₦airaland Forum

bloggernaija: Nice one man.
This article perfectly sums up the new Lagos mentality especially of the imported variety.
ITELORUN Is missing

Unfortunately, this same human behavior to struggle as hard as we can, so that we are not left behind, has degenerated into an aberration. It has gone from bad to worse in terms of how far people are willing to go to keep up with the Joneses, Buraimoh, Ade and Okonji. Satisfaction of remaining happy in the comfort of modesty has been replaced by unhappiness in the luxury of splendor. It does not matter, how we obtain money and whatever the consequences.

I Better Pass My Country Live Fast And Die Rich Abroad

Let us look into the mirrors. Real African billionaires ignored others’ wealth redistribution call. Their loot is badly needed to fly their corpse home. Not even the new Pope’s call on-dog-eat-dog mentality designed to impoverish in the midst of plenty can change hearts. After all, they’ve already built church or mosque inside their homes.

Oppressors teach slaves their fate has been written, so their reward is in heaven. We know that rich importers would rather sabotage power delivery for selfish gain than help; that they are ready to dislocate local oil refineries so we can import refined oil. We are also ready to sell local refineries to cronies just to discourage entrepreneurs willing to compete and build new ones.

Copycats want to enjoy and behave like those that have access to filthy money just to get along and be connected in case favors trickle their way. They send children to glorified schools they cannot afford. Pay high rent for houses they cannot afford with the same money that can build them modest houses in modest neighborhoods. Like their rich friends, travel to Middle East, Europe, and America when money can go further in local resorts or in neighboring countries.

Many of them spend hard earned money or go into debts buying imported attire with celebrity parties abroad; or local weddings, anniversaries, burials and flagrant declaration of surplus in a country most live on starving wages. Even the very poor would borrow money, on book-me-downs. Before the end of the month they are broke. As soon as they get paid, the following day all their wages go into paying debts. The borrowing circle starts the next day.

The number of people that have access to the treasury and live like kings and queens are politicians, top military officers and their contractors. The rest are copycats that live well above their means. They defraud those with easy money, unfortunately also the hard working people. There are more hard and honest working Africans than the politicians and their partners in crime but they are not conspicuous spenders. The rot has cut too fast and deep into our morals.

Copycats are second to none and will not accept anything lower in life. They live fast and die poorer than their rich fat cats. Some would rather die from the carbon monoxide poisoning of generators than protest NEPA failure. At least they can avoid darkness temporarily or use it to power a small fan and TVs. If they have to live for the day or next day or year, they must enjoy.

We all want to live a good life just as our friends or even better. It is a social class behavior since most people do not want to be left behind. There are folks that graduated at the same time we did, landed better jobs or bigger contracts. A few refuse to cut their coats according to their sizes. Their aspiration is to live it up, no matter how short, not better than they met it for future.

Some shanty dwellers insist on every electronic from television, video to the latest computer or iPods. Check out the luxury cars in any world ghetto. Price all the gadgets, you wonder if they could have paid for a better place to live and plan for their children’s future. Rent is expensive in the cities but may be better in the outskirts with fresher air, more space and less crime.

This writer should know. We were forced to move to Surulere in those days. There was some happiness about the slum of Lagos that was not in the more civilized environment of Surulere, known as New Lagos. Indeed, contented Lagosians could not understand why people will leave the comfort Zone of Lagos Island to go and build a University of Lagos in Akoka, a swamp!

Anyway, we prayed to God not to let us see anything that will make us cross Carter Bridge. Some of our friends may be offended for calling Lagos a slum. It was all we had and we were darn happy. But then, the population was small as we had space for soccer, marbles, stations and cone shaped toys. Those were our gadgets and we enjoyed it. Fast forward: to 2000s.

Unfortunately, this same human behavior to struggle as hard as we can, so that we are not left behind, has degenerated into an aberration. It has gone from bad to worse in terms of how far people are willing to go to keep up with the Joneses, Buraimoh, Ade and Okonji. Satisfaction of remaining happy in the comfort of modesty has been replaced by unhappiness in the luxury of splendor. It does not matter, how we obtain money and whatever the consequences.

