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lygn19: GEJ 2015

MAKIA Under GEJ!

lygn19: GEJ 2015

Mallam Aminu Kano Intl.

lygn19: GEJ 2015

Mallam Aminu Kano Intl. Airport

lygn19: GEJ 2015

Murtala Mohammed Intl. Airport

Not content with starving millions of Igbo children to death, stealing monies belonging to every Biafran family, using stolen Biafran funds to purchase shares in all nationalised companies in Nigeria for the Odua nation, the contempt in which certain sections of the Yoruba people hold Igbo people their fellow citizens is once again evident as Punch Newspaper in its editorial calls for the resignation of the Igbo Finance Minister Mrs Okonjo-Iweala. This is not the first time neither is it going to be last when Yoruba media preponderance will be deployed to pressure the Nigerian presidency to sack a top ranking Igbo civil servant.



What Nigerians are once again witnessing is the same witch hunt that led Goodluck Jonathan to sanction the premature retirement of Mrs Ngozi Rose as the Comproller General of Nigerian Immigration. Below are extrants of the said editorial in the Punch Newspaper which no doubt will gather momentum in the coming days and weeks.

Prior to her 2003 appointment by Obasanjo as finance minister and head of the Economic Management Team, only a few Nigerians knew her. As a finance minister, she was known to have tenaciously used her influence to negotiate a deal with the Paris Club to pay a portion of Nigeria's external debt (US $12bn) in return for an $18bn debt write-off. Her role in the deal was widely acknowledged.

During this time, the Harvard-trained economist was also known for her insistence on accountability in public spending and budgeting. Among many of her well-known achievements was the practice of publishing each state and local government's monthly financial allocations in the newspapers. This went a long way in increasing transparency in governance. She was also instrumental in helping Nigeria obtain its first ever sovereign credit rating (of BB minus) from Fitch and Standard & Poor's. Nigeria then was considered as having defaulted on its sovereign debt in 1983 (debt rescheduling is considered a type of default by rating agencies).

In spite of the controversy that beclouded her removal by Obasanjo, Okonjo-Iweala left with her reputation intact as one of Nigeria's most hard-working and celebrated ministers of that era. She returned to the World Bank having been appointed as the Managing Director in 2007. To underscore the importance of the role she played in her first term, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed her as Minister of Finance with an expanded portfolio as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy in 2011.

But how well has she performed in her second coming? Has the Jonathan administration provided the enabling environment for her economic policies to impact positively on the economy? As a coordinating minister, Okonjo-Iweala has extensive influence in shaping the direction of Jonathan's economic team and the transformation agenda. But that is as far as it goes.

In this largely corrupt administration, she has shouted herself hoarse on the need to reduce Nigeria's bourgeoning recurrent expenditure which accounts for a large chunk of the national budget. She has harped on capital projects to reduce the worsening unemployment rate which she once said gives her sleepless nights. But the government she serves has so far not listened or does not seem to "give a damn".

In spite of all her efforts, the economy is still in doldrums; poverty has worsened. This makes it strange that Okonjo-Iweala remains in a government that is on record to explicitly encourage corruption by not fighting it.

Doesn't she feel a sense of frustration that her efforts at bringing the economy back have so far been a resounding failure? Does the minister not know that nothing she does will matter in the present political climate that encourages corruption and waste by public officials? Is she not concerned by the lack of political will by the President to fight economic crimes that are inimical to economic development? Okonjo-Iweala should know that no economic initiative will work in a country where corruption pervades the fabric of governance.

How can interventions such as hers work in a corrupt country such as ours where public funds are stolen in a brazen manner by government officials with impunity? It is for this reasons that her efforts at reviving the economy will continue to hit a brick wall. No matter how sound the economic decisions she makes, they will be subverted somewhere along the line by economic and political saboteurs in and out of government. It is worse that the President allows them roam freely and gleefully. There is massive corruption in the land. The government is losing billions to oil thieves. This government is bloated which makes its running expensive.

