a new relationship. So devil you know is better than an angel you dont know

Kettle calling Pot black, This Gambian megalomaniac once told Gambians that he would "win" every election in their country with or without their votes.

This dude is soo obsessed with yacht. He once rented Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen's 300-foot yacht for a Christmas party. He has a penchant for East EU women. He and his dad were involved in money laundering with a small bank in the US. The money in question ran into several   hundred million dollars.They are very good friends  of the US because they have oil and non-OPEC member. He went to Pepperdine University and always owed hotels for his accommodation when he was a student.

@OP.
Do not listen to folks who cannot even predict their future, and they are telling you that you are not going to make it. Just say "I'm different, I can’t base what I'm gonna be off a what everybody isn’t."

I blame those fools that are in Libya as mercenaries. It has made Nigerians easy political pawns. U meant NigeriENs or NigeriANs as mercenaries?

the point is these stupid men are wasting human lives in the US, the local news outlets are going to report it as a Naija thing without any attention to tribal affiliations.

Folks are just talking about Naija man's baggage: living in Africa and being a Nigerian without also looking at the woman who has her own baggage: divorced, kids from previous marriage, and age. The couple knows very much about these issues and folks are telling them that they are not going to make it, most of these naysayers are at the crossroad of their life and dont have solutions for their problems and they are telling someone that their future is doomed.
What if the guy in question were the woman and the woman were the guy, most folks would be shouting love and match made in heaven and ordained by God.

What's up with these men killing their wives who happen to be mostly nurses?

@ fellis.
I posted "CLASSIC!" not what you posted. Please re-read my post.

what do you expect when Ministry of Education's 2011 budget for building new and refurbishing schools is less than what GEJ pays his aides

This craze for other people's land is really annoying. Land  that is stolen  or sold by owners?

lol don't mind them. Some of them are willing to give MouthAction to their partner's, some men go down on a woman and the women go down on the men even end up swallowing sperms, some make love when they are on their periods but find it hard to share towels or boxers?lol I laugh in ikot ekpene
CLASSIC!

The money is one thing, but if he is having sex, have a girlfriend or wife that I can't take and I don't know how to really know if he is.

My OP was mostly about that, but most here jumped on the money part only.

You know what you  know and hope that he's telling you the truth. You also must  make out time to go and see him or ask him to come and see you.
As per the money, most Naija women would frown at a guy who is receiving financial help from a woman. It's a Nigerian thing that men are supposed to give women money not the other way round. Check the profile of the most forumites who jumped on the money thing, they are overwhelmingly women - it's ingrained in Nigerian mentality that men set the final agenda when relationships are involved. Some women who have got more money than their husbands/boyfriends go to point of secretly financing their relationships by fronting the man as the real financier even though they are real financiers. It's stereotypical in Niaja for most women to admit in public that they give money to their husbands and boyfriends. So don’t be worried

OP: Only you know the person very well. As per the money, yes things are tough in Nigeria if he doesnt have a job. Most Nigerians living abroad send more than that  to their loved ones. Yes, it's customary for Nigerians to expect some money from someone who lives overseas.

It's much better to have a foreign made product than Naija made product. Refuse disposal baskets used in Abuja were all made in UK. Naija radio airwaves are being bombarded by Fake UK and American accented DJs. So the fascination to be foreign is ingrained in our culture.

Maybe Naija companies didnt offer bribes to policymakers. Taking about patriotism;  try telling that to Chinese to buy Japanese or German made cars since they make better automobiles than them. I wonder how many Chinese companies can compete with ANAMCO's power-train systems all built by Daimler-Benz AG?

SW and SE is like Oil and water they never mix

SE has always acted coyly towards the SW and have never voted for a Yoruba candidate.

The reason Olu Falae lost was because the SE refused to go along with the SW, so forget that permutation
Moronic post: HOW ABOUT OBJ AND ABIOLA?

deranged maniac

$4/capita for voter registration, roughly? How much does it cost elsewhere? Your math would stand if it were a census covering over 150 million people, but this is a voter registration covering about 60 million, so it's about $10/capita.

Your English is a bit frightening  to understand, especially coming someone who is doing his NYSC.

Thomas

Las Vegas doctor denies allegations he runs militia accused of slayings in Nigeria
By Paul Harasim
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Posted: Jan. 23, 2011 | 12:00 a.m.
Updated: Jan. 23, 2011 | 8:14 a.m.
One of eight children, Godwin Maduka came from a small village in Nigeria with thatched huts and no electricity or running water. The primary school was in a tiny church. Cars couldn't navigate its single lane dirt road.

It was common for the drinking water, contaminated with feces, to infect townspeople with debilitating worms. The poverty he experienced in Nkerehi is a far cry from the life of a millionaire that[b] Dr. Godwin Maduka enjoys [/b] today in Las Vegas with his wife and five children.

