@gidson12 and @chima12: Why do you choose to take a tribalistic view of this report. In what way does this report point to being done by a Yoruba person? How does it benefit Yorubas?? Please let us stop fighting amongst ourselves or pointing accusing fingers at our tribes/religions while the thieves/criminals/offenders (our leaders) are smiling and getting away with the loot.

@Chamackh: I'm sorry but you have missed the point, in as much as i think the report might not be as close to accurate as we would have expected but the fact that you have attributed a silly misguided extract of the report by Premium Times to mean some people "want us (Igbos) to remain in servitude so that their region could keep prospering and developing" is reason we (Nigeria) are not moving forward. we see ourselves as different people from another "country", this is one Nigeria and we must be one if we are to move this country of ours forward. Our leaders know we are not united and that is why when s/he commits an offence and is exposed the first thing s/he says is "I am being witch-hunted because i am from XYZ state", sadly too some of us from his/her state jump on the bandwagon of such frivolous camouflages thereby evading the crux of the matter which is simply that s/he has committed an offence and must face the law irrespective of where s/he is from.
We need to go beyond tribalism, religion, politicking, and segmentation if we are to get our leaders to do the right thing.

A common saying terribly holds sway in this country "Divided we fall, United we stand."

Since it's my car we are talking about then most likely i was the last to drive it so the chair, mirrors and steering placings are the same but i just check to make sure i'm good to go, then i strap my self in with the seat belt, start the engine and look at the gauges then i roll if everything is ok.
If its dark, after i start the engine and look at the gauges, i put the headlights on and roll.

Dear NLers,

I'm trying to start a culture/image change on the popularly known and largely attributed figure to our great country NIGERIA - 419, hence the subject.

Kindly send in your contributions no matter how mundane or great as long as it's positive, it could be comical or real for as long as it shines a positive light on the country.

Please no tribalistic, ethnic or religiously provocative comments. Let's all be civil and work together to provide the best outlook for the country.

Of note also is that the top 419 comments would be published in an article in the daily editorials all over the country and in some foreign ones and magazines (as much as i can get through to), and of course our ever beloved Facebook.

Come join me let's spread a positive light about this country amidst all the darkness and turmoil that abounds, let us be the ray of hope.

Nice blog.

I believe we can all make some conscious effort to reducing energy costs where we cannot outrightly make major changes considering a larger part of the populace are tenants and not landlords, i.e. I make sure all my appliances not in use - e.g. fans, A/C, dispenser, sockets powering TV/radio/Home theater/Microwave/phone chargers/laptops and even light bulbs - when i'm either not at home or even at home not being used are SWITCHED OFF.
This has helped to reduce my overall expenditure on electricity bills coupled with the increase in electricity tariff.

For tenants, the most we can do are the following:
1. monitor/manage electricity use as stated above.
2. install inverters (if allowed by the landlords)
3. install some solar panels/windmills to power light bulbs and some specific sockets (labelled preferably) e.g. the ones that power TV/home theater/decoder/laptop or phone chargers, and fans (if allowed by the landlords)
4. replace all halogen and incandescent light bulbs with CLF or LED bulbs.


For landlords, they can do the following:
1. build the houses with better materials and tidy the finishing to eliminate gaps
2. use of single glazed mirrors
3. build the houses with a design that allows more sunlight into the house for the larger parts of the day thereby reducing the need for switching on light bulbs during the day.

I believe with these few changes we'll be well on our way to reducing energy consumption and improving energy generation and use.

@paragonpro: Love this topic

@Mrs. Chima: One of the best topics thus far on NL this year. Thanks.
@Orton1 0: Very nice post
@MzDarkSkin: Loved the retort on Orton1 0's post.

For me though, I'd largely allow her and largely meaning allow her with most ppl except ppl i certainly know are flirtatious as there's no need to increase the level of temptation when the natural world already has enuf of 'em

Basically, this is an issue of trust - knowing and understanding each other and this goes both ways i.e. the man/woman believing in the spouse and the man/woman also assuring the spouse that there's nothing to worry about and that his/her heart is safe with them.

On a lighter note, dem talk say " dem no dey know finish"

@Ekpoma1: 'Lets be optimistic. One day e go beta!' - When would we ever get to 'Lets be optimistic. Come this given month/year e go beta!' Optimism without a definite work plan/structure = 'BASELESS HOPING'

@Blacksta: Same with 'You are the future of tomorrow said by the then leader in 1978', fast forward 30 years later and he was still the leader of the country. Which future was he referring to

@Ekpoma1: "GEJ is d messiah" - Please lets stop this delusion of looking for a spirit being to do what the flesh should do and attributing undue adjectives to people. If he's the right man let him perform, we DON'T NEED A MESSIAH, all we need is a PERFORMER READY TO WORK.

Having said the above, i believe the govt is moving in a positive step towards achieving some reasonable  level of power generation (pls note i didn't say 24/7 power or stable power as no govt now can achieve this country-wide in even 8yrs) albeit infinitesimal on the bigger picture but it must be noted that we can and will only achieve stable power when the power sector has been deregulated like the telecomms sector and sold to the right people that know the power business. It must also be stated that big international companies that know the power business would only be interested if the FG puts the right enabling environment in place so as to avoid having messy situations like that of the Vodafone and Virgin scenarios.

It is possible and very doable, this is sensible thinking and acting not messianic.

This was meant to be an educative/corrective post by our brother/sister JustCash, but has unfortunately turned out in large to be a showing of our innate tribal antagonisms.
It is rather disheartening and shameful that at this level (i want to believe that for we NLers that post/comment regularly) we condescend to shallow places and we say we're One Nigeria.
These inherent tribal friction is the major reason why this great nation is struggling and can't develop at the rate it's supposed to.        

@damola1 - a very good breakdown
@toblosky - like the cliche there 'mtn slowlink'
@edicolove - u're very on point about the 3G or 4G claim, it's largely a scam but partly true (depends on area and even at that not constant in those areas).

Basically internet in the country is still very expensive and not commensurate to the costs. Having said that, what we need from the numerous Service Providers is a detailed visual breakdown of what the maximum bandwidth (in whatever form i.e 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, CDMA2000, HSDPA, EDGE, etc) offered in each coverage area/Local Government is in each state. That way, you can make your judgement based on what is available to you in your locale before you purchase.

Not that everyone comes to 'lie' to the public that they are offering 3G in Lagos when it's only available in certain areas of Lagos.

Truth be told they play on the limited tech knowledge of the larger populace and hide under the gimmick of it being the game of the trade and unfortunately for us our regulatory bodies (NCC, ISPAN, etc) turn a blind-eye to these sharp practices.

Who noticed the death of the GSM Forum programme that was ran some years back, where the citizens had the opportunity to interact directly with the telco representatives and quiz them on their services, costs and whatever it was that they were not doing right?? Such brilliant initiatives have quietly been swept under the carpet as the customer had taken centre stage.