₦airaland Forum

A deep and honest reflection on the unfortunate condition of the Nigerian state.

A long read, but it's worth it.

Our Plunging Naira -

Before you blame Emefiele, take a look at yourself...

It is either I do not understand economics and how exchange rates work or a vast majority of us Nigerians still don’t get how we have wrecked our country with our own curious choices. Just this morning I was listening to the radio and the lady on air went on and on about how she thought CBN governor Godwin Emefiele was incompetent and should be sacked because the naira was now exchanging at 309 or so to the USD. That view pretty much echoes the sentiments expressed by many people I know and it amazes me that there are Nigerians who actually think there is some magic POLICY that can make the naira strong in the near term. If my economics and my understanding of the way the world works are right, then that is as far from the truth as Jesus Christ is black.

The simple fact of the matter is that apart from oil that accounts for over 90% of our revenues, we really don’t have much of an economy. We hardly produce anything, we import even toothpicks, so exactly what policy is going to be implemented that will turn Nigeria into a top exporting economy in the near term? Where are our Apples, IBMs, Disneys, GMs, General Electrics, Coca Colas, Empire State buildings, Statues of Liberties, Lockheeds, Citibanks, JP Morgans, ExxonMobils, NBAs, Super Bowls etc?

Let me bring that closer home. There was a time long ago when Nigeria had a truly strong economy and the naira was one to the dollar - even exchanged for higher than the USD, but that Nigeria is not this Nigeria. Sadly that Nigeria was laid by the British, and this Nigeria (if you don’t believe in the nonsensical imperialist conspiracies like me) - fueled by the DAMAGING Indigenisation Decree, has been the creation of us Nigerians.Back then we had a booming economy.

We were either the top, or among the top exporters, of timbre, cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, palm oil, etc, in the world. Nigerians not only holidayed at home in their villages, at Yankari Games Reserve, at Obudu Cattle Ranch, at Oguta Lake, at Ikogosi springs, at Gurara Falls, at Mambilla Platueau, etc, we attracted international tourists who brought in loads of foreign exchange. Even Nigerian schools were foreign exchange earners because they attracted foreign students. We had different car assembly plants - Peugeot, Volkswagen, Anamco etc. Nigerian government officials only bought vehicles assembled in Nigeria for official cars. We had a thriving sports industry. We were not Man United or Chelsea fans, we were Rangers or IICC fans. We had the Nduka Odizors, people made money from sports. We also had companies like Lennards and Bata producing school shoes in their thousands, we had the thriving Nigerian Airways and the Aviation School in the north that produced some of the best pilots in the world.

In those days if you were brilliant you were respected much more than the crass money-miss-road contractors of today. Most of the Aje Butters I knew had fathers who were university dons. Back then it meant something to ‘know book’. Our textile industry was alive and well. Just recently I watched a news report on the textile industry in Nigeria on CCTV News. Though the main focus was on the comatose status of the industry, I was stunned by the gigantic Kaduna Textile Mill built in 1957. I could go on and on.

Today however, no thanks to our parents (and we must call them out the way Wole Soyinka did his generation) and many of us (and we should be remembered for failing our children if we continue like this), we have destroyed everything. Today for instance Nigerian football (which comes easy to me obviously) doesn’t appeal to us, we have to fly across thousands of miles to watch ‘our’ clubs play. Every year we collectively burn billions of naira being fans of clubs that give us nothing back, but some ‘entertainment value’ - simple pleasures for which we are ready to destroy the future of our children. Well people, payback time is here. Even with our ta-she-re money we all want to wear designer clothes and carry designer bags, Armani, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton etc. We all want to drive jeeps with American specs, our children must now school overseas and acquire the necessary accents to come back home and bamboozle their ‘bush and crass’ contemporaries that they left behind. Who holidays in Nigeria anymore, is there Disneyland here? No one buys made-in-Nigeria school bags for their children, after all no Superman or Incredible Hulk or Cinderella on them. We are no longer top exporters of anything and the demise of oil means we have zilch... zero. A country of 170m fashion-conscious people has no textile industry. We take delight in showing how our made-in-Switzerland Aso Ebi is different class to everyone else’s. When we help our musicians grow and pay them millions, they repay us by immediately shipping the monies overseas to produce their “i-don-dey-different-level”music videos. It makes no difference that distinctly Zulu dancers are dancing to a Nigerian highlife song. As stars concerned they also wed and holiday overseas to impress us all. All the musicians who acknowledge their Ajegunle roots now speak in a cocktail of strange accents to symbolise how much they have blown their monies overseas.

