₦airaland Forum

gen2briz:
Since the man no mention in particular maybe na national level or state level because for Lagos na PDP be opposition and them get leader.

No be jare

E be like say e don dey read well and understand the hand writing on d wall, doh!

Mr.Odili are u afraid of Rotimi? U supported him and he defected what are u tyring to say or tell us? He should continue with u while u people are treating like filty rag? And u people are using Fct power to torment the young man. Go and sit down jor nothing for u and ur party again in Rivers state.

Dele u tried with this calculation and permutation, and I think u are very correct. People voted Jona that time because of sentiment and emotion, eyes are opening now they are seen clearly. But ve something agaisnt u, u said u wrote off Buhari even without thorough investigation and information that is very bad of u, anyway thank God u are now seen better than bofore. Let me say congratulations to u.

Godhelpus:
I‘ll not contest 2015 election – Jonathan on february 01, 2011 at 1:41pm. BY DANIEL IDONOR—President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said he has no ambition to stay in office beyond 2015, assuring Nigerians in Diaspora that while he will not contest the 2015 election, he will ensure that this year’s election is free and fair. The President promised that if voted in for the next four years, he would ensure significant improvement in key sectors of the economy — security, power, education, road, health amongst others. “Without security, there is no government. So it is not debatable, it is something we have to addressed and we are working towards that with vigour. But if I’m voted into power within the next four years, the issue of power will become a thing of the past. Four years is enough for anyone in power to make significant improvement and if I can’t improve on power within this period, it then means I cannot do anything even if I am there for the next four years.” Jonathan said this while interacting with Nigerians mainly diplomats working in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA, and the African Union AU in Addis-Ababa...

I can now see y Nigerian both home and abroad are saying this man is a clueless, quoting him saying 4years is enough for him to fix power and if he can't do it within these years he can never do it, Fellow Nigerian Jona has spoken and he has spoken well. Take it or leave it he can't do better than what is doing now, so therefore don't waste ur vote on this man that told u that he can't do anything meaningful in office.

Why will the crtificates burn the same time?

Something is telling me that that to whom is a toronto.

He must die for suporting and trying to sell fake product.

No be lie! This govt is really corrupt. What are they donathing Billions for, Election? I doubt it.
This reminds me of one old song in my school days. It goes like this...
Awon to n niwa lara baba niwon lara o, awon to n ni wa lara baba ni won lara o, awon to n yo wa lenu Baba a yo won lenu o.

9jatriot:
I will say Ribadu. Ribadu was seen by most Nigerians as a different breed of politician. He was thought to be immune from the usual power greed associated with typical politicians. People held him in high regards especially after he handled the subsidy report in a way that exonerated from the sweeping under the carpet that happened. But that miscalculation of leaving the APC to join the PDP was a terrible move. Even if he had got the ticket, his public rating had already suffered an all time low. He reduced himself to a typical politician who has a price. He had a better chance of either being apolitical or staying in one party. No one respects a political prostitute.

Well spoken!

Let him go and hug 7000kva transfomer• He never know anything, what can he do even after expiration of his aultimatum?
U better go and join d line from d back and patiently wait for ur time. Y are draging jona to ur matter? U dey use style shout help, let me be frank with u nothing for u honestly.

A central issue in the quest for Nigeria’s greatness is leadership selection. Some 2,400 years ago, the great philosopher, Plato, argued that “As a just and healthy person is governed by knowledge and reason, a just society must be under the control of society’s most cultivated and best informed minds, its ‘lovers of wisdom’…” I have chosen to share the thoughts of our two presidents to encourage a debate on the matter, especially given the pervasive indifference or downright loathsomeness to matters of politics and governance by the so called ‘lovers of wisdom’. I served Nigeria under two presidents. This piece is not part of ‘the book’ on presidential governance.

