₦airaland Forum

By the time all these politicians sell us out, we will need visa to enter our Nigeria from foreign embassies and their permission to enter our houses.

Lagos to introduce Chinese language in public schools

On September 10, 2012 · In News 4:00 pm.. 2
Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, said on Monday that the state government would introduce Mandarin, or Chinese language, in public schools’ curriculum as from next session.

Oladunjoye said this in a statement signed by the Ministry’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Lanre Bajulaiye, and made newsmen

The commissioner said this after a meeting with the delegation from the Chinese Confucius Institute, University of Lagos.

She said that learning the language in the state’s public schools would be an opportunity for the pupils and students to speak the language and be able to adapt to the Chinese culture.

Prof. Caleb Orimoogunje, Director of the Institute, said the institution was ready to assist the state with necessary logistics to make the teaching and learning of the language easier.

Orimoogunje added that Prof. Lirong Jiang, a co-director of the institute, would help in the take-off of the programme.

Jiang said the institute, as a representative of the Chinese culture in Nigeria, was set up to satisfy people’s need about the country’s culture.

She noted that the language became necessary because China had become the new destination for economic growth and technological development.

“The Institute is prepared to provide Chinese instructors to teach the language and culture in the state’s public schools as soon as the Memorandum of Understanding is signed between the state and the institute.

“The knowledge of Chinese language will help students to further their studies in China and carry out research in various fields of human endeavour as China has become a success story in the world economy,“ she said. NAN

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/lasg-to-introduce-chinese-language-in-public-schools/

This is a political policy, not rational or education foresight. Education is one thing, common sense is another. Deal with it.

Please "piss" on those privileged few that loot the treasury to send their children to school outside while the children of others worked hard to send themselves to school outside with gburu. "Piss" on those that spend more sending students from their states to foreign universities while they starved home universities of funds. Education has been outsourced to other countries, even neighboring countries like Ghana maintained their Government schools and attracted big foreign currency from Nigeria.

Nigeria spend more money importing foreign food while foreigners lease African lands for agriculture, grow food there and send it out to their countries. Ever heard about land grab? This may be a joke to you, every sector of Nigeria is being contracted out. A fool and his looted money will soon what?

Nigerians spend N160bn annually on education in Ghana — Babalakin
September 9, 2012 by Success Nwogu 75 Comments
Dr. Wale Babalakin

Dr. Wale Babalakin
| credits:

The Chairman, Committee of Pro-chancellors of Nigeria, Dr. Wale Babalakin, has said that there is high cash flight of about N160bn from Nigeria to Ghana annually as the cost of university education of about 75,000 Nigerian students schooling in Ghana.

Babalakin stated that Nigerians also spend huge amounts for the education of their children or wards in other countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Malaysia.

He stated that Nigeria’s budget for education in 2011 was not up to N160bn indicating that Nigerians spent more in Ghanaian universities in 2011 than the Federal Government spent on education the same year.

Speaking during the first Leading Light award presentation of the University of Ilorin Alumni Association in Ilorin on Friday, Babalakin said 75,000 students is the size of about three Nigerian universities.

He also recalled that in 1975, four Nigerian universities were rated among the top 20 in Africa but today the leading university of the country is not within the best 10 in Africa.

Babalakin, who was the chaired the occasion, said university education in Nigeria was at a crossroad and called on intellectuals to fashion out strategies to overcome the challenges facing the sector.

He added that there was the need to grant universities more autonomy to enhance their operational efficiency. He also called on other stakeholders to complement government’s investments in education.

“Let us show that we love Nigeria. Let us reform education substantially. If we have educated society, most of the ills of the society will reduce dramatically. It has been shown that there is a direct relationship between the quality of education and the welfare of the society. If you create a well educated society, you end up creating a lovely society and you end up creating a society of great value” he said.

The guest lecture, Prof. Olufemi Durosaro said universities are under great pressure to ensure they operate on world-class standard.

Durosaro said it implies greater needs in the areas of funds, personnel and other facilities and urged stakeholders in education, particularly the alumni of institutions to find a way of intervening to help in the development of their alma mater.

He also said universities in Nigeria should strive to become centres of excellence in order to produce employable graduates who can think critically, reflectively, discern between doubts and dogma, facts and fallacies.

http://www.punchng.com/news/nigerians-spend-n160bn-annually-in-education-in-ghana-babalakin/

Kano sends 25 students for overseas training in Marine Engineering
On September 8, 2012 · In News


Kano – Kano State Government has sponsored 25 indigenes of the state to study Marine Engineering in India and the United States.

A statement issued in Kano on Saturday by Alhaji Baba Dantiye, the Director of Press to Gov. Rabiu Kwankwaso, said the four year course would cost the government $80 million annually.

According to the statement, Gov. Rabi’u Kwankwaso said this during the graduation of over 1,000 youths under the government’s youth empowerment programme, tagged “Lafiya Jari.”

