₦airaland Forum

OLAADEGBU:
You are correct. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Can you improve on that and give us one English word for that?

A strategy for fighting corruption

My main concern is that Buhari should not become a victim of himself.
There is more to governing Nigeria than being an anti-corruption tzar.
I’ll explain.

Whereas a country like South Africa is perceived to be more corrupt than Botswana
(that is using the corruption Index), the South African people are more prosperous than the Botswana’s.
We can vaguely tell from this that ridding a country of corruption
does not necessarily translate to economic empowerment for its citizens
that is except one decides to further extend the definition of corruption to encompass quality governance.

A fight against corruption is quite entertaining
-who won’t like to see Obasanjo and Babangida being given the Tafa Balogun treatment? -,
however it could be quite distracting too,
and feels more like the French revolution where everyone was crying for blood.

Buhari should design a strategy that enables his government:

1) tackle Nigerian economic empowerment moving forward,
2) recover loot to re-inject into the economy, and
3) minimize theft of the Nigeria treasury moving forward.

The first one is different from the other two.

For economic empowerment moving forward, the way to go
is to get a team of technocrats to move us in the right direction.
This team will be driven by KPI’s that are not set in stone,
but are flexible enough to meet the yearning of the man on the street.


For 2) and 3) which are anti-corruption policies, the aim should be simply economic and not a vengeful quest.
It can be handled in one breath devoid of as much bias as possible

Buhari’s anti-corruption team should draw up a list of some 5,000 visible and most influential Nigerians.
irrespective of tribe or religion.
The team would then draw up another list of the top thousands or so suspected biggest monetary heists in the history of Nigeria
(devoid of who is suspected of being involved)
What the team would then do is to go after recovering the money in the list of heists.
If in recovering the money in this list, someones name appears in the 1st list of visible Nigerians,
then the person's case is made very public and the person can't have plea bargain.

This strategy would discourage future smaller thieves while at the same time bringing money into the Nigerian coffers.
It would also excite the general public who want to see big heads roll,
this is unlike the present kindergarten drama classes being enacted by the EFCC

Your perception of Buhari is colored by your ethnic affiliation

Buhari’s credentials as a man averse to corruption and pussy-footing is
one of the reasons that gave him the South Western vote and has
earned him admiration by many folks southward of the river Niger and Benue.
In the Core Northern hemisphere, he is viewed more as man of the people.
Which translates roughly to religious and ethnic affiliations plus some simplicity.

By May 29 2015, he will be sworn in as the president of Nigeria.
Expectations are high in the South that he will go after people with a corrupt past
and eliminate corruption in Nigeria moving forward.

Although the South generally agree that corruption is a big issue which needs to be addressed in Nigeria,
however, depending on what part of the South you are from,
the definitions for acts to be prosecuted or those to be pursued seem to differ.

While the South West seem more concerned with Buhari drawing a line in the sand from the start of his administration,
but reaching backward to Jonathan and his present PDP crew (no those who decamped oo).
The SS/SE believes that he should not draw any line whatsoever.
They appear confident that if Buhari reaches back far enough into the past,
he’s dragnet will catch quite a number of people from other parts of the country
of which theirs would be only a tiny number compared to the other regions of the country.

The SE and SS consider this as being fair and just. Of course the Northern youth don’t appear too bothered.
They’re just happy that their man is there,
and left for them they might trek all over Nigeria to show their appreciation for this feat.

nickibarb:
I needed to travel for one day to write a professional exam, but my husband refused to let me take our two little kids (aged 1yr 4 months and aged 3 months) to my parent's house for my mum to take care of them. He said he would care for them himself. (Note that his mother was out of town if not I would have taken them to her). .....

dotman112:
.. They have covered 343km in 8days and according to him,they have two days to trek to president's Jonathan's home in Otueke..

Abuamam:
I was quoting your brethren who are always quick to call any pastor who commits any misdeed a 'fake' pastor... and there are dozens of threads on such pastors. From impregnating their sheep's wives (is it correct to say ewes?); to giving their sheep petrol to drink and grass to eat (well that doesn't sound too bad... sheep DO eat grass); to getting caught up in brothel fights; to carrying drugs; to burning children as 'witches' etc etc. (pant pant). Invariably, your brethren will claim that such a pastor is a 'fake' one.

OLAADEGBU:
Is that your answer?

Abuamam:
All these makes no sense in the light of what I said. The holy spirit should have WARNED you that so and so are fake pastors, NOT FORCED you to forsake them. What kind of holy spirit would leave you confused about which pastors are fake and which ones are real? Leaving you to pay your hard earned wealth and be lead spiritually for donkey years to someone who turned out to be a fake pastor? What of those followers who died in the interim, before the fake pastor was exposed?

OLAADEGBU:
Try explaining eternity in one word if you can.

