₦airaland Forum

London is not centrally placed.
Neither is Washington.

Infact, they are both in near-extreme locations in relation to the rest of their respective countries.
So, what is the problem?

No doubt you will tell me oh those are different. In what way?


[quote author=tpia@]Akure is not centrally placed, so making it the capital of a new sw region ( whatever that's supposed to mean), is not advisable for both strategic and logistical reasons. Towns and cities which are more centrally placed include ife, ibadan, etc.[/quote]

Whao! our state is now a buffer zone. I laugh o.

A virgin location, away from Lagos and Ibadan, and closer to us 'Ara Oke' people could be on the table.

Bottom line remains that the old order of things have passed. Everyone will come to the negotiating table as equals and with their own demands. A comment like 'there is no way the capital can be in Ondo' will be a very poor and infuriating start to what would be very delicate negotiations on a lot of things.

shymexx: bro, calm down. There's no way the capital can be in Ondo. Your state is a fault-line and a buffer-zone. Ibadan also doesn't look like a good choice. However, I'm looking at the map now and it seems Ogun, Ondo and Osun share borders. They can put it somewhere along that axis.

Sorry, I did not cover the second part of your response.

You refer to the size of Ibadan as a reason for it to be a capital. But that is exactly one of the reasons why it should not be the capital. It will be more difficult to develop into a befitting capital than a small Akure where there is plenty of scope even in the centre of town.

Language - I laugh o! Ibadan speak 'standard' Yoruba ke. Standard may be to you. But I tell you, majority of the people in my town will have to listen carefully, extremely carefully, to understand the type of Yoruba spoken by people from Oyo State. Why do you expect us to cope with your version of Yoruba, but you cant countenance coping with ours?

Just to let you know, the type of 'flat' Yoruba spoken in Lagos is the version more widely spoken here. Not the Ibadan/Oyo type.

Yoruba is a diverse language. Thinking that yours is standard and everyone must follow you is part of the problem.

Desola: Why didn't you make a case for Akure being the capital city with grounds for your demands; from the onset? Rather, you came out baring your biceps showing your tiny muscle and asking for anyone to come and see if they measure up.

Your approach was very wrong indeed.

I am a Lagosian, but I make for Ibadan to stay as the capital because of not rich heritage and accomplishments. Now, this is not saying that Akure hasn't achieved similar feat but it does not boast of similar size and diversity as Ibadan. More so, Ibadan's dialect is standard and easier to understand.

The idea that anyone in Ondo or Ekiti is sitting at home feeling cheated decades ago is ludicrous.

Two names are sacrosanct in Ondo state, and I suppose same applies to Ekiti - Awolowo and Adekunle Ajasin. These are demi - gods here. I have never met anybody here who criticise any of these people.

And if you read my write up well, I indicated that I was not pleased that the Labour party were campaigning that Ondo State was cheated in the past. I also went to Ife, and the extraordinary work of Chief Awolowo and his lieutenants remain with me.

So, I was only repeating what the Labour said in their campaign.

My point is and I hope you can tell me your view - Why can't Akure be the administrative Capital of a new SW region particularly as such will hasten development in Ondo and potentially Ekiti State. Why must it be Ibadan?

Waspy: Guy, i tire for you oo. How is Lagos and ibadan robbing Ondo and Ekiti. Did the formers hold the latters at gunpoint. In the defunct Western Region, there was due resource control and extensive/sparse/widespread dvpt across the region by Awo, and thats why u can talk of cocoa house and ife. Such cant even be said of other regions or subsequent govts. BTW, na only Ondo been dey farm cocoa those days?.If they felt cheated, we would have heard of their misgiving. Your point to me , is unfounded. Its just like Portharcourt or Warri accusing Abuja of robbing it, due to dvpts in Abuja, while Abuja is the seat of power.
Sincerely, mi o ro pe tiwa-n-tiwa ni e o

Concentrate on telling us why Ibadan must be the capital, come what may. I need to hear people's views on that. End off.

Christy G: op,
since when did u become the spokeperson for ondo state?
u do know dat d recently held nc meeting was held in akure wich was mostly attended by ondo state indegines and none of the rubbish u wrote came up.?i ave never had someone from ondo state who shhares dis stupid beliefs unless u are one of those fools from across the naija cos dey are already airing deir stupid comments.
FYI :deir is cocoa in other sw states not only ondo.

I agree entirely. The idea that all Yorubas must be clubbed together in one administrative region is nonsense. We can be friends, but we dont need to run a government together, unless we can reach reasonable agreement.

