₦airaland Forum

I'm not a fan of rent control stuff like this. Why should you ban a landlord from demanding 2 years rent?

Ya'll are getting a bit too bent out of shape here. Isn't that serious

As someone else asked, are you a communist of some sort?

err. . . pretty politically incorrect stuff here

Just because I think something is a crock doesn't mean anyone else has to. It isn't really anything worth getting offended by. . . just a difference in opinion.

Regarding the Japanese, their high savings rate helped them a lot prior to the 90s (at least if that blog post I posted is any indication of a trend)

For anyone who might be economically inclined who might be reading this thread, I started reading about this Singapore CPF (central provident fund, basically their mandatory savings plan).

I had the suspicion that this was the secret to their success. Then did a bit more reading, and came across this blog post.

Any thoughts, NL economists (e.g., Katsumoto)? It seems that high savings is the path to high GDP growth.

I'm firmly in camp #3, I guess.

There may be some merit to camp #1. Perhaps partitioning Nigeria (or less drastically, heavily federalizing it) would be enough (Incidentally, I'm in favor of federalization and possibly partitioning the country.) But I personally think that more is necessary.

Hmm, maybe I'm more in camp #1 than I think. But all the stuff when people complain about speaking European languages, blahblah, African culture being killed off. . . I think that is all a crock, personally. I think the conflict in Nigeria between the geopolitical regions and especially the core North and the rest of the country has certainly held us back a lot. But complaining about the white man making you speak English, colonization, whitey holding back Africa. . . all very lame to me.

Third definition from wikipedia seems like a reasonable one to me:

The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group

nolongTing:
what is culture and why are African leaders bad? I am asking because I believe there is a link.

I don't know the answer to the second question, still trying to figure out what we did wrong.

Regarding culture. . . be more specific? So you think our culture breeds bad leaders?

playmode:
Nope , we are not inferior to any other race ,we are just selfish and intolerant of one another.

By saying what I said, I'm not necessarily agreeing with his insinuation. My point is that whether we are or not, there is no excuse for 50+ years of mediocrity and stagnation (imo)

kl2020:
from the chart in this link   http://i55.tinypic.com/2iuqki1.png  nigeria;s GDP has been crawling on the floor of the chart since 1960     what do u expect from a black nation?
check out all other black countries in the caribbean, are they not all underdeveloped like african countries? maybe something is wrong with the black race in general not only nigeria,   

I feel you. And perhaps you are right. But was the Chinese man not in the same boat we are in in 1960? Wasn't Dubai?

So couldn't you have concluded in 1960 that something was intrinsically wrong with the Chinese?

Who knows, maybe black people, there is something wrong with us. But my suspicion is that bad leadership, bad governance is more to blame for what is now 50+ years of stagnation.

Anyway, even if the black man is slightly inferior as you suggest, imo we aren't inferior to the indigenes of Dubai. And they made it. So why can't we? It is too simple and lazy to blame intrinsic inferiority as the sole reason for our failures. Lazy thinking gives bad results.

obamamate:
The lowest spec for the Toyota hiace costs about N4.6m. Chinese brands/clones of the old models costs about N2.6m, so IVm costs about N2.6m also

Interesting, thanks

playmode:
If may ask ,why did you mention "the pakistani man" ?

Click the link. Pakistan is no better off than Nigeria (at least in this gdp/capita sense, which is mostly what I care about.) And they've been as stagnant since 1960 as Nigeria and the rest of the African countries I compared.

So they don't seem to have figured it out either.

Lots of good posts.

BTW, this google public data site is pretty damn cool imo. Some other countries I wanted to compare:

http://i54.tinypic.com/ru8xsm.png

As of 1980, China and India basically indistinguishable from these African countries. Today, 31 years later, China has zoomed past all of us.

So what lesson did China learn that we failed to learn?

I don't think there is anything intrinsically wrong with the African man BTW. But there seems to be something that many other people get but that the African man, the Pakistani man and certain other groups have not. Chinese man didn't seem to get it either as of 1980, but today he understands.

edit: stupid error, was thinking of something else

So in other words, you want "perfect" rather than just "good."

You are entitled to that opinion, that is fine. I just hope you won't be waiting forever for perfection rather than accepting "pretty good" today.

Regarding Otedola and his potential bid to acquire a refinery, I doubt he'd just do it by himself randomly w/o bringing in the appropriate partners/experts to execute the project with. After all, he isn't quite a fool.

You'd also reject Warren Buffett for example investing in a Nigerian refinery, due to his lack of experience in the refinery business too? Heh

Imo, selling to Otedola is different from GEJ selling it off to his driver, housekeeper, wife's hairdresser or something. One has at least a track record of success in business.

Anyway, let's agree to disagree.

EDIT: than->from

I agree with both of the above posters.

No one here has argued that he is 100% the best qualified to run it. But he will do a good job, and try to run it profitably (in my opinion.) Will he make as much profit as some big international player? Not necessarily. But the refinery will be viable and functional, not dead.

I'm just trying to be practical here. You can be a purist if you like. . . you are certainly entitled to that pov. But for me the end result is what matters. . . a somewhat functional country.

To be clear, #4 is my first choice. But I'm sure there is some little kid out there who wants a pony for Christmas. Neither of us is likely to get what we want. Sometimes you have to settle for the second best.

Mr. Steiner said the report provided the scientific basis on which a long-overdue environmental restoration of the area, known as Ogoniland, can begin. The report recommends establishing three institutions in Nigeria, including a cleanup fund, to underpin the restoration effort. The fund would require a total of $1 billion contributed by the oil industry and government for the first few years, according to the report.