Some of the copycats are hardworking people and may have two or three people in the family bringing in meager profits from dusk to dawn sales. Since they spend more than they earn, they work harder and get poorer. Actually, most of these factors that make them pay more are out of their hands. The prices of food, materials and services increase faster than the money they make. Sometimes they also have to inflate their own price of commodities to barely keep up.

We are deserting small villages and towns for big cities where everyone is for himself; nobody knows us; so it’s easier to commit ignoble crimes. Survival of the fittest by any means possible. This has produced copycats that lack the means but are desperate to get it from anyone: poor, middleclass or rich. Yet, it is harder to get to the rich because they can afford more security. So we are left to one another. Sometimes we do mutilate and treat ourselves miserably.

It is a vicious circle most ordinary hard working people find themselves. As they get older, the capacity to work long hours and different jobs diminishes. Those entitled to pensions are not paid in a country without social services or welfare. So many end up dying on the queue for their pension, die overworking themselves in old age and end up as homeless beggars on the streets. Once they fall out of service from which they can earn, they go downhill to the end.

Indeed, most of the people that should have saved or spent the little they have instead of living it up to those in money, are left on the road by a fast moving train they can never enter or cope with. This is why some people turn to crime as the next available means of survival.

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa

http://www.modernghana.com/news/505488/1/i-better-pass-my-country-live-fast-and-die-rich-ab.html

Published: Thursday, November 28, 2013

TOUCH SOMEONE TO GET FULFILLED NOT BURNED

One of the most fulfilling part of life is to give back especially if you are blessed with more than most. The chances are most will pass it on, not come back and bite you. Some millionaires and billionaires got together and challenged one another about giving back in United States and others have joined them, even from poor countries. There are too many needs in this world for the rich and gifted to close their eyes to poverty.

African names like Abiola, Mohamed "Mo" Ibrahim, Dangote and Patrice Motsepe amongst many whose names will never be printed because they remain anonymous. The problem with African entrepreneurs is that they die with their businesses and many times with their money. We have to learn to pass it on; if left in competent hands.

It is a part of most people to feel good when they give back or lend a helping hand to the poor. They are better than some do-gooders that want to be recognized for the sake of publicity. Their acts of giving comes from inside. Even those giving for publicity sake do satisfy a need of their own. So men and women are naturally born to be helpful to one another. Competition and greed may change that graciousness.

Fortunately, even the poor that are rich and blessed in many other ways have been sharing their talents and skills with those less talented. God did not create any useless people on earth, we all have something to share with one another. One of this writer's favorite is a man that thought himself how to repair bicycles because his own broke down and could not afford to buy another one. He started saving junk bikes for repair.

Poor children were happy to have their own bikes for the first time in their lives donated to them by someone trying to repair his. The amount of joy this man brought to these kids was immeasurable. He felt so good about himself, no amount of money could make him happier. This can be understandable if we believe a study that showed most of the people who won lotteries end up poor again and more miserable. After all that money?

Unfortunately, these days the rich, the well-off and the poor that want to share some of what they have are getting weary of ingrates that want to pouch on them. It is not that everyone that gives money or shares, have so much. Many people even deny selves a little to give to those that little means much more. Out of meager pay, school teachers buy supplies and children contribute to the needy while others give to food pantries.

In term of percentage of what we have, since the poor give more of it, we can consider the poor and the not so well-off generally more generous. Since generosity comes naturally, there is still great hope for this world despite the inequalities growing within the same continent, country and people. Recently generosity came back to bite some.

When you expose yourself as a donor of goodwill and people take advantage of it, many question your motive and rationale. So many donate anonymously without leaving trails so that nobody would demand more than what they can afford. Giver of big tips in a bukaeria may not show up again. There are friends that may decide to pick up the tab one day but not on another day. If he does it once, some people expect it every day.