Pukkah: In addition to this, the beauty of talking together is that people have the freedom to belong to wherever they want. There's no force or coercion.

The study of development has shown that it is not all countries rich in natural resources that are developed. Also, it is not all developed countries that are rich in natural resources. Landlocked countries can be developed and access to the ocean does not guarantee development.

The good thing about this thread is that people are ready to voice out their fears and emotions. And if push comes to shove, the South West really has nothing to fear because it has the landmass. Oyo state (27,460 sq km) alone is just slightly smaller than the total (33,664 sq km) of Abia (5,420 sq km), Enugu (12,440 sq km), Imo (5,430 sq km), Ebonyi (5,530 sq km) and Anambra (4,884 sq km). Add Oyo to Osun (10,245 sq km) and you get 37,705 sq km.

There is no part of Nigeria that doesn't have the resources and the people (especially the South) to develop. And even for those who don't have the people, they can always bring in outsiders.

This thread is a good development. I prefer a small, developed country with happy people to a big for nothing, under-developed country with miserable and hate-filled people

Train is all well and good. But then, somewhere has to be the capital city of the region. That is the point of this discuss.

django1: Let me help this op, you see in the case of a break up and an o'dua nation is formed, the first thing that would be done (I believe) is to build a high speed train network within the major cities, once that is done there won't be any need for this jittery, sebi

May be my composition skills are not as good as yours. But this thread is all about Akure being a suitable and deserved capital and is specifically in response to comments on the other thread about Kwara.

Please let us keep the insults aside for now. You talk of Ibadan.

But Ibadan already has the 3rd largest GDP amongst Nigerian cities. It has less to benefit from being a capital thatn Akure, Ado Ekity, or even Oshogbo.

Desola: Why didn't you make a case for Akure being the capital city with grounds for your demands; from the onset? Rather, you came out baring your biceps showing your tiny muscle and asking for anyone to come and see if they measure up.

Your approach was very wrong indeed.

I am a Lagosian, but I make for Ibadan to stay as the capital because of not rich heritage and accomplishments. Now, this is not saying that Akure hasn't achieved similar feat but it does not boast of similar size and diversity as Ibadan. More so, Ibadan's dialect is standard and easier to understand.

I expect they will question my Yorubaness. But that changes nothing. And you having a field day thinking Yorubas are at war with themselves changes nothing too.

There is no need hiding our concerns for fear that Igbos or anybody else will say we are disunited. If anything, this is meant to be an intellectual discuss.

The bit about Ondo exiting the Southwest was just to draw attention. What is absolutely clear though is that we will not allow ourselves to be treated the way we were previously.

We want a fair prosperous Yorubaland where every child, wherether s/he is based in Ogbomosho, Ikere Ekiti, or Ifon has equal economic and social opportunity, and social justice which is at the core of Yoruba values, prevail.

In this scenario, there is no room for one group of people to lord it over others.

PointB: lol,

Ondo/Ekiti versus the rest of South-West. The Op is laying is bare for all, no to parasites in the new republic.

He doesn't want Ondo people to be asked to "go back to their villages/caves" in a future Yoruba country. Abeg let me take a VIP seat and watch as the fisticuffs ensue. It should be very interesting.

By the way @Op, your yorobaness is already being questioned, over to you!

Sorry everyone, I started the thread and appeared to disappear. I didn't mean to be rude. I ran out of juice on my laptop and was hoping it would be back but up till now, nothing. I had someone over to fix my gen, but when I got home it still didn't work. As a final act of desperation, I thought to try a DIY on it, and presto, it worked!

And no surprise, I see I have been attacked by the usual suspects. We shall see when the time comes!

Just to clarify again, I rarely get involved in the usual e wars (though I've taken the bait occasionally), - check my records.

All I am saying is that there is no reason why Akure cannot be the capital, in every sense. Lagos and Ibadan cannot keep taking and taking while Ondo and Ekiti remain behind.

Bringing the capital to Akure will ensure that Akure, and hopefully Ekiti get accelerated development - surely this wiull be to the benefit of everyone, including our great Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo people.

Of what good is Lagos and Ibadan, if everything around them remain more or less as they were in the 70's?

This is not about Mimiko/ APC.

Mimiko is actually a failure. The state is broke as I write. Speak to anyone in the state, even Labour suppporter.

If elections are held today, Mimiko will not get 30% of the vote.

I mean that.

