₦airaland Forum

THe Church again! A very obvious target.But who will probe the sango worshipper and dare his deity or the witches ,wizards and memebers of other religion.Let me tell you that the EFCC people will rather resign than take up the assigment.

But na church now,civil people you can talk to who wont cut off your head.carry on the probe o!

The name of the former guy is Mark Sylva and yes,when he left too, people where wondering if Cool fm will survive.Is Dan foster levaing Cool fm and returning to the USA or doing something else around.who knows?

Let me tell you the way this will go eventually.We will not all agree because we are all different.I believe that Nigeria is the Giant of Africa and a great country that will get better because within me, that is the way I see Nigeria and that is the way I see myself/

So many other people will not believe that bacause the things that makes for greatness for them are no necessarily within them but outside.

LIfe necer gives you waht you deserve but what you demand!

I think that most other Africans are simply Jealous Of Nigerians.With all of our challenges, they wish they were like us. We are many and we bond together when we need to.WE are loud and necessarily dont have this servant mentality. From the good to the bad to the ugly, any first in black Africa, we are the one.

It gets under their skin and thats why they 'hate' us.

Fuuny enough, a friend who works in WEMA was telling me that ETB pays the highest but the workload is kinda high. It was so bad that our mutual friend resigned to take up a lower paying but equal position at GTB. I believe what people are saying is true- it is around 2m.

Easy with the words seun.As I wrote in the early post, I happen to run my own business.I did not really get to work much in an environment where things like How to price for your services,taxes(oh you never know until the quote you give is deducted for the sake of witholding tax and you start asking why they are paying tax on your behalf), and with the new pension thing in now,you really must start planning for the retirement of your people if you employ more than five people.It is not voluntary-it is mandatory.All those have to go into your books and your billings.That is what I mean by accountability. Someone who has worked in a bigger organization will know how to factor those in. I did not and I was short changing myself biog time and wondering how our bigger competition could charge the big fees they charge and still get clients to pay them.

By structure, I mean 'who does what and who is accountable or responsible for what as you begin to grow. If you have a passion for what you do as most successful entrepreneurs, you really want to do everything.and fail to grow the business beyond yourself. The trick to transiting is creating the plan for people to do things even when you are bot around.

hope that is okay,SEun!And the shit has been taken away from the bull!

I must not fail to add that working in an organization before setting up has a great deal of advanatage in terms of setting up stryctures and accountability,especially if one has worked in a place where there are loads of things to learn.

AS someone who worked for about five months before owning his own business, I can relate to some of the things listed but we really nee to make a few clarifications.I think the basic factor is the minds of people. People leave school and hope to get a job.

Recently, I had an experience that drove this home very strongly. I had gone to my lama mater with two people;one. an accountant in bank and the other owns his growing business.The banker does some things by the side (intrapreneur?) and he knows that given the kinds of business prospects and value his business owner friend has, he could not deal on the same level with the him.

When it was time to introduce them to a gathering of about a thousand people, I noticed that they clapped more for the banker than they did for the business owner.The banker noticing this leaned over to his business owner friend and laughed that they are clapping for my job. In the minds of at least over 90% of the people, the bank job is their concept of success.

It is interesting because I sometime find it hard how people live on salaries.Don't get me wrong. I am not there yet.In fact as I type this, I have less than 20k in my account but I am not worried cos I know that there are jobs that I have done that will bring in multiple of that. As a matter of fact, I have to get to the office on sunday,tommorrow in order to be able to meet one of my deadlines.

Over the years of learning and growing, I have been delivered from the concept of wages and I think more in terms of profit in relation to the opportunities that are before me.By woning my own business, I have been able to leap frog ahead and deal with the bosses of most of my friends now.

Is it easy? NO!!! It will be hypocritical of me to say that I did not want to get a job after graduation.It was a day of deep thinking that did it from me. My dad had worked in the civil service for over 25 years.He had risen to the top that one could possible get to,with a house in 1004 and official cars.ON retirement, he still went to work for one of his bosses who had set up a consultancy firm.

