₦airaland Forum

There you have my dear country's typical reactionary solution to problems, if you have an headache just cut off your head abi.

Akolawole:
I knew two of our players that uses their real age;

1) Muyiwa Lawal (Dimeji Lawal's younger brother) and

2) Dan Amokachi

I played against Muyiwa in 1988 in Ibadan, he is really a kid, his nickname was "kokoro". A friend of mine was in the same secondary school with Amokachie in Kaduna in those days.

@Akolawole

Dem still twist the guy age small as kokoro was in my elder sister's class at Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) staff school in Ibadan and my sister no dey too old for her class at all. My sister was born in 1973 so Kokoro couldn't have been born in 1980 as I was born before 1980 and I dey KG1 or KG2 at this time.

I would put Kokoro's age between 1973 and 1975 so dem still subtract like 5 years from him age, the guy was always short though and always liked playing football, I beleive their Dad was also a staff of CRIN at the time.

[quote author=don_ciccio link=topic=202334.msg3172322#msg3172322 date=1228246961]When i was in secondary school I use to beg my friend that works in a textile co. to dye my faded jeans to black irrespective of the initial colour and it looks very 9ice. So i'd advice u visit any of the surviving textile mills.[/quote]my guy, yu be proper aro but that was really funny. I'll suggest you write a book titled "don_ciccio's book of absurd remedies to common problems". Can't stop chuckling.

megadeath:
this dudu space guy wats wit u sef?

granted,you are making sense;but do you have to go about dissing everybody?

na u carry am for head pass? haba!!

corrosive, much love, i know a kindred spirit when i see one, are u a member of our elite organisation?

dudu, eat your heart.

yes,lest i forget, check up timaya on any search engine, he,s like the hottest thing here.

seriously sha,the fact that you might be well versed in english does not mean you have the right to look down on everyone else

person brought his own views and ur calling him visually impaired??

na wa for you sef, grow up,

corrosive, lets hook up.

Oga Mega,

I'm not usually this abrasive but this particular incident annoyed me to no end and it does make my hackles rise when I think of it or if I perceive someone to be trivializing the issue which is in no way trivial. On a personal note, I've actually experienced a milder form of authority abuse (Police brutalization) in the past as well though not on the scale of what Uzoma went through and there were definitely no video recorders around.

I also never look down on any one but resent those who do, which is why I took up Corosive on that issue because he seemed to be making fun of bujuas. He has my apologies if he finds my response offensive but he should try to understand why some people feel the way they do about this incident.

On a side note, your name did conjure up images of a psychotic mass murderer before you explained the entertainment tie-in which shows you do have a softer side. It is good to be hard, strong and courageous as you obviously want to be but those attributes are not worth a thing if all you're going to do with it is to oppress others less endowed.

[quote author=onye_ngbu link=topic=201329.msg3168588#msg3168588 date=1228175849]oya tufia tpia tell us how to prevent it.[/quote]I'm not sure if this is what tpia had in mind but here are my suggestions:

Short term: Tougher legislature and law enforcement to prevent such massive loss of life when chaos like this ensue

Medium term: Convocation of an SNC and other talkshops to restructure our polity with the ultimate emergence of a true Nigerian constitution by Nigerians for Nigerians which considers all aspects of our diversity.

Long term: Elimination of the almajiri culture and provision of Universal basic education for all with adequate civics instruction to provide a true national orientation.

tpia:
isnt this typically Nigerian.

still no valid discussion on the causes and prevention of this type of madness which makes blacks in general and Nigerians in particular prone to kill each other over any flimsy excuse.

Instead we're here debating anything but the real issues.

na today?

bunch of lemmings.

You are right tpia, though I do disagree with the references to the black race as the Irish were fighting and detonating bombs not so long ago due to differences between Catholicsm and Protestantism while Sarajevo is also fresh in the memory and what of the Sunnis and shites in iraq, Kurds in Turkey e.t.c.
Small mindednes if you ask me, hence Jonanthan Swift's depiction of the Lilliputians going to war over whether to break an egg from the small end or the big end.

