₦airaland Forum

And finally Messi is the through ball master.

Messi as we know likes to take on defenders one on one.

Messi and Ronaldo are the best at knowing how to assist and score.

Unlike a lot of players Messi is actually more efficient when he does things by himself compared to when he gets an assist from others.

He is deadly from every where.

Messi is the most efficient shot taker. He takes shot that are most likely to be scored.

Messi is the 9th most efficient player when it comes to scoring goals per shot. Ronaldo has taken about 1.5 more shots per game than Messi.

Messi versus the rest (Total Number of goals and assists since 2010) - Messi and Ronaldo come out ontop. Note each circle represents a player

Benjamin Morris a writer for FiveThirtyEight blog (part of espn.com) writes an article with data and facts proving why Messi is far and away the best football player right now. He compares Messi to other high volume shooters and assist men in the game and shows that Messi is just impossible. Good read for those of us that like to argue about Messi or Ronaldo.

" By now I’ve studied nearly every aspect of Messi’s game, down to a touch-by-touch level: his shooting and scoring production; where he shoots from; how often he sets up his own shots; what kind of kicks he uses to make those shots; his ability to take on defenders; how accurate his passes are; the kind of passes he makes; how often he creates scoring chances; how often those chances lead to goals; even how his defensive playmaking compares to other high-volume shooters.

And that’s just the stuff that made it into this article. I arrived at a conclusion that I wasn’t really expecting or prepared for: Lionel Messi is impossible. (quote from article)"

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/lionel-messi-is-impossible/

Kai this guy has disgraced UNILAG

A University of Lagos post graduate student, Chibuihem Amalaha, from Imo State has used science to prove that gay marriage is improper among other breakthroughs, writes Charles Ajunwa


His persistence during our conversations on the phone that I should give him an opportunity to explain some of his scientific breakthroughs made me to agree to meet him at his residence at No.38 Godwin Way, Ireakari Estate, Isolo, Lagos. With a disarming smile on his face, he introduced himself as Chibuihem Stanley Amalaha, a student of University of Lagos studying Chemical Engineering at the School of Post Graduate Studies. He talked about his researches and scientific breakthroughs with the confidence of an achiever. First, he let the reporter into his background.

“I was the first to publish report about the 2006 total solar eclipse in the newspaper in Nigeria when I was writing for the defunct New Age newspaper. I also reported the true situation about the 2010 acid rain in Nigeria. I carried out analysis and found out that there was nothing like cancer of the skin attributed to the acid rain and by 2011, I emerged the best science reporter in Nigeria where I won Nigeria Media Merit Award in the energy category as a science editor with Compass newspapers.”

He continued: “Ever since then I have been doing a lot of researches in the country. There are many discoveries and inventions I have made in science and technology. I have also been able to prove that the mathematical symbol pi which people thought of as 22 over 7 is not actually 22 over , but rather a transcendental number while 22 over 7 is a rational number. I also proved that watching television in the dark impacts negatively on one’s eyes and by God’s grace, I was the first person to use scientific instruments to prove it in the whole world. The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) featured me on this in one of their programmes on January 12, 2013, where I demonstrated to millions of their viewers that watching television in the dark damages the eyes. Usually when it’s around 10pm, many families in Nigeria will switch off their surrounding lights to use the light from television or the light from computer alone thinking that they will see images brighter. But from experiments I found that it’s not true and experts both at the University of Lagos and elsewhere have found my work to be true. The reason for this is because there is a lot of difference in illuminants (brightness) between the television screen and the dark background in the room known as the periphery,” Amalaha said.

The Wrong Act of Gay Marriage

Then, he zeroed in on his research about gay marriage. He said: “In recent time I found that gay marriage,which is homosexuality and lesbianism, is eating deep into the fabric of our human nature all over the world and this was why nations of Sodom and Gomora were destroyed by God because they were into gay practice. That is, a man marrying another man and a woman marrying another woman.

“A recent publication on May 3, 2013 shows that France is the 14th country in the world that have legalised gay. I asked myself why should a man be marrying a man and a woman marrying a woman, does it mean that there is no more female for a man to marry or there is no more male for a woman to marry? And recently, Britain told Nigeria to legalise gay marriage of forfeit international aid. I thank God for our lawmakers who refused to sign the bill legalising gay marriage. And so God gave me the wisdom to use science as a scientist to prove gay marriage wrong.

“In the area of physics, I used physics with experiments, I used chemistry with experiments, I used biology with experiments and I used mathematics to prove gay marriage wrong.

