₦airaland Forum

The bible says that one should not despise chastisement. Look, man don't question my patriotism, i love my country as much as the next guy, i even love it more since i am far away from it that it really hurts so bad when i see countries developing left and right and i see mine still confused about whether to move forward or backward, it is so painful that if i were awarded minister of education or minister of agriculture today, i would do the job for free because this are the two most important sectors if nigeria is ever going to be a developed country. One can never ever progress if one is satisfied with mediocrity or in nigeria's case, failure. If we are not introspective, then our country would never develop. By the way, isn't this what free speech is all about saying what you want to say when you feel like it? my thoughts shouldn't bother you and yours shouldn't bother mine, so if i want to say anything about my country, its my right and i would do as i please. By the way, do not call me a gorilla.

In the mid 90's, some black Americans wanted Ebonics (black american english) to be there official language thank goodness, it didn't  happen. Naija una won follow.

keep looking for an  excuse for why our continent is so poor, when the answer is so obvious. I was just reading about the nation of Israel, a country that is only 61 years old and located in a desert that is not blessed with any mineral resources and scarcely any natural resources (heck, its a country stuck in a desert with hardly any rain),  yet they have amazing agricultural output and despite this  they realized that being reliant on agriculture would not make them a rich country so they decided to focus heavily (i mean HEAVILY) on science and technology. The reason they decided to do this was that they realized that there greatest asset was there people and they decided to invest heavily on them by granting them a world class education, the result is that Israel with just a population of around 7 million has over 2000 STARTUPS!!, 2nd to Sillicon Valley in California. Meanwhile our Nigerian counterparts are still running around building resorts (tinapa), skyscrapers (millenium tower), and even planting flowers (Fashola).

IF  YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME. when i mean "it" i mean constant power supply, great transportation network, excellent justice and security system and everything else needed to function as a mordern economy. Add to that list a world class educational system as a source of skilled labor so that they don't have to pay there own employees double just to come and work in naija.

Syria and Lebanon should both learn from this, that if you harbor terrorist organizations they would come back to bite you.

This is what they get for playing both sides of the fence. For years, pakistan was in denial, they were signing peace treaties with them thinking that they were there friends and that they could control them, now see what's happening. Whenever they signed a peace treaty with the taliban, they would just use it to regroup, then when they are stronger, they start attacking again. George Bush was right, he warned them earlier on but they didn't listen. This guys would come and cause trouble in Afghanistan, then run back across the border into Pakistan. As if that wasn't bad enough, the pakistani secret service (ISI) were very close friends with this guys and they used to give them a lot of money.
Pakistan is a weak state which has nuclear weapons and if they collapse all bets are off. Let's hope India doesn't stand by and watch this happen.

morale of the story: don't keep a cobra as a pet, IT CANNOT BE DOMESTICATED.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/world/asia/24pstan.html?hp

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1893370,00.html

please save your breath
do you expect her to understand you when she has a wrapper tied on her waist like akpeno 24/7
she'll soon charge in here like ojionu masquerade on speed
wait and see

@osisi
Do you know me from somewhere? don't ever talk to me like that.

In the business world, all you have is your reputation, once it is stained, you are finished because nobody wants to do business with you any longer and reputation is something that takes almost a lifetime to build so once people lose trust in you, the deal is over. In fact, at times, people say that you are innocent until you are being investigated. It doesn't seem to be that way in naija.

Look at Nairalanders (a microcosm of the nigerian society itself) complaining that Dangote was arrested for fraudulent behavior, no wonder we live in a very corrupt country. People are willing to tolerate thieves as long as "they are investing in the country", yeye people. That's why corruption is so prevalent because people are willing to look the other or even praise you by calling you "fast man" or "sharp man" and if you are the honest guy they  will call you "mumu" or tell you to  "wait there" or "shine your eye". If this happened to Warren Buffet or George Soros, the entire public would turn against them, in Nigeria instead we would praise them. Of course, what else do you expect of a country that looks fondly at one of its old dictators (IBB) and even nickname him after a legend, Maradona. People in this country have no principles and even if they do they don't stick by it especially if you are waving money (just an ordinary paper its not even gold or silver) in front of them. What a shame. Jesse Jackson said the most powerful person in the world is someone who cannot be bought and who is not afraid of death, from what i am reading on this nairaland, it seems that everybody can be bought.