The Homo Sapiens specie does have a tendency to self destruction but it is not specific to those characterised by the abundance of melanin pigmentation in the skin, to believe otherwise is to swallow some bigoted caucasian's belief of them being a superior race.

Corosive:
@duduspace
1st that comment was not for you, which one be ur owm aproco for d matter. Second, do u even know d difference between a naval officer and a naval rating? You don't have to answer that cause judging from ur statement, there is no difference. What a shame, I feel so sorry for you.

You rather need to feel sorry for yourself as the term "officer" could have more than one meaning dependent on  the use of the word.  Since you seem to need a lesson in English, I will give you one.

An Officer could mean:

1. One who holds an office of authority or trust in an organization
2. One who holds a commission in the armed forces.
3. A person licensed in the merchant marine as master, mate, chief engineer, or assistant engineer.
4. A police officer.

In this instance, the poster was using it in the same sense as (1) because the naval ratings hold an office of trust (to uphold the ideals of the Nigerian navy)  in an organization (The Nigerian navy) while you are referring to the definition in (2). They may not be officers in the Nigerian navy but they are officials of the Nigerian navy.

We all know how fixated you are with the armed forces but you are only showing your petty nature by trying to get us lost in the specifics of the millitary hierarchy, you would do well to devote the time spent in such pursuits to understanding proper civil behaviour and respect for the rights of others.

[quote author=onye_ngbu link=topic=201329.msg3167742#msg3167742 date=1228164327]so because some people created something, no one can split it again? even if it was badly created?[/quote]Not at all, after all the old USSR was created by Stalin and scattered by Gorbachev. My point is that there are a lot of stakeholders in this project called Nigeria and that an individual's opinion might become totally irrelevant or ridiculous if rigidly adhered to without giving room to hear other opinions. I was only requesting that my dear Redhotchic ponder awhile before going totally gung-ho on the idea of splitting up Nigeria. Even if we are going to break up, I would prefer a peaceful and negotiated breakup.

RedHotChic:
Its not his family that is separating besides, i will wish for division into two nations i.e North and south because fragmenting Nigeria into many pieces will bring our economy to a halt.

Redhotchicito,

herein lies the Nigerian puzzle and the difficulty in arriving at a consensus? do you have any idea how many slices the other folks like Dave want to slice the Nigerian entity into? afterall, our dear nation is now sliced bread abi na pizza? are you even sure at the stage we are in, the Ekitis don't want their own nation (afterall Botswana has a population of just 1.7 million).
But ponder awhile and ask yourself this question, who are you to split what you did not create and also dictate how it is to be split?
No offence meant o, yu are still my favourite vixen on this forum and I don't want you to go the way of Sarah Palin.

savanaha:
I have a question maybe its because I haven't been on CNN or BBC lately or because no Americans are involved but why was the Mumbai situation so well braodcasted in the news but this stuff is not? I think maybe the government might have shame and help people if the international community was more aware.

PS

Strategic interests are at play my brother, remember the Afghan war? the taleban and the axis of evil? on a side not, the wahala between Pakistan and India is as much as the wahala between the North and other areas in Nigeria.

Same problem of brainwashing the illiterate local population with hate for anything they perceive to be against Islam. I won't be quick to lay the blame at the feet of Islam as there are nice and peaceful muslims but we all know we also have our ultra christian fanatics a-la Rev King and the various Born again business men (sorry, I meant pastors) with their various heresies. He that hath no sin, let him first cast a stone.

DavidDylan:
we've been singing SNC since 1993 and its obvious force is the only thing that would make the average northerner leave the perks of oil.
Your hope is misplaced i'm afraid . . . a split is our only option now.

The same way some people must have told Mandela his hope was misplaced when he was in prison for 20+ years. I also choose to beleive that there is always more than one option. I think it is a worthwhile principle to let an enemy see that there is an option to end conflict rather than martyrdom.

JosBoy4Lif:
We middlebeltans would be the most displaced people if Nigeria were to split, I will never support such a thing

I am in no way advocating a break up as we have so much to gain by being together (on a selfish note, I have also gotten used to boasting to foreigners that I come from the most populated country in africa, I always like the look in their eyes when I tell them our population is 140 million) but there is so much restructuring, reeducation, reorientation and other re,  that we have to carry out and it is definitely not going to happen overnight but an SNC is a good place to start. If we however don't survive it as a single entity, then so be it but I'm almost certain it won't come to that.