The Physics of Gay Marriage

“To start with, physics is one of the most fundamentals of all the sciences and I used two bar magnets in my research. A bar magnet is a horizontal magnet that has the North Pole and the South Pole and when you bring two bar magnets and you bring the North Pole together you find that the two North Poles will not attract. They will repel, that is, they will push away themselves showing that a man should not attract a man. If you bring two South Poles together you find that the two South Poles will not attract indicating that same sex marriage should not hold. A female should not attract a female as South Pole of a magnet does not attract the South Pole of a magnet. But, when you bring a North Pole of a magnet and a South Pole of a magnet they will attract because they are not the same, indicating that a man will attract a woman because of the way nature has made a female. Even in physics when you study what is called electrostatics, you found that when you rub particles together they don’t attract each other but when you rub particle in another medium they will attract each other. For example, if you use your biro and rub it on your hair, after rubbing, try to bring small pieces of paper they will attract because one is charged while the other one is not charged. But if both of them are charged they don’t attract, which means that man cannot attract another man because they are the same, and a woman should not attract a woman because they are the same. That is how I used physics to prove gay marriage wrong.

The Chemistry of Gay Marriage
“In chemistry, I used chemical reactions and we have different types of chemical reactions. We have double decomposition reaction, decomposition reaction, neutralisation reaction and reduction oxidation reaction. But in chemistry I used a simple one known as neutralisation reaction which is a reaction where an acid reacts with a base to give you salt and water. For example, when you bring surphuric acid and you reacts it with sodium hydroxide which is a base you are going to have salt and water. That tells you that the acid is a different body, the base is a different body and they will react. But if you bring an acid and you pour it on top of an acid chemistry there will be no reaction. If you bring water and pour it on top it shows that there will be no reaction. If you bring a base either sodium hydroxide and you pour it on top of a sodium hydroxide you find out that there will be reaction showing that a man on top of a man will have no reaction. A woman on top of a woman will have no reaction, that is what chemistry is showing. Even in chemistry when you also use a process called electrolysis, which is if you use electrolysis of acidilated water, that is water you drop some droplets of acid on it, you found that the negative ions will be attracted to the positive ones while the positive ions will be attracted to the negative ones. So the negative ones are not attracted to their peers, they are all attracted to the positive electrode and the positive ones are not attracted to the positive electrode. Instead, the negative ion is attracted to positive electrodes and why is it that the negative is attracted to the positive? It is because they are not the same. Likewise a man cannot be attracted to a man as negative ion is not attracted to the negative electrode instead negative ion is attracted to the positive electrode. That is what electrolysis is showing us that gay marriage is wrong in the area of chemistry.

The Biology of Gay Marriage
“In biology, I used simple experiments and I came down to a lay man. We have seen that the female of a fowl is called hen and the male of a fowl is called a cock. We have never seen where a cock is having sex with a cock and we have never seen where a hen is having sex with another. Even among lions when you go to the zoo you find out that lion does not mate with a lion instead a lion will mate with a lioness showing that a lion being a male will mate with lioness being a female. Now if animals that are of even lower creature understand so much, how come human being made in the higher image of God that is even of higher creature will be thinking of a man having sex with another and woman having sex with another woman? That shows that it’s a misnomer and when you come to real biological standard, when you see a lady you love there is what is called the follicle stimulating hormone. The follicle stimulating hormone in a man triggers what is called spermatogenesis through your brain which is called hypothalamus. It will send message to your brain when you see a lady you love and through the hypothalamus you will go after the lady. And it will trigger your spermatogenesis and the lady’s host follicles stimulating hormone will be triggered by the hypothalamus and it will stimulate her ovarian follicle. So in the man is the spermatogenesis, in female it’s the ovarian follicle. You find out that the sperm alone does not produce a child and the ovary alone in the female does not produce a child. They need each other for reproduction to occur and the follicle stimulating hormone in the man and that of the female promote different things. The sperm in the man alone doesn’t produce a child and ovary in the female alone does not produce a child, they need each other for reproduction to occur. So that shows how biology proves that gay marriage is wrong.


The Mathematics of Gay Marriage

In mathematics which is another core area of science, I used what is called the principle of commutativity and idepotency. Commutativity in mathematics is simply the arrangement of numbers or arrangement of letters in which the way you arrange them don’t matter. For example, if you say A + B in mathematics you are going to have B + A. For example, if I say two plus three it will give five. If I start from three, I say three plus two it also give you five showing that two plus three and three plus two are commutative because they gave the same results. That shows that A + B will give you B + A, you see that there is a change. In A + B, A started the journey while in B + A, B started the journey. If we use A as a man and use B as a woman we are going to have B + A that is woman and man showing that there is a reaction. A + B reacted, they interchanged and gave us B + A showing that commutativity obeys that a man should not marry a man and a woman should not marry a woman. If you use idempotency, it’s a reaction in mathematics where A + A = A. Actually in abstract algebra, A + A =2A but we are less concerned with the numerical value two. We are more less concerned with the symbols A, you find out that A + A will give you A showing that the whole thing goes unchanged. It didn’t change unlike commutativity A + B give B + A there is a change. A started the journey in commutativity and A + B gave us B + A and B started the journey after the equality sign. But in the case of idempotency A + A will give you A showing that it goes unreacted. You started with A and you meet A ,the final result is A. Showing that a man meeting a man A + A will produce a man there is no reaction, it goes unreacted and in chemical engineering you have to send the material back to the reactor for the action to be carried out again showing that it goes unreacted. That is how mathematics has shown that gay marriage is wrong because commutativity proves that gay marriage is wrong. Idempotency also proves that gay marriage is wrong. So these are the principles I have used to prove gay marriage wrong in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and by the grace of God I am the only one that has proved this in the whole world.

