₦airaland Forum

Pound Iran ke?

The hypocrisy and sycophancy continues.

cap28:
Gadaffi - currently the only African head of state who has the guts to stand up to the west tells them exactly what he thinks of their hypocrisy.

Let us not forget Mugabe because if Zimbabwe had oil reserves like Libya things would have been a lot better considering the type of sanctions the West imposed on the country because there will always be countries ready to buy the crude oil.

Can the West impose such stupid sanctions on countries like Saudi Arabia or even Nigeria?

Is the FG really trying to cripple the education sector so as to reduce the number of educated Nigerians which will in turn result in the masses not understanding or bothering to ask meaningful questions when the leaders are leading them astray?

+++++++++++++++++++++
A Wake-up Call to Conscience
September 24, 2009 PRESS RELEASE
THE ASUU STRIKE IN PERSPECTIVE; THE LOOMING NUT STRIKE AND OTHER MATTERS ARISING IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR!!!

It is now three months since the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have been on Strike, yet the President Yar Adua led government has refused to listen to the just and legitimate concerns of the striking lecturers. Rather than engage in good faith negotiations, the government has resorted to scare tactics, calling the Union bluff, and insisting that it will no longer negotiate with the striking lecturers unless they call off the strike and return to the classrooms. We believe that such diversionary methods smack of nothing less but cheap blackmail. It only serves to postpone the evil day. Elsewhere, at the Primary and Secondary level, the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has made good its threat to embark on another strike action due to government’s failure to pay the 27.5% Teachers Salary Scale (TSS). It is sad to note that over a year after the 36 States government agreed to pay the TSS, less than half of the States have lived up to the agreement. At the last count, at least nineteen States, some of which are Anambra, Abia, Bauchi Benue, Delta, Edo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Kebi, Kogi, Lagos, Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers and Taraba have not paid the TSS.
It is instructive to note that while the government has refused to pay a mere 27.5% increase in salaries of its civil servants who happens to be teachers, and has refused to sign the agreement reached with striking lecturers, the government under the same given period had increased by at least 800% (the much touted salaries cut notwithstanding) the emoluments of the 17,000 or so elected and appointed public officials at both the States and Federal levels. A Senator of the Federal Republic for instance currently gets at least an official emolument of N48m annually while teachers at the Primary and Secondary Schools gets less than N500, 000 annually, yet they all buy and sell in the same market. This is unfair and every court of jurisprudence will rise up against it. But all of this is to be expected, as the stubborn refusal to genuinely address issues has been the hallmark, nay the trademark of successive governments at all levels (Local, State and Federal) in this country.
This is why we cannot agree with those who are saying that ASUU has over used the strike option. By the same token, we disagree with those who are advising the NUT not to embark on another strike action. ASUU in particular cannot afford to recede now. There will be nothing more tragic than for the lecturers to stop at this point. And we call on all Nigerians to support the teachers in whichever peaceful means possible to see this through. The issues raised by ASUU are very critical and we’ve got to keep attention on that and keep the issues where they are: poor funding of the Universities, lack of books-University libraries nationwide now mere consulting clinics, poor infrastructure, poor welfare, lack of autonomy, loss of academic freedom, etcetera. These are the issues and we’ve got to join hands with ASUU and the NUT to send a strong message about how we honestly feel about the politicisation and commercialisation of education by the government, for as Martin Luther King, Jr. say, “When people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.” And we want to reiterate once more to the NUT and ASUU that we will be willing to participate actively in any genuine direct action program designed to end all of the socio-political evils plaguing our education sector. All they have to do is sound the call and we will be right there.
You know! It is a sad truth that our government is yet to realise the importance of education in national development. A country that wishes to develop cannot do so without recognising the place of education and if this government really wants to achieve its lofty dream of “Vision 2020,” then it must radically begin to revolutionise its values and re-order its priority in so far as education is concerned; the Yar Adua Administration must stop relegating education to the backburner of national issues and make education the first item on its agenda. If this Administration can muster the political will to do this, it may yet save its face and recover from the state of stupor it’s presently in. This would afford Mr. President the chance to achieve a pass mark in at least one out of his seven-point agenda which he has failed to record even a minute progress on any in the over two years he has spent out of his four year term. President Yar Adua and his number two, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan who had been lecturers before may well decide to be the catalysts for change. Come to think of it! Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of Teachers and Lecturers more than one of their own? Both men must make a decision for once. They have a wonderful opportunity to do everything possible to put education in its proper place in this country.
In today’s cybernetic world, to compete effectively in the global market and integrate successfully into the global economy, education must be given the very serious attention that it deserves; nations all over the world including neighbouring West African Countries are fast waking up to this reality, and Nigeria must be no different. How else does the government intend to achieve the dream of Vision 2020, which is to become at least the 20 th most industrialised nation by 2020? The implication of that Vision 2020 as we understand it is to displace Belgium and take its place, for Belgium is currently the 20th most industrialised nation presently. How does the government intend to achieve this feat without the sound equipping of its people educationally to face the challenges of the 21st century? This government has the rare opportunity to show that the security and welfare of the Nigerian people is its primary concern.
In the light of this, we like to suggest five concrete things for the government to do in order to end this nightmare:

