₦airaland Forum

This rabid dog (Chino or whatever his name is) hasn't produced evidence to support any of his claims, these are playground taunts, not appropriate for a fully grown, mature man like me

BuddahMonk: But contract for the projects have been awarded and work have started on the site.
The 3 flyovers at Kwata, Amawbia and Aroma have commenced, i saw the pics bro, its real.

My people in Awka said nothing is happening. I know the signboards are up, but real construction work hasn't started & nothing is happening on the expressway - that's what my folks in Awka tell me.

I prefer your mature sensible engagement to the misplaced aggression of that lout, "Chino" (or whatever his name is).

chinolization: Taaa gbafuo from here! Who dash you Anambra citizen? Imagine daft claiming Anambra!
You have your ghost here not only your people but I am a living witness here, serious work is currently ongoing and your frustration cannot affect our speed. I will get pix soon to shame you devil..
ENEMIES of progress!
[s][/s]

Please don't insult me, do you know who I am? I can find you out and deal with you comprehensively, don't think you can hide behind the anonymity of the Internet.

Let's have a mature discussion, with no insults please.

chinolization: Evil men who do not like to seeing good news are here..
I am living and working in Awka..serious work is ongoing at the Amansea-Amawbia dual carriageway with the 3 flyovers. In fact they have doubled the man-power to be able to meet with the deadline Obiano gave them. I will get pix soon..
As for the airport, it is already a done deal. You can get a heart attack for all we care but we ain't stopping.
We are not only building an airport but an International Cargo/Passenger Airport of which FG have granted license and the site has been secured and compensation fully paid to the original owners of the land..
[s][/s]

I have people in Awka, and they've authoritatively told me that NOTHING is going on at Arroma or Kwata junctions where the supposed "flyovers" are being built.

I'm from Anambra, I don't hate Obiano, but I'm not interested in political grandstanding.

Please don't show me pictures of other work sites.

I doubt this airport will ever be built. Obiano is making too many promises, I doubt he can fulfill them.

The Awka to Amansea road Anambra state is supposed to rebuild has been abandoned. Obiano says he'll build 3 flyovers for N5 billion at Awka - and he'll also do an airport?

You and I know this is just noise

This is nonsense, the total strength of the Nigerian Army at the height of the war never exceeded 250,000.

If we can have Islamic law in Kano and Zamfara, I don't see why religion shouldn't be part of our census.

pazienza: Let me paint a picture of what would happen following the collapse of the country.
1. Communities with onshore oil wells would occupy their oil wells,kicking out the oil companies operating there,or forcing them to stop paying loyalty to the FG but to them,if they are to continue operation there. So the FG would lose control of it's oil revenue.
2. There will be a race for the control of the offshore oil wells, a lot will depend on who is in control of the FG,if it's the South south as it currently stands, then the picture even looks worse for the North.
3. The governors are not going to able to keep power, with the loss of the FG,comes the loss of the monthly allocation that gives them power, and with the loss of their military and police escorts,who are federal agents, and would have all gone back to their respective homes.
I don't see the Governors retaining power, with no FG allocation, they wont be able to pay their workers, angry populace will be after their heads after enduring years of their incompetence and corruption,if anything the governors would be on the run to go eat their loots at a first world country,together with their families.
For Igboland,there will be a new order, built from the smallest units of government in Igboland today, THE TOWN UNIONS. An assembly consisting of representatives from every town in Igboland, Igbo elite groups like Aka ikenga and Ohanaeze, with some prominent Obis/Igwes/Ezes, will be formed, they will be the decision making body for Igboland,and power would return to the people.

True, a collapse of this nation would be bloody. Ijaws don't really have leadership, so militants will fight each other over oil revenues. Cross River/Akwa Ibom will have less issues. I'm not that confident about Ndigbo; a lot of greedy self-centered "leaders" with no vision.

Any group that doesn't demonstrate leadership now, won't magically demonstrate it in chaos.

