₦airaland Forum

Isolation from the global economy is not necessarily good or bad, but like everything else, it needs balance. It is better to just remove the negative policy (internationally and nationally) and review contracts that exploited the average african.

African leaders are the key to this as they may need to look inward and start doing things that favor the continent like re-negotiation of previous deals, stop pollution and stop making africa a dumping ground, maybe stop being so short sighted, they need to have mutually beneficial allies unlike the previous 500 yrs.

It must not isolate itself from asia since it is the driving force for economy at the moment and contact with them seems small still, also, they've never imposed aggressively on africa. In fact, working with them is more beneficial as some of them have humble beginnings just like Africans and work extremely hard against all odds - a visit to asia will make you understand this better.

caught in the middle btw usa and russia, could this get any better?

owobokiri: "hei guai" means black devil. If you have ever irritated a Chinese, that derogatory tag is his first line of attack. I'm not Chinese, just trying to let him know how he is viewed by some of ths people and that the shabby police arrests he was defending werent good enough. . I was right to call this a "fake arrest" since these guys were immediately released based on the imtervention of their embassy. Ask Nigerians who live in China what they go through in the hands of the chinese immigration if they stay a second longer than permitted. Some have died in prison and no, i am not talking of rapists and drug pushers, i mean those arrested over immigration wahala. They form over 80% of Nigerian inmates in chinese prisons. So when you arrest these guys here in the morning and release them by noon instead of demanding a fine equivalent to 5000 rmb from them while they pay for their deportation costs, which should be over a thousand usd as the chinese demand from Nigerians who overstay, then it is nothing but fake arrests made for the cameras. Why should i be ashamed for saying that?

i have heard about that before but it just goes to proof that there's more diplomacy needed. At the end of the day, we still need them and vice versa and that's what matters most.

[quote author=owobokiri][/quote]did u say black blame?
there's no need for that.
去住你的生活，没有必要讲不好的人

So china tackles illegals in its country just a few days ago and we do thesame to Chinese right away, soften up a bit nja cos china and nja can't give each other headache. We need china probably as much, if not more, than they need us. If we miss this chance, other African country that work with them will benefit and we'd still be stuck where we are begging the brits to send satellite to space. Pls soften up, rash decisions always lead to worse consequences. I know we take a lot from foreigners but patience and diplomacy will always pay off.

1. The people - very adaptable and persevering people.
2. Natural resources eg oil.
3. good genes , our youths tend to look younger than their actual age compared to some parts of the world.

____________________________________________________________________________________
Q: Why did you post on that ridiculous site?
A: because someone needs to educate that irrational person at the other end of the pc .

@ afro-blue - in reply to your last video.

i never said china was perfect. No country is, so don't let the skewed media fool you.
you can analyze that video in many ways and decide for yourself who is to blame? how is it different or similar to the evil perils one experiences in or from other countries? i will leave that to you cos i know you are smart and will figure it out in your own time.
My answer in the simplest form is this - Every country has its own plus and minus.

The bottom line is that we live in world that begs for justice everywhere, even in the country you live in. I don't want to derail this thread too much so i have to stop here, have a happy life ok .

p.s
here's a video for you in return, enjoy.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/224042.html

@afro blue,
I can't change your opinion, like someone said that fbi mind of yours is working overtime

Many Africans are grateful and like another person said here, we would not be seeing an economic boom without them. They didn't have to come but at this point, the two need each other from a strategic long term point of view. Right now, Chinas patronage is a good thing, love it or hate it.

You have too many distortions on china, china is not a communist country(that is a western myth, people hardly pay attention to what those ones say anymore cos they lie even to their own people without twitching ). China is a mixed economy with capitalism staring at you.

There is no country in this world that is not repressive, whether it be usa, europe, east or west, even some african countries- stop being fooled by our over-zealous human rights organization.

At least chinese created jobs, the west capitalism system created useless welfare dependent people that are incapable of using their mind or brain aka worthless - the worst thing you can do is render a capable human being worthless like that. Not to worry, even their own people are waking up to a new reality.

anyway i tire  argue you sef

Fact check: is it  really neocolonialism or are these people burying their head in the sand?

