₦airaland Forum

there are legitimate questions to be asked about his leadership qualities and overall performance. it's unrealistic to suggest that only ijaws may raise these questions. he's the president of the country, not his village.

what a joke. pdp has been provoking ordinary nigerians for years.

am surprised you needed the strike to confirm to you that lagos is the economic capital. no disrespect intended, but it doesn't help that folks feel the need to create endless meaningless threads.

i'm not even sure a snc will be a good start. put simply, there are currently too many entrenched positions and the north which previously will have used its dominant political position to keep a lid on things at such meetings is  weakened and no longer has the leverage to 'dictate.' with beroms/hausa fulanis pointing accusatory fingers at each other; igbos berating notherners for not protecting its people; and ijaws insisting they want resource control; and others wanting their own ethnic agenda included in the talks, i see a lot of walkouts if not fisticuffs within the first few days of the snc. it woulb be almost impossible to achieve any form of compromise that appeases the main protagonists.   positions are now too enthrenched. snc should have happened a few years back. now people eyes don open, even the minorities are no longer fearful of taking on erstwhile powerful blocks. an snc has a good chance of bringing a civil war closer. once people make accusations and walk outs follow, then underground moves for something nasty will begin & the politicians will lose control to splinter groups with each ethnic enclave. i suspect the politicians know this and prob hope by declining snc, they can hold nigeria together longer and find solutions to its myriad problems. whichever way you look, there is no easy answer.

whether he reverts or not, his presidency is weakened through the loss of the substantial public goodwill/support he enjoyed in the immediate aftermath of his election. whether through ineffectual response to boko haram or just the widespread impression of a man who is operating above his scale, the general public, including my gej-loving grandma, now believe he is a weak leader, who, although a 'nice' person, is not cut out to lead a country like nigeria. even my 10 year old niece feels sorry for him, as according to her, 'he's not strong enough.' that says it all. the president is simply unconvincing. on your specific question, it'll be a damaging humiliation for him to revert to 65 naira. what we are likely to get is some kind of face-saving fudge that goes halfway to pacifying the public in the interim whilst doing enough to keep okonjo on side.  subsidy will go eventually, but i can't support it until i see the government attacking official corruption, waste, and profligacy with the same zeal as its current unprovoked economic assault on the masses.

as far as i'm concerned her supervision of the latest round of outrageous executive profligacy, in the shambles that is the 2012 budget, has shot her credibility to pieces in my eyes. under her watch, we now have to dole out 1billion to feed 2 folks & their families. yet she threatened resignation unless her viscious attack on the masses - the poorly prepared oil subsidy removal - was executed. i'd personally let her return to her world bank pronto

in my day to day dealings, i dont see this supposed anti igbo culture in the southwest where i'm based. my igbo, yoruba friends all relate without any hint, suggestion, or trace whatsoever of anti igbo prejudice. i just dont see it. no doubt, in the wider public, some amongst igbos & yorubas harbour preconceived ' often suspect historical ideas about the other group, i see no evidence that yorubas are in any way preoccupied with igbos, anymore than igbos are with them. the comments attributed to the alleged yoruba lawyer are no more than the views of a misinformed man. also, what has the supreme court got to do with this. every person - lawyer - called to the nigerian bar authomatically carries the title 'solicitor & advocate of the supreme court of nigeria.' does that justify indicating that the personal comment of a lawyer represent the view of the supreme court. i think not, and i think the thread title is anti intellectual and a mischievious and desperate attempt to perpetuate the half truths about the country's supposed fatalistic preoccupation with victimising, or 'wiping out' igbos. this ill-informed and childish attempt to grab attention will only hurt support for real & genuine igbo-centric issues.

well done gbawe, a worthy winner, and a decent contributor. onlytruth, a genuine & passionate advocate. katsumoto - only ever come accross katsumoto's contributions a handful of times - surprisingly - and i can only say  you are the most polished writer & debater in the politics section. no one comes close. nonetheless, would've voted gbawe for this particular award.

also, i dont believe one can rely solely on western standards to qualify city status in the nigerian context. the criteria used must have a local content taking account of where we are in the development space. on that basis, i'll be confortable to classify the following as nigerian cities - lagos, ibadan, benin, and abuja. the following, which i haven't been to, but read about, should also qualify - enugu, kano, kaduna, port harcourt, and some others too.

