₦airaland Forum

Bullseye.

aasog1: I ventured into farming 5 years ago because of the occasional hiatus and drought of customers in real estates. It was the biggest mistake I've ever made. I've applied for numerous loans, government grants, been to BOI, and nothing happened. Once, the late Umar Musa Yaradua ordered banks to disbursed 100Billion Naira agric loan to farmers, and on getting to my bank at UBA, Sango-Otta, Ogun State, my bank manager sincerely told me that the funds is meant for just 10 farms in Nigeria, as the federal government requires I have a collateral worth 300million naira before they can give me the loan. Isn't that madness of the highest order? Agriculture in Nigeria is totally discouraged. Even BRF through his Nafada implemented program got swindled by all these political farmers who keep embezzling funds meant for small time farmers like me. Right now, I've converted my 2 acres land to a plantain farm, shut down my poultry and catfish pond and snailery and I'm dying under the weight of debts I'm owing Grand Cereals the suppliers of the feeds I use, and also Lanre Hatchery. I'm a total mess right now, and often I have nightmares when I think of how often my chickens die, and everything cost like hell. Farming in Nigerian is just for politicians. If OBJ wasn't a crook, and stole enough, I'm sure his farm would be dead by now. For the youths, stay of farming. I'd rather sit in an office and keep selling properties.

Wow. Really sorry to hear of your experience. Always good to hear the voice of experience although not about your difficulties. N300 million collateral is even more than £1 million !!!! Seriously? To be honest, we need more of your type of honest submissions to balance out the theories. I really could not have imagined it to be as bad as you have stated here.

redsun: I mean,it translate in the sense that if nigerian farmers,not just the imported zimbabwean oyinbos are really successful,they will fill that gap of billions of dollars of rice import.That is just rice,not spaghetti,semolina,potato or tomato paste.

There are industries too create,jobs to fill,resources to use and monies to be made.All the country needs are good policies and sacrifices.

Yes you are right but don't you think attitude towards farming has to change? It really is regretable that we have everything to develop our commercial agriculture sector yet part of the problem is lack of interest from those who could make good farmers i.e energetic and driven young men and women. How do we bridge that interest gap when most parents would probably forbid their children taking up farming?

eGuerrilla: @Wesley/@Gbawe,

You've both shared some interesting insights here, thanks.

Still trying to get my head around the absence of important safe-guards highlighted in Nasarawa.



Can there be any doubt these farmers were predestined to fail?

Very interesting thread you started. I personally followed the Kwara initiative and thought it was an inspired thing to do because the farmers were displaced in Zimbabwe and Saraki, who was governor at the time, specified that the bigger picture involved these successful farmers passing on their specialist knowledge and techniques to 'local apprentice' if you like.

Zimbabwean farmers arrived in Kwara around 2004. Nasarawa follow suit some years later but failed to provide the same support structure to ensure success. I think for Nasarawa, issues had a tinge of 'afterthought' to the invitation of the farmers. Lessons can be learnt from what Nasarawa did wrong and helpful knowledge can also be gained from what Kwara did well.

I think we all wish more Nigerian youths would consider careers in commercial farming but it seems attitude to farming is a real problem today. Personally I love fish and have always been fascinated by fish farming. Carp, Catfish and Tilapia all do well under Nigeria's climatic conditions.

wesley80: ^ So why didnt those in Kwara state fail as well? Perhaps Kwara state is no longer in Nigeria is it?

Your point is well taken about the Zimbabwean farmers in Kwara. Kwara supported the Zimbawean farmers better. Simple as that. Whereas Nasarawa proved to be quintessential Nigeria.

http://www.thezimreview.com/2010/10/what-experience-of-less-successful-of.html

What the experience of the less successful of Zimbabwean white farmers in Nigeria tells us about developing commercial agriculture
Oct 16, 2010

The 19 white Zimbabwean farmers who arrived in Nasarawa State in 2006, on the invitation of the state government, were given a mandate to develop commercial farming to a scale unheard of in the country. This effort followed on the progress recorded by an earlier initiative in Shonga, Kwara State.
The promise of a new land tenure, a guarantee for a loan facility, security and infrastructure became a rallying point for the farmers, who hoped to begin a new life in Nigeria growing cassava, maize, soya beans and rearing pigs and cattle in commercial quantities. The state government provided the essential capital, which they were denied in Zimbabwe: over 10,000 hectares of land. But just less than a year after, the realities and the uncertainties that ranged from poor infrastructure such as access roads, flooded rivers, to late season cultivation, affected the yields, forcing eight of the farmers to leave in 2007.

"These were people who had to live in very basic conditions, away from their wives and families," said Colin Spain, a farmer in Farm 10. "The challenges were almost too much in the first year, although we fortunately found four new farmers to replace the ones who left." But three and a half years down the path, the challenges that pushed some of the farmers away have not abated, in a scheme reported to employ over 2,500 locals. Of the initial number of farmers who came in 2006, only eight are left today for a project the Nasarawa authorities hoped will assist food production and help develop agriculture in the country.

The farmers said the conditions under which they have worked over the past years are different from those agreed with the government and the financial institutions which agreed to provide a long term funding for the plan. And as a result, yearly projections have scaled down significantly and even
becoming worse in cases where farms lay fallow many months through the season, as a result of lack funds.