Instructively, no situation best symbolises Okonjo-Iweala's dilemma than the worsening unemployment rate. The figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that unemployment rate has risen to 25 per cent. Historically, from 2006 until 2011, Nigeria's unemployment rate averaged 14.6 per cent reaching an all-time high of 23.9 per cent in 2011 and a record low of 5.3 per cent in 2006. Yet, it was in these years that Okonjo-Iweala was a minister. What has gone wrong? Let us not be too quick to blame it on global unemployment rate.

The minister must be courageous enough to tell this government the home truth. I suspect the credibility she has built is at stake if she stays on to serve this government. How can a first class global technocrat like her be comfortable in a government that has refused to fight corruption; where the ruling elite engage in conspicuous consumption at the expense of the suffering masses? And, where a very few ruling class appropriate a large chunk of the treasury in outrageous salaries and allowances? Where is the economic and moral justification?

It is also an antithesis that she is the finance minister to a government that encourages indiscriminate borrowing when she was known to have worked hard to make our country debt-free in her first coming. The Jonathan government is on a borrowing binge, ironically, at a time the country is earning huge oil revenue like never before. Now, the minister is defending this administration's N251bn debt-for-infrastructure debts. Something is definitely not right here. Recently, the Debt Management Office raised the alarm on Nigeria's debt profile which it says may hit $25bn (about N3.75 tr) by 2015. Our domestic debt also stands at more than N6tn, while foreign debt at the end of 2012 was more than $6.5bn. Even the governor of Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, is alarmed. Hear him: "We are borrowing more money today at a higher interest rate while leaving the heavy debt burden for our children and grandchildren."

Is the minister listening? Okonjo-Iweala should know that Nigerians hold her in high esteem. They also want her to succeed. But it is doubtful if this is possible with this licentious government. She must find the courage to resign if her efforts are being deliberately sabotaged, as they appear to discerning Nigerians. She should not continue to lend her hard earned name to this charade called Jonathan's administration. There is no use rescuing a sinking ship whose captain lacks the will to steer it in the right direction.

http://radiobiafra.co/news/yoruba-media-call-for-resignation-of-igbo-finance-minister-mrs-okonjo-iweala

That was really a good one!

malele: We seriously need to be praying for that airport in enugu, because the kind of bad belly people get over it, I dey fear o.

After we close Lagos airport to boost number of people flying local planes.
Yoruba guys go dey hitch flight like this to Enugu.

Flirtyfemi: "The Minister of aviation is busy buying bullet proof cars to protect her PO from her imaginary enemies whilst the aviation sector where she chairs is in ruins and killing people by the day...
Perhaps, she is too busy to conduct a proper on ground check of airlines and their fleet of dead and run down aeroplanes. Should someone who has lied and misled the public about a common bullet proof car be allowed to handle a sector as big as aviation?"
Yesterday, Sahara Reporters revealed how Stella Oduah purchased a N225m vehicle, well, photos of the inner section of the vehicles have leaked online. See photos below:
http://www.kemifilani.com/2013/10/see-inside-aviation-minister-stella.html

Bros, if you lie again i go mess!

TribalEAST: Over the years, i've heard southeasterners claim that they run the economy in lagos and that if they should pull out of the state the economy will collapse in no time. To buttress their claim, they field markets like ladipo, aspamda, alaba international etc.

An economy consists of three sectors: the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. The above markets fall in the primary sector category, which is also shared by other tribes in nigeria. Multinationals like Lever bros, smithkline beecham, nestle, cardbury's, manufacturing industries, banks, shopping malls, telecommunications, media(TV, Newspapers, radio, internet) etc all fall in the secondary sector while the tertiary sector is controlled by the government of the state which provides a larger part of transportation, education, security, import and export, tax, agricultural etc.

A well reasoning nigerian would know that without a state government with good governance, the secondary sector wont deam such a state fit to invest in and without the secondary sector (a sector that employs majority of graduates and attracts people to a particular location) the primary sector would hardly exist or thrive to survive leaving people to find such a state to be with less opportunity, a good reason why people migrate to greener pastures.

Sentiments apart...eko o ni baje o!

That was really funny!

