₦airaland Forum

The rich (like DK) get richer (snagging tall girls) and the poor (6'1 me) get poorer 

Maybe 10 generations from now my descendants will be 5'3 in height

By force, by force I will marry a tall girl (5'10+)

Makbo: My bad man. Just I figured there was a higher chance of getting a prompt response posting in this section (since it is one of the higher-traffic areas) It was one of those burning curiosity moments where you sometimes do/say something unwise.

Eko Ile: Ok, I'll give it another shot, I'll try with egusi.

Interesting.

You learn something new every day, I guess.

What stew would you suggest with fufu?

Also, is the taste of fufu prepared by Ghanaians very different from that made in naija? Or very similar?

I've had it before at a Ghanaian restaurant and hated it.

Hah, I'm just telling you what she told me.

I try to minimize my involvement in the preparation of food. . . only thing i care about is eating it

Though in retrospect if I'd paid more attention I'd be able to cook naija dishes myself.

Merry Christmas to you too, though.

At those who are suggesting the purchase of new cars.

Wouldn't this raise the price of fare on the train beyond that of your typical Lagosian?

It simply is unrealistic to suggest this.

Ibime:
This is a typical "google Nigerian" question.

touche

Basically I was really confused. I associated the word "fufu" with the specific dish that Ghanaians and others eat.

But it looks like people use the word for any dish that kind of looks like pounded yam? So it is sort of an umbrella term? At least this is my present understanding.

Regarding why nobody eats it in my town, I guess we just never historically prepared food in that way. Pounded yam is the staple dish.

So between not seeing it in my own household growing up, not seeing it at church or in the Nigerian community in the DC area, not seeing it in my hometown, I just figured it wasn't popular in Yorubaland.

But looks like I may have been wrong.

OK, so I've found some answers, and found out why nobody from my town eats it. Mods, feel free to move (or delete) this thread.

If so, which sort of Nigerians?

I don't think my parents have ever made it before, strictly pounded yam/amala/eba. Yet now I'm told that there is at least one group for which it is a staple.

(I know this is in the wrong section, but I'm curious and want answers now )

I may have misread the OP, but I don't see where they are asking Igbos for anything.

In fact the article is more about they want their own separate identity, not necessarily about rapprochement.

If I sell my car to the scrapyard for metal, I'll probably only get $200 or $300 for it.

if I sell it as a used car, I'll get $10k+ for it.

So no magic there.

In the former the product I am selling it competing against raw metal. In the latter, against other vehicles. Thus the price will change accordingly.

Let us use common sense.

Heh

DK you are like 6'6 right? So you snag all the 5'11-6'0 girls that I prefer

Oh well, at least the 5'6-5'9 chicks like me

Finally, there has been negative coverage in the Western media, but also positive coverage. To only provide one angle suggests an agenda. . .

I don't think the article is that bad.

Yes it mocks us for purchasing used cars. But you can only buy what you can afford. Canada and the Western world are 20X wealthier (per capita) than Lagos, so obviously cannot use the same strategies for providing transportation.

The only new piece of information for me is that 1/2 the cars are 30+ years old. And I'm also curious to know how much each car was purchased for.

hmm

Isn't mandatory with me. But I'd prefer it.

Yes, women prefer taller guys. I think being above average is sufficient though. . . don't need to be 6'5 or 6'7

It seems to me that since the Chinese are providing 80% of the funding for these refineries, then presumably they had significant input regarding the location.

Perhaps it is just business.

armed robber

By PETER ANOSIKE
Thursday, December 22 , 2011

Ohanaeze Ndigbo has condemned the exclusion of the southeast in the proposed refineries to be established by the federal government.
The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, had told aviation correspondents that government would use the money realized from the removal of oil subsidy to rehabilitate the existing refineries and then build new ones in Bayelsa, Kogi and Lagos states.

president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos State chapter, Chief Oliver Akubueze, said that the exclusion of south-east from the states where the new refineries would be located is not fair.
According to him, Southeast should be considered for the location of the refineries, going by the fact that it is also oil producing geo political zone and has the least of federal presence among all the geo-political zones in the country.
He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that the neglect of the southeast, which has been the trademark of successive governments does not continue.

Akubueze said that southeast deserves one refinery among other numerous federal presence.
His words,” It is very disheartening to hear from the Minister of Information Labaran Maku, that how the revenue to be generated from the proposed removal of oil subsidy would be shared has been concluded without a mention of the southeast. I want to say that this is not acceptable to us. The time has gone when Ndigbo are relegated to the background. President Jonathan should make sure that Ndigbo is involved in the scheme of things in the country. What is the basis of selecting Bayelsa, Kogi and Lagos for the location of new refineries while no state in the southeast was selected. For how long would they continue to remind us that we were vanguished? Ndigbo has a very big stake in this country and we urge president Jonathan to make sure that there is equity in the distribution of federal government presence. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. Nobody is more Nigerian than the other”.
On the proposed removal of oil subsidy, he advised government to make sure that the interest of the masses is protected in any programme it wants to come up with.

“The essence of government is the happiness of the greater number of the populace. Based on that, government should make sure that whatever decision it wants to take with regard to the removal of the oil subsidy is mass oriented. We don’t want policies that would be in the interest of only a few people.

