I heard someone say that Craig David´s father is Nigerian and his mother is British! Is that right? ohh, just like Sade and Shirley Bassey,

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF BOTSWANA WHICH IS HAILED TO BE AFRICA´S SHINIEST ECONOMIC STAR PERFORMER WITH AN AVERAGE GROWTH RATE OF 7% SINCE ITS INDEPENDANCE FROM BRITAIN

starting with Gaborone, the capital










public library of Gaborone












[img]http://molemo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/solution/sumai/gaborone.jpg[/img]

DUBAI OR THE UAE AS A COUNTRY is a glitzy place to be with sooooo many glamorous mega-projects that are being built. The UAE have a standard of living that even makes European national look shabby and pale! And the good thing is that Dubai only depends less than 10% of GDP from its sale of oil. These are very clever people. Dubai is more than a city it is already a brand name!

What can I say, it is a shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When will our maintenance culture ever change??

Why do we Black people always attach so much importance to Black and White, will this ever change?

I am a black Naija boy and I am proud of it but I desperately fell in love with an Irish/English girl at university here in the UK. I am studying economics and psychology (combined studies). She studies design and architecture. I love her sooo much and she loves me, too. Of course, I also had Black girlfriends before desperately in love with a white girl. Our love is so intense. What can I do if I love a white girl? Should I be punished for loving a white girl or should she be punished for loving a black guy? Why do we attach so much importance to skin colour, it all goes back to our psychologically ingrained set of inferiority complex we inherited from the colonial era, we need to forget that and be proud that we are Black but if someone falls in love with a white or black guy one should not be socially despised for it. We all haven´t been asked before birth where we want to live and what colour of skin we want to have.

RACE, NATION, STATE, TRIBAL WARS OR ETHNICITY AND INFERIORITY AND SUPERIORITY DUE TO SKIN COLOUR HAVE ALL BEEN CREATED BY MANKIND, LET´S NOT FORGET THAT WE ARE ALL GOD´S CHILDREN AND ALL SHARE ONE AND THE SAME PLANET!!!! I DO HOPE THAT THE NEXT GENERATIONS WON´T ATTACH LESS IMPORTANCE TO WHERE SOMEONE COMES FROM OR WHOM HE DATES,

dblock, can you please attach the link where you sourced the pics from , they are gorgeous!

The Indian multi-billion dollar heavyweight entrpreneur Mittal Steel goes around the world and buys steel companies, he swallowed France´s Accelor recently which made him the biggest man in the world to produce steel , his company has offces everywhere, he buys absolutely everything at a fraction of a price especially in so-called Third World countries but also in Russia, Europe and the US and after a while his business turns very well and makes profit. There are many multi-billion dollar industrial heavyweights in India emerging out of nothing slightly over a decade ago. Where are our
industrialist?? Why are Nigerian conglomerates not conquering the world? Why always easy money ("get me a job as a minister and life will be like sweet honey!!!" ), My Goodness, if it is for money´s sake only haven´t Nigerian people realised that the REAL CASH IN TODAY´S WORLD is to be made outside the political realm

Lakshmi Mittal Steel, multi-billionaire steel magnate
(Reuters)

26 June 2006


LONDON - Lakshmi Mittal, the world’s fifth richest man, sealed his position as the global steel industry’s key player by winning rival steelmaker Arcelor following a five-month battle.

MittalOn Sunday, Arcelor agreed to a revised offer from Mittal Steel worth 25.6 billion euros ($32.2 billion).

Mittal Steel and Arcelor were already the world number one and two. As Arcelor-Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal will run a steel company three times the size of its nearest rival.

Mittal, 56, who made his multibillion dollar fortune by leading consolidation of the steel industry, has said acquiring rival steelmaker Arcelor would mark a step change in the process, creating a behemoth with 10 percent of world volume.

Lakshmi Nivas Mittal, named after the Hindu deity of prosperity and wealth, started work in his father’s mill in Calcutta at a time when many had written the steel industry off.