The date was Friday, March 17, 2006. At the morning prayer session with President Olusegun Obasanjo at the ‘red carpet’ in the villa, I raised a special prayer point and asked the congregation to pray for the new governor of my state Anambra, Peter Obi (who was on his way from Abuja to Awka to be sworn in same day), as well as for Anambra State so that Obi’s regime may mark an end to the brigandage and misrule in the state. We were all upstanding.

The president cut in, and pointing in my direction remarked: “We shall pray as you have requested but the problem with you people from Anambra is that those of you who have something to offer shy away from politics and hooligans have taken over your state”. To the best of my recollection, that was the only prayer point during the four years of daily devotion that received a commentary.  ‘Baba’, as we fondly call him was basically telling us to ‘get involved or stop complaining’.  Periodically, the three of us from Anambra who were regular members of the prayer group (Oby Ezekwesili, Rev.William Okoye and I) had cause to brainstorm on the challenges and limitations of participation in politics especially by those of us who were ‘technocrats’. While we were obsessed with ‘good governance’, we had little interest in the process of acquiring power.
After leaving office as governor of the central bank, I was in London when twice in June 2009 I received calls from Alhaji Mangal to the effect that President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua wanted to see me anytime I was in Nigeria. I returned with my family late July and on Sunday, July 26, I received a call that the president wanted to see me by 9:30pm. After a few banter, he asked what I was doing abroad. As I explained the three offers I was considering, he was shaking his head. “Well”, he started, “it is not because you are here, but I have said this several times to you. Given your age, skills, and your accomplishments for our economy and financial system, it would be a waste for you not to continue to be involved in Nigeria’s public service… For example, there is going to be an election in your state early next year and I want to strongly urge you to show interest… You know that your state has been unfortunate with leadership, and our party has been in crisis there…”

At that point, my heart beat was racing. Before I left office, many people from Anambra had suggested that I should run for governor but it did not make any sense to me and my family. As I began my response, Yar’Adua cut in and suggested that I did not need to respond immediately but instead that I should go home and ‘consult’ with some of the political leaders in the state. He then raised his two thumbs and assured that “if you accept to do this, I will come out fully to make sure that you get there”. If he had allowed me to respond immediately, the answer would have been an unambiguous ‘NO’.  I thanked him and left.

On getting home, my wife was curious. I summarized what the president said, and she asked: ‘so what was your response?’ I told her the president would not let me respond but asked that I go and ‘consult’. “Then go back tomorrow and tell him that you have finished consulting and that the answer is No”, she ruled. I pleaded with her that we should at least give some time, out of respect, before reporting our decision. I confided in a few people and sought their advice. Within a week, the ‘rumours’ were everywhere. In the meantime, Yar’Adua also told a few people of his plans for Anambra and how he wanted to ‘use Soludo to make Anambra a model state’. He specifically requested Chief Tony Anenih to help him make it happen. My wife and I came under inestimable pressure — ‘to go and serve our people’. Some even said it was a ‘divine call to serve’, etc. My wife loathes politics and can’t stand it.

On August 12, 2009, I gave Yar’Adua the ‘preliminary report’ on my consultations. To enable me take a decision, I presented the challenges and threats to his proposal to which he laid out solutions. I told him that after three offices at the Federal Government (as chief economic adviser, de facto Minister of National Planning; and governor of the central bank) I believed I had had my day on duty as far as government was concerned and wanted to return to the international community, academia and private sector. The only reason another public office would make sense to me in the circumstance was if I believed I could really make a fundamental difference
If I would contest, my vision was to transform Anambra’s economy such that after eight years, it would no longer need federation account allocation for recurrent expenditures but would devote 100% of it to capital budget. Consequently, I requested eight things the Federal Government would do to enable me quickly transform the state into an international city, including: an airport; modern seaport for Onitsha and dredging of River Niger to enable medium-sized ship to come to Onitsha; dualisation of Anambra- Kogi road to speed up commerce between the North and Anambra; Anambra as a special line item for Ecological Fund as one third of its land mass was under threat by erosion; completion of the greater Onitsha water scheme; inclusion of Anambra as an oil producing state; Anambra as one of the pilot states for the large scale commercial agricultural scheme; and speeding up the second Niger bridge. Surprisingly, Yar’Adua accepted all of them at the meeting that lasted 76 minutes.