“If you go on the Internet to check whether there is anybody who has used physics to prove gay marriage wrong, you find out there is none. You go to Google or youtube check whether there is anybody that has used chemistry to find same sex marriage wrong, you find out there is none and the same applies to biology and mathematics.
“In general, same sex marriage is evil. It should be stopped by those practicing it. Now they are saying that they will go and adopt a child, the question is that if everybody shows interest in same sex marriage where would the child they are adopting come from?”

His Commendations

And now his works have earned him the respect in the world of science. He said: “At the University of Lagos where I currently study as a student you will find my publication on the notice board there. When you go to the Senate Building of the university you will see the same notice there and even recently my lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Profesor D.S.Aribuike pointedly told me that I will win Nobel prize one day, because he found that my works are real and nobody has done it in any part of the world. You know Nobel Prize is the highest award anyone could ever win and no African has won Nobel Prize in science. So I am aspiring to win Nobel Prize for Africa. Other universities have seen my work and sent me commendations. I have a professor friend who has seen the work I did and he sent me congratulatory message because of the originality of the work.”

Not only that, Dr. Henry Boyo, Department of Physics at UNILAG approved of him. He said: “I have known him (Stanley) for the past five years. He is a very sound guy. He is genuine in terms of his scientific discoveries. He has appeared on NTA and SilverBird televisions where he demonstrated his knowledge of science. When you talk to him, you will know that he understands what he is talking about. He is convincing.
“He conceptualised the idea of using sciences and mathematics to prove gay marriage wrong and we have worked it here. Some people make claims to religion but he went a step further to use science and mathematics to prove gay marriage wrong. He used my laboratory here (UNILAG) to carry out his researches. He is the originator of the idea, he deserves commendation and we support the idea. You can quote me anywhere, the guy’s concept is germane and it has been scientifically proven to be true.”

His Next Step
“I want to be able to publish it in international journals. The finance has been a problem in this area because I found out that you you have to pay in dollars for international journals to publish you. You know finance is a factor and I don’t have money to start paying in US dollars and I need sponsors so that I can pay for the journals to be published.”

Encounter with government officials

“I have been to the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology in Abuja and there is a lot of protocol around the minister. I must confess that seeing a minister is one of the problems we are having in this country. I could recall that University of Lagos carried out a research in Zamfara State some years ago when lead poisoning was killing people there. Could you believe a professor in UNILAG once said that they wrote to Minister of Science and Technology to give them permission to go and carry out research in Zamfara State, that was many years ago and till now they could not get reply from that minister. So these are some of the problems sometimes to reach some of these top people. You publish materials and you don’t know whether they read them or not. I had gone to the National Mathematical Centre Abuja, where I submitted a material to Professor Sam Ali who was Director General of the agency and till now I couldn’t get any reply. But Professor Oye Ibidapo Oye former Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos is the immediate past president of Nigeria Academy of Science one of the highest scientific bodies in the country whom I took a copy of my work to and he accepted the work. He never found any error in it. I have reached other echelons in the science and technology world like Professor V.O. Ife Olunyolo a well-known engineer in Nigeria. He brought the first system engineering known in Sub-Sahara Africa at the University of Lagos. I have given him a copy of my work and he didn’t find it wrong. I have never seen anybody who condemned my work.”

“Nigerian sector does not encourage scientific research so much but what God has given me I am using it effectively to touch Nigerian nation. All the scientific researches I have been doing have not yielded any encouragement to do more.

Speaking about his ambition, Amalaha after taking a deep breath said “My ambition is to go beyond the sky. I want to reach the level God has destined me to reach. I want to be the first African to win Nobel Prize in science because as I am talking to you now African has ever won Nobel Prize in science.

Source
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/science-of-gay-marriage/158265/

I have a quote for people that say that child marriage is not the main issue in the North who claim that there are other more serious issues than child marriage like Boko Haram, Corruption etc.

"In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same." Einstein, Albert

My name is Henry Jacob, guess you can’t tell where I am from in Nigeria from my name. That’s a blessing in disguise in view of our proficiency for tribal and religious profiling.

