₦airaland Forum

eaglechild: I heard we also share the same constitution.

Even you know how incredibly fooooolish your write up is.

There is no saving some of you.

Please explain to us what the difference is in the two, we want to know.

The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (US), America, or simply the States, is a federal republic[10][11] consisting of 50 states, 16 territories, a federal district, and various overseas extraterritorial jurisdictions.

Nigeria Listeni/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

https://s14.postimg.org/7ax1eyx0x/for_the_mugus.png

Let me state it clearly for the mugus here, America and Nigeria operate formally the EXACT same type of government. America can call itself angelic bottox of heaven, it does not matter, next time go and read a book or two before you bring your illiterate arguments here.

Mylove55: Why are we clamouring for true federalism,if we are not opereting like amarican

Please restate that, the above comment does not make any sense whatsoever.

Okay let me clarify, a country can be both a federation and a republic at the same.

A country is a federation if it is a union of multiple self governing states, that is why America calls itself the united states, Germany is also the united states because they were separate kingdoms before they joined together in 1870 and became the German empire, India is also the united states. Meanwhile a country is a republic if its government is a public one rather the private affairs of a chosen nobility for example. So you can see that republicanism and federalism are two different concepts, you can use both of them together. I will give you guys a few examples of federal republics:

Argentine Federation
Republic of Austria
Federative Republic of Brazil
Federal Republic of Germany
Republic of India
United Mexican States
Federal Republic of Nigeria (we call ourselves federal but we practice unitarism because our leaders are idiots)
Russian Federation
United States of America

So don't confuse it, a country doesn't have to call itself a federal republic before you know it is one. America and Mexico were the most naturally created federal republics, they were states that combined to form those countries while most of the others saw their system of government and decided they liked it.

Hopefully this clarifies things.

I weep for Nigeria, a nation over flowing with compound mugus.

on a more serious note.

emk4lif: That's because its the 'United States', its more of a 'confederate federation' if there's anything like that, nigeria is more of a centralized federation and to a large extent the states draw their authority from the centre on most issues so the correct designation should be lagos state,

The problem with your argument is that by that definition Nigeria is not a federation, we just identify ourselves as such. You see, in a federation, the federal government exists solely to glue the AUTONOMOUS states together and participate in relations with outside entities, the states govern and rule over themselves, that is the operative part of a what makes it a federation, as long as the centre is were power is derived we become what is called a Unitary republic. , do you know that in Australia every state has its own SSCE? They don't just maintain their own schools, they also have their own exam standards, unlike in Nigeria were if you want to so much as have your own electrical source they will claim you want to secede. By the way, German states are referred to as "the free state of X", anybody dream of adding free in Nigeria and Aso rock will have a heart attack.

Corruption is a very vague and unspecific term, there cannot be a punishment specific to something so uncertain.

Jbluv55: Spying, cell-tracking, activity-monitoring etc. using more advanced technology than we are currently using. They have more experience in these things since they've tasted terrorism first hand severally.

You are talking about America as a whole, not the FBI. The FBI like I have already said are a glorified police force, they pursue criminals and solve crimes, that things talked about here have nothing to do with the FBI. If you kill people in Maine, it is Maine Police Departments job but once you cross into Massachusetts and commit your crime in more than one state, one police force cannot cross into another states jurisdiction so they give your case to the FBI, simple as that, national police. Things like spying, counter intelligence and terrorism is the job of the CIA, NSA, Homeland Security etc.

donroxy: This is exactly how the west planned the strategy ........

Na who will go call now, ok.... GOD pls deliver Nigeria from Colonialists abeg !!!

You know. I hate people who blame others for their failures so much. There is 4 times as much oil in the UAE as there is in Nigeria yet the west never sabotaged them for their own gain nor are they keeping them poor and underdeveloped for the purposes of oil theft. Until you stop throwing mindless blame around ad making dumb excuses for your dustbin of a country it will remain a dust bin.

Jbluv55: But their technology can function here.

I have no idea what you mean by that.

slim fit :
It's not the governments jobs but if they actually did it would be a good idea considering fact that they are not providing a conducive atmosphere for investors.

You are not thinking about this clearly enough, if the government is failing to do its job, what makes you think it will succeed in doing someone else's?