Is it the same Kwankwaso that:

1. Used his "Islamic police" to destroy N48 million worth of beer?
2. Used his "Islamic police" to jail people for 4 months for "drinking alkohol during Ramadan"?
3. Used his "Islamic police" to punish people for having "un-Islamik hairstyles"?

I doubt he'll get a single vote in Benue, talk less the South.

omololu2020: which part of delta igbo z oil located,all d oil in imo,anambra,enugu,abia r not up to 500,000 barrels a day

Actually, 300,000 barrels a day are enough to run a country that has direction - but not a lootocracy like Nigeria.

pazienza: He would have succeeded if he wasn't betrayed by his people,and he managed to usurp IBB.
I have this feeling that Awo plan was to secure Odua republic for the Yolobars, but to do that,he had to make them strong enough to repel invasion by the Arewas then and in the future, so he set to give his people Economic power firstly, had he managed to usurp IBB,he would have won yolobas real political power, that would allow them to slowly decapitate the North's military complex, ensuring that they would be too weak to pose a military threat to a future Odua republic.
I refuse to believe that a man as wise as Awo ever believed in Nigeria's unity, i want to believe he wanted an Odua republic strong enough, millitaryly and economically to withstand and repel Arewa invasion. Ndiigbo were merely collateral damage in his grand master plan.

People overestimate the economic viability of Yorubaland. If the leave Nigeria, within two years one or more rival deep sea ports to Lagos can built in the Niger Delta, so on what will the economic viability of Oduduwa Republic rest on if Lagos has a serious competitor.

Throughout the June 12 struggle, Yorubas realized this - there's nothing you can build in Lagos that you cannot build in Calabar or Ibaka or on many locations on the Niger Delta coast, so they'd have a lot to lose if not part of Nigeria.

Lagos is prosperous because it is an "entreport" city to the "interior" (the interior being the rest of Nigeria). Take away Nigeria from Lagos, Lagos fails.

pazienza: Yea. He didn't succeed, but it wasn't for lack of a good plan or poor execution of his plans, but becos he was betrayed by his people.
The Yolobas had since lost the advantage he handed them, they were never going to find another sage to help them maintain that advantage, so naturally Ndiigbo caught up with them.
Awo gave all he had for the Yolobas, his foresight and genius is unmatched by any Nigerian political figure, his master plan for the Yolobas was fool proof, his adversaries were too dull to figure it out, i guess it was unbearable for him, that it was not his adversaries that thwarted his plans, but his own people, the same people he went to prison for,and did many dark deeds for. It wasn't the fear of IBB wrath or the ignominy of defeat that made him take his life, it was the weight of betrayal by his people, it was unbearable for him. Poor Awo.

There was no way Awolowo could have succeeded, to for his plan to work out Nigeria would not have a private sector economy and all segments of the economy would have nationalised.

Yorubas were never going to be as dynamic as Igbo in the commercial sector and as the economy grew, the money made in commerce would eventually have impact on the white collar sector - you cannot simply sit in an office and make more money than business people. So Awo's plan failed.

As for the Hausa/Fulani, they had no plans, when they lost control of the military/politics, they lost everything. It is almost pitiable.

A few words about the 20 pounds policy.

1. I was a bit wrong, 20 pounds is equivalent to 130 pounds in today's money, which is equivalent to a little over N30,000 in today's money in naira. That kind of money doesn't make anyone rich.

2. It only applied to those who had bank accounts - that would be about 2% of the population or less (literacy rates were much lower then).

3. Big transporters like "The Young Shall Grow" had their start without the 20 pounds, so anyone claiming that "Ndigbo would have died if Awo didn't give them 20 pounds" knows absolutely nothing about Igbo resilience.

4. Shortly after the war, Awolowo got the "indigenisation decree" passed. Barclay's Bank became First Bank, Shell Downstream became Unipetrol. Awo's plan was for Yorubas to dominate the economy - since their major competitors, the Igbos were reduced to penury. Only Yorubas could afford to buy shares in large numbers & people like the Tivs (who supported Gowon 100% & fought the war in large numbers) DIDN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS GOING ON.