I was born in Kaduna state and for the first 13 years of life, I didn’t know the difference between tribes in the sense of being different or superior to others, we were all friends. We ate and played together. During Christmas and Sallah, we adorn new clothes and celebrate everything. I always look forward to the food during those celebrations except that of Mama Taiye which was too peppery and did spoil one of my Christmas (I ate her food first one Christmas and the hotness and pepper spoilt my taste buds).

I read Agriculture in University; never in my wildest imagination did I think there was a course of this nature. My first jamb score was 232 with medicine as my first choice in University of Benin. A cousin had 236 and was on the first batch for medicine in same school so I relaxed, that I can’t miss the second or third or supplementary list. I didn’t get admission that year. I went to my cousin to ask how he did his own. To my chagrin, he explained that he filled a middle belt state as his state of origin. That state is a less educationally Developed state so their cut off is lower than those from Delta state. My world was torn apart at this revelation. The next Jamb, I tittered with the thought of changing my state of origin, I could not being a Christian, I once again filled Delta state. I scored 214 this time around, cut off for medicine was about 245 in UNIBEN, ABU was my second choice so I rushed there. To my chagrin, I was informed that though the cut off for medicine in ABU was 180, my cut off being from Delta state was 220. Oh how I hated this country called Nigeria, if the borders were opened, I would have trekked through it and gone to any other country where I will be judged by merit and not my state of origin or tribe. What a shame!
Another cousin of mine scoured 260 and 272 yet couldn’t get admission into Medicine in UNILAG because he is from Delta state. He wrote SAT and got five admissions and scholarships abroad. He has never returned to Nigeria, in fact, MIT Massachusetts had to ask that he be transferred from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania. This is the same student that wasn’t good enough to enter into University in Nigeria.

The greatest challenge we have as a nation in my opinion is the Federal Character principle, while it sought to unite the country and create a sense of fairness after the civil war, we must understand that what works 30 to 40 years ago is no longer relevant today rather it has become the foundation of mediocrity and backwardness today. Let’s take the recent statistics for admission into the Unity schools as a case study.

Ejike is Igbo and from Imo state, he is 10 years old, he scores 170 in the admission exam into the Unity Schools while Nnamdi from the same state with 120 marks does not get admission. He has to attend any secondary school within his environment and woe betides him if his parents do not have time for him neither do they have the funds for a private school. Sambo scores 3 for the same exam and is from Yobe state so he gets admission into the same unity school with Ejike.

In their first term at school, the teacher assumes they all have equal intelligence for being able to pass and gain admission into school so he teaches them accordingly. Unbeknown to him, Sambo isn’t finding the class funny and in his mind, what the h**k is this man talking about? (This is not to denigrate any one from Yobe state, I have met a lot of intelligent people and current have some as friends and we compete on the same level). The mid tem exams reveals the lacuna of some of the teachers students especially Sambo who finds it difficult to write a sentence. As usual, the teacher blames it on his primary school and doesn’t have the patience to teach and give Sambo more attention. Sambo and Ejike continue through school while Ejike comes out tops, Sambo is somewhere wedge at the bottom three of his class. Waec and Jamb comes calling after 6 years with Sambo on full scholarship and his exams paid for (nothing wrong with this) and Ejike’s parents barely working to keep him in school.

Ejike scores 262 in Jamb with seven A’s and 2 C’s while Sambo scores 130 in jamb with 3 C’s, 2 D’s and 4 E’s. Both of them get admission into the same school surprisingly with Sambo being admitted to read Engineering in Federal University of Maiduguri while Ejike also gets admission into the same school to read same course. Sambo is on scholarship while Ejike works after lectures to pay his way through school. On graduation, Ejike graduates with an upper class (2.1) while Sambo graduates with a third class honours.
Immediately after NYSC, Sambo is sponsored without exams by PTDF to Oxford University for Masters in Civil Engineering while Ejike teaches in a primary school for one year and starts searching for job. Despite his brilliance, he has a challenge because there are many more brilliant and well-connected guys from his state of origin and tribe hence he has to take on odd jobs. He eventually gets a job in the Civil service. On the return of Sambo as a PHD holder in Well Engineering, he gets employed in NNPC based on the recommendation of his people (he is one of the best from his tribe and state, who wouldn’t want this for himself or children).