Abuamam:
Well. I don't know about kings and chiefs. What I don't understand is why all these holy spirit filled xtians were not told from the beginning that so and so pastor has fake spirits and are not part of their god's franchise. Their holy spirit takes them to see which people are in heaven and hell, tells them past and future events, teaches them incomprehensible 'tongues', protects them from sickness and accidents; if their testimonies are anything to go by; and replaces amputated limbs and gets rid of ebola. Yet the holy spirit leaves them to go astray behind the multitude of fake pastors.

It boggles the imagination; this carelessness that the holy spirit has for his hosts.

OLAADEGBU:
Is there anything to compare it with?

plaetton:
Yes.
But the Nigerian Christian's obsession with bedroom sins seem like an epidemic of mass neurosis.

Abuamam:
More Holy spirit things. Will their eyes never open?

As usual, they will now call her 'fake' pastor. The same people that would have been paying her tithe and praising her; yesterday.

plaetton:
Yes, I do.
Thanks.

I guess Christians seem to ignore one of the prime directives of Jesus, where he said:
" point not at the spec in another's eye while ignoring the log in thine own eyes ".

It's always easier to see what others are doing wrong rather than ponder whether you are doing right.

plaetton:
Self-Service, Selfless Service And Christian Morality. How are these related to one another in our real world, especially in Nigeria ?

A casual observer will note that at any given time in the front page of NL religious section, one would find many threads and OPs on Self-Service, but hardly any at all on Selfless-Service.

Is the message of Jesus lost in translation, or , is there something much more pernicious going on the deep inside the psyches of Nigerian Christians?

Please help me examine this disturbing distortion of moral responsibility.

Let's see who is the first to comment.

Post 2


I learnt a long time ago that human needs are in stages. The first priority is pretty basic. It’s called Physiological needs and consists of Food, clothes, shelter and sex. After this is fulfilled, it tends to go through the stages of Security, Belonging, Self-esteem all the way to Self-actualization needs.

I have also for a long time theorized that as a people, we have been so subject to hunger and insecurity that almost all our actions have revolved around our belly and building electric fences when we can afford them. I have also watched with dismay as our middle classes barely emerging out of the meshes of poverty try to belong and have some vicissitude of esteem by hungrily reaching out for foreign branded (and expensive) goods thereby freighting away our scare foreign exchange.

With the trekers association of Nigeria, I see a positive push to the top of the needs hierarchy -A need for self-actualization. I am convinced that creativity and innovativeness lies in this sphere of existence as against the belle-centric bottom parts of the ladder. Maybe because I have read too much romantics about events that took place in the West before it emerged as a major global force. These guys were risking life and limb for adventure, for new exciting discoveries. ..whatever

I thank the Social media revolution for providing our youths with the mental tools needed to short-circuit towards a future filled with adventure. I can only imagine what would happen when our traditional TV stations sync with social media to update and entertain us with beautifully presented on-goings by the youths around Nigeria. This would be a gold mine for the economy of our unemployed youths and the economy at large.

Post 1

I was impressed when a young man in fulfilling a vow took to his legs for a long trek from Lagos to Abuja in solidarity with the emergence of GMB as president. He wasn’t forced to make the vow, and he wasn’t forced to keep it either. However he chose to walk the walk.

Yes, I was impressed. I was not thinking pro or anti APC. I was only thinking of the man and his capacity to achieve a goal. A goal which in Nigeria amounts to nothing.

However, by the time he was arriving at Abuja there were already serious doubts about the credibility of his quest. Some of us gradually began to suspect that this guy must be a witch, walking in the day and flying at night. But guess what? We were summarily labelled as anti-APC.

Now, considering that the young man was not forced to do what he chose to do, I felt really disappointed. It reminded me of an international marathon once held in Nigeria, where a Nigerian emerged from the crowd and understandably not worn out won the trophy.

I soon lost interest in the numerous treks going on. If the trekers could be shielded from otherwise sensible questioning, why waste my entertainment time being sold a dummy. It’s like playing with a fake Xbox.

My interest was aroused again when this time, I learnt of another man trekking in the opposite direction. This time in honour of Jonathan. He’s been updating us on his journey so far, and it’s a welcome relief. Hopefully he would be more honourable and tell us the truth. Nobody force am, so he can quit if him tire.

But wait a minute. Am I so jobless to be concerned about the Trekers Association of Nigeria? Not really. I am impressed for a reason. It called Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.

egift:
The Goat and Yam statement by Jonathan really proved how deep Corruption has socked in his mentality. It is unforgivable.

WisdomCanada:
.... secular music, because if i'm forced to leave circular music today, i wont in any way feel complete, i do gospel and secular altogether, i dont want to leave either of them for the other, how do i cope with secular music and God's works? HELP!