It said that the governor emphasised on the resolve of the administration to give priority to human capital development.

“We are doing all this because we need to see our youth everywhere in the world and reduce unemployment facing the state”, the statement quoted the governor as saying.

It added that Kwankwaso further revealed that the government had concluded plans to sponsor 100 students to study avionics and another 100 to study medicine abroad.

The statement said that the state government, through the Col. Yakubu Bako (Rtd.) Youth Employment Committee had secured over 200 jobs for indigenes of the state in various Federal Government establishments.

The “Lafiya Jari”, is a healthcare based empowerment scheme under the state Entrepreneurship Institute.

The scheme provides drugs and financial support to students who graduated from the Schools of Health Technology to set up their own businesses. (NAN)

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/kano-sends-25-students-for-overseas-training-in-marine-engineering/

Educated consumer and diligent reader with the good of the people at heart ready to disagree with Aresa when and if necessary.

MEDICAL STUDENTS FOR FOREIGN TRAINING OR YOUR FOREIGN CONTRACTS

There is no good deed in Nigeria unless it involves foreign contracts. We should not be surprised that the pressing need of Federal Government to improve one year training for medical residents is to send them abroad. Under the cover of recommendation by Rowland-Egba committee, to save us from heart attack and stroke: “with the rest of the world, we are paying greater attention to non-communicable diseases”.

Actually, there is a sharp resurgence in the management of communicable diseases in the western world. Even if Nigeria heart attack and stroke are more of our problem than communicable disease, which is not, we need to stop indulging in western food at exorbitant cost to our economy. What our local doctors need in that case, are African trained nutritionists to teach medical students how to prevent stroke and heart attack.

One of the biggest problems in Primary Health Care Unit of the Federal Government in the eighties under Professor Olikoye Kuti when some strides were made in that field was the inadequate training of our western trained local doctors that did not know enough about local ailments especially in infectious diseases. Our medical training was never modeled to indigenous medical field and we are paying dearly for it.

What is wrong with us? No overseas training is for free especially for foreign students. Some people must be counting their British and American dollars right now before arranging contracts in those countries. We do not even have enough money in local currency to establish enough medical schools to take care of our population but we are willing to over-train those in need of serious local parasitic and infectious skills.

Can you imagine the Chinese sending their medical students abroad to learn how to practice acupuncture? Many Nigerians are dying of preventable, treatable infectious and parasitic diseases. Reasonable medical expects have been begging our medical schools to increase their training of students into the villages. This was one of the reasons we started training local health officers in Schools of Health Technology.

Moreover, this so called world standard of our medical students has never benefited us since many of these students already trained according to western standard, sought out foreign countries to relocate and practice. The reason a country trains students is to be useful in their environment, not to be useful for others. This inferior complex that we are only as good as western world if we model and equal them at their game is insane.

We hardly specialize in endemic diseases right under our noses. If we lose, according to some exaggerated estimate, fifty percent of our medical students to countries outside Nigeria, it means giving them further training overseas will help us keep them in Nigeria. This type of warped logic is what is keeping Africa as a whole underdeveloped, not some foreign invisible enemies, that use us against ourselves because we welcome it.

They are going to come up with some excuses that our laboratories, equipment and facilities are not adequate for training. Nobody has been able to explain why we have to have the same facilities equipped the same way and why our Bunsen burner and Petri dish have to be the same. Indeed, we have world’s best laboratory full of patients in our villages. Foreign medical professors come to Africa each summer to learn from patients.

If we are really in need of expertize in highly skill training anywhere in the world, there are tons of Nigerians inside the Country and outside that can be contracted to give these training locally to our students instead of taking Mecca to Mohamed. We have too many distinguished medical scholars that relocated to Nigeria rather than stay overseas. But it is the pocket-policies of our politicians that snubbed them into private practice.

Ibadan, Lagos, Abuja, Nsukka and Zaria teaching hospitals have established state of the art medical specialties on their top floors with four stars hotels comfort, they are even willing to fly any expert in but these same politicians never take treatments from them. They cannot wait to rush to overseas hospitals for headaches or colo-mental problems. Is there any medical specialty in this world without Nigerians?

Lately there are some arguments about states sending students to sub-standard schools abroad for training and coming back home with those cultures when the same amount of money can be spent establishing better schools here. It get worse, some of the states prefer graduates from certain religious countries. Our own local students complained many times that foreign graduates get jobs before them.

Reconciling this warped mentality with that of legal profession which establishes School for lawyers at home and foreign graduates to adapt their training to local needs, beats a reasonable mind. May be we should send our lawyer abroad too. In spite of the fact that medical training in Nigeria is modeled after that of the British, none of our students can practice in Britain without undergoing rigorous and selective political quota in training.