He went on to make his fortune by transforming ailing steel mills around the globe into money spinners by cutting costs, exploiting economies of scale, and selling higher-value products into a growing market.

Forbes.com says Mittal is now worth $23.5 billion.

Despite his wealth, or perhaps because of it, Mittal shies away from the limelight although his lavish spending often makes headlines. In 2003, he reportedly spent 70 million pounds to buy the most expensive home in Britain.

His path to success began after he branched out from working with his father to set up his own steel plant in Indonesia in 1976, using cheap labour but the best technology.

He expanded into Trinidad in the 1980s, when many had dismissed the steel industry as unprofitable and highly localized, and also began acquiring former state-owned plants in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Mittal ran into controversy in 2001 after Britain’s prime minister, Tony Blair, wrote a letter supporting his takeover of Romania’s biggest steelworks just months after Mittal donated 125,000 pounds to Blair’s ruling Labour Party.

That “cash-for-favours” scandal appeared to make Mittal even more wary of the press. But he has been unable to avoid the inevitable publicity as his fortune has rocketed thanks to soaring demand from China, which has driven up steel prices in recent years.

Mittal cemented his position as a steel magnate in 2003 when he consolidated his assets into stock market-listed Mittal Steel, of which he is chief executive and chairman.

The company was forged when Mittal’s private steel business, Antilles-based LNM Holdings (his initials), merged with publicly traded Ispat International, of which his family owned 77 percent, and clinched a deal to buy Ohio-based ISG.

Mittal and his family own around 87 percent of Mittal Steel, with his two children closely involved in the business. His son Aditya is the firm’s president and finance director while his daughter Vanisha is a director. The family’s stake in Arcelor-Mittal will be diluted to 43.4 percent.

If a country is about to succed economically and socially in this world it needs

stability
human capital
and entrepreneurship

Has Nigeria got good private universities that can be on par with other emerging markets worldwide such as India, to your mind?
Which are they? I am asking myself the question , but I can only think of Lagos Business School. Correct me if you know more

my definition of good

- motivated and competent professors
- good and orderly campus life
- no cultism and that dirty stuff!!!!
- hard working students and not just "ghost students" who earn their money with as prostitues as pimps or or drugdealers
- possibilities for international student exchange (worldwide student networking)
- competent guidance counselours
- modern well-equipped, air-conditioned, well-equipped and digital libraries
- caféterias etc.

forgiven , ohhh you really made me laugh :Dbecause there is something true you said. Have you been to Gabon?

Ka, Nigeria should be compared with the big countries in Africa like South Africa, Egypt, Lybia or Algeria and not with "minnows" like Kenya, Mozambique or Malawi or whatever!

France is also comparing itself economically with Germany and England or Spain and not with Ukraine, Croatia or Lithunia!

onaisis, and you forget French champagne, upper and middle class in urban centres are heavy champagne drinkers. Believe me or not but Gabon held the record of champagne drinking per head in the 80´s IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. Even today they import French champagne like mad,

Source of the article is Financial Times


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/86411d28-540d-11db-8a2a-0000779e2340.html

I really feel hurt when i read this. Nigeria, the true African giant is lumped together with countries such as Kenya, uganda and Malawi. Is France or Germany comparing itself with countries such as Croatia, Ukraine or Georgia? Investors are still too shy with regard to our country and they have not realised that Africa will never ever economically take off without Nigeria.

Fund to invest $100m in African real estate

By Jim Pickard in London

Published: October 5 2006 03:00 | Last updated: October 5 2006 03:00

In the world of international real estate, most of Africa is off the map -

But a new $100m (€78.5m, £53m) fund is set to buck the trend by payrolling new property developments across much of the continent.



Set up by CDC, an emerging markets investor backed by the British government, the pioneering fund is likely to be watched closely by the global property industry, which has become increasingly adventurous in recent months.

