₦airaland Forum

afam4eva:
You're absolutely right. genevieve is not necessarily the best in the industry but she's definitely the bigggest and Omotola does not even come close. I don't even know why whenever Genevieve is mentioned some people tend to bring up Omotola when there are bigger or better actresses out there. eg Stephanie Okereke, Rita Dominic, Ini Edo etc.

I think the perception partially has to do with values as well.
You will notice that people mention the fact that Omotola is happily married to a pilot and has 4 kids. So not only is she beautiful but she's also a role model. Genevieve on the other hand is a single mother and romancing 'bad guy' D'banj.

so there is more to her popularity than whether she snags more roles as a nollywood actress than rita dominic, ini edo etc. Omotola is more of an icon.
she will still be just as popular if she retires from the industry tomorrow.

wow I like this topic.

the mother. and this is more true today than ever.

many families don't even have a father figure. but the mom is generally always there

I will start by stating that I support the Buhari/Bakare campaign although I don't agree with the action of his volunteers in using a copyrighted song in the campaign.

I'm just confused about what kind of company Bluelabs Limited is. Is it an advertising company? Did Omolara sell her song to Bluelabs? What was Bluelabs planning to do with the song?
Are they planning to sue? I'm sure Buhari isn't taking responsibility for the video since his fans created it. but still I think it may hurt his campaign a little bit.

by the way, what do you guys think of Osun state governor's OYES program?
It's a volunteer program for youth. 150k people registered for only 20k available spots!
I think sometimes we underestimate how much Nigerians are willing to participate in active citizenship. They are probably just looking for a leader/ form of direction. 

what i'm hoping for is for the president to build a good transportation system through all three regions in order  to facilitate communication and exchange of goods and ideas. I think this is the key to integrating+uniting the three regions of the country. over time our differences will become more and more blurred.

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=12021.msg8039850#msg8039850 date=1301771505]Pretend that oil revenue were $0. Then why would anyone be opposed to dividing the country? How wouldn't this leave everyone better off?

Anyway, just wanted to point out to you that federalism and unity/integration are antithetical.

The British for the most part designed Nigeria properly. . . 3 largely independent states. A centralist government makes no sense for a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural country like naija. Only reason we do things as we do now is because of oil money.[/quote]I don't think federalism and unity are antithetical. there are varying levels of federalism like ajanlekoko already pointed out.

ex. the US is a federalist state and in fact, the central govt was strengthened more in the decades after their civil war of secession between the north and south.

when you give too much power to regions/states and too little to the central govt, the the chance of the country breaking up is very high because each region will want to do its own thing at the expense of the other regions.
Nigeria is already weak as it is so no need to weaken the central govt further unless you are for secession.

you can have federalism with a relatively strong central govt. I definitely don't want Nigeria falling apart so I think the central govt should maintain some control over the economy and foreign investment.

Yes Nigeria works as a federation. but the goal should be to work toward more unity/ integration because to me, that's the best and is more foolproof against secession. Nigeria already has a weak center so there's no point in weakening the central government any further.

Regarding the issue of volunteer service, I'd still say that some form of compulsory service beyond NYSC is required. NYSC on its own is weak and expensive to manage. After all the draft was introduced in the US at some point during the First World war. Until Nigeria attains some level of maturity, some compulsory form of service to the nation would be helpful.

how do you mean by level of maturity?
I don't think i'm understanding your idea of compulsory, un-paid public service. can you give examples?  
isn't it logical that it will be exponentially more expensive to manage than NYSC?

The US ended forced military draft after the disaster of Vietnam war in the 70s.

those are good points about political stability and having a federation of states.
but I'm not sure about these two points:

Only institutions like the armed forces, foreign policy, judiciary, and legislature should be supported at the center.
Economy, Commerce, Industry, foreign investment, works, science, technology, education, even civil policing, all should be regionalized.

Is there an example of a successful system like this?
I feel that the center will be very weak/forced. Might as well break the nation into three different countries.