5. Unfortunately, Awolowo's plans didn't work out - the companies like Boots who Yorubas were able to dominate through the "indigenisation decree" soon went under. The old generation banks found it difficult to compete & Igbos slowly & steadily began to crawl up the Nigerian economy.

6. The deliberate attempt to blockade the South East economically through deliberate refusal to give them an international airport, has thankfully, been reversed by Jonathan. I suspect Awolowo was the architect of that policy and it was faithfully executed by Gowon, Murtala, Obasanjo, Shagari, Buhari, Babangida, Abacha, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo again and Yar'adua - before it was reversed by Jonathan.

7. At the rate Enugu is advancing under Chime, all Ndigbo need is another governor like Chime in Enugu State & a deep sea port nearby. The only thing you need to do is watch out for the next generation.

8. The war is a very sad chapter in our history and we lost something very important as a nation during that war - a sense of empathy. In 1966, when Igbos were slaughtered in 1,000s in the North, non-Igbos didn't care - they even justify it today. So how do you expect some people to have empathy for the many killed in the North?

9. The inner strength of a nation is in a shared sense of empathy. I'm surprised at Tiv sounding name's total lack of empathy in this thread, given that Tiv people are bearing the brunt of minor ethnic cleansing from Fulanis. It is silly, uninformed triumphalism - the kind of nonsense T.Y. Danjuma & Gowon could get away with in 1974, but now even they know better.

10. Innocent men, women and children in the North East are victims of Boko Haram - and trust me, Boko Haram wouldn't be that successful without popular support. Do we just give them N30,000 each and forget about them? How does one build a nation without empathy?

In summary, Nigeria is dead. It died in 1966. We're just going through the motions of nationhood.

pazienza: On Awo's 20pounds policy, from a Yoloba perspective,there is nothing wrong with that, it was simply an aftermath of the civil war, Awo wanted to gain an economic power for his Yolobar peeps, perhaps in readiness for his planned coup in the future, which failed not for lack of planning, but for betrayal by his people.
He was a master planner with a master plan to place his people at the very top in Nigeria, Economically and politically.
As an Igbo,it doesn't make sense to start crying over Awo's policies, the real anger should be towards Ojukwu and his crew that allowed Awo to outsmart them and used us as pawns in his power game.
If placed in Awo's position, i would do to the Yolobas 1 million times what Awo did to Ndiigbo,just to Elevate Ndiigbo to the top.
The world is not a fair place, you either eat or get eaten, there are no neutral grounds, real men understand this. If Ndiigbo understand this, we would stop looking outwards for why what happened to us in the 60's and post 1970, we would start looking inwards, learn from our mistakes, and plan better in the future.

That would be great, if Awolowo succeeded, but he didn't. He wasn't able to dislodge Ndigbo from Nigeria's economy & he didn't succeeded in his plans go become the president.

Look at Nigeria today, are Yorubas materially better off than Ndigbo? I doubt it, so the only thing Awolowo managed to do is create enmity between both groups which will take decades & generations to erase.

The trump card Yorubas have is Lagos, but if a serious govt builds a port on the Niger Delta, that advantage will be gone in a generation.

emiye: Can you verify with no records. Records were lost, nothing to verify claims, dont get unduely emotional over the painful truth.
Awolowo's words TWENTY POUNDS POLICY

Let's forget about the "twenty pounds" for a moment. After every major war there should be DDR - Disarmament, Demobilization & Rehabilitation. After the Second World War, Germans were beneficiaries of the "Marshal Plan" - even though Germany was the major antagonist. In other words, the US gave the average German A LOT more than twenty pounds.

Awolowo was an intelligent & well informed person, he was well aware of the Marshal Plan & what post-war re-integration should entail, but he was the architect of a deliberately vindictive post-war re-integration plan - a fact that even his most erstwhile admirers cannot disprove.