"Commercial farming obviously will be made difficult without long term loan," said Patrick Ashton, a specialist mango farmer at Panda, the site of the project. "But the banks here do not want to lend long term. If you cannot pay for your house in five years, I simply cannot repay agricultural credit in five years." An agricultural economist in Abuja said the coming of the Zimbabwean farmers have exposed the flaws within the nation's agricultural sector. He said Nigerian banks are not used to issues of agricultural loans, hence the difficulties the farmers face assessing them. Mr. Ashton said the bank involved has maintained a largely unstable rate system, which has not assisted the project.

The UBA Plc, which offered the first loan to the farmers in 2007, accepted that it will be on the basis of eight per cent interest. The interest rate has since oscillated between 19 per cent and the present 24 per cent, even with the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

"Over half of the money graciously granted us, is gone to interest rates," Mr. Ashton said.
Several calls to get the reaction of UBA for this story did not succeed. One of the spokespersons for the bank, Nasir Ramon, repeatedly promised to get back with information over a period of two weeks.NEXT, however, learnt that the bank refused to grant additional funding to the farmers because of the interest rate issue.

Interest rate trouble

For instance, Mr. Spain lists the planned cropping for 2009 to include the cultivation of 2,590 hectares of cassava, 410 hectares of maize, 210 hectares of rice, 1,000 head of cattle and others -including piggery, poultry, bananas, potatoes and vegetables - with a total labour cost estimated at over N104 million.

The plan, Mr. Ashton said, has been "destroyed by bank failures to provide funds as contracted. They seem not to know what they committed themselves to." For the 2008 season, the farmers said enough finance was released to enable timely cropping. However, half-way through the season, they said the
bank refused to release the other sums of finance. This meant crop maintenance was not completed and this caused significant loss in yields and, therefore, significant lower returns than budgeted and expected.

The revenues from the 2008 season were used to finance land clearing and, later, some cultivation for 2009, Mr. Ashton said.

However, in most cases, cultivation went down to as much as 90 per cent on 2008 levels. At the moment, 30 months after negotiations commenced on funding, the project got a little respite in August, 2009, when some money was released to the farmers.

The Permanent Secretary in the Nasarawa State Ministry of Agriculture, Peter Okaba, told NEXT that the poor funding of the project was due to a restructuring of the scheme, particularly with respect to the interest rate which the government "insists must be reversed to its initial charges." "To my knowledge, the government said the current rate is too high and called for a reversal. The matter is with the executive council for now, and I cannot say of its outcome," he said, advising that the commissioner, Oyigye Iyimoga, who was unavailable to NEXT, would be the most competent to release details of the government's decision on the funding and other challenges of the farmers.

Again, although the farmers said the state government and the community of Panda have been reasonably supportive, some indigenes said they suspected the project may not be receiving as much attention from the governor, Akwe Doma, as it got from the immediate past governor, Abdullahi Adamu, who initiated it.

"I think the government continues with it without a choice," said a man who gave his name as Musa Mohammed. "The fanfare has really reduced about it and the government may be using it for their politics." But Iliya Bello, a doctor of agronomy who serves as an adviser to Mr. Doma, said whatever
challenges the scheme faces falls within the normalcy of any enterprise.

"It cannot be true that the governor has less interest in it," he told NEXT in Lafia. "Any business comes with challenges, which the businessperson solves over time. Nasarawa State is largely agrarian, and any leader who wants to have a direction cannot do without agriculture. The project has started, and it will be there." Mr. Bello, incidentally, is a native of Panda, a distance of about 150km east of Abuja where the farmers were given 20 farms in 2006. He said the governor has also started a N1 billion small scale farming scheme that does not include the Zimbabwean farmers. "He cannot do that if he does not believe in agriculture, " he said.

Inherited tenure troubles

But whatever might be afflicting the farms could certainly be traced beyond Mr. Doma's tenure. For instance, the former administration of Mr. Adamu assigned the farms on a location with unresolved communal issues. Some of the residents still lay claims to the land allocated to the Zimbabwean
farmers.

One of the farmers spoken to by NEXT said in 2008, he lost about seven and a half percent of his gross turn-over to intrusions from unrestrained nomadic farmers who graze the area with their cattle. This affects about eight of the farms "That is about 40 per cent of my profit," the farmer said. "We are very fortunate to have very supportive people around, but this is business, and you get helpless sometimes."

So there we have it, a detailed exposé of all the interlinked factors that the farmers in Kwara state have enjoyed but those in Nasawara have largely lacked. And guess what folks: very different support conditions, ergo very different results!

The white farmers of Zimbabwe developed their group farming expertise over decades. Along with their willingness to work hard was the cheap labour of the Africans and support from successive governments going back decades before independence in 1980, which government support continued for a good many years into the independence era before the farmers fell out with their erstwhile pal Robert Mugabe.

The white Zimbabwean farmers earned their reputation for farming prowess over a long period of time under a special set of conditions. Remove enough critical parts of those conditions for success (political commitment over the long term, security of land tenure, access to affordable and long-term finance, infrastructure in place, access to inputs and markets, etc, etc) and it doesn't matter how knowledgeable or committed those farmers are; you end up with failure.

