londoner:
@Innovator, you make great points, but with the two pics you posted. does the place in the second pic actually have sand? It looks like concrete, grass and earth under the grass. How easy would it be to grow grass on top of the red soil in Enugu? IF the particals in the red earth are sand like and fine, it will be blown by the wind and moved in the rain. Dark soil is heavier and is not easily moved by wind, especialy in rain as it clumps together and gets heavier. In fact wet dark soil is sedimentary.

We may be comparing apples and oranges. You can reduce the appearance and build up or red soil in Enugu, but unless it's all paved and shrubbed over, with no earth exposed there will be traces, and it's because it is red and stands out.

Kigali has the same red soil....yet even with their pavements and shrubs, you can still see the red stains, residue.

Enugu just needs to work on reducing the appearance/collected red soil. IMHO, we should aim for the second Kigali picture. That is more achievable, sustainable and realistic

If we can get anything close to the picture of Kigali you posted, I am not sure anybody would complain. I do not think that complete eradication of red soil on our roads is feasible at least for now considering the budget we operate with, but I believe that constant sweeping and paving of some areas can make a lot of difference.

cjrane:


Great points on taxation.Truly, it is the sore point in Nigerian governance. If we get tax collection right, then Nigeria will become a developed country quickly. You are right about our tendency as Igbos to over do anything. Businesses should be taxed but being mindful that you want them to be profitable in order to make sense for the entrepreneur to remain open. However,I don't agree businesses shouldn't be taxed unless they were determined to be profitable. Who makes that distinction, the owner or the government?

One main issue with taxation is that when you make it cheaper to pay bribes than taxes, then the citizens will rather pay the bribes. The other issue is to have a tax enforcement task force, but they should never collect the taxes under any circumstance. If need be, they will escort the defaulter to the banks where to pay, but never directly collecting any money from the citizens in the guise of collecting "taxes".
Above all, making the taxes generally affordable is key to getting people to voluntarily pay up. If a bungalow building was built in 1960, there is no reason it should pay more than N50-N100 naira per month (N600-1,200 naira/year) in taxes. If you make the landlord who is probably more than 80 years old to pay N1,000 naira monthly (N12,000 naira/year) in taxes, he would find it better to bribe the tax taskforce with N500 naira each time than pay what he owes government. This is precisely the problem with Anambra where it is very difficult for the tax collected to be remitted into the state's revenue account.Thus a lot of money is being collected as "taxes" while none gets into the revenue account and IGR is surprisingly very low. Thus, the tax collectors and the riffraffs in that state are enjoying billions of naira as bribes from people who do not want to pay tax. The biggest problem of SE state governments is indeed the ability of the to collect the taxes paid by the citizens. Using contractors or thugs to do this has proven to be merely making money for these thugs who never remit what they collect.Part of Lagos growing IGR is Fashola's ingenious ways of hunting down tax evaders, collecting taxes and making sure the money collected is remitted into state accounts by plugging leakages and loop-holes.

Enugu can surely aspire to N6 billion IGR without even increasing taxes! Just plug the loop holes for leakages and review the taxes so that it is not so burdensome to people! The government should aggressively publicize that state taxes can only be paid at designated banks or checks mailed to a designated post office box.With a stamped self addressed return envelop to mail you your receipt. Then the state government will employ clerks to register each check and amount received in a revenue register, then quickly deposit the checks and issue a receipt mailed back to the payer in his self-addressed envelop they provided.This ensures the state government get their tax money and the payer got his receipt as proof of paid taxes without stress.

Bros, it's like you are working with tax office. I love your points.

Charlesdonald:
dose people doing dis nonsense will later come out and say Government is not working

It's very appalling. And the one whose poster is littering the bus stop was once a commissioner of environment under Chimaroke. He now wants to be the governor, yet he cannot help to keep the city that gave him everything in life clean. I mean Chinedu Onu.

passion007:

I couldn't agree more.
It was on the news recently that Enugu North LGA which includes Enugu city center has the highest number of taxes, levies, fines, penalties etc of all states studied in a certain research.
This is particularly worrisome at a time Enugu is attempting to attract the much needed foreign investment.
Although I've seen these same highway officials (so-called Ministry of Transport officials) in Abia and Edo, I think its a trend that must be nipped in the bud.
In Abia, they impounded my car because i didnt have the state MoT clearance even though I was merely in transit through the state, and it took the intervention of a relative to wrest me from their hands.
In Enugu, I was accused of not stopping when the amber light came on. I insisted I crossed when the light was green. They threatened to replay their cameras, and because I was very sure, I dared them to. After some 30 minutes of wrangling, they let me go though.

