₦airaland Forum

I think it's our high level of Testosterone + too much Garri. Very bad combo.

Ibime:
Yoruba is not a language you can speak softly because the language is based on vowel intonation. Yorubas no doubt started this trend in Naija, and other tribes picked it up from them, most likely in Lagos.

Most times, when Yoruba women start discussing, I need ear plugs.

All those Nollywood Advert/Preview Voice-Over Specialists, are they Yorubas?

PapaBrowne:
Don't understand how the topic fits what I think is a very brilliant article from The Economist.

Funnily, the person that pays the most money to foreign media is our Super Performing Governor- Fashola himself. The Economist, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg et al have all at one time or the other benefited from the largesse of the Lagos Taxpayer. Its normal to use the media as a PR tool especially to attract investments. Just not for political campaign.

I sincere think whoever the writer spoke to was trying to make a point that the most important thing at that moment was a campaign for re-election and the interview he is requesting for would not be necessary except it would contribute to the success of his campaign. The writer simply didn't understand.

Albeit, the article is an excellent piece that potrays the hope Jonathan's presidency has inspired amongst the international community and investors alike which by any count is great news.

Of course you understand, but you chose to focus on one part of the article while glossing over the main point the writer made about public corruption and graft which obviously necessitated his reference to campaign "contribution". You obviously understood.

Also, The writer knew what he was talking about. It does us no good to accept his positive words about GEJ's chances and efforts while dismissing his "negative" comments as oh, "he simply didn't understand"

GEJ is not a devil, fact. But some of us are not in the business of making politicians comfortable and happy too.

I'm convinced you want the best for Nigeria as I do. But we have different ways of making our politicans do the right thing, different ways of making them accountable

For me, I'll rather my leaders constantly feel the prying uncomfortable eyes of demanding and questioning followers, than bask in the praise and adulation of sycophants.


IMO we need to work more on making corruption difficult for these people and that is the point hidden in plain sight within that article, that is the point I'll rather focus on.




Please permit me to take some creative liberties with your last statement:

Albeit, the article is an excellent piece that potrays the rot and misery that unchecked corruption has brought to our people. Jonathan's presidency will do well to tackle this monster, restructure this country and inspire our people to greatness in the international community.

^^^^^
That is the great news I want to hear about Goodluck Jonathan.

@Ola Olabiy, I share your taste, Corinne Bailey Rae is one of my favorite voices too, her looks is a very welcomed jara.

Didnt the husband die of heroine overdose? I once read she refused to sing for a while after that. too much passion.

like Yoruba, were originally inland powers, but whose invasions of the coast kingdoms brought them into contact with Europeans, is ample.

As far as can be ascertained, the chief strength of Yoruba lay in its cavalry, which was said to number

100,000, a manifest exaggeration, for horses have never been numerous in the few districts of West Africa in which it is possible for them to live. The report as to the number of cavalry reached the traders through the coast tribe, who owned no horses, and who were no doubt greatly impressed by the spectacle of a few score of mounted men.

This Horse Calvary business is very curious to me, apart from the proximity to the North and maybe Arab culture via Hausas,  How did they become so comfortable with horses? I mean, horses are rare in the Jungle. Can this fact about Yoruba history support the oral tale that Yorubas came from North Africa/Middle East?

That seems like a long distance to trek, maybe they rode, maybe this Calvary army was a cultural thing from their middle east connection? I seriously doubt that though.

Just wondering really.

naijababe:
And some eediots wont stop telling us that the West brought us civility in government. Don't even have the energy to rant out this one.

Katsumoto:
The account of the European becomes more accurate from around 1840; possibly due to Europeans being on ground at that time.

That is also similar to the British making reference to Sultan Mohammed Bello's account of Yoruba history. Could Sultan Bello also have known more about Yoruba history than the Yorubas?

They couldn't be bothered to ask the dark skinned, high cheek bones, thick forest dwellers. They probably thought they we were too far behind to remember what happended yesterday, so they had to rely on whatever the turban wearing folks with their religious book writing tradition said. 

Sometimes I feel like going back in time to slap some European faces and a few African ones too <-- back in my early teens I meant



Anyway, why didn't we produce Rifles and Guns on time, or just gunpowder sef?