It is interesting to see some folks, already sharing imaginary spoils in the event of a strengthened Federal structure. Hmm...I laugh. I laugh because these people who I guess are probably from Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos State think we are back in the 60's when Ondo (including Ekiti then) got a raw deal.

Katsumoto or some other person in another thread about the status of Kwara in a new federating structure had it nicely laid out in their heads how Akure will be the 'educational capital' of a new SW, with Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta being the commercial, administrative, and industrial capital. Someone else rubbished the idea of Akure as a potential new capital of the new structure, saying' for where?' I laugh again.

These self -centred and myopic comments typify why many in Ondo State decided during the last guber election to stick with Mimiko against the ACN candidate. One of the campaign strategies of the Labour party was to cast the ACN as a party of people who would come to Ondo State to take their resources in order to develop Lagos, Ogun etc. And Labour plastered the airwaves (radio in particular) with jingles reminding the people how Ondo state produced the Cocoa but 'these people' built Cocoa House in Ibadan. Uni of Ife was located in you know where, and Ikeja, among other places were developed with 'their' cocoa money.

At the time I thought this was just silly, ridiculous, and underhand. But guess what, when you see how some folks are already dismissing the goose that will lay the golden egg in any new SW states, you begin to wonder.

And I say this as someone who while not particularly interested in Nigerian politics has some sympathy for the ACN/APC, and respect immensely the astounding accomplishment of Mr Tinubu in rescuing the SW from the 'other' party.
I am also someone who can't understand why Mimiko continues to show little interest in SW integration agenda, and can't wait for his term to run out.

That said, I will say this, Akure will have to be the SW capital in every sense of that word or nothing else. All this nonsense about it being the 'education capital' - what does that mean? The argument in support of Akure is solid:

In any SW region/federating structure Ondo State will bring the following to the table:

- The region's only proven and producing oil reserves providing immediate access to oil and even potential foreign echange income

- The region's only and proven gas reserves providing a basis for powering the new region's economy to new industrial height

- The region's only immediate (from day 1) source of external revenue - Cocoa, Nigeria's current 2nd or 3rd largest foreign exchange earner

- One of the largest and soon to be one of the most successful single industrial parks in West Africa - OLOKOLA - with Dangote's refinery and associated cluster industries - another potential big foreign exchange earner for the new region

- One of the most naturally conducive water fronts in the region

-We also offer the first line of defence to your great Lagos, Ogun and Oyo. Is it not Ondo state people that will first defend you against any invading army from your perceived enemies in the East?. You want to be enjoying yourselves in Eko Atlantic, while our people are paying with their lives repelling your enemies

- I am not even going to talk about the 2nd largest deposit of heavy crude oil in the world. I'm not talking about it as I believe it may never be commercially possible to exploit it. So, it's probably not worth much at this point

- Compared to Ibadan, Lagos, and Abeokuta, Akure is compact enough to be developed into a befitting capital without the geographic and human complications of Lagos and Ibadan. Also, I suspect (I could be wrong) Akure is not as old as the other 3 places. One gets the impression that provided you have the compensation to pay, you can flatten half of Akure without much difficulty ( no insult meant to the indigenes of Akure). Also there is so much virgin land around. All of this will cost less than half what a similar exercise will cost in even Ibadan.

The above is what Ondo state brings to the table. When the time comes and we are all sitting at that negotiation table, you will have to tell us what your state brings to the table, and then we discuss.

You can't ask us to put all these on the table and and share with the rest of our people then turn round to say you want the capital in Ibadan. I[b]t won't happen[/b]. Ondo State will be better off forming a region with Edo, if they are interested. Ah, but then kidnapping,,,crime! We can remain with Ekiti! We do not all have to be in the same region to prove our Yorubaness.

History and location is not an excuse. London is to the far south within the United Kingdom, yet it is the capital. The fact Ibadan is central adds nothing to the debate.


We love you! Honest. But we know what we are entitled to. And in the Omoluwabi spirit, we are ready to share our resources with you without asking for special derivation. But you must make serious concessions to ensure that Ondo, Osun, and Ekiti all develop and are not laggers to Oyo, Lagos, and Ogun. Otherwise, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, should form their own region. Ondo and Ekiti (but Ekiti people and their petitions and political thuggery!) can form theirs. Maybe a West West region made up of Ondo and Edo states. Benin and Owo are ancient kingdoms who used to fight a lot in ancient times, but we have no problems with our Edo brothers.

