₦airaland Forum

centje: thats the kind of spirit we need,i pray one day that dream will live within us!

Enugu is the undisputed capital of SE, i am glad that Gov. Sullivan Chime has taken the pains to continue the development of the city based on its initial master plan. I just wish he would work harder with reviving the coal industry,especially with the plan to build massive power plants to supply cheap electricity to the SE and parts of Benue and Cross River.I hope he completes the Enugu International Conference Center,with the attached 5 star Hotel and the Igbo history Museum there.Sullivan is an asset to his state.I am just amazed at his humility of working for Enugu State without making noise on the pages of newspapers.He is indeed a gem.

The biggest problem with Anambra is the proliferation of markets all over the place and the almost deliberate abuse of the environment.As if a clean environment is an obstacle to making money. The state government has to begin massive clean up using the Fashola method of demolishing all illegal structures and mammy markets built all over the place.Then Motorcycles (Okada) must be banned and replaced with the tricycle as has been done in several states already.

Next time don't pass through their state.
And stop posting fake pictures from the internet.i thought you had a real picture of the event.

Hehehhehhehheh. LMFAO! Goodluck Jonathan went to Jamaica and promised them almost free crude oil to ensure there is cheap and regular fuel in Jamaica,but the same Jamaican read that just in January,he wanted to raise fuel price in his own country.

He told Jamaican he would send Nigerian doctors,road engineers and university lecturers paid for by the Nigerian Federal government as technical aid corps to help Jamaica's healthcare,universities etc. The last time i check,Jamaica was ranked much higher in the Human Development Index(Including healthcare delivery and tertiary education). In other words, Jamaica should be sending Nigeria free doctors etc and not the other way round.

President Goodluck Jonathan told Malawians he would buy all their rice and help them drill and begin oil production around Lake Malawi, Nigeria is currently hoping to halt rice importation and Nigeria cannot drill a borehole without oyinbo equipments. So it means we shall import equipment for Malawi to develop their oil,while we haven't developed the abudant oil in Sokoto,Lake Chad,Benue and Anambra oil basins.

This is what happens to a prince when he deliberately destroy his father's palace. Let us keep ruining Nigeria so that these poverty stricken places can mock Nigeria. I don't blame Malawians for protesting that Nigerians should not be allowed to enter their country like that.Saudi Arabia just deported 1000 Nigerian Muslims for nothing in very inhumane condition, and didn't even bother to issue a diplomatic statement why it did so.Soon Somalia will ban Nigerians from seeking their visas to come and fish or learn piracy in the Indian ocean. Hehehehe !

Torch1: Arab Muslims see Hausa-Fulani muslims as inferior muslims while Hausa-Fulani muslims in Nigeria see Yoruba Muslims as inferior muslims.. Lol, no equality in Islam.

Hausa-Fulani muslims are slaves to Arab muslims while Yorubas are slaves to Hausa-Fulani muslims!
No wonder Tinubu bowed to Buhari.

In other words, Hausa will soon start their Hajj in Sokoto and when Yoruba come there,their gals will be detained in special private cells with Boko boys( part payment of the 72 virgins promised),then deported back to Osun,where many of them come from in the first place.

But, i love these Saudis.They really mean business. They have deported up to 1000 gals back to Kano and they said Naija can go to hell if all Nigeria do is to send them prostitutes disguised as Hajj gals.Why hasn't anyone demonstrated about the Saudi action which demean them directly? But they would demonstrate over a film made in faraway America.

negedoms: orient oil were accepted when they came to kogi and started exploration work .kogite expected kogi to be declared oil producing state .orient now went into the politics of trying to redraw the boundary of kogi in other to achieve their selfish interest IF IT WERE A FOREIGN COMPANY WITH A NEUTRAL BASE IN LOCAL POLITIC .IT WOULD HAVE GONE THERE CARRY OUT ITS ACTIVITY AND WAIT 4 THE RELEVANT AGENCIES OF GOVERNMENT TO DECLARE THE RIGHT OWNER(KOGI)

Did you smoke cassava leaves? You ask your self a question and answer yourself . Boy you need to see a psychiatrist fast

Rossikk: Why won't they hate us? They turn on their TV and there is Nollywood. They switch on their radio and there's 2baba, Bracket, Whizkid and P-Square causing havoc. Everywhere they see Africans ballin', it's Nigerians.

It's like everywhere they turn, we dominate. Such a thing can induce real jealousy and animosity among people.