BTW, is "Kahun" the food additive/preservative not pottasium?

I read that Gunpower was made my mixing Pottasium nitrate + coal + Sulfur. I read on wiki that you can even do it w/o the suflur, but less powerful.

Why didn't we mix Kaun + Charcoal(eedu) + Sulfur?

How on earth did all those Aare Ona Kakanfo's and their Artisan friends miss that?  

Damn!

Edit: for more anger

^^ umblera herself is a product of the same "loot rather than educate" system we had/still have.

If the leaders in her state when growing up were thinking about the future, and how Nigeria can get to the top 10 in the world, they would have done better to educate her and let her know that rowdy rice distribution is not the way to help poor people.

Umblerra is a victim too.

And these idi/ots are happy to stroll up and down London and Dubai streets spending millions at Harrods, Debenhams and Dubai gold shops.

Their stvpid colleagues down south ain't any better, building unproductive hotels, buying mansions around the world and chasing blackberry girls all over the country with stolen billions.

And we want our country to compete with China, Brazil, SA, USA and England?

Ordinary PIB bill, they can't look past Shell, Chevron and Mobil bribes to pass it, because they are intellectually poor, lack education and wallow in self-hate because they are ashamed of their low state and that of the people they failed to educate.

That was why Grandfather Yakubu Gowon called his people's children worthless compared to American kids, why won't he see them as worthless, when he failed to educate them and make them productive.

Oh well.

Of the early history of the Yoruba-speakino, peoples nothing is known, except what can be gleaned from Dalzel's "History of Dahomey," 1793,

I know this was probably written by a "well meaning" but curious semi-illiterate European with a one-track mind, but it's annoying still, so I'll rant a bit;

An extremist view of written records as the only viable source of information and history will always be dumb IMO, especially for a world where "writing" on paper was not created on day 1.

Where did Dalzel get his records from? Did this writer ask the Yorubas about their history and met silence?

What is writing anyway? Ink on parchment? scratches on a cave wall? markings/tattoos on a body? Images on an Iroko tree?  divinely arranged Opeles on Opon Ifa by the Irunmoles? Or just Moses and his "divinely" inspired Ten commandments? Or maybe it's just Mohammed(SAR) and the inspired Koran?  What is writing really? 

Governor Dalzel informs us, however, that when the "Eyeos"[2] (Yorubas) were dissatisfied with a king, they sent a deputation to him with a present of parrot's eggs, and a message that they considered he must be fatigued with the cares of government, and that it was time for him to rest and take a little sleep. Upon receiving this inessage, the king forth with retired to his apartment, as if to sleep, and then gave directions to his women to strangle him,

This is one of the greatest system of political check and balance ever created by Man.

"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest" Denis Diderot

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=677870.msg8414329#msg8414329 date=1306672277]lmao

So did they pay the bribe or not?  [/quote]Maybe for the second half of the article 

This was one of the reasons why we supported Buhari and his plan to remove immunity for politicians while in office. But alas.

When you allow criminals to keep getting away with crime, you build a society filled with criminals who'll loot with impunity

Under him Nigeria last month held the fairest poll in its history. International observers confirmed the outcome, giving Mr Jonathan a strong enough mandate to undertake reform. He strengthened his position by pledging not to run again, lessening the need to buy support from cronies.

Whether Mr Jonathan has the will to tackle the establishment remains to be seen. He may only muddle through. But the door is open. This is Nigeria’s best chance in a generation to shed its reputation as Africa’s wasted opportunity.

We shall see.

Hope in Nigeria
Hail the useful chief

To thrive, Nigerians need strong medicine. They may at last be about to get it
May 26th 2011 | from the print edition


BACKHANDERS are so common in Nigeria that they feature in the country’s unofficial anthem, “International Thief Thief”. Its author, Fela Kuti, the late father of the Afrobeat genre, sang in 1980, To become of high position here / Him go bribe some thousand naira bread / To become one useless chief. When a Broadway musical based on Kuti’s life premiered in Lagos recently, fans shouted out the names of today’s leaders over the first few bars. Little has changed since the song was written.

When The Economist requested an interview with the president, we were asked whether we would contribute to his election campaign—or whether the president should pay us.