- us owes china, it is paying by attracting chinese to the us with faster visa processing and oil import, although, i think that slowed in 2011. africa is not doing any different
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/local/article/China-stakes-claim-to-S-Texas-oil-gas-858329.php
- australia has a mining boom, thanks to china, why wouldn't africa want that too.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-07-31/australia-s-mining-investment-boom-a-mixed-blessing-swan-says.html
- developed countries are making countless trips to china to secure deals with china but china comes to africa willingly
- lastly, we know it is not wise to fight a billion army strong so we would rather make peace

Some keep tossing the word colonialism around, by their logic, it is safe to say that most of the world is now colonized by china.

@afro-blue,
why so blue?, it is simply a gift and i'm sure you have good manners and often say "thank you" when given a gift. 
I cant follow your train of thought in that write up, sorry.
I favor self reliance but i also favor cooperation with china (why- because this whole arrangement can be made to favor both sides greatly if done wisely)
what is the color of happiness again, is it yellow?- be afro-yellow ok  ; on a second thought- the "blue" suits you better 

Fact check: is it  really neocolonialism or do we have a log in our eyes?

- us owes china trillions, it is paying by attracting chinese to the us with faster visa processing and oil importation, africa is not doing any different.
- Australia has a mining boom, thanks to china, why wouldn't africa want that.
- developed countries are making countless trips to china to secure deals with china but china comes to africa willingly
- lastly, we know it is not wise to fight a billion army strong so we would rather make peace and i hope we keep it that way, no need for us to prove a point

if this is neo colonialism, then it is safe to say that most of the world is colonized by china

igbo2011:
What do you mean?

it is sarcasm

There are two ways to look at this, here's the other side. Perhaps the writer/reporter ought to be more objective than that. no offence.

Afro_Blue:
The AU And The Tragedy Of A New Headquarters By Chika Ezeanya


January 28, 2012 - 07:20


https://saharareporters.com/sites/default/files/page_images/articles/2012/chika_ezeanya1.jpg?1327731678

By Chika Ezeanya

On the 28th of January, 2012 African countries will collectively descend to a new low on the global index of state sovereignty, territorial integrity and actual independence of nations. On that day, Chinese President Hu Jintao will be in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to commission the new $124 Million African Union Headquarters built and donated to the continent by China.  Termed “China’s gift to Africa”, the edifice was constructed by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation with over 90% Chinese labor.

It is to the discredit of the African Union and therefore, every individual and country within that regional body that in 2012, a building as symbolic as the African Union Headquarters is designed, built and maintained by a foreign country, it does not matter which country.

The ancient and modern history of donation of buildings and structures from one nation to another is filled with intrigues and subterfuges, conquests, diplomatic schemings, espionage and counter espionage, economic manipulations, political statements and dominations. The construction of the Trojan horse by Odysseus and its ‘donation’ resulted in the Greek conquest of the ancient city of Troy after 10 years of unending skirmish.

Fact: Yes it is a symbolic building but it doesn't discredit the African Union. It could have been built by Africans and still be compromised in terms of security and espionage. Espionage happens all the time in places like this and are bound to occur regardless of who builds the place.
Now if you are building a place, isn't it best to seek experts in architecture and security?.
Also, there is also the language barrier between Africa and China, which, often times explain the labor force ratio but i'm sure that can be worked out with time, All relationships have their shortfalls. we just have to be prudent with China.

Afro_Blue:
Common sense dictates that in an era of increasing exploitation of Africa’s natural resources by foreign powers including  China, that the African Union, rather than the apparent submission signified by acceptance of the construction of its headquarters  by China, will be an organization advocating for fairness in the relationship that exists  between the continent and the global powers.

Should security considerations be included, then the question arises as to how African heads of state and government could hold confidential meetings in a building they have no idea how it was wired. What guarantee do African governments have that every word uttered in the new headquarters in Addis Ababa is not heard in Beijing? What evidence negates the suspicion that all activities in the just completed building  are not replayed on a large screen in Beijing as Chinese secret service agents watch?

Culturally, indigenous Bantu culture abhors dependence on others for sustenance. A favorite Swahili proverb of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s is “Mgeni siku mbili; siku ya tatu mpe jembe” which means “treat your guest as a guest for two days; on the third day give him a hoe.”  Indigenous African tradition largely abhors dependency of any kind. It is frowned upon for a man not to thatch his rooftops well before the rainy season, or to stay back while others are going to the farm, except he is bedridden. Add this to the  logic espoused in Archtitecture of Diplomacy, and one reasonably concludes that  it is unacceptable for Africans to accept a building from China that will house what should be the landmark of the continent’s achievements and its aspirations for the future.