Both the Zimbabwean and Nigerian governments in their different ways seem to stubbornly refuse to learn these basic lessons in order to create viable indigenous commercial farming sectors. So you find that the Zimbabwean government had the naive, silly idea that if they just drove the white farmers out of their bungalows and put in favoured blacks who had no particular interest in farming seriously and had no interest in going through the decades long learning curve that had resulted in the white farmers being such mighty big-scale tillers of the land , everything would somehow magically turn out alright.

Nigeria has seemingly decided to learn from the experience of Zimbabwe's once powerful white farming sector in a similarly shallow way. Nigeria's 'brilliant' idea was not to apply and modify the lessons of the white farmers to the task of designing a home-grown, indigenous commercial farming sector but to hope that the model and the success could simply be transplanted whole from Zimbabwe by importing a few white farmers!

In Kwara state where the authorities seem to have thought things through holistically and made the commitment to bend over backwards to put in place as many of the support factors the Zimbabwean farmers needed to try to replicate the success they had built up in Zimbabwe over decades, there are already promising early signs of eventual success.

But in nearby Nasawara where many of these factors are missing, the experiment is floundering, just as in Zimbabwe agriculture has stumbled after a naive government destroyed one model of farming without giving any thought to devising and then supporting a replacement model!

I have connected enough of the dots, anyone can fill in the rest to draw a picture of the hard, long-term thinking work that Nigeria and Zimbabwe need to do to develop serious commercial farming sectors dominated by "indigenes", but which neither country seems the slightest bit interested in doing.

slimghost: You really need spiritual help sir. I also heard your impotency was caused by GEJ/PDP. too bad

Lame, asinine and borderline r.etarded .... the demonstration of the extent the wit of a mediocrity-worshipping over-religious Baboon stretches to. I suppose you have a lot in common with your insecure messiah who goes kneeling before every "man of god" in Nigeria regularly and pathetically. Sad folks.

slimghost: Empty Vessel! Where is the proof dunce? Nobody gives a rat ass about your Amala politics as long as you stop spreading your propaganda against GEJ/PDP. Being a loud and obnoxious critic is the easiest job meant for empty and disgruntled elements like you.

M0r0n. What proof are you asking for? Photograph of GEJ handing a large check to Fssehun with a letter entitled "help me destabilise and divide the SW so I can win in 2015"? Mumu. Why don't you also ask me proof Patience Jonathan was evr treated in any hospital abroad when her husband said she was "resting" only for the woman herself to say she nearly died. Have 'patience' my mugu fellow. All is always revealed as people 'guestimate' with GEJ. Not a hard thing to do, just as we said the Alam pardon was in order when news first broke, because desperate, callous and crude Jonathan is very predictable.

Dibiachukwu: Nigerians have been farming here with very little complaints. This is why the Nigerian farmer is the most suitable farmer to farm in Nigeria. Support Nigerian farmers. If all these facilities were available, don't you think the Nigerian farmer would do better too.

Simply not true. Nigerian farmers are not well-supported or well-trained to engage optimally in commercial farming otherwise we would all not be wistfully talking of the "good old days" when agriculture contributed immensely to the food security and income of Nigeria.

The distinction to make is between commercial and subsistence farming. The Zimbabweans are here for the former and, whatever our personal opinion, we should accept they have proven themselves to be talented farmers. If they have failed in Nigerian and are telling us precisely why, then we should inspect what they are saying in the spirit of being proactive learners who are really seeking solutions.

slimghost: Have you seen why i called you a mad man? You and your fellow disgruntled elements have always been on GEJ/PDP dic.k always spewing pure hatred,falsehood and negativity. Thats the definition of "frustration" and "joblessness" if i must add.

Clannish m0r0n, GEJ is the President of Nigeria and not your hamlet even as you are not sophisticated enough to discern this. Simpleton. Also, PDP is Nigeria's ruling Party you clannish twerp. They control the nation at the centre. If they do so for bad then every right thinking Nigerian must take them to task. Kapish?

What is you lots excuse for your 24/7 focus on SW affairs and administrators when you do not live there? Sad that the more your kind talk, because you are not very bright, the more you dig yourselves deeper into the hole you have created.

omenka: Are you sure u are living in Nigeria? I got 30 hrs of electricity ystday!! The Transfiguration Agenda is on course!

Abi. I hear some households now have so much electricity they are even selling some to neigbhours in Benin Republic, Chad and Cameroon.

slimghost: Rant of a madman! Its called PROOF and if you aint got one STFU and move on with your frustrated life you disgruntled chap!

Perhaps you need to go back to school, specifically for English comprehension lessons, to understand what frustration is. Frustration is most apt to describe you and your minions 24/7 fixation on the affairs of other - specifically in a negative way.

Sad folks like you reek of nothing but frustration and inferiority complex. Fasehun should simply form his Party and stop talking. We know he is now a default hero to your sort but GEJ , with all his 'sit tight' machinations, will learn a very basic lesson soon. It is like Chess. A game of intellect and strategy. Never of emotion.

slimghost: RANTS!!!!! Where is the PROOF i asked for? Soon you lot would start blaming GEJ for your personal woes. rubbish

solomon111: Amala politics.
Instead of him to give us proof that what he is spewing is not mere rhetorics,he is busy appealing to sentiments and throwing around conspiracy theories.
Yeye.