Uyi Iredia: Very well said. But I must remind all that this applies to the absurdity that Nigeria is. Nations like Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and even Ethopia (proud owners of Africa's best national aifline carrier) have and still run successful businesses. May the ND oil finish so mumugerians will wake up from their slumber.

Any business successfully run by a government is an aberration, that is why all communist countries failed, public businesses are ruined by the fact that the manager does not own it and cannot directly gain from its success so he is not going to put in diligent hours. I will also point out that none of the countries you mentioned is a bastion of comfortable living and most of them count as "nearly developed" at best. Nigeria's industries have to come from borrowed money and external help, like all industries before it have.

lol. The FBI is basically federal police, last I checked Nigeria is not American soil, FBI cannot operate here.

CFCfan: The 160,000 MW would be excess, as Nigeria needs around 50,000mW in order to ensure 24-hr power supply in all areas.
My cynical mind thinks that there wouldn't be more than 10,000 MW added by the next year.

Electricity is used for a lot more than powering peoples houses dude, there are these things called businesses, some of them are very heavy duty. It is sad that you didn't know that.

All I want to know is how much electricity is Nigeria producing and distributing now and when will we reach 100% capacity, All this one na long story. For all we know the federal governments system might not be as productive and Fashiola and Tinubu's, stop sweating the small stuff. Give us the big details, when can we start decommissioning our diesel guzzlers.

The national conference won't work because even if the states reject certain terms they cannot secede. The American and German states had to be listened to because they were joining their respective nations on their own accord and could refuse to join if they didn't like the terms, here if the south says there must be state police and the north refuse the south cannot leave and forcing the issue will just turn it into a fight. There are many things the respective regions do not agree on, federalism is suppose to fix that but ours has been hijacked and deceiving the fools in senate is the only way to fix it. This dialogue will not make any headway, still I am curious to see how it unfolds.

STFU!!!

Which is why when GEJ keeps erecting new power plants it doesn't impress me. Maybe we will get more out of simply reorganizing the office and its policies than spending millions on new power plants and fighting governors every two weeks.

Rossikk: You are beyond stu.pid. Go and ask your western masters to lift their evil sanctions on Zimbabwe, then the country might be on its way to becoming the new Japan. Dunce. Do 1 percent whites own all the resources in Japan while the rest suffer in slavery and misery? Was this not what your western masters had in mind for Zimbabwe until Mugabe said NO? Shameless idio.t.

Go and check the GDP per capita of Zimbabwe in 2000 before those sanctions were imposed and then come back and say that nonsense.

Nigeria is a failing state, would you trade it for Zimbabwe?

fagbalex: ibo people are not constructive at all, they're too destructive.

Igbo people are not destructive, they are some of the most constructive people in Nigeria, its just hard to be helpful when you've stopped believing in something.

Dunno wtf this is but to whomever is saying our presidency is illegitimate

The queen freed the African states in giving them independence, in that moment we stopped being subject to her so there is nothing illegal about our presidency, she doesn't get to decide the shape or size of our country, THAT IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INDEPENDENT FOR GODS SAKE!! Now put a sock in it, you raving lunatics.

Whatever one might think of the US is really quite irrelevant, Mugabe has been in power for 30 years, give or take. The amount of time it took Japan and Korea to modernize so why is Zimbabwe, an infinitely smaller country still a third world dump? Mugabe has no idea wtf he is doing there and should long have stepped aside.

Our 36 states are fine, guaranteeing tribalism in the constitution will be as big a mistake as we have ever made. There is no nation that has ever prospered by promoting tribalism so please, stop promoting it.

Dpeacemaker101: OP,Gbam you have spoken my mind. We can't continue to allow other regions of the country feel that we are meant to be ruled, when we generate the highest income for the country. Enough is enough, it is time for us to stand up for our rights. If they can't wait till the middle belts finish ruling in 14years time they should join Niger or any other country around them, or better still be on their own.

This is not the solution to the problem you are pointing out. All regions and states should govern themselves with little regard to whomever is president and where they come from all year round, every year. It is called federalism, you know, the type of system of government we pretend to practice.

In other countries they talk about who should be president, in Nigeria they talk about which region should get president as if all the people from the various regions are carbon copies of one another.