Fund managers, developers and real estate investors are pouring ever more money into regions that used to be out of bounds; central and South America, Asia and the more remote parts of eastern Europe.

Should CDC's new vehicle, the Actis Africa Real Estate Fund, prove successful it may set a striking precedent.

Though based in Johannesburg the fund will not invest in South Africa, which has an increasingly sophisticated - and expensive - property market.

Last month saw the sale of the Victoria & Albert Waterfront in Cape Town for $1bn to Dubai World and Ian and Richard Livingstone, a secretive pair of London-based brothers.

Meanwhile commercial property prices rose 30.1 per cent last year in South Africa - the fastest ascent anywhere in the world - according to figures from Investment Property Databank, the research firm.

By contrast, the CDC fund will target less developed countries in western and southern Africa such as Nigeria, Malawi and Mozambique. It will be managed by Actis, a private equity firm that was spun out of CDC, formerly known as the Commonwealth Development Corporation. Actis is now an independent firm backed by 25 investors.

The team will be headed by Mike Williams, former head of African property at Standard Bank Properties.

The fund will begin life with $50m of properties already owned by Actis, including a "western-style" mall in Lagos, :Pthe commercial capital of Nigeria, and another in Ghana. It will also include properties in Nairobi, Kampala :Pand Dar es Salaam and an early-stage retail scheme in Accra.

Rod Evison, CDC's portfolio director for Africa, said the region was currently a no-go area for most international property investors.

"There may be money coming back from members of the diaspora, going into residential property, but in terms of commercial property it is really a local game," he said. "There isn't an industry of professional property developers."

Mr Evison said the vehicle could lay the groundwork for future funds which could be opened up to outside investors. "Other ideas could be whether we set up vehicles listed in Johannesburg or somewhere else."

CDC already has a large number of financial funds in Africa, most of which are private equity vehicles. This is its first property fund.

what security do I have if I return after the completition of my studies in the UK?

Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Moneyweb

One million white South Africans - almost a fifth - have left the country in the last ten years

Peet van Aardt (Johannesburg)

This figure was released last week in a report from the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).
Frans Cronjé, who compiled the report, said it was especially crime and affirmative action which had driven a fifth of South Africa's white population out of the country. He did an analysis of Statistics South Africa's Household Surveys between 1995 and 2005, emigration figures and other reliable estimates on population numbers.
Cronjé said the results left himself and his colleagues dumbfounded.
"When we drew the graphs we saw that almost a whole generation of white South Africans are not here anymore."
The SAIRR's population pyramid of white South Africans show a definite loss of young people and children under the age of ten.
The figures for 2005 put the number of white South Africans in the country at 4.3 million, 941,000 fewer than the 5.2 million of 1995.
Cronjé predicts that the white population would continue to shrink, and, he said, the situation would have a far-reaching impact on the economy.
"The white population is getting older, which means the white taxpayers are only going to contribute to the economy for the next twenty years. There would have to be a huge influx of skilled workers to fill this gap. This, unfortunately, is not the case." Due to the inequalities of the past, the education of most of the black children is still not on par to fill these gaps. Last year, for example, only 3,000 black learners passed matric with higher grade mathematics, said Cronjé.
Most of the white emigrants are economically productive people, said Marco Macfarlane, co-author of the report.
However, in the last decade the black economically productive population grew by 81%. Some of these people have slot into the high-income group, where black people make up a third of the top earners.
Whites, however, still account for half of this group, where Indians and coloureds make up 7% and 6% of the high-income group respectively. The rest of the black entrants to the labour market are busy in the informal sector, which do not necessarily contribute to the tax income.
"Black people are entering the economy at a stiff pace, but of the economically active middle class (the country's biggest tax contributors), blacks only account for 1%."
Macfarlane said crime and affirmative action are the top reasons for the exodus of whites.
"And because the crime figures are not going to decline rapidly and affirmative action is to continue, more whites are going to leave.
"The young people reckon they are being punished for what happened in the previous dispensation. They are furious, because they feel they had no part in it," said Macfarlane.
According to the report the emigrants are between 20 and 40 years old.
"This is the group that have children and help grow the population, but now they're getting their children overseas. And they don't come back. That means the white population is going to continue to shrink."
The decline in the white population in the decade to 2005 is estimated at 16.1%.

