₦airaland Forum

May God rid us of reckless and childish governors in Imo state. Before it was Ohakim, now it is Rochas. Rochas is more of a joke and I wonder the state he would leave Imo state by the end of his tenure.

I have been plying that road since 2002 and it has never been better than it is now. Thanks to GEJ and his administration/government.

Please forget about Buhari, he can't eat his cake and have it back. I think that INEC chairman Prof Jega looks so focused and transparent. He has some degree of integrity. Apart from Wole Soyinka, he is the person I consider to be promising. I am an Igbo man and have no connection with any of the two people I have suggested above.

When anybody dies the effect is never the same with everybody. Hence some people will be angry while some will be happy. Generally Nigerians have come to dislike almost everybody in government because the common Nigerians feel that the politicians are enjoying life at the expense of the common people. It is the resources meant for everybody that are enjoyed by a few. So the masses may as well rejoice if they feel like doing so. It is all about freedom of expression and you cannot deprive or deny people of feeling how they choose to feel.

I heard Pat Utomi say on TV that GEJ was spending N100,000,000.00 (One hundred million naira)every day during his last presidential campaign. I wonder where a young man will find that kind of money. Like someone said earlier, unless we kill all the old brigades who have amassed so much money at the expense of the common Nigerians and have become semi gods, untouchables, power brokers and even role models in our society. These people include all past corrupt heads of state, governors, ministers, legislators and even local government chairmen, etc.

The existence of such people who give a very wrong signal to Nigerians and the general impression that it is acceptable for anybody in authority of power should steal as much as they want to provide for their children, grandchildren and a host of other family members and friends. It is due to this wrong signal that our value system has changed in Nigeria. There is no reward for hard work. Everybody wants to make money too quickly and easily. And the best way to do so is by entering into politics or by having some connections with people in power. Things have got to change and this change has to come sooner because the longer we wait, we shall have an increasing number of politicians and public office holders becoming even richer and this is not good news for the common man. This is because with their ill-gotten wealth, they can afford to bribe their way out of any court case and also provide enough security for themselves.

I really find this post to be very interesting. I have lived in UK for 23 years. I have 5 children all of them are born in London. I can say that I have lived abroad long enough to understand what the writer is saying. And I can say that I agree 99% with everything the writer has said.

I wish the oil dries up today so we can come back to our senses.

VW unveils super-efficient '1-litre' hybrid

Volkswagen has unveiled a new car that can cover 100 kilometres on less than a litre of petrol, making it the most fuel efficient hybrid in the world.

http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20110126-32667.html#.UMdf1eRre1s

VW unveils super-efficient '1-litre' hybrid
Volkswagen has unveiled a new car that can cover 100 kilometres on less than a litre of petrol, making it the most fuel efficient hybrid in the world.

http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20110126-32667.html#.UMdf1eRre1s

I very much agree with you. My clearing agents complained so much about their services and delay in handling their transactions and I had to change to Zenith Bank and EcoBank. Even though I still have four bank accounts with First Bank, I don't really use those accounts very much any more. They are more or less dormant accounts.

Whether or not there is something wrong with having Buhari as president is not a matter to be decided by Nairalanders. It is left for Nigerian voters to decide if Buhari decides to contest in 2015.

An important question to ask here is "which countries does Nigeria hope or intend to overtake in order to become one of the top 20 countries in 2020?"

This information/news from Blueprint newspaper might be wrong as the president GEJ said in his interview on BEN TV live, in his response to this very issue that he was misquoted. He categorically refuted the wrong information being peddled by some news agencies as incorrect. He said that he was misquoted and insists that there is provision for fuel subsidy in 2013 budget.

Source: http://www.nigeriamasterweb.com/paperfrmes.html (blueprint newspaper online)

Amidst the persistent fuel scarcity in major cities of the country, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday sent clear signals that the government is about to implement full removal of fuel subsidy, just as he stressed the need for a total deregulation of the downstream sector in order to attract investors to the petroleum sector and end importation of the products. The President, who said this when he received the report of the 2012 Participants of the Senior Executive Course 34 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPS) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, noted that even though total removal of fuel subsidy would be painful, Nigerians would be happier for it.
“Why is it that people are not building refineries in Nigeria despite the fact that it is a big business? It is because of the policy of subsidy, and that is why we want to get out of it. To change a nation is like surgery. If you have a young daughter of five years who has a boil at a very strategic part of the face. You either, as a parent, leave that boil because the young girl will cry or you take the girl to the surgeon.