Were we a more serious people, the highly popular Kingsway Stores of the past would probably have a thousand outlets pan Nigeria today supporting a massive agriculture industry among others, but today we have the likes of SPAR, Shoprite, dominating the retail industry while Kingsway is dead. And we Nigerians make it a special point to shop from the Oyibos who have ‘cleaner shops’, ‘better this and better that’. For our personal pleasure we don’t mind them dominating us in our own backyard and shipping proceeds overseas.

I could go on and on, but I don tire. Even as you are reading this, stop for a moment and look around you. What you see will probably explain why we are lucky it is not N1000 to the USD yet. And don’t think for a moment that it cannot get there. Just continue to wear your Armani gear and Swiss-made lace, continue to spend your money on Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barca and encourage your children to do same. (My article in This Day tomorrow is on the Nigerian champions Enyimba FC - Nigeria’s most successful club - not having a sponsor, yet Nigerian brands pay over N600m to Man United and Arsenal for sponsorship to impress us.) Ehhh, no problem, continue to tell me the NPFL is rubbish or the clubs should clean up their act if they want sponsorship, mo gbo. Don’t curtail your interest in choice wines ( we were the number one champagne consumers in the world in 2015), continue to love your American specs, cheer the education ministry for letting schools sink to pitiable levels, don’t fight them to improve our schools, don’t chide them for letting schools drop Nigerian history and embrace British, America and whatever else curricula. Carry on with your love of French wines and Chinese silk, don’t bother about Jamiu Alli when there is Roger Federer. Stock up on your Italian, American, British products which you cannot live without, including the ‘baby soft’ toilet rolls produced only in that small unique village in England - the days are long gone since you were a broke student who used wet newspapers to wipe your butt. Don’t even consider holidaying in Nigeria, it’s too dangerous - you have to fulfill your dream of being Nigeria’s Henry Ford. Don’t listen to people like me who have a wardrobe full of only cheap adire that is actually cheaper than just one of your Tom Ford blazers. Please keep dressing in fine silk made in some exotic place so you can be addressed accordingly. Finally keep letting corrupt leaders who have looted your commonwealth and shipped all the monies overseas get away because to attack them does not fit your political narrative. Let us continue with the fine life, let us all continue to work for Oyibo.

But don’t forget that there is payback time and Emefiele is not your problem. Time for us all to look in the mirror and take responsibility.

...as written by KENNETH EZAGA
FRIDAY, 15 JANUARY 2016

A deep and honest reflection on the unfortunate condition of the Nigerian state.

A long read, but it's worth it.