1. Return immediately to the negotiating table with ASUU {we hope the bringing in of Comrade (Governor) Adams Oshiomhole to the government negotiating team is not merely to whittle down the strike and launder the government already battered image}; the Comrade (Governor) must resist every attempt to be used as a bait and a shield. Government must return immediately to the negotiating table and sign that agreement already reached with ASUU with no strings attached. This was the same strategy adopted by the Administration with the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and up till this moment the Teachers Salary Scale (TSS) is still facing hiccups. The idea by the Yar Adua Administration that under a Democracy, it cannot sign any agreement on behalf of State governments is not only political unsound, but sociological untenable. Why is that when it comes to issues of education and policies bothering genuinely on the people’s welfare, this Administration suddenly realises it is in a Democracy, but on all other issues, it can wade into the States at whim and interferes or even abrogate their policies at will? The notion also being propagated by the Yar Adua led government that the various ASUU units should negotiate with their Governing Council also does not make sense, because we all know that that any decision reached at that level will not be binding on the government. Government must therefore honestly face the issues raised squarely for our educational system cannot be toyed with any longer.
2. The various State governments that have defaulted on payment of the TSS must start paying immediately so that the teachers can return to work.
3. The ongoing implementation of the nine-year basic education programme should be put on hold, thrown to honest public debate for all Nigerians to be aware of what the policy entails, because in our view, it will not address the minimum requirement of a University Curriculum; removing the JSS Component and tying it to the previous six-year primary Component as the new nine year universal basic education that is free, universal and compulsory, while precluding the SSS Component from it is devoid of common sense as it cannot be build upon at a later date.
4. Invest massively in education of the citizenry at all levels, build and equip new schools, recruit an army of new teachers, train and kit them up properly with better salaries, as it will take nothing less to compete effectively with other nations and meet the challenges of the 21st century.
5. Stop henceforth the politicization and commercialization of education and desist further from tying our education system to the aprons of foreign interests.
Eneruvie Enakoko
(CLO Chairman in Lagos)


--
Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Lagos 13, Soji Adepegba Close, Off
Allen Ave, Ikeja/Lagos. Tel: 234-1-08033188864, 4939324-5, 7746694.
Fax: 01-4939324, P.O Box 53328, Ikoyi, Lagos. Email:
clolagosnigeria@gmail.com, clolagos@yahoo.com, Website: www.clo-ng.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Eagle1:
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain said his unwavering commitment to resource control and practice of fiscal federalism culminated in his mobilization of all the lawmakers and governors of the South-South geo-political zone to demand for the payment of 13 per cent derivation as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution. His outspokenness which eventually forced the ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo to pay the money however alienated him from the ex-president, he claimed.

I hope he is not implying or insinuating that he had anything to do with the 13% derivation because it was Abacha who unilaterally increased it from 3% to 13% while he was the head of state.

The press conference sounds unbelievable and inconsistent.

Thor:
There are many responsible and normal countries with nuclear arms such as the US and the UK

US? The only country in the world that has used atomic bomb against civilians in 2 cities?

Thor:
Then there are some absolute disgusting excuses for countries such as Pakistan that have a limited nuclear capability.

What are the absolute disgusting excuses?

Thor:
Iran is the worlds center of evil and we should not allow them to develop nuclear weapons in anyway

Because Israel and US says so or what?

Who are the we you refer to?

What gives country A the right to develop nuclear weapons and denies country B the right to do same?

Let us leave sentiments and unnecessary bias out of discussions like these because even in Nigeria it is the same type of double standard and hypocrisy that is making things difficult to deal with.

If Oshiomole cannot resolve the strike in his own state as a governor then it makes perfect sense to state that all the while he was NLC leader he was only blowing hot air or wasting our time.

proudly9ja:
Mr Afam, in all the examples you could give, the person you could name is Mugabe? Have you spoken to a Zimbabwean recently? what has Mugabe's policies done for the average Zimbabwean? Do you know the irony of that arguement? They dont even have a currency in Zimbabwe anymore. They spend the American dollar. Yup, the same 'west' they are asking not to dictate to them.