How many times have you sad 'busybodies', always obdurately and malevolently fixated on the affairs of others, gotten egg on your face? Just wait and see how things unravel. Is it today you over-emotional and clannish sort have been making a fool of yourselves? Ask your boss Beaf who left here in disgrace because he had the displeasure of seeing everything some stated about GEJ proven to be correct while all his clannish defence of the man was discredited by GEJ's aberrant behaviour. With desperate Jonathan, it is always only a question of time.

If you low-level thinkers think this is this is even worth discussing wait for what is around the corner resultant from GEJ's desperation for "operation sit tight 2015". Fasehun, in the grand scheme of things, is a nobody in SW politics and the sort of mercenary who will make noise and chop desperate Jona's dollar.

slimghost: Between you and i, who is now not dealing with facts? See what blind hatred has done to your sense of reasoning? All i asked for are FACTS that GEJ is behind ACN's ordeal and you are here citing issues of the past, which are not even FACTS but pure permutations! You are purely second-guessing here friend and that's one thing i hate. DEAL WITH FACTS! cheers

No surprise you cannot counter factual delivery that shows an established pattern predicting the behaviour of desperate Jonathan. Folks like you don't do established history and you are certainly not honest or upright enough to hold intelligently factual discussions where recent past occurrences proves or disproves viewpoints. There is no place in the world, perhaps except Nigeria, where previous proven repeat behaviour is not used to predict how folks are likely to act.

Is it today GEJ has done desperately despicable things for anyone to believe this is beyond him? Dude, the entire world knows GEJ and his antics. Stop sounding as shameless as the man who just gave a pardon to Alams so he could have another political ally in a 'useful' office all in pursuit of operation 'sit tight 2015'

slimghost: Bros please can you prove that GEJ is behind this? I thought the contract issue has been confirmed as FALSE? Why cant you guys concentrate on your jobs and let GEJ/PDP be? Must you lot blame him for all your problems? the whining is really getting sickening. peace

Look, you may like back and forth but sensible people look at the antecedent of people. I will certainly not waste time on you by chronicling GEJ's many desperate antics from day one .

Yet, I will leave you a few examples since your sort enjoy revisionism because you think everyone cannot think back beyond one day. Cast your mind back to how a 7 year tenure elongation obsession was the first thing GEJ launched into despite Nigeria's many serious problems deserving urgent attention.

Do you also remember GEJ making Gbenga Daniel his SW campaign coordinator at a time when he should have moved forcefully against the Governor, to protect Nigeria's legislative integrity before the world, during the Ogun legislative impeachment saga where the minority disgracefully impeached a speaker who would not bend to Daniel's will?

How about GEJ ordering the AGF and IG of police to work together and ensure Teslim Folarin was 'liberated' from a murder charge so he could be flown, courtesy of the Presidency, to Abuja to deliver delegate votes for GEJ?

Even recently, We are seeing sackings ,in the PDP, of those opposed to GEJ's undemocratic ambition. A superfluous PDP Governors forum has been formed simply to emasculate Ameachi.

Guy, sit down somewhere. GEJ is as shamelessly desperate as they come. The only thing is that folks like you don't do facts. For those not into self-deceit, it is obvious GEJ is one of the most callously desperate leader Nigeria has ever had.

berem: Fasheun should shut the hell up! where else does he want to get money to resuscitate UPN? Why is he lying? it's so sad that ACN which is the pride of Southwest politics will now be divided because of the selfishness of OPC. It is time for Yorubas to stand up and don't let Jonathan use Fasheun to destabilize the unity of the Southwest.

well said Berem. No one has ever claimed the ACN to be perfect but the fact is that they are giving the SW a better deal after the despoil, pillaging and plundering of the PDP. One must ask why Fasehun did not see it fit to resurrect UPN when the SW was being gang-molested by OBJ and his criminals. Now with his pocket swelled full of Naira from Aso Rock chaos merchant and sponsors of terror, Fasehun wants to be the latest 'omo ale' for hire to benefit from GEJ's shamelessly open desperation to remain in Aso Rock by all means after 2015.

Well, Fasehun will get nowhere because the people of the SW see through the cheap chicanery and understand, perfectly well, why he has become another self-betraying hungry mercenary in the mould of Abati.

Jonathan's fall will be a great one that may cost him dearly when this all blows up in his face. This Abachaesque desperation to cause disunity everywhere and promote divisive chaos, just to retain a job he badly sucks at, will mean GEJ himself will know no peace or happy end.

akaOpene: This is the 6th day of darkness in Onitsha & all the cooked & raw food in my fridge ve all gone to waste. What a government?

Sadly, we will still be saying the same thing in 10 years time as long as we do not become politically sophisticated enough to thoroughly inspect the history of potential Presidents to note whether we are gaining another gradualist, happy to see majority of Nigeria's wealth spent on a small elite/ruling class, or a sincere man of the people who is immaterialistic and genuinely on the side of ordinary Nigerians.

The right President will not eat N1 billion food a year while Nigerians starve. The right President will never seek a N4 billion indulgence "mission house" for his wife given how Nigerians live in abject poverty. In which Country of the world will the right President, confident in himself and genuinely focused on transformation that speaks for itself, expensively maintain a retinue of glorified liars like Okupe, Abati, Omokri et al? David Cameron is flying with BA while our President is seeking to add to his fleet that is already one of the biggest at the behest of any President or head of State in the world !!!!!


