₦airaland Forum

Per capita, Nigeria is probably #1 on earth when it comes to haters and bad belle people

These same people complaining that he got affordable cars will be the same ones complaining that the rail is too expensive when it comes out.

Smh

Carry go, Fashola

1. Why isn't getting from point A to point B as cheaply as possible OK?--- His ambition to be president is what i mean. Window dressing is not good enough.

What on earth does this mean? If you can buy these cars at a fraction of the cost of brand new ones, and you get them with some sort of maintenance, warranty, etc, then why the fvck not go for it? The less money you spend on cars, then the less you have to charge the end customer. Or is this a fashion show?

2. Why aren't the cars good enough?- They are simply too old and not energy efficient

Age isn't important so much as how many years the cars have in them. If they have enough years remaining, not a problem. Regarding energy efficiency, what on earth do you mean? Too much energy consumed per trip? If so, what is the #, and what is more reasonable?

3. How do you know that they are too expensive to maintain?- Check NY's budget woes and what it takes to maintain these trains, we do not have the resources and the average citizen will not be able to afford the cost to ride the trains.

What does NYs budget woes have to do with these traincars from Toronto  

4. How do you know countries are moving away from this sort of train? Toronto is not, BTW: http://en.wikipedia.org- Even China, the cheapest country i know did not invest in these archaic trains.

/wiki/Toronto_Rocket_(Toronto_subway_car), they are just using a newer model of what Fashola is buying

Again, the age is not necessarily a problem.

2mch:
If Fashola is going to do something, he should do it right. He should leave a good legacy and something that works! Not do things to get from point A to point B. These trains are simply not good enough. They are also too expensive to maintain. Every country i know is trying to move away from these types of trains. ANything worth doing is worth doing well. If he knows he cannot deliver the best when it comes to these light rails, he is better off scrapping the project. This is human life we are talking about. He is a good governor no doubt, but he is going to be there for four years only. What will the next governor do? Will he give a rats as*s about maintenance?

1. Why isn't getting from point A to point B as cheaply as possible OK?
2. Why aren't the cars good enough?
3. How do you know that they are too expensive to maintain?
4. How do you know countries are moving away from this sort of train? Toronto is not, BTW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Rocket_(Toronto_subway_car), they are just using a newer model of what Fashola is buying

There is nothing wrong with buy used railcars, if that is what he is doing. If it saves money and turns what would be an infeasible project into one that is practical, more power to him.

We need good transportation. . . you don't get style points for how sexy or expensive your railcars are.

This assuming that they are still functional and safe, that is.

We can always get newer railcars later. But to start, may as well make it as economical as possible.

[quote author=A.Chigozie link=topic=668039.msg8331612#msg8331612 date=1305557502]YI I am AA.  Don't get mad at the messenger, I'm just asking a question. Also don't try and run your hatred for Igbos either, my ancestors were Igbo and I won't stand for them being disrespected, wasn't it enough that your ancestors sold them into enslavement!?   [/color][/size][/quote]Err, lol. Again, educate yourself a bit. Even look at a map of Nigeria, one which has linguistic/ethnic groups displayed on top of it. To put it simply, his ancestors couldn't have sold yours into slavery. . . simply because even if they wanted to, they were West of the river Niger while yours were East.

Spend a bit of time trying to understand the country you are commenting on.

A. Chigozie: Your attitude is pretty patronizing. You don't seem to understand Nigeria's economic needs. Perhaps spend some time educating yourself:

http://www.accessbankplc.com/Library/Documents/2010%20Bankers%20Committee%20Conference%20Resources/Economic%20Development/Putting%20Nigeria%20to%20Work.pdf

^-- Above is a report by the World Bank that will help you understand Nigeria's economy a bit.

Anyway, the last thing Nigeria needs right now is an indigenous train company. There are other things higher on the priority list.

Speaking of omelettes. . . going to make some breakfast

Panafrican, Africanist sorts of ideologies are nice.

But if your goal is to make an omelette, sometimes it is better to just go to the grocery store and buy some eggs, rather than building your own chicken farm from scratch.

What you say sounds good in theory, but just isn't practical at this point in time.

Fashola's job is to deliver on transportation, not to create a Nigerian engineering company from scratch that can meet these needs.

I could even see him doing something like what you suggest if he controlled the entire government of Nigeria. But he is only the governor of one state with a pretty small budget ($2-3 billion or so).

Long story short, he cannot afford to fvck around, risk taxpayer's money on things that the taxpayers did not elect him into office for (starting up some new engineering firm.)

@A.Chigozie:

I dunno. I don't know of any reputable Nigerian train companies. I guess Fashola could have encouraged someone to float one.

But do you really want to put the security and safety of those who will use the trains on somebody new?

While patronizing African businesses is a good thing, security and expertise comes first. After all, Fashola's constituency is not the African businessman, but the citizens of Lagos.

So in other words, nada

Written by Tunde Oyekola, Osogbo
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Most Nigerians who returned from Cote D’ivore during the last civil war in the country have said that they are not in a hurry to return to the cocoa rich West African francophone country.