Mugabe is the only reasonable example considering the fact that those who tried to do this in the past are dead, people like Sankara, Lumumba, etc.

Again, the West does not stop at withdrawing AID, they sponsor coups, assassinations, wars etc just to get what they want if the countries they are interested in go not agree to their "advice" or demands.

Do not forget Iraq.

davidif:
AFAM, YOU ARE A VERY VERY VERY STUPID IDIOT. OLOSHI OLORIBURUKU.

Take it easy man, you are addressing someone else not your father here. You don't talk to people the way you talk to your father at home, ok?

"Zimbabwe belongs to the Zimbabweans, pure and simple," he said, then adding that white Zimbabweans -- even those born in the country with legal ownership of their land -- have a debt to pay.

"They occupied the land illegally. They seized the land from our people," Mugabe said. When Amanpour pressed him on white farmers being forced off their land, he shot back, "Not just off their land. Our land."

"They are British settlers," he said, later calling them "citizens by colonization, seizing land from original people, indigenous people of the country."

Excellent response by Mugabe.

We need more leaders like him and Africa will just wake up from its self imposed slumber.

From my inbox.

Wonderful question. Read and enjoy!

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Who is Pushing Whom into the Sea?
by William Martin

"We Must Expel the Arabs and Take Their Place"
--David Ben Gurion, Israel's First Prime Minister

On 11 October 1961 Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion
declared in the Israeli Knesset: 'The Arabs' exit from
Palestine, began immediately after the UN resolution,
from the areas earmarked for the Jewish state. And we have
explicit documents testifying that they left Palestine
following instructions by the Arab leaders, with the Mufti
at their head, under the assumption that the invasion of
the Arab armies at the expiration of the Mandate will
destroy the Jewish state and push all the Jews into the
sea, dead or alive'.

Thus, Mr. Ben Gurion is asserting that it is his perception
that 1) there were directions from the neighboring Arab
states and the Mufti in Jerusalem for the indigenous Arabs
of Palestine to evacuate their homes and lands on the
promise that the Arab armies would destroy the nascent
Jewish state, and, further, 2) that those armies intended
to "push all the Jews into the sea, dead or alive".

The phrase "push all the Jews into the sea, dead or alive"
has acquired a life of its own as it is invoked by Zionist
supporters on a daily basis in order to justify the
aggressive policies of Israel as well as its recalcitrance
in continuing the occupation of the Palestinians of the
West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

It is a highly emotive phrase invoking images of the
Holocaust, though adapted to a Mediterranean setting.
Mr. Ben Gurion gives no attribution for this phrase, nor
does he claim that it is a quote from an Arab source. It
is expressed here as if it is his personal surmise as to
the Arab army's intentions.

The phrase has been variously attributed by Zionist
supporters to Yasser Arafat, Gamel Abdul Nasser, or any
other of Israel's enemies, but none whom I have challenged,
including U S Congressman Henry Waxman who made the claim
in a letter to me, attributing the phrase to Nasser, have
been able to provide any documentation of support for their
claim.

This 1961 speech certainly predates Arafat's 1968 ascension
to the head of the PLO. The phrase is very much entrenched
in the thinking of Israel supporters and is taken as a
factual basis for an Arab intent of Genocide and of their
own potential for peril.

The speech by Mr. Ben Gurion appears to be the origin of
the phrase. A search of the speeches of Gamel Abdul Nasser
fails to reveal it, nor does it reveal any other than a
pragmatics approach to his dealing with Israel. This phrase
is sufficiently dramatic and threatening so that if it was
in fact uttered by a significant Arab leader, it would be
prominent and easily found in any competent historical
treatment, which it is not. The phrase, thus, has a Jewish
origin and not an Arab origin. Mr Ben Gurion is the
originator of the phrase, in all likelihood.

Mr. Ben Gurion's first claim that the Arab exodus from
Palestine was provoked by directives from the leaders of
the surrounding Arab states has been shown by overwhelming
historical research to be false.

Since the early 1980's a new generation of professional
historians, many, though not all, Israeli, and recognized
as professionally competent within their own society, as
well as to a wider audience, and aided in no small measure
by the opening of many historical and military documents
archived by the Israel, and British governments, and to a
lesser extent, Arab governments, have provided a revised
historical perspective as a challenge to the official
Israeli history of the origin of the state of Israel. These
newly released documents have been systematically mined by
Ben Gurion University Professor of History, Benny Morris,
as well as others.