When the news broke that Enugu ranked 3rd in the IGR table, i became very apprehensive. Over taxation is not good for any business. In fact one prominent Enugu man was complaining bitterly that businesses are closing down in Enugu and moving to other states due to multiple taxation. Somebody had once complained to me that he closed his business in Enugu because of taxes and levies.

The major problem we Igbos have is that we are always eager to have a return on investment at the shortest possible time, if not we close down the business. Igboland needs to attract as much businesses as possible, both small and medium scale, and taxation and levies should not be used to close scare them. In fact no business should pay any tax until it's viability is ascertained. We should learn from the wisdom of the Yoruba man. The Yoruba man made his land so welcoming that once you come in there no one troubles. They leave you to grow your business first before thinking of taxing you but the foolish Igbo man would rather close down your business even before the business starts. Today Lagos state makes more 200b naira from IGR, yet waxing stronger.

Yes one may argue that the state government needs money to deliver infrastructure but what is the point building houses if you have no one to live in them after completion. We should first attract and encourage businesses before taxing them. I received the news about Enugu IGR moving up to 6billion because i was wondering which business in Enugu contributed that amount except the already overburdened ones.

Please, we must understand that once you overtax people and their businesses, they will quietly close down and move to other states and you will never be able to have them back again.

The white people who attract tourists to their country are not foolish. We must emulate them.

xx

KenGali:
Hello Chaps! I want to commend Sullivan on his strides in Enugu, as well as make complaints.

A.
I would like to give him a hearty congratulation on the installation of traffic lights across the metropolis. There is now one at Ogui, About 3 on Presidential rd and as am speaking a new one is being installed at ESBS. This is great.

However if you have been driving around Enugu recently, you will notice that almost two minutes is lost whenever the lights turns green at these stops, in fact the worst case is at presidential, where motorist at the front of the stop may never realise the lights are green, till the is a loud honking barge from vehicles behind them.

The real issue is that the stop limit marks at these traffics stops have been placed too close to the lights. Once you are at the front of the stop limit line, your angle is such that can not see the traffic light change colour. The road markers should kindly take the traffic limit line back about 4m from the traffic light to make them ergonomic for human use.

B.
I would also commend the State Governor on the quality and spate of road construction in the state. However, there are plenty of spots where these roads have been taken over by sand sediment. What's the use of driving through a tarred road that has been settled by sand. Basically the problem is drainage. Where the rain run off has been made to slow down, it will unload its sediments. It is not feasible to have a complete drainage system at this time, so the right thing is to carry out maintenance works on these road sections. I saw recently that the sediments around Okpara square where being removed, that same service can be extended to many other places. a very bad one is on the road leading to Malinda Estate, an entire road section has been taken over by sand.

C. A section of the road along Okpara square is already showing signs of fatigue failure. The section on the side with the uncompleted conference centre. The entire section is crisscrosses with cracks, which shows that the section has been under flexural stress, due to the support based either being mobile, or washed out, or under clay expansion. I was thinking that as in other countries, such short term failure are the responsibility of the contractor since it is a design issue. They should be called back to foot the repair before the whole thing is washed out within the year.

My brother thanks for speaking out against the menace of sand sediments on Enugu roads. It is appalling that after every rain drop in Enugu, every vehicle on the road turns red and you will be wondering where the mud came from. I noticed that the same problem applies to every road in Enugu except Bisala. It is not enough to pick garbage like waterproof, plastic and metal containers, the roads should also be thoroughly swept from time to time, to ensure longevity. As long as the wind continues to blow on the soil exposed to the air, those sand will continue to settle on the side of the roads and the only remedy is to remove them. I have been wondering why the government would spend billions of naira to build roads but cannot spend few thousands of naira to ensure the roads are rid of sand, at least once a week. If the government does not have enough fund to employ people, please what is the job of thousands of people who collect monthly salary from the local governments scattered across the state. It is a fact that 80% of local government staff are idle doing nothing, while there are jobs to do. Every road is prone to accumulate dust from time to time no matter how well built. The roads need to be constantly swept to get rid of those sand. When the sand accumulate over time, it turns into mud and it impacts negatively on the roads when it rains. The mud retains water longer than necessary after every rain, and that cracks the road easily. Please those idle state and local government staff should be deployed to sweep the roads at intervals, at least once a week.