Unfortunately, this mindset is not limited to certain people in the medical profession alone. It is the story of our sorry state chasing ghosts in the name of salvation. Anyone can attract students of any discipline with the words “International, American or British” attached to the name of their schools. No matter how qualified, an African teacher will not be paid as foreign teacher with fewer qualifications in her own Country.

Our problem goes beyond skill acquisitions, training and qualification. It has more to do with pocket-policies and colo-mentality that we cannot shake off. We see it everywhere in what we eat, drink, wear, speak, drive and buy. At the same time we deride and belittle what we can manufacture and services we can produce. Even when the services are for endemic diseases and right at our noses for us to use, we ignore them.

Written By Farouk Martins Aresa

http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/97680/1/medical-students-for-foreign-training-or-your-fore.html

Published: Thursday, September 06, 2012

This is what is wrong with the whole country. Is everyone getting their share in the oil producing region or just a few fat cats while others suffer? Some are getting millions from blackmail, others that played by the rules, went to school, behaved are unemployed because they refuse to carry gun.

What is happening in that region is no different from other parts of the country. The greedy demand money at gun point.

Home » News & Reports » News
President Jonathan's High-Priced Militants: Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Ateke Tom Paid Millions of Dollars Annually
Posted: August 22, 2012 - 14:46
Posted by siteadmin

caption: President Jonathan's aide, Oronto Douglas and ex-militant, Asari Dokubo
By PM News, Lagos
America’s Wall Street Journal today revealed the mind-boggling million dollar sums that the Nigerian government has been paying Niger Delta warlords to keep them off the oil pipelines in the past 12 months.

Mr. Dokubo Asari, the former warlord that first shot to national limelight collects $9million every year to keep his estimated 4000 soldiers at bay. ‘General’ Ateke Toms and ‘General‘ Ebikabowei Boyloaf Victor Ben collect $3.5million apiece while General Government Tompolo Ekpumopolo is the most priced of all: he gets $22.5 million yearly.

The newspaper said the figures were gotten from senior officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, which makes the payment direct to these warlords.

While Dokubo shrugged off the huge payment he receives, about N1.44 billion, as nothing unusual, there is the belief that the selective payments have bred some jealousy among other militants, not so rewarded, who in reaction continue to pillage Nigeria’s crude oil pipelines. Nigeria loses no less than 10 per cent of its crude production to oil thieves on prowl in the Niger Delta, despite the programme of pacification called the Amnesty Programme.

By Shell’s account, no less than 150,000 barrels of Nigeria’s production are stolen daily, a very low estimate in the eyes of many Niger Delta watchers.

The Wall Street Journal said in its report that government plans to spend $450 million on the amnesty programme this year alone, despite the increasing theft of crude in the region.

Said the respected journal: The gilded pacification campaign is offered up by the government as a success story. But others say the program, including a 2009 amnesty, has sent young men in Nigeria’s turbulent delta a different message: that militancy promises more rewards than risks.

For more please go to :

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230401940457742016088658851...

Please just direct your attention to where properties are being held, do not turn this to bashing where no properties are being held.

are you abusing yoruba or sucking up to them.

Touching.

There are stories that are best left untold and buried. Indeed, raising it incur the wrath of the victims and their dispossessors. It should not prevent people of goodwill or activists from pursuing it. When brothers and sister gather into one room and cannot tell one another the truth, they are fooling themselves, according to a local proverb. Yet, many have moved on or even gone back and rebuild.

Arrest Ciroma, Lawal Kaita – Clark
On August 9, 2012 · In Headlines
12:11 am
8

BY HENRY UMORU
ABUJA—ELDER statesman and prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, yesterday, stoked his campaign against Northern leaders over the activities of Boko Haram by asking security agencies to go after former Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma and former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Kaita.

The former Federal Information commissioner, who challenged former President Ibrahim Babamasi Babangida to a joint public debate on national issues to ascertain who is actually senseless or senile, insisted that northern leaders must speak out on the activities of Boko Haram if they were not backing the group.

Reading a prepared text on behalf of Chief Edwin Clark at a Press briefing inAbujayesterday, Legal Adviser to the Ijaw leader, Kayode Ajulo, said that Ciroma and Kaita’s comments before the massive killings could serve as substantial evidence against them.

The E.K Clark statement

The text read in part: “Chief Clark’s challenge to the leaders of the North is predicated on the misguided statements of some of the Northern opinion leaders since the inception of this administration. For example, in October, 2010 during a build up to the last presidential election, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, a prominent Northern leader promised to makeNigeriaungovernable if the President did not come from the North.

Chief Edwin Clark

“And as if on cue from Lawal Kaita, several other leaders of Northern Political Leaders Forum, headed by Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, of which Gen. Babangida is a prominent member, followed suit with similar reckless comments which might not only threaten peace in Nigeria but also Nigeria’s very existence.