Commonsense also dictates that whether we work with china or not, we'd still be exploited. For Over 50yrs, Nigeria has been exploited and bullied to the point that China coming in looks more or less like a blessing. At least, we  can say we have something to show for every resource we trade. Every country should be able to show some development for its resources, wouldn't you agree?. As per security look at my first statement.
There is a saying, if you want to go fast, go alone(and you'd probably regret it) but if you want to go far and be greater, go with someone. Africa has been stagnant for many decades and it can not go alone, if china want to work with it, then fine. China was bold enough to start rebuilding of Angola, neither the west nor Africa had the guts to. we all simply stood aside and watched.

Afro_Blue:
Clearly, much indiscretion was exercised by the African Union officials in the acceptance of the offer of a new headquarters from China. The African Union has since deviated from the ideals of its founding fathers when in the 1960s Kwame Nkrumah and other great African leaders sought to establish an organization that would protect the geographical contiguity and territorial integrity of African nations. Emperor Haile Selassie in his historic 1963 speech stated clearly that the Organization was founded because “Africa has been reborn as a free continent and Africans have been reborn as free men. The blood that was shed and sufferings that were endured are today Africa’s advocates for freedom and unity.”

Contrary to his predecessor’s commitment to the continued freedom of the continent from imperial forces,  Ethiopian President  Meles Zenawi  - currently being accused of selling huge swathes of Ethiopian land to foreign countries – on a tour of the facility boasted of how he single handedly lobbied Chinese officials to build the new headquarters and how he exempted taxes on all Chinese imported construction materials.

Gleeful at the opportunity for African heads of state to indulge in their lifestyles of conspicuous consumption during meetings and summits, AU Projects Director Fantahun Hailemikael reports that among the several luxuries of the building is a “helicopter landing pad so visiting dignitaries will be flown from the airport.” Of course the dignitaries will be spared the sight of the slum that much of Addis  Ababa is. They will be flown from the airport to the AU building and from there to Sheraton Addis, reportedly the best of its kind around the world.

While the African Union think it has gained from China by moving into its new ultra-modern facility, the reality is that the continent has lost tremendously in all matters worthy of reasonable consideration. The move to reverse the derogatory perception of Africa and Africans by all non-Africans has suffered another major setback.  The resultant effect will be the continued political and economic manipulation and domination of the region by the West, and now China, and soon the rest of the non-African world.

Chika blogs at www.chikaforafrica.

Yes, we are free but that is only a matter of what your definition or rather perception of freedom is. Also why shouldn't they have helicopter landing in such a nice building?, good things fit nicely into my culture abeg, i don't know about yours .
Yes, pls cry me a river since they don't get to see the poor of addis ababa . All countries have both rich and poor and are well aware of it, perhaps they can work on how to reduce poverty there. With regards to land, even the developed countries are selling land to foreigners in this tough economy, NZ just did a little while ago.
This is definitely not a major set back as the trust between Asia and Africa will be put to test. Every relationship has its ups and downs and as china and Africa engage more, it will only get better as they will learn to work together, readdress situations, remove prior fears while building on new perceptions.

igbo2011:
Why can't we fund anything ourselves?

because that will be too easy,

At first, i was going to er on the side of caution but that building looks georgous in actual form and cost $200million, so here is my take - God bless China.
al jezeera news states "China gives Africa a home", that ought to make one think twice, maybe this will prompt our leaders into doing some personal soul searching.

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freedom project on chocolate child slavery is very interesting - little wonder why i despise eating chocolate 

@topic, the answer is NO.
it is all relative, it depends on what kind of work or position you're in, if you are a doctor, politician, business man etc you make much more.
In Nigeria, we have poor and rich just like any country in the world, some live on less while others live on an amount one can only dream of.
and like someone mentioned here earlier, most times the family member that is doing well in life helps out the struggling ones.

BlackPikiN:
^^^^ I didnt bother to read what you just wrote.
Is your father an EFCC official?

No, lets not deviate from the topic at hand. I simply think they will be greatly important in the fight against corruption. if we praise them enough and encourage them to do their job, maybe they will do better.
BTW, I'm just trying to hint at the fact that Nigeria's problem is not only an internal one, it has external influence too - split or no split.

@topic
I am not against splitting but it just has to be a peaceful split for us all to get the best out of it.

spliting has its own advantages and disadvantages but if we must, it ought to be done peacefully but will our problems go away?