After ten years, Sambo is a Deputy Director of NPDC although they cannot produce any oil, just giving out contracts. He is wealthy, travels for summer in Hawaii, Tahiti, Bahamas and the Cayman islands, he has a house in London and Dubai while Ejike lives from hand to mouth. He is brilliant, full of ideas and solutions to the numerous Engineering challenges in the country but cannot concentrate on those issues as his bills are mounting at home, he has to work long hours to be able to afford the education of his children while Sambo’s children are schooling in the best schools with scholarships.
Sambo becomes Governor of his state while Ejike approaches him for contracts being his former classmate. Sambo gives him audience and makes promises but does nothing referring to Ejike as a ‘’know know’’. Essentially, Ejike and his generation are condemned to work hard, be brilliant but broke and poor. He is angry, he thinks if cheating to become like his former classmates so that his children do not ask him “daddy, where were you when uncle Sambo was making money’’. He reasons that life is not fair, no Nigeria is not fair, why would a man succeed based on where he comes from and not on merit? Should he teach his children to stick to merit and be the best or should he guide them towards being opportunistic. Should he change their state of origin so that they too can get from the national cake since those clamoring for it in his state of origin and tribe are many? “What should a free man do” Ejike’s wife Nneka asked him, how do we break from this rat race? Too many questions, no answers readily available. Just bewilderment day in day out at a nation laid to waste because of religion, tribe and state of origin.

No wonder we have mediocrity in all levels of leadership in the country today. I dare posit that those leading us today got there because of their tribe, state of origin and religion and not merit hence the backwardness of our nation. This is the reason why we have nepotism and corruption everywhere. The best of us are being led by the worst of us.

The Federal Character Commission has outlived its usefulness, it should be scrapped immediately! I still wonder what work or production is being done in that commission. Merit should be entrenched everywhere. If the federal Character policy had been implemented in sports, the current crop of super eagles we have would not be in existence because they are mostly Igbos. I do not care where they come from, all I want is the best of us playing at the highest level for the rest of us. Let the best be president, let the best be Governor, let the best be ministers, let the best be senators and legislators (I fear the legislating chambers with this same federal character working here). Let the best be in the best schools and not just those who can afford it.

The human brain in the head of Sambo is not different from the brain in the head of Ejike. Both of them can be engaged and developed to the highest level of functioning. All it takes is applying yourself to study and reason. When you have policies making excuses for one brain or the other, you will surely doom yourself and your generation to excuses and failure. How do you excuse the brain of Sambo and Ejike if they both live in Lagos and went to the same school? How come Sambo cannot understand how to write a sentence at the age of 10 and Ejike can? How come we ever thought that Sambo is affected because he is from Yobe state? What kind of thinking are we putting forth in this country? All men are born equal and can aspire to become anything in Nigeria. That should be our new constitution, that should be our new motto, that should be said to everyone in Nigeria on a daily basis. You can aspire and become anything you want to be. No more tribe, religion and state of origin assistance, no more we say.

I end with a quote from Seneca “it is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult” .This is a classic case of ‘’dumb Nigerians making the next generation dumber!’’ Professor Awosika.

http://omojuwa.com/2013/07/the-rot-of-inequlity-and-tribalism-by-henry-jacob/

Dibiachukwu: Ofcourse solar incudes some form of storage. That way, you are in direct control of your energy not PHCN.

I don't know why I responded to your post with the battery issue . I think I wanted to write a post criticizing other posters and their claims of renewable energy etc. I meant to say since solar in Nigeria is going to be a stand alone system then the addition of batteries to the equation does not make it totally environmentally friendly.

I actually agree that solar is a viable option to power homes of some individuals. I don't understand why more rich Nigerians do not use solar power in their homes instead of relying on generators. The main benefit of solar in Nigeria is getting rid of dependence to PHCN/NEPA/whatever acronym they call it next.

demmy55: Wizkid behind you driving his new Porsche Panamera horning, trying to match the brake but brake failed.

Coming with great speed...(0.2356Km/s)

Ogugua still on the road

Ppl by road side screaming Chinehkeh! Chinekeh!!
Some ppl getting ready to take pictures of the next scene.
Some odas opening nairaland...saying to themselves, 'this my post must make front page today'.

enny5: LMFAO!!!!!! Solar does not mean direct sun ooo. LMAO. cant stop lafin. Its just photovoltaic panels dat store solar power. Sun cloud or moon. They store up enery continously and power is generated from dese stordd reserve. It is at least 95-98 percent renewable. Unless the whold world has 1 week darkness and total eclipse of all d planets.

Enny5 are you laughing at me or yourself ? The main ways we store energy are pretty much as a fuel (natural gas, coal, hydrogen, petrol) or chemical storage (battery). Photovoltaics do not store electricity they generate electricity. Some countries are playing around with converting solar energy to heat and using that produce electricity at night. You can probably combine solar with another fuel source generation ie. hydrogen from water to try and make in 100% renewable but this is still in research phases.

And photovoltaics are pretty much useless at night even with the moon. Think about this the International space station uses solar when it faces the sun and uses batteries when it is not facing the sun. Think about that. You were right there is always light somewhere on earth. However unless Nigeria and Australia are using the same grid then this does not work.