Finally, stop paying public officers, or making public service some form of titular office. Make military service and public office a required duty, similar to jury duty in some parts of the world. Everybody should participate in some form of governance, which will vary according to your level of education. For example, after high school, compulsory military service. After university, compulsory public service, whether local government, or state, or even federal level. This I think will influence the orientation of Nigerians to a large extent, and give them a sense of belonging.

I think NYSC is enough. Other than that, volunteer service should remain what it is. volunteer.
I don't think citizens (in any country for that matter) will respond favorably to being forced into uncompensated labor.

millitary service and public office can never be compared to jury duty.
jury duty is nothing. The closest equivalent I can think of is environmental sanitation day. except people on jury duty actually get paid some compensation! and jury duty is once in a decade or so as compared to once every month for sanitation day in Nigeria.

AjanleKoko,

I think there is contradiction in your post. on one hand, you say somethings are just inevitable. on the other hand, you say it's a lack of action (laziness). what makes a situation inevitable and what makes it evitable? What's the criteria for judging an outcome as inevitable or not?


IMO, terrorists in Khyber pass learning to create bombs over internet can only be compared to yahooze nigerian guys scamming people on the internet. nothing all that groundbreaking about that. But it shows how people use resources to create opportunities for themselves even if illegal or against ethical standards.

I think the kind of technological advances lekside is talking about will be limited by the capitalist system. Stuff like state of the art artillery, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing etc (if we can't create our own/ are importing, then we really have no control over it) In this way, we really can't create technological breakthrough easily because there is NO WAY we can compete with outsiders. and there are such things as property and intellectual rights unless you go by illegal means to which there are repercussions. It's like starting a race with your opponent miles ahead of you. how do you win that one?

I agree with your points about the dictators. Yea they deserve to be removed and all that but why is it always the west interfering in the global south's politics all the time? The whole paternalistic behavior of "I know what's best for you and your country."
Even the US govt advices GEJ on economic, political and even social matters.
This hasn't helped us one bit and it will never help us. To me, the key to development is to be removed from the reins of the west and that's going to be the biggest challenge.

what are concrete ideas you think are key to Nigeria's development? How do we become "hardworking" to develop ourselves? and what models are you judging this idea on?

example of ways we are still being colonized --> https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-607357.0.html

AjanleKoko:
lekside,
Far from it. I think people are lazy. Your comment regarding 'our leaders' even confirms it. The average Nigerian, nay African, appears to be waiting to be told what to do by a 'leader'. We have a leadership crisis in Nigeria primarily because nobody sees themselves as leaders. People sit and dream of a utopia that they expect a leader figure to provide, rather than than them rising vertically where they are.

For example, you hardly see a plumber putting everything into his plumbing profession, till he rises above other plumbers. Instead what you see is a plumber who prefers to maintain status quo, and when things go sour, blame someone else or even blame the plumbing profession. In Africa, you hardly see consistency. What you see is people stubbornly sticking to doing the same thing the same way year in year out, and when things go sour, they blame everything under the sun.

It's part of why I said earlier that colonialism was inevitable for Africa. The West needed resources, they turned to Africa, and deployed the only tool at their disposal - brute force. We were not ready, so we couldn't protect our motherland.

I don't know what you mean by laziness being our problem.
I think lack of vision is a better term like lekside said.

a slave could be the most hardworking slave in the world while his master may be the most lazy in the world. but that doesn't change the power structure. it's not that much about laziness than it is about purpose/vision etc.

for me, I know that our governments know exactly what's going on. In fact, I really agree with lekside esp. giving the example of gadaffi, saddam Hussein, Mugabe etc. These are leaders that try to take control and free their country from the west/white rule. but the west always want to hold on to power so they attack back.

I bet if jonathan goes against obama's wishes today, the punishment will be great. so our leaders are in essence sometimes unwilling puppets. but I do agree that they do some of these things out of personal greed as well.

ex. the structural adjustment programs implemented in Nigeria and many african countries in 70s and 80s is an example of how the west (IMF etc) were running our nations through our leaders. but then our leaders can't do anything about this because we owe them money in loans! if we went against their wishes, loan will be defaulted.

so the question of whether the situation we are in right now is inevitable or not is really up for debate.
is there a way that our leaders can try to work toward the progress of Nigeria but at the same time not upset the western powers?
is it a zero sum game where what's good for us is bad for the west and vice versa?

ex. china's rise has contributed to huge financial deficit for US. so what was good for china is kinda bad for the US. and I'm sure if china were a small country or less powerful country, it would have been a war zone a long time ago/ or problem solved with some covert CIA operation.etc

so is it really our leaders that's keeping us down? or the west? or a combination of both. how can our leaders rise up to the challenge successfully? what would you do if you were president?

oh wow.