Seun:
@RedHotChic:  We should consider installing surveillance cameras.  If they can be identified, they can be prosecuted.
What are innocent citizens doing outside in large groups when a curfew has been imposed?
I'm not saying accidental discharge is not a possibility, but it won't result in 300 deaths in 2 days.
First degree murder is premeditated murder.  When you come out of your house with a cutlass with the intention to kill people, and you succeed in dong so, the result is first degree murder.  As for the policeman that was killed, I guess he was not armed.  I guess the police needs to have a special genocide control unit.  

This problem will not be solved by just legislation or law enforcement though they are good initiatives to start with. The social aspect also has to be solved hence my focus on the Almajiri problem. You can fight a fire either by combating it or by cutting off its fuel. The latter has often proved to be the best way.

JosBoy4Lif:
I don't have to prove it, go and google it yourself.
Good post.
Nigerian constitution is bonkers.
Maybe we should look at Belgium or the Swiss system

Think outside the box I said, not go deeper into it. The belgian or swiss constitution has nothing to teach us in terms of population or diversity.

JosBoy4Lif:
Dahomey and Oyo were waring well before the white man came to West Africa.
History does say that they used to pay tithe to Oyo, but that stopped.

You can trace their ancestry to Ile Ife, but the fact remains that they considered themselves different from Odua.

And who no fight war before? The Scots and the English or the Irish and the English anyone and even various clans within the Old English tribes such as the Normans and the Saxons abi you no read Ivanhoe? not to mention the Germans and the Austrians as well as the Russians and the balkan states.

But when you mix Hausa, Igbo and Yorubas plus a lot of other languages I can't even begin to count, add religion into the mix, show favouritsm when you are about giving them independence, continue to interfere in their affairs after "leaving" then expect them to start making love and not war.

Whoever thought that up must have been on some strange cocktail of drugs.

Think out of the box my brother, the root cause of our problems is plain to see if you ponder enough, problem is we are content to gloss over it and assume it doesn't matter but until we critically examine those issues and work out our "own" solution rather than all these American and British constitution we have only in writing but not in spirit our problems will remain with us and you and I and possibly our grandchildren will continue to have this conversation.

JosBoy4Lif:
The Dahomey people of Benin wanted nothing to do with Yoruba. So I don't know what 3 countries you are talking about.
Dahomey were always warring with Yoruba, although their culture native religions were/are almost identical go figure. Brothers hating brothers I guess.

Where did you learn your history from? or you are making the mistake of coming to conclusions about a soap opera in which you watched only the last episode? are you that ignorant to be unaware that there are Yorubas in Togo and Benin who trace their ancestry to Ife and formed part of the old Oyo Empire?

I don't want to get drawn in into that because that should be a thread in another forum, my point is that these colonial artificial partitions distrupted much of the natural and historical partitions that existed and are major factors in the conflicts that exist amongst different ethnicities in the various nations consisting of black people rather than what the other poster implied about the inability of black people to live together as a collective being some sort of genetic trait.

RedHotChic:
And the problem is not just in Africa. Our AA counterparts cry Racism, while they are the ones killing each other with drugs and violence.
Black people individually strong, but as a collective we are hopeless.

Good prognosis, wrong diagnosis, you stopped short of the black people's problem. There is nothing genetic about the inability of black people to live together as a collective, it is all due to the colonialists intrusion. Just imagine the Yoruba nation comprising of all yorubas spanning about 3 different artificial countries as one country, we might have other problems to sort out but we definitely would not be killing ourselves like the Hausas are doing to other tribes up north.

Pataki:
No wonder Nigeria will always top the list of the most dangerous countries in the world.

Deep seated hate and tribalism.

You get am my brother, I tried convincing a friend recently that the only place she had to fear in Nigeria was the Niger Delta and that the foreign press doesn't really understand us, then this springs up. Anyways, we are a work in progress and what doesn't destroy us only makes us stronger, and all the other blah blah blahs you can think of but none of those make you feel any better bout it.