He bought seven residential properties here for more than $7 million, according to Clark County records, and spent nearly $4 million on the two buildings that house the Las Vegas Pain Institute, where he employs 80 people.

"I am living the American dream," the 51-year-old naturalized citizen said at his Henderson branch office. "And I'm doing all I can through philanthropy to help the people where I came from live a better life. It is so small that most everybody there is either related by blood or marriage."

Nigerian newspapers have chronicled his philanthropic acts, including the building of houses, a school complex, town hall, church and residence for priests in his hometown. Vincent Ottaokpukpu, a lawyer in the town of 2,000 people, also credits Maduka with funding that has helped bring electricity, clean water, a hospital, the Internet, a police station and a paved road.

"Most people love and respect him here," the lawyer said in a phone call from Nigeria.

Maduka's brilliant mind earned him scholarships at U.S. colleges. He finished his bachelor's degree in chemistry at Rust College in Mississippi in less than two years, earned a doctorate in pharmacy at Mercer University in Georgia and a medical degree from the University of Tennessee. He finished his postgraduate training and residency in anesthesiology and pain management at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Hospital before setting up his practice in Nevada in the 1990s.

Against that backdrop of incredible success, hard work and compassion, however, there comes a disturbing view of Maduka, one driven unceasingly by Nigerians using the Internet to accuse him of being a violent man, a religious zealot who runs a militia to intimidate, maim and even kill Nigerians who don't agree with his idea of a Christian makeover for his hometown.

They say Maduka seized people's land without compensation to build a Catholic monastery, had vigilantes tear down sacred shrines and trees of traditional worship, and forced a name change on a town centuries old. In 2008 Nkerehi, which means "taking a cow by force" in the Igbo language, was christened Umuchukwu, or "children of God."

There are some Nigerians from Maduka's birthplace, including his cousin Richard Igwike, a professor of business at Dillard University in New Orleans, who believe his ego has gotten out of control, that in exchange for his philanthropy Maduka demands that people conform to his views or risk his wrath.

Maduka said at the root of their "empty complaints" is jealousy over the good things he's done.

Igwike said what is driving the complaints is Maduka's "brutal use of power."

Last year, on behalf of 139 Nigerians, including Igwike, New York attorney Okechukwu Nnebe filed a unique civil suit against Maduka in U.S. District Court in New York City, asking for unspecified monetary damages for violations of international and domestic law over the past four years that include "murder, arson, assault with deadly weapons, destruction of property and illegal arrests with detentions."

According to the federal lawsuit:

In early 2007, Maduka seized communal land belonging to poor farmers to build a monastery to "sanctify" the town by "desecrating historical hallowed objects of traditional worship."

Maduka "personally led a posse of thugs armed with dangerous weapons to attack those in Nkerehi , that refused to submit to his dictates and several individuals were indiscriminately battered and tortured." The lawsuit alleges that the doctor enlisted his "Umuchukwu Vigilantes" through bribery and co-opted "the notoriously corrupt" Nigerian law enforcement to prevent their crimes from being prosecuted.

In August 2009, according to the lawsuit, Maduka threw a party for the vigilantes to announce his "final resolution" to the "Nkerehi issue," exiling and eliminating all opposition. By the end of August, the lawsuit alleges that vigilantes shot and killed two men, tortured more than 20 and looted, burned and vandalized the homes of more than 90 residents.

The lawsuit was filed under the Torture Victims Protection Act and the Alien Tort Claims Act. The Alien Tort Claims Act is a statute notable for allowing U.S. courts to hear human rights cases brought by foreign citizens for conduct outside the United States. The Torture Victims Protection Act allows for the filing of civil lawsuits in the United States against individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, committed torture or extra-judicial killing. The statute requires a plaintiff to show exhaustion of local remedies in the location of the crime, to the extent that such remedies are "adequate and available." Plaintiffs may be citizens or noncitizens.

In September 2009, Nigerian police, following what they called an exhaustive investigation of the violence in Umuchukwu, exonerated Maduka and his supporters of any criminal wrongdoing and said that petitioned complaints against him were "spurious, malicious and vindictive." The report said the violence was perpetrated by those who didn't want the town's name changed. Police investigator James Nwafor, who said in a long-distance phone call that he worked on the probe for police commissioner Ali Amodu, told the Review-Journal that authorities went to "great lengths to ensure that the investigation was honest and thorough."

According to police, investigations into two deaths in the community are still under way.

Nnebe argued in his lawsuit that his clients can't be afforded a legal remedy in Nigeria because the government and police are corrupt. Maduka, the lawsuit alleges, "was able to set up his own private army and carry out serious acts of violence, intimidation and murder against plaintiffs and others because he has been able to use funds he remits from the United States to bribe, co-opt and buy-off the notoriously corrupt inefficient agencies and organs of law enforcement in Nigeria."