“Recently in March this year, Lawal Kaita issued another threat to the effect that the only condition forNigeriato be one is for the presidency to come to the North in 2015.”

According to Clark, northern leaders must show genuine commitment, be proactive and speak out now towards addressing the challenges posed by the Boko Haram insurgency against the backdrop that precious lives of Nigerians were being wasted daily across the country in Borno, Yobe, Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Abuja and Bauchi among others.

On General Babangida’s reaction to his public lecture last Wednesday, particularly where it was alleged that senses had since departed him,Clarksaid that the public debate or discourse with Babangida must be free of interference and prompting from aides.

He added: “Let it also be noted, for the record, that Chief Clark delivered a one hour, 20 minutes lecture very coherently and articulately without having to refer to a written text. Nigerians stand a better position to judge as to who is senseless or senile as suggested by Gen. Babangida who can only make public utterances through texts prepared by aides and speech writers.”

Insisting that the former military president was side-stepping comments on Boko Haram,Clarkurged Nigerians to ask why he had been silent for so long on the issue.

How it all started

The exchange of brick-bats between Clark and Babangida started last week Wednesday when Clark at theSecondStateof the Federation Lecture organised by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, NIALS inAbujaclaimed that some northern leaders were not speaking out against increasing spate of violence in the country.

He had specifically challenged Babangida and former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari to condemn the activities of the Boko Haram group that have claimed responsibility for the insurgency campaign in many parts of the country.

But replying the elder statesman on Sunday through his spokesman, Prince Kassim Afegbua, Babangida slammed Clark for not recognizing the historic role he played in unifying the country, just as he warned Clark not to crucify him, adding that with his age, what should be the cardinal posture of Chief Clark was to proffer solutions to the problem of insecurity in the country.

According to Babangida, “we view this misguided and senseless statement in very bad taste and we take very strong exceptions to his drooling and implied conclusion.”

Countering yesterday, the elder statesman, who described Babangida’s statement as total insult and total misconceptions, said, “the statements showed nothing but insulting miscomprehension and misconception of Chief E. K. Clark’s innocuous expressed opinions and the challenge thrown down to the leaders of the North on the need to resolve the Boko Haram menace.

“Ordinarily, Gen. Babangida should have joined many other Nigerians who applauded Chief E. K. Clark for crying out over the wanton loss of lives being experienced daily over the senseless killings ofNigeria’s women and children, Christians and Muslims alike.

“Chief E. K. Clark is committed to the unity ofNigeriaand peace within its borders. This was aptly demonstrated when some youths in the Niger Delta took arms against the Federal Government of Nigeria, resulting in the near total shut down of oil production; crude oil production which normally stood at 2.5 million barrels per day was reduced to 700, 000 barrels daily. Chief Clark led a delegation of Niger Delta leaders into the creeks to appeal to the youths to lay down arms and embrace peace.

How Clark ended militancy in Niger Delta

“Chief E. K. Clark also went to the creeks with the then Vice President, now President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, particularly to Okerenkoko and Camp 5 (which was the headquarters of the militants), thereby laying the foundation for late President Yar Adua’s amnesty programme.

“Therefore, amnesty did not come on a platter of gold, but through the genuine determination of the leaders of the Niger Delta, led by Chief E. K. Clark. Today, crude oil production inNigeriahas risen to about 2.7 million barrels per day.

“It is therefore imperative, irrespective of the name calling, to restate what was said at the NIALS lecture on the state of Nigerian Federation that ”Gen. Babangida and other Northern leaders must speak out, be proactive as well as demonstrate genuine commitment to address the challenges posed by the Boko Haram.” This is more so as precious lives of Nigerians are being wasted daily across the country in Borno, Yobe, Sokoto,Kano,Kaduna, Kogi,Abuja, Bauchi, etc.

“Chief (Clark) is surprised that Gen. Babangida would belatedly suggest that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan should use Moslem clerics, when he, by his experience, and position is fully abreast of what to do in the circumstances of Nigeria bearing in mind his exalted membership of the Council of State and his former position as President and Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces of Nigeria. After all, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a former President like Gen. Babangida not only spoke out strongly on this issue but went toMaiduguriin the aim of securing peace for the country.

“The attempt to label Chief Clark as an ethnic jingoist has no basis whatsoever as he has always believed and maintained that no ethnic group should be a second class citizen in Nigeria and that no Nigerian life whether from the North or South, East or West should be wasted.

“Taking regard of his age and stature, Chief Clark wants to state that he fully forgives Gen. Babangida whom he regards as a younger friend for the unfortunate statement attributed to him. If anything, Chief Clark holds the view that the thoughts and energy exerted by Gen. Babangida against him should urgently be redirected towards finding a lasting solution to the Boko Haram menace in the North.

A call for dialogue

“It should be restated that Chef Clark has severally emphasized the need for dialogue with Boko Haram and other aggrieved groups with a view to resolvingNigeria’s current security challenges.