Oya, Amaechi, Over to you
Deltans like cjrane know say i dey chop as Governor, but i dey work o!
You dey chop 100% clean mouth with nothing to show them as dividend of democracy! E no good o!

Asaba International Contd.

Asaba International.
Which one has Amaechi done with all the money at his disposal?

[size=14pt]
Uduaghan is not a saint, but he is 1000000% better than the ARMED ROBBER CHIBUIKE AMAECHI !
...and let me not hear you say Asaba Intl. Airport isn't state of the art.
Apart from Lagos and Abuja, tell me which other airports in Nigeria have Avio-bridges and fuel farm or more than 2 conveyor belts and escalators! PLEASE just mention those airports, especially the ones Your armed robber master Amaechi built!.

Incase you truly didn't know how the airport looks, this is ASABA International Airport for your pleasure ![/size]

phantom: thats the man cjrane is comparing to amaechi.pity

O'l boy, say what you may.
[size=14pt]Uduaghan IS NOT A SAINT ! But Uduaghan is 1000% BETTER than the armed Robber Amaechi!
[/size]

Delta state 2013 budget N470 Billion
Rivers State 2013 budget N490 Billion

Delta state has 5 cities- Asaba, Warri,Agbor,Sapele,Oghara
Rivers state has ONE City- Port Harcourt!

Yet, we are here comparing just one Port harcourt is receiving to what Asaba,Warri,Agbor, Oghara,Abraka and Sapele combined are all getting! Yet what has PH got to show for it under Amaechi ?

[size=14pt]Please See some of Uduaghan's achievements and please post what Amaechi has achieved with even greater resources,let the world judge both men.[/size]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=717516714929454&set=pb.162151497132648.-2207520000.1382055087.&type=3&theater

[size=14pt]...and let me not hear you say Asaba Intl. Airport isn't state of the art.
Apart from Lagos and Abuja, tell me which other airports in Nigeria have Avio-bridges and fuel farm or more than 2 conveyor belts and escalators! PLEASE just mention those airports, especially the ones Your armed robber master Amaechi built!.

Incase you truly didn't know how the airport looks, this is ASABA International Airport for your pleasure ![/size]

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/8.jpg

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/11.jpg

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/24.jpg

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/41.jpg

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/12.jpg

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/5.jpg

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/15.jpg

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/20.jpg

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/181.jpg

http://blanknewsonline.files./2013/09/3.jpg


[size=18pt]God punish all of you supporting evil and looting of Rivers State ![/size]

Symphony007: the ignorant one that does'nt know simple maths. Please i'm still waiting for your clarrification on the 21 billion dollars ameachi has recieved from the F.G!

The address you latest rubbish talk, while other governors build teaching hospitals for thei uni's. The rivers state government is currently constructing a new RSUST at the greater port harcourt and will soon relocate them from their current nkpolu site. At the same time, a new school of nursing is being built at hospital road in town, port harcourt. The school will be moved from it's current site at mile 4, agip. Let's not forgot that more schools and healthcare centers are under construction. How many of those governors are carrying out projects of this scale at a time? Get your head straigthened.

Buahahahahahah....
Bros, If thats ALL you can mention was done with $21 Billion dollars? Shame on you!

Ekiti State Government have built more nursing schools and an envious State University with less than 5% of what Amaechi has.
You are indeed shameless.Please review some of Gov. Fayemi's projects and see why Amaechi deserve to face firing squad for thievery in Rivers State.


http://www.ekiti.com/
https://www.facebook.com/EkitiState/photos_stream
http://eksu.edu.ng/
http://www.slideshare.net/EkitiState

presher: hmmm

Hmmmm, Na hin be say,
make ngege go back finish chop the money for senate.
Anambra needs to choose beta people to rule them.
Sha, E suprise me how yoruba wan choose person wey go rule Igbos, while they viciously hate them and are plotting more deportation of Igbos?

