₦airaland Forum

lana_Vello: lmao,yeah. actually idk bout oda places buh ova hia in akoka. there's this prestige & honor dat accompanies being a law student. months ago,most of my fellow freshers were so into d white&black shit nd "yanga" nd @d end of d semester flopped.

What level are you at right now? What is your personal assessment of the education you are getting? Do you have the feeling you are being empowered?

Maybe, we have got enough introductions and its time to talk about the profession and why you chose it in the first place and what you aim to achieve through it. I think that would be a more useful conversation.
For me, I never really cared much about the law. My interest was (and remains) history, government and public policy. I studied law then becuase it was kind of "sexy". Are some of you doing the same today?

lana_Vello: has anybody ever wondered why we spend 5 years studyin law jst to com out & discover its a total diff world,everytin sounds perfect in theory bt wah u experience is not as it ought 2b.i tink dah 'law as it&law as it ought 2b' is rily true#justSayinG

Good observation. My question to all of you young lawyers and lawyers to be remains, do you think that you are getting the training you need to play the very critical role society imposes on you? Do you think the legal profesion as a whole has failed the Nigerian people?

I probably dont belong here since I graduated probably before most of you guys were even born, and I have been out of the country for quite some time. So you guys can show me the door if you'all feel so inclined. But I have always been interested in the place of the legal profession in our society and therefore the training the new entrants receive.
I am curious to know what you guys think of the quality of legal education today. Do you guys think you are getting the tools you need to play the very important role that society has reserved for the legal profession. Personally, I think that the training we received in our own time, though very intellectual and deep at the theoretical level, had some keen shortcoming from the practical perspective of the tools needed for the soceity we had. Has that changed? Or are you guys still being regaled with copious quotes from Lord Denning and Diplock?
I especially felt that the training we received in the critical areas of PL (Criminal law, admin law and Const. Law) was very defective and actually that those branches of the law which are very necessary for a modern society to function properly had been neglected in Nigeria. Has that improved some or is it still the same?

asha 80: what is algebraic equation in yoruba?or h.c.f in yoruba?

Don't be so dismissive. It is very do-able, and it is actually the only thing that will guarantee the survival of our Nigerian languages. Language is a living thing. Any language that is not the language of instruction is a dead language waiting for the internment.
This move is laudable, but it takes more than a politician making statements to come to be. It definitely needs more than the few years they story talked about. But very laudable.

sarutobie: Yes! I have also thought along those lines that maybe our 'easy going' climate and food surplus made our ancestors less pro-active since they were virtually supplied with all the foods/fruits nature has to offer without worrying of hurricanes and earthquakes..so we can agree that there was a 'seperation' at some point in the distant past..you gave the number to be 5,000years(!) That pre-dates even the pyramid of giza(about 3,000 years)..and definitely pre-dates abraham..but since we can't change the past,we definitely can change the present.

There's nothing we cannot change in a generation if we can only apply ourselves. I will use Japan as an example. Prior to the 19th century, the Japanese were an ancient civilization which seemed to be stuck in time and like the rest of the eastern civilization had fallen way behind the countries of the west which were at the height of their imperialistic glory. So when the Westerners arrived at the shores of Japan, the Japanese realizing that they were technologically way inferior to your caucasians, and being a proud and essentially xenophobic race, thought they could deal with the problem by shutting their Island nation from the outside world. It took the American Commodore Perry and a few gun-boats to demonstrate to the Japanese that their ways were futile.
What the Japanses did next was classic and a testament to what a determined people could achieve. They went 180 degrees from isolation to mimicking all they could of the west down to even the noble titles and mannerisms of the Prussian junkers. And in just a few short decades from the Perry humiliation in the 1860s, they were able to meet in battle and rout an European power (Russia) in the first decade of the 20th century, and proceeded from there to dominate much of east asia until they over-reached during the 2nd world war.
Their example shows that any people determined enough could just achieve anything. The chinese did the same after the upheavels of the cultural revolution. We can do the same if we get our acts together. There is no innate ability or inability in the races.

naptu2: I was mistakenly banned by the anti-spam bot.

Oh, ok. If it was mistaken I hope they have lifted it now. I enjoy your threads.