I suggest we ignore them, since they're hardly relevant in the wider scheme of things.

I concur that we should ignore the "primitive" Malawians. But the lesson has to be learnt. Merely being an African country doesn't make those countries consider Nigeria as "brothers". We continue to delude ourselves and to our peril when we waste hard earned money that should be spent to develop Nigeria on these dark African states and even Jamaica offering them technical aid corps paid for by Nigerian government, while there is massive unemployment with embargo on employment of new staff at federal and state ministries in Nigeria. The Africa centered foreign policy of the 1970s still being enforced in this day and age reveal have daft the present crop of our foreign policy managers are.

Enugu,Nigeria's most progressive city.One of the few places to escape the madness called Nigeria on those lovely rolling green hills.

Center of Excellence
I'm sure those folks are being deported to Anambra right now to set up slums on top of the River Niger
Eko oni baje

S. Arabia again
Didn't i tell FG to deport their BH boys back to them? Since the Saudis now have the audacity to deport our fine Muslim gals that went there to hook up with handsome Saudi princes. We must deport the BH boys to their people in Saudi.

smilyhand: In the Order

1. CHINA
2. INDIA
3. RUSSIA
4. VIETNAM
5. JAPAN
6. GERMANY
7. UK
8. FRANCE
9. ISRAEL
10.NIGERIA

Except China,Russia and France, America will defeat any of those listed countries with forces stationed in just 10 states in its union.As for Nigeria, the forces stationed only in Rhode Island with one aircraft carrier to support them will make it cease to exist in 2 weeks.

Well, AU have taken the port of Kismayo, so Al-shabab will soon die off from starvation and lack of weapons.

somalia5: This thing is funded by the usa and europe.

personally i hate people who are pan african.

Somalis, north africans are not pan africans


this thing needs to go the way of the dinosaurs

when i become president of somalia, i will see to it we leave this institution

Personally, i want AU abolished for a slightly different reason. The Somalis will then need to work for a living instead of depending on poor African states for sustenance and security

OK,fine! Depot Boko Haram boys to Saudi! Abi no be them people?

whitecat007: Stop denying your people, liar.

Yoruba people, what is your rage about? Are you guys the worst off if Nigeria breaks up? Why are you guys so desperate about everything ? I really don't understand una o

dayokanu: Stop claiming the South South they dont want you go back to your Arochukwu caves

Igbos will go with their kith and kin when Nigeria scatter. Igbos will not respect the fake structures Nigeria erected to divide and exploit them after the civil war. Ikwere,Opobo, My great Anioma, know who we are and which side we belong. It doesn't matter if Nigeria refer to us now as south-south-southernmost subregion or whatever stupid name they like. We know we are Igbo.

Just a taste of things to expect under regionalism. Every group MUST leave Lagos!

So how did they know those were Anambra people, could they name their towns and villages in Anambra? It fit be plot to plant insecurity inside that state. I hope say dem Governor reject that gift from fashola by returning to sender.Soh sai !

This guy just picked all the junk pictures from the internet. If Cameroon had to buy those airplane,it would be very very broke now.

They deserve it, at least they are not under threat of sudden disintegration and collapse as Nigeria risks everyday.

The entire fleet of all the airlines in West Africa do not even have up to 35 operational jets.

Nigerians always want to fight and kill themselves over a tiny cake,instead of working together to bake a bigger cake. I would advise that instead of wasting so much energy on this oil block,
Kogi should invest that energy to exploit the oil in the blocks OPL 901 and 902 known to have substantial oil deposit and located well inside Kogi.
Enugu should invest in OPL 905,OPL 907 and OPL 914 known to contain both oil and and enormous quantity of gas.

Hell NO!!!! for any northerner in 2015 (Unless his name is Sule Lamido in my book),They will just return Nigeria to the wasted years of chop-chop and waste. Let President GEJ continue with his reforms after 2015, Maybe Buhari and other fanatics that have been blowing up churches and UN buildings since Buhari lost last year would have died after GEJ's second term. Then we shall have a brand new powerful and prosperous Nigeria.

benjaminis: My fellow Biafrans, this is Mr Benjamin Igwe Onwuka, the founder and the leader of the Biafra Zionist Movement. Am using this medium to thank you all for your efforts to regain our independence very soon. Biafra independence is a task that all Biafrans must meet. The time has come for us to carry this fight to the international community led by the USA. Unless we have international support, we can not achieve our dream. I just returned from the UK to take this fight on. Am calling on all Biafrans to join the BZM to get our independence, our independence will stop the wanton killing of our people on a daily basis by the Hausa Fulanis and crate a society that will look after the interest of our people.
Please join us now and let Biafra be the module the world will copy from us. Join us by calling us on 081 807 96 103. USA and Israel supports our fight now
Shalom
Benjamin I Onwuka
BZM Leader

