₦airaland Forum

Right!!

1) So we are all agreed that Jonathatan is not a "strong leader"-Whatever that means
2) We do not aall gree if Nigerian needs a "strong leader"or some other leadership type
3) We have no evidence that "strong leadership" will lead Nigeria to eldorado (Point 2 is actually different from point 3)

4) If Jonathan was not the president, there is a possibility that some of those clamouring for Buhari wont have been doing so -probably, some pro-buhari folks are actually simply anti GEJ, and believe that Buhari stands a better chance of dislodging a sitting president. No matter how weakt he sitting Nigeria president is.
5) If Buhari was not alive, who would we hold up as a "stronger" alternative to GEJ? (It wld be silly if we dont consider Buhari's demise)

6) is Buhari really strong? How come loyalty to him is enclave (religion and ethnicity) driven?
7) Lets imagine that "strong" Tinubu were the president, do we really expect that corruption wont be rampant in the Nigerian executive and other arms of government? Do we expect that President Tinubu wont scatter the opposition using the police, courts and babaric means? Do we expect President Tinubu wont select his relatives into high positions in Nigeria?

If YOU, yes YOU were the president, what skills do you think you would bring to the table? What type of leadership do you presently bring to your immediate environment?

-you outsource everything to God
-you'r an igbo vs yoruba ethnic warlord
-you think that were you work is your gate to undocumented riches which you thnk God for
-you use money made in nigeria to buy foreign goods and buy houses abroad, go on vacations etcand kill our economy in the process
-when a girl comes to u for help, u pinch her bweast
-u sit on NL typing rubbish that cannot pass any known intellectual test
-u bribe and receive bribe
-u gloat when u hear of ethnic cleansings and ask to see pictures of r.ape
-u cannot report your friends and family to the police when u know that they are in cults and that they took lives

YOU are weak ... i think that is what Ajanlekoko ended up saying

PhysicsQED: ogugua88,

Obama made a similar sort of joke (referencing Nigerian scams) himself, while he was running for office. It's hard to find an online source to show this now, since almost all that will come up now is articles/info on recent Cruz's joke, but Obama did make that kind of joke as well years ago. .

if you know the period range this occured,
go to google
go to "search tools"
go to "Any Time"
go to "custom range"
in the input box that opens up, narrow the date range "from" "to"
Search

There is something not right with this story

1) How possible is it that the husband comes into the room, and everyone seems calm?
2) The woman's husband is alleged to be in the room, and yet she is bold enough to hide behind her boyfriend?
3) The husband seems to have come in with a journalist's recording tool. Strange
4) It appears from the 1st pix that while one person recorded the audio conversation, another took pictures. That questions the narrative that the husband could have 'caught' them alone


.............uhmm

Looks more like a blackmail job to me

I came accross this: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/from-awo-to-federalism/162568/

By Akin Osintokun

You will recall that we raised a question last week-‘From Awo to What?’ The above title and the following is the response to that question. Why would Chief Obafemi Awolowo, more than any political desire, want to rule Nigeria? Animated by this desire he abdicated the Premiership of the largely homogenise Western region in pursuit of the presidential seat of Nigeria. I ask this question because he was also the foremost proponent, among Nigeria’s political luminaries, of decentralised Federalism.

The logical interpretation of this twin aspiration is that he saw no contradiction between the two and reasoned that they are mutually inclusive. I reiterate this point because there is a growing assumption in Nigeria today that anybody proposing a structural review of Nigeria towards decentralisation is hostile to Nigeria and lacking in charity towards fellow citizens who believe otherwise. As President Barack Obama rightly noted, we can disagree without being disagreeable; and we can argue without calling our belief in Nigeria and goodwill for fellow citizens to question

Anybody familiar with Awolowo knows that next to his ambition to govern Nigeria was the higher aspiration to be remembered as the all-time Best Nigeria President; and would have figured that decentralisation is the optimal arrangement for the realisation of such ambition within the context of Nigeria.