EricDonn: The whitemen came up with those theories from their understandn and experience of what was happening in their home country, now in Nigeria our economic system doesn't fall into any of these classes, i tink its a challenge for our intellectuals to come up wit an economic theory dat can explain what is being practised here

They already did - "mumuism". Or as my friend posted above -"Hobbesian Materialism". In everyday language that means dog chop dog!

OAM4J: We only ban those found guilty of tribalism for that long and when they come up with known alternate monikers we ban for longer. It is because we are serious in putting an end to ethnic wars on NL.

All the people that were banned for tribalism by all the moderators in this section since the beginning of our campaign earlier this month were banned for not less than 30 days. We opened a thread to appeal to members to stop and warned in advance that we will ban for that long after our appeal.

I must have made a mistake banning PointB for just 3 weeks and it is unfair to others that were banned for minimum of 30 days for similar offense. So I apologize to them for my error.

Why do you ban for tribalism though? What do you have against tribalism? Is it a case of giving a dog a bad name in other to kill it? Does a Yoruba nationalist sound better than a Yoruba tribalist? What about the Igbo versions of the same?
Personally, I dont mind the tribalists (at least I know where they stand). What I instinctively suspect are the FGC-alumni, "de-tribalized" crowd.

naptu2: Thank you and thanks to Mukina2

Why did they ban you? I thought you only provide valuable historical materials? I need to contact you for material sometime

I add my sentiment to the others before me. Wishing you more years of bringing knowledge to the NL family

sunkoye: full blown capitalist keh! keynesian theory of general relativity messed u up!

"keynesian"? "general relativity"?

sarutobie: lol.oh puhlease! I don't hate myself.You still affirm to my pondering..how did history and geography bring about such difference in orientation among both races? Pray tell..on another note..let's not derail this thread.peace.

There is this thing called the "march of civilization". What you actually celebrate as the great civilization of the caucasians is actually the heritage of a long unbroken line of human and societal dvelopment which started more than 5000 years ago along the fertile plains of the Nile and the great rivers of Mesopotamia (the Tigris and the Euphrates). Even preceeding that, another line started in the orient, again along great Rivers - the Yangtze and the Indus).

The western civilization (settled agricutlure, writing, technology) went from Egypt to the Greeks, then the Romans and thence to the caucasians of western europe, in a line that was not broken. The reason sub saharan Africa (being so close to Egypt) was left out of that great thread is geography. The great Sahara served as a virtual wall that shut off much of Africa from the Meditteranean civilization.
A valid question could be why didnt Sub saharan Africa develop its own autonomous civilization as the Asians did and again, you will find the answer in Geography. The fact that in much of sub saharan Africa, we dont have the harsh and debilitating climatic changes you get in much of the rest of the world played a big role. In Europe and Much of Asia, not preparing for the winter season is preparing for extinction. Their forefathers were then forced to devise means of surviving the harsh season (housing technology, food preservation, clothing) and passing it on to the next generation (writing). But in black Africa, one can virtual survive all year round living under the skies with maybe just a few grass to shelter from the rain. They did not need clothing either, so our fathers just basically drifted along in the garden of eden they had.

sharubutu: @op, sorry to ask; but which school did u attend? Besides, how did this kindergarten piece get to the FP? It's baffling!

Hahaha!
A lot of stuff on NL are elementary stuff.

Neither. We practise "mumuism"!

sarutobie: For the first time since 2011 I am AWED on NL..much respect..I always ponder within me why the mindset of a caucasian is distinctly different from a negroid..it has never been about corruption..a caucasian sees a strange animal or occurence in nature,his first instinct is to study it and find how it can be used to better his society eg.antivenins from venomous snakes..a negroid on the other hand will either kill it first for meat or call it a deity..I keep wondering,at what stage in the creation of mankind did such difference in orientation and thought occur??