When we were growing up in Lagos, in those days, there was this motherless baby's home nearby. People dropped clothes, money and more. Well later, some jokers turned that name into something else that will be a topic for another day. Until lately and in some parts until now, Sundays and Fridays were days of feast in some people's homes for the poor. Many stopped because it became an opportunity to kidnap the rich.

We need to reach out to one another, not further away. May God bless Rashidi Yekini, he opened his door for his mother in Ibadan when killers grabbed him. By the way, in Jamaica Peter Tosh opened his compound for soccer with the poor where a few demanded his money or his life. Bob Marley used to do that too. Mix with the people!

Usually these people are 'efulefu', 'kenimani', 'Yan-Kiran-Raba' or 'bad bele' for lack of better words. Many stories exemplify this syndrome like that of crabs pulling down a crab that is trying to get out of a barrel. No, you are not going anywhere; we are destined to suffer together here. The case of a drowning man, in desperation, pulling another one with him also comes to mind. He may just be trying to stay afloat.

The act of giving has been changed by many factors. Some of these factors have a ring of truth like looting us blind, then grace your conscience with crumbs as gifts to the poor as if your are doing us a favor. They cast shadows over people that deny themselves so that other less fortunate than them can have. As parents readily starve so kids could eat.

The consequences of high expectation could be dangerous especially for those without much. It may be hard to believe that you deny yourself so that others may have. This has led to children expecting more than their parents could give, relatives considering you stingy or those you hardly know but empathize with demand you should give more.

Unrealized expectation gets some people angry. Oh, our friends got Benz, my mother got me a Beatle, the wife might be a miser, my brother could be selfish or the big man refused to pay a neighbor's children school fees. These are reasons anger is built up on and people think they are justified in demanding what they did not work for.

Let us be sincere with ourselves, some of us that are big spenders do it to aggrandize our status. There are conspicuous spenders that would not give or buy anything until there are people around, specifically to flaunt and impress ladies. King of the jungle secretly wishes others never get to his level. All these create enmity. It plays into the hands of hoodlums; while putting those of us with little without security into danger.

It is important to set example for others especially those close to us like our children, husbands, wives and relatives. They just want to be like you, boss. Window shopping in wealthy neighborhoods create demands to acquire. In order to acquire, we need money that has to come from somewhere. That is why they have looting in many rich countries whenever there is a blackout or an opportunity to riot. Transpose that into African families.

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Story from The Nigerian Voice News:
http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/126189/1/touch-someone-to-get-fulfilled-not-burned.html

Published: Tuesday, October 08, 2013

anonimi: You obviously do not understand how government works in Nigeria. How will he get his own egunje if he does not "pay anyone to do that"
I see, you may have been carried away by that STORY of N1.5b research grant, right? My bro, abeg learn to read between the line make you for sabi how these poliTRICKians work! Mark this thread and come back on June 07, 2014 to review what has been done so far, ok?

I guess Eko Ile wants us to start singing Halleluja and Alhamudilalhi because supposedly smart Fashola WILL BE installing (future tense) very big generators for the tertiary institutions in Lagos at hyper inflated prices as usual.

Somebody shout Hallelujah to the people's governor

It matters not that so many primary and secondary schools in Lagos state are dilapidated, have no toilets or pipeborne water etc.
MISPLACED priorities.

vanitty: Abegi jare. The woman is no fool, she knows what she is enjoying in the relationship. That is a business marriage. She obviously don't care for his respect etc. no silly aide should come and pour sand in her garri. When she don eat belleful, she will show him pepper. Will he be in power forever?

NIGER DELTA PRO: NOBODY DEFECATES WHERE THEY EAT
Can the Petroleum Industry Bill cure us? Ask anyone where most of Nigeria's foreign income comes from, most will tell you Niger Delta. O.k. Then ask where the worst environmental disaster is, most will also tell you Niger Delta. You mean we cannot connect the two dots that we cannot suffocate our source of income by defecating and eating from the same location.

There is enough blame to share but we know you cannot eat and defecate in one spot. The real devils are public relation officers of Shell demonizing everyone with their Nigerian employees, except themselves in front of foreign protesters occupying their offices. When you see Niger Delta Nigerians condemning their own in foreign countries, one must feel sorry for Africans.

