₦airaland Forum

PulaPower:
Nope..

The first coup happened cuz of envy, greed for power. There was nothing like distrust among regions. Every region dey do hin thing hin own way..

People with a barren region got envious and wanted power to control Nigeria. It was why they didn’t only just kill the northern and western premier leader, they abolished our regionalism..

The first coup happened for several reasons.
One, Nigeria was still too young for independence. I mean that's as clear as day.
Second and most important is that we had a weak leader in Prime Minister who was not able to unite the country and bring Nigerians together.
Tafawa Balewa might have been a good man and well polished but was not a strong leader. He first of all, could not bring Nigerians together at a very fractious time in our history where contrary to what you think, there was actually a lot of distrust amongst the regions. The British acted as the neutral and independent monitor when they were around but with them gone there was really no one to act as an independent arbiter and with power in the hand of the North, some in the South were wary about them dominating the govt. Secondly, he was not able to stamp out corruption amongst his cabinet (particularly
Okotie Eboh and Enahoro) which led to them losing credibility amongst Nigerians. A decision that was seen as a motivation by the coup plotters.
But the most egregious was his inability to deal with the western region crisis immediately and decisively. He waited too long and was too tepid and indecisive in his response. Strong leaders dont wait that long to handle a crisis, they take it on head on and diffuse the situation. That was his mistake and this was probably the main reason why the military govt took over. They saw the govt as weak and ineffectual and they thought they could handle the country better.
Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa might have being well educated by Nigerian standards at the time and being a man integrity and upbringing but did not have the temperament to be the leader Nigeria needed at the time. When a strong leader is in place, you need to feel like he is in charge or in control but you never felt that when the Prime Minister was in charge.

mrvitalis:
There is absolutely no way parliamentary system would produce a tinubu or Buhari... It's impossible

You are right on that one. At least even if it produced Buhari, he won't have lasted for 8 years.

Can you imagine if we were producing things, how competitive how exports would have been? Chei!

Hemanwel:
Our leaders are quick to welcome and implement policies of the IMF that will further impoverish the Nigerian masses, but if the same IMF had advised that the government should reduce the cost of governance by reducing the salaries of the presidency and the senators, trim the cabinet members to the barest number, and so on, you'll see them distancing themselves from such advice.

The Structural Adjustment Program of the 80s by the IMF are programs that have impoverished the Nigerian people, which we have not recovered from till date

My brother, if you dont want to abide by the terms and agreements of taking a loan from the IMF then don't take care their money. It's as simple as that. Abi, you never hear say, the borrower is a slave to the lender? If you dont want my money then don't take it but if you do then you surely must abide by their terms afterall, the IMF is not a charity but a financial institution. Which means if they lend you money they are going to expect it back period.

For those who dont know, the IMF was created after WW2 to mostly provide all these newly independent and cash strapped nations with loans. It is different from its sister organization, the world bank which was created to provide loans for long term capital projects (dams etc). The IMF was partly created to provide shorter term loans (especially emergency loans) for countries that needed it. That's why they are called the lender of last resort. In other words, they are the people you go to when no one else can help you. In my own way, I would like to compare them to pay day loans over here, which are institutions you run to when you need emergency cash or when your credit ratings (history) is really messed up (Nigerias case, fron the last time I checked it really is). That's why it's mostly a lot of basket case countries that dont know how to manage their finances that end up going there. It's really a humbling experience for some to end up walking into the IMF office to ask for money because their country cant get its act together.
So just like a bank that lends you money, the IMF would scrutinize also your finances. Afterall, they want to see if you can pay them back and they will want to see what you are doing well ans what you are doing not so well at and they will give you advice on how you can fix it and make your system more streamlined and efficient afterall they want to get their money back so they are invested in your success.

So at the end of the day, lik e I said earlier, if you dont want them telling you what to do then dont go begging them for money. End of discussion.

mrvitalis:
I have said it here for over 2 years , property tax is what is used to fund bulk of budget around the world

Every state can earn 300 billion minimum yearly from property tax

Lagos and Anambra can earn trillions


And this would always wake the people up and get them more involved in politics

Property taxes should be used at the local govt level and not the state level. The state and fed govt should focus on income or sales tax. That's how things work in some smart countries. People are more likely to agree with property taxes if it is charged by their local govt than the state govt.

This is common sense and straight forward. I have been saying this for years. This is why even your most local village here is more well run than pretty much any where in Naija. It's because the different levels of govt: federal, state and local are almost semi independent of each other and even though they get money from each other but they are still able to stand on their own feet.
Take for example, local govts. Over here, there are two types of local govts: county govt and city govt. This govts raise money from property taxes and can take care of themselves with little contribution from the state or the fed govt. Now compare that to Naija where a whole state can barely function without allocations. If you cant raise revenue without allocations you shouldnt be a state period.