Nigerians should collectively wake up and smell the Coffee. They may have made the wrong choice electing a mediocrity to lead them when far better choices existed but vainglorious and egotistic defence of a mistake, to the extent of lying to ourselves to the dismay of the world, will not get us anywhere. Doing that only prolongs our collective suffering as a Nation.

awodman: Mr Gbawe I know you can never see anything good in this administration execpt your choice people are I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅ control.

Let me ask you two quick questions
1) Have you ever heard of the power sector reforms?..
Is it on course?

2)have u heard about the Orosanye committee ƒσя streamlining of MDAs?
Is it been implemented?

Let your conscience guide you in answering the above questions

Stop deceiving yourself. It is not about my "choice people" being in control. For winners and ambitious people , life is about results and not excuses or whining. Simple.

Do your investigation and you will see there is absolutely nothing new in the so-called "Power sector reform". It is the same thing , with minor tweaks, as precisely touted from the days of OBJ. Do you know that vast sums has been approved for "power projects" by the FEC under GEJ when we are supposed to be following a holistic privatisation plan? Dude, wake up and smell the Coffee.

It has never been about the dearth of good plans but about lack of political will. Already, what is the privatisation scheme in reality if not an 'old boys and insider chopulation Party'? I am certainly happy to be proven wrong but we will review this thread in 2014 and even 2015. I am sure it will be you and others like you giving excuses same as Insincere9gerian is trying to launder the failure of the GEJ administration, in 2013, to keep it promise regarding "stable power by 2011".

As for streamlining of MDA's what has that led to in terms of tangible reality and financially quantifiable gains? You lot never fail to amaze. Which Nigerian government do you know that has not pretended to be doing something? You are always 419ned with acronyms you run around with. If Acronyms and soundbites were to be currency then Nigeria would, by far, be the richest nation on earth.

Profligacy and waste is still the order of the day while pretence and deceit takes care of everything else. The sad thing for folks like you is that , factually and in comparison to how things get done elsewhere, the lack of confidence we showed in GEJ in 2010 is validated today while the misplaced belief you had in a man placed far above his level of competence is now discredited by how very little real progress is being made by Nigeria today, three years into the Presidency of GEJ, despite all the lies and rhetoric.

awodman: U just said it all...both most will prefer to focus on the negatives..well its left to the reform handlers to prove skeptics wrong

Come on dude. GEJ was sworn in as substantive President in May 2010. He would have been in power for 3 years next months. Our greatest and most damaging fundamental problems remains the same or even worse !!!!

Why do you people worship mediocrity so much only to round on ambitious and exposed people, who see what is happening elsewhere, as "negative"? You never look at our fundamental problems , and how they are blatantly being ignored, before you come here calling others "negative" when it is you who is unambitious and happy to worship mediocrity and gradualism that is ruining your life and will surely position your children as a generation no one will respect because they come from a nation everyone has disdain for. If we don't begin to work aggressively to get the right leaders in, and as long as folks like you continue to hold brief for mediocrities, then my prediction will happen i.e Nigeria will become a 'pit' nation.


Search academically and you will find that many respected economic analysts posit we are going nowhere if we don't drastically reduce recurrent expenditure (at around 70%) to free up funds for capital spending. This , despite all the lies to the contrary, can be done if a President is genuinely committed to tackling the fundamental problems keeping the nation down.

What did OBJ do in that regard? Yar Adua nko? How about GEJ who even went as far as saying "leaner government not possible"? I.e a direct taunt telling Nigerians he was going to maintain one of our biggest stumbling block against the nation's progress.

In contrast, do you know how low the UK's recurrent expenditure is in comparison to Nigeria? Still, Cameron and Osborne predicated economic recovery of the UK on aggressive cost-cutting and reduction of waste. Tell me who or what stopped them from coming in and delivering the cost-cutting they propagated. Instead, every Nigerian President deliberately and freely props up the profligate system of patronage rewarding a few with the wealth of Nigeria.

GEJ is doing nothing but being deliberately gradualist with our greatest problems - precisely same as others before him since 1999. This will not change as long as we keep foolishly voting their kind into power and then making excuses for their mediocre leadership while they do whatever it take to maintain the patronage system that robs the majority and rewards the very small minority in the elite/ruling class.

anonimi: Ask those who knew Surulere where Fash-Ole grew up to tell you how the LOW COST housing there looked like when they were built in the 60s and 70s i.e. 50 and 40 years ago.
When you have their response, please come back here and compare with what Fash-Ole is doing in the year 2013, Misitah I-like-to-compare well, well

Is there no level you will not sink to just to discredit anything to do with Fashola and ACN? You are nothing but an asinine liar. I have proven it before and will do so again as an original Surulere son haven lived in the area for , since for at least 30 years, since I was a little child, till today. Many know me around the Eric-Moore, Adeniran Ogunsanya, Bode Thomas, Iponri axis.