Kcinho: I thought they said he is the consensus candidate. Meanwhile;
Fresh crisis hit the Enugu State chapter of
the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) on Tuesday as its former National
Auditor, Mr Ray Nnaji returned to the Federal
High Court, Enugu, asking it to determine the
authentic leadership of the party in the
state.
Nnaji, who on Monday sought the joining of
the party’s national chairman Adamu Muazu,
national secretary Adewale Oladipo and
South-East zonal chairman, Austin
Akobundu in the suit, warned the Vita Abba
led state executive to steer clear of further
actions on 2015 polls until the matter was
resolved.
DailyPost reports that there have been
dissenting voices since Hon. Ifeanyi
Ugwuanyi was announced as the party’s
consensus candidate for the 2015 guber
polls.
Senator Ayogu Eze and other guber
aspirants have expressed displeasure over
the emergence of the consensus candidate.
It could be re-called that Nnaji filed the suit
first in 2008 after a parallel congress of the
party in Enugu, which produced him and
Abba.
The matter could not be resolved following
an appeal against the ruling of the court on
preliminary objection on the jurisdiction of
the court to entertain the matter.
Later in 2010, the suit was adjourned sine
die, pending the determination and hearing
of the appeal filed by Abba.
Abba was said to have withdrawn the appeal
and same struck out by the court.
Following the development, Nnaji had
approached the court for the re-listing of the
matter, which was formerly in court 1 and
the Court on Monday gave its approval and
transferred the matter to court 2 for hearing.
Although no date has been fixed for the
commencement of hearing on the suit, Nnaji
stated that the matter had been delayed due
to the absence of a Judge at the Court 1 of
the federal high court, Enugu.
The last Judge was moved in February this
year.
He told Journalists that until the matter was
resolved, all the claims by anybody against
2015 in the state was not genuine, insisting
that he decided to give life to the matter
because “Governor Chime and his Chief of
Staff, Ifeoma Nwobodo are messing up PDP
in the state”.
He said: “The issue of political structure of
the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in Enugu state has not been
resolved; the matter was sometime
suspended because there was an appeal by
Vita Abba, who lost at the federal high court
challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
“Along the line, he withdrew the application
and it was struck out. Now the matter has
resumed at Court 1, there is no Judge in
court one presently and we had to apply for
transfer to Court 2 which has been approved
and a date is being awaited. The matter was
filed in 2008 and adjourned sine die in
2010, pending an appeal withdrawn and
struck out.
“I want to tell you that the matter is alive
and whoever is doing anything while the
matter is alive is wasting his time. If
anybody is doing anything now on the
ground that there has been another
congress since then, he should go and read
Omehia Vs Amaechi and know what
Supreme Court says when a matter is
pending in court”.
On the purported endorsement of Hon.
Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as consensus
governorship candidate, Nnaji said: “The
party constitution did not say you should
select. If Chime thinks he can hand pick
anybody, he is making a great mistake
because the issue of the party structure in
Enugu state is yet to be resolved by the
court. All that they are doing is to cause
problems in the state. They want people to
believe that something is happening when
nothing is happening. Chime and his Chief
of Staff have killed Enugu politics and what
they are doing now is killing PDP and
pretending they are helping the party.”
It could be recalled that parallel congress of
the party in 2008 had produced Nnaji and
Abba.
While Nnaji faction was loyal to the former
Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, Abba’s
faction was loyal to Sullivan Chime.
Nnaji’s faction, which then had the support
of the Ahmadu Ali led national executive, fell
out of favour when Prince Vincent Ogbulafor
emerged the national chairman of the party
and started relating with the Abba led
executive.
Feeling cheated, Nnaji and his executive had
gone to court to assert its stand as the
authentic leadership of the party in the
state.

Please, even if Sullivan hand picked a candidate, does he not deserve it?

What is wrong in Sullivan adopting a candidate of his choice? Does the fact that he's the governor stripe him of his citizenship right of voting and being voted for?

Is adoption of candidates not part of the American democracy, since nothing is valid to us unless the white man validates it.

Sullivan, by virtue of hard work remains the public opinion moulder and leader as far as Enugu is concerned. I have no problem with that because he worked for it.

The truth is that 90%of those who oppose Sullivan's choice are propelled by selfish ambition and not just for the love of the masses. The language of these individuals leaves much to be desired. It's a language of, if I can't get it, let us destroy the entire system, a language of violence.