I told myself that it was not worth it postponing the evil day.I'd better deal with my being wealthy while I am still young rather than wait until I am in my seventies and gripe about the good ol days.

I am totally i agreement with the steps that the federal Government has taken. What DSTV is doing is realy not fair.There should be competition and choice. What has happened before now is a lack of competition and they can get away with just about anything.It just reminds me of MTN saying that per second billing is not possible in Nigeria before Glo came along suddenly they worked a miracle!

One must salute the courage of the new minister in taking the decision that is predecessors had failed to take.Let there be fair competition.It is the language of free enterprise!

And while we are on about this, I dont think it is right that everytime a decision is taken that requires analysis, we start this 'I am sorry for this country thing'Haba!

France will win.They atre getting better with Every match  and I pitied any team that wil meet then post Brazilain game.

Since most of the films refferred to had comic backgrounds and I was really into comics then, I will say Super man is still the best6 super hero personality there is. As per films and all that, I think what Hollywood was able to achieve by giving us the visual represenation and sometime gore on the Xmen and other group of super heroes really sensitizes the mind to such a state that I am trying to imagine what Superman can give us in terms of spectacle.The ex men are beautiful to watch in film compared to Clark Kent .That I think will really make their case stronger for films.

But for comic people, we all know that Superman is in a league of his own;the one who came before they all came.

Okay,the next time it will be the grammy and then we can talk again about his dress sense.He got there cos of his music sense.There are millions of people who power dress in lagos and have multiple degrees who will never step on the red carpet except in their own house.

People,this is our boy;lets be happy for him.I am proud that today its tuface.tomorrow it can anyone of you guys and I'd still be happy for you.Please.

His dressing.Nothing dey happen
His MUsic;something dey(definitely) happen!

Nigerian Musicians are areally trying.Like someone said the promotion is not really that good. Take a look at what Lagabaja is doing for instance and the Hip hop artistes( I wish they would just sing and not try being like Americans which they are not).Of course .there are song I really have to tolerate and wonder why the artistes or his friends think they can make a career in music with the song.But generally,the bar is being raised and they are doing a great job,even with the production.

Specifically.Tu face' huge success; Ara's publicized appearance in stevie woder's project;Asa_please write this down-this girl will be a success cosshe has the one thing all great divas have;the voice- Femi Kuti amnd a so many others not known to us this very moment.

I know that there is another thred on the CNN report on Nigeria but this piece was written by Olusegun Adeniyi of Thisday Newspaper and I think it is relevant here as well to a certain extent.