In truth, the theory of Federalism today is as open ended and confused as its applicability. And this kind of theoretical confusion and exhaustion has recorded its own fair share of tragedies. The French Marxist theoretician, Louise Althusser, committed suicide, on the cusp of theorising himself into a cull de sac. Afflicted with a similar riot in the head, Doctor Amy Bishop, more recently, brought out her gun and cut short the life of fellow lecturers at the University of Pennyslvania. If you see a Nigerian academic who starts arguing with himself; looks unshaven, bedraggle and sporting an unkempt bushy overgrown hair, you may do well asking his fellow academics to find out how their colleague is faring in terms of the consistency of his theoretical propositions and postulations.

And if it is the word and not its meaning we quibble about, we may follow the example of United Kingdom and write Federation or Confederation into our Constitution and call ourselves the United Republic of Nigeria. But permit me to make a projection here-all Nigerians who presently feel that their love for status-quo Nigeria is being spurned by those advocating decentralisation would, in the short to medium term, begin to behold the beauty in decentralisation; when they feel sufficiently suffocated by the military misbegotten political misanthropy.

Incidentally this is an experience that the comprising regions of Nigeria have had. As a matter of fact it started with the Northern region in 1966 when they were going to proclaim secession after exacting maximum revenge on the return match of the counter coup. Here is what Ahmadu Kurfi had to say on the matter “The original intention of the July 29, 1966 counter coup leaders was to seize the rein of government and then announce the secession of the Northern Region from the rest of the country…. In fact, the coup leaders instructed Northern elements in Lagos to leave the metropolis for the North, giving a deadline within which to comply… A portion of the speech of the new Supreme Commander, Lt Colonel Yakubu Gowon, on August 1st, 1966 implied that the intentions to secede or to resort to confederal arrangement were not abandoned altogether.”

The consequences of the sequence of events from the July 1966 counter coup climaxed in the proclamation of the republic of Biafra by the defunct Eastern region. This marks an escalation of the disintegrative potential of Nigeria and the 30 months fratricidal bloodletting ensued in quick order. The annulment of the June 12th 1993 presidential election won by Chief Moshood Abiola precipitated a similar ethno regional casus belli (of the Yoruba) and feeds to the rather inflexible position of the Yoruba on the convocation of a national conference with full constituent powers. And don’t let us forget Adake Boro and his quixotic declaration of the Niger Delta Republic and the Ogoni nationalist irredentism of the late Ken Saro Wiwa.

Let us proceed with one proposition on which we are all agreed. Nigeria is not working. Why is it not working? Some people would contend that it is because we have not being lucky enough to have good leadership. If we don’t have good leadership then what do we do about it? Throw out the incumbent and if the successor and the successor to the successor are not good-keep throwing them out. The futility of this kind of formula and prescription is self-evident. If after 53 years of post-independent Nigeria, we are not agreed that we have had satisfactory leadership or that this is a rare exception, then on what basis rests the optimism that once we get rid of the incumbent, we will get a better replacement and continue to do so.

At the end of the day, knotty political questions especially the end stage of election, are resolved through a medium called realpolitik-the hard headed compromises,; subjective aspirations; and the appreciation of the relative positions of strength and weakness of contending players. It is the aspect of politics that otherwise morally upright politicians ordinarily deem offensive and repugnant. Given the make-up of Nigeria and the stunted growth of the political elite, it is futile to ever hope this process will routinely work to produce the elusive top class political leadership we crave.

Now I have nothing personal against Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State and Speaker Aminu Tanbuwal but I have heard it said again and again that these are potential presidential candidates from the North. If we want to act on the submission that inability to get good leadership is the overriding political problem, then what is in the profile and bio data of these gentlemen that stands them out? Cheer leading a rapturous welcome party for Major Hamza Al Mustapha in Kano? And it is probably the same logic that would work against the proposition of idealistic candidates like Dangiwa Umar, Nuhu Ribadu and Audu Ogbe.