During Obama's 1st term campaign, we heard of Kennedy family adopting him. Did such adoption make any difference to people's voting choice? I think it did.

Azikiwe adopted Jim Nwobodo, Onoh adopted Nwodo, Jim adopted Chimaroke, Chimaroke adopted not just Sullivan but every single candidate in both federal and state legislatures.

While all the adoptions were going on, heaven did not fall, how come people are now threatening fire and brimstone? Could Sullivan's personality of egbe bere ugo bere have contributed to it?

If I am correct, personalities like Jim and Okwy Nwodo were at the meeting where Ugwuanyi was adopted. So it is wrong to insinuate that Sullivan unilaterally hand picked a candidate.

There are many other parties that anyone who feels aggrieved can join in order to contest the general election. After all Okorocha contested against an incumbent and won. Invariably, people are still gonna vote at the general election.

So in my view I see nothing wrong in Sullivan adopting Ugwuanyi, he merely expressed a wish which the electorate are entitled to reject.

oneeast3: Nwanne we Anambrans are ahead in all indices of development..

Wow, amazing picture of Onitsha bridge.

I love this. I am from Enugu but I love Anambra having started my life at Nnewi after college education. I hope we keep the thread going.

kenis: The Federal Government has announced plans to establish
a 1000 mega watts coal power plant in Enugu state.

The President, Goodluck Jonathan, who disclosed this in
Enugu, said the plant is expected to help address the
epileptic power situation in the country.

Jonathan, who was represented by Vice President Namadi
Sambo, said the plant would complement other electricity
projects being executed by the Federal Government and
private investors in the area and ensure that Enugu and the
rest of the South-east region enjoyed improved electricity
supply.

The Federal Government had a couple of weeks ago said the
country is capable of generating up to 30 per cent of its
energy needs from its coal resources using environmental-
friendly clean technology.

Jonathan said the country is endowed with abundant coal
reserves of the required quality necessary for power
generation.

To this end, the Federal Government signed a Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) on Coal to Power for the
development of Ezinmo Coal Block in Enugu and a 1000
megawatts coal power generating plant.

The MoU was signed between the Ministry of Mines and
Steel Development and HTG-Pacific Energy Consortium for
the development of the Ezinmo Coal Bricks.

According to Jonathan, “Nigeria is endowed with abundant
coal reserve of the required quality necessary for power
generation and there is no reason why we should not
explore the sector.”

He added that the signing of the MoU is a sysbol of the
growing synergy between the Ministries of Mines and Steel
Development and Power to attract investors to coal-fired oil
generation opportunities.

“We expect the co-operation to continue until we get the
desired destination in terms of our power needs,’’ he said.
Also speaking, Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo,
argued that the MoU was on the utilisation of the mining
license, granted by the Federal Government for the Ezinmo
coal block.

According to him, the license was granted to an indigenous
company with a Chinese partner, HTG-Pacific Energy
Consortium, for the exploitation and mining of the coal block at Ezinmo.

Continuing, the Minister noted that Ezinmo was a very large
coal block which ranged from Enugu State to Benue State.
Nebo said the signing of the MoU, would be followed by
Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that would authorise the
investors to build the coal-fired power plant.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/fg-establish-1000mw-coal-power-plant-enugu/

Jonathan and his idiotic promises (morbid lies) to Ndi Igbo should go to hell. Left for me that guy won't get a single vote from south east again. The only thing Igbos get from his government is promises, nothing more.

nzeBiddle: Wow beautiful thread. Welldone mr spyder and the relevant mods for keeping this going. Chime has done very well and as Nwadiana Enugu, I am both very impressed with and proud of him ...each time I get into 04 I see something new here and there. Its funny how he's among the top 5 best performing governors if not the best (especially given the comparatively paltry monthly fed allocation the state receives as well as a comparatively low IGR portfolio) yet you'll NEVER find him blowing his trumpets on the media or anywhr. Silent acheiver -much unlike his immediate predecessor, the nkanu fraudster who bled our beloved state to the bone while publicizing his numerous white elephant fraudulent projects constantly. I remember say that time we no hear word for am; 'ebe-ano' this, 'to god be the glory' that + the quartered thugs at presidential with their numerous extra-judicial killing of govt critics/opponents. Substandard Marlum construction company and their shabby projects nko? Smh ...we been really hear am. To be honest if I had my way I'd install Chime for yet another term. What a visionary! One hopes the next governor will build on the SOLID FOUNDATION he has laid and take 04 to the next level.. Enugu akwulugo! Enugu mma mma nu!