Even though many of them said they were yet to engage in any money making venture to sustain them when they arrived, they claimed that the situation in Cote D’ivore was not yet encouraging to attract them to the country where they had lived for many years.

They also denied that there was any of them who was yet to identify his ancestral home or family compound since they arrived Nigeria.

Over 13,500 returnees are residents in Ejigbo and Iwo in Osun State with over 90 per cent of them concentrated in Ejigbo.

Speaking in separate interviews in Ejigbo on Friday, the few of them who spoke, maintained their insistence to remain in Nigeria.

A septuagenarian, Mr Ganiyu Busari, who escaped from his base in Abobo, a surburb of Abidjan, said that he was not prepared to go back to the country any longer.

Born in Ejigbo in 1941 but left Nigeria for Abidjan in 1965, Mr Busari who stated that he learnt radio and television repairs said that he moved to practice in Cote D’ivorie because of the conducive atmosphere.

According to him, “I used to visit Nigeria occasionally and I came home in 2002. Although I don’t have a personal house here in Ejigbo, but I don’t think I will go back again and I am ready to engage in any work that is available.”

Asked whether there was anybody who could not locate his family amongst the returnees, Mr Busari said he could not identify any of such person.

Another returnee, Mrs Taibat Afolabi who said that she was born in Abidjan in 1971 and married to an Ejigbo indigene in Cote Divorie stated that if she could find a job to engage her at home she would not like to go back.

“I used to deal in petty trading which I did in villages on market days. I may not like to go back because of the terrible experience we encountered during the civil war. Right now, I’m yet to lay my hands on any business because I did not come to Nigeria with money. We left Abidjan in a hurry and all my belongings are still there. My money is still with some of my debtors in villages there,”she revealed.

Mr Rueben Oyeniyi, a welder in Abidjan, rode a motorcycle to Nigeria when he escaped during the war. He said he had only N10 on him when he arrived Ejigbo. He insisted that he would not like to go back if he could get support from people to establish his welding business.

Another septuagenarian, Pa Jacob Adetoro said that his age would not allow him go back there.

The returnee who was born in 1939 but went to Abidjan in 1955 on a trading trip, stated that he would not go back should normalcy return to the country.

He confirmed that few people who had gone back sent words home that the atmosphere in the country was yet to be conducive for any return.

“From the reports sent to us by few of our people who have gone back to Abidjan, although they said that the indiscriminate killings of innocent citizens had stopped, banks are yet to open while those working in offices are yet to resume. Even what baffles us is the news of the stench odour oozing out from the decomposed bodies of those killed during the war and the fear of the outbreak of epidemics in that country,”he stated.

However, the chairman of the caretaker committee of Ejigbo Local Government Area, Mr Tiamiyu Abiodun Akinwale said there was no indigene of Ejigbo among the returnees who did not know his or her family compound.

Mr Akinwale who said that the council is not housing any of the returnees said that “though many of them have left home for a long time, when they arrived, the people in the town, especially the elders, assisted them to locate their families after interviewing them.”

The council boss said that many of them who left home in the 1950s when no tarred road passed in front of their compounds lost memory of the locations of their compounds but said that elders assisted them to locate their families through oral history.

Mr Akinwale said that there were over 11,000 returnees in Ejigbo, adding that the council registered over 9,000 before it stopped registration while the state government brought another batch of 1,405 returnees through a special arrangement.

The chairman said that the state governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, released N10million which was shared at N2,000 per person and 100 bags of rice while his wife, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola, donated some bags of rice and beans as well as drugs to the returnees.

He said that his council also provided N1 million and 100 bags of rice to the returnees, while a non-governmental organisation, Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA), donated clothing materials and daily needs to them.

He also disclosed that officials of the National Emergency Maintenance Agency (NEMA) visited the council but was yet to make any donation.

Mr Akinwale added that the problems of the returnees included feeding and health care, saying that some of them had malaria and diarrhea when they arrived the country.
He appealed to corporate bodies, international agencies and capable individuals to come to their aid.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/sun/index.php/news/3903--nigerian-returnees-from-cote-divore-not-in-hurry-to-go-back-after-war-

By Agency Reporter
Monday, 16 May 2011

A group of youths in Badagry, clamouring for the development of human and natural potentials in the community by the Lagos State Government have commended the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola for embarking on the Light Rail project.


One of the prominent members of the group, Mr. Rafiu Fadipe, who described the project as laudable, noted that the Light Rail was capable of moving the state into greater economic prosperity if well funded and adequately managed.


He, however, appealed to the state government to carry the people of Badagry along in the scheme of things for the good of the area and in the common interest of the state as a whole.


He recalled that the community had, for a long time in the past, been perceived as stronghold of the opposition and, therefore, was sidelined in terms of development.


Fadipe said, “It will be right and just to consider our community for relevant development at this time. It is a well known fact that Badagry offers great potentials in terms of tourism, agriculture and astute leadership

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201105165453562

hmm

Anyway, I'm sure that Tinubu and the ACN are aware of all that I've said already.

The ACN is essentially the voice of the SW at this point. If they throw a bit of support to the PDP SW faction, then the region will retain the speakership position. And the ACN will extract concessions for its support (though unclear to me what exactly PDP SW can offer.)