I was torn about this for a while because of how cheap I thought a parliamentary system was. In that system, all they have is a house of rep (known in the UK as the House of Commons) but no Senate (there House of Lords is mostly ceremonial and doesn't really have power) and the Prime Minister (their President) is also a member of the House of the Rep (the House of Commons) and not someone elected by the people (in this system, you dont vote for the prime minister, you vote for the party and the party that wins the most seats tends to pick the prime minister). Its not really that much separate office like you have with the Presidential system as also the cabinet members (the ministers) are also members of the party so overall there system is cheaper as opposed to ours where we have to pay a Senate and the President and his ministers who are employees of the President and not fellow members of Parliament.
But having thought of it, I strongly believe in a Presidential system of democracy.
First of all, I believe in a Senate and I believe in it as a calming influence on the House which is usually too reactionary because of close it is to the people. I like to always compare the Senate and the House to the mother and the father in the home. The mother usually stays with the kids and is usually closer to them than the father and tends to give the kids the things they want. That's the same with the legislature. The House acts like Mommy who gives the kids everything. The Senate acts like Daddy: that tends to be detached and tends to take a more adults view in decision making. Afterall, there is a reason they say in America that the Senate is where bills go to die because only a fraction of bills from the House (that is, passed by the House) tend to make it through the Senate.
In a parliamentary democracy, you don't get seperation of Powers like you do with a Presidential democracy where power is split between the 3 bodies: The presidency, the legislature (the House and the Senate) and the Supreme Court. All three branches are as equally powerful as the other and are meant to check each others power.
In a parliamentary democracy, the Prime Minister is simply part of Parliament (their legislature) and so is beholden to what they want him to do. He can't veto a bill (refuse to sign or approve) he doesn't like or they will get rid of him so the separation of powers is only between 2 bodies in that system as opposed to the Presidential system.
In the Presidential system, all three branches of govt: the executive (the President), the legislature (the House and Senate) and the Judiciary (the Supreme Court) have to agree for a bill to become law. How does that work? For example, to pass a bill in a Presidential system of govt, a bill has to pass the house by majority vote before it goes to the Senate. If it gets a majority vote there, then it goes to the Presidents desk for signing. If the President doesn't like the bill, he can refuse to sign it (a veto) and the bill will fail to become law or he can sign it and it becomes law.
Now if the bill violates the constitution, the Supreme Court can strike it down and claim it's illegality. This is where the Supreme Court comes in: to check the other two branches of govt.
Seun, lalasticlala

It’s worth noting that Badenoch herself grew up in Nigeria and often invokes this personal history as the linchpin for her credibility on African issues. But whether this lived experience translates to empathy or a deeper understanding of colonial repercussions is, to put it politely, questionable.

You do know history is not really a compulsory subject in Nigerian schools right and that its not even well thought at all in the schools that teach it.

Believeintruth:
What is Aguiyi Ironsi in this? Why are you being evasive is Peter Obi related to Ironsi? No. You barely only blinded by ethnic hatred. From the economic missteps of Tinubu it is clear he is the worst of the evils.

Aguiyi-Ironsi is the first military leader of the country and he is the one who fundamentally shaped the country in ways that altered the trajectory of the country.
I am not blaming him for the coup but I am blaming him for what happened after.
After the coup plotters had overthrown a democratically elected govt, he could have done the next best thing and immediately returned control of the govt (or what was left of it) back to parliament and followed the chain of command after arresting the coup plotters but he decided to take charge of the country and become head of state.
After he became the de facto leader he could have called for elections but he didn't. He decided to remain in office and fundamentally change the country by making it a unitary state instead of leaving it the way it was; a decentralized state where region's had a lot of power and where everyone was allowed to sort of develop at their own pace. The major reason why Nigeria has failed to develop.
What was even worse about that military intervention or military rule is the chain of events it set off like the counter coups and the country being dominated by military leaders for the next decades. The decisions this leaders made was considerably worse than what the current President is making. For example, like the decision to get rid of the missionaries and since those mission schools - some thing Nigeria's education has not recovered from till today or the crude indigenization of the economy that precipitated capital flight from the economy or one of the big issues of our economy today, subsidies.
Subsidies was started by the military govt. It was supposed to be temporary but they made it a main stay of the Nigerian economy even though it made no economic sense and it was wrecking our balance sheet to the point that we were spending more money on it than health on education.
Smart countries with natural resources leave the exploration and refining to the private sector. They can allow foreign companies to come extract the resources but they make sure those countries REFINE in their country so as to create jobs. But guess what the military regime did? they decided to keep feeding the child ice cream until the child became unhealthy and now that the child has grown up to become an unhealthy adult, they decided to stop feeding the adult anymore ice cream. Now imagine the tantrums the adult whose system is already too used to ice cream would start throwing? That's what is happening right now to the Nigerian economy. This is a country that has been blowing money on wrong economic policies like subsidies and artificially propping up its currency: a process that requires you to blow through your reserves. Another horrendous economic policy that was popular with the masses but was woefully short sighted and not sound economically. Now that we have a President who has the guts to do the right thing no matter how painful, I recognize that because that's what leadership is. Its about making the tough choices that others have refused to make even if you know it's going to cost you votes. Anyone can make decisions that are popular with the masses but it takes a REAL leader to make decisions that others are afraid to make but is right for the country but very unpopular thats what courage and toughness is. Afterall the popular choice is not always the best choice. So I give Tinubu the credit for focussing of the long run.