"It is a shame," Nnebe told the Review-Journal, "that a doctor who is supposed to care for others would engage in such things."

In October, Maduka's Las Vegas attorney Cal Potter argued a motion for dismissal of the case before federal Judge Carol Bagley Amon in Brooklyn. So did New York attorney Janet Fashakin, who is representing two other Nigerian defendants. Both attorneys said the case should be heard in Nigerian courts, noting that lawsuits have been filed there but not yet adjudicated.

Potter told the judge that Maduka would be willing to go to court in Nigeria. If the U.S. case is not dismissed, Potter has filed a motion calling for it to be moved to Las Vegas.

The judge has yet to rule on the motion to dismiss.

The Nation, a respected Nigerian newspaper, has followed the turmoil in Nkerehi/Umuchukwu, which is in the Nigerian state of Anambra. In November 2009, it wrote an account of the violence under the headline, "Mayhem in Anambra community."

"This problem which has engendered misfortune in Nkerehi community in Orumba South Local Government Area, has reached an alarming proportion," the article states. "Brothers have resorted to killing and maiming brothers."

Many people had fled the town to live in surrounding communities, the newspaper account said.

The reason for the mayhem, reporter Nwanosike Onu wrote, "was the purported change of the community's name from Nkerehi to Umuchukwu , the name change it was gathered was necessitated by the belief within a section of the community that the original name connotes fetishness, hence the resolve to call themselves Umuchukwu. But those who still believe in the community's tradition are stoutly resisting the change thus setting the stage for the seemingly inevitable clash."

According to the article, "the battle of supremacy , is being led by two personalities in the community. They are Dr. Godwin Maduka, who is believed to be the proponent of the change of name and Prof. Richard Igwike who is against the change. ,

"The most puzzling part of the entire situation is that two of alleged sponsors of this communal crisis in the persons of Maduka and Igwike are said not to live at home."

Neither Maduka nor Igwike told the Review-Journal that they are heading the factions that have clashed. Both men say they are simply supporting the "will of the people."

Aaron Barnard-Luce, a spokesman for Amnesty International, said his human rights organization, which has regularly detailed abuses of the citizenry throughout Nigeria, did not have any evidence of orchestrated violence in Nkerehi/Umuchukwu "on its radar."

Hilary Renner, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said the government is not investigating wrongdoing in that area.

The State Department's 2009 human rights report on Nigeria does say that throughout the country "corruption was massive, widespread, and pervasive at all levels of government and throughout the security forces."

Potter is dismayed that his client's "good name" is being "hurt."

"All of this is sad," he said. "We have a fine man who is helping people in two countries. And because anyone can file a lawsuit, no matter how unsupported it is, his reputation can be hurt."

Don't tell Igwike, Innocent Onwu or Promise Onwu that there is no basis for the lawsuit.

After phone conversations with the Review-Journal, Innocent and Promise Onwu sent e-mails detailing allegations of attacks on them and their families by Maduka and his "militia."

Innocent Onwu, who still lives in Nigeria, wrote: "I have been attacked by Godwin Maduka's militia on 23rd August, 2009 as well as my father, my brothers, my uncle and my cousins. , The list of the unprovoked violence and inhumanity meted on the members of my family and other people by Godwin Maduka, that devil and his militia is very long." His father, Pius, was hit in the head and died as a result of the attack, Innocent Onwu said, and his uncle, Ben, and cousin, Ekene, were beaten unconscious.

Promise Onwu, who now lives in Denmark, detailed the attacks in a lengthy e-mail: "Dr. Maduka personally beat my cousin Ekene Onwu who was in his mid-seventies for nothing. After, the Agureri boys who Dr. Maduka hired and equipped with dangerous weapons almost killed me, God be the glory who saved me as I narrowly escaped death. , Dr. Maduka's armed men attacked my uncle, Ben Onwu, and broke his leg with a rod. , They also attacked my cousin Godhelp Onwu."

Igwike, who once taught at Rust College in Mississippi where Maduka studied, said from New Orleans: "I don't know why, but about four years ago my cousin became power hungry, a religious terrorist. I had done all I could for him, even helped him get into college in the United States. He did good things for our community, but then he changed and became all wrapped up in religion. He wanted people to believe as he did but our community was tolerant of all religions."

In 2007, Igwike said Maduka personally beat two of his brothers and threw his 76-year-old father in jail, all because they wanted the town to show respect for its heritage. And he said that when his mother went to Maduka's compound in the town to beg for her son Basil's life, Maduka ordered his police escort to get her out of the area.

"They dragged the fragile old woman, bruising and skinning her weak knees, and in the process of dragging her out of Dr. Maduka's compound, her African rapper (wrap-around cloth) detached from the waist and she was dragged out virtually naked," Igwike said.