The lesson to learn from the return of Al Mustapha is that Nigerians are spiteful of one another and care less for each other’s sensibilities. This behaviour is by no means peculiar to the fans of Al Mustapha; it is a generalised syndrome of been alienated from a country under which we feel oppressed and persecuted. The sense of persecution has to do first and foremost with whosoever sits on the throne in Abuja. We feel persecuted because he has too much power to influence our standard of living for good or bad; we also feel persecuted because of a sense of dispossession-less the inside group in power.

It is in this regard that crude oil poses a unique danger to the corporate existence of Nigeria. It would sooner wreaked irrevocable damage to the political viability of Nigeria. It is what triggers desperate struggles to seize control of Abuja; It is at the root of the rationale for the preservation of the status quo and reduce its dysfunction to leadership problem. Yes leadership is our problem, and remains potentially the case for every society. That is why structures and institutions are formulated with the assumption that all societies are inherently prone to leadership failure and political dysfunction. Constitutions are then made with this assumption and anticipation in mind by designing built in checks and balances structurally and institutionally. No society, since the age of Hellenic antiquity, predicates good governance on the notion of an existing and available pool of philosopher kings.

Nigerians are given to exclaim that the president of Nigeria is the most powerful president in the world-but it seems we never pause to reflect on the implications of this wry observation. First it is an observation that says something has gone fundamentally wrong with our system-to have a president whose powers are coextensive with that of a middle-age sovereign. Second the capture of such a trophy becomes a do-or-die affair-as it is manifestly the case now and before. Third is the assumption and reality that the constituent units or the supposed constituent units, the states, are relegated to the status of vassal states. All the governors routinely queue to see the president almost on a weekly basis-for one patronage or another. Having the most powerful president is a self-evident reason to devolve this destructive power away from the centre to newly consolidated constituent units.

It is true that Nigeria is a product of its history but the expectation is that we learn the right lessons from that history and not mindlessly reify a self-abnegating legacy. We fought a civil war but it was not a war between good and bad and the outcome was not a victory of good over evil. In the situation in which the Eastern region found itself in the second half of 1966, can it be said that there was no justification for demanding confederation failing which secession became the alternate option? Equally, how were the officers of Northern origin expected to react to the clearly lopsided bloody coup of January 1966?

The notoriety of the first military coup was to upset the political equilibrium of Nigeria and unleash a momentum that acquired the logic of its own. It provoked and legitimised a zero sum; winner-takes-all attitude to the politics of Nigeria which eventually resolved in the culture of the military tail wagging the Nigeria dog; of military might is right. Thus was born the interminable era of military-led regional hegemony. Talks of Federalism or not then became secondary to the sustenance of this new power construct. In my thinking federalism was systematically subverted by the long tenure of military intervention and it took the return to civil democratic rule to expose just how extensive the foundational Nigeria federalism had been compromised.

A perennial feature of Nigeria’s politics is the trans-regional nature of alliances that are constructed to contest presidential elections. The calculation of the All Progressive Congress (APC) for winning the presidential election is, for instance, predicated on General Mohammadu Buhari and Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu winning the far North and the South-west respectively. Is this not a manifestation of decentralised federalism in practice?- where supposedly national election battles are waged on regional basis.
In the final analysis, we should all realise that the clock is ticking and we can make the choice that stares us in the face or bury our heads in the sand-in imitation of the ostriches in the farm of my big brother, Dangiwa Umar.

olupentane: Can I learn a new language like french in 20hrs?

Josh the presenter in the video says u can
the next question would then be, How can u?