Corosive:
I don't remember seeing any Naval officer in that video.
@bujuas
You seem to have a personal grudge with naval officers, do u mind sharing?

Possibly because your visual acquity falls within the range medics will in layman terms call "blind" or to be politically correct "visually challenged". Whichever you find acceptable, the end result is the same, go consult an optician.

RedHotChic:
You don't know how right you are. The best comment so far.

I had to experience it to know what it is like and I thank God I lived through it. Some of the boy's who go on this rampage should actually be classified as "child soldiers" cos some of them will definitely be at primary school level of education. It is a terrible thing when people are brainwashed with hatred from such an early age.
Solving the Almajiri problem would have a knock on effect of ending these incessant politics induced ethnicoreligious crises as it would eliminate the sheer mass of idle people available to cause havoc.

When do we get that SNC to determine if we really want to keep this country one? and please someone better do somethin about those idle "Almajiris" and send them to school while enacting an anti-terrorism law that would send those terrorist rabble rousers who call themselves Alfas up north to life imprisonment.

It seems to me that the Northern elite seek to keep the large almajiri population ignorant and uneducated so that they can be used as political tools but they should be careful as the monster usually outgrows its owner as the US now well know with Osama and Saddam.

The story of those corpers was heart wrenching and reminded me of how close a shave I had in Kaduna during the 2002 Miss World riots when we had to drive through some kilometers of roads blocked by those blood thirsty vampires to seek refuge at the Kaduna millitary barracks before we could then make it to the Kaduna airport where we temporarily became refugees when there were no flights out because planes weren't coming in due to the security situation.

megadeath:
@duduspace

duduspace, you amuse me.I know u have the time to go on and on,afterall you re probably a very comfortable civilian(bloody, at that).So, i,ll be the bigger man and back off.
i no go fight you.

A pathetic attempt at taking the moral high ground, though a long way off from the moronic sounding spitfire who came here to let us all know just how bloody we are as civillians. I would suggest you stick to your new found "bigger man" persona and spare us the sarcasm.

megadeath:
let me just make a few things clear.
you just went and listened to timaya,s album and started coming up with fictitious tales of rape,,,,d,ya know anyone who was raped?

i,ll educate you, my little buddy.Odi was all the fault of the people of odi,,,,,,,,go and find out.they killed a whole bunch of unarmed soldiers under the pretence that they wanted to have an innocent conference with them

haba!

in which armed forces?.they had to be taught a lesson:sorry to say.

Silly question yu're asking me, do I have to know one person personally to be aware that such an event happened? very soon yu'll be suggestin I ingest poison just to make sure that it actually kills people? are you aware that there were interviews with women who went through this horror at the time? while I condemn the killing of soldiers who were serving their country by some misguided revolutionary wannabes, I am also appalled at the disproportionate use of force and indiscriminate killing of the innocent along with the guilty by an organized force which could and should have handled things better.
For your information I don't even know who Timaya is as I'm not presently resident in Nigera. I'll google and get more info about the guy as it is always good to know people who are reppin Nigeria well with their God given talents unlike some dunces on this forum as well as what seems to be the majority in our armed forces who seem only interested in dragging us further into the mud.

megadeath:
yes,duduspace.you are correct, (for once)i am not among the 23 year old officers doing nigeria proud abroad.I am 19 and still under tuition in the Nigerian Defence Academy.But insha God, one day i,ll have the opportunity to prove my mettle.

Now i didn,t say Nigerians are misguided.i meant niger delta militants,,,,,,,m,kay?

i have a family and i love my people


i am proud of myself.i have every reason to be.

For a 19 year old, I sure hope you know that you are above the legal age of responsibility and are now considered to be an adult, If proving your mettle means defending your country and projecting it in a favourable light as the other soldiers yu mentioned previously then you have my best wishes and prayer but if it means taking actions similar to what is being condemned here then you have only curses, scorn and possibly a dishonourable discharge to look forward to.