After the long flight from Abuja and the minor but irritating experience at the airport immigration, Reverend Father Matthew Hassan Kukah felt he needed a cup of Coffee on his way out of the train station. But as he made to refresh himself, two 'good Samaritans' appeared to inform him there was tomato ketchup on his jacket and being such 'nice people', they offered to help the Reverend Father to do the cleaning with their handkerchief.
With his guards down, Kukah did not know when his 'helpers' disappeared with his bag, computer, international passport and all his money. It took a while for him to realise he had fallen into the hands of con men. This real life story did not happen at Oshodi in Lagos, it happened in London last week Thursday. The crooks involved were also not black men. They were whites, most likely British citizens.
When Kukah narrated to us his experience last Saturday in London, I could not resist telling him of my 'disappointment' that an Oyinboman would con a Nigerian so easily. but on a serious note nothing could be more distressing than to have such experience in a foreign land and I really felt for the Reverend Father. It took the timely intervention of the Nigerian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, for him to be able to travel back to Nigeria at the weekend. As the travel advice issued by the federal government, based on the report from the high commission in UK reveals, such occurences have become common to many unsuspecting Nigerians, especially on Edgware road, Heathrow and Gatwick airports, Picaddily, Oxford street, Charring Cross and the train stations. But do we now use that to say all Englishmen are crooks?
Of course no sensible person can extrapolate such isolated incidences involving some unscrupulous characters to pass a character judgement on the people of any nation. Unfortunately, that is what the CNN has done to Nigerians with a recent report on credit cards fraud in Houston, Texas, titled 'How To Rob A Bank', in which our people were criminalised on account of the activities of some crooks.
While it is good journalism to go behind the scene to expose the activities of scam artists, nothing can be more irresponsible than to stigmatize a whole nation because of the activities of a few people. There were several things objectionable about the report but two will suffice. One, it tended to portray all Nigerians as inherently fraudulent with the comment that what happens in Houston is a reflection of the situation in Nigeria. Two, the report drew its examples mainly among Nigerians, eight out of ten, when credit cards fraud is common even among Americans.
The programme was aired thrice before it was suspended but the damage is already done. Besides, any interested person can always get the transcript on-line. Curiously, the reporters, I am told, admitted that the report was rushed yet concluded with a slanderous attack on majority of Nigerians living in Houston Texas. While I do not subscribe to the persecution theory in which some people claim there is a western conspiracy against Nigeria because of our 'potentials', there is also an element of truth in the suspicion that many of these countries would like to put us down given the slant of their media reports.
What the CNN has shown with the report is that it has no respect for us as a nation and many can easily conclude that it was motivated by racism and I believe honest Nigerians who reside in Houston Texas should seek legal redress especially since the society is governed by the rule of law or at least so they have made us to beleive. What is more disturbing about the documentary is that it is already a hot topic for the CNN Presents Classroom Edition and is to be shown again on July 12 for the benefit of some Grade Levels 11-12, College students in the United States while teachers are advised to "preview this programme, as its content may not be appropriate for all students."
What this means is that the documentary in which Nigeria was slandered as a nation that breeds con men has now become a case study on fraud for some young Americans who could now grow up with the misconception that fraud is a way of life for Nigerians wherever they may live. This is unacceptable and the relevant authorities must intervene to prevent further assault on our national image and our psyche as a people. Among the several discussion questions listed for the college exercise are:
According to an FBI official who testified on Capitol Hill in 1998, what percentage of Houston's counterfeit checks could be traced back to Nigerian criminal enterprises? How do Houston's Nigerian leaders respond to this and similar charges? How do some explain Houston's Nigerian criminal activity as a reflection of the political climate in Nigeria? Why and how do some Nigerians who are deported after committing crimes in the US. sneak back into the country? What, if anything, do you think should be done to rectify this situation?
The question to ask is: could there be a motivation behind the story? Given that the Nigerian population in Houston Texas is rather huge, it is not impossible that the report was instigated to achieve sinister agenda. Even though one may not have practiced in the US, I have done some studies on the laws governing their media practice and I do not know the justification for such unprofessional report. The documentary cannot in anyway pass the test of the Fairness Doctrine, which after several challenges by the media, the US. Supreme Court upheld in 1969 to be necessary in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC which involved the broadcast of a personal attack by right-wing preacher Billy James Hargis to author Fred J. Cook, who had written a book critical of then Republic presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater.
In that landmark decision, the US Supreme Court held that the Fairness Doctrine served to enhance, rather than abridge, the freedoms of speech and press protected by the First Amendment. The apex court further proclaimed that, "It is the right of the viewers and listeners, not the right of the broadcasters, which is paramount."
What is interesting here is that the CNN and other western broadcast media can actually invoke that clause to justify many of their clearly unfair stories on Africa and particularly Nigeria since they have more or less defined their listeners to be their 'own people'. That explains why over the years, most of their interviews, commentaries and reports (wars, famine, disease etc.) have all pursued the same objective: to severely damage African people in the eyes of the civilized world.
Beyond the anger and indignation, however, there are lessons we should take away from the CNN report because if we must be honest with ourselves, there is a crisis of values in Nigeria today. There have indeed been similar reports lately on the growing cyber crimes in our country especially with the Yahoo Boys who are growing in population by the day in Lagos. These are boys who want to just 'make it' without work and at the expense of honest people anywhere they may be in the world. All that these miscreants do is to sit by the computer for hours trying to decode the credit card numbers of unsuspecting foreigners. They are said to have godfathers in high places and it is time our security agencies did something about this development before our image is further dented.
The media has a responsibility in the way it presents facts and the damage is heavy when a respectable news organisation like CNN presents the people of a certain country as dishonest. That sort of stereotyping can only inflict injury as it has done to Nigerians living in the United States. While we admit we have a few crooks who give us a bad image all over the world, majority of Nigerians are honest people doing honest job, especially in Houston Texas. And they deserve the respect of CNN.

