₦airaland Forum

jonnieoneng:
I GBDUN YOUR ANALYSIS .I ADVOCATE A DOWNWARD REDUCTION OF THE FINE IN LINE WITH INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES.HOWEVER MTN MUST BE FINED FOR THIS CONTRAVENTION

I agree 100%.

cecegorz:
Bloomberg should go and sit down in the gutter! How many investors have ran away from the US because of the recent fines imposed on VW?
If MTN likes, let them spend another N1trn in PR and propaganda all over the world trying to buy sympathy, it will not work.
They brazenly flouted a directive that has been fully complied by 3 other competitors and expect that it is business as usual. How do you explain that you allowed not 100, not 1000, but a whopping 5 million unregistered lines to remain active, long after the deadline has passed.
It will amaze some of you that if they declare the revenues they raked in from these illegal lines for all the periods in operations, you will even ask them to pay double of the fines.

I wish I can have the ears of Buhari on this; they MUST PAY UP, and if they like, declare bankruptcy and sell off whatever is left of their equity and move away. Nigerians can rebuild it from scratch.

I am really pissed off with these mindless capitalism that companies operate with in this country without consequences. Abroad, companies gets fined heavily for issues like this.
In case you are not aware, VW was fined $18bn, yes eighteen billion dollars! for flouting emission threshold rules and deceiving the regulator. This is how sane societies work, do the crime and enjoy the proceeds, but once you are caught, you do the time.

The question is not the amount. It is the relative size of the amount. VW has a market valuation of $126 billion. $18 billion is about 15% of that amount.

MTN has a market valuation of $21 billion. $5 billion is about 20% of that amount.

The entire IGR of all the states in Nigeria for the 2014 fiscal year is not up to $5 billion. How can a sane country fine a company majorly operating in a country about 25% of the National budget. It is like the US asking a company to pay a fine of about 900 billion dollars.

I agree that corporatocracy can be over themselves many times. MTN acts with impunity severally. But let's face it, the US has one of the best climate to conduct business. In Nigeria, even being the sixth largest company in Nigeria, they cannot rely on the government to stop vandalism of their expensive installations.

Two wrongs don't make a right. The NCC is right to fine iMTN. However, the relative size of the fine is outrageous.

And please, next time do not compare functioning economies with the joke called the Nigerian economy. So because US is levying billion dollar fines, a country that cannot generate enough electricity to save lives should too.

I am not pro-MTN, but I protest this outrageous show of power. If we don't curb it now. Very soon, it will be SME's attracting billion dollar fines. EVIL THRIVES WHEN GOOD MEN STAY SILENT.

211Observer:
Angry man

Funny you.
I hope you got my point though.

Richard216:
There are also alternative options like carrying the child to full term and then giving it up for adoption rather than abortion. That way the child can also get a full life with a desperate couple that cant bear their own child.

I'm pretty sure the OP and his gf had thought about this option, but preferred abortion all the same. You have to understand the motive behind creating this thread. The OP did not ask for advice on if he should or should not keep the baby. He is asking for a solution.

If you can't provide a solution, keep mute. Do not try to force your beliefs on him. That's a wasted effort. If he was in between thoughts of keeping or not keeping the pregnancy, then your advice comes in handy, right now it only makes you insensitive of his plight. Please spare him the sermon.

If you say I'm a murderer for giving him support, then so be it. I have been called worse. How dare any of you believe you are morally superior on the basis of a conviction not everyone share.

I am pro-choice. Very recently, a kid who was born without a complete brain ( he has only a brainstem), and was written off by doctors as having no chance of survival, celebrated his second birthday. He also said "Mummy" for the first time, something the doctors did not believe would ever happen. He is alive because his mother contrary to the opinions of others wanted to keep the baby. That is choice.

Many fetuses may not be as fortunate. Exactly the same way many male sex cells and female sex cells will not be as fortunate.

Abortion is never an easy choice for anyone. However, even the hardest of choices must not be castigated because it is against an individual's beliefs unless it poses a significant risk to others and the society.

The right of a child to live holds when the child takes his or her first breath. Not during the gestation period, conception, nor coitus. Abortion is at about the same level as the use of contraceptives.

I respect the choice of some religious sects to abstain from using contraceptives even in marriage leading to spiking overpopulation. I respect the choice of those who would rather keep a pregnancy rather than terminate it. I also respect the choice of ladies who know they cannot keep a pregnancy and so may want to terminate the pregnancy.

TOLERANCE IS WHEN YOU RESPECT THE CHOICE OF OTHERS.

211Observer:
Seriously, I have read diff writeup on NL about guys trapped or been trynna escape friendzone wit them crush all in the name of declination. Honestly, guys, I dunno what's wrong with being a friend wit ur crush after declined to be ur girlfriend. To me I see no big deal being in FRIENDZONE. If I truly love the girl and probably she's in relationship with someone else, not that the guy is better than me but she choose to be loyal. She could have be loyal to me too if she's mine. Guys, abeg, lets put on our thinking cap. If a girl actually mean something to us then she's best be in whatever the relationship she is to us(dating or no dating). I been wooing a girl for the past few months but she keeps the absolute NO. I keep buying her things nd send her presents not to impress her but to let her realise she actually mean something to me. Even beyond dating her. At some point i meet with their boyfriend, jokingly i say to them how luck the guy is to have her as his girlfriend bcoz i been treapin' for his girl... this often create laughter btw us and we just laughed it off! #DasMaturityCheck#Well I dunno much about this... but, blv me, some sharp guys used this so called friendzone to win a girl in some cases. Choosing not to be friend wit ur crush after she declined ur... it shows that u re weak nd very immatured
I love my crushes that we later ended being friends. that shows my level of maturity, and That's a message for em that I av a true passion for em nd not golddigger.
FRIENDZONE ain't HELLZONE. #Grow-up bro *winks*

Whatever rocks your boat mate. It's fine and okay if you can handle it. Not everyone can. So don't expect everyone to model you. Or even try to suggest that those who have a different point of view are immature. You thinking so is actually immature, because you simply can't accept that we are all different.