“It is in this vein that Chief Clark speaks to his good friends in the North, including General Babangida once again, irrespective of Gen. Babangida’s threat of litigation, that they should openly condemn Boko Haram and join hands with the Government and good people ofNigeriatowards finding a lasting solution to the challenge posed by the Boko Haram menace. Any laxity on their part would, either wittingly and unwittingly, potentially put them out as accessories to the present security scourge in the Northern part ofNigeria.

‘’If this simple advice above is urgently heeded, it will save Gen. Babangida the need to wear uniform once again at the age of 71 to fight for the unity of Nigeria.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/08/boko-haram-arrest-ciroma-lawal-kaita-clark/

Not even Azikiwe Ebele messed up so much in Britain as Romney.

You missed the joke but got the point.

Romney has no business saying Obama has no clue for all his accomplishments and a seating president for almost four years other than to disrespect him. You need to keep a sharp mind to understand that.

ROMNEY PRESIDENT OF BAIN CLUELESS FOR 3 YEARS LIKE EBELE

What do President Ebele, Obama and Romney of Bain Capital have in common? Ok. Say - according to some Nigerians and some Americans, the 3 have no clue what has been going on for three years as President and Chief Executive. Nigerians portray President Ebele as someone that has been so overwhelmed that he is over his head. Believe it or not he admitted he was destabilized by Boko Haram. Romney presidency may be worse.

The main argument of Mr. Romney against President Obama is that Obama has no clue because he was so overwhelmed. We now find out that Romney was the President and Chief Executive of Bain Capital since 1999 but without a clue of what was going on for 3 years. Though he was collecting salary, the major shareholder and attended some board meetings according to his testimony while running for the Governor of Massachusetts.

The irony here is that Mr. Romney had retired retroactively from Bain Capital while Mr. Dick Cheney was in charge. Romney was coordinating Olympics with all countries and in that spirit, while waiting for some Presidents like Nigeria’s Ebele, got Bermuda and Swiss accounts. *Excuse this writer, he got it wrong. Ebele was not President then. Mr. Cheney never ran Bain Capital, he was the powerful Vice President of Bush. Swiss account? Well.

Mr. Cheney was so powerful, some thought he ran Bush Administration, yet he could not make President Bush pardon Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Bush was not that clueless as Romney at Bain, after all. You can imagine why McCain prefer Palin after looking at his taxes. Opponents of Mr. Romney during Primary see an opportunity to derail him. Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, or Ron Paul would be glad to release their tax returns from years.

Romney may do the same if he becomes the President of United States. After all, Nigeria had President Yar’Adua, god knows for how many years, that ruled Nigeria without any clue of what was going on in the world, or in Nigeria. It seems that the way American campaign is going, Nigerian politicians are watching and anticipating the next move. We adopted their presidential system and every word out of our politicians has USA mark.

Poor Obama. This is a man that has been criticized for tackling too many responsibilities at one time. Indeed Republicans were praying feverishly that once the Supreme Court overturned his Affordable Care Act, he would have wasted all his years in office and nothing to show as an accomplishment. But Obama saved the world from economic collapsed, ended the Iraq war, got Osama Bin Laden and signed equal pay for women.

Wow, in any other country Obama would be credited for accomplishing difficult tasks. In Nigeria we are still stuck with – To Keep Nigeria One Is A Task That Must Be Done. Since that task began in Nigeria, we are still working on it but it seems we are getting further away than closer to accomplishing the single task of security to life and property. Forget other tasks like infrastructure and corruption, Ebele can only fight one - Boko Haram.

Those Africans that do not believe in “ecrube” must think about who actually washed the head of Obama’s father before he left Kenya. Since the days of the African Popes and black rulers of Europe, his son was the one anointed to be the President of USA. He did more than some US presidents in eight years, but as a black man, he will never be fully credited. How many of his race has?

Africans are always fascinated with democratic elections in Europe and America. They claim to be free and fair but the results have been doubtful recently. When the Liberal Party in Britain decided against the Labor and backed Conservative Party into power, little did they realize that they were heading to a double deep recession. Some of us, yes O, we told you so! Romney, without any clue wants the same economy as World leader.

We have to credit Conservative and Republican parties in Britain and USA, they told their constituencies how they were going to revive the recession by austerity measures on the middle class. Before Obama Administration, that was what Bush Administration preached and implemented. Tax cut and tax cut that benefited you the more money you make. Deregulations that allowed Wall Street to run wild, crashed and cut in safety nets.

Guess what, it got them double deep recession in Britain and Romney wants same old stuff implemented from his first day in office as the President of world economic leader. The problem is the US will go into another recession like Britain when cuts to safety net, deregulation, and tax cut balloon the same deficit they care so much about. Careless though of tax cut for those that neither asked for nor needed it. It makes deficit worse.