“So, you have the option of just rubbing mentholatum on the face until the boil will bust and disfigure her face, or you take that child to the surgeon. On the sighting of a scalpel of the surgeon alone, the child will start crying. But if she bears the pains and do the incision and treat it, after some days or weeks, the child will grow up to be a beautiful lady,” he explained. He said there are certain decisions that government must take that would be painful at the beginning, but people must be properly informed so that they would be ready to bear the pains. He said the country would witness a turn-around within 10 years once the right policies are put in place, stressing that “you do not need a lifetime to change a nation.” “Under 10 years, Nigeria can change and people will not even believe that this is Nigeria again. Immediately you come up with strong policies in key sectors of the economy and keep it for 10 years, the change will be astronomical,” he assured.

Earlier in their presentation, the participants had called on the federal government to take proactive steps to address the country’s over-dependent on crude oil and natural gas. “Nigeria needs to reduce its level of dependency on crude oil and expand development of its rich non-oil sectors. Human resources is key to diversification,” the participants said. The participants emphasised the need for research and development, saying it was key to improving the economy, and called on the president to ensure that the terms and conditions of the Performance Contract Agreement he recently signed with ministers are strictly enforced.

The participants also called on the president to intensify efforts in tackling the spate of insecurity that has been a source of worry to the country and international community. They also noted in a report entitled, “Resource Diversification for Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria,” that the current security situation in the country was disincentive to businesses and investments. The participants identified unemployment as one of the greatest threats to security in the country, and called on the government to address the situation with immediate effect.
“One of the greatest threats to security is unemployment. It provides for unemployed youths and other disgruntled persons to attack the system which they believe is responsible for their plights,” the participants observed.
The participants also called on the federal government to strengthen trans-border security through bilateral agreements in order to aid its fight against insecurity.

They also expressed concern over the level of security at the airports across the country, saying they are characterised by porous perimeter fences, poor Closed Circuit Televisions and lacked the capacity to counter terrorism.

I have listened to your music and feel that it is quite good. Maybe you can consider giving music a chance. You never know, perhaps that could be where your destiny, talent or luck lie. Academic qualifications are not always meant for office work alone. They are meant to equip someone for survival in life. By applying your education to whatever you do in life, you will definitely distinguish yourself provided you are not too proud to do certain things because you are a graduate. Life is all about survival and your education provides you a very good platform to be competitive and to make informed decisions in most cases far more than people with less education. I hope and feel that your faith will lead you on. Good luck.

In UK banks even pay interests on current accounts. There is no such thing as COT. It is only company accounts that are charged interest but companies are usually given about two year’s moratorium before such charges could be made. However if you run some types of current accounts, charges could apply if such accounts provide customers with extra services or benefits such as £2500.00 overdraft limit, travel insurance and foreign exchange purchases at no commission e.t.c. But there is usually a small monthly charge, which in most cases are about £10.00 per month and that's all the customer has to pay.

God's own country indeed.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Soyinka is perhaps the only Yoruba person that I know who has clearly risen about tribalism and as such I respect him a lot.

Nice observation indeed. I have always seen such mistakes in some of our Nollywood movies, but could not be bothered as English is not our native language.

Barack Obama's half-brother George is in Britain to promote a play about his experiences as a Kenyan gangster who turned his life around.

Source: http://www.channel4.com/news/obama-visits-britain-george-obama-that-is

Obama, the Mamba - President of the Slums tells the story of a man whose privileged upbringing came to an end when his mother and step-father split up, leading to a life of crime on the streets and in the ghetto. Based on George's memoirs, Brother, it is being staged at the Curve Theatre, in Leicester, and the Lowry, in Salford, from 12-20 October.
The play is written by Kevin Fagan, who visited him in the Mathare slum in Nairobi, where George works to improve the lives of young people.

It is a tribute to a man who agreed to appear in a documentary, 2016: Obama's America, that is critical of Barack Obama. What is intriguing is that when George is asked in the film if the US president should have helped him, he says Barack has his own family to look after; he does not rise to the bait.