But Awolowo failed woefully, with the help of the Igbo diaspora, the Catholic Church and community effort, Ndigbo & their neighbours were able to move forward in spite of being victims of Africa's most devastating war.

Akpabio alluded to this "if you talk reconstruction and reconciliation, why did reconstruction start from Lagos & wasn't done in the Southeast"?

Yoruba people will never understand this, but people from the Northeast recovering from Boko Haram will. They will tell you how difficult it is to recover from Boko Haram if they've lost everything & were only given £20 (a little over N5,000).

They say "another person's child's corpse" looks like a log of wood to strangers - this is why I don't bother arguing with Yorubas about the Civil War, they will never understand. Arguing with them is a waste of my time.

spyder880: They are still working as at this evening.

Thanks a million.

spyder880: Driving into our airport. .......

You promised pictures of the new terminal building, remember this.

huptin: Just as they are protecting their christain brothers in Iraq? you people always think that one plus one will always be two. You think Isreal and America have your time, when they have bigger issues to think about? One major knowledge i derived from Major general Alex Madiebo book on the Biafran war is that all postulations and assumptions before a major war can be wrong.
Many people thought the advanced christian countries would come to Biafra's aid during the civil war, and the biafran propagandist also tried to paint the war as a moslem - christain war in the hope that this would jolt the western world to their side.
What eventually happened? The western world never went beyond rhetorics, they kept silent as genocide of unimaginagle proportions were being perpetuated agaianst helpless civilians. And even celebrated Gowon's no victor no Vanquished nonsense.
What happened in Rwanda, Congo, Angola, Sudan? Please war is not fought on the internet with spurious assumptions and postulation. War does not solve anything. If war becomes unfortunately inevitable prepare to fight and die on your feet rather than live on your knees.
You can only predict what will trigger a war u can never predict how it will be fought or won.

Very true.

People don't listen to news. US (under Bush & Obama) sat idly by as Iraqi Christians were either killed or forced to flee into exile. US & UK weren't even bothered about offering them exile. It was France who offered them exile and it is French bishops that are traveling to Iraq to speak comforting words to them.

Many of us who watch TBN don't know that neither US Christians or Israeli Jews have their time. They don't, Nigerian Christians will be slaughtered & the Republican leaning Pentecostal preachers will be distracted.

spyder880: Wetin dey happen for area?

Please what is the state of the airport terminal building, when last were you there?

My few cents.

Nobody is praying for a war or wishing for one, but many people from the Middle Belt haven't fully come to terms with how they are seen by Igbos.

Most of the rank and file of the Nigerian Army during the civil war were from the Middle Belt, so Middle Belt soldiers took part in tragedies like the Asaba Massacre and numerous instances of war crimes, rapes and abuses during that war. Igbos haven't forgotten, people from the Middle Belt don't realize this.

There were camps were Igbo women were kept as sex slaves for Nigerian Army soldiers (many from the Middle Belt), many kids were born out of wedlock, women traumatized.

Igbos see people from the Middle Belt as "willing tools of the Hausa/Fulani", with no minds of their own, willing to follow their "master's commands" when the chips are down.

So, I don't see Igbos sticking out their necks for people from Southern Kaduna, Plateau, Tiv etc if there's a major crisis - they will do the minimum possible (but of course, will not support Hausa-Fulanis).

As for Idomas & Igalas, that is a bit tricky - as they are extremely close culturally and geographically to Igbos, it will be much easier to find common ground with them. Many Idomas and Igalas actually speak Igbo & quite a few people from Enugu & Anambra have Idoma or Igala origins.

centje: He is into other businesses, it's not only cement. What stops him from setting any of them in the east??

Like which one?

centje: @bolded. I have stressed on those points before. It's very unfortunate. And tomorrow, we'll all come out and shout one Nigeria...