Our Plunging Naira - before you blame Emefiele, take a look at yourself...
It is either I do not understand economics and how exchange rates work or a vast majority of us Nigerians still don’t get how we have wrecked our country with our own curious choices. Just this morning I was listening to the radio and the lady on air went on and on about how she thought CBN governor Godwin Emefiele was incompetent and should be sacked because the naira was now exchanging at 309 or so to the USD. That view pretty much echoes the sentiments expressed by many people I know and it amazes me that there are Nigerians who actually think there is some magic POLICY that can make the naira strong in the near term. If my economics and my understanding of the way the world works are right, then that is as far from the truth as Jesus Christ is black.
The simple fact of the matter is that apart from oil that accounts for over 90% of our revenues, we really don’t have much of an economy. We hardly produce anything, we import even toothpicks, so exactly what policy is going to be implemented that will turn Nigeria into a top exporting economy in the near term? Where are our Apples, IBMs, Disneys, GMs, General Electrics, Coca Colas, Empire State buildings, Statues of Liberties, Lockheeds, Citibanks, JP Morgans, ExxonMobils, NBAs, Super Bowls etc?
Let me bring that closer home. There was a time long ago when Nigeria had a truly strong economy and the naira was one to the dollar - even exchanged for higher than the USD, but that Nigeria is not this Nigeria. Sadly that Nigeria was laid by the British, and this Nigeria (if you don’t believe in the nonsensical imperialist conspiracies like me) - fueled by the DAMAGING Indigenisation Decree, has been the creation of us Nigerians.Back then we had a booming economy. We were either the top, or among the top exporters, of timbre, cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, palm oil, etc, in the world. Nigerians not only holidayed at home in their villages, at Yankari Games Reserve, at Obudu Cattle Ranch, at Oguta Lake, at Ikogosi springs, at Gurara Falls, at Mambilla Platueau, etc, we attracted international tourists who brought in loads of foreign exchange. Even Nigerian schools were foreign exchange earners because they attracted foreign students. We had different car assembly plants - Peugeot, Volkswagen, Anamco etc. Nigerian government officials only bought vehicles assembled in Nigeria for official cars. We had a thriving sports industry. We were not Man United or Chelsea fans, we were Rangers or IICC fans. We had the Nduka Odizors, people made money from sports. We also had companies like Lennards and Bata producing school shoes in their thousands, we had the thriving Nigerian Airways and the Aviation School in the north that produced some of the best pilots in the world. In those days if you were brilliant you were respected much more than the crass money-miss-road contractors of today. Most of the Aje Butters I knew had fathers who were university dons. Back then it meant something to ‘know book’. Our textile industry was alive and well. Just recently I watched a news report on the textile industry in Nigeria on CCTV News. Though the main focus was on the comatose status of the industry, I was stunned by the gigantic Kaduna Textile Mill built in 1957. I could go on and on.
Today however, no thanks to our parents (and we must call them out the way Wole Soyinka did his generation) and many of us (and we should be remembered for failing our children if we continue like this), we have destroyed everything. Today for instance Nigerian football (which comes easy to me obviously) doesn’t appeal to us, we have to fly across thousands of miles to watch ‘our’ clubs play. Every year we collectively burn billions of naira being fans of clubs that give us nothing back, but some ‘entertainment value’ - simple pleasures for which we are ready to destroy the future of our children. Well people, payback time is here. Even with our ta-she-re money we all want to wear designer clothes and carry designer bags, Armani, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton etc. We all want to drive jeeps with American specs, our children must now school overseas and acquire the necessary accents to come back home and bamboozle their ‘bush and crass’ contemporaries that they left behind. Who holidays in Nigeria anymore, is there Disneyland here? No one buys made-in-Nigeria school bags for their children, after all no Superman or Incredible Hulk or Cinderella on them. We are no longer top exporters of anything and the demise of oil means we have zilch... zero. A country of 170m fashion-conscious people has no textile industry. We take delight in showing how our made-in-Switzerland Aso Ebi is different class to everyone else’s. When we help our musicians grow and pay them millions, they repay us by immediately shipping the monies overseas to produce their “i-don-dey-different-level”music videos. It makes no difference that distinctly Zulu dancers are dancing to a Nigerian highlife song. As stars concerned they also wed and holiday overseas to impress us all. All the musicians who acknowledge their Ajegunle roots now speak in a cocktail of strange accents to symbolise how much they have blown their monies overseas.
Were we a more serious people, the highly popular Kingsway Stores of the past would probably have a thousand outlets pan Nigeria today supporting a massive agriculture industry among others, but today we have the likes of SPAR, Shoprite, dominating the retail industry while Kingsway is dead. And we Nigerians make it a special point to shop from the Oyibos who have ‘cleaner shops’, ‘better this and better that’. For our personal pleasure we don’t mind them dominating us in our own backyard and shipping proceeds overseas.
I could go on and on, but I don tire. Even as you are reading this, stop for a moment and look around you. What you see will probably explain why we are lucky it is not N1000 to the USD yet. And don’t think for a moment that it cannot get there. Just continue to wear your Armani gear and Swiss-made lace, continue to spend your money on Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barca and encourage your children to do same. (My article in This Day tomorrow is on the Nigerian champions Enyimba FC - Nigeria’s most successful club - not having a sponsor, yet Nigerian brands pay over N600m to Man United and Arsenal for sponsorship to impress us.) Ehhh, no problem, continue to tell me the NPFL is rubbish or the clubs should clean up their act if they want sponsorship, mo gbo. Don’t curtail your interest in choice wines ( we were the number one champagne consumers in the world in 2015), continue to love your American specs, cheer the education ministry for letting schools sink to pitiable levels, don’t fight them to improve our schools, don’t chide them for letting schools drop Nigerian history and embrace British, America and whatever else curricula. Carry on with your love of French wines and Chinese silk, don’t bother about Jamiu Alli when there is Roger Federer. Stock up on your Italian, American, British products which you cannot live without, including the ‘baby soft’ toilet rolls produced only in that small unique village in England - the days are long gone since you were a broke student who used wet newspapers to wipe your butt. Don’t even consider holidaying in Nigeria, it’s too dangerous - you have to fulfill your dream of being Nigeria’s Henry Ford. Don’t listen to people like me who have a wardrobe full of only cheap adire that is actually cheaper than just one of your Tom Ford blazers. Please keep dressing in fine silk made in some exotic place so you can be addressed accordingly. Finally keep letting corrupt leaders who have looted your commonwealth and shipped all the monies overseas get away because to attack them does not fit your political narrative. Let us continue with the fine life, let us all continue to work for Oyibo.
But don’t forget that there is payback time and Emefiele is not your problem. Time for us all to look in the mirror and take responsibility.
...as written by KENNETH EZAGA
FRIDAY, 15 JANUARY 2016

