₦airaland Forum

May be that you did not know that Naija movie cannot even compete in African Film festival let alone Oscar. The very fact they are made in Nigeria does not mean that we should not criticize the industry. I feel that industry is really going down. Scenes are shot in video tapes instead of 35mm. Every movie is an offshoot of Living in Bondage. Ezra, a movie made by a Nigerian based in France won a top prize at African Film Festival, but the ones made Naija producers cannot even make it to the festival.
I was telling you of a Choir that won Grammys and you were telling of TU Face. There is no basis for comparison.

His father's bank Societe Generale Bank went bankrupt before N25 Billion capitalization which is 1/5 of what he claims to have worth. I think Jay Jay Okocha's $ 1 million is trapped in his papa's bank. Another Mobuti Seseko who is her than his country/state

Seun , the first time wey i see you give in. may be that was so '06.

please Rimi and  Barnabas Gemade contested and lost. Why do we  keep doing things that have not benefited us in the last 47yrs will not benefit us in the years to come. I am for rotational everything. Resource control to Niger Delta, equal political opportunity to politically less advanced states (S/E and S/S) like educationally less advantaged states in the north.

Why does power have to rotate between South/North? Do we not have Six geopolitical zones? Why don't we have a president from a zone for one tenure and five VPs from other zones each with a ministerial portfolio? I'm tired of political nonsense that is unwritten. People say gentleman agreement,  Didn't Nigeria agree on 3R's for S/E after civil war? Didn't Nigeria agree on Niger Delta development? What happened to these written and signed agreements?  Why does Nigeria need to obey an "agreement "that does not exist?

little Naija thinking.  Most of these folks cannot even make it on BIG BROTHERS let alone Hollywood. Giant of AFrica mentality. Naija films are not even accepted at AFrican film festival and yet we are thinking of  sending these people to Hollywood. Watch some S/African films and compare them with Naija films. Tell me your perception later Welcome to Hollywood oh! Nollywood

Orinkila,
Why did you have to tribalize this topic as Igbo traders in Onitsha? Last time you said that Igbo producers should be tried for making huge profits. Is there any law in Naija that says that people should not make good movies, besides its factually wrong to infer that Igbo traders are the targeted audience.

Let's stay within the point not to tribalise. Ok

Why Cant Nigerians Make Good Movies And Music Like South Africans?
I watched Tsoti - An Oscar Award winning movie from S/Africa. It was so different from Naija movie and well made. I saw Soweto Choir on Jay Leno. They were awesome. They also won a Grammy  for traditional music.

http://www.sowetogospelchoir.com/storiesweb/index.htm
http://www.tsotsi.com/english/index.php

What's wrong with Nigeria? There is no decency in  our entertainment industry. People are engaged in cut and join business.

my defense strategy has been. I am of millions of good Nigerians, so use me a comparative benchmark. Tell me if I have not been nice to you.

If we as Nigerians see ourselves as investors in Nigeria Enterprise, we should ask these questions: Does commission of power plants mean delivery of power? Are we getting returns on investment? I listened to Nenadi Usman on BBC and she said that OBJ had spent about $4 billion on power generation. Why do we still have erratic power supply? There is a wide gap between government expenditure and delivery of basic services. Why are these power plants supplying power to "Space" instead of Nigerians? We were promised by OBJ that power failure would be a thing of the past in 2001, what happened to that promise? This govt has got few months to go and it awarding contracts for new power stations.

I know some folks who bought empty plot for under 20K in Abuja before IBB moved to Aso Rock. They had to till their plots with bulldozers.

What money could be made out of marketing that was not made in WYC 1999 and ALL African Games? Let the people who organized these past events show us how they benefited us- Nigerians. OBJ and his late Wife and cronies got all the contracts. Even government sold all the BMWs that were provided by Coscharis to NASS members and govt officials. Kenya has not hosted any sporting event, but still makes a lot of money from tourism. Kenya did some things right. This just contradicted your post, because it shows that you can attract foreign investment without throwing a spending spree jamboree.

Seun,
this is a lopsided judgement. So, you equate road accident with plane crashes? You dont even blame the government. Nigerians are always blamed for everything. Carry go

neo colo mentality. Europeans discovered Africa. Mungo Park discoverd River Niger etc

I was in the same situation some years ago.  A Kenyan dude put me on the spot by telling his friends from Hong Kong of my nationality.  The guy from Hong kong took it upon himself to tell me what Nigerians were doing in his country, I took him head on and laid the facts before him and he found out that he was very uninformed.