My answer wld be a suggestion that you do some research on Josh, and maybe follow him on twitter or some other social media platform
there you cld ask him some questions.
I'm sure he'll try to help

...cheers

Ishilove:

I'm addicted

One man's meat na another one poison
For some folks, television watching is not entertainment but a career development strategy

For you particular skills, I guess that NairaLand could be a veritable ground to propel your career if managed properly
I would think that if some American person in a foreign Social Media platform such as Facbook had as much followership as you
the person would be a super star with loads of cash by the side

And come to think of it, Reno Omikri became 'famous' thanks to his Social Media savviness

uken73: Interesting. But I'm not sure if this can actually apply to all skills.

It probably can't
but i guess the beauty of the tips is that instead of struggling to learn everything, it suggests that deconstructing the skills could see you learning little important bits that are useful to you at the point in time.

I mean, why disturb a busy CEO of 55+ years to learn the entire Microsft suite
when he can simply learn to type in MS Word, save, attach, and send the document via email

garripack: i really need help cos i really love learning NEW skills but i find it very difficult to read for a long time

WHAT DO I DO IN DIS SITUATION OF MINE

Remember the frustration barrier talked about in Number 4

Dreal1247: .
In addition to this difficulty in reading, i observe that i easily fall asleep while reading and this has been a great source of distraction for me. I equally observe that i can rarely concentrate in a lecture for more than one hour without falling asleep. I know this could derail this thread, but i will be grateful to see an end to these challenges from here. Thanks.

I also had/have this challenge
I have however come to appreciate some things about myself which could probably help you:

-I noticed that I am a strongly visual person, so i have to try hard to concentrate when being lectured, unless you provide me with visual stimulations or great examples that tickle me
-When i am not passoniate about something, i tend to doze off,... so i changed my discipline to modules that i enjoy
- Challenges stimulate me, courses/topics that I can challenge assumptions and discover new things keeps me alert. Repetitions bores me to sleep

(an intellectually exciting babe gives me a ***, much better then robust behinds which unpleasently ensures i constantly doze off)

Freezeman: Ok wonderful write up but hw do i learn to play a GUITAR in 20hours

The video in the OP shows or claims that Josh was able to learn how to play an instrument similar to a guitar within the 20 hr period.
You will however notice that he didnt attempt learning everything
he learnt just enough basic skill to be able to entertain himself and a little audience

folks are apparently excited seeing london taxis and some oyibo folks in a video
i rate this video zero for creativity

I am begining to see what Ajanleko means when he says we are largely a weak people

*jumps into thread*

You guys should not touch the lord's anointed one
live it for God to judge. Vengeance is mine says the lord
let him be the judge

Do u think that anything can be done on earth except God gives it the go ahead
Live everything in the hand of God

afterall, how many of una dey pay tax to govanment
so how d thing konsign una
the money is our oyel money

*jumps out of the thread in a hurry carrying a big bell*

When i discovered that it was easier for me to learn new skills by imagining a specific useful office related task,
i used the same strategy in learning SAS, SharePoint, Visio, MS Project and Qlickview

This is what Josh refers to as Deconstructing the Skill

Although I am yet to test this, especially the 20 hours timing however, i'd like to share a personal learning experience that seems to support Josh's theory

For a long time, i wanted to learn SSIS, i thus did a lot of research, video learning etc and was heading no where.
I soon decided to downoad SQL server with BIDS on my laptop. This had SSIS

I then chose to have a goal that is what i might come accross in the work environment
i.e inport data from sql sever to excel, and export data from multiple excel files to sql server

When i defined my learning in this way, it was much easier and faster to learn within a day
This was how I first learnt SSIS use in the work environment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY

For busy professionals who have commitments and yet have a strong desire to learn new skills,
Josh Kaufman in his presentation at Ted suggests that you can learn any new skills in just 20 hours.

He argues that the famous 10,000 hours learning rules is required only for the top
percentile expertise level of skill development.