Sullivan is a special breed.

spyder880: Who among the contenders for governorship has a touch of class and maturity to continue what Chimaroke and Chime started, we should be running character reviews of these people, historical antecedents, past job profiles, bio data etc. Any clues, anything from the web, wikipedia etc?

So far non of them deserve that seat. I see in them a bunch of immature opportunists. In as much as I support rotation of political seats, I am really scared about an Nsukka man becoming governor of Enugu. I think that Enugu will loose the little gain we have made. I may be wrong though but that's my feeling.

My Nsukka brothers are wonderful people, but one thing that puts me off about them is selfishness. I despise over-selfishness no matter who is involved. It is one of the reservations I had over Chima's government even though he is my brother. When I remember Okwy Nwodo, I become more apprehensive.

However, as a man who believes in the equality of all men and a true democrat, I will still vote an Nsukka man come 2015. I believe in egbe bere ugo Bere. I only wish new states were created, so they can have their own state and govern themselves.

Please, it's not every Nsukka man that is selfish. There are selfless ones but few. I am sorry to generalise but having had more than ten very close friends from Nsukka for so many years, I speak from experience.

centje: you said the truth and i feel your pain. I am not so optimistic about the airport. I seriously doubt they'll deliver a world class facilities there. Chime really need to look into that project. I would have being at peace if he was the one handling it, but as things are going i am really scared of what they will deliver. My fear increased the first day i saw the pictures of the remodelled terminal. It was like a warehouse.
I seriously pray i am wrong!

For someone to think the airport will be completed before Chime leaves office, shows that many of us have not accepted the reality of Igboman's second class status in the Zoo called Nigeria.

To even suggest that Chime has not done all he could to ensure the airport was completed means we have not truly appreciated his determination to make Enugu one of Nigeria's most tourists and business attractions. I do not think he needs to be reminded about the importance of the airport to the development of Enugu. If not, why would he waste money to open a new link road to the airport. Building the link road shows that if he were allowed by the federal government, he would equally build the airport.

For many us who live in the fantasy world of one Nigeria, please wake up and face the reality.

Even Jonathan's hand is tied as far as that airport is concerned. The airport poses a non existent threat to the Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba slave masters. They understand how strategic that airport is to the development of Igbo land, which is why they will fight to death to frustrate it's international status.

The airport was accorded international status even before Jonathan came to power but when you search the website of the FAAN, Enugu is still missing as one of the international airports in Nigeria. Everyone here knows how important web information is, when it comes publicising the existence of anything in the modern world.

If the fearless Stella Odua could not add the Enugu as one of the international airports in Nigeria to the FAAN website, is it the so called Chidoka that would.

Has any of you wondered why Ethiopian airline should touch Kano before coming to Enugu? It's because Enugu remains a local airport in reality but international in government paper.

That's the price you pay for being Igbo.

spyder880:

Just saw his poster, not supporting anybody, yet.

I love humble people so much and Frank Nweke is one of them. I have not had anything to do with him on a personal level. However my first contact with him, at a burial ceremony, left me with a very good impression. I wish he is given a chance.

Kcinho: Meanwhile our IGR keeps increasing. Enugu Na adi mma.
www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lagos-rivers-enugu-generated-the-most-igr-in-2013/189296/?utm_content=bufferb8975&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

It's a great news.

cjrane:

EXACTLY!
One disastrous thing we learnt in Nigeria is the "Capital city" mentality, whereby the madness is to create a mega capital city,while the rest of the towns in the country is ugly and neglected. Such policies are the reasons why there had been so much problems in Nigeria.

In the USA, there is a minimum city code whereby evey state must abide. Thus their cities are almost of the same basic standard.
BTW, Washington DC is not the finest nor biggest city in the country. In Nigeria, wherever is named the capital gets all the preferential treatments to be the best.While the rest of the country is crappy.
The One city state or country is the worst approach ever!

Lol. You know us nah. I live in Lagos or Abuja syndrome, even when the guy sleeps under the bridge.