enieme:
the sister is 88 yrs old.

Lol.

*checks topic again*

Ok *walks away*

And the drama continues this week.

I just dey wait our Nollywood brothers and sisters make dem release de movie. E go too sweet. Na segun arinze go play Jonathan, Sadiq Daba go play Buhari, who go come play dasuki?

E nor wear rainbow today.... Change is here!

OP. Why don't you indicate the OS this works on. Cos it looks like Android alone.

fineguy11:
marlon brando aka Don corleone

Your head is there. (The GodFather)


How aabout this:
Never be angry at your enemies, it clouds your judgement.

missKiffy:
pls i need the download link for the two, the british and american version. thanks

I download torrents. Try Kat.ph and search. Though you'll need a torrent downloader.

Lemme know if you need more info to be more explicit.

OK. Movie freaks, it's simple. Drop a movie famous line and we provide the name of the movie.





I'll start with this:
I'll make him an offer he can't refuse[i][/i]

Let's Go!

missKiffy:
Aiit, watch the British version first, trust me u will love it, I tink d American version imitated it sef, wuld try and watch d American version too

OK. If you say so, as I love watching old movies based on recommendation. 2hours is too much to be wasted on some crap Mehn.

Thanks. I'll let you know how it went.

missKiffy:
Have not watched d American version but I love the British version so much, so am talking abt d british own

I've not watched any o. Just searched it now and found out there's a British(2007) and an American(2010) version. I'll try and see the two anyway. Thanks much.

missKiffy:
Thank you very much, you want to know why have watched death at a funeral and I so enjoyed the movie, to remember the title was now a problem Immediately I saw it now I knw that is it

There are two versions. The British and American versions. Which one are you guys talking about?

I go with enemaralph, -13.

*Whew* Eleyi gidi gan oo...

yinkardare:
November 4th

A day older, you must call me brother!

vantage7:
See pessimism everywhere.

I fear!

2years now and still counting... the assessment exercises couldn't break those who've made it this far. Truly, it has not been easy for anyone (the over-employed, super-employed, gainfully employed, employed, under-employed and the unemployed) coping with the looong wait. But this breeze of doom and gloom spreading here lately is unnecessary.

It's still 4 days into a new year! Let our spirits remain high!

ItsTime4me:
Thanks boss. Ehen na now you dey talk. All those 'this is NOT the week' info dey kill person moral. Now I think we have a renewed optimism. Thank you very much.

This guy.. Tell me you just pulled that stunt to pull out more info.

Congratulations Forkadict and Saved2Serve. Really happy for you. And I hope to be at the receiving end of this complement sooon.

Saved2Serve:
For those (NLNG hopefuls) of you not married yet, read this please and be guided

https://www.nairaland.com/2796754/wife-infects-husband-hiv-most

Heart of Man, desperately wicked.
No one can understand it.

Now, with this situation of his, what's his stand in the NLNG workforce,!?

NanaF:
Please don't quote me Cus I'll edit later.