One telling document uncovered by Professor Benny Morris
is "The Emigration of the Arabs of Palestine in the Period
1/12/1947 - 1/6/1948" dated 30 June, 1948 and was produced
by the Israeli Defense Forces Intelligence Service during
the first weeks of the truce (11 June ¬ 9 July) of 1948.

It analyzes the numbers of refugees, the stages of the
exodus, the causes, destination and problems of absorption
in the host countries. The appendix contains the village
by village breakdown in terms of numbers of initial
inhabitants, their destinations and the causes of their
flight.

On the eve of the UN Partition Plan Resolution of 29 Nov
1947, according to the report, there were 219 Arab villages
and four Arab, or partly Arab, towns in the area designated
for the Jewish state, with a total Arab population of
340,000 Arab residents.

By June 1, 180 of these towns had been evacuated, with
239,000 Arabs fleeing the areas of the Jewish state. A
further 152,000 Arabs, from 70 villages and three towns
(Jaffa, Jenin, and Acre), had fled their homes in the
areas designated for Palestinian Arab statehood in the
Partition Resolution. Thus by June 1, according to the
report, the refugee total was 391,000, with an error of
10 to 15%.

The UN gives a figure of 750,000 - 800,000 Palestinian
refugees by the end of 1948, so that the period covered
by the Intelligence Service Report is one in which roughly
one half the refugee population was generated.

The report then outlines eleven (I will list five) of what
the IDF Intelligence Service regarded, in June 1948, as
the factors which precipitated the exodus, listing them
in order of importance as:

a. Direct hostile Jewish [Haganah/IDF] operations against
Arab settlements. (The Haganah was the army of the Yeshuv,
or Jewish community in Palestine, and was the precursor of
the Israeli Defense Force, or IDF.)

b. The effect of our [Haganah/IDF] hostile operations on
nearby Arab settlements (especially ¬ the fall of large
neighboring centers).

c. Operations of the Jewish dissidents [Menachem Begin's
Irgun and Yitzhak Shamir's Stern Gang, also known as the
Irgun Tzvai Leumi and the Lehi, resp.].

d. Jewish whispering operations [psychological warfare]
aimed at frightening away Arab inhabitants.

e. Ultimate expulsion orders [by Haganah/IDF].

The Intelligence Service then gives a detailed breakdown
and explanation of these factors, stressing that "without
doubt, hostile [Haganah/IDF] operations were the main cause
of the movement of the population". The wave of emigration
in each district, explains the report, "followed hard upon
the increase and expansion of our [Haganah/IDF] operations
in that district.

The departure of the British of course, helped the Arab
evacuation, but it appears that the British withdrawal
freed our hands for action more than it influenced the
Arab immigration directly."

The report cites "surprise, protracted mortar barrages, and
the use of loudspeakers broadcasting threatening messages,
factors which had a strong influence in precipitation
flight". "An attack on one village or town often affected
its neighbors. The evacuation of a certain village because
of an attack by us prompted in its wake many neighboring
villages to flee", the report states. "The fall of
Tiberias, Safad, Samakh, Jaffa, and Acre engendered in
their wake many waves of emigrants."

The report concludes that "It is possible to say that at
least 55% of the total of the exodus was caused by our
Haganah/IDF operations and by their influence. the effects
of the operations of the dissidents Jewish organizations
[the Irgun and the Stern Gang] directly caused some 15%
of the emigration." The Intelligence Service states that
the activities of the Irgun and Stern were especially
important in the Jaffa-Tel Aviv area, in the coastal plain
to the north, and around Jerusalem. The report cites the
"special effect" of the Irgun and Stern Gang operations in
Deir Yassin.

The action at Deir Yassin, especially greatly affected the
thinking of the Arabs; not a little of the immediate flight
during our [Haganah/IDF] attacks, especially in the central
and southern areas was due to this factor which can be
described as a decisive accelerating factor.

Recall that the Deir Yassin massacre, which occurred on
April 9, 1948, claimed the lives of about 240 men women
and children of this peaceful village and included rapes
and mutilations. See, The Deir Yassin Massacre. There
were other massacres, perhaps two to three thousands,
essentially defenseless, Palestinians were massacred,
according to Haifa University historian Ilan Pappe,
however the Deir Yassin massacre was widely publicized
and became, in some ways, the signature of the Irgun and
the Stern Gang.

Altogether the report states, Jewish [Haganah/IDF, Irgun,
Stern] military accounted for 70% if the Arab exodus from
Palestine.

In direct contradiction to Ben Gurion, the report states
"the Arab institutions attempted to struggle against the
phenomenon of flight and evacuation, and to curb the
waves of emigration". The Arab Higher Committee imposed
restrictions, and issued threats, punishments, and
propaganda in the radio and press to curb the emigration,
and also tried to mobilize the governments in the neighbor-
ing Arab states to assist in this effort, as both shared
the same interest.