The interest of the majority should always be protected. If government feels that removal of subsidy should be the best for the country then it should go on to convince the masses. For now, I think that it is only the elites that have understood it. Government should take the message of how removal of subsidy would change their lives for the better to the grass roots using the appropriate channels.”he said

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/dec/22/national-22-12-2011-004.html

aribisala0:
It is clear you are quite uncouth. It is not perceived it is real
There is a reason why Africans ask young people not to use proverbs with their elders. Often they misuse them or like one who has found a new toy or experienced a novel thrill they misuse them.
Talking to me about real life coming from you is funny really. don't make assumptions about people.

If you believe that I have used a proverb or saying incorrectly, feel free to point out where I've misapplied it. Otherwise, you don't have a point.

Regarding "Africans ask young people". . . well, they are free to apply those rules to young people in general. But not to me. I've been using proverbs and analogies to explain things since I was a little kid, and certainly don't plan on stopping now.

Finally, if you want to play the "elder" card, then you have to back it up with wisdom and solid arguments. Old age alone is no substitute for sharp reasoning.

I apologize for any perceived rudeness.

Extreme examples are often the easiest for learning purposes. Perhaps you should think about the examples rather than immediately concluding that they are patronizing or silly.

In the real world, you try to spend as little as possible on the basic needs to get by in life. If I could spend 0% on my life needs and put 100% into savings/investment, I'd be very happy. But unfortunately there are some basic bills I have to pay that are unavoidable.

Recurrent expenditure (minus spending on social services) is the cost of running a government. Generally one wants to keep their costs in life as small as possible.

(Of course, the discussion of what we think the minimum basket of services society should provide to citizens is enough for an entire thread of its own. Some believe that society must provide free/subsidized university education, some believe in free healthcare, some believe in US-style social security, welfare, etc. I personally don't believe in most of those things.)

Anyway, there is nothing "unknown unknowns" about this. You just didn't think hard enough about it.

OK, so we are back to where we were earlier.

Perhaps someone else will be interested in jumping in.

Just as a thought experiment, think about what would happen to you in your life if 100% of your income were spent on feeding yourself/rent/immediate needs/desires, and none of it were saved for the future when you get old.

(Though I guess in the UK they probably have some mandatory retirement savings plans so that people can avoid exactly this situation.)

I guess after thinking about that for a few minutes then the answer should become clear.

The parable of the ant and the grasshopper (which I suppose you'd have heard or read about as a kid) is also useful.

The argument is not that there are no leakages in infrastructure development.

The point is that, yes we all agree that spending money on education is a good thing. But that doesn't mean recurrent expenditure as a whole is desirable, or increasing it is desirable.

Regarding national stadia, airports, ajaokuta, tinapa, etc, that is not really what I'd be spending money on at the state level, if it were up to me. I'd look instead to upgrade basic infrastructure. Not putting money into things (like Tinapa) that should probably be done by the private sector anyways.

Regarding your last comment, the wishes of the people are important, but not the be-all end-all. They'd vote for the free amala candidate over the candidate that wants to be reasonable. Sometimes people want things that aren't good for them.

I don't know for a fact that you haven't authored any textbooks. But by your own admission, you are not an expert. Certain inferences then follow, heh.

At any rate, you are correct in stating not all recurrent expenditure is bad. I don't think anyone here is advocating slashing the budget for primary or secondary school education, for example.

However, to my knowledge, these states which are at 55 or 60%+ recurrent are not spending most of the money on K-12 education. They are spending it on unproductive and idle civil servants, make-work programs, ghost workers, free amala (or things of this nature), etc.

Money that is mostly flushed down the toilet.

This is what people are against.

I've made no assumptions about knowing more than the next person.

My point is that I am not particularly interested in discussing this particular position with you. If you don't agree with me on it, that is fine. We can agree to disagree. If you are not convinced by what has been said so far, also fine.

That you think this is arrogance or insecurity is your business, not mine.

Is it me or is there a huge difference between what the two papers above are saying the budget is? One says 160, the other says 187?

Or maybe I've missed something.

EDIT: lol. OK, mixed up the two states. My bad.

Sigh.

I've already stated some of the reasons why spending money on capital expenditure is good. You bring up spoons purchased at Aso Rock.

Hopefully you can see why this discussion isn't going to be a particularly good use of my time.

The information you need can be found elsewhere on the internet. Or if you like, by going through some of my old posts.

Between those two resources, you should be able to find the answers you seek.

I believe I have satisfied my obligations as far as argument goes. Surely I am under no obligation to provide what you can easily find elsewhere.

I gotta run some errands, I'll be back in a few hours. But the language the guy uses suggests he'll get this N50 billion through borrowing, not through increased revenue generation.

Anyway, ttyl.

Your best bet is to Google around, DL an economics book from bit torrent. Or read lots of articles on sites like the Economist/FT/WSJ etc.

No offense intended, but not really the best use of my time to explain why spending more on capital expenditure is a good thing, heh.

I mean what excuse really is there for spending more money on recurrent expenditure than the free oil money you get from the federation account? Shouldn't that money be enough to take care of the basics, paying salaries, existing debt, etc?

I don't understand the way this guy reasons.

Speaking of which, if what Face says is correct and they in fact received only N30 billion from the federation account last year, then how does he expect to receive N70 this year?