Oga Benjamin,
You have a very noble cause. But i'm afraid people have started bastardizing that cause and indeed making it a laughing matter.If you want Igbo support for your movement,which i'm sure you will get if you get your acts together
You must have a credible website and must have convinced responsible citizens both Igbo and other minorities being oppressed in Nigeria to support this.Freedom isn't an easy journey,so you must expect a very bumpy ride.Even Yoruba people now want someone to liberate them from Nigeria, in spite of their betrayal of the previous causes for freedom of southern Nigerians, you must assist them if they request for help.They will be Biafra's biggest trading partner in Africa after all said and done. Then you must begin your sensitization and plan marches in major world capitals as well as in Nigeria(Abuja and Lagos included, not just Aba and Onitsha). Be ready to be harassed by trigger happy aboki or some ofemamnu police. You must decide if you will have a guerrilla armed struggle or a peaceful one very early, so that nobody will be confused at your method when the heat is on.You must identify your objectives clearly and milestones to attain them so that when the movement grows or you are in jail, the movement can continue without hitches.
I can tell you a few more thing about social movement or read the biography of Martin Luther King Jnr. to understand these principles very well before you start. If you are very well organized,you will achieve Biafra sooner than you expect.Even Yoruba people that will be your fiercest critic initially will later join your movement to liberate their lands too.

I do think this is one of the few northerners that understand what service means.Anyone who has been to Dutse know exactly what i mean about this man. He has also rejected Islamic extremism in his state and did a lot to encouraged southerners and Christians to feel at home in his state. I wonder if this is a bridge builder Nigerians can begin to groom for presidency someday to save this country?

2015: I’m flattered by reports – Sule Lamido
On September 23, 2012 · In Politics
12:12 am
2

By Soni Daniel

… Says ‘I’m a rebel with a cause’
Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State remains an individual of note on Nigeria’s political firmament. He has been working assiduously to transform the once poor and rural agrarian state. He was rewarded with a second mandate in 2011 with an even wider margin of support in an apparent show of appreciation by his people.

Lamido’s name came up in the media last month as the possible PDP Presidential candidate already anointed for the 2015 election, a development, which instantly triggered serious political heat in the land. But in this interview, the governor says he feels flattered by the linkage of his name with the next presidential poll and speaks of what his administration has been doing to change the face of the state since his election in 2007.

Being a governor is a big deal in Nigeria; please do not say you disagree?
Well, I must say that I do not see any big deal in being the governor of a state. I am still myself and I continue to relate with the people the same way I have been dealing with them when I was a private individual. The only thing I have come to realise is that some people see governors as super human beings with so much powers and influence that they can do anything. It is not so.

To me, governance is just a position of leadership to provide service for your people. It does not change anything in me. What I can say is that governors are not super humans. They have many challenges to grapple with and they need all the support and understanding of their people in order to succeed.

So how are you managing without borrowing to run a state with a weak financial base?
I have a simple philosophy or rule for or understanding of my role as a governor. The law provides that I am entitled to four years in office and I should not therefore be seen to be accumulating debt for the next governor. I am always conscious of the fact that if I begin to take loans it might be difficult for my successor to grapple with the development of the state.

What I am saying is that you have no right to spend more than your income because somebody is going to take over from you after four years. That is why I have made it a policy that by the time I leave office as the governor of Jigawa State I will not leave behind a single kobo as debt. I don’t see any justification why as a governor I should go and borrow any money. If I cannot pay the money back during my time it means that the next governor will not have something to work with. Why should I eat into the income of the next governor? It is not right.

A governor should act and behave as a good cook by determining what he really needs to make a good soup and working out the cost of the ingredients and calculating it against his income or the strength of his purse before making the soup. In reality it is either you borrow money to cook an extra-ordinary soup or you eat what you can conveniently afford. While I am looking for ways and means to develop the state and make it one of the best in the country, I do not intend to borrow any money for that purpose.

Why do you not want to talk about your modest achievements as a politician?
The other way to answer that question is to ask why I wanted to be the governor of the state. Why was I elected? I am not doing anything new. I am working for the purpose I was elected. It is not something I should make noise about because the people who elected me to serve them must be given the best of what we can afford as a state. I am not a new person in this country and there is no amount of publicity that I can do to add any benefit to the citizens of Jigawa State. I prefer to work quietly for the state and allow God and the people to judge me after my tenure.