We agreed that the agenda of transforming Anambra would require full eight years of working 24 hours a day. He was happy and said that if he could have two states per geopolitical zone that would become ‘models’, he would have succeeded as president.  I then requested another four weeks to undertake ‘extensive consultations’ and report back early September.
In the meantime, while the ‘consultation’ was to proceed, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) announced a sudden timetable to collect and return an expression of interest form. I was advised to pick the form— almost akin to jumping into the river while still unsure whether or not to swim. Yar’Adua fell ill and travelled to Saudi Arabia. Conspiracy theorists took over and I saw treachery, intrigues, blackmail and mischief at their most banal forms. Propaganda was hatched and effectively marketed that “Soludo is not contesting for governor; he is preparing to contest for president in 2015”.

I was shocked to the marrow about the wicked plot. Of course, the game plan was to put me on a collision course with all those with an eye on the presidency. It worked. The more I tried to explain that I was drafted into the race by President Yar’Adua, the worse my case became because, as I learnt much later, it was interpreted that since Yar’Adua was the one who asked me to run, it meant that he was grooming a successor. In my various positions at the Federal Government, I survived hundreds of evil plots, but this was a different baptism of fire. Yar’Adua never returned and with an electoral body then that literally determined which candidate to ‘return’ or ‘deliver’, the rest, they say, is history! This is subject of a book project.
To be honest, I remain grateful to God and to those who supported and opposed me, for the lifetime experience. I tell my friends that what I learnt in the last five years about human nature is priceless.

To some readers, the foregoing might appear discouraging. Most professionals or so-called technocrats are scared of being ‘rubbished’ by politicians, or fear that politics is so dirty that it is not meant for ‘decent people’. At a recent church event in a neighbouring state to mine, one of the officiating bishops pulled me aside and pleaded with me: “I beg you in the name of God, please leave politics. You are too decent for that”. An elder statesman and my mentor once advised that “God did not create you a politician: He created you an economist. Please leave those people”.

There lies the dilemma for our country. Chinua Achebe was quoted as saying that on matters of leadership, Nigeria is a country that goes for a football match with its 10th Eleven. When Achebe joined the PRP in early 1980s, many people wondered what he was doing with ‘politicians’.  Most people believe that Nigeria can only be transformed if a critical mass of capable people take charge at all levels of governance. How would such people emerge without going through the political process? Power, they say, is not given; it is taken!  Under a democracy, the electorate can only choose their leaders from among the candidates contesting elections. If Lagos State Governor Babtunde Fashola (a cerebral and successful Senior Advocate of Nigeria) did not go through the political process as a ‘politician’, perhaps Lagos would have missed the on-going transformation.

Yes, the system is very rough indeed, and the admission fee for new entrants (without godfathers) is too high. If you are not careful, the crude Nigerian system can destroy you if you are seen as a threat. Is the solution then to shy away and complain in our bedrooms? Now that Prof. Attahiru Jega and the new INEC are restoring confidence in the electoral system that votes count, is it time then for all those who have anything to offer to stand up? Surely I understand the enormous cost that very busy professionals bear by abandoning the glassy offices and certainty of office and income to dabble into the shark-infested waters of politics. Not everyone can or should be in politics. But in an underdeveloped country such as ours, the potential marginal contribution of one skilled professional is many times that of his counterpart in advanced societies.

Thus, the society loses greatly for every one knowledgeable person who stands akimbo as the duty of development beckons.  As I ponder these issues myself, I can only surmise that the import of what Obasanjo and Yar’Adua told me is a reminder to us of the eternal wisdom of Plato that “the penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”

Good for them! Una never see anything.