Politicians in all parts of the world want bungs(bribe, tips) But Nigerian leaders are so greedy that they have subverted the entire machinery of state to serve their needs. Every policy is a scam, every regulation a source of rent (see article).

Freed from kleptocrats, Nigeria could be an African giant. It has the people, resources and entrepreneurial metabolism to make it one of the world’s 20 leading economies, reckons PwC, a consultancy.[/b]Today it ranks 132nd by GDP per head.

[b]More than two-thirds of its people live on under $2 a day. Despite its many resources, the amount of electricity that is delivered to each Nigerian is a thirtieth of the level in South Africa.

Most of the reforms Nigeria needs have been desperately obvious for years. They include: privatising state-run companies, publishing credible accounts, entrusting the fight against corruption to independent investigators and, most of all, scrapping the regulations abused by rent-seeking officials.

The argument against this, usually advanced by those who gain most from the current system, is that Nigeria cannot take such strong medicine. The excuse is that a tense country with 250 ethnic groups needs a system of patronage to buy peace.

Nigeria is indeed fragile. At least 800 died during a four-day surge of violence last month and thousands perish in clashes every year. The country is divided between the Muslim north and the Christian and animist south. As southern boomtowns like Lagos emulate Bangalore, northern Nigeria risks becoming another Pakistan, home to hordes of impoverished extremists.

But this is all the more reason to press on with reform. Violence is fed by economic misery, not al-Qaeda. The non-oil part of the economy makes up just 4% of the private sector. Only unshackled private enterprise and a fairer distribution of oil revenues can halt the slide towards all-out conflict.

Nigeria’s chance

Few politicians do more than pay lip service to reforms. That could now change. On May 29th Goodluck Jonathan will be inaugurated as president. Mr Jonathan, a former vice-president, is relatively untainted by corruption and has the instincts of a reformer. As interim president, after his predecessor’s early death, he started to privatise the power sector and gave the election commission its first independent head.

Under him Nigeria last month held the fairest poll in its history. International observers confirmed the outcome, giving Mr Jonathan a strong enough mandate to undertake reform. He strengthened his position by pledging not to run again, lessening the need to buy support from cronies.

Whether Mr Jonathan has the will to tackle the establishment remains to be seen. He may only muddle through. But the door is open. This is Nigeria’s best chance in a generation to shed its reputation as Africa’s wasted opportunity.

http://www.economist.com/node/18744065?story_id=18744065

^^ Alhaji, Please do.

Katsumoto, thanks for posting Oba Ozolua! That's another great ancestor of mine right there, now I need to go find my Tapa(Nupe) Ancestors.

^^ what about oral stories? it's allowed, it does not have to be written records, some of us want to know about our Kanuri people before their culture got influenced by Islam, if you can find please post.

Or ask your grandpa to tell you about them, then post it.

https://www.antiquewallpapers.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Manchester-United-Wallpaper.jpg

That's for naijababe.

Katsumoto, it's all good, we tried our best. Messi is unreal though.

After it's all said and done, the hungrier team won today.

Messi is using drugs, I think he should be investigated.

Fire Cracker!!!!!!!

Hey, Kilode, I didn't see you

I'm in the spill over at Wembley

roooneeeyyy = firecracker!!!!!!!!!

FOX is bad omen

Fox "Soccer" channel may be ok

I hate that goal, I seriously hate that goal.

Maybe they mean't I billion Naira not Dollars.

Anyway, If this is true ( I still think they meant Naira, not dollars) Bankole's stolen One Billion Dollars can educate all the so called Almajiri kids and probably every Nigerian Child through JSS 3 (155 Billion Naira)


How To Spend $1 Billion
Patricia Huang,

Ever dream about being a billionaire and how you'd spend the loot? Keep in mind that's a lot of zeros. If your idea of a shopping spree involves movie stars, mansions and Maseratis, you're still not thinking big enough. Herewith, Forbes suggests some grand ideas geared for the superrich.

Neverland Ranch

Est. Price Tag: $20 million
Michael Jackson's sprawling, 2,700-acre ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif., is up for sale. Forget its creepy past--that's what the snooty decorators are for. Set amid lush rolling hills near the Los Padre National Forest, the ranch boasts amenities best suited for the boy-at-heart billionaire: a petting zoo, movie theater and amusement park. Though Jackson is rumored to have put it on the market two years ago for $50 million, real estate agents say it'll go for something closer to $20 million.