Jovi10:
Russia has done and still doing in Ukraine.

Yeah right! They are winning in Ukraine and they have Ukrainian forces in their territory. The first time a foreign country has taken Russian territory since WWII. So much for "winning" indeed. If that's what winning looks like (having foreign forces occupying your own soil), then I hope the Russians "win"
Secondly, the war in Ukraine is mostly a conventional war and number 2, Russia's plan was to invade all of Ukraine but because of Ukraine's resistance, they can barely settle for only 20%.

Believeintruth:
And who is the lesser? If Tinubu is the lesser to you ,then you are morally bankrupt at best.

I will take Tinubu over Aguiyi-Ironsi and his ilk any day, any time.

ValCon888:
BRICS is simply a committee of frenemies that won't hesitate to stab each other in the back.

The only country I pity there is South Africa. It is a sheep that is trying to hangout with wolves.

It's always embarassing seeing sheep hang out with wolves. Like dude, you are waaaaay in over your head. If I was president of Naija, I would put a moratorium on joining any organization and attempt to re-assess all the organization and alliances we are part of and see if they pay us or not. If they pay us, they we will check if the benefit outweighs the cost. If not, then we will leave. For example, OPEC and the WTO. The WTO is a club for countries to mostly resolve their trade disputes like the big boys like China and the US so it's quite befuddling to see poor African countries with almost nothing consequential to trade there . This is an organization for at least middle income countries, not poor third world countries with almost nothing to offer. I guess some of them thought it was modern to do so or that the organization will give them money
Don't try to play chess with people when you are a checkers player.

SmartPolician:
A country that goes back and forth with its policy has no concrete plan. Putin is a confused man.

That's what usually happens to countries with dictators. A number of people don't want to displease the dictator and give him bad news (or the truth) so they cover it up and pretend that everything is alright instead of telling the emperor he has no clothe, they trust to cozy up to him to get promoted and tell him how awesome his invisible cloth is so he ends up being surrounded by yes man.

DeepSight:
Not all are wolves. And so what if they are wolves. Is the west / global north not full of wolves.

When was there ever honor amongst wolves? In life you usually have to choose between the lesser of two evils. If I want to be in alliance with certain countries, I will simply look at how they treat there own people ( citizens) and other countries and that will give me an idea if I want to be in partnership with them.

Calitoscassius:
Yes, i have lived in America before. I lived in Miami Florida and Tijuana. One of my sons lives in Miami with his mother, he was born in the UK, so was I in East London England. There are so many black men/ baby Daddies and mamas on welfares in America. Most of them do not work. Some black women have 5 children from 4 different Daddies. And some Daddies have 4 children from 3 or 4 different baby mamas. Drug dealing From new Orleans to New york, down to California.
Ever heard of little Havana in Miami? Full with Cuban immigrants.

SOME blacks born in America discriminates africans blacks, even SOME Jamaicans discriminates africans.

Okay, maybe not gang bangs, but most shooting or homicides are black on blacks.

Anything else you wanna ask? Or are you gonna tell me i am misinformed again?

How can you judge an entire ethnicity by its negative influences? It's like judging all Nigerians by the bad apples.

Juoflife1:
Early this week.

Na wa o

Jovi10:
Mention one conventional warfare they USA has won since after the WW2.

Name one country that has won a conventional war before?

Believeintruth:
Has Tinubu's academic qualification been verified. We keep talking about the coup while deliberately forgetting all the rubbish politicians did that precipitated the crisis that brought the coup.