@abagworo, never been to abeokuta or oklahoma, but your pictures tell me nothing about the city-status credentials of either city. the presence or lack of shiny tall buildings do not seal a location's status as a city.

Never ceases to amaze me how an otherwise credible (albeit debatable) statement can quickly lead to a brawl on nairaland. Elephant/lafarge cement, the number 2 player in the industry, has been in Ogun for decades. Now the biggest player is also pitching a tent in Ogun with what wld prob be the country,s second biggest cement factory (by output). In the circumstance, it,s not sacrilage to suggest Ogun MAY now be the cement capital of nigeria whilst recognising the epic that is Obajana.

if possible, remove your entire stock to a temporary location for a day or 2 so you have a clear sight of all rat holes, or entry points to your shop. seal the holes & entry points with cement. to solve this problem fully will require more than taking one or 2 crockodiles out, you need to drain the swamp. basically, lauch a full scale attack. rat poison, or rat gum will only bring partial success, if at all.

best to let the govt embark on such project/frivolity herself. hopefully, they'll first fix more urgent problems like light, the structural imbalance in the economy etc we are still waiting for them to fix lagos-ibadan; lagos - benin; 2nd niger bridge, several yrs after they promised. what a joke

it won't happen. 1- look around the world, very few rail projects are profitable. most require continuous gov't subsidy. 2- even assuming a 5billion dollar contribution, the govt doesn't have that kind of money lying fallow somewhere. it may need to borrow to raise such amount. no one borrows to invest in & subsidise what's almost certain to be an unprofitable business 3 - a banker sitting in wall street or city of London will take less than 30 seconds to dismiss this proposal. they wont lend a consortium 10 billion dollars to invest in rail in Nigeria. just wont happen. 4 - partnering with a supremely bureaucratic fed govt when you've borrowed billions of dollars is financial suicide. few institutions in the world has the ability to frustrate as the fed govt. what happens when the next govt says its not going to continue with the project, or the foreign investors find out the last minister made off with the govt contribution & now lives large in china or Dubai. i can go on.

@op, saying everyone blames gej for all of nigeria's ills is simply not true. people are right to question the competence of this presidency that can't seem to get anything right. we didn't need a president who woulnd't even attempt to change the system, however long the problems have been there. he promised change during his campaign, he should deliver. it's his problem, he should fix his dilly dallying presidency and stop blaming everyone else.

@olawalebab, i disagree with you that akure is one of the most developed capitals. neither is igbo-amaka right that it's in shambles. the truth lies in between those extremes. it's just a small, pleasant, low-crime regional town where you can move about relatively easily, and live a qualitative life. i like that.  life's not all about skyscrapers @amaka

if i wasn't in lagos, akure wld be my preferred residence in nigeria. might be too boring for some though.                                                                                          @igbo-amaka, i doubt that's akure in the picture. don't remember akure nestling so closely at the feet of mountains. if i were to hazard a guess, i'd say that's idanre in your pic.