Akainzo: So to humour you, let's even assume the budget for the State is about $21Billion for the 6 years of his tenure, for him to steal 100% of that amount would imply the following:
a. No single Rivers State Civil Servant has received salary in the past six years.
b. All the road projects done in Rivers State had been funded by FGN and Akpabio.
c. The health centres were all donated by Rotary International.
d. The Dental Clinic at Garrisson was built and equipped by the Melinda Gates Foundation.
e. The dualisation of Igwuruta to Elele was done by WHO.
f. All the funds spent by RSSDA was donated by Dangote.
g. The schoold that were built/upgraded were donated by UNESCO.
h. The cost of the yearly Christmas carnival at Liberation Stadium was footed by Arsenal Fan Club.
i. The new stadium and Games Village was funded by Nigeria Sports Commission.

Make I stop there, please pick which of the above is correct to support your claim that Amaechi has stolen 100% of the Rivers allocation in 6 years?

Oya, Clap for yourself, you really have no shame !
All the above shameful things you mentioned as achievement cost less than $2 billion dollars to put in place.
So to you, Christmas carnivals and sponsoring youths to exercise in game villages is now an achievement for a state that earns over $3 dollars per year? Do you know that more than half of the COUNTRIES in Africa don't earn that much in a year?

How about saying, an International airport was built or refinery was built to add value to our oil resources or an LPG plant was built or deep sea port or an export free zone have all been built and functional? So paying teachers and civil salary is now an achievement for Amaechi?
How about using all that resources to build something concrete to be his long legacy on Rivers State? Something to create employment and add value to Rivers economy.Uduaghan you have been arguing against have in addition to raising ang paying Delta civil servants which by the way is twice the number of Rivers civil servants, he has built a state-of-the-art International airport, re-building Osubi airport into International standards, dualized countless roads in Asaba, the capital city and Warri,the commercial city, building the $15 billion dollars Delta park in Warri famed to look exactly like Disney world in Florida, USA.

Sometimes i actually feel like crying for my beloved Rivers State being looted to the ground by a bunch of rabid dogs in Government House PH.
You are telling me about Dental clinic built by Amaechi as an achievement while Uduaghan, Peter Obi or Suswam have all built shining teaching hospitals within the same period and with much less money than Amaechi has! I don't even want to mention Akpabio's state-of-the-art Specialist hospital Uyo or Fashola's interventions in LASUTH, LASU and his other mighty projects, including a cable car system for Lagos in addition to his fast going light rail project! Yet fashola's budget is only N7 billion naira extra over Amaechi's N490 billion naira! Suffice to mention here that even Ebonyi state government, one of the 10 poorest states in Nigeria! with a budget of less than N100 billion naira have delivered a world class teaching hospital in Abakaliki for his people and you are mentioning a DENTAL CLINIC as achievement for Rivers State!
SHAME ON YOU AND AMAECHI! God will judge you people!

Symphony007: ameachi has gotten 21 billion dollars? Are you okay? 21 billion dollars? How much is rivers state allocation? How much is rivers state GDP? Heck, that is almost half of nigeria's foreign reserve. Are you okay?

You are damned right, that is more than half of Nigeria's entire foreign reserves! ... and that is why i'm so angry with Amaechi!
I have not said Fashola, Akpabio or even Uduaghan are saints, but there is a limit to wickedness and greed.

Amaechi does not have to be a saint, but if he deploys just 50% of the resources meant for the people of Rivers state and steals the other 50% ( a whopping $10.5 Billion Dollars) , i will be one of the people posting all his projects and hailing his good wrks. But he simply decided to embezzle the entire 100 % of the resources! WHY ?

Mind you even if Amaechi decided to be merciful and stole just 50% of the funds at his disposal which amounts to about $10 billion dollars and is being praised as a messiah, he still would have stolen more than twice what Sani Abacha stole and was crucified as a devil and mindless looter!


Besides the excess crude account and VAT that Amaechi has receive billion from,
Since 2007, Rivers State Budget have been in excess of $3+ Billion dollars.
Now, conservatively Amaechi has handled more than $21 billion dollars.
Post Rivers State budgets and supplementary budgets and other revenue and lets do the conversion here into US dollars. It will surpass $21 billion.

So who worries about soldiers captured and beheaded by Boko Haram?
Who worries about the innocent school children shot to death in their sleep by Boko Haram,
Who cares about the SSS lady beheaded publicly by Boko Haram?
Seems all those people have no human rights huh?