"More than once", the report states, "[Haganah/IDF units
were forced] to expel inhabitants [after they had returned
to their homes]".

Thus in sum, this document, which is only one of many to
have surfaced in consequence of the historical research of
the last 20 years completely refutes Ben Gurion's claim
and reveals it to have no basis in fact.

Mr. Ben Gurion was lying through his teeth, to put it
plainly.

It should be observed that the Jewish agency in Palestine
declared itself a state on May 14, 1948. It was the next
day, May 15 that the first of five Arab armies or
contingents of armies entered Palestine. Thus, approximate-
ly half of the 1948 refugees fled or were extirpated before
the first foreign Arab soldier set foot in Palestine.

The time line is important: the Deir Yassin Massacre
occurred on April 9, the expulsion of Arabs from the cities
of Jaffe, Haifa, Tiberias, and Safid occurred at the end of
April and in the first days of May. The flight of the
Palestinian refugees, thus, was not set in motion by the
entrance of the Arab armies as is often claimed.

Nor should we take from Mr Ben Gurion's statement that the
concept of Palestinian evacuation was confined to the years
1947 - 1948. The concept of transfer of the indigenous Arab
population to make way for a Jewish state was intrinsic to
the thinking of the Zionist leaders from its initial
inception.

Thus Theodor Herzl, founder of the World Zionist
Organization, said in 1892: [We shall] spirit the penniless
population across the frontier by denying it employment.
Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the
poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.

And in 1937, Ben Gurion stated:
The compulsory transfer of Arabs from the valleys of the
proposed Jewish state could give us something which we
never had, even when we stood on our own feet during the
days of the First and Second Temple.

And in a letter to his son, also in 1937, he stated:
We must expel the Arabs and take their places and if we
have to use force, to guarantee our own right to settle
in those places - then we have force at our disposal.

And in early 1948 Ben Gurion wrote in his War Diary,
"During the assault we must be ready to strike the decisive
blow; that is, either to destroy the towns or expel its
inhabitants so our people can replace them."

And in February 1948, Ben Gurion told Yoseph Weitz,
director of the settlement of the Jewish National Fund
and head of the official Transfer Committee of 1948:
The war will give us land. The concept of 'ours' and 'not
ours' are peace concepts, only, in war they lose their
whole meaning.

In fact, the concept of transfer, a euphemism for
expulsion, was embraced by the entire Jewish leadership
from the earliest stages of Zionism until the 1948
extirpation of the indigenous population. Transfer
committees were actually set up from 1937 on until 1948
in order to study ways of riding Palestine of as many
Arabs as possible.

By the end of the 1948 War, hundreds of Arab villages had
been completely depopulated. Their house and buildings
were bulldozed of blown up primarily for the purpose of
preventing the return of their owners. Benny Morris lists
369 Palestinian villages and towns destroyed, while
Professor Walid Khalidi, leading a team of field research-
ers, in an exhaustive study, describes the destruction of
each of 418 villages or hamlets which are listed on an
index of Palestinian cities of 1945.

Quoting from Ilan Pappe's book, A History of Modern
Palestine: [W]hen winter was over and the spring of 1949
warmed a particularly frozen Palestine, the land which we
have described - reconstructing a period stretching over
250 years - had changed beyond recognition. The country-
side, the rural heart of Palestine, with its colourful
and picturesque villages was ruined. Half the villages
had been destroyed, flattened by Israeli bulldozers which
had been at work since August 1948 when the government had
decided to either turn them into cultivated land or to
build new Jewish settlements on their remains. A naming
committee granted the new settlements Hebraized versions
of the original Arab names.

David Ben Gurion explained that this was done as part of
an attempt to prevent future claim to the villages. It
was also supported by the Israeli archeologists, who had
authorized the names as returning the map to something
resembling 'ancient Israel'. Of equal importance, in
engendering what Arafat called an Israeli "Masada complex"
is the common pro-Zionist interpretation of the 1968 PLO
Charter as calling for the destruction of the state of
Israel in which the term "destruction" is interpreted as
"pushing all the Jews into the sea, dead or alive."

Though the document calls for armed struggle, there is
nothing in it incompatible with the establishment of a
secular democratic state which recognizes and respects
the three major religions.

Indeed, article 16 of the document states:
The liberation of Palestine, from a spiritual viewpoint,
will prepare an atmosphere of tranquility and peace for
the Holy Land in the shade of which all the Holy Places
will be safeguarded, and freedom of worship and visitation
to all will be guaranteed, without distinction or
discrimination of race, colour, language or religion.