Aliko is into cement business. You cannot do cement in the Southeast with Ibeto & Nkalagu already dominating it. We have lot of business men & Aliko doesn't want that kind of competition.

cjrane: To make my point clear, I am not advocating that Igbo should leave Abuja or elsewhere where they derive their daily bread, but should be wise on how much they are staking there in immovable assets. Igbo are sometimes so silly that they have no hut in their village, but will go to Gusau or Potiskum to build and boast of having the biggest mansion in another man's hometown! My entire point is around the age long wisdom; "Don't put all your eggs in one basket"
I know many of us wish that Nigeria will somehow understand that developing the southeast is to its ultimate advantage.
The bitter truth is that Nigeria is filled with wicked,clannish,shortsighted evil minded fellows.
The last thing you can hope for in your life time is a rail link from Enugu to Abuja!
They will even build rail links to Niger Republic before they will build one to Enugu for the southeast to benefit.
Imagine how much sleepless nights they had simply because Enugu airport was merely given permission by GEJ for international flight? They fought Mrs. Stella Oduah with the last drop of their blood and even used the House of Reps. to refuse to include the Enugu terminal building in the $500 million dollars loan for International airports terminal! O'l boy, we are living with extremely wicked so called "fellow countrymen". Therefore, we must be very wise and always have a plan-B as we are running around and investing all over Nigeria, as if it is our hometown! Merely hoping that these places will remain peaceful forever or by some miracle, tribal hatred of Igbo will disappear and Nigeria will suddenly be one united country is not a strategy. Failure to be wise and shrewd will result in catastrophically repeating the same mistakes of our fathers who had dozens of houses and investments in faraway places such as Katsina,Kano, Bauchi, but had no hut in their hometown.
Igbo must learn from the wisdom and business acumen of Aliko Dangote who is the wealthiest blackman in the world,most of the billions of naira spent on cement houses in Onitsha,Enugu,Aba, Asaba, Umuahia or Owerri go to Dangote. Yet, inspite of the East being historically safe to businesses owned by northerners, he does not have a hut in any part of Igboland! Do you think that was merely by accident? No! Astute business decisions have been made at the highest level of that company to avoid any investment in the southeast, even though the company reaps billions from selling their cement in that region.
I can understand the plight of economic migrants and Igbo petty traders migrating up north to eek out a living doing menial jobs. But for the millionaire Igbo business man that concerns himself with silly thoughts such as I'm Enugu,I'm Imo , I'm Anambra or I'm Delta to prevent them from investing in the East where their investment is safe, guaranteed and can be bequeathed to their future offspring, do not have my pity when they are maimed and their investment burnt to the ground in the north or elsewhere.
The essence of history is to learn from it or you are bound to repeat the same terrible and unfortunate mistakes. I heard Nnewi people got together after the civil war and counted their enormous loss in different parts of Nigeria, then made a vow to always keep the bulk of their business in their hometown whether it had infrastructure or no infrastructure.
That is how we must all learn from our history to be wiser or we are bound to repeat the unfortunate mistakes of our fathers. God forbid!
Ka chineke mezie okwu ...

True words.

I remember an influential person telling me that Okonjo-Iweala had to assure the Yorubas about Lagos/Ibadan expressway, before work started on 2nd Niger Bridge.

It is true that under a Yoruba or Hausa leader we would have never gotten an international airport or a 2nd Niger Bridge. We must thank Jonathan for that.

However, Stella was responsible for her downfall. Nebo is in power, we have the Minister of Health, Okonjo-Iweala is still in Finance. Stella was too greedy and her greed was responsible for her downfall. She didn't cover her tracks & she has no one to blame but herself.

Work on the new terminal is ongoing. I think they'll finish the structure by September and start working on the fittings, luckily Chidoka is aviation minister & should speed things up.

new2020: Yes, overall Calabar is very planned than Enugu but my emphasis is on street design and modern houses...there are lots of newer, modern , Abuja -style, expensive estates I saw in Enugu that you will only find in a handful of places in Calabar. I think it has to do with taste, fear of Nigeria separating and Igbos investing heavily in real estate in the East which Enugu is number 1 spot. Price of properties and land have skyrocketed too in recent yrs. I'm a developer and co-partner is from Enugu.
You have to remember both Calabar and Enugu were capitals of former Eastern Nigerian Region; both are planned cities and received the same planning that bears resemblance to Abuja Planning.