Anything other than domination and manipulation by Lagos, Oyo, and Ogun citizens will be better. They either come to the table with fairness or they can bugger off with their Yoruba region. We will form our own Yoruba region too.

I have some knowledge of the Judicial system.

I can tell you that yes a Chief Judge can cause cases to be systematically killed off. Those saying Nigerian system doesn't permit a Chief Judge to do this or that are naive.

Does Nigerian law grant the NCAA responsibility for purchasing cars for the Minister of Aviation's use? No.
Does budgeting protocol permit a Minister of Aviation to commandeer an independent agency under its Ministry to purchase a fleet of cars for her personal/official use? No

But in practice, these things happen because for the most part, people always want to curry favour with their boss, hence they will go along with the boss.

In Nigeria, there's a big gulf between what the law, rules, procedures say and what officials do in practice.

Abuja High Court Judges are not from a different planet. They are Nigerians, so to hold them to a superficial and unrealistic standard of behaviour is naive. There's a lot of 'paddy' 'paddy' in the judicial system. Every High Court judge has aspiration to become a Chief Judge some day. Being seen to be 'stubborn' will not help.

Remember that the Chief Judge plays a big role in determining which Judge sits over a case - if he wishes to kill off a case, he will simply allocate those cases to those judges that can make it happen. He would know which Judge can do the dirty job, and which one not to approach.

Also, those saying how can Abuja Chief Judge kill off cases that are outside of his jurisdiction ie., Federal High Court, Appeal Court, Supreme Court.

But the news report does not suggest that this is what is happening. The report clearly relates to cases within the purview of the Abuja High Court, and most of the type of cases in question were started and are still at the Abuja High Court. If you can sabotage the cases at that level, then it will be left for the EFCC to appeal, and we know that organisation is even more corrupt and incompetent.

Just to add that systematically killing off a case is different from withdrawing a case. A Chief Judge cannot and will not do the latter as it will be too obvious. But using the system and personnel to kill them off slowly - that's doable.

Fashola actually uses a Land Rover discovery. Not Range Rover, which is far more expensive.

I know this cause I was stuck in traffic on way to MMA last year, looked to my side, and saw Fashola reading a book at the back of the vehicle to my right. I looked again and it was him. Interestingly, the guy had no out riders, no siren. No fanfare at all.

This Elumbah is clearly an Igbo-owned blog trying to muddle the waters to divert attention from the BMW -scandal. But their trick is all too obvious. Very amateurish.

That said, most Nigerians suspect that things purchased by govt officials are usually inflated. However, real evidence of grafts rarely comes to the public glare, until the current scandal - and the scale of the graft has shocked most people.

The woman just has to go. And she will...it's just a matter of time. She's going to be such a liability for GEJ that he will eventually dump her.

Whether genuine or not, under Nigerian law, this sort of agreement/contract is not enforceable. A contract that is formed on illegality stands on nothing. Contracting to transfer public funds into private pockets in this manner contravenes the laws of the land, so such arrangement cannot be enforced through the courts.

You cannot enter into a contract to commit a crime or an illegality.

Wetin man no go hear for this country!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24524707

Police in south-eastern Nigeria have arrested a woman who allegedly faked her own kidnap to demand a ransom from her husband. Nancy Chukwu is accused of conspiring with a man to stage her abduction in the city of Enugu and asking for 200,000 naira.

But the husband went to the police who then detained his wife and her alleged accomplice.

Kidnapping is a lucrative business in south-east Nigeria, correspondents say.

Mrs Chukwu, a housewife and trader, reportedly gave her husband's phone number to her alleged accomplice - an Okada man.

The man then called Mr Chukwu's husband and - pretending to be a kidnapper - demanded the money to be paid into an account if he wanted to see his wife again.

The woman is believed to have hidden herself with the man, waiting to get a positive response from the husband - Marcus Chukwu. But rather than pay the money, he went to the police who eventually traced the bank account to a friend of the motorcyclist.

Mrs Chukwu and the alleged accomplice were arrested, and a police spokesman later said they both confessed to the crime.

The husband said he was shocked by the alleged involvement of his wife.

It was not immediately clear if the incident would end their marriage, the BBC's Chris Ewokor in Abuja says. Lol!

This BBC reporter is a desperado. Of all the things happening in Nigeria, it's this rubbish story he can file to his masters in London.

If we assume that the remaining third are kids under 16 and some elderly people, then it means nearly 100% of all economically active Nigerians are engaged in corruption or biding their time to get to the right position.