Brother, co-authored by veteran foreign reporter Damien Lewis and published this year, is George Obama's life story.
It details how the father he and Barack shared, Barack Obama Senior died when he was six months' old, after which he was brought up by his mother and a white French aid worker in a plush Nairobi suburb.
He was sent to boarding school, but after his mother and step-father separated when he was 15, George dropped out of education and starting drinking and smoking cannabis. A life of crime and gangs followed, with George acquiring the street name "the Mamba" - Swahili for crocodile - because of his fighting skills.

Car-jacking

The street led to a Nairobi ghetto, where his criminal lifestyle took off, car-jacking wealthy Kenyans and fighting running battles with the police. Despite the dangers, George felt he had found a community where he belonged and that accepted him. When he was 20, George and three fellow gangsters were arrested for a violent crime they did not commit and were thrown into prison. What he learned at his English-style public school helped him mount a successful defence in court and he and his gang colleagues were released. After jail, he became a community organiser in the slums, mirroring the work Barack carried out in the Chicago ghetto when he was a young man.


Met Barack

He was shunned by his family, but went on to meet Barack during his visit to Kenya before the US presidential elections (he had first met him when he was five). He says he was inspired by him to help the slum dwellers he lives with: "My brother has risen to be the leader of the most powerful country in the world. Here in Kenya, my aim is to be a leader amongst the poorest people on earth - those who live in the slums." After Barack became president, George became known as "the president of the slums", his dream to found a ghetto football team. This came to pass and when Damien Lewis met George and proposed to write his life story, the money earned helped propel Huruma - Swahili for mercy - to the top of the Nairobi super league.

This man Okorocha is fast becoming very irrelevant with every passing day. From his illegitimate dismissal of all elected Local government chairmen and councillors, indiscriminate and plan-less embarkment of road construction in all the local governments in Imo State, recklessly erecting gates in every road in Owerri to declaring a public holiday just because he was celebrating his birthday, it is becoming more of a worry to me and many concerned observers that Okorocha is showing himself to be too childish to handle a position as governor of Imo State. He may very unwittingly be making a mere rudicle of his so-called ambition of either getting a second chance as the governor of Imo State or his over-bloated ambition of running for the office of presidency in 2015. He needs to show himself to be less of a clown and more of an adult and responsible leader.

EFCC has continued to present itself as a political weapon instead of a legal or transformative weapon. That is why EFCC has not had any meaningful impact in bringing about any desirable change in attitude or dispensation in political and public office holders, both past and present.

From the inception and creation of EFCC by Obasanjo, it has remained nothing short of an instrument for the victimization of opponents of people in power.

I foresee fuel selling above N200 per litre if fuel subsidy is finally removed completely. We should be prepared to pay any price the filling stations are willing to sell to consumers. This is the way things work in Nigeria. No economics theory actually works well in Nigeria. What really works perfectly are theories and practice of corruption, bribery and greed. If Nigeria can abolish the duplication of roles of the House of Assembly and House of Senate and have just one House and also remove all the fat allowances senators enjoy while other Nigerians are paid as little as N18,000.00 per month. It is outrageous that senators get more than N100,000,000.00 (one hundred million naira) as housing allowance alone (please correct me if I am wrong), while some civil servants get little or nothing. Senators and executives should be paid salaries as other civil servants with some allowances paid for their attendance and housing. Or better still if official accommodation could be provided for them instead of wasting huge money for their upkeep. Sanusi has alerted us that one third of our national budget is spent on maintaining these fat cats called politicians and nothing has been done about it yet. GEJ and his deputy spend one billion naira a year for their feeding and entertainment, that is about three million naira per day. These are areas we need to focus more instead of punishing the poor masses.

I just ordered the last hard copy of the book from Amazon today for £10.00 and it will arrive at my house tomorrow. Meanwhile I reserve my comments. They say that "seeing is believing". However, I know that "controversy always creates cash". So I suppose that this book might even fetch Chinua Achebe more money than his ever-popular "Things Fall Apart". Let the music play on.

I SIMPLY LOVE WHAT THE PRESIDENT HAS DONE. HE SHOULD BE COMMENDED AND NOT CONDEMNED. GREAT MOVE, MR PRESIDENT.

It appears that the north is running out of electable candidates, which sounds good to me.