No matter how unpleasant the situation is, I try to tell my nationality. US Assistant Secretary of Health, Dr John Agwunobi still finds it worthy to described as a Nigerian descent, who I am to say no. Even though Kenya is as corrupt as Nigeria, Sen Obama still ties his ancestry to Kenya.

if movie were to be considered as an invention who would hold the patent? the Writer. Making of a movie starts at the conceptualization of an idea. The thinker, or the writer makes movies happen.

African politicians are praise singers.
What makes Adenuga no 1 businessman in Africa. Did Kufor defer  to any existing data. African is a continent being led by myopic people. Mike Adenuga  has done well in helping CAF, but not to be compared with Dr. Mo Mohammed, founder of CELTEL, Strive Massiyiwa, Founder of Econet,  Naguib Sawiris, founder of Orascom. Folks let's check our facts.

this is 21st century and we are still playing politics of exclusion. Why print in three languages even when we have about 250 dialects? We use money from Niger delta to do whatever we want without putting them into consideration

I believe that Abuja is nobody's village. It was a desert on top of a hill, so FG poured in money to develop it, why can't same be done in Niger Delta or some other places instead of hosting  common wealth whatever. So even if you live in Abuja,  we were/are all village dwellers, so does your village need  more books in their school than common wealth? Does your village need health clinic or common wealth? This is a matter of priority

@alabiyemmy

^{Sometimes i wonder if all Nigerians do have warped thinking judging with contributions on this forum.}

I would like you to put forward your arguments as to why you think that this should be Nigeria's priority not wallowing in the thinking that anyone with opposing view   is biased. Do not hind behind people's opinion.

Lewa:some folks  think  that patriotism comes without good judgment and responsiveness

Is there any law that says that Abuja roads can not be built unless we host Common Wealth Games? Besides, i want my village to have good schools, running water, health clinics and steady power supply. If these amount to being unpatriotic, I will be unpatriotic magnified /squared

@alabiyemmy

Why dont you take on my arguments like Weyselan did? Let's debate these issues not by saying that I was not making any point. Someone is not grasping what this thread is saying- not me

@ Weslyn
Someone whose house is on fire does not pursue rodents. Do you know the amount of bad press Niger delta wahala brings to Naija? The Govt does not want to deal with  this issue; instead they want to host games. I repeat athletes do not bring investments, but politicians and investors do. MTN, CELTEL,Heneiken and co did not come to Nigeria because we hosted any game. Government did some things favourable to them. The government must tackle security, power failure, contract laws etc before foreign investment can flourish. How many times do we need to host in order for us to understand that games do not bring tangible investments that would commensurate the funds expended on its organization? Your post is like a contradiction when you said that money would be misappropriated even if we did not host, so our politicians should have an easier of squandering our resources through common wealth games.




There's a thread about lagos building roads and transportation, there were some Nigerians opposed to it. 
even the subway/ rail project, there are nigerians opposed to it
There are some nigerians against the EFCC too.

the govt could decide to develop abuja (the national capital) and some people will oppose it. (that by itself is BACKWARDNESS, imo)


Nigeria won't turn into an economically stable nation overnight. small steps like this, in my opinion, are what causes the status quo to change.

ANS:  This will not turn the economy around? How many new hotels will be built by foreigners? Zero. How many new houses will be built by individuals - Very few. Govt will build a game vilage and award the buildings to Govt cronies. What's going to turn our economy around is inflow of capital not outflow of capital.