Most of the oil stolen though is by highly untouchable men with big ships of international oil companies, not in barrels. Enough have been written that Nigeria has no idea how much oil it produces and how much is stolen. We are asking Britain, Russia and America to help us stop oil barons bringing profits to them by colluding with pardoned Nigerians military men, while small time barrel refiner's thieves selling locally get all the blame from oil companies public relations.

Like tobacco pushers they employ “Efulefu”, “Kenimani”,“Yan-Kiran-Raba” for propaganda. The logic behind their Pull Them Down Syndrome can be confounding because it does not improve the legacy of those hiding our wretched environment sent out to counter foreign protesters. They are paid traitors. It may make some sense in time of war to bring your enemy down with you but nobody should wish that on an innocent friend, family, our kin or Country as a job.

According to Shell Production Development Company, over seventy percent of the oil spill that caused environment hazard in the Niger Delta is local sabotage. “Sabotage and crude oil theft was the cause of 11,806 barrels spilled from SPDC facilities in 118 incidents, an average of about one spill every three days, accounting for 77% of the spilled volume during the year.” Even when Nigeria law did not require compensation in these cases, they paid $1.1m in 2011.

Haba Shell! To hide profit, most oil companies are not even listed on Nigeria Stock Exchange. So, they are saints by their remorseful effort to clean up, train people, build schools and hospitals in these areas. If anything, third party interference has done nothing to help their “missionary” effort but everything to hinder. If there was any delay to get to areas where there were oil spill, it was usually the fault of all the militants they fear or had to wait for Nigeria security escorts.

We must not and never condone the activities of terrorists which are even worse against women, children and old people. But to lay most of the blame at their feet is like justifying bloody murder. The real victims are fish farmers that cannot work anymore, food farming that have stopped because of polluted water not good to drink and families that depend on them for sustenance. The militants are like middle men exploiting the grievances of these victims.

It was true that in the fifties there was no demand for gas, so most of the “associated gas” was burned off by flaring. Since then, there has been demands not only in Nigeria but worldwide for gas. We are still not close to adequate measure to harness the economic advantage or prevent environment disaster of greenhouse gases that cause climate change and respiratory problems for the locals. Available technologies are already here that turns oil and gas into money.

Have you heard about those washing their hands with saliva by the river? Mr. Pickens, one of the oil magnates in United States spent his own money campaigning for more use of natural gas in vehicles and other utilities so that his Country can be energy efficient. We continue to waste our natural resources by flaring gas we could convert into dire needs. Deadlines upon deadlines given to energy companies by bribe takers from the companies they were supposed to regulate.

The oil companies would want us to trust them that since 2000, they have made a commitment with the Federal Government to change any misgiving, waste, turn economic opportunities into viable venture by which gas production were to be prioritized for industrial and other business use to power our Independent Power stations for the production of electricity. This may not be far from reality because Kwara State actually enjoyed some electricity by that combination.

The problem was timing. By the time some of the gas generation was ready, the power stations were idle and down for maintenance, so they missed one another through delays. Shell then went on to complain that as they struggled to accomplish sixty-five percent of the projects, some of them were vandalized or not commissioned because of crisis in Niger Delta. There are too many excuses, some genuine, most of which Government accepted.

Lack of investment funding is round-tripping. Shell blamed shortfalls on Government that did not meet its own commitments of funding, contract approval from NNPC and safety of workers in Niger Delta. The irony is that Shell expects funding out of whatever they declare as payment to Nigeria to fund gas flaring!

Oil PROs, like politicians are working against Nigeria while lining their pockets at the expense of the greater good. So since the seventies all we hear about are long speeches about propose development that would be completed on paper but not in reality. People just get fed up and wait for implementation or revolution that is taken advantage of by MEND or Boko Haram.