Do you have any pictures of Calabar?

new2020: If there is any city in Nigeria that comes very close to Abuja planning is Enugu City especially with their street roads and modern beautiful estates. One can easily mistake this Enugu street shots and houses as some where in Abuja. I'm from Calabar and travel a lot within Nigeria, will tell you Enugu City is the most underrated city in Nigeria. The city is beautiful, modern and has great potential

Hmm, I thought Calabar was better planned than Enugu (anyway, I've only been there once, in 2003).

Spyder,

What's going on with the international airport? Any more news?

Can we stop this juvenile nonsense (Igbo vs Yoruba) & focus on the topic - 2nd Niger Bridge?

We accept that we are "politically backward", but what has your "political sophistication" achieved for your people or your new best friends (the Hausas)? Are you better off than the average Igbo man?

Nigeria is a failed state & these debates are like arguing over which one-eyed man should lead the blind.

They are useless.

The problem is this, the "North" has changed.

Berom people in Jos are more likely to "chase out Hausas" than Igbos. Ditto for the people of Southern Kaduna. As a matter of urgency, Southern Kaduna people should be given their own state, so the "core North" is left with only one economically viable town - Kano.

The Southeast has at least Nnewi, Aba, Onitsha.

I laugh.

Igbos don't go to the North to beg, they go to render much needed services. If Northern leaders aren't satisfied with the hit the North's economy has taken since "Sharia" was introduced, they should proceed to do further damage to their economy.

The North has the most useless set of leaders in Nigeria, they are so busy chasing Niger Delta oil money that they haven't realized the economic devastation being wrought in Northern Nigeria.

There's a 20,000 hectare cotton plantation in Ondo State, 5,000 hectares of rice are being cultivated in Anambra & Cocoa is being cultivated in Cross River - the North isn't the "only game in town" as far as agriculture is concerned.

Visit Asaba. Enugu & even Uyo - Igbo business men fleeing the North are setting up shop there. In a sane country, Northern leaders would be begging for investment from Igbo business men - Kaduna is yet to recover from the religious crisis of 1999/2000 (loss of business).

Finally, these people aren't tired of Boko Haram & fighting Kuje, Zangon-Katafs, Tivs, Beroms, Taroks - they wan add Igbo join? We no get their time, it's like their ready to continuously fight each other for 20 more years.

I'm trying to figure out:

1. Whether APC supporters don't want the Second Niger Bridge built.
2. How they expect Ndigbo to vote for their party with that attitude.
3. How they intend to win the next elections without the Igbo votes.

As things stand, PDP is sure of the following states next presidential elections

1. Anambra
2. Imo
3. Abia
4. Ebonyi.
5. Enugu
6. Ekiti
7. Benue
8. Plateau
9. Taraba
10. Adamawa
11. Kogi
12. Delta
13. Rivers
14. Bayelsa
15. Ondo
16. Edo
17. Cross River
18. Akwa Ibom
19. Nasarawa

PDP will do well in these states (50/50 chance of winning).

1. Lagos (key is mobilizing the Igbo voters)
2. Oyo
3. Ogun

PDP is likely to get up to 25% of votes in the following states

1. Bauchi
2. Gombe
3. Kaduna (up to 40% or more - Christian votes)
4. Niger
5. Osun (up to 30% at least)

APC is likely to win these states outright

1. Kano
2. Sokoto
3. Jigawa
4. Kebbi
5. Zamfara
6. Katsina
7. Borno
8. Yobe
9. Kwara

If you look at the situation critically, there is no way on earth APC can hope to win without pitching for the Igbo vote. So why deliberately antagonize Ndigbo?