Since we are told that Dame Patience Jonathan is just resting in Germany, we can only wish her to rest in peace.

What about vision 20-20-20? If Nigerians will have adequate water in 2025, then let's forget about being among the first 20 developed countries in the world by 2020. Such a vision can only become a mirage.

The attributes of the universe discovered by science point to the existence of God. Science leads us to the conclusion that the universe has a Creator and this Creator is perfect in might, wisdom and knowledge. It is religion that shows us the way in knowing God. It is therefore possible to say that science is a method we use to better see and investigate the realities addressed by religion. Nevertheless, today, some of the scientists who step forth in the name of science take an entirely different stand. In their view, scientific discoveries do not imply the creation of God. They have, on the contrary, projected an atheistic understanding of science by saying that it is not possible to reach God through scientific data: they claim that science and religion are two clashing notions.

As a matter of fact, this atheistic understanding of science is quite recent. Until a few centuries ago, science and religion were never thought to clash with each other, and science was accepted as a method of proving the existence of God. The so-called atheistic understanding of science flourished only after the materialist and positivist philosophies swept through the world of science in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Particularly after Charles Darwin postulated the theory of evolution in 1859, circles holding a materialistic world view started to ideologically defend this theory, which they looked upon as an alternative to religion. The theory of evolution argued that the universe was not created by a creator but came into being by chance. As a result, it was asserted that religion was in conflict with science. The British researchers Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln said on this issue:

For Isaac Newton, a century and a half before Darwin, science was not separate from religion but, on the contrary, an aspect of religion, and ultimately subservient to it. ...But the science of Darwin's time became precisely that, divorcing itself from the context in which it had previously existed and establishing itself as a rival absolute, an alternative repository of meaning. As a result, religion and science were no longer working in concert, but rather stood opposed to each other, and humanity was increasingly forced to choose between them. (Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy, Gorgi Books, London: 1991, p. 177-178.)

As we stated before, the so-called split between science and religion was totally ideological. Some scientists, who earnestly believed in materialism, conditioned themselves to prove that the universe had no creator and they devised various theories in this context. The theory of evolution was the most famous and the most important of them. In the field of astronomy as well certain theories were developed such as the "steady-state theory" or the "chaos theory". However, all of these theories that denied creation were demolished by science itself, as we have clearly shown in the previous chapters.

Today, scientists who still keep to these theories and insist on denying all things religious, are dogmatic and bigoted people, who have conditioned themselves not to believe in God. The famous English zoologist and evolutionist D.M.S. Watson confesses to this dogmatism as he explains why he and his colleagues accept the theory of evolution:
If so, it will present a parallel to the theory of evolution itself, a theory universally accepted, not because it can be proved by logically coherent evidence to be true, but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible. (D.M.S. Watson, "Adaptation", Nature, no. 124, p. 233)

What Watson means by "special creation" is God's creation. As acknowledged, this scientist finds this "unacceptable". But why? Is it because science says so? Actually it does not. On the contrary, science proves the truth of creation. The only reason why Watson looks upon this fact as unacceptable is because he has conditioned himself to deny the existence of God. All other evolutionists take the same stand. Evolutionists rely not on science but on materialist philosophy and they distort science to make it agree with this philosophy. A geneticist and an outspoken evolutionist from Harvard University, RichardLewontin, confesses to this truth:

It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, so we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. (Richard Levontin, The Demon-Haunted World, The New York Review of Books, January, 9, 1997, p. 28) On the other hand, today, just as in history, there are, as opposed to this dogmatic materialist group, scientists who confirm God's existence, and regard science as a way of knowing Him. Some trends developing in the USA such as "Creationism" or "Intelligent Design" prove by scientific evidence that all living things were created by God.
This shows us that science and religion are not conflicting sources of information, but that, on the contrary, science is a method that verifies the absolute truths provided by religion. The clash between religion and science can only hold true for certain religions that incorporate some superstitious elements as well as divine sources. However, this is certainly out of the question for Islam, which relies only on the pure revelation of God. Moreover, Islam particularly advocates scientific enquiry, and announces that probing the universe is a method to explore the creation of God. The following verse of the Qur'an addresses this issue;