Deflation on the rise. The sam thing is happening in Europe and in the US.

It is my considered opinion that students in top schools are not made of innate abilities, but of the little opportunities that are afforded them as they grow up.

ehn  , did you just say that?? Please, i am going to pretend i didn't hear you well. As all five fingers are not equal so not all man is equal. Are u kidding me?? You sound like a very naive person, its probably because you have not met this kind of humans before. There are some kids that are just incrediiiiiiiiibly gifted and talented, this people are called wunderkinds (prodigies). Just are some people are born to be musicians (Mozart) and athletes (Pele), some people are born to be scholars. They are the ones that go on to become proffessors of physics or biology at Caltech or MIT and end up winning Nobel Prizes. I hope this kid is like that. But, on another note, you do have a point, the quality of students you get at the university level depends on the type of education they get at a young age (nursey school). This is why you don't see students who go to Ansarudeen or Abdual aziz attah win any Nobel Prizes. We have a lot of talented people like this in naija, all we have to do is develop them by giving them a world class education (i don't mean yanki elementary or high school). Can you imagine if we could give our kids in this public schools the same level of education that the Singapore, Taiwan and Japan gives their's. Phew, omo we should be competing with the Americans, Brazillians, Indians and Chinese when it comes to science and technology.

One thing I am yet to investigate is the effect of a failed tenure on the career of a professor, particularly one of minority origins, given that the opportunities are usually limited in the first place.

They just go to other smaller schools and become proffessors.

I heard that we spend 60% of our GNP paying all this bureaucrats, so sad.

To compound it, the ministries are too big and inefficient creating diseconomies of scale, i mean what's the point of having ministry of petroleum, ministry of Mines and Steel Development, and power. Shouldn't all of them be consolidated under one ministry of energy? the same goes for the ministries of commerce and industry, Information and Communications, Labour and Productivity, Science and Technology, and aviation, all this ministries should consolidated into the ministry of commerce. Finally, what's the point of having the ministries of justice, police affairs, foreign affairs, National Planning Commission, Water Resources, this is what the ministry of the interior was created for, geez, our leaders know nothing about structure in that country.

The same goes for the states, i am an ekiti boy, can somebody please tell me what the difference is between Ondo state and Ekiti state (apart from there names) or the difference between Ebonyi state and Enugu state, yet they want to create another one despite the fact that the states are not working and there local govts. (don't even get me started on those ones) na wa o, i don tire.  We need to make our institutions work by streamlining them so that they are not redundant and so that they can be leaner and efficient.

omo, Andriy Asharvin is a demon. the boy na true KGB assassin.

biina,
my proffessor was telling me today (he is an associate proffessor) that in order to become a full proffessor that he has to have 12 points in around six years to make to a full proffessor. What that means is that in order to have those points, you work needs to be published in journal (which is a big deal because they have many people submitting there research so that it can be published). The top journal gets you 4 point, which is very hard for you to even get into because you are competing with a lotttttttttt of other people. You also have journals worth 2 points and the others are worth 1 points each. If you don't get it then you can't get tenured. The same goes for assistant proffessors wanting to jump to associate proffessorship. So there is an incredible amount of pressure on this people to come up with very substantial research which they can submit for publication. After 5 years, the assistant profs are evaluated. If they don't know how to teach or they don't make those certain number of points, then they are fired.

Now he needs to do this for all the senators and legislators and while he is at it, he should stop paying salaries for state govts. they should raise there salaries from there state taxes.

4play


this is the the route other countries have used to prosperity!! Japan, singapore, south korea, USA, England. Every country.

This strategy worked extremely well for the united states, that's why they are the most powerful nation in the world. After the revolutionary war in the 1700's, america had a huge deficit, there only way of raising money was to issue bonds to the public which they bought in support of there country. They didn't wait for the UN or the IMF or World Bank to give them donations like our pathetic continent.

You people should start realizing that there is nothing like free lunch in this world. You shouldn't be begging people for free money.

why New York is no place to try a somali pirate.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1892895,00.html

phantom,
fashola has shown us that Lagos can change but unfortunately, as he continues to develop lagos, poor people would still keep migrating there.

@poster,
your comments are hillarious.