Dude, I will take the lesser of two evils any day any time bro.

IGBOPROMISE1:
That’s the contradiction that shows how much unequal and kwarrupt the Nigerian society is! Nigeria is nothing more than a criminal enterprise and a gangsters paradise! It exists primarily to service the economic interests of the ruling establishment….first the colonial ‘masters’, then the thieving and tribalistic Nigerian elite class that took over from them on 1st Oct’ 1960! Though it has to be said that the best period of its existence was from ‘independence’ till the first coup. After the first coup, it’s been downhill ever since! Nigeria has not recovered from the incidents of 1966 till today because of all the contradictions that those in and around power since the first coup have ignored and kept swept under the carpet!

The military coup of 1966 really did a number on Nigeria that the country has never recovered. It gave guys with probably not even high school diplomas opportunities to run a country. I mean running a country is really, really difficult even for those who were well educated and trained now imagine how much more difficult it is for someone with just a secondary school diploma. All those folks who were trained and educated by the British were either killed or sidelined by the military. Think about this, since Nigeria got independence, only 2 Presidents have gotten a bachelors degree (I am excluding Yar'adua because he didn't stay long) and one of them didn't even have a relevant degree (Veterinary Medicine) so that leaves only Tinubu as the only guy with the academic training to run the office.

Juoflife1:
A black teenage boy was harassed and almost shot at just because he took a walk around a neighborhood. The police told him the people that harassed him did nothing wrong. It took the intervention of netizens to get those men fired from their jobs. I went through the comments on that video and it was crazy. If you're black in America, be careful o.

When was this?

grandstar:
As bad as Trump is, I doubt his racism is as bad as people paint it.

What made his club in Florida boom, the Mar-a-Lago, was that it was open to both Blacks and Jews. Other clubs around did not accept the 2 races, and seeing an opening, he cashed in on it.

He might have some bigotry in him, but it is not to the extent they paint him. Basically, I just see him as a nuisance.

Its about money bro.

Calitoscassius:
Don't mind them! The same blacks who murder themselves daily in gang bangs, the same blacks who make babies and abandon their babies (baby mamas and daddies) everywhere, Did you know that Many black Americans hate black africans?

Have you ever lived in America before? or your view of America is what you see on the media? because this statement is soooooo misinformed its not even funny.

justuschi50:
why are you anti-Semitic

I tire o.

They really wanted revenge for the death of Quassem Soleimani.

Svoboda:
The houthis are a very strong and daring rebel group. They've withstood the gulf alliance led by Saudi arabia notwithstanding that US military advisers were procured by Saudi to help in ousting them. This has been the case since 2015, until the Saudis came to their senses and began calling for negotiations. I like non state resistance forces fighting against Israeli occupation.

Nope. They are fighting against the Yemeni govt.

Jovi10:
Lmao ordinary Taliban pursued them like rat from Iraq 😂😂😂🤣🤣. Vietnam war then flog their yansh. Them never born USA papa well to fight with Russia in this world and the next.

You mean the same USSR wey the Mujahideen for Afghanistan flog? The same Russia that couldn't even beat little Finland (look up the Winter War) and needed American weapons to defeat the Nazi's. This same Russia that can't even beat Ukraine, you think this same country will be able to take on the US? Good luck on that.

AntiZikist:
IDF has just made tweet inadvently comfirming that it was IDF goons that were in Amsterdam last night .

This was a military operation to destabilise another nation .

Muslim guys were very smart last night to seize their passports and some who were foolishly carrying their IDF IDs on them.

You do know almost every youth in Israel except for those in the ultra-orthodox community are required to join the military right? That's why almost everyone in Israeli society was almost always in the military.

Onewazobia:
South Africa should slow down, only Africa and salvage Africa, America, Europe, Asia etc will only use us to settle scores. Black race must wise up otherwise, hmmm

South Africa fights Isreal, joined BRICS, draw sward against their fellow race etc. SA, the future is pregnant for u

I feel like they are way over their head.

sagitariusbaby:
I just pity South Africa for dining with those self centered wolfs called BRICS. They don't even trust each other.

South Africa wants to feel among.

ValCon888:
BRICS is simply a committee of frenemies that won't hesitate to stab each other in the back.

The only country I pity there is South Africa. It is a sheep that is trying to hangout with wolves.

As in ehn. Its like they want to feel among.

Of course, they are smart not to do it because all the world's economy will suffer as a result. It will truly have far reaching consequences for the rest of the world.

BondRiv:
Wasting resources. Ministers of State are not needed.

I tire o. I was even wondering what the difference between the two (minister and minister of state) was?