It is a shame that in the 21st Century when the Asians, at least, are exploding the myth of white superiority, you are here playing Arnold Toynbee and Rudyard Kipling. You dont have to hate yourself so much, my brother. Whatever the problem is, it is not innate (not ordained at creation) history and geography explains much of it.

theoctopus: What specific example do you need? Look around you. Every great country today is a clear example. From the USA to India to South Africa. I told you you should try and read more instead of just following social media. I will give you a head start. Go read about the puritans and free masons that built america, Ghandi that revolutionized India and Mandela that transformed South Africa. Go read about Mother Terresa. There are so many examples from USSR, China, Japan, etc. Wake up dud!

Because this is an annonymous forum, I think engaging you on the insults you keep flinging out about reading books and social media is a futile gesture. I will only respond on the issues.
If you noticed this thread is about economic growth and the diparity between Nigeria and other countries. You have been making the claim that some spiritual rennaissance is what we need (playing good samarian and stuff). You then made the unbelievable claim that some individual transformed some nations by sitting in their rooms and thinking hard. I challenged you on that, and you start getting childish.
I am glad that you have provided me with your examples of one man revolutionaries. My question then is, what exactly did Ghandi do to transform the Indian economy. What role did Mandela play in building up the capitalist economy of South Africa. Of course the puritans of New England do not fit your "one revolutionary" claim but give me the names of a few Puritans that have been recognized as captains of the American industrial revolution.

You see my friend, I dont know the books you read, and I dont contest that you do read them. But the ideas and precriptions you are peddling have only a marginalimpact in growing a modern capitalist economy.

For your education (since you obviously like getting educated) what builds a modern capitalist economy is everyday ordinary (and, yes extraordinary) people pursuing their enlightened self interest within boundaries set by a functional state. Your dimunition of the role of the state in economic growth exposes your ignorance. I gave you the case of the 2 Koreas which provides a classic illustration of what difference the role of governemt could be in the economic and socail fortunes of people who are otherwise the same in all respects, and all you can take from that situation is a laughable spirituallesson.

The problem with Nigeria is not what you are peddling (we dont need people to pick up stones from the street). We are very self-motivated and energetic people looking for opportunities. What we lack is the public partner (the governemnt) to set and regulate a fair and just playing field and to provide infrastucture and access to capital.

theoctopus: You seem to have some problem with understanding things. I will repeat it for you to grasp. Man is a religious being by default. Whether religious people are savages doesnt change that. And there is nothing that says atheists cannot be savages. So your point is not valid. Both religious folks and atheists have been known to express innate evils. That means religion is not the problem but the innate characteristics of man itself. You should read more and stop following CNN

I suggest we open another thread in the religion section to trash out the theological debate. Lets keep this on focus. What are those countries again that were revolutionized by one of your great visionaries? Do we have to wait for you to read another of your great books before we can get that answer?

pro01: My brother I have to say I agree with most of your points. Dangote is indeed a monopolist and is guilty of many unscrupilous pracrices, but then the same applies to most of the greatest businessmen and pioneers in history - including the likes of J.ohn D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie (who largely contributed to the rail revolution you talked about and the rapid industrialisation of America in the early 1900s).

You've said it all when you talked about vision. We're not a country of visionaries and thinkers, Can't debate that.

My brother, Carnegie and Rockefeller thrived in the 19th century, and the Americans today call them " robber barons". Must we relive 19th century America? Do I need to start sshopping for my horse and buggy and top hats and pocket watches?
And you even called the activities of those robber barons "revolution", are we seeing a construction revolution today because of the activities of Dangote? What social good has his monopolistic businesses brought us?

theoctopus: Man is a religious being by default. You cannot separate man and religion. Atheism is actually the worship of self. Some of you have got things confused but think you are somewhat knowledgeable. Its called spiritual blindness. lol. The world has one billion catholics, over 2 billion hindus and budhists, over 1 billion muslims and another about 1 billion pentecostal christians and then pagans. You atheists are in the minute minority and contribute very little to the world apart from propaganda and criticisms. lol

Hahahahahah! And anytime your billions of faithfuls come across others of different faith or sect, they fall upon one another with a level of savage butchery that the devil himself will envy! If you keep going like this, I will just ask the mods to move us to the religion section.

gratiaeo: This false hude is what NPC is trying to correct. So chill until after 2016 census.
Enough lie have been told in this country especially the most resent one about who was more educated by Femi kayode
https://www.nairaland.com/1405705/igbo-scholar-disgraces-femi-fani-kayode#17577117

The one he said that there are more Yorubas than Igbos in Nigeria is not even borne out of any cooked up census or failure to ask the right questions. It is borne out of the guy's bigoted ignorance. At everyone census where that question was asked since the turn of the 20th century, Igbos have always been more than Yorubas. But people that want to get their education on NL are only buying what "free" can offer

theoctopus: You always talk about not needing prayers but end up using examples of countries that believe so much in prayers, like South Korea. In fact, north Korea that dont believe in prayers but hard work, are not making much progress.