By Efem Nkanga, Chinedu Eze and Onwuka Nzeshi in Abuja, 09.20.2006


In furtherance of Federal Government’s efforts to encourage technology transfer through increased local content in the telecommunications sector, leading mobile phone manufacturers, Nokia and Motorola, will soon establish plants for the manufacturing and assembling of mobile phone handsets and other accessories in Nigeria.
Preceding that, however, is MTN, Nigeria’s leading, GSM operator’s yesterday major airtime rate cut for its subscribers.
The plants are to be established under a special partnership arrangement between the Nigerian government and the foreign investors.
Minister of Communica-tions, Dr. Femi Anibaba, disclosed this yesterday at the opening of the 5th International Telecommunications Strategic Conference held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. This is the second consecutive time Nigeria will be hosting the conference after its previous editions in London.
According to the Minister, government had realised the need to cultivate local content in the sector because of the need to ensure that the rapid growth being witnessed in Nigeria and other African countries were sustained and the technologies adapted to the local environment.
A Chinese firm, ZTE, has already established a hand terminal manufacturing plant in Abuja with an initial capacity to manufacture one thousand handsets per day.
Anibaba said this year’s conference would serve as an important avenue to showcase Africa’s potentials in telecommunications and pave the way for Direct Foreign Investments (DFI) as participants drawn from around the world would have access to relevant information on investment potential in the telecommunications sector within the African continent.
The conference, he said, should also provide the basis for an enduring partnership not only between the public and private sectors but also between individual telecommunications bodies in the common resolve to extend information and communications technology services to the reach of all citizens regardless of their socio-economic status. Anibaba noted that with the world becoming a global village, there was an urgent need for participants to critically review globalisation, sustainable telecommunications development in Africa and the Millennium Development Goals.
Giving an update on the growth of telecommunications industry in Nigeria, the Minster disclosed that what used to be steady growth in Nigeria’s teledensity has been transformed to rapid growth. Quoting a recent research conducted on the Nigerian telecommunications industry, the Minister said that the Nigerian mobile market, adjudged as one of the fastest growing in the world, was now home to one out of every ten mobile lines in Africa, with the potential to grow to one out of every four, by 2010 while teledensity has risen from its last year’s figure of 9.47 per cent to 18.18 per cent.
Anibaba attributed the rapid growth in the industry to the presence of a proactive regulatory regime domiciled in the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), the introduction of the Unified Licensing Regime as well as the recent setting up of a Presidential Task Force for the restructuring of government institutions and organisations in the sector to pave way for a more effective, efficient and harmonised performance of these institutions and enhance convergence of technologies in telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology.
The 5th International Telecom-munications Strategic Conference is being organised by the CWC Associates Limited of London in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Communications. Essentially, the conference seeks to provide a forum for all the telecommunications stakeholders to interact with each other and discuss on the latest technological developments and investment opportunities in the Nigerian telecommunications market. It is also intended to provide an opportunity for participants to share operational and regulatory best practices.
Several telecommunication equipment manufacturers and vendors will be exhibiting their products at the three-day event.
Meanwhile Nigeria’s leading mobile telecommunications service provider, MTN Nigeria Comm-unications yesterday announced a comprehensive package which promises to deliver mouth-watering pricing concessions and absolutely free late night calls and other special offers targeted at all categories of users on the MTN Network.
Addressing the media in Lagos yesterday, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh, MTN’s Chief Executive Officer, noted that “our value proposition being unveiled today reflects exciting pricing plans and a package of customer recognition and reward offerings that have been specially put together to deliver ‘pleasures of life…in full measure’ for all classes of customers on the MTN network.
According to him, “it is a most friendly, value-laden price plan and incentive package which is yet unprecedented in this market.”
The offering, which enables MTN users to communicate at relatively low rates comes in various packs suitable to all classes of users on the network. MTN Xtra Connect enabled for Family users offers N30/min (50k/sec) peak and N25/min (42/sec) off peak MTN to MTN calls, 50 per cent discount on these rates to three family and friends numbers off peak, lower SMS rates, as against N48/min currently. Connect4life to the MTN network, offers one Free MMS/month as well as a free CallMe messages to let other people know when you want them to call you.
MTN Xtra Cool is enabled for Young Men & Women. It attracts a pricing plan that offers N32/min (53k/sec) peak and N26/min (43/sec) off peak, 30 per cent discount on these rates to three ‘family & friends’ numbers, free calls between 12:30am-4:30am, free content downloads, 10 free MMS/month as well as CallMe messages.
MTN Xtra Pro has been packaged to cater for the dire needs of the Young Professional Class. It attracts N25/min (42k/sec) peak and N20/min (33k/sec) off peak, lower SMS rates, access fee of N500 for 30 days, N100 free airtime value, 10 free MMS per month as well as downloads each month.
There is yet another package for high powered individuals, MTN Xtra Special. This attracts N20/min (33k/sec) peak and off peak, lower SMS rates, access fee of N3000 and N300 free airtime value.
Finally, the offering also has a package for the Business Centre Community. Known as MTN Xtra Profit, it attracts an unmatchable on-net rates of N17/min (28k/sec) enabled with a lowered access of N9000.
In addition, the telecoms giant also unveiled a new bunch of products, each of which has been specially designed to add value to subscribers. There is MTN Connect which enables MTN users to remain connected for life while cutting out the inconveniences of always loading recharge cards; Mobile Office, a GPRS-enabled business tool that allows busy executives on the move to access key business information like email and other office schedules; and MTN Caller Tunez, a service that allows the activation of various tunes to entertain those who make calls to MTN numbers.
Others include MTN Loaded, a service that provides customers easy and direct access to a virtual island of fun and entertainment; and MTN Share & Sell, a service which provides customers the opportunity to share airtime from their prepaid account to other subscribers on the network.
In his words, Farroukh describes the development as “the boldest move by any mobile telephone network in Nigeria to guarantee its entire subscriber base a modern and progressive rhythm of life-a package that guarantees ‘pleasures of life in full measure’ for over ten million Nigerians!”