@adcoline, Initiatives in Nigeria, are rarely very rarely locally driven. If they were, nigeria will be getting better everyday (  rather than the govt creating a plan projects only if Clinton is visiting or if we're "hosting "
Nigeria isn't really a full (not even half) democracy where the citizens substancially influence the govt. The govt we have weild pretty much  ALL of the power and that's why they're so corrupt. there isn't an effective checks and balance system to challenge and charge them (only foreign pressure charges them. the EFCC most likely wouldn't have been created if not for the foreign complaints of 419 mail scammers) unlike more developed countries.

so even if abuja doesn't host the commonwealth games, the money that was supposed to go into hosting and developing Abuja has a possibility of ending up in some officials's foreign bank account. That's why we should jump at chances like this.

well, you've been paying taxes for how long? have those taxes been used to provide jobs? No, the govt just get bigger foreign bank accounts.
I didn't even realize there was a tax system in Nigeria. LOL

I wouldn't pay taxes if i were you and i'll gather a group of people to boycott taxes until at least something gets done. gather some money and form a public interest group to challenge the local/ state govt on the issue you're concerned with. especially unemployed people.

attacking abuja2014 is not the best way. we're only deterring progress if we keep opposing stuff like this.
we're supposed to channel our energies resourcefully.
ANS: We hosted WYC 1999, All African games, And Common Wealth Heads of States, all the job opportunities that were created by these events could  not be compared to jobs generated by AMA Brewery or MTN. So why spend our money on things that would not spur economic growth, but would rather benefit a handful of politicians in Abuja. 60% of contracts will be awarded to foreign companies= capital flight.

If i was unemployed in Nigeria, i would start a abua2014 t-shirt business or something. lol j/k

ANS: Imagine 1000 unemployed Nigerians selling T- Shirts? What happens to them after the games are over? Back to square one. Mind U  common wealth  is not a big crowd puller because they dont play soccer.  Man is an economic being and should not engage in any venture that does not give commensurate value.

Quote from: adconline on February 26, 2007, 07:19 AM
This is another opportunity to misappropriate public funds. How did All Africa Games, Common Wealth Heads of Government meeting and Nigeria WYC 1999 benefit us?

I really want a break from all the "419 in nigeria" "beggers in the streets" (recent one on yahoo front page) reports that we get.
this will at least build our PR,  image to an extent, and maybe encourage private sectors to come invest w/ us. lol
i'm tired of all the jungle tree climbing monkey riding image the west have of us nigerians.
benefits doesn't only come in material form.
ANS: Why didn’t Common Wealth Heads of States, All African Games, WYC 1999  build our PR? How is the event going to put food on the table for these beggars? The reason why we have bad image is because of our backwardness. S/Africa has better PR than us. India has the highest number of poor and malnourished children in the world, but the press focuses more on their economic growth. I don’t know of any big event India has hosted in  a long while. China is just going to host Olympics. Pls don’t compare our facilities with that of S/Africa because Nigerians go to play in S/Africa with better infrastructure  Naija always wants to spend money. Let’s use that money  say $1 billion  Permanent Fund for investment  like the State of Alaska which sets aside  a quarter of oil revenues and royalties and leases for investment portfolio, then this portfolio pays out dividends to every Alaskan each year. We can use this fund to ameliorate the probelms in Naija Delta

and from what I remember, the govt constructed the stadium in Abuja for the all africa games. and there are plans to build Abuja's infrastructure for this game. how's that a bad thing  .


ANS: How many jobs did Abuja stadium create? All the stadia that were renovated or upgraded during WYC 1999 are not contributing any money to the national economy. Imagine those resources were used to  build a new city. Is Abuja the  only city we have in Naija?How much is that stadium conytributing to the national economy

why do you think there are other countries also competing to get the bid if there were no benefits involved? Even canada without adequate facilities (from what i heard) wants to win the bid.
why do we have to be the losers all the time   It'll be a shame to lose to canada when we have superior facilities don't you think. what's the use of the facility anyways if there isn't going to be any use for it? it was build for stuff like this.
ANS : Does Nigeria need to be compared with those countries? Besides those initiatives   are locally driven. Canada or Scotland may not spend their resources on the infrastructures. Their Feds may come for logistics and security.
we deserve this probably once in a lifetime chance.
when do we ever have the commonwealth games hosted in Africa? when do we ever have anything hosted in Africa?

Nigeria most likely won't be carrying all the cost anyways. probably not even half of the cost.

oh btway, i doubt the all africa games caused regular nigerians any financial burden. or did it cause the price of rice to increase?
ANS: because your government is not accountable and its not your money because you don’t pay taxes. No representation through taxation.
we're just unpatriotic citizens that's all. we've lost hope in everything that I bet even if the govt were to start plans to build houses and give out jobs, we would still complain and doubt!!!!
ANS: Isn’t the job of government to build houses for its citizenry. Misappropriation of public funds is no way near patriotism. What happened to economics 101. need Vs want, scale of preference. Nigeria needs jobs not another spending spree.
and it's not our fault. our govt. have failed us many times. but i have the feeling they're doing some things right at.