@twinstaiye

Concerning Jeff.perhaps the story you refer to is the one when there was an explosion on the Lagos isalnd.I heard him report that 'the city's only fire fighting truck , ' and I was really upset that this guy will tell the whole world that Lagos has just one fire fighting truck.Remember how he said that the Ikeja explosion was a coup or something?

I think he fits his report into the west' expextation of us Africans;gun totting rebels with starving children begging for aides.

Mcd will necessarily have to look at the Nigerian environment and craft their offerings otherwise they are in big troubles.But I think they are too rigid to really do well In naija. Mcd's undoing is the big size that it has.

Tantalizers was successful because of their innovation.Prior to their coming,what the SR offered were snacks and pastries.The Ayenis offered Jollof and Fried rice with Chicken served fresh . compared to the Mr Biggs then that opened their first shop on Broad street in 86 ,that was innovation and they took it from there. Also there restaurants encouraged people staying cos they had chair and not stool like Mr Biggs.

Since then, every restaurant has been lookinf for ways to Innovate and bring something different to the market. Now, most serve African dishes.Imagine, Mr Biggs serves Dodo and beans.The key really is innovation. And at the end of the day,only about four brands will dominate these segment.

As for McDonald coming to Nigeria, several factors will determine their success.the most important being how they are willing to adapt to the taste of our people.Otherwise interests in their services will fizzle out days after their entrance is heralded.

I have been wondering about the switch since I heard it yesteday but I think that what the government is trying to leveeragew on is the clout she must have built over the years especially since her face and that of Dora Akunyili have become symbolic of the few graet things acknowledged by many as developmental.

She is my person anyday. In any case, she still has oversight functions in the mintry and her ;twin sister' minister of state for finance under her,Nenda Usman is now the minster of finance. She will make an impact one way or another. I dont think it took her by suprise,She is too strategic to the administration to be throwb around.

Same with Oby who will still be running the ministry of Solid Minerals even as education minister!

Normally, I would not get involved with a threda like this because it represents eevrything is wrong in our country.When a younger generation of people who should represent some very fresh ideas and a hope for nation that has been torn apart by all kinds of ethnic related calamities start thinking and embarcing concepts that brought this country to this state, One can only imagine how different they are from the people who have caused all these problems.

What tribe is poverty from?What ethnic group does progress belong to?which region of Nigerian does develoment come from?My heart bleeds for tghis nation if some of the thoughts of tribalism expressed here are the core of what the younger generation beleive in.

naijababe,thanks for bringing some highre thoughts into this.

I am out.

I agree with the balance that has been alluded to so far by majority od the posters.The Nigerian film indutsry predated Nollywood and there are those who feel the the celluloid era dominated by Yorubas was more 'professional' than this era of all comers.Since 'Living in Bondage' was relased-which was in Igbo- the form of our films have changed and the men who invested heavily in that new form were the traders in Idumota and later Alaba. So, quite naturally, they will go for the people very close to them.There is noithing wrong in that and it is all part of the growing process.

The stage where we have not reached and which we need to get to is the evolution of a 'new tribe' of practitioners whose passion is not where they come from but how the films are made and the quality and content of every film.I speak of highly creative people,irrespective of where they come from.That will speak louder than the kinds of people who run the industry.

Non igbos may complain about the dominance of Igbos in the Nollywood business the way non-Yorubas complained then that it was only Ogunde and Co that were involved in the celluloid era film industry.

Let the film industry and watchers get their priorities right.Quality does not have a tribe!

First. I have not eating any of their food so I cant say much about the quality of that but as far as the brand equity is concerned, it is something that |Nigerians-especially the younger generation sold on the pop culture- will like to associate with.However, that will depend entirely on how the people behind the franchise handle it.