Those familiar with Romney in Massachusetts said he may be right because when he was Governor, he got so bored and did not run for second term. He had no clue when he signed their Health law, so he is against it nationally. Romney would be defended by conservative press. As the President of United State, he would be obsessed with hiding his money in foreign banks and helping his friends do the same like Nigerian politicians.

However, Mr. Romney is neither President Ebele nor President Mandela because he only served one term in Massachusetts. He is filthy rich and we know how he made his money legitimately by business acumen. Some have called him a corporate raider like Mr. Carl Icahn and they have justified the process of killing weak companies so that the strong ones could survive. But that might have killed General Motors that Obama saved.

A word of caution to Obama supporters. Several months ago many of you were sure that Republicans could not produce a formidable opponent to Obama, you now know the race is too close to call and there are still some months to go.*One can build a reputation for many years and it can come, tumbling down in a moment. A moment is a long time in politics. Obama may be the first President in US history to be outspent.

Farouk Martins Aresa

http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/main-square/71659-romney-president-bain-clueless-3-years-like-ebele.html

You have to forgive them . Most of them live in Western Region, now Ogun State and even Oyo State near Lagos and they claim they live in Lagos.

Why is it so hard to understand that foreign religions including Christian and Muslim has been used to destabilize Nigeria for economic reasons? The only way China and Russia got around it is to ban religion first and allow it later "small small" as a privilege. The only way France got over it is through cultural revolution and the only way US got over it is by separation of Church and State. Put religion in its place, superiority complex will stop and victims will be greatly reduced.

It is people like this complaining son of Mary that drag Nigeria down. If cassava is what we have you want what we do not have because you can steal foreign exchange to buy. Even then, don't we have to sell cassava first to earn foreign exchange before you can steal it?

nimi1: Face your work! She is a woman of virtue! I believe she has no intention to expose her body! Her brain is enough charm!

Can you f... her brain?

In Abuja anything is f...able, even one rejected by husbands for younger babes.

More than a good start that must also apply to the South.

PROMOTE HAUSA GREAT CULTURE TO FORGE PEACE

Hausa culture and religion is second to none of their invaders but like all Africans, they share tolerance for these same “visitors”. We know the history of Hausa States before and after the invaders. It is a shame that this rich culture and religion was suppressed just as those in the South had been by the Muslim and Christian values that created Jihad and Crusade mass killings. The mother of all fetishes we all suffer from today.

No country has survived, progressed or excel by imitation without offering unique and home grown qualities. Nigeria will not and Africa will not. When you ridicule and void your religions based on fetishes, the void will be filled by religions of mass destructions. In Nigeria Fulani or Jewish claims while loyalty is to Saudi Arabia or Israel is treacherous. Ask blacks in those countries you based your lofty pride on how they were/are treated.

For solution, it boils down to serious planning to deter violence at its source. The South must encourage specifically the Hausa to regain their cultural self-determination instead of being used as proxy for Fulani remnant warriors from the old ages. Until Hausa stand up by educating youths of their lost glory, and repel most of the violence used to keep them down as inherited from foreign religious wars, nobody will sleep in Nigeria.

Most of the African religions pride themselves on voluntary converts coming to explore, absorb and convert on their own. African Empires might have had economic-political wars to unite their people for taxes and to raise formidable armies but hardly converted others into their religions by force or tulasi. People from far and wide heard and were attracted by awe, miracles, wisdom and yes gold, ivory and terracotta.

We must give Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank some credit for claiming Southerners think all Northerners are the same. However, it is not that other Nigerians do not know the difference between Northerners especially after the inauguration of NYSC or before, they just don't care. So the Yoruba made careless statement that – Gambari pa Fulani ko lejo nu. Ignorance and carelessness are close but not the same.

This notion that Southerners are ignorant of the differences between Northerners has been exaggerated to a fault. Sanusi, in self-aggrandizement said not all Northern leaders came from a higher culture meaning Gowon, Babangida, Abacha and Abubakar are not Fulani. It is a shame that this African that looks at himself in a mirror saw a Fulani like a study of black kids in the 60s that wished the images of themselves as white features.

Hausa are already at the mercy of the Fulani; so Hausa that wants any relevance in the scheme of power in the North had to relate to the religious belief of the caliphate at the expense of his own religion. They were subjugated to Fulani complex. In the same way, military leaders started seeking ways to belong as if under one spell or religion.

The Southern brothers and sisters also have the same religious log in their eyes as some claimed they are from Egypt and Israel. This foreign influence while in moderation have been globally tolerated, it has grown wild in African countries and Nigeria in particular. Unless we retrace our steps, individual sovereign power is at stake as neocolonialism.

Indifferent, most Southerners ignore the killing of the Hausa in the North by a group of so called Fulani in cooperation with other Hausa. So each time Fulani go after Hausa villages, we dismissed their conflicts. Before the southerners were killed in the North, their close neighbors were killed in the North-central by Fulani cow grazers. It is coming home to roast and closer to southern heartland from Kwara, Oyo, Ogun to Owerri.