But if they are "oyibo people" killed by alqaeda or alshabab, a raid in alshabab or Afghanistan bases of the terrorists will be highly justified.
Some of the terrorists have an attitude of attacking the soldiers when they are captured in order to stage the Kabiru Sokoto style of escape.

Akainzo: In your mind, you do not know the difference between PROSECUTION and INVESTIGATION? Tell me which anti-corruption body has indicted Amaechi? Or do you think agencies rush to prosecute before they investigate and make their findings known to the Stale House of Assembly that could then impeach the erring Governor?

Any sane person knows that if there were any notion of corruption linked with Amaechi, GEJ and his team would have unleashed all the anti-corruption books at him that he would be cooling in EFCC cell right now like Sylva.

So almost same amount of budget, are their priorities the same? Are their needs the same? Are their terrain the same?

O'l boy, i don't have time for your silly semantics.
I thought by now you will be reeling out Amaechi's projects to justify the billions he got to Fashola's achievements. But you are here playing with English language which i know you had F9 in WAEC, instead of answering the questions here begging for your response.

Akainzo: Are you a kid or did you miss the economics class in Secondary School? Comparing how much was spent in 1991 to how much was spent in 2012/2013 and using just face value to make decisions?

Ok, in 1991 most students had an allowance of N100 per week, do you think that someone with an allowance of N2,000 per week in 2013 would automatically have Twenty times (20x) the purchasing power of that student of 1991?

You, simply are a case.

Dude, don't be silly.
Do i look like one of the f00ls Amaechi will deceive with his lies?
The money was quoted in US Dollars not Naira. Was your father giving money in dollars in the 1980s? If he did, he'll probably be giving you the same amount today, because it will be just about the same thing. The reason international contracts are quoted in dollars is because no matter how much the local currency depreciates, the value of the contract will remain the same. The same reason why countries leave their foreign reserves in US dollars to maintain its worth.
We are talking about the value in DOLLARS, not NAIRA which have witnessed a lot of turbulence since SAP days.
The US dollars have lost less than 1.5% of its 1980 value today!

Akainzo: Now you have started your rubbish thinking again. If Amaechi would have stolen such huge amounts of money, why hasn’t GEJ used that card in his fight with him? Or is he saving that as a joker card for 2015?

I don't even have words for you. For all i care about, you are probably Amaechi himself using a fake moniker here to justify your thievery.

Lagos generates 1000% what Rivers generate, and Rivers collects 1000% what Lagos collects from FG allocation. So it balances out in the end.
The only reason Amaechi is not in jail is because he has constitutional immunity from prosecution by Nigeria's constitution.


[size=15pt]Lagos 2013 budget is N 497.3 billion naira
Rivers 2013 budget is N 490.3 billion naira[/size]


Can Amaechi boast of 1% of what Fashola has achieved in Lagos? see thread below.


https://www.nairaland.com/1438515/fashola-vs-akpabio-thread/7

Symphony007: first of all you ignoramus, the state secretariat was built by diete spiff not melford okilo and secondly if you want to know where all the money has been going to read earlier post and stop running your mouth. Go and find out about the RSSDA and what they have done, their budget, etc. And tell me if there is any other state in nigeria with such an agency. Gove. Ameachi has invested in both infastructure and human development. Ignorant people like you look at flowers and round abouts and say that is development. Go to rivers state and see how how many people have been helped to open buisnesses, how many people have gotten jobs via the shonghai farm, buguma fish farm,etc...the rivers state government hired 13,000 teachers. Name any state or even the federal government that has hired so much people at a time. Do you know how much drop that will reflect in the unemployment rate? Do you know how many more farmilies will no go hungry because they now have bread winners. Please, get a brain.

Even if the secretariat was built by Spiff or Omehia is not the issue.

The issue is WHAT HAS AMAECHI DONE WITH $21 BILLION DOLLARS?