i disagree that akure is a dump. each time i go to akure i see a lot of genuine infrastructural work. most of the work may not hit you in the face, but they are, in my view, transformational. in my view, akure has very good prospects. ** re benin, if you've always lived there you'd prob not understand why it's such a big let down for a first time visitor. people expect much of benin, hence the usual disappointment. as one of our former 'great' cities, people expect benin to be only slightly below the likes of lagos, ph, and abuja. maybe those expectations are too high **

incidentally, i was in ado ekiti yesterday. my first time. only ever been to 3 other state capitals, so no point saying it's the worst or not. but i genuinely felt sorry for the people. if the town had remained just that, a town, i guess it would plod along at its own pace, like several similar towns across the country. but as a state capital, it's unfit for purpose. the capital should've been located in a village/small town with adequate green/brownfield site for development. i was overwhelmed by the pitiable disarray of the place. also the 45km road to ado, from the akure-benin motorway, is the worst road i've travelled - though i admit i don't travel much. the fed needs to give a state like ekiti additionall help, starting with that inter state road. in the circumstances, i don't see any positive for an outside investor in ekiti at this point. a shame as the people are quite nice. **agree benin is not great**

what the attackers did was clearly excessive and deplorable. that said, i dont understand people's intolerance of on-road worshippers. i assume this happens once a week, and only for a couple of hrs or so at most. it's nothing more than a minor inconvenience. simply turn back and use alternate roads. people getting totally worked up & telling the rest of us how such things can't happen in new york, london or timbuktu, is meaningless. our cultures and way of life are different. the suggestion that praying on the road is barbaric is uninformed. thankfully, on-road praying is still uncommon. where/when it happens, our tolerant side should accommodate the resulting inconvenience and move on.

mischieviously insisting/suggesting that all the groups in the 'south south' have the same aspirations as the south east is misleading. while it's highly conceivable that the se/ss/sw/mb may end up in the same 'independence' camp, a good chunk of the ss will not agree to forming a country with the se without the inclusion of another sizable group - e.g yorubas - to act as a counterbalance to the igbos. the reality is, some groups in that region remain wary of igbos - justifiable or not - and will baulk at being part of an exclusive union with them. if yorubas are not joining an enlarged se/ss/sw country, a sharp knife will need to be taken to the map of edo/delta to split these states according to people's preferences. whoever said splitting nigeria would be easy!

latest from akure - i heard adaba fm was yesterday pleading on air to 'the good people' of ondo state to urge 'relevant authorities' to intervene as an unsolicited and unannounced emergency 'construction work' - lol- has left a massive ditch right at entrance to the radio station and preventing vehicular movements in and out of the station. adaba fm seem to suggest they are being intimidated by, i guess, the state govt/labour party. ah! nigerian politics

31 countries are worse than nigeria. shock!

governor boycotts vice president - not a big deal in my view.  what makes no sense is sending a representative to read out your protestation. once you send someone along, then decorum demands that the focus of any sppeech should be on the theme of the day.                                                                                that said, i dont believe the nigerian presidency is 'sacred' as someone indicated. the institution has been bastardised over the years through massive corruption, selective application of rule of law, disregard for the rights of the people.                                                                                                                    when we have a decent, honest, and effective govt, the presidency will naturally gain respect. until then, its just another corrupt nigerian institution.

he referred to 'nollywood,' so i assume he meant nigerian english films as opposed to local-dialect films. perhaps they are all part of 'nollywood.' you could be right that his grouse is with yoruba films. in all the yoruba films i've seen, the power of christ always triumph over the 'babalawo' for example. as a xtian, i'm comfortable with that arrangement. any film that tampers with that established order will not sell. that's the reality.

extraordinary personality

i've prob seen less than 5 'nollywood' films in total, so some might say - probably rightly - that i'm not in a position to make a serious comment. but, it's either i never seem to have the time, but it's more likely that most are so bad - my view - that i can't be bothered with them. i find yoruba films funnier, and i'm fascinated to see the cultural stuff - most of which are clearly embelished and distorted, but when i have the time, i watch them. that's not to say their quality is prob not worse compared to d nollywood stuffs, but the cultural stuff and the way of life portrayed can be quite funny. i disagree with d 'ban xtianity' commentary. whats that about?

treacherous, selfish woman. for a senior and prominent minister to leave the govt when gej was fighting for his political life, was unforgivable. i have no time for the pdp, but when the going gets tough you dont jump ship.