Similarly, if they decide to withhold their support and leave PDP SW out to dry, thus causing the region to lose the speakership position to either the North or SE, well then they'd better damn sure have negotiated something in compensation.

I'm fine with either option. . . so long as there is compensation in both cases. Nothing good should be given up for free.

lol

Lagosboy:
IMO any zone can produce the speaker in as much as the speaker will perform creditably well. a SW speaker has no benefit to the SW except the title. Bankole and Etteh spent 4 yrs as speaker but there is nothing to show for it except looting of billions. In fact Bankoke has looted times 10 of what Etteh stole.

The earlier we do away with zoning nonsense the better. IMO zoning should only be limited to the president and his vice. Nothern president and southern VP or vice versa. This ideology of zoning is gradually creeping into every fabric of Nigerian politics. The other day someone here on NL said 2015 Lagos governorship should be zoned to Mushin , can we imagine where this zoning idology will take us to.

Let me be clear. I'm not arguing for or against zoning here in this thread. I'm arguing instead against giving something of value for free. If you want to get rid of zoning, fine, but:

A) Keep in mind that by doing so, the North will abuse this for their own sectional advantage (and to your disadvantage.)
B) If you sacrifice the speaker position on the altar of zoning, you'd BETTER get something concrete back in return.

EDIT: typo

[quote author=Kilode?! link=topic=668139.msg8330056#msg8330056 date=1305542778]LOL
Let them subsume their voice, it's Nigerian politics. On this issue ACN will score a strategic point by standing out as a party that values merit(whatever that means in this case) and due process, they have only 70 votes they won't influence nothing. But they create another public impression and open up future alliance opportunities.

If you are worried about a PDP retaliation, mind you politics is about give and take, there will be other opportunities to side with PDP, as long as they know when to oppose or support they will be fine. I say oppose this time around or at best, stand aloof and make a public show if it. It sends a message to future PDP or CPC factions.[/quote]I just wonder if it is worth sacrificing the speaker's position for a strategic point. I'd rather sacrifice it for something concrete and tangible. How do we know any of these other factions even value ideology anyway? If they don't, then we've given away something valuable for free.

I hope you see my point, right? This ACN ideology of merit will not work in a Nigerian setting. So if you use merit to screw your own zone out of something useful, you had damn sure be getting something back in return. Rather than giving away that useful thing for free.

Gbawe:
@Ekt-bear. Clearly , from below , it would seem the SW should hope the apparently highly indolent and dishonest Ajibola does not become speaker. I would rather not have our name tainted with disgrace as was the case with bankole.

http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=33791&print=1

Reading through that, I'm a bit disappointed with OBJ. Why does he always pally around with incompetents and sycophants in the SW? Bleh, very annoying.

Gbawe:
There is no "we" at play here . Ordinary Nigerians , like you and me, can only hope that the Reps themselves choose the individual they recognise to be talented enough to move the House forward productively for Nigeria's sake . This is why there has to be consistency of ideology in Nigerian politics . We can't say one thing today only to do another tomorrow . If this is done there will be more integrity and transparency everywhere instead of the silly horse-trading we are seeing .

I just wonder if this will actually work. Why won't a majority block simply allocate all the positions to their members? How will an ideology of "merit" not just end up being "sectional majority gets nearly everything?"

Basically, how do you force/encourage them to choose the best, rather than to work for selfish/sectional interests?


Also, I encourage you to ignore the maggot polluting this thread.

^-- I see, thanks for clarifying.

But if I'm reading things correctly, CPC and ANPP are subsuming their voices into the "Northern caucus."

So if we destroy zoning, then since the northern bloc outnumbers the southern block, doesn't they effectively mean they'll close ranks behind another northerner to get the spot?

Fair enough. I hope hope that the ACN recognizes the value in having a house speaker from the SW, even if the guy/gal is PDP. Better us than the SE or North.

And how will we (I guess Nigerians as a whole) be able to identify who is most capable for the job? If it were use merit as the criterion?

Keep in mind that they have that rule that disallows freshman house reps, iirc. Which is an anti-merit policy.

Why should we let them have it?

If we can get another concession instead of similar value, sure. But why give it up for free?

Is there any reason not to acquire the speakership if possible, though?

I don't see how it hurts the zone for us to have it, even if it is held by a PDP guy.

Hehe. Long live Goodluck Ebelechukwu Azikiwe Jonathan

Interesting posts, especially by Obiagu1.

Can Musiwa be banned? Or his ability to post pictures be removed? Or for there to be a functional ignorelist on this forum, so that I can block the posts of certain posters?

Musiwa: Any chance you can edit your post to LINK to the images rather than embedding them?

^-- Good point

Most of these positions, their power is essentially what the president allows, yes?

So if you give a powerful person the SGF post and give them lots of control, then why won't the position become powerful too?

Just playing devil's advocate a bit here.

My google skills have really failed me btw, I've not been able to find thus 2010 UN report that Bismarck Rewane cites here http://www.proshareng.com/download.php?item=reports/LBSMAY2011.pdf


If anyone finds it, let me know.