Handsomegod: Great insightful contributions all through. First,who said Enugu cannot have a boulevard filled with high rise sky scrapers in Okpara Avenue which is our CBD? Enugu as a prime city needs the balance and I know it will come to that in due time. Talking about developing our clusters of emerging cities,it is suprising that no one spoke about the role a seaport will play in imploding the promising economy of d South East! Already,all the micro-indicators(thriving middle class,massive pool of entrepreneurs,innovators,educated populace,large markets and a very mobile population,to name but a few) are evident and waiting to be tapped. Igbo land of today is akin to the American society during the mercantile era.My point is that a seaport will be a critical catalyst to the boom we all desire and until the unity of purpose exhibited in this forum is translated into reality.......The slavation of Igboland can only come from Igboland.Nigeria is our cancer!

One cannot underestimate the importance of seaports and international airports in the economic development of Igbo land.
However, I refuse to concede the validity of the argument that it is a condition precedent.

I lived and worked in Nnewi after my college. Then Nnewi was an emerging industrial and economic hub of Nigeria. A lot of factories were been established, like G. O .D Group of Companies, Ibeto , Curtis Wires, Life Vegetable Oil and a host of others. Did those brave Nnewi guys wait for seaport or international airport before establishing the multi billion naira companies? No.

There's nothing we cannot achieve economically in Igbo land even in the absence of both amenities. We only want to justify the stupidity of leaving our land desolate, to go and develop the land of people who hate us. Today we are paying the price and would pay more in the future.

The reason international airport and seaport still top our agenda for economic and social development is because we still depend so much on importation of consumable goods.

How many seaports are in Ogun and Kano states, yet our brothers establish all manner of industries there.

Our problem is predominantly that of lack of faith in our God given potentials and self hate. By self hate I mean hating our own brothers. Everyone rushes out of Igbo land, thinking everyone is smart, but everyone is plain stupid at the long run.

Yes, airports and seaports are important but we can do without them.

This thread is becoming more interesting, with great ideas from great minds. Imagine the potential of an independent state of Biafra. It's ideas of this sort that strengthen my faith in Biafra.

Ikengawo: Igboland being a single city is fundamentally unigbo. If you look traditionally, out market days are divided so that ever community gets a chance to host the major market. This means that while all communities get a chance to thrive from economic activities, no single can overtake the others and cause it's own growth at the expense of others. This is a economically republican approach to development that served us well. We were able to host an unusually large number of people in a small geographic area, all villages were economically sustainable (pre-colonial), and economies were egalitarian. Each village that wanted to stand out had to take on a trade. Awka had expert iron smiths for instance and exported it's produce. This is the beauty of a multi-city approach.

Even today, the east is the only region where all major cities in all the states are fundamentally equal in population, with Owerri and Abakiliki being slightly less populated from that sample but exhibiting breakneck growth,.

If Enugu comes to be the 'single city', it will be at the expense of other cities and businesses will see no reason to go elsewhere. This is how Lagos killed the SW. At one point Ibadan was bigger and more important than Lagos.

I think Enugu needs an 'Onitsha main market' and Onitsha needs an 'Enugu polo park' it only makes both stronger and more competitive.

You are right.

Ikengawo: the scenery won't survive unless skyscrapers are used in Enugu. The demand for scarce land will overwhelm the environment. People will be taking out trees to put buildings up and next thing you know it'll just be another clutter of buildings like other nigerian cities. Skyscrapers help conserve land, so I think all eastern cities and towns should look into them if they're serious about a sustainable future.

Bros, u said my mind. One of the greatest problems , we will be facing in no distant future will be acute shortage of land. Our land owning system is anachronistic and won't stand the pressure of urban development.

Take the example of Ogui people, some of who do not even have a space where they would be buried if dead. The Amechi Awkunanaw, Nike and a lot of other communities be facing similar problems. One fact we in South east failed to accept is that we are not blessed with large expanse of land like the north and middle belt regions. Sometimes I imagine what Igboland would look like in 50 year period.

The land use decree was promulgated by Obasanjo and it was aimed at controlling land ownership for the good of everyone. In fact an Igbo man was actually the brain behind the decree. That law says that every land in the state belongs to the governor who is empowered to allocate portions to individuals according to their needs but in practice it is not working. People are busy taking up every available land and sometimes it is even difficult for government to find land to build public infrastructure.

This brings me to the point I want to make. We need to adopt the United Kingdom system of land ownership. A system where the government build houses and sell to individuals.

The major advantage is that cities are properly planned, lands are well managed and everyone's
Interest is catered for within available resources. If we need anything in places like Ogui, it is skyscrapers. We must begin to think of how to cater for population growth. The reason we are not feeling the pressure presently is because our people live abroad.