This is how Josh suggests we acheive the 20 hour learning rule:

1) Deconstruct the skill
-Most skills as we know them are actually a complex bundle of skills.
-Decide what exactly you want to do and then break it down further to get the exact skills you want

2) Learn enough to self correct
-for example get some 3 to 5 learning resources on what you're trying to acheive
-such resources give you alternative views that help you correct your mistakes

3) Remove barrier to practice
-For example take away the televisions e.t.c, and focus on the task at hand

4) Practice at least 20 hrs
-start practicing for at least 20 hours. you might get frustrated at first,
but after pushing past the frustration barrier, you'd be able to learn your new skill.

^^^
if what u've just said is a good natured yabis,.. then no problem
but if u're serious...
what does Patience have to do with this?

AjanleKoko: There's a simple answer to all of these:

Nigerians are yearning for a strong leader, primarily because we see ourselves as weak.
This perceived weakness permeates every sphere of our existence. Even with the natural bravado and aggressive attitude of Nigerians, individuals are riddled by patent fear of simple things: poverty, death, and failure.

So it's only natural that we are looking for a Daddy to save us. And any military cowboy, political trickster, or Daddy GO who assumes that role is automatically assigned near-deity status. All our hopes and fears are now transferred to that person.

Jonathan on the other hand looks and sounds like he could do with a Daddy of his own That sort of infuriates the population

LWKMD
choi!!! you have killed somebody oooooo

.....make i digress concentrate on this ya point
But him need a daddy GO too naw
and i'm sure he'd prefer if the daddy G.O tells him stuff like "God says you shld relax and hold ya peace"

Buhari's Capability to Lead

I from my point of view do not see Buhari as having the 'good' that Nigeria deserves
but then, I am left with a dilema.....what is the dilenma?

Ok, to better present my dilenma, I'll start by first suggesting that I have had an intractable belief that Nigeria majorly has two chronic problems (perhaps, they are only symptons). The problems are:

1) corruption (defined here as the unstructed hunt for pecuniary gain without any attempt to instil its regulation, and reward or punish individuals in line with the determined structure of the accepted and codified wealth maximization regulations)
2) Mismanagement, or better still 'management incapabilty', not minding the number of academics or self-assesing super-talented races we have in the country

The three points I have made above immediately assures that within a crumbling mess of leadership such as ours
(i am not talking about Jonathan here)
there is an entrenched tendency to further spiral into self assured destruction by the elites,
taking the entire system with them

The solution is also self evident
-the need for one man at the very top who will not outsource his/her responsibility
this one man would need the xteristics of what we can call a strong leader
not only strong, but strong with purposefulness of what can be defined as 'good'
with an uncanny ability of mental sagacity

The nigerian system would fall in line if there is no undue interference from foreign sovereigns
who the rejected bits of elites would easily align with

Note that I have been careful with the term good
This is because our 'good' varies
For example, The talakawas of the north see Buhari as good with his pro-islamic and pro-fulani stance
While the southern and middlebelt indegenes cringe at the thought of a 'bad' Buhari restoring Usman DanFodio's conquering legacy to the remaining parts of Nigeria

Like the writer of the OP's post suggests, we can safely assume that generally in Nigeria,
there is an acceptance that power flows from a central position.
An inability/perception of the central position's inability to control power could lead to the tendency of gross insurbodination
and a frenzied and uncultured rush to grab power by other principalities thus leading to mayhem

The Elite class in Nigeria are also divided along multidimensional lines without any clear and central ideologies
Even the choping of money (for those that use this as the beacon for political direction) is not clearly defined nor shrouded in any ideology.
It's all a mad rush..... for example, to the extent that the principalities in charge of air transport cannot guarantee the saftey of fellow elites, neither can the principalities in charge of security guarantee the safety of fellow elites and their families from assasins and kidnappers

The "prisoner's dilenma' theory suggests that each individual from a bunch of rogues will easily sell out his/her rogue colleagues
if given the option of redeeming him/herself to the detriment of the other members of the group
This is despite the knowledge that if all stick together with a common purpose, then they will all reap positive results