South Africa's influence over its neighbours is waning

September 17, 2006

By Quentin Wray

Singapore - South Africa's economic dominance of sub-Saharan Africa has waned since the early 1980s, when it accounted for more than 40 percent of regional output, but the country still accounts for over one-third of regional purchasing power, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

In its latest regional economic outlook, published a week ago, the fund said South Africa's economy was three times larger than second-placed Nigeria's and almost 40 times that of the region's median economy, Mali. South Africa had accounted for more than one-third of all economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa since 1980.

Since 2000, its direct investment in the rest of the continent had doubled, hitting about $3.7 billion (R27.3 billion), or 11 percent of all South African foreign investments.

South Africa was the third-largest investor measured by the number of companies in a UN survey of foreign investment in manufacturing and services in 15 African countries. Investment was "heavily concentrated" in neighbouring countries and accounted for only about 2 percent of the continent's stock of total inward direct investment. This was less than 1 percent of the size of the African economy, the bank said.

It noted that investment by South African companies was becoming more diversified geographically and was relatively diversified by sector. South Africa's presence in the traditional resources sector was strong, but companies had also been investing in nontraditional sectors such as retailing, telecommunications, and food and beverages. Despite this, trade linkages with the rest of the continent, apart from its immediate neighbours, remained small at 2.8 percent of total trade.