Whomever says the north should get president in 2015 is very stupid, just as the OP of this thread and whomever agreed with him/liked his post. You are all very stupid, it matters who becomes president and what they aim to do with Nigeria, it matters not what region they come from.

simpleseyi: Please tell me if it is Islam that is making the people listed down here to draw the nation backward thru looting.

Dr Goodluck Jonathan (spends more than one million naira per meal)
Jesus on Earth Dame Sheppopotamus impatience Jonathan (spends state resources on custmetics surgery making her die and wake as in the Biblical period)
Chief James Ibori (Guiness Book of Record holder of most family members in jail simultaneously for looting)
Bode George
OBJ
Orji Uzor Kalu
Timi Teprieye (Guiness Book of Record holder of most properties acquired per tenure, acquired 48 houses in Nigeria during his 48 months rule as Bayelsa governor)
DSP Alams
Tony Anenih
Patrick Azazi
Godswill Akpabio
Peter Adaobi
Gbenga Daniel
Alao Akala
Segun Oni
Segun Agagu
Rev Fr Moses Adasu (ex Benue governor that became richer than the state)

Islam doesn't have to be the reason for Nigeria's backwardness to be anti development, it is my personal opinion that Islam is in fact anti development but you are also right, Nigeria suffers just as well from greed, selfishness, stupidity and ignorance, the latter two being our biggest banes.

modextus: if ghana has a litracy rate of 80percent with nigeria's 71percent i think we are way way ahead of 'em considering the population difference between both countries

No, that's not the way it works, it certainly is understandable that Nigeria will have a bit more workload that Ghana but that is only an excuse as we also obviously have more resources and Ghana can only try to educate the people they have in their country. By your logic it wouldn't make any difference even if their literacy rate was 100%, this is a fallacy and false reasoning like this is why the percentage system is so important.

If Nigeria develops a nuclear project it would be time to pack up and leave, because within 5 years that shit will kill us all.

souldust: equal distribution of wealth? Other states are at liberty to make their own money let them do so. You hear of lagos more for obvious reasons

They are not actually, most of the money made in any and all states is syphoned off by the federal government, even in Lagos. It cripples the states and ruins all state institutions, this then causes the senate to further strip the states of power stating their supposed failure which only serves to fuel the accelerating decay in the states.

Nah, its not really a laundry list. Most of our problems stem from a very basic few.

- Ignorance and foolishness of the ruling class(no explanation but an example, in Nigeria no one asks why, only what can we do to stop it. This is a very stupid way to deal with problems)

- A counter productive mindset stemming from the manner in which our nation was created(since our country is just a cut out by the British, the government feels it needs to work to maintain the union of so many different tribes and cultures, often choosing centralization over prosperity, now we are in a catch 22 situation where the people hate this country and want out because of what the government is doing and this further causes the government to feel even more strongly about protecting the state, it is a continuous downward spiral)


Most of the things in this country like corruption and irresponsibility are symptoms and not part of the problem, if you don't use things properly they will naturally fall into decay and gutter values take over. If we want change fast we need drastic change, first we out PDP and put APC, if by 2019 APC aren't showing expected improvement we oust them and put someone else. Either that or we wait a decade or two for more intelligent persons to fill the senate.

mikolo80: I'D LIKE TO SEE UR TANGIBLE EVIDENCE MR OLODO

Why don't you prove to us that GEJ is not behind Boko Haram.

Nigeria: A Case for 'True' Federalism

OPINION

No topic has generated as much interest in the ongoing bogus constitution amendment process as the issue of local government autonomy. That we have embarked on wholesale amendment 14 years after we were handed a constitution by the military high command is a measure of the instability in the polity.

A constitution or the process of constitution making is not a joke and no nation desirous of making progress should treat it as such. In Nigeria, once you have a new majority (military or civilian) it fancies the need for a "new" constitution.

What this tells us is that we need a constitution of "we the people" that will be the necessary outcome of a conference based on the sovereign will of Nigerians.

Autonomy, like independence, is a fancy word; one that everybody wants to identify with.

It is understandable, therefore, if you ask most Nigerians whether they support local government autonomy as being canvassed in the current constitution amendment, they would answer in the affirmative. Unfortunately, in the opinion of this tyrannical majority whose voices appear dominant, anybody who has a contrary view is not a democrat.

Of course, there is a strong case to be made for local governments. Local governments are closest to majority of Nigerians and are in a vantage position to cater to the needs of our rural population. However, in the context of federalism, autonomy for local governments ought to be defined by states and not the federal government.