INEC what are u investigating again? Is it what u watch live on TV that u want to investigate again? Nigerian Police Force said they are not aware of any 21b donation, you people are not aware but we nigerian are aware why will u aware when we all know that ur share in this looting can't be less than 5%. This country is finished!!!

Who is this Sabo or Sambo u called it? You that can not win in your Ward for ur party u acoming to talk about Lagos. This sambo is too mumu. O tutu di e!

Go and ask Chike Obi

No be lie, do something drastic so that we get a better result.

dhtml18:
As we all know Lagos metropolis is a very good place in Nigeria for business especially website design and cloth selling.

I have someone I am trying to advice on which one is better to invest your time and money in Lagos state (I am very specific).

Imagine a big time cloth seller in say the popular Balogun market versus someone who has a web design shop somewhere in Lagos.

And I see some of these posters for 5k, 10k websites in Lagos, meanwhile I am aware (as a result of some research) that some cloth sellers make 50k profits and above DAILY IN LAGOS.

Learning cloth trading does not take much time to learn, however, it might take you several years to perfect the website development techniques. Getting quality jobs is another cause of concern - In my time I have seen so many web development companies start up in big big places in lagos - allen avenue, ikeja only to fold up after a short time with the owners in heavy debts and in some instances on the run from the police (I can cite many examples, but i dont want to be mentioning names). Of course there are some web companies that are still thriving mind you.

In case you are wondering what I do in Lagos, it is freelance website developments (web apps, softwares and mobile apps but the market seem to be more for web apps).

So which one will you take and why?

Disclaimer: I am not planning to retire to selling clothes mind you (I will rather pack-up from Lagos and go back to my village as a farmer).

Hello dotimi I want to design a site can pls reach me on 08034299085

I need one copy badly.

Anwer the questions your self, can see that u are under that wicked umbrella.

This will be great!

Are u from Auchi in Edo State?

This is a good move by Babangida, but locating christian school is muslim fanatic enviroment is not good, the almajeris will wake up one day and burn everything down.

I love this judgement. This IG is a stupid man without sense. Let Jonathan come bail am now. Tambuwa pls use ur guys and ur good office to remove him from dat post.

IYANGBALI:
I thought some people here said GEJ fit do it alone without Obj?why him come dey send people to beg for am?mtcheeeeeeew.

God bless u. Help me ask them.

holatin:
I still don't know why my mum didn't marry him (Femi otedola) 32 years ago

Is not too late!

victorix:
op, i have never heard someone say "okocha is the best player ever". He was jst one of the best nigerian player of his time. Dont forget his awesome dribbling and passing skills.

I woud say, okocha was jst unlucky.

That's just d word. Very unlucky or unfortunate person. Who can u compare J J with in his time? It seems u were very small when J J was playing for Nija.

pussyaddict:
Who declared a horn-free day? What's the origin, d person must be unrealistic to think such a law can gain grounds in a place like lagos when e no possible even for village

Ve u been to UK b4? If u ve u will realise u can drive in d whole day without u horning or u hearing horn. So is possible is just to start from some where

Panshow:
PDP dey take Ribadu dey play angry birds.

Good for Rubadu, who fails to listen and have principles end up like former EFCC boss Rubadu

1.2 billion of 1k note missing? Was the money kept outside or in the Vault? Was the vault dual control compliance or not? Was there any CCTV in the vault area or not? Is 1.2 biilion a small amount u can pocket and walk out of the gate without been notice by gate man or not? Let me just assumed that no security man at the gate at the time the small note of 1.2billion was moved out of d premises. Pls help me ask the man.

blank: Abeg jor. Sleeping on the side is 100% safe. All u need is a rolled up cloth or whatever to wedge the baby so she doesn't roll over.

Do you know that if you put a baby to sleep on her back, she can choke on her spit up and die?

You are very correct! Expirence has shown that babies get easily choked up when sleeping with back, the best way is side and dat is just d truth. Theory is really diff from reality.

Failure