Trade was, however, three times higher in the period 1994 to 2005 than during the isolation that characterised the preceding decades. The IMF said South Africa imported more than it exported to the region. Imports from sub-Saharan Africa were about 4 percent of total imports, of which almost half - mainly oil - were from Nigeria.

Looking at regional prospects, the bank said average growth for sub-Saharan Africa was projected to accelerate to 5.9 percent in 2007, primarily because of rising petroleum output in a few oil-producing countries. This compares with growth of 5.2 percent for the continent and 5.1 percent globally.

Growth in South Africa is expected to converge towards the "potential growth rate of 4 percent", the bank said. This ties in with projections by South African economists.

Another coup in our beloved country would be the end of Nigeria, investors would rush out in droves and all that has been achieved so far would be in vain. Coup hysteria has never ceased, but a return to the ugly 80´s and 90´s would be pure horror and teh international community would dismemeber Nigeria piece by peice. HOOOORRROOORR!!!! THE MILITARY HAS TO STAY IN THE BARRACKS ONCE AND FOR ALL!!! MILITARY HAS NEVER ADVANCED A COUNTRY ( ONLY EXCEPTION WAS GHANA)

Ok. let´s just bury our bone of contention, maybe it was just all based on a some form of psychologically cognitive miscomprehension on my side.

PLEASE ALSO ACCEPT MY APOLOGY AND MAY I JUST OFFER YOU THIS MUSIC VIDEO AS A SIGN FOR IT It is a sad but a very beautiful and heart-warming song.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYY_dqSN32w&mode=related&search=

one more thing, let´s also stop to blame government! Of course, governance can be a mighty hindrance towards "development". TO MAKE A COUNTRY FLOURISH IT NEEDS THE HELP OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL AND NOT JUST OF A SINGLE PRESIDENT AND A HANDFUL OF MINITERS. IT NEEDS STRENGTH AND DISCIPLINE!!!! ( and it even starts with keeping our roads and houses clean and proper)
Is Nigerian society/family really supporting and promoting the indivual and its talents? Try to open a business in Nigeria and wait how many people will knock at your door and ask you for money. Once you gave them money, others will come , you try to integrate them into your business but they don´t want to work they way it is conducive to your company, (because they know that they have a "milking cow" once you start to be more severe with them the real quarrel starts and it quickly melts down that some members of the family go as far as to start destroying you and your business (often with voodoo). I know cases from my own family. There are many people around in Naija that might even be jealous of you when your child succeeds in school or you graduated brilliantly from university. "Family" in a larger sense of the word members might go as far as to destroy/kill you. How often does one read and hear that someone died "after a brief illness"!

Ok, I don´t want to enlarge on it further because this is a sociological topic of its own! (but if we want to promote our Nigerianess we need to give also more freedom to the individual and its talents, that doesn´t mean that when someone succeeds one should´t help his or her "family". This is part of african culture, thinking in collective terms and we need to preserve that, too!

we need to keep our naija identity

bani, that is what i want, too. and all Africans probably, too. Even if you look at Arab or Asian architectural structures you will notice the typical Asian design of highrises and other building! Building high-rises doesn´t mean that you copy what the west does, it can also be an expression of your own art and culture. I am studying architeture, so I know what i am talking about!

chumas, I am sure you haven´t read properly what I said otherwise you wouldn´t have replied the way you did. Where did I insult Gigitte?I only said that I disagree with her on some points but I do like her! I even sent her a kiss but she insulted me.
Isn´t india doing a lot that is typically Indian, same with China same with Malaysia Where did i say to copy the west, I made an appeal for INTEGRATION: LET´S TAKE OUT THE BEST OF THE WEST AND ADAPT IT TO OUR OWN CULTURE; once again for all!!!
Don´t you think that Malaysia and Singapore are environmentally friendly I am not talking about China and India. lOOK IT UP PROPERLY WHAT THESE TWO NATIONS ARE DOING FOR BEING ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLINESS. They are both above the UK.