The only kind of 100% renewable energy might be hydro-power and geo-thermal.

Dibiachukwu: I for one would prefer to have my own energy source (solar). That way I know when I get power and when I don't. Take it to the real private sector (manufacturers and retailers,not auctioneers and concessionaires), and solar can power most Nigerian homes. For industries, I will definitely go for nuclear and gas. They are cheap and relatively clean.

You do know that solar also means you have to use a batteries right for off grid applications. Solar does not work at night. batteries have their own environmental disadvantages. Solar is not 100% renewable since it only works half the time. The reason why solar is even an option in advanced economies is because most houses are still connected to the grid. solar can be used in households during the day (i.e. cost of electricity is greatest) and then convention power (from the utilities, electricity cost is less ) is used at night.

I agree with you. I am not really a fan of her solutions as it reads like "blah blah blah", " good governance blah balh", "education blah blah ". We have heard all this before.

My interest in the article had more to do with studying the Nigerian society in general from the academic view point. People always clamor for good leadership however in democracy the leadership is from society. If the society is intuitively corrupt then how can the leaders (which in democracy are a lot) are from the society then how can they be good? It seems like it is a self-fulfilling cycle that things would not change.
- We said that democracy would reduce corruption with its various checks and balances which it has not.
- When Obasanjo got into power we complained that we were recycling the old corrupt politicians however in the 14 years of democracy new politicians have arrived and they are very similar or worse than the old politicians (Goodluck did not run for political office till 1999 so he is a new blood, the new governors,)
- Not to mention that democracy has led to even more regional and ethnic tension

Twy: Kind of a 'I went to school and think the books have solutions so let me write about them even if I know nothing about how to make the change I just wrote about'.
No 1 solution is half baked, establish good governance, how?, pension is nothing, they don't expect pension, their pension is looting, the rest assumes the leadership will be interested in changing, but the problem with assumptions is that when you now weigh the facts, it usually trumps the assumptions and the facts is the leadership tend to be corrupt and not interested in a radical change for whatever reasons. The last solution makes more sense, make the people more directly involved in the change process but it proffers no clear path for motivating the people to change just an appeal to reason but in a country of religious fanatics, tribalist and ethnic jingoist, corrupt businessmen and some who wear emotions on their as their armor, reason is far from the top of the pyramid in people concerns.

Africa has a history of sprouting political strong men the way other parts of the world sprout economic progress. Most countries seem to change one strong man for another every couple of years. It does not seem to matter what the ideology is and was: African leaders become dictators with overwhelming powers. It is as if, no matter how admirable leaders appear, as their popularity grows, some latent diseases erupt. And, as Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Since Lord Acton was British and travelled only within Europe, we can agree that the influence of power to corrupt is not limited to Africa. Another Lord Acton’s quote, “Liberty is the prevention of control by others”, points to the natural human struggle to unshackle oneself from authority. European civilisation dealt with this problem for centuries, removing monarchs in various gruesome ways and eventually imposing versions of democracy. America’s founding fathers specifically targeted big-manism through their three-tier system of government with its checks and balances. It can be said that human civilisation is all about men preventing other men from lording it over others through institutions of law and government.

Africa had various governing structures before colonial take-over of indigenous governments began in the 17th Century: from authoritarian monarchs with governing councils of chiefs to governing by leadership committees without a single person as leader, sometimes with preference given to age. All in different ways strived to constrain the “big man syndrome.” African pre-colonial history brims with people rising against rulers who abused power. Its post-colonial history is, unfortunately, very different. Colonialism imposed dictatorial structures to oppress local populations. Africans inherited those structures and have used them to suppress fellow Africans ever since.

When I left the Senate and went into the Advanced Leadership Fellowship programme at Harvard, I was not trying to figure out why Africa breeds dictators. Amongst other courses, I signed up for a behavioural science class and a philosophy course titled, “Ignorance, Lies, Hogwash and Humbug: On Truth and Knowledge in Democracies”, but I found answers to issues I had wondered about. For instance: Why was it that when growing up in Nigeria, coup after coup, people filled the streets to rejoice and soon enough, the same people were denouncing the new leaders? I learnt of the fundamental attribution error which explains that we tend to blame people’s disposition rather than the situation for events. Could it be that Africa’s big men are not to be blamed, but the situation in which they find themselves?

Let’s start with the international milieu. Every new leader the international community finds “good” is lauded until the praise goes to the leader’s head, as endless praise does to mortal men. He starts to abuse his power, yet those who have praised him and plump him up find themselves unable to pull away. Therefore, they turn a blind eye to his atrocities. We have many of these instances in Africa as I write.