Our problems stems from working against the greater good (allowing a few people to benefit at the expense of others- wheteher it is a foreign corporation or nigerian owned)

Maybe we ought to ask a few questions if we must split.

1. would we have a  new currency with value or retain and devalue the naira more?.(Currency exchange rate is something i will probably never understand or is it the biggest scam in history?)
(my mom once said that there was a time when 1$ was equal to 1Naira, people only travelled out for shopping for wedding clothes in Us and Europe then, now, things have changed)

2. we ought to really be making our own finished products,e.g refining crude oil; we have the human resources, now will this change with splitting?

It is possible that if most people are well off, with good jobs and good leadership in such a  resource rich land, we might not even be talking of spliting but i may be wrong.

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EFCC ought to be commended

WAR IS EVIL and what they just did is an act of cowardice. If they are true yorubas with a brain they will understand that you do not bring the war to your own land, you take it to the enemies territory. if they have greivances, they should go and march up in the northern territory, not within the civilian populations that they claim to protect. If they even cared one bit they'd at best march up to Abuja and state their discontent for the situation or go to the borders and protect that rather than march around people, intimidating and bullying the very people they claim to protect  .

Nigeria doesn't need a US base, we simply need peace.
Anyway if our president allows US base, then it should open up for a russian base and a chinese base too to counteract it -problem solved. We can worry about the rest later  .

Tales by moonlight beats sesame street hands down, now can we go and market that to America in exchange for sesame street; it will help their kids have morals
Maybe they should air sesame street AIDS episode in america and Europe too since the western kids start sex at an earlier age and have too many partners. AIDs is growing rapidly in their countries the last time i checked; oh wait they can afford to be in denial

justwise:
You don't care who started it but u are quite happy to watch Gaddafi slaughter his own pple?

pls don't alter my words. libya is a sovereign nation and its up to Qaddaffi and a responsible international community to negotiate for peace.

I am not a judge and it's difficult to find people that believe the western media these days but show me one western nation that is not guilty or accomplice in the killing of innocent people - pak, iraq afghan, hiroshima, even the fact that EU sends its people to these war is equivalent to killing their own people.

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A man who destroys another man's home should be prepared to receive visitors when it gets too cold outside for his victims, if not, his house can get broken into.

justwise:
Did the West start the war in Libya, Egypt or Tunisia?

i really don't care who started what, at the end of the day most won't remember what started it, they only remember the role westerners played. If they didn't start this things, why get involved in it and endanger the whole society. To what good is that?. Is it that they are incapable of peaceful negotiations with that much inflated iq of theirs?.

whoever gave you people the idea that nigerians agree in favor of US and their western counterpart ?? Majority of us just ignore the west and their foreign stooges on nl knowing that what goes around eventually comes around.
If Asia or Russia stands up tomorrow and says it needs African's help against west, i can bet you that many will rise up bypassing our puppet leaders.
The west keeps creating too much chaos in the world, sooner or later someone might decide to stop it at all cost .  A bully has no real friends to tell him the truth so he can't change as necessary.

Agree.
At least we can generate some money out of it like other western countries and australia

Amerikkka and lies or half truths as some will say .
let the foreign stooges on NL indulge in it as they try to convince us , they must think we care

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/libya-all-about-oil-or-all-about-banking

The reality is that any country could be next and europe is not exempted as they may think, look at their soldiers dying/committing suicide or decapitated each day from the several wars, some don't even understand why they are in these countries.

The word "America" cannot be used in the same sentence as "recover", that's a taboo from henceforth : ).

tyson55:
@coldheart - lol. I was suprise too when he replied. But my thought was maybe you were using 2 id's. Anyway, you should have replied me since i was refering to you not him.

i'm back now
I was a bit shocked but knowing nigeria, i realized it's not a big deal that he did that plus who knows, he might not have done it on purpose. I was harsh at first but i realized it's a public forum and all inputs are welcomed, hence i toned my reply down. NL isn't worth the creation of more than one ID and stick by it.
Anyway to answer you, the fact that ethnicity plays a strong role in our society, it will not be an easy union. It will have developments but it will also have mistrust btw SE, SW- an extra headache.

 
why are you replying him for me
I guess it's ok . go on i have other things to do now, at least answer with more than one word, not trying to offend you or anything so don't take it the wrong way and i mean this with all sincerity.

iwonbaoko:
ok