While he was in Africa, Igwike said, he "barely escaped being killed by Maduka's thugs."

Maduka calls the allegations "totally false" and said the men just want to discredit his good works in his home town.

"I would never hit anyone, and I would never pay anyone to do it. I am a good Christian man," he said.

He said he believes Igwike has orchestrated the campaign against him. Igwike "now wishes he had done more for his town and is trying to discredit what I have done. , He is simply jealous about what I have done and he wishes he had done more."

He also said that Igwike's help in getting him into college basically amounted to getting him an application.

The Rev. Placid Guste, who lives at the Mary the Font Solitude Catholic monastery outside St. Louis, said Maduka did help him erect a monastery near the town in 2007.

"He donated 10 acres of land and got some others to do so as well," the priest said. "They did so willingly. , And they got rid of relics they wanted to get rid of. Dr. Maduka had nothing to do with that."

He also said the name change came after a vote of the people.

"The people who didn't like the change didn't vote and only came out afterward to complain," he said.

The priest said Maduka had to travel around town with a police escort.

"If he didn't, he would be kidnapped and held for ransom," he said.

The police investigation that exonerated Maduka of any wrongdoing found that as far back as 2002, leaders in the community talked about changing the "backwardness of their community" and started a crusade "to pray for the progress of the community."

"During the crusade," according to the report, "the pastor warned about idol worshipping and that they should destroy idols/shrines associated with evil." The police investigation also said the pastor found the name Nkerehi "evil" and demanded that the name be changed."

Subsequent to the crusade, according to the police, the idols and shrines were destroyed and the town's name changed.

Referendums were held to ensure that "due process" was followed in changing the town's name in 2008, the police report states.

"The decision to change the name Nkerehi did not emanate from Dr. Godwin Maduka but from a crusade," the report states.

According to a recent town history provided by attorney Vincent Ottaokpukpu, the town's name emanates from events centuries ago that involve a hunter named Okpuama who would capture human beings whom he would use for ritual and sacrifices. Nkerehi, or "cows being taken by force," became the nickname Okpuama gave for the act of using human beings as sacrifices. People liked the name and named the area for it.

The name, Nkerehi, then, according to the history, symbolizes human beings who were used for ritual and "hence the clamor by the people to change the name to a better thing."

Another history, provided by Igwike, said the town is simply named after "a great child" who was named "Nkerehi" because "a cow was the reigning animal."

Igwike, and another college professor from Nigeria based in the United States, Patrick Ibe, both say the referendums to change the town's name were rigged, indicative of Maduka's ability to pay off government officials. The two men head a group called Nkerehi Town Union-USA. Both say they regularly stay in touch with townspeople and relatives there in "an effort to get justice for them."

Ibe, a professor of criminal justice at Albany State University in Georgia, told the Review-Journal that it is impossible to overestimate Maduka's monetary influence.

An open letter that he wrote with Igwike to the Nigerian Inspector general of police and Anambra state governor on January 5, 2010, shows the depth of their belief that their homeland is corrupt:

"It is , unfortunate but not surprising that the government of Anambra State under Governor Peter Obi has not shown any fortitude to stop the unlawful activities of Dr. Godwin Maduka's militia and his youth thugs in Nkerehi , Dr. Maduka is reported to have boasted that he is one of the chief financiers of Governor Peter Obi's second bid for governship race in Anambra State."

To Maduka, the idea that he uses his money to corrupt government and police officials is ridiculous.

"I could not do that with all those people," he said. "I am a good man. I gave money only to help people. There is no truth to these lies."

Surely, he said, if he could pay all the authorities off, "would my brother just have been arrested?"

On Wednesday, Maduka's brother Hyacinth was taken in for questioning by police in connection with the mayhem in Nkerehi/Umuchukwu. Under Nigerian law, if people sign a petition accusing someone of wrongdoing, he is brought in for questioning, Maduka said.

"That happened to me, too, and nothing was found against me," he said. "I worry about my brother, but at the same time, I know he did nothing wrong."

Maduka said he would have never won his country's United Action Against Corruption & Injustice International Annual Award for Incorruptible Icons in Africa in 2009 if he was "a bad guy."

"I only try to do the right things for all people," he said. "My patients will tell you that. We see nearly 100 a day."

It is easy to find patients in the Las Vegas Valley who sing the praises of Maduka.

Charlotte Hodges, a Clark County School District custodian who was in a car wreck that she said left her barely able to walk, calls Maduka "a godsend."

"I couldn't have stayed on the job without him," she said. "Shots, blocks, IV pushes, physical therapy -- he didn't just give me pills and walk away. He's been there for me. Now I can walk. He cares about his patients. I love him. We're lucky to have him in Las Vegas."

Review-Journal reporter Brian Haynes contributed to this report. Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2908.








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