One question I cannot comprehend is why do we nigerians always like to travel abroad enriching the Western nations by buying their products while refusing to bring franchise to naija would help to create jobs and fight poverty, and keep on complaing how bad our country is, ooo! On bringing franchise to naija, that doesn´t mean not to add local content. i am not a fan of 100% copying! I DIDN´T SAY THAT!!!!

ONE MORE THING: let´s stop to clink always to colonialism and take it for an excuse for everything! the wounds are still fresh but we need to overcome them, look forward and don´t look back! that is what indian and Malaysia did, too . Two countries that have been colonized by the british as well.

Why is nobody taking up the dicussion about this great project that is going to be built shortly? If such a project had been posted on an Indian forum, a lot of people would have already joined the discussion ith great enthusiam.

Guys, this is not the right way to move our ountry forward

This is a great business opportunity for every Nigerian and the thread goes unanswered. It is a pity, sorry!

Gigette, I was not insulting you by saying you are a traditional girl or woman whereas you bombard me with insults! Even though we both seem to talk on cross purpose, I like you nonetheless

bani, yes foster our local knowledge and products but we do have to sell them in nice wrappings, with good marketing methods and in cool and snazzy stores, that is good for our country!

Gigitte, we will never reach common ground but that makes our world so interesting that there are tons of various characters! You are are a typically traditional Naija girl or woman who despises the West and its achievements and I am a modern Naija man who embraces the West without surrending or giving up our traditional Nigerianess, take out the best of both and make something new that is the way to "progress"

PS: You are the only person I have met who isn´t fond of those pictures , although Malaysia is a country that grew out of heavily criticizing colonialim and the West it nevertheless managed pretty well to integrate its own culture with that of the West. You will find better hospitals and universities and high tech centres in Malaysia than in the UK, its former colonial master. that was their way towards modernity. Malays are very modern but also very traditional as well!

For full size image on Abuja technology Village click here, please

http://www.aim-consultants.com/images/atv/atv1.jpg

final layout of the mega project













Federal Government gives its approval for Nigeria's Technology Valley

12/5/2005

Vanguard (Lagos)

Emeka Nwosu

The Federal Government recently approved the establishment of a Technology Village for software and manpower development in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), in Abuja, Nigeria's federal capital. The tech village is expected to cost between $600 to 800 Million Dollars.

According to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el Rufai, who appears to be prime motivator behind the initiative, "what we hope to do with the village is to have the highest quality infrastructure attracting the best brains in information and bio-technology, pharmaceutical and IT research". The technology village is expected to provide employment for about 60,000 people, with the eventual aim of boosting growth and performance through information technology.

The Minister said though the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology had been working on the village since 2001, Nigerians in the diaspora interested in the village made it a reality by investing millions of dollars to do the business plan and feasibility study.

One of the aims of Nigeria's IT policy is for Nigeria to be an exporter of information technology products. India, which has already led other developing nations in this regard, benefits tremendously from the performance of its information technology industry. India is today the recognized and leading IT outsourcing hub in the world. With the global trend indicating phenomenal growth in outsourcing Nigeria can't afford to be left behind.

Some have dubbed the technology as Nigeria's Silicon Valley. The aim of the National IT policy and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is ensure Nigeria as a nation not just benefits from the advances in information technology, but also becomes a key player in information technology.

While information about the technology village mentions the involvement of Nigerians in diaspora, reports indicate that it is largely a government affair with still little input from local IT professionals.

Interesting some active participants in Nigeria's ICT sector are not too enamored with the choice of Abuja. For instance, the Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria would have preferred a development of Ikeja technology market - also known as the computer village - in Lagos which is Nigeria's current IT hotspot. And for many involved in IT, Lagos and not Abuja is where most IT activities are currently concentrated.

However, to make a meaningful impact, it is expected that the tech village will be a collaborative effort that addresses issues involving all stakeholders. It certainly appears to be a positive step for information technology empowerment in Nigeria.

The construction will begin in early 2007.