It is these types of action that makes us wonder who the managers of our African countries are serving. Every generation wish for a greater one to follow, parents pray for children that will do better than them and we all wish we can leave the world a better place than we meet it. But when we burden the next generation with odious loans they cannot pay, projects they cannot maintain and reduce their comfort to that of dark ages; they call us leeches eating their future.

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Story from The Nigerian Voice News:
http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/109785/1/niger-delta-pro-nobody-defecates-where-they-eat.html

Published: Tuesday, March 12, 2013

CREATE HUGE MIDDLECLASS TO PAY MORE TAXES THAN THE FEW RICH

It is ironic how the highest income earners get so occupied trying to cut their taxes by campaigning for regressive measures that cut the number of middleclass. Actually, they are campaigning against their own pockets by limiting middleclass earners that can shoulder more of the taxes they detest. Liberals and conservatives agree that: not enough high income earners to pay for all the taxes needed for social and health cares.

Africans leaders and policy makers need to learn from the recent economic realities in Europe, America and China. Most of the European countries that slashed taxes for the high income earners while reducing social services like Britain are worse off than United States that championed economic stimulus, though inadequate. The usual comparisons are Ireland austerity measures which Iceland refused to copy and came out ahead.

United States saved the world financial crisis and its auto industries from depression by stimulating its economy with little cooperation from the conservatives. In fact, United States could have been better off if it had spent more in repairing and rebuilding its infrastructure and less on big financial institutions that were too big to fail. They made bigger profit on Government low interest loan and refused to lend to small businesses.

Big businesses and the very rich got into this vicious circle that they cannot hire because there was no demand for goods and services. They are totally blind to the fact that those that create demand for goods and services are more middle income earners and the poor that spend most of their income on those goods and services for survival. The rich and the upper class already have more money than they can spend, they will not create immediate demand from the factories in large quantities to stimulate production.

This is the lesson African countries refused to understand by glorifying the very few connected politicians and their cronies that spend most of their income outside Africa. By killing the middle class in Africa, we have created a few stupendously rich folks while creating mostly poor people that have no means of creating local demands for the basic necessities of life. The income gap is wider in Africa than it is in the Western countries.

There is a pattern of a few, commanding most of the total income of the country. Using United States statistic, compared to that of Nigeria from one of El Rufai’s articles, since we are stingy with freely published accurate data. The highest fifth of US population got 45% of the income in 1982 and the top 5% made 17% of the income. By 2011 the highest fifth got 51.1% share of all income while the top 5% made 22.3% of the income.

You can imagine what that translates into in Africa where the people that cannot avoid most taxes are the poor, struggling small and medium businesses while the rich and big businesses like in all countries hire tax accountants and lawyers to pay disproportionally less either legally or by bribing politicians. Most transactions with a Ministry or agency cannot be concluded without evidence of tax clearance. Individuals, small and medium business owners must tender their tax clearance. Even then, Lagos State Government had to lock up some big businesses for not paying taxes.

Between 2004 and 2012 in Nigeria, the Federal Inland Revenue Service stated that 100 business owed N169 billion in tax arrears. Yet by PricewaterhouseCoopers Taxes 2012 report: medium size companies in Nigeria paid about a third of its commercial profit. Of course, it means of whatever was declared. They hardly pay their employees well.

Nigeria Personal Income Tax at an average graduating rate varies from 7% to 24% of the individual’s annual income graduated for those above N1.6Million and N3.2Million per annum, if they can get them to declare and pay like PAYE, pay as you earn. Nigeria was rated clumsy apart from Vietnam, Bolivia and Brazil that must be doing something right. Since American companies that legally paid no tax at home, would not pay in Africa.

So the usual cry of the conservatives in the Western world is that the upper 25% paid most of the income taxes while the lower 50% paid very little or nothing. In United States, the top 25% or 33,758,373 paid 15.22% average tax rate. Their group share of income taxes was 87.1% and share of total average income was 67.6% in 2010. While the lowest 50% group made very little or nothing. Who wants water out of stone?

Instead of complaining that the poor are not paying enough taxes, one would think that by moving them into higher income tax bracket when they do not have to work for starving wages, there would be increasing number of people paying more taxes to take care of their needs as they get older in need of medical and social services.