There have been strong foreign brands in the QSR sector that came into Naija and packed their bags months after their grand entry.Churchs chicken used o be on broad street but they are almost non existent now.Chicken Licken came from SA and they moved out after some disagreement.Nandos has alos comre in from SA courtesy UAC to service the upsacle sector but they do noy seem to be threatening the Tantalizers,Mr Biggs and TFCs of these country.

The key thing is for anyone interested in bringing this 'rigid' Macdonald ( rigid cos my cousin said somethimng about their terms over a decade ago,when he thought to bring them to Nigeria)into Nigeria is to count the cost very well otherwise the only thing that will be grand about it will be the entrance.

There must be a proper branding progamme that is well integrated into the lifestyles of the people in Naija.You have to really study the eating habits of Nigerians and how much an average person spends on a meal in the succcessful QSR outlets.

I think the fight for the market will be in ways to really make our indigenous food appealing in package and delivery through the Restaurants.McDonald is trying too hard to appeal to everyone and be evrything to everyone;smaller and more focused brands will begin to take it to pieces bits by bits.

Fellow Nigerians, please I will appeal to all of you to se this from the point of view of an average togolese player. 200k cos they are all know that they are not coming back to the world cup in a long time; So it is payday as well as pension and gratuity.

you throw a starving child into a candy store and you are not expecting constipation!Impossible!!

In choosing any of the carrer path that have been stated by previous posts, much of the answers to this question will still come from you cos' no one knows you the way you know yourself.What are the things that you like doing? Are you into computer because you wanted to? Ther are so many question like this that will determine just how you will be able to get things going in you life.

But do not make the mistake so many young people make by waiting for that self discovery to artive before getting a job that pays the bill. you can 'flirt around' wit the different discipline to see the one you have a natural flair for.The idael place to do this would have been the university. The fact that you wnat an anwser means you are likely to get it.

good luck!

, and before you close the thread,did someone say ZIP? In the year 2006? Just 100meg for about a thousand naira and it is just as fragile as the flash. I do some graphics and I know that Zip is really not in anymore. Its almost like a diskette now! I used one flash and it got spoilt. I am on the second one and its 128Mb which I got for N1,200. Its still working after six months. A Cdwriter is great for about 7k , you can have obe installed and write your files out .Imagine what you can do with 700meg .Or a DVD and you get 4gig! Imagine today, I wrote out all the files on my laptop for back up. Not sweat if anything happens.

I have used Norton since trhe first time I had access to  computers;then suggested Mcaffee but it was really slwoing down my system but like someonme mentioned earlier,I found out that it was a memory problem. With a IG RAm, it really did not matter much.

But I have only recently paid homage to Avast cos I had one of those virus that  work on your registry and replicate folders all over the place in your documsnts. It was Avast that dealt with it.

The only way England can win this world cup or the next will be if points are given for media blizz over the foot injury of a little above average players;where player's girlfreinds shop and the amounts of paparazzi a sport's personality gets.

When it comes to the playing, England is just another country and home to one of the oldest leagues in the world and some great sports club too, made popular recently by players from other countries!

After the surpising exit of the suns that I fell in love with, it is so predicatble that it is going to the heats.Against the suns, Miami would have had to sweat a bit on a phoenix sun good day with a very high percentage of three points shooters. But the Heats are the champions.I dont see the Mavericks winning against them.They may get a game but ultimately, it is the heats that will win.

Dwayne Wade is so almost like MJ in some ways- okay at least Kobe.

since we on this, may I also add that what is being done is a conceopt that will come to stay. The church is not building that people gather in.It is people called out as example (light) in darkness. The original word used by Christ when he said I will build my church was not a religious group but the same word where 'senate' is suggested.They will give the mandate to life.

Since you want something to gripe about, RCCG has the majority stake in TITV.I think you miised that.start another thread on that please! And if you think it is stopping, you are wrong! It will continue and people within that group will come out and do exploits, such that it will offend your misconception of the church as poor religious people.

Joseph was a life saver and prime minister tpo Egypt;Daniel was also a prime minster.These are childern of God with clear minds and directyion.Christiainity is not acall to hide from the affiars of life-It is acll to show people how life should be lived.Why? the Goid we serve created life itself.