Remember as at 1991, when the seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria moved to Abuja, only $23 Billion dollars had been spent to provide roads, government buildings which include the national assembly buildings,eagle square,federal secretariat Abuja and numerous other world class buildings such as Nico Nuga and the present Aso Rock villa! Mind you, i'm from the Niger Delta region. When the northern leaders point to the thievery going on in our region as the reason we don't deserve a higher derivation, i'm at a loss of words, because i know they are speaking the truth!

Imagine if that Amount of projects had been added to Rivers State in the last 5 or 6 years. We would be comparing Port Harcourt to Durban or Cape town South Africa by now. But the money simply grew wings and flew away, and you have the effrontery to tell us not to ask questions?

Symphony007: It will be very pathetic to relitigate issues like this everytime any ignorant fool comes to post trash on nairaland because their state of mind is already in the gutter so arguing with them is like a race to the bottom.

But for all the lies and miguided opinions, the facts still remain standard and they are 250 model secondary and primary schools, 150 healthcare centers, a state of the art dental free hospital, abiye amesimaka stadium and sports village, stadium road, ikwerre road, ada george, okrika ring road, the RSSDA which is the largest sponsor of overseas scholarship in nigeria and giver of loan to small buisneses, the shonghai farm in tai, buguma fish farm and many more. These are facts no fool can dispute so they can keep running their nasty mouth.

Bros, don't you have shame? Rivers State which is one of the richest in Nigeria is being robbed blind and you are here supporting evil that impoverishing you and your family? Look at Lagos, Akwa Ibom or even Jigawa or Enugu that gets less than 5% of what Rivers State gets always posting new audacious projects being built by the Governors there.Mind you, Rivers State has ONLY PORT-HARCOURT to worry about!

The Rivers State secretariat you are showing was built by Melford Okilo, The Aba road was built by the FG the flyovers you showed elsewhere was built by Peter Odili.

The issue is not the infrastructure built be previous governments, it question is WHAT HAS AMAECHI DONE WITH MORE THAN $21 BILLION DOLLARS?

The Rivers light rail is still uncompleted, all the other towns in Rivers state look like shit hole, so where did Amaechi spend such whopping amount?

Even former Head of State Sani Abacha reputed to be the most corrupt Nigerian leader stole less than $4 billion dollars!
Is it possible that Amaechi could have stolen from Rivers State more than Abacha did to Nigeria ? ABSOLUTELY!

lygn19: The best thing to do, ask for there tribe and religion.
If its a yoruba man dats hating him?...don't waste ur time listening to him.
If its a northern muslim?...just look at his face and take him back to Nigeria's history.
Dats all I ve to say.

Exactly !
It is not truly a hate thing. It is their strategy to try to snatch power through all foul means.

In better societies, someone like Ngige that openly admitted to rigging an election and swearing at a voodoo deity to hand over the state's treasury to a common criminal like Chris Uba should be serving out their jail time now.
But this is Nigeria, so he is rigged into becoming a senator!
That is why Nigeria is such a shit hole.

Femi Kayode is a crook.
Just like Andy Uba, typical types of criminals Obasanjo engaged.

biafranqueen: That your mini me built a one mile German road and your here making shakara with Obi I don't blame you when you leave your Papa's house you will know what it takes to construct an FG road

Biafrequeen and Chino, thank you for the update, more pictures are appreciated. Please don't mind these dimwits that must say something silly.They want Peter Obi to do federal roads without federal government approval. So how will the state get refunded? If that happens, the same knuckle heads will blame him for wasting state funds on FG project, while the state projects are starved of funds

Thanks for the update. Do you know the plans with the Nnewi shop rite mall? When are they going to do groundbreaking? Thanks.

Matthew briggs: Not too long ago we witnessed firsthand the effect of Hunger and how much it can influence behavior. Nigerians in Diaspora and Nigerians in Nigeria engaged in an epic war of words. Nairaland internet servers stood still and the air was filled with an acrid smell of e-reputations been wounded in battle. It was an e-bloody sight to behold. Armed with memories of all this online bruahaha , My mind drooled into meditation mode, in that mode I pondered on what exactly is Nigerians ROOT problem. That has caused the ranting, whining and complaining that filled the air.