Part of the situations inherited from colonial institutions which make it so easy for Africa to breed “big men” is that people become complicit in their own violation. In Zimbardo’s book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, I learnt how societies systematically create evil. In Stanford Prison Experiment, normal North American undergraduate students picked at random to guard duty terrorised their colleagues who had been randomly picked to be prisoners and the acceptance of the situation by the prisoners seems shocking without one understanding how we humans quickly abide to the roles we find ourselves. The only way for locals to survive colonial oppression was to publicly comply and privately undermine the system through thievery and deception; this continues today as the way the average citizen deals with the elite and government.

On returning to Nigeria from trips abroad, I could feel the envy and malice of people who would never have such an opportunity. I myself felt conflicted as they raced to take the luggage that I had already lugged across two continents. Carrying your own bags indicated low status and left you open to intense scrutiny and harassment from customs officers.

Any attempt to work for the public is suspect by the public themselves and your fellow elite since no one expects any public service. Any attempt to go against the grain just gets you ostracised and disciplined by the system. As a US-trained epidemiologist, I returned to Nigeria to lead a Ministry of Health in one of the 36 states of the country and saw a society with extremely flawed values. At first, I thought the situation was only bad provincially. Surely, federal legislators were striving to move the country forward. I ran for the Senate and moved to the federal capital for four years, but this just defined me as a more serious threat.

After dodging bullet after bullet (both literarily and figuratively), I gave up. As I sat in a safe classroom in the US and read Cultures and Organisations, by Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov, I learnt that people who go back to their countries of origin after periods of assimilation tend not to fit in. Thus, places that most need innovation and change lose the people most able to think outside the box.

Can we cleanse Africa of this well-ingrained disease? God knows I have no magic elixir, but I can offer suggestions from my experience and learning as both an insider and outsider.

1. Establish good governance as the norm. Philanthropist Mo Ibrahim offers an annual prize for good governance to an African leader who has recently left office, but has only been able to award it three times in six years. This seems to assume that bad governance is the norm. Psychological studies suggest that high expectations with punishment for those who fail would succeed better. Give each retiring dictator a pension unless they fail to achieve basic standards of good governance. Then, slowly increase the standard for success so that quality of governance will improve.

2. Place a veil of ignorance. To remove self-interest from public discourse, the philosopher John Rawls developed the concept of the “veil of ignorance” to make moral judgment on public issues. What kind of society will an African leader want to live in if he didn’t have the knowledge that he was at the top of the pile? If they can try and build a society that will be fair to them after leaving office, it will be easier for them to withstand pressure to milk the system.

3. Expand education. Most current African elite can trace their trajectory to the top to education of themselves or an ancestor, but Africans see a finite pie, not the possibility of an ever-expanding pie most Americans see. If one sees the pie as finite, then rational actors compete for a slice by barring others, but if education enlarges the pie, this means giving others opportunity will provide more for all and even more for the next generation.

4. Encourage female leadership. Women can change Africa if the issues they find important are actually brought to the table and discussed. Research shows that when women are in critical numbers in leadership positions (usually around 30 per cent), they then can change deliberations to what is important to them. The few women in all male, misogynistic environments are silenced. They refuse to speak for fear of being ostracised by their colleagues and to get along as we did in the Senate.

5. Credible elections are critical for citizens to believe and participate as expected in a democracy. Credible elections would be a first step in holding leaders accountable. Many countries need not just election monitoring but supranational institutions to carry out elections.

6. Local innovation should be encouraged. Subservient, post-colonialist Africans do not value invention, but instead rely on the West to supply innovation, even to solve local problems. I grew up knowing that great local authors lived and worked in Africa (Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, etc). Now, our best writers live abroad (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Uwen Akpan, etc). Creative young people and members of the Diaspora should be encouraged to apply themselves to their nations’ local problems.

Africa can keep decrying its “bad apples”, the dictators and megalomaniac leaders, but without attempting to cleanse the entire population, any apple that rises to the top is already sick. As an epidemiologist, I see that a population-wide approach is needed to halt the epidemic; the apple barrel needs fumigation and each apple cleansed. Each person should become a responsible participant in growing a healthy democracy no matter their current status since everyone is a potential leader instead of being vocal critics waiting for his/her opportunity to loot. I hope these suggestions start the discussion on ways to inoculate whole populations against big-manism and ignite progress in Africa.

•Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo is a former member of the Senate

From
http://www.punchng.com/opinion/curing-africas-big-man-syndrome/

addictiv: This is not a diversification issue. While I believe that the focus should be on natural gas similar to Russia because of our huge gas reserves, Nigeria needs to ramp up its power generation. Just upgrading or utilizing the power generation plants currently available would not quadruple our power generation capacity. We need to explore coal (coal technology not as infra-structurally challenging as natural gas by the way). Also coal for power generation can also help spur up the mining sector and create jobs

addictiv: [size=13pt]so because you want to diversify, you build a new estate with thatched houses made of mud when other people are converting their mud buildings to concrete... we have two major sources which are hydropower from kanji dam and gas, how well have we used them? diversification is cool but you ll agree with me that the cost of building and developing a coal based industry is much more compared to upgrading the gas power industry which we already have....the key words are sustainability and conservation. its just like buying a new car because the one you have isnt functioning properly when it just needs proper care and servicing. how sure are you that the new one isnt gonna meet the same fate?. God bless Nigeria!!![/size]

Composition of Electricity by Resource (TWh per year 2008)

Nigeria (21 TWh): Coal [b](0%), Oil (14.8%), gas(57.1%), Nuclear (0%), Renew(27.1%): (hydro (27.1%)), Bio (0%)[/b]

World (20,261(TWh)):Coal (41%), Oil(5.50%), gas(21%), Nuclear (13%), Renew(18%)(hydro(16%), wind,solar e.t.c), Bio (0.1%)
1. US (4,369 TWh): Coal (48.8%), Oil (1.3%), gas(20.9%), Nuclear (19.2%), Renew(8.2%)(hydro(6.5%),), Bio (1.7%)
2. China(3,457 TWh): Coal (79.1%), Oil (0.7%), gas (0.9%), Nuclear(2.0%), Renew (17.3%): (Hydro (16.9%)), Bio (0.1%)
3. Japan(1,082 TWh): Coal (26.6%), Oil (12.8%), gas(26.2%), Nuclear(23.8%), Renew (8.4%): (Hydro (7.7%)), Bio (2%)
4. Russia(1,040 TWh): Coal (18.9%), Oil (1.5%), gas(47.6%) Nuclear(15.7), Renew (16.1% ): (Hydro (16.1%)), Bio (0.2%)
5. India(830 TWh): Coal(68.6%),Oil(4.1%), gas (9.9%), Nuclear (1.8%), Renew (15.4%): (Hydro (13.7%)), Bio (0.2%)
6. Canada(651 TWh):Coal(17.2%), Oil(1.5%) gas(6.3% ), Nuclear (14.4%), Renew (59.3%): (Hydro (58.8%)), Bio (1.3%)
7. Germany (637 TWh): Coal(45.7%), Oil(1.4%), gas( 13.8%),Nuclear (23.2%), Renew(11.3%): (Hydro(4.2%), Wind(6.4%)), Bio (4.6%)
8. France(575 TWh): Coal(4.7%), Oil(1.0%), gas(3.8%), Nuclear(76.3%), Renew(13.0%): (Hydro(11.8%),), Bio (1%)
9. Indonesia(463 TWh): Coal(40.9%), Oil(28.9%), gas(16.8%), Nuclear(0%), Renew(13.4%): (Hydro (8.1%), Geo thermal (5.6)), Bio (0%)
10. South Korea(446 TWh): Coal(43.0%), Oil(3.4%), gas(18.2%), Nuclear (33.9%), Renew(1.4%): Hydro(1.3%), Bio (0.2%)
11. Italy (389 TWh): Coal(15.4%),Oil(9.7%), gas (54.2%), Nuclear (0%), Renew(18.2%): (Hydro (14.7%),) Bio (2.7%)

Source: (Note converted energy generation data to % of total from source)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation#List_of_countries_with_source_of_electricity_2008

While I agree with your point collynzo2, with the discovery of Shale gas the US is moving more towards natural gas for its energy production.

collynzo2: Bros coal is still the number one source of electricity in the world, all the big countries have coal as their number one source of electricity. Check all the countries I posted before. The US produces 44% of its electricity from coal, that's very huge when you consider the fact that they still have numerous other sources like wind, hydro, nuclear, solar etc. There is a reason why all those countries still have coal as their number one source, if those other renewable sources were better, they would have been number one in those countries by now. One of the few developed countries who doesn't have coal as its number one source of power is France, but their number one source is Nuclear energy. Nuclear is hardly renewable and is more dangerous than coal.

Nice one. I hope the E-ticketing would reduce the chance of passengers being cheated by the guys that sell the tickets like I was when I took a bus from Race Course.

I am not a big fan of coal (for environmental reasons) but it does make some sense. I just hope the Federal Government thinks things through so that they don't make past mistakes (Like building gas plants for power generation without thinking of how the gas is going to get to the power plants ). If the coal plants are close to the coal mining areas then it makes sense for to use coal for power generation. Transportation of coal to the proposed facilities should be considered.

This is great. The only way the government can aid in job creation that is sustainable is to enable the right business environment (security, power, other infrastructure etc.) and provide the right incentives ( tax breaks, easy financing etc.) for private investors and businesses to exploit. Congrats to the Osun state government for working with the private sector to create jobs from industry and not the government hiring people randomly to perform tasks that are not needed.