I find his choice of vice president very interesting.
I don't know. my intuition tells me he is probably more credible than the other candidates out there.

[quote author=isale_gan2 link=topic=590933.msg7992187#msg7992187 date=1301166535]Sis,
You want story story, but I'm at this very moment transcribing the ingenious work of this brilliant Naija man nau.   You now I love him more than Kilode sef.[/quote]you do have a lot of time on your hands huh. unless you're doing it for other reasons lol

Blazay: Genevieve "Okoronkwo" Dbanj is still doing "Fall in Love" on YouTube.

ouch lol

AjanleKoko:
Definitely not. In my opinion, yes, the foreign powers want oil, etc., but nobody is paying the rent-seeking Nigerian elite to deliberately impoverish their people. Far from it, according to Wikileaks. They all seem scared that the country might eventually descend into anarchy and jeopardize their investment, hence their eagerness to compromise and turn to any willing strongman to stabilize things. The elite, who are full-time rent-seekers who just want to get paid for being in power, cannot just find the balls to seize the economy by its britches and force it into the 21st century. Though some like Fashola are trying though.

didn't the British also rule through our own chiefs and rulers? there was full complicity with the slave trade that preceded it too.
I mean, I get where you're coming from but I think the situation then is similar to the way it is now
if colonization was inevitable, then I believe that the situation we are currently in right now is also inevitable.

They all seem scared that the country might eventually descend into anarchy and jeopardize their investment, hence their eagerness to compromise and turn to any willing strongman to stabilize things.

even during colonization, the british had to protect their investment (Nigeria) by building roads and infrastructure etc. else, how would they be able to extract wealth if there is no functioning system to facilitate it?

even with slavery, i'm sure the owners make sure to feed their slaves or else how will they have the energy to continue working. lol

the companies are probably not deliberately trying to impoverish Nigeria. yes.  but they do try to enrich themselves at the expense of Nigeria. most of them even probably believe that what they are doing (or what they did in the past) is good for us. or at least that's what they use to justify their actions.

AjanleKoko:
The Japanese learned very fast from the Europeans and the Americans that showed up. They're also very smart and individual people. with strong ties to their culture. I'm no expert on Japanese history, but from what I have read it seemed the entry of the foreign'colonialists' presented a unique opportunity for the strongest feudal lords to unite the country, modernize and adopt European-style systems of government, technology, etc. So they kind of grasped the opportunity of foreign intrusion, and discarded their previous isolationist approach.

Also, I am not sure, but I think Japan is not heavy on mineral resources like an India, or most African countries. If Japan had been awash in some needed raw materials, don't you think the foreign powers would have upped the scales from trading to an all-out conquest? From Africa to Asia, all the way to South America, raw materials have always been the key driver for colonization.

I agree with the second part of your post about the Japanese not having any raw materials that the west could exploit. it was truly a blessing in disguise.

AjanleKoko:
I'm sure the Brits have a lot more to worry about these days

But seriously. [b]Nobody deludes themselves that colonization was a blessing. [/b]My opinion is, it was inevitable.

I thought the same until I read some of the comments on this thread. 

I guess the Brits didn't have anything to worry about in those days. huh?
as far as i'm concerned, the european countries at the time had a lot at stake. it was basically a scramble. scramble for Africa. it's all for economic reasons. I don't know what makes you think that they had nothing to worry about. unless u were being sarcastic  . other wise I would ask you to explain why US is in the middle east. because they have nothing better to worry about?

but today though, private and coorporate entitities are the new face of colonization. It is no longer run by the government. it is now run by companies. I think that the wikileaks illuminates some of that.