Indeed, majority of the people that could not afford to pay taxes in Africa or even in the western world are the senior citizens, students, the weak and children that are highly dependent on good schools and medical services so that they could become productive individuals in high income brackets paying their fair share of taxes. In order words, what we invest in children while growing up determines their status as high or low taxpayer.

By multiple flax taxes, the rich and powerful have neutralized and turned the meaning of divide and conquer against the middleclass and the working poor. African politicians accused one another of fueling ethnic animosities while their European and American counterparts accused the progressives of creating class envies. Nothing keeps the rich and powerful in their exalted positions more than the benefits of ethnic or class war.

Therefore, human rights have been divided into civil and women’s rights. Minority right has been divided into ethnic right and ethnic right has been divided into class right. The conflicts created by each of these have diluted the power of disadvantaged groups while the entrenched power remains powerful. We have to look at real situation in Africa, Europe and America to understand how the powerless were dislocated.

People of goodwill have come to realize that there is no society without inherent form of privilege enjoyed by certain groups. The privileged few keep themselves entrenched in position of power and without a revolution, they stay in privileged status forever. Concerned Liberals fear getting drawn into the bloody revolutionary war against the conservatives. So they fight for some relief for the underdogs in terms of fairness.

Written By Farouk Martins Aresa

Source: thewillnigeria.com

donroxy: so, this is the only thing u fit decode from this long article......and dem say Give woman chance to excel surely not ur type!!!!

PUT OJUKWU GOWON AND AWO ON TRIAL

There are three sides to a story – your side, their side and the truth. The War of No Victor No Vanquished is gradually turning into everything but that. If you are Igbo and you get the account of your own side of the war, nobody can blame you for your anger. At the same time, we must understand if you get opposite view from Hausa perspective. The Yoruba, and minorities to some extent, get more blame than either side.

Until we put Ojukwu and Gowon on public trial in absentia where no one has anything to lose in an academic forum or equally represented forum with evidence tabled so that they can be impeached, rebutted or accepted, we may lose some of history to our ethnic champions. The only reason Awo should be included is that he gets more blame than Gowon and Ojukwu, for no other reason than each side wished they had him.

Usually if we want reconciliation like they did in South Africa or mental counseling after difficult period of anguish as they do in other places, we can come together seeking the truth. The vitriol being spilled and fed to the next generation must be dealt with in a reasonable and carefully calculated manner where all sides are allowed to express their anguish against Nigeria that has given them so much but never given anything in return.

Only young people that have never enjoyed constant functional infrastructure as power, water, roads and good schools can complain. As a distraction, they are being fed hate and given weapons to destroy one another to lay the foundation for another war. When Africa is desperately looking for a leader, smaller and less gifted countries are moving faster than Nigeria in fulfilling that role while we wallow daily in internal problems.

When you see a toad at noon, something is after its life. So we must appreciate the few old men that stood up. Some die in the process others protesting took in tear gas and beatings from police. They came out in their old age, not only for pension but because they could not believe that a country that was so promising has fallen into the hands of hate mongers. We must wrestle the next generation away from mischievous elements.

The amount of rubbish fed to this generation of young people cannot even pass litmus test. In terms of wisdom, men like Ben Nwabueze, Tunji Braiwaite, Balarabe Musa etc., or constituted judicial forum of eminent jurists are there. Everyone has a story but if that story is not aired in the open and challenged by uncompromised authorities, it will be taken as the gospel truth by the receivers. Only to be repeated until it is believed.

War is never a pretty sight or story and many generals that have gone through wars would never recommend another one. The casualties on women and children usually referred to today as collateral damages can never be compensated for or brought back to live. So we have rules of engagement that should not have been violated.

At the end of the day, it is not surprising that the winner of the war defines who the aggressor and the war criminals are. By declaring no victor and no vanquished, Nigeria intended to reconcile and put everyone, no matter what side they fought on, on the path to recovery. The atrocious words that are being generated point to another motive to rewrite their war memoirs after Lagos stopped, as we all welcomed Ojukwu home.