If an adult Nigerian (lets leave out elderly people) finds himself in the 'right' position, he has more than a 95% chance of being corrupt, especially if he believes no one would notice.


Anyone that argues otherwise is deceiving himself.

Has the country had one too many crashes under her watch? Yes
Has safety records improved under her? No
Does she have an answer or a plan to make things better? No, since she believes it's an act of a god.

These are the most important issues when assessing her competence as Aviation Minister. The fact previous aviation ministers were just as bad is irrelevant.

She is incompetent, and she should go now. But we know she wont. There's more petrol-dollar to be carted away. After all, wicked Deziani is still there, despite everything.

It's a big mess.

geeez: No one from the SE?

I'm not sure if this was done along ethnic lines, but if you look closely, there are a couple of Igbo names (former UBA guy, and a couple others). But as with most things in Nigeria, the Igbos have been quietly shifted to the periphery either by design (I doubt), or just by the socio-political reality of the country (more likely).

It never pays to make too much noise in Nigeria. Even if an Igbo man was given a knife and asked to share the electricity cake, even he would have found it difficult to give anything to an Igbo-owned company in the North or Southwest. You see Abdusalami cornered Ibadan, but Yorubas would not bat an eye lid over that. It's business. But if he had been an Igbo man, there would be some disquiet, because of fear (irrational) of long term industrial sabotage and the likelihood that in a few years time, the Igbo guy would announce to the world that he brought electricity to Ibadan. I guess it is fair to say Igbos would be up in arms if the Enugu disco was awarded to a Yoruba-owned company. Country is messed up, I tell yah!

Another reason is that, when all is said and done, and the noise from all quarters are put aside, I suspect the big money in Nigeria is actually in the hands of the Hausas. The Yorubas - even if they don't have the raw cash, they have the quiet deal-making capacity to put something together. The Igbos - should have several individuals who can raise these sought of money, but they are generally not the best at putting together a sophisticated deal involving multi-parties - they are simply too individualistic.

As for the Ijaws, some of whom I understand are absolutely swimming in money right now, I think there are probably too few of them with the 'capacity' to handle a business of this complexity. Coming into sudden money and having a credible business pedigree to handle stuffs like these are two different things.

Just my opinion. No fight o.

Vandalism is going to be a big problem for these investors. The generator and petrol sellers are going to cause a lot of frustration for them going forward, and with their local assets (transformers etc) even more accessible than perhaps Telecom masts, they will face a bigger challenge.

Just got news from Akure, some Ondo State Commissioners were on board the flight. So much speculation about who was on board.

More than 5 hours after the incident, the responsible government department still can't tell the nation how many dead and who survived. Didn't they tell us a few months ago that they stopped Amaechi's jet from flying 'cos he did not submit the list of those on board, and that this was a requirement for all local flights.

“The Acting High Commissioner wrote
the immigration requesting to meet
with him on the issue Monday but all
to no avail, we haven’t got from them
officially. We learnt, though
unofficially, that the authorities made
a similar arrest of China citizens last
week but we don’t have details. We
won’t relent in defending the interest
our people here. We have to continue
with the struggle”.
“We counted 27 Nigerians in detention
that Saturday and most of them are
from Imo and Edo, Delta and Rivers
States, nobody from South West and
Northern states”, he added.[/quote]ASSUMING THIS REPORT IS CREDIBLE, then ...not much surprise there.

Why is it whenever the locals are fed up with Nigerians and ask them to leave, they always go on about being disturbed from running their 'business.'

Everything boils down to 'business' 'business' 'business.' Claiming a right to being left alone to do business in another man's land without reciprocating by abiding by their laws, and most importantly hating on your hosts is never going to get you anywhere.

First China;
Then South Africa;
And Kenya;
Then Lagos;
Now, Botswana.

Seriously, you guys have to check yourself, and see what you are doing wrong. You will find Japanese doing business in most countries, but you never hear them making trouble or claiming a God-given right to 'do business' on their own terms.

USA - no universal constitutional independence for local governments, though some State governments have passed laws granting quasi - independence
UK - no independence for local governments
Australia & Canada - no constitutional independence for local governments.
India, Argentina etc Same.

I can only think of Switzerland and a handful of very small countries with a semblance of independence for local governments.

Local government independence sounds all well and good on paper, but in practice it can create a lot more complications. Having 3 totally independent levels of gov't in a country, particularly one with an unstable democracy, could create new problems.


The current arrangement is certainly poor, but a full constitutional independence will be a step too far for now.

please don't forget Israel! where they came from originally

Oh, and Japan too.