Will you like to know about the eternal life?

Has anyone bothered to find out how they intend to raise money for the projectsIf they are indeed carrying it our)? That does not interests the people I addressede in my early post.The key thing is the tithe and oferings collected in churches.I do not attend Christ Embassy and I may not entirely agree with evrything they do there but I find it very intertesting than the people who have given themselves the right to be the judge do not even believe or actiuvely practise the concepts of Christianity.

Nothing else in the church inteests them except the money part and how it is being spent. They have an idea how the money should be spent.As I siad earlier,if it that easy to make the money and 'con' people into giving their money to you,why not just start your own church instead of the nine to five jobs you keep. you should manage to get thousands and thousands of gullible Nigerians (you think) to give their income to you!

1.Thought about responding to this or not,especially in the light of the earlier posts.
I think that to a very large extent there are people who simply antagonise the Christian faith because it gurantees a celebrity status on Nairaland.The admin' is a confessed atheist and it is very 'cool' to be anti Christian.

2.In respect to 1 above, there is no initiative that will be taken by the Christain faith that will not be subject to the kinds of predetermined scrutiny that is seen in some of the posts we have seen so far.Nothing will be said of the value being created or the many contributiuons that are made. I have also read how people criticized covenant university for providing education and collecting school fees.

Such people expect that the Christian faith and those who practice it should be at the back of everything;beggers and rejects of the society-not people taking any initiative to better their society.

Did they not know that some of the best institutions(including Harvard) in the world were founded by christians in the pursuit of knowledge and such institutions today are used to pursue thoughts and ideas opposite to that which their founders believed in?

why are we so concerned about the money of the church? The only people who should complain are those giving it and if they are not complaining, what is your business with how it is spent? If someone spends his money gulping a chemical that will delude him and eventually kill him, it is 'cool' and it is his right but the church must come to people like you and explain how it is spending her money. How warp can that logic be!

What bothers you about an institution to which you do not belong and how they spend the money that you do not give them?As I said earlier,dont you think that it is not your business?

For those of you who brag about staring your own church, why not just go right ahead and start it?Perhaps you can humour us with your exploits too and then spend all that 'famed money' you so know that those pastors have.

I will not get to a point where words will be excahnged in abuse to anyone but I will challenge all of you-especailly those anti faith celebrity on this forum- to be sober for a moment, which may be hard considering the euphoria of the moment- and think through your argument.It is none of your business!

Haba!

Ramsome Kuti Memorial Grammar School.

Obefemi Awolowo University.

Having Donal Duke has the president of Nigeria is a reality we just might witness in this coming elaction.One of today's paper say that he is favoured by the federal governbemnt and the PDP. Like I said in another thread, the people who opposed Obasanjo and expect to have a neutral response are mistaken.He will probabaly concentrate his attention on opposing them with the instrumentality of the state ( notice how some ministers and key people in government are being moved) The key to the success that this government enjoyed was with the economic team and the Obasabajo that people know will see to it that these other men (IBB,Atiku, BUhari) do not get there.

My point once again:Danlad Duke has a very bright chance.Really, he is the kind of person one will be proud to have has a president. fair (make that very very fair in consideration of the status quo) visionary and no matter the vive he may have had,he is far better than most who have occupied that place.He has proven with Obudu and Tinapa that he can do something worthwhile-not just spend money and annoucing pellow Nigerians!

I really think we should welcome any form of research that seeks to make our lives as individuals better . I had read aboutn the project in one os those TIMES mag on technology and I thought the process was rather too indefinite. The one I read had to do with a special 'fabric' that could show to a looking person the image that is directly at the back of the person being looked at.There are so many grey areas but they will acheive some mesaure of success.

It does not scare me in any way because, as someone said. it will be expensive and like the stealth car,the only place we may see it will be in James Bond movie.

Bolex, knowledge will increase.It is spelt out in the Bible. Thre is however a difference between knowledge and wisdom.Like Sewlyn Hughes said,man show his knowledge by traveling faster that light but show his lack of wisdom by going in the wrong direction!