Therefore, some have seized on starvation and twenty pounds “starter” for the weakest link to attack Awolowo as the brain to punish the Igbo. No matter what side we believe, it is obvious that both Ojukwu and Gowon negotiated food corridor and there were enough blame to be equally shared for rejecting either road or air corridor. It did not matter, neither got the blame. Give some credits to soldiers on both sides.

On the twenty pounds, we heard all types of wild stories about most people that lost their money in the banks, when banks were banks. As it turned out, those that had genuine complaints were in the South-east where the banks lost documents because they were burnt or because the Federal Government changed the currency when Biafra started printing money after looting banks in the Mid-west.

Nigerians are known for their ingenuity. Unfortunately we use it for selfish purposes not for good use to liberate ourselves economically. Before oyinbo became aware, forged currencies, certificates, passports etc. were printed in Oluwole Lagos, Onitsha market, Dantata currencies not to talk about Ijebu money. By the time oyinbo realized what was going on, water has passed!

Even if Charles Soludo, not Clement Isong, was the Governor of Central Bank, knowing the percentage of Nigerians that saved good money in the banks were less than one percent, he would not encourage the rest of the ninety-nine percent to brink their documents to claim money from the banks. No prudent person would.

The fact is not that many Nigerians keep so much money in bank around that time. No matter what, majority of those that claimed bank account never saved in the bank. If we think about the low percentage of Nigerians with any substantial amount of money in their bank account today which is less than 10 percent, even less than one percent of Nigerians banked in those days. See here http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/6-depositors-own-94-in-banks-ndic-report/

The other 99 percent claiming they lost substantial amount of their money in the banks should have been accommodated and they were because they lost much more than money. A committee had to look into how those that could be paid, which was what was done. Yet, most of the Igbo got everything back in the West where Awo came from.

Some people have claimed they saw Awo in the sky, a magician he was not.

The hate from all side is much deeper than that. It is reflected in the fierce competitions between the groups especially Igbo and Yoruba for any position that comes up, no matter where the position is “zoned” to. Some people are now saying they should have waited for the Igbo before indigenization called for since the time of Herbert Macauley. Haba! Nigeria should stop breathing until we are sure secession would not succeed?

The silver lining in the presidential form of government with all its faults is that no group is put in opposition. However, when the Action Group was in the opposition, the West had the highest development in Nigeria and there was no call for secession. Awo was not a superman but an ordinary folk like everyone else that did all he could for every Nigerian living in the West and Midwest, no distinction. They know themselves.

No matter what form of government, Nigerians use their talents to beat and dislocate the system, not to improve on it. Nobody should be afraid to go on his own, as long as we stop invading tiny poor nations all over ours and others' continent. No country is big enough to clean up our refuges. After secession, would tiny individual Nigerian nations be an exception to our invasion?

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Story from The Nigerian Voice News:
http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/105494/1/put-ojukwu-gowon-and-awo-on-trial.html

Published: Monday, January 14, 2013

dayokanu: So its now European countries no longer Mimiko and Ondo again?

or is Mimiko European?

Wetin concern Europe for Mimiko and lagos matter.

Like I said earlier and others have said. You dont have any single point

You have posted almost 10 times on this thread aside from the hogwash initial copy and paste nothing concrete has been said by you to support your point and post

What has Mimiko done in Ondo state or has he turned Ondo State to Europe?

KnowAll: [Dayokanu]

oh boy,this one na hand oh!!

koruji: I read this entire article hoping to find something useful by the end - hope dashed.
The title itself is worthless - it should also include "... AND NEEDS".
Then you will realize that Ondo does have Lagos money on a per person basis:
...Lagos (2013): Budget - about N500 billion; Population - 15 to 20 million ==> per person budget = N25K to N33K
...Ondo (2013): Budget - about N150 billion; Population - about 4 million ==> per person budget = N37K

What's the point, apart from the stereotyping of Ondo people as violent?
Was this was supposed to present Ondo people in good light?