No doubt we need skyscrapers, not as a matter of choice but of necessity. The truth is that no people will survive without the capacity to feed themselves. Every great nation has always sustained their economy through agriculture. A situation where every available land is grabbed and fenced for erecting all manner of structures in the name of residential buildings portends danger.

One question we must never cease to ask is, why are Igbos not living at home? Why is it that so many Igbo people prefer dying at Ugwu Awusa than coming?

CHESSBOARD:
the question i keep on asking where do those sand come from.... cos its only sea coast lines that can bring out such layout sand that normally form beaches

Enugu is a miracle city. The sand you see comes from Udi hills. There are three of those beaches that ran across Enugu. I had thought Sullivan would give attention to those beaches. Even if there was no money to develop them, at least make a law banning people from mining sand there.

ChimaAdeoye:

Chino nwannem, gee nti kam gwa gi ife.

If you look around, many of our great men still live outside Anambra, including the great Ikemba. WHY?

We have not risen to the height we had hoped to rise after the 1991 creation of our state. Even Abakaliki today has surpassed our state capital Awka in development.

Look around Enugu, what do you see? Many well laid out world-class layouts such as Centenary golf,city, Goshen, Victorcza, Trans Ekulu phase II, Abakpa Phase II, many are even around Emene and Gariki areas. Now, you cannot tell me that only people in Enugu can build houses! The difference is that the State government knows that it has to put in graded roads in the proper places designated for roads in these areas, extend electricity there to enable the citizens build.
In comparison to our state, we pretend State government has no role in helping the private sector mark out a well planned residential areas with proper roads,drainage channels and thus we allow half baked people to build the state for us. The result is they will keep reproducing Awada and Okpoko all over the place, which may have great buildings, but so poorly planned that it appears like a concrete jungle because we have not given them the benefit of our intellect to help them put in proper roads,drainage channels,playgrounds for schools, hospitals etc in order to build great eye popping layout.

Now in our state, apart from Udoka and Ngozika started by Ezeife, even our green wood estate is having hiccups. At Onitsha, the GRA phase II in Akpaka forest reserve have been blocked by people who want the land sold for thrillions of naira. In spite of that, the state government can dualize that Nsugbe road and ask the FG for reimbursement. The dualization of that road will enable GRA Onitsha to reach beyond FGGC Onitsha and use all that empty land at Nkwelle ezunaka. But who is thinking of developing the state like that? NOBODY!

There are bridges which can be built in several parts of Omaba layout to access land on the other end of the Nkisi river, but nobody wants to do such a thing. So if you look at the satellite picture of Onitsha, it looks like a triangle. Boxed in by the river Niger at the base, the Nkisi river to the north and the Idemili river to the south. Everyone complains there is "No land" in Onitsha, yet all around the town reveal massive expanse of land which cannot be accessed because there are no bridges over the small streams surrounding them!
We can plan great layouts with Abuja type houses if we simply look at our own homeland cities, build bridges where they are required and do what we know we are very capable of doing. Instead of trying to jealous others that have a visionary governor developing their state maximally.

Nwanna, you are amazing. U have effortlessly put forward the point some of us have been struggling to make without success. A better Anambra is a better Igbo land and that's all we are trying to say here.

OdenigboAroli:

Madam,cut off the emotion and talk sensibly.
People talk like this when emotions has taken over their sense of reasoning.
If you say Obi looted Anambra I will expect you to back it up with evidence.
Sometimes,you make good comments and I/people respect you for that and I hope it remain so.

Hear this; onye ana ekili ekili adiro mma ikpo ntu.
Deme.

My brother I am far from being emotional when it comes to things that matter to all of us Igbos. What other evidence do you want me to adduce that would be more relevant than the Abuja shopping mall built with state money. It has never been denied that the mall belongs to Obi and the only reason we justify such obvious and gross abuse of power is because Nigeria is a country where everything goes.

The truth is that Anambra should by now be one of the most developed states (infrastructure wise) in Nigeria. When one considers the wealth the state commands, it beggars the question why there's absolutely no state of the art public infrastructure existing there. If we point out this obvious shortcomings, people will begin to brandish individuals who excelled in their private lives. We often forget that every state has their own unsung heroes. Prof Barth Nnaji remains one of the brightest Igbo minds. He was the1st African to be named a distinguished professor in the US. The first Igbo medical doctor came from Enugu, but many of us don't even know about that. Late Justice Augustine Nnamani remains the first and last Nigerian lawyer to be appointed a justice of the supreme court straight from the bar. I can go on to name few individuals but it really makes no sense when it is obvious that Igbos are hewers of wood and fetchers of water in the evil entity called Nigeria.