If you indeed have a family that you love, then you will join every rational thinking person in condemning what has happened and also pray and work towards a Nigerian Armed forces that will be disciplined and professional in action and disposition both home and abroad.

megadeath:
what is your profession,duduman? are there no bad eggs in it?tell me.my beef with you is that you are generalising, but then ur a civilian(bloody)so you probably can,t help yourself

wake up my man

I don't beleive my profession is of any relevance here, if you are trying to point out the fact that there are bad eggs in every profession, I would agree with you but as to your beef with me I will point out that I am not generalising as I am in no way suggesting that all Millitary men are indisciplined or wicked as those who caused the latest disturbances.

I however have an issue with the disposition of most members of the Nigerian armed forces as exemplified by your initial contribution to this forum which was not conciliatory in anyway but rather an attempt to intimidate your so called "bloody civillians" a term which is derogatory in itself and a relic of an indisciplined and politicized armed forces which had lost its orientation and considered itself as being superior to civillians rather than the humble position of "service to the community" in defending it which was the founding principle of the armed forces at its conception.

I'm also disturbed by the response of your leadership to such irresponsible action by its members as indiscipline actually filters down through the ranks from the top after all you minions who are at the bottom of the ladder are supposed to be "zombies" who obey the last order or something like that.

@Chukwuify

It is so unfortunate you have to go through this but your case is likely one of many involving some "smart" non EU nationals (including a lot of Nigerians and Indians due to their large populations) who marry EU nationals for economic reasons so that they can legalize their residence in the country.

I'm sorry to say this and I might not be right but the guy might never have really loved you. I've heard a couple of stories such as this in Ireland where I reside, which has led to an attempt to alter the legislature regulating such multicultural marriages which is being resisted stiffly by a lot of people across the various divides as marriage and love are complex issues which are difficult to legislate.

It is also important to understand that there are still quite strong influences of polygamy in our various cultures in Nigeria which permit men to have more than 1 wives and is still a major cause of friction in various households in our society.
You definitely could not have known about all of this and were unfortunate to get involved with a less than sincere person.

My sympathies go to you and your son who will most likely be most affected by all of these due to his bi-racial origins and the abandonment of his father who could have helped him in understanding and embracing the Nigerian part of his heritage.

Please don't assume that all Nigerians are like this and help your son understand while growing up that it was solely his father's decision and approach to life not a general disposition of Nigerians, you can also try to locate his grandparents and family in Nigeria as most families I know will never turn their backs on their own and consider blood ties to be sacred.

Also, take courage from the Barrack Obama story and the influence of his bi-racial heritage and abandonment by his father early in his life in shaping Barrack's world view, embrace of diversity and seeming reconciliation of outwardly divergent views which ultimately led him to the white house.

This is yet another example of the distortions in the christian doctrine as practiced in our churches. This belief that your pastor is the voice of God who must not be questioned is bollocks, the pastor is a human being just like yourself who might not always be speaking the voice of God. It is a stupid but well hammered belief that has caused all sorts of absurdities ranging from pastors impregnating and aborting babies for female members of the congregation to ordering church members to beat and kill other people a la Dr. King.

Having said this, you and your boyfriend need to look inwards as my belief is that no one is responsible for your woes but yourself either by your actions or inaction. Your boyfriend should not blame the pastor for his academic issues because he chose to hand over the direction of his life and actions to the pastor by himself which was a conscious decision on his part.

It is also my belief that if a person has planned how he wants to live his/her life with God then no one can intrude to cause distruptions in such a life so your Guy has to sit down and determine in what direction he wants his life to proceed. I'm sure there are a lot of so called "Sunday, Sunday" christians in your church and no matter what your pastor or anyone says to deride them, I can assure you that some of them are truer examples of christianity and will enter the kingdom of God before the pastor himself because God examines the heart and not all this charismatic razz-matazz we've all grown accustomed to seeing.

[

megadeath:
@ obalende
true that.i,m ashamed of myself,,,,guess i was just annoyed.afterall,my family members are civilians too.