I bet you thought you could throw the Surulere challenge around foolishly secure in the knowledge no one would challenge you. What "Low Cost" estates where better than this? tell us you lying reprobate. Do you know Games Village you lying scum? How is it better than what Fashola has provided here? Is it all those Shitta and Ebute Metta Estates that are better than this you wretched and hateful liar? Iponri Low cost Housing that Jakande built, with all due respect to a leader I respect, is crap !!!! Awful quality and poor aesthetics. It is perhaps Eric Moore tower that tops this Emeka Anyaoku Estate but that was not low cost at all.

Keep lying just to besmirch the character of others to suit your rabid and unobjective hatred that makes you one of the few, on every single thread, who is negative about any ACN delivered infrastructure. You don't stop at been negative either. You lie and fabricate things wildly !!! Tell us the Estates from 40 years ago better than this and show pictures. Lying twerp. You are only incurring the wrath of God/karma on yourself always lying against the good endeavor of others. Hate the ACN if you want but give credit where due or say nothing at all, if you cannot do that, rather than coming here to lie.

The forum can judge for themselves. That is Games Village below that was relatively a 'star' of Low cost Housing back then. Can we all not see how, according to the hateful liar Anonimi, it is much "better" than what Eko Ile shows here? You call Fashola "Ole" but you are worse. A creature of no honor, a liar and disgrace to his lineage? What level of hate motivates you to lie like this? What kind of hatred is in you Nitori oluon?

http://www.nigeriapropertycentre.com/for-sale/flats-apartments/lagos/7733-2-beds-flat-at-games-village-building

https://images.nigeriapropertycentre.com/properties/images/7733/11175_7733-2-beds-flat-at-games-village-building-for-sale--lagos-nigeria.jpg

ladychoice: Why is tinubu so powerful?
Because Tinubu and all his political figures have proven to be an example of the 21st century politician. PDP practises politics of 18th century whr democracy was not a factor!for example, king Henry rules so king henry and al his family members and attachees tak a final decision over d pple regardless of what they think. Tinubu has not only proven to move with time and modernization but
To b d beta politician.
Politics is a game! All politicians are corrupt! You av to learn corruption b4 you even start any political career. Pdp corruption dosent care wat d pple fink, whereas tinubu and his puppies av prooven over and over to get the job done. Most nigerians don't reli care if a postion of an allocation is stolen, wat we care about is dat wat d money was allocated for was done and finished. And ACN has proven dat oveer and over. Am not saying dat d ACN politicians arent corrupt oo, dey r infact indeed very corrupt but dey get the job done which is the most important factor in dis struggle for power btw pdp and acn. Its all come down to dis 'what political party has d interest of the pple as part of their political agenda?' Who gets d job done?

Well-said. What you have highlighted are the reasons some of us support the ACN. Personally, I think many Nigerians are innately dishonest people. Non more so than the crowd on this forum. We are all seeking saintly messiahs yet how many go a day insisting they won't pay bribe anywhere? How many survive in Nigeria without 'working the system'?

If you cannot answer in the affirmative then why expect any politician to be a saint given what Nigerian politics is and the reality of the environment they operate in? Our Nation cannot be what its people have not evolved to be !!! For now, it is simply about the lesser devil. The ACN is that by far and Tinubu is simply , comparatively, one of the best forces for good in Nigerian politics.

Funny Tinubu gets so much hypocritical flak, even as I know it is envy behind it, when IBB institutionalized corruption and warped the mentality of Nigerians for good. The concept of "get rich quick" plus stealing and cheating others blind created a generation of corrupt politicians and young Nigerians 419ners who think it is 'cool' to get paid causing misery. OBJ, 3 times, gave us the least competent and most ruinous hands available in the form of Shagari, Yar Adua and now GEJ. OBJ single-handedly sabotaged Nigeria callously at many stages in his controversial life. Odili helped immensely to create militancy. Some evil politicians are now funding what will ultimately destroy Nigeria and turn it to Somalia i.e Boko Haram.

What of Anenih who ate all the money in one fell swoop and did not even deliver one kilometre of road for the huge amount he received to revamp our road infrastructure. Nigerians are dying like Chicken because of Anenihs "steal it all and give nothing" thievery. Comical it is Tinubu always on the lips of some when such evil and no-good ruinous characters totally dominate Nigerian politics. This is one reason why Nigeria is going nowhere. I.e followers who focus on the wrong thing and fight the wrong people.

It is like 9ice said in Gbamu Gbamu. "Oro mi jo bi owe, ologbon lo le ye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Z6pMVJs4gSw#t=172s

exxell:
AM USED TO HAVING A SENSE OF RESPECT FOR YOU BUT THIS YOUR POST HAS SHOWN ME THAT YOU MAY BE A TOUT AFTER ALL . HOW CAN YOU BE SO DESTRUCTIVE IN YOUR ARGUMENT? THOUGH I CRITICIZED THE BRO, I WAS AT LEAST SATIRIC IN A WAY. AND LETS BE HONEST, NIGERIA IS GETTING WORSE BY THE DAY! IF THERE IS A WORD LIKE WORSTEST, I WOULD HAVE USED IT. I KNOW THIS CONTRADICTS MY PREVIOUS POST AND MAKES ME LOOK LIKE A HYPOCRITE BUT TRUTH BE TOLD, I POSTED THAT PREVIOUS STUFF BECOS I WAS TRYNA BE PATRIOTIC AND DEFEND MY FATHERLAND. BUT ME AND YOU KNOW THAT SECURITY WISE, ECONOMICALLY, SOCIALLY AND ACADEMICALLY, NIGERIA IS NOTHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT...