And article 19 states:
The partitioning of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment
of Israel is fundamentally null and void, because it is
contrary to the wish of the people of Palestine and its
natural right to a homeland, and contradicts the principles
embodied in the Charter of the UN, the first of which is
the right of self-determination.

Under American pressure, Arafat and the PLO eventually
amended the PLO Charter so as to accept the reality of a
Jewish state on 80% of historical Palestine leaving room
for a Palestinian state on the remainder. However, one
democratic state based on non-discrimination with equal
rights for Jews, Christians and Moslems is closer to
American values than a state created specifically for one
ethnicity whose laws uphold the superior rights of one
race or ethnicity, namely the Jewish one, over that of
another, namely the minority Palestinian citizens of
Israel.

In amending the PLO Charter so as to accept the two state
solution, we have actually moved away from basic American
values of non-discrimination based on race. Those liberals
who worked for the dissolution of the white supremacists
governments of Rhodesia and South Africa need to explain
their slavish devotion to the state of Israel which is
based on Jewish supremacy.

The Zionists did not drive the Palestinians into the sea,
but they did drive them from their homes and villages and
ancestral lands and from Palestine and into squalid refugee
camps, and in the process massacred two to three thousand.
The irony of Ben Gurion's statement should not escape us.
Ben Gurion and the Zionists demand deference for a
fictitious intention on the part of the Palestinian and
Arabs while ignoring or denying the very real expulsion
of the Palestinians.

Much of the perception of Israel and much of its popular
support rest on the myth of the purity of Israel and much
of that can be traced directly to David Ben Gurion's
distortions of truth. The unambiguous historical evidence
is that the state of Israel was founded upon terrorism and
the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Arab population.
There is nothing pure or righteous about that.

-----------------------------------------------------------

William James Martin teaches in the Mathematics Department
at the University of Florida.

------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes, it seems we just want to disagree with people for the sake of doing so. Or, we are usually guilty of what we accuse others of doing.

Read the following carefully.

kolitos007:
Am not gonna criticise your website like some people, that is not the purpose of your question, how ever I am strugglilng to understand what to do when I go on the site.

Then read this, by the same person on the same post.

kolitos007:
Maybe you should be more clear and, please get rid of pictures of all the white people it won't help you.

Is the last quote not criticism? Why are we waging war when there is no need to wage any?

Leran Webdesign An Just A Month With Full Knowlegde Of All Codes

Hmmm. Na wah oooo

kolitos007:
Hehe, don't seem like yawa will ever understand the point, so its all GOOD!!

Abeg, sorry for asking. What exactly is the point?

OMO IBO:
The battered image of Nigeria is what Dora is trying to manage and and ultimately correct.

I bet some officials at Sony thought it was going to be like water poured on the back of duck.
By using Sony as a scape-goat, i put it to you that other corporations will think again before sponsoring an ad that may directly or indirectly play with the Nigerian intelligence.

Sometimes, respect has to be demanded. Thats probably how some people may understand how serious Nigeria is.

I hope this stance and attitude continues.

When things like these happen I simply miss late Abacha who would have kicked SONY out of Nigeria and banned every single SONY product from getting into Nigeria especially the District 9 movie where the leader of the gang was named Obasanjo.

Blunders like these demand the harshest of reactions.

Nigeria may be bad, our leaders may be corrupt, basic infrastructure may be in bad shape but the worst would come when we allow foreigners to insult us, abuse us and respect us even while they benefit from us economically.

You are 100% correct in your observations including the fact that some of us who may have sold our souls to anything white or foreign would deny such obvious issues.

Until African leaders learn to do what is best for their citizens and countries there can never be meaningful development and progress.

Thank god for the likes of Mugabe who has maintained that Zimbabwe will not receive instructions and dictations from both the White House and No 10 Downing Street.

Good talk from IBB.

But my problem is that IBB who clearly made some wrong decisions in the past is talking about change now. What happened?

If IBB had genuinely accepted his mistakes, apologized for those mistakes, perhaps Nigerians would view him differently.

One thing we find very difficult to do in this part of the world is to accept our mistakes when we make them.

No one is perfect but to deny or ignore your wrong doings while carrying on as if you can just wish them away may be the greatest undoing as every single day more and more people will get to know about you and what you did and when an overwhelming majority believes that you are bad then it will take a miracle to change such perception.

All, the same the points his raised are good points.