@duduspace

You civil bastard.what do u know about the military?first of all,the nigerian armed forces is the bedrock of discipline.
secondly,what do you know about bakassi,you ignoramus.you think it,s just a matter of guns?fool,please!!,,,,,,know now that the entire camerounian armed forces can be destroyed just by 1 division of the nigerian army,,,,,,,,,go and find out why we didn,t go to war.are you aware that the bakassi pennisula is located close to our other oil reserves?u want a war full of explosions there?who,ll suffer?
Now,nitwit,,,what do u knw about nigerian forces abroad?are you aware that nigerian officers of not more than 23,,,24 years of age that are straight from the NDA are doing the country proud in darfur,liberia?
You bastard,,,,what do u knw about niger delta?probably what u hear from militant propagandist,,,you think we don't know what we are doing by using the minimal amount of firepower and aggression against our own misguided people?sign up for a day in the armed forces,,,,just one day,pussy!
i regret the actions taken against the young lady,but for people of ur type,won,t mind beating u to a coma,,,civilian bastard.

Idiotic son of a gun, do you think I'm an offspring of one of the women you brutes raped at Odi? If your so called force was so disciplined what was done to the soldiers who did that to their own country people? and that was minimal amount of firepower abi, I wonder what maximum amount of firepower will be, probably a nuclear bomb eh. Thank God say Nigeria no get that one, lunatics like you and the Aro-cius Admiral would have used it on us to show us how strong you are.

I'm definitely sure yu're not one of the 23, 24 years of age doing us proud in Darfur and Liberia as you speak from both sides of your mouth and you sure are one confused bloke, besides why wouldn't they do us proud there? you go to Darfur and touch supporter of APC pikin if them no go show you the colour of your intenstines before dem tie am for your neck like office tie.

Now I understand your problem, all others are misguided while you are the only one with clarity of vision abi? my brother sorry to disappoint you, the truth is that it is a mental condition you have and Psychiatrists call it Lunacy I'm also sure it is an after effect of the atrocities you've commited on your battle fields both real and imagined.
I'm not so sure a shrink will fix you, you might also try a spiritual solution but watch out cos there are a lot of pretenders in that arena in our dear country, on second thots maybe those are "your own misguided people" yu're talkin about.

I didn't know you had civillian kith and kin because from the way you spoke before I thot you came to this world fully clothed in millitary regalia but it is good you now remember that aspect of your humanity which precedes your enlistment in the armed forces. I do hope for your sake and your family's that aspect of your humanity has not been totally consumed by the zombie aspect of the millitary which is taken to a whole new ridiculous height in the Nigerian millitary.

I would advice that you remain ashamed of and for yourself rather than this two faced dual personality you're developing which will only bode a future problem for you in the new democratic nation we are building, it will do you much good rather than trying to convince me to prove my machismo by signing up to the army which is possibly what originally led you to the army.

Sorry to disappoint you, I don't consider terrorising harmless people with guns while hiding behind a uniform to be the definition of courage for me, it is the height of irresponsibility and cowardice.

Ellyptical:
I love those lines. People like Ogboraph, Arogz, Bastrin and Corosive need to read those lines.
They are the kind of people that do not love a society in which[b]All Men are Equal.[/b]

Don't mind those guys, they are an interesting lot because it is not everyday you encounter beings of the Homo sapiens species with the cranial content of the Homo erectus species. Silly lot who want to remain in the dark ages. So dumb that I wonder how they learnt to browse the net, I guess they must be minions of some yahoo yahoo big boss hiding out in one dark hole somewhere far removed from civilization.

megadeath:
Civilians are having a field day denigrating me and the rest of my brotherhood,,,,,,,,,,,,,,because of one man,s mistakes,,,,,,,s,ok sha, u can all run ur mouths,,,,,,,,,,,,,and ur fingers,,,,,,,,,,,twill do the nation good,,,,,,,,,,,,but KNOW that if u eva feel inclined to assume,insult,disrespect,,,,,,any of us,worse treatment will be meted out to you;;;;;;;sue me

Will you shut that bottomless pit of scum you call a mouth up, one man's mistake is not the problem rather it is the attitude of your leadership which permeates through the entire structure of the naval and the entire armed forces at large.