MY HONEST 2 CENTS!

Don't mind that fake yahoo-yahoo thug. When I saw the thread, I just knew the OP would be insulted by the many fake elements and fraudstars we have here. Nigerians are never humble. They all want to talk and castigate. Yet how many of these losers, like fraudonaire, have even a woman they can call their own let alone kids they fend for and would do anything for?

OP's concerns are legitimate an no one should insult him. Anyone doubting that should ask our deceitful politicians and "big men" sending their kids, in vast numbers, to be raised abroad while they continue to shout "Nigeria is working" long enough to abet their unconscionable looting.

We should all accept OP's reservation because no one wants to end up talking suspiciously about their own Nation. Thing are what they are because of what we Nigerians have made of Nigeria. Silly hacks like Yahooze boy will never accept that. Instead they will round on the OP for harboring legitimate reservation they interprete to be lack of patriotism.

@Playmode.



You must do what is best for your children and your wife. Forget yourself. You are a man and can/must 'rough it'. Don't put them in any gamble you want to make. Don't listen to the "Nigeria is paradise" charlatans here. Move back, alone, for a year and see if you can make it work and if the Country meets your expectations. If the move is good and productive then bring your family to join you.

look, let me tell you this for free since not many tell the truth here. The number of families (wife and kids) sent to the UK to be maintained by a husband in Nigeria is increasing frighteningly - especially among the wealthy class who can easily afford to maintain their family in Nigeria yet choose to send them here. I am telling you the truth.

Our political leaders are evil with how they say "Nigeria is safe and fantastic" while they are sending their wives and kids to live abroad as if Nigeria is about to be nuked. Nigerian political family can now even claim St John's wood and Hampstead in London. Through direct and extended association I know at least 20 families with this arrangement. My brother, no long thing. Move back on your own abeg. You are a man. You will be OK. Bring the family if you feel they can be happy and fulfilled. I am telling you this as a husband and father with kids.

snnipsi: I am not a Tinubu's fan, but I get to learn that, whether thru crooked or clean means, the true federalism, significant changes and development, which has made south-west states a point of envy, is worth noting about Tinubu.

Talking about criminality, who is judging who, there is no pure system to convict criminals. It is a country where the "real" criminals are being 'celebrated'. A convicted past governor, who was just released from the prison, has started campaigning to become a Nigerian Senator. A former minister, who was convicted of embessling billions of naira, on his way out of the prison, was accorded with dancing and "Aso Ebi".... Why don't we atleast give it to someone who helped other become governors and leaders of the change that Nigerians need @ a point like this. Had he (Tinubu) not started this movement, who would have delivered democracy to the people as against the "Papa Deceive Pickin" busy-doing-nothing agenda

You don't need to sing the name, just accept the change!

Well-said. Absolutely spot on.

bayooooooo: Perhaps, there is nothing to add. It takes a talent to spot one. There is no way you assemble a team of well accomplished professionals but still fail in your task. These are folks who have a point to prove.

In ACN, it's quite clear there is a direct policy of putting competent folks in power whereas in PDP, whenever such had happened, do your investigations, it would turn out to be more of a mistake than implementation of a policy.

Absolutely. I remember OBJ fought tooth and nail to deny Rotimi Amaechi the PDP guber ticket. That is what the PDP is about. Ultimately, I wish every State and region of Nigeria well but I would not trade Tinubu for anyone else and I applaud what is happening in the SW today that means , whatever our issues, we will get it right as long as a minimum standard of leadership merit, that no one should go below, is established.

russellino: Go suck tinubu's ass and pay a photographer to take a picture. If u haven't done it already

Loser.

russellino: I actually don't care that you found my comment important enough to respond to. I do care for the truth and will speak when it is being trampled upon by anybody whether govt official or your party. Instead of responding to someone directly u spin an article about people who don't worship tinubu as being fools, losers, clannish and all sorts of foul language. O boy that's crap.

Which lie I don tell now sef. Unless you are mistaking me for one your fellow political hacks that have tainted social media to death with hypocrisy and hero worship I suggest you use address me properly.

Eff off. Is that "proper" enough for you?

russellino: This is why I am not comfortable with these folk. ACN members and tribal politics are inseparable. When someone criticises your party they are tribal and clannish. Are u saying that ALL yorubas support tinubu? Ebun adegboruwa took on the lekki tollgates is he also a clannish person. Smh

You must mistake me for someone who cares about your opinion. Yes ACN members are about tribal politics never your sort, whatever Party you support and wherever you come from. You would be better served confessing what your real issues are instead of boring us with the same pack of wicked lies your sort tell repeatedly in the hope it will eventually come to be accepted as the truth.

snnipsi: well said!

You are applauding a pack of hypocritical, revisionist lies. What Ethnic card is/was Tinubu working? The sort Peter Obi and Dora Akunyili shamefully and openly "worked" when they told Anambra folks not to vote for a "Yoruba Party" via casting their ballot for Ngige?

This is the story of some Nigerians. Shameless fondness for basking in self-deceit, revisionism and dishonesty simply because of ugly indoctrination some never work to overcome. We know, on this forum, those who never stop claiming Tinubu, ACN and the Yorubas are the most tribalistic in the entire world while reality on the ground makes a mockery of that deceitful and wicked claim.