No one ever questions the pioneering role the Anambra man had or still plays in the Nigerian economic and political landscape. To my mind, when it comes to individual achievements, I would concede that Anambra towers higher than Enugu.

However, one must not loose sight of what Spydder wants to achieve in this thread. It's not about which state or individual is better than the other. This thread only seeks to showcase the developments in Enugu with a view to challenging other states or individuals in authority to do same or even better. It can only take a selfless and honest person to achieve the little success Enugu has witnessed over the past few years. Everyone who has followed this thread would agree with me that, it is deviod of political propaganda. No one tells one that a road is built where non exits. No one has ever told anyone that the whole Enugu has been developed. The message here has been consistent and simple; that we are making progress and proud of it, even as we hope it continues.

Finally, no one is trying to run Peter Obi down, I am only saying that he blew the chance of making Anambra the envy of all states. For instance, I am not sure Anambra has a standard football stadium till date. If not why not?

Anambra has done a lot as individuals, it's high time they invested in public institutions, if they are lucky to get a selfless governor who would pay the price and do it.

FreeGlobe:
Hahahaha, look at this troll, your Peter obi that couldn't do anything or "pursue any decent federal govt project in his state" is the one who pursued Enugu intl airport? The same Peter obi that couldn't pursue his desperately needed ministerial appointment successfully? lol. The same Peter obi that left his state worse than he met it after looting billions. Fyi the airport was completely the handwork of Stella oduah. If chime is a failure for transforming his state then we want that failure in Anambra.



My brother Innoisback I greet oh. Ignore this troll that has sold his soul to Peter obi

The same Peter Obi that built private shopping mall at Abuja when his state had non. Instead he gave Ndi Anambra O'MPA so they can drink and forget their sorrow. In a sane clime the guy should be cooling off in prison now for looting public treasury. Is it not shameful that despite the huge resources in Anambra, he could not leave any outstanding legacy after 8 years in office.

Please, if the new states are created, would Sullivan be entitled to contest governorship of new Enugu. I need contributions from this forum.

cjrane:

lol at the bolded.

Since when did breaking a "promise" become a big deal to the vindictive namas we share this country with?
Although it is hard to hear and swallow, Biafrandream stated the hard facts.We just have to pray this Chidoka guy will take this seriously and knows the stake is high. The day he leaves that ministry,ndiofe and abo.kis will ensure the building will stop where he left it for another 10 or 15 years.

That was precisely the reason why they erased it from the list of international airport terminals to be built with the half a billion dollars Chinese loan indebted to Nigeria.
If Enugu terminal building had been in that loan, its funding and completion would have been guaranteed. But Tambuwal & co said capital NO! to including Enugu terminal in the loan.The reality of the situation is that we share the same country with a bunch of mean animals who plot day and night on how to cheat us and keep us down.

Brother I feel you. It's fun having people around you, who understand the handwriting on the wall.

Ubomeze: The new minister said and i quote ' I see that my predecessor had done very well in the terminal buildings, so all that we need is to focus and complete the work that has already started. But with that, we want to pull our resources away from the terminal remodelling and focus more on the security and safety of airports'. As you can see from his statement he has no intention of stopping what has already been started, besides the finance comes from the Chinese banks who are also building them. Please lets have patience airports are not built in months, the completion and handover date for the new terminal is September 2015.

Yea, handover is after Jonathan's election. Well we will see. Mind you, if Jonahtan is interested in building that airport, it wouldn't take more than one year.

[quote author=INNOisBACK]Stop living in delusion bro. Work on that airport stalled on Stella's exit, and the new guy seems not to care![/q

The guy was quoted as saying that Stella's airport remodeling is not part of his agenda. According to him, he is more interested in airport safety. The Sokoto Caliphate warned Jonathan against siting any meaningful project in south-east including the airport. After 2015 I will remind everyone what i said about the airport. It is a political bait for Jonathan. Even if he stays in govt for the next 50 yrs, the story of that airport won't change. Please, let's talk of something else. I have personally given up on nigeria.

042 boiz are representing real time. Proud to be nwa 042.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5bgGDg6qq4

y

Umunwa bucha pino pino. I love Enugu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV9tZRpgc90

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