Can anyone spell Aburi Accord here? Biafra fought a war that was waged against them by people who saw the former eastern region as the problem even by some ethnic minorities within the region then. Today we know better and many are making u-turns.

lightwalk:
^You must also learn to understand, am asking a simple question, what's the use of saying Nigeria is corrupt or ananlyzing the corruption of Nigeria when you cannot do anything about it

Who is talking about Nigeria being corrupt or analyzing corruption here? Can you please stick to the thread proper?

lightwalk:
^^^good analysis, but at the end what do you achieve with it?

The thread talks about constructive criticism of the NTA website.

He just did that.

So, why the question?

You must learn to respect other peoples' positions or views whether you agree with them or not.

yawa-ti-de:
Of course you won't know this till you check out his site

GBAM!!!

afamobih:
Are you interested in this brand new report? Check my signature for details.

Are you serious? Is this really possible? Without paying a kobo?

I run a dedicated server and the hosting management software will ask you what the actual quota you want is and what the displayed quota should be.

I can effortlessly make millions every month by carving out the space and quota as small as possible while displaying "unlimited this and that" and using same for advertisement and marketing. I will surely smile to the bank but the clients will first run into trouble before I follow suit and that is not my idea of running a good business.

It is all about maintaining a very high level of professional integrity in business.

It is easier to scam people when you lie to them because truth or fact is usually too simple to make any impact and when someone runs into trouble he/she begins to complain.

switch47:
FOREIGN rocks!! i am on justhost and i host on siteground too. unlimited this unlimited that, out naija hosts are rip offs, everything is small !!

unlimited this, unlimited that.

Only if you had an idea of what displayed and allowed quota mean.

Some are listed for marketing purposes and once you get close to what they actually carved out for you then you will understand the full meaning of unlimited this and unlimited that.

This is a tough one though.

This is why contact addresses are necessary on websites even if dealing with digital products just in case something goes wrong.

While it is true that we can conduct online business from our homes any web developer who wants to be professional in his/her work must have a contact address that any interested or prospective client can verify.

No serious organization will want to do business with an entity that is only accessible through phone, email or when invited to the client's office.

Web hosting business can be setup by anyone with a server, internet connection, web hosting software etc. That is why people even run their applications and websites from their homes.

However, providing web hosting services to paying customers is another thing as the clients or customers must do their best to verify claims being made by the web hosting companies.

Needless to state here, the type of scam associated with web hosting is usually linked to prices and features that are usually too good to be true especially the prices.

Sometimes, though someone may setup a web hosting business and in the bid to make enough money to cover the cost of running the business may reduce the disk space and other features to a ridiculously low level (with the prices coming down too) that you may see hundreds of thousands on a single machine. This usually leads to disappointed customers and when the income is no where the expenses such companies may just close shop.

So, there is really no easy answer here both a combination of different things that we must do our best to understand or figure out before committing funds to.

Hmm,

@topic,

I see nothing wrong in storing sessions any where you want to store them as long as appropriate security issues are well sorted out. There are large applications using database to store them just as there are applications out there using files to do same.

There is no perfect security either way. We only try to secure as much as we can.

@issues concerning belittling, insults, harassment etc,

From experience, insults should not be tolerated and rather than store them up in one's mind the person who feels insulted should reply in kind, complain to the moderators or forget about it.

There is no perfect way of responding to insults as what works for Mr A may not work for Mr B.

While I will never insult anyone for having a different view or opinion on anything I will always respond to insults in kind and on time too.

If people cannot agree on basic issues even on a forum where members may never know the people behind the usernames then it will be a waste of time expecting Nigerians to work together considering the issue of ethnicity, religion, tribe etc.

Thanks everyone. The issue of pop windows on the website has been taken care of.

@yawatide,

Thanks. The second option worked like magic thanks.

*dhtml:
Well. . . .i am not perfectly sure of this, but can i see your script implementation? maybe i can patch it to work crossplatform.
I am a little bit reluctant to post anything yet. 'cos i seem to have based all my work on my new library these days, but that
does not mean i cannot still write procedural.

Thanks.

Please see these 2 links.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/popuplinks/

http://accessify.com/features/tutorials/the-perfect-popup/

Will post the one I used initially before I noticed the cross browser support issue later.

Thanks once again for your time.

It seems that the level of implementation of standards by browser makers differs to a very uncomfortable level to the extent that what works on one or two browsers won't even work on another.

I was asked to implement a pop up window feature on some links that point to another website some months ago.

Since I was hooked to google chrome I made the mistake or relying on it while developing the application and the javascript enabled popup seem to work just fine until I realized it wasn't responsive or throws up a blank page on some other browsers.

Now, I have checked for the most recent implementations of javascript enabled window popup and after testing 3 of them I found out that none works well across the 3 browsers I targeted - Google Chrome, Microsoft IE and Mozilla Firefox.