One ruler/leader

Rulership/leadership of sovereigns is usually domiciled within a group of elites
The authority of the one visible leader vs his nuturing group can be represented in the form of a continuum as shown below

you tok well, well

I really no send the guy either, but lets adress 2 points u raised:

1) Why do we think that the future of Nigeria lies in one person?
I guess here you refer to 'one person' as any one ruler/leader (not neccasarily Buhari)
2) Buhari's capability as a Nigerian leader moving forward. Given his historical antecedent

Why would I prefer a Buhari to Jonathan?

Simply because, I feel so sure that Buhari wont give the same excuses that Jonathan gives about the fight against corruption
I dont expect Buhari to bite his fingers and say that individuals, EFCC and judiciary are the ones to take up the fight against corruption

I feel strongly that I will see some powerful faces in jail and being given the Tafa Balogun harrasment treatment which is easilly metted out to the common man

Do I expect spome magical economic growth from Buhari ....NO
But, the hounding of corruption should provide some entertaining distraction from the biting pangs of hunger

We feel more readilly at ease to forgive such a person if the person commits some other attrocities

If we take a look at past Nigeria presidents and weigh them against this criteria
we might find the ideal presidents that a number of Nigerians love to hate

For jonathan.
.........uhm
I think he his an alright manager, but far from being a great leader (whether for Nigeria or some other country)

I like this

However, the writer is not taking a neutral position
He seems to be 1st on the side of Jonathan, thence he/she supports the devolution of power or the need for a weak president

No doubt, many of us seem to enjoy 'strong' presidents that we can complain about
much the same way that some women like dominating men and yet complain about them

However if we pay close attention to the narrative of 'strong' that is desired, we find that it is not a desire for the devil
Abacha can be termed strong, but I doubt many of us wish for someone like him to return

I suspect that what we term 'strong' is someone that:
-Doesnt look afraid
-Doesnt act afraid
-Takes the bull by the horn
-Attacks the mighty who we perceive to be full of guilt (not the dowtrodden)
-boosts the economy through job creation
-Changes the status quo
-can make examples out of close associates and even familly members

^^^

I find the two posts atop this my post quite interesting
...uhm

Funny replies

I'm sure aethists will be fewer if such questions have robust replies

I believe God well, well, but I feel that I have got so much time left in the sands of my life to engage in the voyage of discovery with 'him'
....no need for me to dock reasoning with someone with a bigger 'brain' than mine

@manny4life

true talk
i don use style teach vlookup be that

So, I can approach Manny4life's question by first arranging the scores in Ascending order
Arranging the scores in ascending order is important for vlookup's approximate match to work

then if you input the values in the cells exactly like I have done in the diagram below
go to cell E4 and tpe the vlookup formula
=vlookup(D4,A2:B6,2,True)

Then press enter on your keyboard

you see what has happened? !!!

Now in cell D4, input any valu you want and see the impact for Grade
Have you noticed anything?

If you look closely at the vlookup equations in the Excel diagrams I have shared above
you'll notice that "False" and "True" are presented as alternative inputs into the equation

Whereas "False" is for exact match, "True" is for approximate match

What do I mean?
Great question
..This is what seperated manny4life's teaser from mine

My teaser requires that you use the exact match function, while manny4life's teaser is about number ranges
For number ranges, you should always eandeavour to use the "approximate match" function of vlookup

If you want to find the young of the animal instead of the female
then in the vlookup equation, change the number 2 to the number 3
this returns data from the 3rd colum

(see diagram below)

You can replicate the Excel spread sheet below
(Don't worry, we'll soon get to manny4life's question and an alternative solution. I'll also share the usefullnes of this function in your workplace)

After inputiing data like you see in my diagram below, in cell, type this
=vlookup(B11,A1:C7,2,FALSE)

then press enter on your keyboard