MY NAME IS CHARLES
I was popularly known in school as Charlie champagne

That seems to be a popular nickname because i had a friend with that name.

spankysid,
wooooooooooooooooooooow, what a great story, you make me have faith once again in Nigeria.

Gosh, i am so proud of him. Caltech!!! that is just wonderful. Now the thing is that we need millions more of this if Nigeria is going to develop and compete with the US in science and technology. What i am saying is that the Nigerian govt should create a trust fund to sponsor any nigerian student who gets into any lvy league university or any top 15 school to study any math or science related field on a J-1 visa, with a stipulation that they come back and teach the number of years that they were sponsored by the nigerian govt.

In other words, if you are not studying something like biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics or medicine, pele o sorry , go and look for someone else to sponsor you and if you are going to a school like Texas Southern University or a Panhandle state university instead of Stanford or MIT you too don't qualify for the scholarship. If Africa is going to develop, it needs innovative and brilliant scientists who can compete with the best of the best and are going to be able spur industrialization, new ideas and innovation in technology.

you forgot to mention his tribe.

Is he an Igboman from your core Igbo state or is the attraction you feel for him purely a physical one.

tpia, by the way, dabiri is a yoruba name.

are you saying the social projects by FDR were a failure?

Studies have shown that FDR's new deal extended the depression and it was WWII that got us out of the depression.

You see, Where I differ is the marketability of these bonds,Do you think these countries we are trying to block from giving us Counter Productive Aid will gladly buy our Bonds or provide enabling environment for it to thrive?
I seriously doubt it.

IFELEKE,
This is where i differ with you. Investors all over the world are looking for a way to make profit and they are always look at high yield bonds they might want to invest in, so if the Nigerian govt. decides to register bonds on the asian market or in the UK or US (you have to pay a fee for that of course), don't you think private investors around the world would take a closer look at it. It doesn't have to be George Soros or Warren Buffet, it could be a private equity fund or retirement fund, or some south african enterprenuer. It doesn't have to be a sovereign wealth fund who comes to your rescue and buys your bonds it could be private investors who are always looking for a way to make money and it wouldn't hurt if they took a second look at it. Even me myself, i would buy bonds if  i had enough cash  and if my country or my state was issuing bonds to build a new road because i know that the state can generate revenues from the road through toll booths (imagine a thousand cars paying toll fees a week). This is how things work in the US, local govt or state govts don't wait for the fed govt to allocate money each year to them, they raise money by taxes and borrowing (issuing debt instruments like bonds) which they pay back with interest. It could be a 3 year or even 100 year bonds but at least you would be getting your interest payments because unlike stocks, bonds are fixed income assets. Plus, the good thing about a bond is that if you are scared of the issuer defaulting on there payments to you, you can buy an insurance on the bond otherwise known as a credit default swap.

ha ha ha

Second of all, chill, it was a joke.

my bad

Michael Vick should move to naija.


People should not force there views (westernized) on others, like someone said, one man's pet is another man's meat. Afterall, the bible said we should eat meat.

No, let us creat the New state first, then when we are ready for the Zones, we can wipe out all those borders and start afresh.

strength10,
that would be a waste of money, geez can't you see that, goodness.

Now i know why Geithner said that nationalization was not necessary. I didn't believe him then, but now i do.

mr. toyinrayo, i thought you went to UF, but it doesn't look that way. By the way, if you want to understand what bonds mean, then go to google, then you would understand. In layman's terms, its borrowing or taking on debt to pay back with interest.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah nooooooooooooooooo o abeg , social security is about to bankrupt America in the coming years because the baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are about to retire and Nigerians stupidly want to start there own social security. Why not create a better system where people can work hard and take care of  themselves rather than relying on the govt.

Besides,Issuing Of Bonds is Another Thing Entirely.

IFELEKE,
Issuing bonds is the solution, that is how you borrow money to run your country. Where do you think the united states gets its money from? by issuing bonds. In fact, the $787 billion stimulus package that obama just passed through congress; the money came from issuing bonds, and everybody wants to buy US Treasury bonds because of there triple A rating, the chinese, saudis, japanese, UAE, brazil all want to buy US bonds so this is the only way to raise money for revenue generating projects like railway, roads, electricity. Then we should use our oil revenue and taxes on things that don't bring in cash flow like education and healthcare. Oil money should not be used for roads, electricity and so on.