So what has been your guiding principle in trying to develop the state?
You see we are building a state that was forsaken. We made a mistake and we have to learn from our mistake, forget the past and make progress as a people. If we refuse to forget the past and work for ourselves we will have ourselves to blame in future. It is up to us. We have been destroying ourselves by ourselves and we have seen the consequences – the way we are seen by other Nigerians as people of Stone Age, uncivilized and primitive elements. So anybody who wanted to see a zoo came to Jigawa.

When I came on board, I said to the people we must change the poor perception about us. I reasoned that if other Nigerians are making it we could also make it. So it is simply what we want to do for ourselves that can take us to the desired level. We have to work for our own pride, image, honour and reputation. We decided that we must bring Jigawa from whatever position to the fore and from below the sea level to the sea level, and then gain our vision and move forward.

Most state governors name projects after themselves; why is yours different?
It is not in my political culture and upbringing to begin to appropriate something which is for the public. The resources are theirs and the money we use for the projects is not mine, but that of the people. So it is wrong for me to put my name on those projects. Why should I? It is the support of the people, the various institutions – civil servants and others – who have made whatever achievement recorded so far possible.

I am only one of the players in the development of the state providing leadership for many others in the background to move the state forward. A tree does not make a forest. There are many others who are working even harder than me and they are not mentioned either on radio or on television. You would be surprised to see that as late as 11 pm some people are still working in the state secretariat because of their strong belief that we should work more for the transformation of the state.

Jigawa civil servants know and believe that they are not working for others but themselves. They see themselves more as partners than mere workers. They see the development of the state as a collective effort and they work for it as it is their personal business. So whether one works as a contractor, civil servant or teacher, there is something that is challenging and compelling them to put in more. So what you see in the state today is a product of collective effort and determination to succeed and not my personal effort.

What I am doing in Jigawa State is nothing spectacular. It is just the normal job a governor does. The difference may just be that my own priorities are different from others. The money I get is different from what others receive monthly. I use 65 percent of my income for salaries and I get about N3 billion per month.

Gov Sule Lamido

Jigawa State is a new state and whatever you see here is new compared to what obtains in the older states. So whatever I am doing here are things that other states must have put in place already. I am just trying to catch up with others and put in place the necessary institutions and structures to give our people what to work with.

We have done over 1300 kilometres of roads here just to make the driving fun. I feel that driving in the state should be as smooth as what obtains in Europe. It is a very expensive undertaking but the benefits are enormous. I need to network the facilities that would provide the synergy for things to work well for the state.

Opposition parties in Nigeria are really working hard against your party in preparation for 2015. Do you think they can go far?

You see I have been a politician all my life and I am in a position to know if there is any real threat to my party or not. Which are the parties in this country that are threatening ours? I don’t see any threat from anywhere. Which of them is really an opposition party in Nigeria? None! Has the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, really emerged as a political party with strong followers? To me, CPC has no original followers in Nigeria.

Today it is only PDP and other formations. In 1999, it was only PDP, APP and AD. Today it is only PDP and other formations. I repeat in 1999, there were only PDP, APP and AD. Ten years after it is only PDP and other later inventions. They are all inventions. So CPC has no original followership. People who have failed in other parties now converge as CPC. CPC is a centre for failures.

There are suggestions that Nigeria should return to the parliamentary system of government. Would that solve our problems as a nation?

You see Nigerians like to seek help from where there is none. Whatever you want to achieve you have to work for it. We just feel that by changing the system or things, we will get what we want. First Nigerians don’t seem to have the patience and discipline to work for what they want. Parliamentary system or any other system would not work without changing the mentality and attitude of Nigerians.

There is growing agitation that power should shift to the North in 2015. Where do you stand?
Neither zoning nor whatever is the answer. What we really need in this country is for people to believe in themselves and their leaders for things to work well. By the time every Nigerian develops confidence in each other, trusts each other and supports one another then who becomes the president or governor would be immaterial.

But because our culture is that of rich culture with poor people and because the resources of this country have not been properly applied we think it is the system which is denying us what we really need as a people. But once they apply the resources well for the overall benefit of the people and people are happy and feel a sense of belonging then there will be unity and development in this country. Once you are comfortable and prosperous you don’t give a damn to who your president or governor is. But because the system is so rotten while the country is so rich the people believe that changing the system or institution is the solution.