This leads to the next question - Is there any good reason to even use pop up windows considering the fact that implementation of standards by browser makers differ from one to the other?

Or, is there an implementation out there that I may have failed to realize or see?

Personally, I would not bother with pop up windows on my own projects for any reasons at all. Links that are bound to open in another window should simply do so with a notification to the user information the user that such links when clicked upon would open in another window.

lojik:
I have been asked to get a .gov.ng domain name for a lagos state parastatal urgently. Contacting some NIRA registrars yielded no results so is there any NIRA registrar here who can provide .gov.ng domain for a government website?

i need d cost for 2 domains for 10 years each.
All d requirements will be attended to.

please mail me ASAP: ceo[at]afrisoft[dot]org

You could not contact them or that those contacted could not register the domain name required? The NIRA website should at least have an up to date list of active registrars even if to help project or promote the use of .ng domain

Thanks. Please see responses below.


1. 'Find out more' link not working

--- Points to an external link, javascript problem that makes it work on chrome but not on firefox or IE.

2. 'About us' link contains NOTHING

--- Information is yet to be made available

3. 'reviews' link not working

--- Same as no 1 above

4. poor choice of font

--- This is subjective so I won't attempt to justify or defend

5. font display needs work: padding, justification, indentation and color.

--- Same as no 5

6. 'onspeed help' link not working

--- Same as no 1

7. 'forgot your password' link leads to a BLANK page with a textbox and a submit button

--- To be honest, a pop up with even a small size would even do considering the usefulness of the forgot your password page. I am for functionality any day so nothing wrong with a simple task being done the way it was implemented

https://h.imagehost.org/0448/Forgotpassword.png

8. Logo is not a link that leads to the home page

--- This is not compulsory as you have a Home link that is consistent across all pages. I really don't agree with what people say or do on the web, I stick with what works that is why I usually have debates with quite a number of people.

So, thanks for your observations. Will definitely work on those that must be worked on like the javascript related external links stuff and maybe making the forgot link page look like the rest of the pages if time permits (but not compulsory).

danconsult:
wait! has any one though about this fizzle of .ng.
[i]you know if you really have to portray your business to the world, you ought not not to be using .ng.
pls also i overheard the minister of info, sasying tha no one can register the .ng unless it is a registered company in nigeria.or that it should have a physical adress. what if i am operating a non-office business.
letz put all these nto consideration pls[font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font][color=#006600][/color]

There is absolutely nothing wrong in using the top level domain .ng for your website.

The quality of services or products you offer determines to a very large extent whether your online experience will be beneficial or not.

Now, the Minister's position is understandable considering the fact that anyone could pick up the domain name and use same for fraudulent practices just as it is easy to register a free yahoo email.

I have not seen the full comments or the conditions for registering a .ng domain name but I doubt if anyone would insist on a business address, I believe a contact address would be more like it so that someone could be held responsible just in case.

Now, I don't see myself using the .ng domain even in the near future due to reliability issues.

I have heard stories of unprofessional handling of the .ng domain names and a lot of politics is involved even at the top.

I was asked to become a pioneer .ng domain name registrar by the body in charge but declined the request due to some reasons.

The former Lagos state website was based on a framework that was very bad but was being defended by someone that claimed to be a seasoned programmer (logica) who I had heated argument with and as usual it resulted into name calling instead of addressing the issues raised about the many problems of the framework.

Someone had complained about the website at http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/tech-world/15668-who-fooling-around-lagos-state-government-website.html earlier.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-167598.0.html

@Afam,

You r right. The Lagos state government website runs on Liferay, and this seems 2 be a vindication of what I had said. The fact that a link takes you to Liferay's website is the fault of the portal developer. I have done plenty of work with Liferay and I would not make such a mistake. obviously the developer is an upstart, he/she didn't attempt 2 change the logo on the login page. matter of fact, the login page can be replaced but he/she had no idea of how 2 go about it. this is exactly what i did 4 a portal i did for VANSO Nigeria Ltd only that i'm not sure of the status of the portal @ this point.

And note that I said that I don't believe we are short of programmers or developers. The jobs are there of course, but simply because you feel that you r being swamped doesn't imply there is a shortage of man-power. of course there r just 2 many mediocre developers here in the country, as there are (believe it or not) in the US.

Today, we know better. It is obvious other people made it clear that the state would no longer tolerate the former site.

This is good development because website owners are now taking notice of what is happening on their websites and questions are beginning to come up concerning certain things.

Update: The issue has been sorted out as the message was successfully posted on the thread it was meant for.