Looks like both the oil companies and the FG will be liable. FG is usually the senior partner to the oil companies I think. So may even be liable for more than the oil companies are?

olawalebab:
That's it, having a functional railway system will be benefial in many ways.
Economically, employment will be created for people as most people will be adequately employ directly or indirectly, Socially, the stress on infrastructure in lagos will be reduce as people can be living in Ibadan, Abeokuta and still be working in lagos.

This is why I am so obsessed with rail personally. Best way to develop the rural parts of the country rapidly. No reason not to be able to live in say Ado-Ekiti and work in Lagos (as my Governor Fayemi has said he envisions one day happening.)

Regarding the elephant in the room (resource control), I made this suggestion earlier that I think most would find agreeable:

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=726504.msg8859476#msg8859476 date=1312536186]Would anyone be opposed to say 50% resource control (rather the current 13%) over a 20 year period? I think if you space it out over time, then you cushion the immediate blow to regions that don't produce much oil.

Thoughts on this? Say something like from 13% to 50% increasing linearly over 20 years or something.

Then again, I'm not sure that the current arrangement is constitutionally defined (havent read the constitution fully, so correct me if I am wrong).[/quote]Would anyone oppose this? It is only a small change over each of the 20 years. Which should give the states/regions plenty of room to generate additional revenue. You could also tweak it to make it eventually 100% resource control (say over 30 or 40 years). The main point is the idea, not the exact #s used.

Bliss4Lyfe:
Ugwu-Oju said ahead of such a conference, the SSSEP proposes the adoption of the current geo-political zones as the federating units in "our federal structure".

Ugwu-Oju said the proper restructuring of the country "would halt the fears of the minorities and of injustice among Nigerians" and canvassed an enabling law for each zone to have its own constitution.

Cosign on both of these statements. Federating units should be the zones, not the states. And then if a zone wants to create just 1 state or 1000, that should be their own business.

Zonal constitutions also makes sense to me. Is this US style presidential/governor system the best way to run each zone, for example?

Perhaps Zone A wants to generate its revenue through income tax, and Zone B wants to generate it through a VAT tax. Right now, the constitution greatly limits the powers of the federating units to generate revenue.

@Pukkah: If it is a uniform tax break for all companies that fit a certain class, fine. And the FG should of course dramatically improve the infrastructure under its jurisdiction (new and improved roads, constant power supply, etc.)

I would just be against this specific company shaking down the government for a subsidy which no one else gets. You feel me? That is what I meant by "special" intervention.

Would anyone be opposed to say 50% resource control (rather the current 13%) over a 20 year period? I think if you space it out over time, then you cushion the immediate blow to regions that don't produce much oil.

Thoughts on this? Say something like from 13% to 50% increasing linearly over 20 years or something.

Then again, I'm not sure that the current arrangement is constitutionally defined (havent read the constitution fully, so correct me if I am wrong).

There is a saying (from Voltaire, it appears), "The perfect is the enemy of the good."

There are four options:
1) Gov't holds on and mismanages/destroys
2) Gov't sells to incompetent crony
3) Gov't sells to competent crony
4) Gov't sells transparently and world-class buyer buys

#4 is of course best. But #3 is nearly as good, and a helluva lot better than #1 or #2. You feel me?

Demanding perfection in Nigeria. . . well, I'm a bit jaded, hehe. I just want a country that works reasonably well.

The United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) has confirmed that the deputy governor of Imo State, Mr. Jude Ikechi Agbaso was still in the country’s wanted list.

Confirming this in an electronic mail sent to our correspondent, Mrs Hannah Lewis, an official of the US Department of Justice, said that the US still maintains and upholds the arrest warrant issued on December 30, 1994 against the Imo State deputy governor, and that no Nigerian court can quash the warrant of arrest.

The Mineola County Court in New York, on December 30, 1994 issued a warrant of arrest with registration number 861 against Jude Agbaso when he jumped bail on a 17-count charge before the court.

Earlier, a source at the Department of Justice had confirmed to LEADERSHIP correspondent on phone that the United States government still regrets ever granting a bail to Mr. Agbaso who currently serves as a deputy governor in Nigeria.

The source added that Mr. Jude Ikechi Agbaso, who last resided at Number 112 Front Street, New York before he jumped the bail granted him after he was being arraigned on a 17-count charge of forgery, still remains a criminal in spite of his political immunity in Nigeria, stressing that the US government will do everything to get him arraigned anytime he comes to America.

Hear him: “If it was possible for the United Kingdom government to get former Governor James Ibori back to London to face criminal charges made against him despite his power and influence, then it will be easy for us to make Mr. Agbaso face all the charges against him when the time comes”.
He further confirmed that there were criminal charges against Agbaso, noting that the warrant of arrest with registration number 861 issued against him by the New York court was still existing in the database of the Justice Department.

Also, checks at the United States Immigration department further confirmed that Agbaso, born on the 23rd January, 1958 was and is still the owner of the Social Security Card with Numbers 108761794.

Although, it was clear that the United States Department of Justice may not make any move to extradite Agbaso back to New York at the moment as a result of the immunity he enjoys as a deputy governor of a state in Nigeria, but our correspondent gathered that his name is already on the security watch list that will surely notify the American government anytime he enters the country.

http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/3188/2011/08/04/imo_dep_gov_still_our_wanted_list_-_us.html

To be fair, Otedola is a crony that actually will make businesses work. So probably not best to give him a sweetheart deal, but at least the end result will be that the business functions.

This is still better than the gov't holding onto it and having the business fail. Not the best of all options, though.