Here is the final layout of the The African Institute of Science and Technology within the Abuja Technology Village





[img]http://www.archiportale.com/immagini/FileProgetto/1258_6.jpg?203,9301[/img]


[img]http://www.archiportale.com/immagini/FileProgetto/1258_5.jpg?940,2582[/img]


[img]http://www.archiportale.com/immagini/FileProgetto/1258_2.jpg?128,7958[/img]


Italian Star Architect Fuksas to Design Science and Technology Institute in Nigeria


08/08/2006

By Robert Such

“I wanted to design something to remember the Mandela philosophy,” says Massimiliano Fuksas of the African Institute of Science and Technology (AIST). In May the Italian star architect won the RIBA-organized international competition to design the AIST, which will be located immediately south of the Nigerian capital of Abuja and will help foster the economic development of Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Built for the private organization The Nelson Mandela Institution for Knowledge Building and the Advancement of Science and Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa, the 2.6 million-square-foot, $360 million complex will provide research and education facilities for scientists and engineers. Faculty and administration buildings will surround the central Nelson Mandela Square.

Constructed from local timber, stone and brick, campus buildings will incorporate sustainable technologies, such as water harvesting and photovoltaic technology. Traditional textile patterns and African “red earth” structures inspired Fuksas’s design: In plan view, residential quarters are designed as long, sinuous interconnecting shapes. Individual faculty complexes, each one different from the other, comprise buildings grouped around internal streets and courtyards. Vertical openings in the buildings’ timber skin will filter light and promote natural ventilation.

The site will be crossed by access roads linking the institute to a planned public park and open-air museum on a former mining site to the west and a future sports complex to the south. The Abuja Technology Village, a cluster of high-technology companies and for-profit research intuitions, will develop around the campus.

Fuksas was selected from a shortlist that included Allies and Morrison Architects, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Saucier + Perrotte Architectes, SeARCH, and Rafael Vinoly Architects. “This is much more than a huge project,” says Fuksas. “It is also a way of seeing whether it is possible to do architecture in a continent which has seen so much suffering in the past."

OF COURSE; WE HAVE GOOD FASHION DESIGNERS; TOO AND THEY AERN MY FULLEST RESPECT
:::BUT MOST OF THEM ARE IN LONDON!!! they should come back to naija and open glitzy nice boutiques western style but without loosing their Nigerianess, just like Asia does, integrate the best of the wets without loosing traditional values!!!!

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Gigitte,

you make me feel very bad when I read you. (although i have to accept your viewpoint)

Who says that open- air markets should close down? Of course, they are part of Naija but Naija has to move forward, too, like all the Asian, Arab and Latin American countries do. In Asia (I am not talking abot the highly adavnced countries such as Hong Kong, Japan, Korea or Taiwan but of new emerging markets like Malaysia, Thailand, India, Indonesia, countries on par wth Nigeria) cool and huge malls coexist next to Asian traditional markets and shops! MALLS CREATE EMPLOYMENT AND WEALTH IN A BROADER SENSE, TOO!
Why can´t it be the case for Nigeria, too? Why do you want that The Palms to close down, too? IS THAT A GENERALLY HELD VIEW Have you heard anything about modern marketing methods about wealth creation, principles of modern day market economy Are Europeans still shopping like they did in the 18 th century?
Maybe in US people are complaining about malls but they definitely don´t want to exchange them for our Naija markets,

I am sure you don´t want modern cinemas, spas, fitness clubs, theme parks, hotels, good universities, good health clinics, fast food (even if all of it had a Nigerian flavour), because all that is not originally Nigerian. AM I RIGHT??

I am sure that this is the Nigeria you want to see











Well, I accept it but accept also my viewpoint because I want Nigeria to be like an Asia tiger (without denying its Nigerianness)
















modern shopping culture , more and more people begin to buy such things in malls

it takes 5 years of tedious regulation work and endless bribery to bring a new brand on the Nigerian market but just a single day to make it close down again.