As far back as the days of Amino Kano (our known Saint), Ahmadu Bello, Zik and Awo, cooperation and alliance between parties cutting across the Country were in order. Amino Kano, Tarka and Alhaji Waziri (politics without bitterness) in Borno area formed alliance with Zik and Awo. The idea of one North or one South has always been a mirage until the military came and Gowon announced himself as Northerner for their solace.

While these alliances have been formed across North and South, it has never been formed between the East and the West; except locally on western soil. The closest was UPGA which disintegrated as the East and the North went into traditional alliance at the Federal. So the East has been successful in the past as the beautiful bride bringing the North into its bosom while the West stayed as opposition and progressed on its own.

If S. L Akintola is to be vindicated, the West must also learn as the East has always done, to find a way to accommodate the Hausa. The political realities right now is that the East and the West get along socially and economically but political marriage at the Federal level always elude them. Indeed, the South-south also had political alliance with the North. This is why there is a change of mind in the West that if there is something in there for the East and South-south as Akintola had opined; the West must also go for it.

In spite of the competitive scramble for political offices between East and West, we may have to find a unity of mind in government between all geopolitical areas of Nigeria so that no area is shut out as in the past when the West was left out cold at the Federal level. The East can also claim they were left out cold after the war at the Federal level.

So far the characters in the present political scene in the West trying to form alliance with the North are of shady characters. Bluntly put, if Buhari justifies his critics that he is so desperate for power that he would ally with Tinubu, a man known for his exploit and avarice in Lagos State, he has himself to blame. Buhari has shown weakness in the past for Fulani dynasties that flagrantly defied his draconian order. Hausa dynasty is next.

Maitatsine or Boko Haram is the product of these religious fanatics that have engulfed Northern Nigeria and will continue to hunt us until we rescue our Hausa brothers and sisters from their grip. Abacha as Defense Minister under IBB crushed it and even overthrew Dansuki as Sultan of Sokoto without blinking. The closest to that was the retirement of all the military politicians by Obasanjo. Most were so call Fulani elite.

Indoctrination starts from childhood. Our children are packed in Koranic and Biblical schools where they are indoctrinated to pledge allegiance to foreign gods and values. There is hardly an area in Nigeria where children are taught in local languages. Parents take pride when their children recant Latin and Koranic verses word for word without any understanding except as translated by elders versed in none African languages. Then we wonder how we got here. They ate the hearts of our children.

As long as Hausa in Northern Nigeria are suppressed by those that take pride in calling themselves strangers (Alhaji) or Pilgrim at home and abroad, the rest of Nigeria will continue to suffer the consequences in terms of violence that are imbedded in those religions and cultures. Religious violence must stop and the subjugated Hausa must be empowered for peace to prevail at their doorstep.

Source: Farouk Martins Aresa
Story from The Nigerian Voice News:
http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/94352/1/promote-hausa-great-culture-to-forge-peace.html

Published: Wednesday, July 11, 2012

mbatuku2: Are there any cultures that dont accommodate success in outsiders?

Rhetorical question. Many will not even give you the chance, not to talk about nurse success as in Yoruba land. They will tell you what you can sell, where you can sell it, will not buy from you and eventually loot your successful biz. Sound familiar?

What more can I say, yeye people. Aswan or whatever his name make more than that in Nigeria in a month or less. They are looking for who to sell India used parts to with credit that will soon turn to loan as India push them to buy more. We nor dey learn?

[quote author=One_Naira]By the way
@ thread

ogini bu ihe ka? Yoruba's biko nu anything una have to write whatever, stop dragging Igbo into. leave us out haba[/quote]Idigbo are our brothers and sisers we get along socially and in business most of the time but never mix in politics. Man cannot live by politics alone.

You know, this is sad. We celebrate and support Igbo writers glorifying their tradition and culture. We encourage Hausa writers educating us about their history. But when it comes to Yoruba writers with documented and verified backing, it is bigotry. Go to where most of the Igbo and Hausa writers speak, majority of the audience are Yoruba supporting Nigerians.

But if Soyinka got a Nobel Price, it should have been Chinua Achebe. Even Yoruba quote Achebe without any reservations.Pity!

Since when has the children of Bookman the Vodoo and Sango freedom fighter become Idi-Igbo?

[b][/b]I can come up with more and we trashed this out before. Got back to Origin of Civilization in Nigeria topic. You think by repeating this fake history every week, it will stick as the truth, eh?