Is it Corruption, Bad governance,Absence of Security, Lack of infrastructure, Nepotism, tribalism, Poor educational systems and so on and so forth the list kept going on in mind. Immediately I felt hunger pangs down my tummy reminding me I have not eaten since the day before yesterday due to work related issues. My countenance changed. And all my energy, concentration and focus was directed toward getting fed, I was not just a HUNGRY man but an ANGRY man.

After getting fed, I was smiling to myself and it hit me like lighting that the desire to fill our most basic and important need "food", is a desire that cannot be unmatched, and failure to resolve it over a prolonged period can have deep psychological consequences.

With around 60% of Nigerians not sure of 3 quality square meals a day and the remaining 40% fighting tooth and nail for themselves and generation to come, to never go through the experience of hunger again. I have come to realize that Nigeria's root problem is none other than HUNGER. In fact the big 3 problems Corruption, Poverty & Bad Governance can all be traced to her. Reason been that Hunger when not resolved over a long period of time ushers in frustration. Frustration on it's own can re-engineer the mind of the sufferer making him/her one hell of a scheming beast.

When one is hungry or have the fear of hunger at the back of he's/her mind, one's sense of judgment is twisted. With a twisted sense of judgment, you pick up traits such as Corruption, Selfishness, greediness and other vices seeing them as normal all in a bid to resolve hunger. The problem is that even when you resolve hunger physically this trait get imprinted in one's DNA.

I have discovered that one of the core motivations that drives us a Nigerian is not the desire to change the world, make her a better place , or to influence positively the life our fellow man but the desire to overcome hunger. To never to feel hungry for food, power, respect, love, security and good health. To never feel lack.

Have you ever asked yourself why that policeman with 12kids that earns 19k a month seems to be addicted to your N20. Or that young unemployed graduate with a promising future decides to pick up arms and enter the underworld. Or that pretty young damsel from the village in a bid to help her poor family travels to Europe to ply the prostitution trade. Or the young boy decides to pull a mission impossible stunt by hiding in the wheels of an airplane thinking it was bound for the US. Or that young video vixen amidst several contestants with no shame decides to bare it all on satellite tv.

Have you wondered why that LGA chairman who rose from grace to grace will do whatever it take to divert fund meant for roads and infrastructure, saving it in a Swiss bank account for his unborn great grandchildren.
Hunger my friend is the culprit.

Hunger is like HIV virus. and just like the virus that morphs into Aids. Physical Hunger morphs and becomes a physiological One which in turn give room for a perfect breeding ground for vices such as corruption, bad governance, greediness, covetousness and selfishness and the likes. And Like AIDS, physiological hunger can be transferred from parent to child, from generation to generation and so the cycle continues.

In summary I have discovered a new strain of Hunger among Nigerians. This strain of hunger is quite stronger and difficult to control, it's boiling and spreading like wild fire. It's a type of hunger whose time has come.

This new strain is call THE HUNGER FOR CHANGE. It can be seen on twitter, on facebook on the threads of nairaland. This new strain of hunger is the one I was referring to when i began this piece.

This generation is one that is not just Hungry but Ripe for change.

My question is will you contribute your quota to fixing this hunger for change or or join the crying, bashing, whining, ranting and pity party that seem to rock the internet with tongues of fire.

Nigeria is in a mess, she is hungry for change. You are opportune to be born into at a very strategic period. Strategic in the sense that their is no better time to put down your name in the sands of time than now. Let's do the talk and pay the price. Lets do the hard work of fixing this nation. No matter how little or insignificant you think your effort is or the seemingly non cooperation of your fellow citizens.

I pray you don't seek the easy way out but chose to do the hard work of fixing this nation one step at a time

#Matthew Briggs

Excellent piece!
I think the Minister for Agriculture should tender his resignation immediately for woefully failing our country.

Inspite of huge resources committed by this country into agriculture in recent years, it is a scandal that Nigerians should still have to wrestle with hunger.

Blame Stella Odua for that!
Why didn't she service that plane when it passed over Nigeria's airspace last week? She must be fired for this!


Useless people!