ANS: One step forward  and 5 steps backward.

Football is what you kick with your foot not hand. Handball is what you throw with your hand not foot.
Beckham cannot turn MLS around because Americans simply don't like soccer. Its a full 45 minute of play game with no commercials. Unlike NFL where there are interruptions for commercials. Corporate America will not buy ad spots. NFL games last for over 3hours even though each quarter is for 15 mins, commercials will stretch it to about 45minutes. NFL is purely for entertainment like Wrestling. Any obese guy can play in NFL, while it takes skills and flair to play soccer .Have U ever tried doing some chores with your legs instead of hands? Boy it’s impossible. So, what NFL guys do with their hands is what real football players do with their feet. Who is better?
Americans like high scoring games. A point in NFL is upped to 6 points with a point for field goal while a goal is a goal in soccer .It could also be done in soccer, but its not for entertainment like magic. Americans are very individualistic, so they don't like to share victory- they cannot play a game where there is no winner, as in soccer- (1-1) draw. Besides, America is opposite of British- does not want to be associated with British traditions: baseball as against cricket, American football as against rugby, Episcopal Church=Anglican, electric switch is upside down. Let’s remember they incorporate their military might in everything they do, they use draft, offense and defense in NFL. NFL is for muscular athletes with fewer skills. NFL is a game of speed and collision, while soccer is a game of contact and skills. SO many differences.

the originator of the idea- writer deserves more credite than anybody

dblock, Im busy right now. I did not find last poster b4 you challenging . I will respond later.

please folks don't give us half baked information

OBJ and ATIKU were indicted

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/breaking_news/article01.
http://www.thenewsng.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2324

Can our Senate be courageous enough to impeach these two bastards?

Hosting Common Wealth Games cannot spur tourism in Nigeria. We need to do some things right like constant power, contract enforcement and security. Las Vegas does not even have any Pro Sports franchise, as a matter fact they just hosted an NBA all star for the first time, but it has always had a booming economy not because of sports.
I don’t know where we get the facts that investors are coming to invest during Common Wealth Games. Most of the people are going to be athletes not investors.

Does anyone know anything about New Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, Port Harcourt. I saw the picture on Rivers State government website, but it looks  like its not in PH. May be they  got the  picture from internet
http://www.riversstatenigeria.net/index/120-Govt_Project_Pictures.php

Dblock,
Investing that money in some of the programmes I listed will have more multiplier effect than Abuja 2014. Abuja has taken a lot from Nigeria. Let the money be used in other areas. In most countries, this project will be a private sector driven initiative. Seeing Nigeria on TV does change the perception of investors. There are risk assessment companies, data and embassies to get information from not on TV. I don’t know what you meant by athletes being happy, cos Obj and NLC were at logger heads, some Abuja 03 workers were not paid. It did not bring significant investment to Nigeria. If Abuja wants to host this event, it should generate the money from Abuja not from Nigerian treasury. We like to party when others are at work. We don’t like to apply common economic sense to our decision. Why would u spend millions of dollars on a project that does not have appreciative value? $500 millions for developmental projects Vs $ 500 millions for our politicians.

This is another opportunity to misappropriate public funds. How did All Africa Games, Common Wealth Heads of Government meeting and Nigeria WYC 1999 benefit us?
Here is the math. NB PLC Ama Plant was built with $220 million dollars and it created thousands of jobs and it keeps on adding value to the economy. Hosting this lavish event is just for immediate gratification to our politicians. Enough of this mess.
Naija politicians are going to benefit more than Nigerians ok. Let's use that money to provide nutritional meals to every elementary school kid in Nigeria as President Clinton proposed. Let's use that money to set up vocational centres for restive youths in Niger Delta. The goose that lays the golden egg. Why pour more of Niger Delta’s money into Abuja when Bayelsa was just recently connected to NEPA's national grid.  This project is going to cost $500 million to $1 billion. It will never change the perception of  global businesses, because when they look for information they  go to their embassies.

any where in the bible where it says that Christians should not be poor? Jesus was born poor.