Look here, Bini had no appreciable history before 11 or 12th century AD, until the Oba discard the wicked Ogiso dynasty for killing a pregnant woman. Ife and Iwo Eleru existed since 10,000 Before Christ. Go figure. Oduduwa or Adimu existed in cultures from Ijo in the South to Nupe in the North before Bini. No time to waste with crooks in every discipline including politics.

bokohalal: No Yoruba history has been able to fill that gap.They can tell tales of migration from Inner Mongolia(for all I care) but cannot explain Oduduwa reasonably.The Binis can!
Naiwu Osahon is not all correct but Benin oral tradition has been consistent about Oduduwa.

That was the best you could come up with?

These losers start their revised history again begging for relevance and translating a Yoruba dialet of Edo into Oyo Yoruba.

Ekalehan ko, Ekalesir ni!

PhysicsQED,

I thought I was talking to some reasonable fellow. Destroying everyone in sight including your own people is self-mutilation.

Go back and read yourself again if you can make any sense out of what you wrote.

Next!

PhysicsQED,

Let me start by letting you know that most scholars and historians are not mind readers. They usually go by explicitly written finding or hard facts forcefully to prove their case. So forget about reading between the lines or "too subtle about it"

"In every edition of his book, he tried to imply that there was already a Bini ruler of or a Bini takeover of Ife in some way or another but he was too subtle about it."

Yes I have read some of Prof. Egharevba work and the honorable Oba of Benin took exception to some of his work.

"Have you ever actually read Egharevba's work? Answer honestly."

You are absolutely right, Oba of Benin was not the first one to push this novel theory, but he resurrected it and put his weight behind it. Otherwise nobody would even take it seriously or border to give it an answer.

"Next, the Oba of Benin did not come up with a new theory about Ekaladerhan. It simply does not originate with Oba Erediauwa. That's one of the larger misconceptions and that was what bokohalal tried to explain above."

It is a pity that you try to attack Prof. Ekeh for his assiduous work just because he took a position not to your liking. Please remeber he was invited to honor Prof. Eghrevba.

Trying to discount Iwo Eleru will not help you either. Whatever you think it was at that stage in world history did not matter. It is enough to note that it was not just skulls or human remains that was found but artifacts and tools beyond their contemporaries at the world stage. To you that may not be civilization compared to others with such Iwo Eleru "advanced" tools. This is near Akure in Ondo State, you may as well claim it for Ogiso that came centuries after them or the Nok Culture.

As for Ijaw, I think they are one of the oldest people because of their point of reference to Adimu or Adumu or Oduduwa and before Oduduwa. That view correspond to many of their contemporary neighbors. A better description may be one of the oldest but certainly not new as some of us would like to believe.

As for Oduduwa relation to Ife, there were 90 rulers before him. He was one of the AdeTokunbo that came back home to prove his relationship to the soil he left after his sojour around the world. Leting them know he was no stranger to the place. By the way, Oranmiya did the same on his way back from Benin, but he met Ooni and decided to move on to Oyo.

I wanted to qoute some writings already posted here but decide not to. Serious readers need to read all and make up their mind.
It all boils down to the fact that neither the Ogiso nor Edo as a separate people had anything dating back to original Yoruba/Ife culture from where they originated. Capturing Oduduwa at the top without archeological backing is just too much of a jump for serious scholars and historians. These days you have to come up with science not just novel theories. Benin is just too young in world history as a separate culture.

Bokohalal,

Nobody and I mean nobody should or try to diminish the greatness of Benin. All Nigerians should be proud of those historical achievement. It cannot be denied either, it should be celebrated. The problem is as Nigerians or even as Africans we have divided ourselves into individual units and townships.

Benin achievement came around 11th and 12th century after the throne changed from Ogiso to Oba. Indeed, those that left Benin before Oba rule still remember Ogiso as the ruler. The reign of Oba changed Benin in terms of achievement we all celebrate today.

How anyone can compare that to Ife that existed before the birth of Christ is what should not have brought the confusion and novel theory of Oba of Benin about Ekaladerhan. Mind you, the Oba himself was grudgingly accepted in Benin and that is why Oranmiyan left and his son whose mother was a daughter of the soil took over till today.

How does one explain Iwo Eleru civilization or its existence dated back to 10,000 B.C?

Let me make bold to say that Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba are the children of the same father moving to different environment with Nigeria. Benin is a good example of this movement as it expanded beyond Oyo Empire into the East and South.

The Ijaw of today are older than many of the people in the Southsouth are, they proudly remember and celebrate their father - Adimu, known as Oduduwa. Today's politics in Nigeria has distorted these facts of history and everyone is for himself.

It has always amused historians how Nigerians claimed relationships with Israel and Egypt but none whatsoever to one another. One historian asked if they they never met one another on their way to and from Middle East.

bokohalal: .
Lol

Great! He understands, speaks and has a Yoruba name to match.

My brother, let us join hands together, the honor is for Africa, south of the Sahara, not for Hausa, Igbo, Beron, Benin or Yoruba.

bokohalal: Now I am more convinced of your ignorance in matters relating to Edo History.

Olodo Rapata!