The Beatles Catalog

Est. Price Tag: $800 million
If Jackson's digs don't suit your style, try making a play for his catalog of classic Beatles hits, technically called the Sony/ATV catalog. (Half of it is owned by Sony.) That means collecting royalties every time a DJ spins greatest hits like "Help!" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Legally, the Beatles tunes are bound up with hits by Babyface and Oasis, hence the incredibly high price tag. But who wouldn't pony up for the Fab Four?

Private Islands

Est. Price Tag: $3 million to $7 million
Wife nagging you to take out the trash? Cast off to your own private hideaway in the middle of the ocean. Flanked by the blue-green waters of the Caribbean, Belizean Island is located just 45 miles east of Belize City. The island is at the northern end of a popular snorkeling spot known as Lighthouse Reef, not far from the world-famous Blue Hole, a 450-foot-deep hole known for its sea life and frighteningly long stalactites (rock-like formations made of water droplets). Go ahead and develop 200 acres of this 360-acre island--the remaining lagoons and mangroves are best left untouched.

Looking for an island already in move-in condition? Try Pirate's Cove in the Florida Keys, less than a half-hour from the Keys. On the market for $3.5 million, the 14-acre island has a four-bedroom, three-bath home; a pool; and, naturally, an unparalleled oceanfront view. Put Grandma in the 600-square-foot guest house. (Both homes feature satellite TV and high-speed Internet connections.) In case of a quick getaway, Pirate's Cove has a grassy clearing wide enough for a helicopter landing pad and a par 3 golf hole. The price includes two boats and a barge!

Party At The Pyramids

Est. Price Tag: $3.5 million to $5 million
Impress your friends with the soiree of the century. Invite 5,000 of them for a six-hour shindig at Egypt's Giza Plateau, overlooking the Pyramids. The baseline price tag of $3.5 million rents this open-air venue for your pals with security, according to the Egyptian Tourism Authority. Throw in some hookahs, tents and a private concert by techno artist Moby (available for $200,000), and you've got a real party. For another million, Elton John, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel or Gloria Estefan will stop by. Proceeds go to the Egyptian Department of Antiquities. (Just don't make off with any mummies.)

Jet Set

Est. Price Tag: $60 million
Flights to Cairo booked? No problem! Fork over $60 million to buy your own private Boeing Business Jet--only 71 are even in service. Furnished with a lounge, dining room, private office, conference room, guest room and master bedroom large enough to fit a queen-sized bed and bathroom (shower included).

School For The Underprivileged

Est. Price Tag: $1 billion
Send at least 16 million kids--that's all the children currently out of school in 14 Third World countries, including Cambodia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda--to five years of primary school. This according to the United Nations Development Programme. Uniforms not included.

A Year Of Manolo

Est. Price Tag: $400,000
Carrie Bradshaw, eat your heart out. Only seriously deep pockets could afford a single year's worth of all new designs from stiletto impresario Manolo Blahnik. The price tag for 600 pairs of these most-wanted shoes--only one color per pair, please--includes New York City sales tax.

Galactic Holiday

Est. Price Tag: $20 million
Virginia-based Space Adventures says it can arrange for customers to launch into space and orbit around the Earth 120 times, or roughly eight days. The $20 million price tag includes a six-month training course and ride aboard the Soyuz Russian Rocket to the International Space Station. From there, a week of weightlessness in orbit. No Guinness Book entries, though: Two civilians, American millionaire Dennis Tito and South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth, already have made the trip.

Buy The U.S. A Coke

Est. Price Tag: $58.5 million
In a feel-good mood? Don't try buying the world a Coke. Even with $1 billion you can't afford it. But for less than $60 million you could buy everyone in the U.S. a can of Coke.

Buy A-Rod

Est. Price Tag: At least $250 million
Buy out the contract of new New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. Send him to the backyard and have him teach your kid how to swing. (Rodriguez's original contract was worth $252 million. The Yankees bought him out for $112 million, with Texas paying an additional $67 million for the remaining money due on the contract.)