Rapper Olubowale (Wale) Akintimehin claims a famous landmark victory by supplanting hip hop super star as the number 1 artist in the US billboard album list.

Ok, it's possible this guy can't locate Nigeria on a map (tho I doubt it, giving he uses his real name), but giving that only a couple of weeks ago, many experts in the music world hailed Kanye's new album as a potential game-changer, knocking that album off the chart after just one week, is a major achievement.

It also goes to show that you can achieve anything you want if you work hard enough, with God's blessing ofcourse. To top it all, it shows you do not need to change your African name into Calvin, Harvey, Smith etc the moment you land in Jand or Yankee.

Sincere 9gerian: ** 2015: 200 S-West PDP chieftains storm Lagos today

June 18, 2013 | 4:21 am

Invitations were also extended to 35 PDP kingpins in Ondo State. They include Dr. Olusegun Agagu, Sen. Bode Olajumoke, Chief Olusola Oke, Dr. Bode Iwaloye, Mrs. Mobolaji Osomo, and Sen. Gbenga Ogunniya.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/2015-200-s-west-pdp-chieftains-storm-lagos-today/

I laugh...so the president believes these folks can deliver Ondo State to him. Let's see:

Agagu - he's so discredited and held in contempt by the people here, I'd be surprised if this guy can deliver 1,000 votes.

Olajumoke - nice chap, but he lost his senatorial seat last time around. Besides he must be getting a little old & tired now. Besides, I'd be surprised if he's sufficiently impressed by GEJ anyway

Mobolaji Osomo - that's the IT/Communications minister right? I laugh again. She can't deliver more than her immediate family members. Honest. This woman was put up for d ministerial position by Mimiko. She's not a 'politician.'

Olusola Oke - Will certainly bring oput a few PDP votes, if he tries. His constituency and all that Okitipupa area is probably the only area in Ondo State that remains consistently PDP-inclined.

Iwaloye & Ogunniya - don't even know who these chaps are. Says it all!

Was speaking to a staunch Labour Party 'leader' who is a Mimiko devotee in Akure few weeks ago, and was shocked when he said, no one will listen to Mimiko come 2015 if, as expected,he asks them to campaign for GEJ. With a sitting Governor in Mimiko who knows he will be heading to jail if ACN/CPC wins the presidency, I still believe GEJ may win Ondo, but only through large-scale rigging spearheaded by Mimiko.

People forget also that whether the crude comes from Niger delta, Sao Tome, Equitorial Guinea, Cameroon, the price will be more or less the same, allowing for MINOR differences in transportation cost.

Also, the price of crude is not determined in Bayelsa or Port Harcourt, and not done on a paddy paddy basis. The fact he's Nigerian will not mean he'll get Niger Delta oil 1 kobo cheaper. Crude prices are determined by the international market, mainly in London, New York, and Singapore/Hong Kong.

So, he has little to gain from buying all his crude from Niger Delta, and I can bet that he will not lay a single metre of pipeline from Niger Delta. He doesn't need to. There are 'small' ocean-going badges that will transport several hundred thousand litres easily from any of the producing countries in and around the Bight of Biafra.

This flexibility will ensure that he's not in any militant's pocket.

I actually don't think they will rush into expanding their branch network. They have their model and stick firmly to it. They will continue to open new branches but in smaller numbers than the juggernaut that is First Bank. Zenith too is opening branches at break-neck speed.

Despite having the smallest network of branches among the top 6 banks in Nigeria, GTB is:

- The biggest bank in Nigeria
- The most profitable bank in Nigeria
- The most highly-rated (by foreign investors) bank in Nigeria
- One of the most efficient banking operations in Nigeria, though First Bank is fighting back.

I actually believe GTB's story is one of the most legendary in the history of Nigerian commerce. For GTB (and Zenith too) to start from nowhere and becoming more profitable than the juggernaut that was and still is First Bank is a remarkable story. When you think that First Bank is the Federal (and many state) government's bank of first choice, then GTB and Zenith's rise are even more impressive.

Up till today, I have successful (older) relatives who bank with other banks, but keep any money they can't afford to lose in First Bank, 'cause they believe, First Bank will be the last bank standing in the event of even a war!

When you think how GTB and Zenith have zoomed past previous giants like UBA, Union Bank, you know nothing is impossible.

Up till the mid-nineties UBA and Union Bank were so big! Though UBA is still large, it lags behind Zenith, First Bank, and GTB in many ways.