A few weeks ago, the governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Prof.

Itse Sagay (SAN) stirred up a hornet's nest with their intervention on the autonomy debate. At the second edition of the National Public Discourse, with the theme, "Local Government Authority: How Autonomous?" they faulted the argument for local government autonomy.

Aregbesola made a point which should be obvious to the proponents of local government autonomy which is that the federating units in Nigeria are the states and the centre. "The states are federating units, while the local governments are merely administrative units, centres of development in the states. Local government must not be seen as anything outside the total authority of the states," Aregbesola said.

According to Sagay, "Every state should create, fund and run local government as they deem fit. Why should we even have a Federation Account? Why not Federal Government account and state government accounts? Why can't a state decide the structure it wants to run for its local governments? How can the National Assembly dream that the Independent National Electoral Commission should start conducting local government elections? They say it is because the state governments are rigging the local government elections. Then I ask: Is the Federal Government not rigging the election conducted by INEC?" These are pertinent questions.

Both Aregbesola and Sagay have been criticised for their position. Unfortunately, their traducers refuse to see the bigger picture. I think the issue of local government autonomy is driven more by hysteria than commonsense.

When you ask why they support local government autonomy, proponents point to the constitution; the same dubious constitution given to us by the military in 1999. It is important to note that the country went through Gen. Abacha's transition which was completed by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar without the electorate seeing this constitution.

The constitution lists 774 local governments, effectively putting an end to development at the local level because it is unlikely that a civilian government can create new local governments even if the need arises. It is absurd to legislate local governments in the constitution. Apart from constraining the states, it presupposes that our rural areas can't grow beyond their current state.

A few days ago, in a conversation with a member of the National Assembly, I raised the issue of listing local governments in the constitution. He agreed it was an anomaly, but one that we have to live with. Why do we have to live with this anomaly when we can change it?

Why have we arrogated to the federal government the power to create local governments in the states? Why have we given the federal government the power to give money to local governments?

It is this unregulated power that has created the twisted logic that makes it possible, for example, for Kano to have 44 local governments while Lagos has 20 local governments. It is bad enough that the constitution stipulates a system of local government administration, it is retrogressive to dictate the number of local governments states should have.

Clearly, the whole talk about local government autonomy is sophisticated BS. These local governments were not created to bring governance to the rural population but as a means of sharing the national cake.

Moving forward, we must make our states the centre of development. States in Nigeria were created depending on the whims of the military regime in power. It is unfortunate that because the military created these states, they have remained dependent entities that go cap in hand every month to the centre for sustenance.

States should be allowed to create the number of local governments, local council development areas or any other name they want to call it as it suits them. They should decide the structure of these councils and how they would be run. They should run their law enforcement (police), subject, of course, to the Nigeria Police in inter-state crimes and federal offences.

It means also that state assemblies would have to fashion out rules for election in each state. I know our apostles of autonomy for local government would rise in righteous indignation. They would argue that state governors can't be trusted to do the right thing in their states. But it is clear that because we have lived under the military for the better part of our independence we are willing to replace the so-called tyranny of the state with that of an overbearing federal government. We have forgotten that we are a federal republic.

Agreed that some state governors have not managed their states well, but that is not a case for granting autonomy to local governments outside the powers of the states. Unlike the USA and Canada, for example, where the states (USA) and provinces (Canada) were independent entities before they joined their different unions or were bought as the case may be, our own states are the arbitrary creation of the military and they have ever since acted as appendages of the federal government.

Rather than clamouring for local government autonomy, we should be talking about "independence" for the states and how the states can contribute to the centre. Every state in Nigeria today is viable. But because we have created a monstrosity in Abuja that is set to consume all of us, we have denied the states control of their resources and prevented them from taking responsibility for their own sustenance and development.

The issue of local government autonomy challenges our democracy and nationhood. Now is the time to tackle it frontally. Now is the time to unbundle the federal government. Our federalism is a fraud and its fraudulent structure feeds much of the problems Nigerians have to contend with everyday.

If we want to create a more perfect union, as Americans say, we should go beyond the current hysteria and think seriously about renegotiating Nigeria.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201308020888.html

I have been saying this for months, read it properly and think about what it is saying before your comment.