For the rest, I see you have a myopic view of society. Government is not a group of people. Government is the people. If you can understand that statement, you can understand my previous posts

And I am still waiting on you to give us those countries that "were revolutionized by one man sitting in his room and working for days and nights to develop a plan"

theoctopus: You always talk about not needing prayers but end up using examples of countries that believe so much in prayers, like South Korea. In fact, north Korea that dont believe in prayers but hard work, are not making much progress.

For the rest, I see you have a myopic view of society. Government is not a group of people. Government is the people. If you can understand that statement, you can understand my previous posts

You can pray from here until the second coming, and nothing will change. If you believe that North Korea is the basket case it is today because it is an atheist country, then you should be posting in the religion section.
"Governement is the people" is what they teach in elementary civic class. If that is the limit of your grasp of the subject then you should not be trying to teach anyone here.

theoctopus: If you will only take of your excuse tinted glasses for a second, you will see that what you and lots of others are doing is called gloating. Why do you believe someone else is responsible for solving your problems in the first place. why do you have a we and them mentality? What is your contribution and participation in the whole revolution? And by revolution, I dont mean going to hold music jamborees at Ojota. Do you know how many nations were revolutionized by one man sitting in his room and working for days and nights to develop a plan? Blaming government is a lazy escapist ideology that will never help Africa and Nigeria in particular. There has to be a total change of the Nigerian mindset. How that will happen, I dont know, but I am praying seriously for that event that will catalyze it

Maybe if you break down what you are trying to say here, I could understand it and maybe respond to you. What "gloating" are you talking about? What kind of "revolution" do you exactly have in mind?. Tell me those countries that were "revolutionized by one man sitting in his room and working for days and nights to develop a plan".

And minimizing the role government plays in economic and social transformation simply erodes the value of your argument. Government is central my friend. You just need to look at North and South Korea to see what difference governemnt makes. What is holding Nigeria down is the lack of governemnt, the people are enterprising enough. We dont need saints or geniuses. All we need are everyday people doing every day things according to reasonable and predictable rules with a governemnt ready to play an umpire and enforce the rules. And while we are it, we dont need your prayers too - we just need people acting like rational beings.

theoctopus: You just spoke like a true Nigerian with a victim mentality, no offense intended. There is no country in the world with clean businessmen. America has one of the worst Mafia business setups in the world dating back to the 18th century. In the 1930s, the mafia ruled the streets of America. Humans characteristics are not different all over the world. America is ruled by several business cabals. The Jews, Italians, Irish and English on one side. The Rockerfellers, Rothchilds, Bushes, etc on the other hand. Dangote knows absolutely nothing when it comes to monopoly. A typical American business firm is a bully. Apple has been doing everything evil in the book to subvert Samsung. Microsoft monopolized the PC industry for years with the help of the white house. Google is a US backed world monopoly.

As for the profit margins, I am totally amazed at your post. Even if Dangote makes 10 naira from a bag of cement or salt, he will still break even and be in business. Do you know how many people use this products daily. Tinubu has made billions from Lagos state, why is he not investing in households and agriculture? Why is he only building hotels and shopping malls all over the place. Please give credit to whom it is due. Dangote is a shinning light in a country full of wolves. He is my role model as far as entrepreneurship is concerned. He is building a tomato plant to produce tomato paste. When he is ready now, you will still come out to say he has monopolized the tomato industry. sad