Lol, it's a dilemma. But I'd keep my mouth shut. The risk outweighs the benefit.

When a less risky avenue presents itself to whistleblow, i'd take it.

Modified: sorry I missed that!

jamanuka:
A govt is budgeting N500bn for socialist program in a country that has no accurate database of its vulnerable citizens, at a time we need infrastructure like air, at a time NLNG needs to add more trains and employ people and people are hailing a "courageous" N6tr budget..claiming we are on the right path.

Well, I just hope they are right

This propane wey u wan put for this matter go turn water.. amen.

whatsupguys:
Bros/sis u come late watch out for episode 2 after nlng don send mail.

The way your blood dey hot Ontop this matter ehn.. lol.

Airsay has shown you he's a certified critic of this administration for the next 4years. No matter the means employed, no matter the end achieved.

People like this keeps democracy healthy in some way. Fayose is playing his own radical part too.

With issues like this being discussed, the thread will enter page 300 in no time when tk4rd adds his own 'craze'.

I don park o, but AC still dey ON.

artmedia:
lol @ best sauce. I am not o. Sorry for my late response.

Well, this week is definitely NOT the week. Though significant progress has been made and there's a slight chance they will give feedback towards the end of this month. If not, then certainly early Jan. #WeWait

Shalom!

This man! Dashing the hope of 'this week' since 1882 with this line..

How much I've wanted to remove that uppercased word with no success.. maybe I should try a bazooka!


Morning hopefuls.
God by my side, Victoria ascerta!

OP.. it's 'Fayawo' not 'Fire-wor'.

It's the yoruba translation of smugglers.

Kirigidi:
We Southerners shuld b wise b4 things get out of hand for us politicaly. We do not need a soothsayer to tell us dat Northerners ar mor xperienced nd strategic in politics than us. Wit d way we Southerners ar followin d "one man one woman" policy nd havin few children, while Northerners ar busy marryin multiple wives nd havin excess/numerous children, I tell u in 20 years d populatn of d North may double or even triple dat of d South. Nd at dat point, Southerners may continu to b at d mercy of Northerners politically, because populatn size is a political tool dat determines who wins nd who does not win elections. Wit d way things ar goin, a time may reach whereby only Northerners culd vote in or occupy d position of president by themselvs even witout support(votes) frm d south. But on d otherhand, no Southerner can emerge as president witout beggin d north for dia votes or witout he bin endorsed by d north. Pls, we need to b careful nd re-strategiz so as not to fall into such pitiable political situation.

I totally agree with you. Only one solution to it though; division to Northern nd Southern Nigeria. Simple but n uphill task to achieve!


Because of equality, the south cannot turn to pigs and start sheeting* out offspring. No way!

I just don't understand this backward thinking. Even the Islam capital, Saudi Arabia with a bigger economy and way less population (28.83m) are already considering population reduction policy, you people are spewing gibberish on religious grounds.
http://m.arabianbusiness.com/saudi-arabia-mulls-birth-control-policy-576866.html

Nigeria is a country with a smaller economy, more population with resources which its management is almost crippled with corruption. May God restore your sanity before it's too late.


With this perpetual unreasonable submissions coming from this part of the country, North-south division will not entirely be a bad idea afterall.

RealSleek:
I am not for biafra neither am I against it...if Nigeria should break, let it be into two- southern and northern Nigeria. in ten years let's compare the two and u will see massive development in the south, quote me anywhere

God Bless you sir!

tintingz:
Sorry Mr AY, you don't fit the role of Akpos, someone like Bovi is a good character to play Akpos.

Pleaase tell him. So that won't make the same mistake in future projects.

Chai.. how daat movie for sweet if to say na bovi play that akpos role.

Annais:
Lol...so one can't have an innocent converstion with the opposite sex?
Anyway, still searching for my bday mate...

Still searching for mine too.

OP.. you might probably have sorted it out already, but if you haven't, try this.

I will follow you forever: Emi yio ma tele o titi lailai.

I am yours for eternity: ti t'ire ni mo n se titi ayeraye.

Forever and till eternity can be used interchangeably so are 'lailai' and 'ayeraye', they carry the same meaning.

And yes, Annunaki is right, there's no yoruba word for kissing.