Are you worried about this country?
To be honest nothing worries me about this country. Nothing! Let me tell you, what is happening today in Nigeria is because we each try to transmit our personal pains and feelings on the country. To me we have enormous resources which should be properly harnessed for the people.

Are you not even worried about the security challenges?
Look, it will come and go. We know what it is. Any boy who is 18 or 19 and who feels that there is no future for him, there is no hope for a stable and comfortable life, is likely to commit a crime. But then when he feels that there is no future in the midst of wealth and opulence, there is frustration.

Nobody would want to be a criminal. Nobody would want to fail his family. Everybody wants a good life. Everyone wants to be a decent human being, but if you feel abandoned by the system, and hopelessness begins to stare at you, there is the tendency to begin to look for self help. But we shall get it right as other nations have done.

Why are northern governors opposed to state police at a time of national security challenge?
You must understand the situation very well. State police is not something that can just be picked up like a product from the shop. There are procedures that can bring it about if need be. But the question is: Is that the answer to the nation’s many challenges? To me it is all about how we want our country to be.

This feeling of ‘I want state police and I do not want state police’ is informed by the mind of the people and the fear that something is failing apparently because there is system failure in Nigeria. But if the system is functioning this attempt to resort to self help would not arise. Where there are strong institutions there would be no need to resort to the wrong things in a bid to succeed. This attempt to do what is wrong in order to survive would not be there. We have numerous challenges as a people.

This is a country where people kidnap, bomb, kill and use human parts as if they were mere tools. These are things that are very despicable and should not be allowed in this country because no matter what we do we have a single country to live and work for. We should therefore begin to work to create a safe environment to ensure that there is trust and confidence. Although these things take time, but we must continue to build on them in order to succeed as a people. We shall overcome these challenges. Other nations rose above them over time.

Your name is being mentioned as the anointed PDP presidential candidate for the 2015 poll. What is the truth about it?

To be honest with you, I feel flattered that in a country with over 160 million Nigerians, my humble self from a small village in Jigawa State is being talked about. Secondly, the issue of leadership in this country is something which is within the exclusive preserve of God, who gives power to whoever He wants at the time He chooses.

Those who are here now were not there ten years ago and those who were there some years ago are no longer there. So no matter what happens someone will be in an office and a Nigerian must be there. And so to me what matters is let God give to Nigeria what is best for this country and it does not matter who he is. It could be any Nigerian. So be it.

Many of those who used to associate you with opposition politics are surprised at the way you have dramatically changed since you became a governor?

Look, Sule knows who Sule is from the very beginning and Sule remains Sule till today. It is only the views of the people about me that keep changing. I know who I am and I keep to that despite the way I am being perceived by some persons or groups. What they think and say about me does not in any way change who I am. I know myself and your own view of me is different from who I am.

Some people say I am even arrogant. Some say I was a rebel and so on. My response to them is yes, I was a rebel with a cause. I rebel at all times against injustice. I am a strong believer in human dignity because God has said that he made us in the best of form and anything done to diminish the human dignity is what I abhor. So I rebel against injustice and I have no apology if that is what people perceive to be a rebellion.

I think that one’s status in life should not be used as a criterion for treating the person in life because someone can choose to live a very simple life and still be respected as a human being. And to me, your social status or standing or your accumulation should not be a criteria for your grading or being degraded. But we seem to have lost our sense of human value in this country with an unprecedented clamour for wealth by the people.

People now feel that when you have a lot of money and wealth you can be recognised and respected by society but to me it is the person you are that is most important. But in truth I was never a rebel per se. Rebellion against who? But let me say that we should not lose sight of the fact that in whatever we do we should be guided by human love, human compassion and self esteem, honour and dignity.

But when you lower a man’s honour and dignity through squalor and poverty then you compel him to come and beg you have forced him to lower his human dignity. These are the things that I hate. So, my rebellion all along has been against injustice. Now perception of what people thought I was and what they think I am now is their own opinion because Sule has been Sule and Sule knows Sule very well and remains a friend and personal Sule.

Those who know me they know that I remain honest, simple and straightforward at all times. The people who are coming from my political background do not see performance in office as a big deal. They don’t see that performance as a feat or a particular attribute, but as part of our upbringing and political formation and entire service to mankind. Leadership entails working for your people continuously, enhancing their wellbeing and dignity.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/2015-im-flattered-by-reports-sule-lamido/