Preserved For Eternity

Est. Price Tag: $300,000
Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based cryogenics group, can preserve the body and brain of two people--say, for instance, yours and your wife's--for eternity. (Or until the cure for that fatal illness is found. Or the money dries up.) The company vows to keep the body in a "biologically viable state." The sooner they preserve you, the better. So consider paying an extra $3,000 a day, if you are nearing death's door, to have a standby team ready to whisk you away

http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/26/cz_0226howtospendbill04.html

[quote author=alj_harem link=topic=675773.msg8409348#msg8409348 date=1306584712]yeah thanks, but don't forget the fulani and arabs have been in northern nigeria ever since history so maybe there was some mixing of culture

moreover kanuris have been muslims ever since history so it may also be because some hausas mixed with kanuris [/quote]When did kanuris become muslim? when did Islam arrive in Kanuri-land or in the Bornu Area?

nolongTing:
[size=14pt]Most Hausa people do not speak English and most southerners do[/size]
The majority of Nigerians in England are Yoruba, followed by Igbo people. Debenhams knows that southern Nigerians speak English so they had to cater for hausa people who do not; this is similar to BBC which had a BBC Hausa service before the recession.    The former colonial masters know what they left behind and now they are enjoying the spending spree of rich Nigerian tourists 

That's all.

It took 3 pages, but all's well that ends well.

Na we dey run from our languages, Hausa's speak theirs

We need NO miracle!

ONE UNITED

^^A modest dash of a few hundred thousand will do no harm to a young man's integrity

Especially when it's from a "decent" "honorable" politician whose actions and intentions are filled with good doses of Fresh Air! 

agabaI23:
Sagacity,

1. we cannot condemn based on the first question as we do not know who was invited and we cannot assume

2. Again we do know who this individuals are to know if they are qualified for the invite and what will our criteria for
    measuring their suitability be

3. Companies cannot spend their money outside the rules of the company. Goodluck has overhead cost which he can spend according to constitutional provision. He will only have to account for it

4. You are right but at the end of the day, some money or something was given back

N150k may be a bit on the high for travel expense only but it is also too small as a bribe.

Not all were given N150K. Could it be that opportunity cost for attending the meeting on the part of the individuals was built into the handout?.

Agaba passionately defending GEJ as usual 

Summary: Agaba went to the youth-meeting and intends to keep the money all to himself 

Bros, share small part of this thing now, e no good to close hand o

@Olabiy as long as GEJ can dash me oyel block, me sef wan shop for Dedenhams.

Better still, I can help GEJ increase revenue, by suing Selfridges, Saks 5th Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Harrods and other luxury goods stores for encouraging corruption and wasteful spending.  J/k

The same way we jail folks selling cocaine and heroine to incurable addicts. I think those companies can be liable too, for encouraging corruption and causing the death of millions.

GEJ needs to start talking to some greedy smart lawyers.

Mostly kidding  

ola olabiy:
And, is Debenham really expensive? 
I have picked up one or two T-Shirts there before. And, I always buy my perf from Debenham.

Hehe, Debenhams? Na im be sey you never see shopping before.

I mean 10, 000 pounds - fiam, just like that at Selfridges. Abeg, money dey Naija.

See confession

Bros, so you be government contractor 

Chopping our money Yanfu Yanfu , chop remain for us o

Well done o

Won ti bastardise education ni Nigeria and poverty has led to lack of nootropic foods in most of the population's diet.

Too much Gaari with sub-standard education is a recipe for producing mumu followers.

Sagamite:
Jeez!

71% of their foreign customers are Nigerians?

Dem even beat the more populous Chinese?

It is eye-popping indeed

The Nigerian senate signed a budget of $29billion yesterday, we know where a chunk of that will end up, mind you, that budget is just 1/3 of what a US state like Texas spends in one year for example, and they have a population of just 24million while Nigeria has 150million+ and we still dey waste money on Senators, Governors, criminals and praise singing "Youth" while over 60% lives on less than $2 a day.

Now some but-scratching I/dio/t will come online to justify Jonathan dashing out 150,000 each to "Youth" attending a meet and greet session with him.

Saga, I will need you to work harder on than Moro/n correction program

So na for hia Abubakar Audu, IBB, Abacha, Bode George and Ohakim pikin dem they spend una oyel money?

Sorry o

See---> https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-546215.0.html