Where is the so called discipline you are supposed to be known for? if your leadership had acted or had been known to act on issues like this would anyone be making any noise about it? rather than do the right thing all your stupid spokesman could tell us was that there was some provocation on the part of the victim, provocation my foot. Goes to show that you lot are good for nothing.

If you were good for anything, then Bakassi Peninsula should still be part of Nigerian now but Obasanjo had to give it up when the Cameroonian Gendarmes were slaughtering you idjuts like chicken. Where was your grandstanding then? Oh I forgot, the Cameroonian Gendarme is a whole different kettle of fish to a defenseless woman who was fagged out after a day at work.

What war have you ever gone to? apart from the bolus of eba you stuff down your throat with your eyes bulging out as if they would pop out anytime while you anxiously look around fully prepared to bolt if anyone or thing that looks like a Niger Delta millitant should make an appearance and of course the royal rumble you and your woman do on the bed before you wake up the next day and beat the living daylights out of the poor creature who must by now be cursing the day she married you.

Yes, we will continue to insult and denigrate you until you return to the true spirit of what an Armed forces should be and I know we will one day be proud of our Armed Forces again and clear the road for them without needing to be intimidated and harrased to do it the only thing is, it is not likely you will be part of such a disciplined Force.

Hmm, Do I see a trend developing? all sorts of divides springing up:

Resident Nigerians vs Nigerians in the diaspora
Pessimist Nigerians vs Optimist Nigerians
Average Nigerians vs Not so Average Nigerian

stereotyping, fallacious assumptions and all the bollocks that keep us right where we are.

@Scanless even insinuates that I've forgotten about the pain in Nigeria where I come from

If you could only just take a step back and consider the "enemy's" opinion, you might find out it is not radically different from yours.

Anyway, I remember a certain verse in the bible saying something like always having wars in this world so what should I expect?

The facts as I see them are these:

1. The Nigerian economy can be much better than it is with our abundant resources and population.

2. The Nigerian economy will be in trouble when there is little or no demand for oil if it is not diversified.

3. The standard of living in Nigeria is abbysimal compared to the developed world.

4. Despite points 1-3, there are aspects of our living in Nigeria that I would never willingly exchange with that of the developed world.

5. Despite points 1-3, Merryl Lynch could have arrived at the conclusion they did using the indicators they chose and elation, astonishment or despondency at the classification of Nigeria as the safest economy is dependent on personal interpretation and might be a good subject for a Psychatrist's pet project after all a study found out some years back that Nigerians were the happiest people on earth a conclusion I couldn't understand then and thought ridiculous until I was out of the country.

6. Despite points 1-3 a lot of Nigerians in the diaspora myself included dearly love our country hence one of the reasons why we send so much money home in foreign currency having a lot of our kith and kin back home and not losing our attachment to the land of our birth regardless of what blokes like scanless say. And that is the reason why we will always portray it in the best light we can despite its obvious shortcomings.

7. Despite points 1-3 I still beleive no one has the right to deny the land of his birth because I am now well aware that no society is perfect and those who deny their country due to its shortcomings, choose to denigrate it at every opportunity or refuse to see anything good in it are running away from reality, self centered or have other personal issues to resolve and can never be useful to any nation they choose to embrace as they will remain perpetual grumblers.

felifeli:
@sledge406
Never mind I only knew this because Glite IS my sister , and she happens to be married to Pafun (Ugly Britain) , and as a matter of fact her account was not suspended but completely DELETED. but that is not the issue here as even Glite is not worried ; what bothers me most is that Nigerians abroad feel so badly about Nigeria and in I think in a case where Nigeria is at war with any country abroad they need not use their own army because they will be able to find sufficient Nigerians to fight the battle for them against their own country. It is a terrible shame.

@felifeli,

I do understand how yu feel but this statement is not exactly true, most Nigerians I meet in Ireland love and miss their country apart from a silly (IMO) blockhead in my place of work who told me he was no longer a Nigerian when I wished him a "Happy Independence day" at work on October 1 this year and another was a religious bigot (IMO) who told me he was a citizen of Zion and not of Nigeria.

There is a lot to be sad about in our country particularly in terms of our economic well being as well as respect for human rights and enforcement of our laws but we also have a lot to be happy about.