Do they not look at the sky above them? How We have built it and adorned it, and there are no rifts therein? And the earth - We have spread it out, and set thereon mountains standing firm, and caused it to bring forth plants of beauteous kinds (in pairs). And We send down from the sky blessed water whereby We give growth unto gardens and the grain of crops. And tall palm-trees, with shoots of fruit-stalks, piled one over another. (Surah Qaf, 6-7, 9-10)
As the above verses imply, the Qur'an always urges people to think, to reason and to explore everything in the world in which they live. This is because science supports religion, saves the individual from ignorance, and causes him to think more consciously; it opens wide one's world of thought and helps one grasp the signs of God self-evident in the universe. Prominent German physicist Max Planck said:

"Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: Ye must have faith. It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with." (J. De Vries, Essential of Physical Science,Wm.B.Eerdmans Pub.Co., Grand Rapids, SD 1958, p. 15.)
All the issues we have treated so far simply put it that the existence of the universe and all living things cannot be explained by coincidences. Many scientists who have left their mark on the world of science have confirmed, and still confirm this great reality. The more people learn about the universe, the higher does their admirations for its flawless order become. Every newly-discovered detail supports creation in an unquestionable way.
The great majority of modern physicists accept the fact of creation as we set foot in the 21st century. David Darling also maintains that neither time, nor space, nor matter, nor energy, nor even a tiny spot or a cavity existed at the beginning. A slight quick movement and a modest quiver and fluctuation occurred. Darling ends by saying that when the cover of this cosmic box was opened, the tendrils of the miracle of creation appeared from beneath it.
Besides, it is already known that almost all the founders of diverse scientific branches believed in God and His divine books. The greatest physicists in history, Newton, Faraday, Kelvin and Maxwell are a few examples of such scientists.

In the time of Isaac Newton, the great physicist, scientists believed that the movements of the heavenly bodies and planets could be explained by different laws. Nevertheless, Newton believed that the creator of earth and space was the same, and therefore they had to be explained by the same laws. He said:
This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all, and on account of His dominion. He is wont to be called Lord God, Universal Ruler.
As is evident, thousands of scientists who have been doing research in the fields of physics, mathematics, and astronomy since the Middle Ages all agree on the idea that the universe is created by a single Creator and always focus on the same point. The founder of physical astronomy, JohannesKepler, stated his strong belief in God in one of his books where he wrote:

Since we astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it befits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God.(Dan Graves,Scientists of Faith, . 51)
The great physicist, William Thompson (Lord Kelvin), who established thermodynamics on a formal scientific basis, was also a Christian who believed in God. He had strongly opposed Darwin's theory of evolution and totally rejected it. In 1903, short before his death, he made the unequivocal statement that, "With regard to the origin of life, science... positively affirms creative power." (David Darling, Deep Time, Delacorte Press, 1989, New York.)

One of the professors of physics at Oxford University, Robert Mattheus states the same fact in his book published in 1992 where he explains that DNA molecules were created by God. Mattheus says that all these stages proceed in a perfect harmony from a single cell to a living baby, then to a little child, and finally to an adolescent. All these events can be explained only by a miracle, just as in all the other stages of biology. Mattheus asks how such a perfect and complex organism can emerge from such a simple and tiny cell and how a glorious HUMAN is created from a cell even smaller than the dot on the letter i. He finally concludes that this is nothing short of a miracle. (Robert Matthews,Unravelling the Mind of God, London Bridge, July, 1995, p.

Some other scientists who admit that the universe is created by a Creator and who are known by their cited attributes are:
Robert Boyle (the father of modern chemistry)
Iona William Petty (known for his studies on statistics and modern economy)
Michael Faraday (one of the greatest physicists of all times)
Gregory Mendel (the father of genetics; he invalidated Darwinism with his discoveries in the science of genetics)

Louis Pasteur (the greatest name in bacteriology; he declared war on Darwinism)
John Dalton (the father of atomic theory)
Blaise Pascal (one of the most important mathematicians)
John Ray (the most important name in British natural history)
Nicolaus Steno (a famous stratiographer who investigated earth layers)
Carolus Linnaeus (the father of biological classification)
Georges Cuvier (the founder of comparative anatomy)
Matthew Maury (the founder of oceanography)
Thomas Anderson (one the pioneers in the field of organic chemistry)

I think that all these senseless killings are born out of frustration and inferiority complex.