We know those who claim foolishly and ignorantly, to suit their bigoted nuisance, that the ACN is a "Yoruba Party" as if that is Tinubu's deliberate plot rather than a situation occasioned by the laziness, myopia and lack of political talent of the likes of Atiku and Ngige.

What is the composition of the ACN today? Which of Nigeria's most progressive and talented achievers, from all ethnic groups, are you seeking for that you won't find in the ACN today? Take Ribadu for example. He is one of the most liberal, fair-minded, moderate and pro-people politician from the North. Certainly a man who will be fair to all Nigerians. Ditto Utomi. Why did these guys join Tinubu the "ethnic jingoist"? Nonsense !!!

@Dtaj.

Well done ojare. Excellent the way you 'itemised' and collated issues. You judge soldiers by the peculiarity of the arena they battle in. Ordinarily, and throuhout the world, citizens can discern this easily.

Nigeria, with it's problem of serious ethnic/religious and sectional division, bucks that trend via developing citizens unable to give credit where due because of the unthinking and unbridled hatred of others.

Same way a m0r0n cannot be a lecturer at Harvard or Oxford is how Tinubu did not get where he has or achieved what he did without admirable talent and enterprise. It really is laughable how transparent the tribalistic hatred of some are. No one is saying folks should like Tinubu but some only display their aberrant thinking when they cannot even admit what the man really is in the Nigerian political arena where no active and living politician is in any way close to Tinubu today in the management of so many of the right sort of leaders and the development of a powerful platform amenable to the leadership ambition of men and women who would otherwise be disenfranchised were our politics controlled totally by the OBJs, Anenihs, IBBs, GEJs of the world.

What did OBJ, IBB, Kalu, Atiku, Falae, Anenih, Odili, Ibori, Ciroma, Danjuma, Obanikoro, Peter obi, Abdulsalami, Shonekan et al give you all? What is GEJ giving you all today? The man is turning his region into a militant controlled "might is right" enclave. Looters will be rehabilitated and put in charge of important office under GEJ. Those are highly condemnable and evil actions yet GEJ is rabidly and clannishly backed by the myopic, hypocritical and bigoted 'busybody' elements who are the same folks always attacking Tinubu.

Meanwhile Tinubu is redefining the SW, after the great OBJ 'criminalisation' era , into a region where merit and ability is king and the way forward. A no-brainer template for success as attested to by world history . Rather than others pray to see same they are busy going around shouting Tinubu as if he deserves ten death sentences. Start thinking Nigerians and stop hating blindly like brainwashed Goats. As a South Westerner, I am happy with Tinubu because, even with his faults, he represents progress given how evil Nigerian politics is in reality. Tinubu is doing the dirty work so the next generation of politicians can be cleaner and better. Only hateful fools will not see that.

ballabriggs: I got an extra bill of about 800 pounds for three months over the winter and went bunkers. I called and they explained tariff has gone up and I probably also used a lot of heating in the period.

In truth I did turn on the heating system a lot, however, 800 quid just seems over the board. I use Npower and people have warned that it is a bloody rip off. I am looking to change to another source.

Switch to Scottish power. They have this payment plan where you pay a fixed monthly amount via direct debit based on your average household usage. In summer, when you may use less than the average, they will carry over credits for you against future bills. You simply have to supply regular metre readings.

In winter, when you may use higher than average, they will send you a bill for the difference but it will not be drastic as the £800.00 you received. Worth taking time to know billing plans out there otherwise suppliers will always use default/base tariffs which are the most expensive.

esere826: When I speak of lack of 'management skills', i speak of something that includes something like what u've called out
Many African nations seeem to have a challenge in 'strategy thinking'
-the ability to match action with consequence and map it to the environment, while making crucial positioning
much like chess

True. I think this is something we must approach as a science. I.e we must make deliberate effort to ensure education is deliberately driven towards raising innovative minds and solutions providers. This can bear fruit massively for the African continent.

Nobody mentions "education revolution" but I think it is needed urgently and more than anything else otherwise the "economic revolution" mentioned here will simply remain what it is in reality. The plundering of Africa's wealth with average Africans themselves remaining largely the poorest beneficiaries of the wealth being created.

djon78: Africa's/Nigeria's problems are hydra headed. In Nigeria especally it is not even about carving up the country. What we are going through connects across all the ethnic group in Nigeria, it cuts across relgous groups.
What we are facing are evil/selfish leaders, leaders I am talking about are not just political leaders but, religious, buisness and ethnic leaders. These our leaders don't give a bit damn about Nigerians, all they care about is money, proft, amassing so much. That's why foregn companies will come in rip Nigerians off and get away with it, as long as our so called leaders hands are greased well. Many youths don't understand what we are up against, it is a behemoth. They corner every resources and income it brings and drop peanuts for a few that are slaves working for them while the rest, strugle to survive, when it is meant to be for all of us.

We can state great ideas in this post but the end result nothing will be achieved, we must get practcal, we must contribute wisely and intelligently by action, by doing not just cerebral excercise. Even try as much to set up our own poltical group/ platform to stand against the status quo.

You are 100% correct but my worry is that the behaviour of our leaders mirrors the attitude of many ordinary Nigerians.