You might find it an irony that I love my country more now that I'm out of it than when I was in it when I just couldn't stand our myriad problems. Some of the people who comment negatively on the forums do love their country but allow their emotions cloud their judgement in analysing the problems we face as a people, they want Nigeria to be like the developed countries where they live (just as I do) but they can't seem to understand that the origins, experience and evolution of those people are unique to them and is a lot different from ours.

I came to the realisation that the developed countries do have their problems too, there is no perfect society anywhere and there are things that people from developed countries have to envy in our country also. The important thing is to encourage the improvement of our society as a whole and any development that points towards that improvement should be applauded and encouraged.

As someone put it, people should learn to complain less about the darkness and do more about shining the light in their spheres of influence.

okuya:
well I felt sorry 4 miss Okere, and honestly was bitter about the whole incident, but my sympathy died down as soon as I heard her dad was a rtd colonel from the army, who knows if her dad did the same thing, remeber NEMESIS!

@okuya

please don't let your sympathy die down even if it is nemesis, we can't do much about yesterday or tomorrow but we can only try our best today. Besides if we should go down that route, then most of us should be sold as slaves because most of our fore-fathers sold the African-americans as slaves or did other terrible things in the past.

mendax:
my comment (which is not up for debate) is that military men DO PAY TAX!

Having said that & with all due respect to the matter at hand, i wish nigerians could dedicate such vigor in terms of airspace, newspaper posts & nairaland threads, to the prevailing power situation in the country, probably by now the much acclaimed & awaited state-of-emergency would hav been declared!!

Haba mendax, yu be soldier? you spoke with such authority.

Let us all hope and pray that this would be a turning point for Nigerians in taking a stand and actively pursuing corrections to what they beleive to be wrong in our polity.

Kobojunkie:
Hey!!! It is a DEBATE forum. These threads are created for people to exchange ideas and debate issues. It is not about it being good or bad as in my opinion, the picture we have today of the economy does not seem a lot different from what we had back 10 years ago. Just wanting to make sure I understand what you mean is why I picked out the portion that I did so you could respond.

I know it is a DEBATE forum but I choose to be nice while putting forward my points (a mindset that Obama's election victory seems to prove effective) but I beleive that my points are clear enough and not condescending in any way.

The picture we have today might not seem a lot different but I can assure you that it is quite different with the major difference being that there is some desire (no matter how little) to improve things and a steady though painfully slow return to proper economic management principles.

Also, ten years ago we were just coming out of the Abacha years (when the exchange rate was at an "artificial" N22 to a dollar) and the Naira was on a free fall to the present levels. Since the middle of OBJ's first tenure (about 7 years ago) when Okonjo Iweala and Soludo came into Finance ministry and CBN, the dollar has stayed tightly between N105 and N145 which is why I used the term "sort of steady state".

I also know that Oil prices have fallen and I did point out that our economy is still subject to oil price fluctuations though I wouldn't paint a picture of total gloom just yet as there is still likely to be "enough" demand for oil within the forseeable future but our window of opportunity is closing fast to diversify our economy and we don't seem to be doing enough just yet.

Kobojunkie:
Now, I am not an economist, but I have to ask. When you say “our economy has reached a sort of steady state”, What in the world do you mean? Paying off of debts started back during Abacha’s time, but most all the others have remained the same way for over 30 years. What did we reach? When?


Someone noted that oil prices have now fallen below $58 a barrel and may continue to fall. The Country is already scrambling for ways to find loans.

Pardon me if I didn't explain well, hence my using the phrase "a sort of steady state" I was trying not to get too much into the minutiae of details but I think Raskimono and ikeyman00 have filled in the gaps.

I wasn't trying to big up Nigeria unnecessarily (though I have no grudge against someone who chooses to do that as I beleive you should carry the flag of your country as high as you possibly can within the limits of honesty) but my point is that Merryl Lynch could conceivably have arrived at that conclusion with the indicators used in their study though that says nothing about the relevance of those indicators.

If it makes you feel any better you can consider this seemingly positive statement about Nigeria as a quintessential example of what I call the  "Forrest Gump" phenomenon.