You give examples of American companies that thrived before the Sherman Act, companies whose monopolistic behaviours propelled the US to enact anti-trust legislations in the first place to justify what Dangote is doing in 21st century Nigeria?
Apple, yes is doing all it can to get one up on all the competition (so do all other big companies) but you blissfully ignore that Apple produces technology products that requires substantial R& investment. You also ignore the fact, that instead of aiding and abetting Apple, in its drive to corner the market, the US govt actually tries to play the opposite role.
Coming to Dangote and Nigeria. Do you think if the Nigerian governemnt does not setup all manner of stumbling blocks for others trying to import salt and sugar and cement that there would not have been thousands importing those items and drastically lowering the prices? Do you deny that the role of the Nigerian govt in blocking easy access to those markets and drastically favors Dangote and crony capitalists like him? Would you in true conscience clame that Nigeria has created a a fair playing field for all comers in those essential commodities markets?

Am not saying Dangote is not way better than Tinubu and the other public-enterpreneurs, but please quit trying to sell him as a model enterpreneur of the kind we need to move forward.

olabukola: 311 views, 18 posts, does it mean Nigerians don't like this idea? We need this for planning and all other things.

Sometimes I feel that Nigeria don't like good things that is why they don't want to support a good idea like this.

SMH

They are not posting because the topic does not allign well with the usual PDP/APC, Igbo/Yoruba miem they thrive on. Most of those kids are just here to cheerlead for their teams. Unfortunately, the Northern team is not fully formed on NL so the pugilists dont find this kind of topic sexy enough.

theoctopus: You are 100 times wrong. Some of you are just arm chair duds. Even with unstable power supply, most major manufacturers in Nigeria are posting huge profits year in year out. MTN broke even in the first one year of business. That can never happen anywhere else in the world. The reason why we dont produce in Nigeria is not because of bad infrastructure but terrible and selfish mindset. It takes a visionary and loyal mindset to build a nation. Dangote has continued to show that over the years. The man is an example of a true patriotic man, driven by passion for transformation of society. Isnt it funny that most of the manufacturing companies in Nigeria that are doing well are owned and run by foreigners? Even with all the stolen monies, Nigerians will still not commit to transforming their society because they are just selfish and self centered

If Dangote operated in America, he and all the government officials he has ever dealt with would be in jail for the worst manifestation of crony capitalism and serial anti- trust fraud ever visited on any country with the possible exception of Russia. How do you think that someone could make so much money from selling cement and salt and sugar, except that he hijacked the hapless governemnt to create absloute monooplies for those everyday easy to manufacture products?

Anyone that uses Dangote's enterprises as example of what manufacturing can achieve in Nigeri is being dubious, at best. In countries with real regulation and anti monopoly rules, the profit you can make on a bag of cement will be so marginal even Dangote would quit.

IGBO-SON:
^^^We've hardly got any real leaders in the South-East (mainly b'cos of our independent and republican nature), and this can work against us at times like this. Rather what we have are crooks and self-centred bastards that put 'self interest' before the interest of the entire Ndigbo. The only one i can think of that comes close to aggregating and speaking up for the interests of Ndigbo is Orji Uzor Kalu.

My brother OUK is a scoundrel. The one thing you can say for him is that that rascal sure got guts. You cannot same the same for the others.

Truth is running a a highly urbanized area, whether it is a state or a city, takes a lot of money. Lagos needs a lot more money for the kind of population it contains

PapaBrowne: A city is a geographic description while a State is administrative. States have clear cut boundaries defined by political entities, while cities are born out of socioeconomic consequences. Cities emerge, states are formed.
Lagos City or Lagos Metropolitan emerged and it includes even places like Isheri in Ogun State. However, Epe which is in Lagos state cannot be said to be part of Lagos City/Metro.
The same thing with New York city. Hoboken in New Jersey could almost be described as part of New York City while places like Staten Island are not exactly a part of the city but a part of New York State.

There is a strong basis for comparing Lagos and New York as they have very strong similarities.

Nope. You got it wrong. NY city is "administrative" whatever you mean by that. NY City has five Counties - New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn), Queens and Staten Island. Staten Island is part of NY City. Hoboken is not. Hoboken is in the state of NJ. It is in the NY metro area, the same way Sango ota in Ogun State is part of the Lagos Metro area