I can't tell you if colonization was inevitable or not but I guess what has happened has happened. I think we are still sort of being colonized in a way and we're letting it happen. is the situation we are currently in now (poverty etc) also inevitable?

the way you guys post, if Britain comes back tomorrow and tries to legally colonize Nigeria, no one will resist.
we seem to have a subservient mentality.

pleep:
@ everyone.

I think we can all agree the the rift between Africans and African Americans in primary socio-econonomic in nature.

I certainly agree with you.

I feel proud when I hear good things ex. Oprah, Obama ( although technically he is also African) etc
but disappointed about other things ex lil wayne, gangsters etc

these are extreme examples but I think you get my point.

AjanleKoko:
Hmm.
I think it did present some opportunity, albeit at a high cost, the cost of freedom.
A nation like Nigerian could never have pulled together by common agreement. We look at ourselves as poor achievers, but truth be told, we are a reasonably solid model for development in the African context. We were actually progressing at some point before we had major political setbacks like the military returning to power in 83, and IBB taking over.

yea there wouldn't be a Nigeria without colonial rule. but I think there would have been a better Africa.

9ijaMan:
That's another generalization which is most likely wrong. I'm almost certain that most members of this forum and indeed a far larger percentage of Nigerian youths today were either not born or virtually toddlers when we had a good military leadership. What we have been brainwashed with is the 12 solid years of misrule by PDP, a situation GEJ wants to continue to perpetrate. If 12 years of democracy is not long enough for you to be clear of what you intend to achieve, there is noo point for you to come out here spewing hatred about a military you have little or no knowledge about.

Abacha was probably a tyrant, however his despotism pales into insignificance when compared to what we have today. Infrastructural projects which were delivered in the 5 years of Abacha's dictatorship far outweighs the projects, if any, that PDP has delivered in their 12 years of misrule.

good military leadership my butt.
even Gadaffi was probably popular among the people when he first came to power. it is only few yrs down the line that people will begin to realize the negative effects of authoritarian rule.

what we have in Nigeria is not a yet a democracy but it's better than millitary rule.
democracy: government of the people, for the people, by the people. is that what we have in Nigeria?
yea we call it democracy. but as Fela sings, democrazy fits better.

you must be one of the rich folks in naija from the way you post. I don't think majority of Nigerians will agree with you that they want Abacha back.

They don't look like Africans to me. . . they look kind of weird.  But I guess they legitimately natives of this continent.

I'm guessing your idea of what Africans look like is the "bantu" look
Africa is very diverse.

I think many groups are extinct now but Khoi-San people are another well known non-bantu group located in southern Africa although bantu migrated there and the khoi population diminished after the bantu settlement. Nelson Mandela is a Khoi-San. They don't have the bantu look either and known for their peppercorn hair
[img]http://1.bp..com/_yI21Jp6wrLM/SowNt6bX5PI/AAAAAAAAALo/PsJUC33PeEI/s400/Hadzabe.jpg[/img]
https://bp1.blogger.com/_eIwjaThFyVA/Rmqjm5GCPxI/AAAAAAAAABA/kejV_Aq8KfM/s400/5-493-17_bushmen_y.jpg https://realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Misc/Prehistoric_Art/San_Bushman.jpg

Atreides:
We hate you too!
Oh wait,hating would mean we actually give a damn,and we don't.
So lemme rephrase:
We don't care.

who said you were good looking?
or you just decided it for yourself abi

most certainly.

pro01:
Unfortunately that is so true (in many, not all cases). But I find that it is more so if the good looking person is somewhat personable and 'charming' - armed with a self-deprecating down to earth charisma. Several times I've noticed how a decent smile on a fine face (whether male or female) can help one get away with a multitude of sins. For real.

But on the other hand, an arrogant demeanour, or self-satisfied countenance on a fine face can often be counter- productive as it could stir insecurities and angst in other people and thus earn you a double dose of ill-treatment.

the last part is very true.
a goodlooking person with a nasty attitude will get treated worse than an ugly person with nasty attitude.
while a goodlooking person with a good attitude will get treated better than an ugly person with a good attitude.

So, is this Libya crisis going to escalate into a full blown war (with American involvement as usual)?