My advice is, the next time you feel like making a rant because you want to feed your ego, please save it.

Demigods:
I have been contemplating on weather to post this or not, but it has gotten to the point I can no longer keep to myself and rely on informations from net, let me keep this short.

I and my gf have been in a relationship for over a year plus now and been having unprotected sex most time we see, I love her so much that I would love to marry her, we usually have unprotected sex all the time and she never got pregnant, she is not the cheating type, some may oppose me but if I say our history of how we came to be you will understand(story for another day) just 3 weeks ago she told me she missed her period and that she is pregnant after we had sex and I was shocked still wondering how come after a year of sex she never got pregnant, why now, I thought she was not fertile, fast forward to the point, she took abortion pills, mis..... to be precise, the pregnancy was just 2 weeks plus when she took it.

After taking it she was expecting to start bleeding and all that but she didn't, she only saw few drops of blood and having discharge along with stomach pains, so I made researches online and told her it is not every woman with preganacy that bleeds. She is very worried as she as never done it before, now the problem is it's been a week remaining 4 days to complete two weeks she took the drugs, yet she has been complaining of feeling unwell with pregnancy symptoms and last time I saw her days back her burst looks bigger and fuller alonsgide her ass and her skin looks a bit rough, she has been complaining and Now I'm a bit frustrated don't know what to do, her friends her advising her to do D and C method but I'm scared that there are no professionals to do it well as to avoid complications I said no to that, please nairalanders this was unexpected occurrence, help a brother out on to do, please how do we remove this pregnancy, we are both not ready for it now.

Moderators, please do this for me I need lots of people to share their views on what to do.

Please see a doctor. Many are religious, but please ask as many as you find until you find a doctor who will treat your gf as a patient needing help than see her as Hitler in a feminine form.

A lot of people would advice you to keep the kid, but of you and the lady do not want to keep it, please do not keep the baby. This is not a matter of religious conviction, it is a matter of personal choice and critical thinking. The peeps advising against abortion and the church will not raise the kid for you.

Why people have to force their beliefs and convictions down the throat of others is beyond me.

Antiparticle:
You've given up? So what's your alternate plan? Perhaps you could find a Christian naija woman who is accepting and not stereotypical... I've met maybe just one of these but they are very very very rare. To be fair I'm pretty jaded as well on that front.

I read a portion of your comment history on Nairaland... you are a rigorous thinker... I respect that... have you ever considered leaving the country? If yes, how has it gone? If no, why not? PS: we could chat off Nairaland if this is getting too detailed lol... let me know.

I've sent you a mail.

Cronnie7:
True bro...true but rarely do the basics change ( if they ever change) e.g the planets are held in position by gravity. In embryology, it is basic knowledge that identical twins are made up of the same genes from the same gene pool. Yet it has been found out that some homosexuals av straight twin siblings. It seems to point out that homosexual behavior was "learned" early thereby altering the neural mechanisms that mediate sexual attraction

Mate, rarely is a smart word. But the basics do change more times than we would admit to knowing. The planets are held in position on this end of the universe by gravity, it may not be so in other parts of the universe. And to be fair, current scientific notion that the Universe is continually expanding. Even some scientists postulate that there may be multiple universes.

The theory of opposites is a compelling theory. Have you heard of anti-matter? If you haven't, at the very least you must have heard of positrons. These are sub-atomic particles that look every bit like an electron except that they are positively charged. There is an entire spectrum of particles that are like that. Some scientist believe there may be entire galaxies composed of anti-matter.

Now let's come back to Earth. Twins do not share everything. For fraternal twins, this is very likely. For identical twins, the things they share may increase but it does not mean that they do not have differences. Until we know for certain what genes control sexual orientation, we wouldn't be able to understand why two twin sibs will have different sexual orientation.

Even then, twins identical or not do not always make the same decisions. They may share similar looks, but if there are distinguishable differences in their looks, however subtle; it can only mean that they have differences upstairs too.

Homosexuality behavior may be learned. I am not disputing that. But let us not for the love of mankind say that there are no homosexuals that were born that way. It is like serial killers, there are those that learn the ropes about murder. There are those that are born that way, these ones can't be rehabilitated. These kind are usually locked up for life. They are rarely if ever executed in the States.

That may be a disturbing example, so I will use another. Some of us are born scientists, some of us just grow to learn science and appreciate it. Maybe because of our parents, friends, and other influence.

Now, on what moral ground do we say that someone who is a scientist whether patterned by nature or nurture is evil? We can say serial killers are because well there's no argument. However, how exactly does the sexual orientation of another person pose a humongous risk to another person or the society?

The hate for homosexuality by the Nigerian society is not borne out of reality, critical thinking, facts, or some other definitive factor. It is borne out of religious bigotry and not having a recorded history of the act. This is not surprising though, religious bigotry eroding the capacity to think critically is why Nigeria is a mess in virtually every aspect.

At this point I will quote Leo Igwe.

Africa needs science, not superstition; critical thinking, not dogma; open mindedness, not blind faith; reason, not revelation; & industry & technological advancement, not the Holy Spirit & miracles. Africa needs skepticism, not Pentecostalism

~culled from Antiparticle's profile.

Antiparticle:
Bros, did you end up meeting a Nigerian lady who's atheist? Me sef I dey find a Nigerian/African lady who's atheist. Do you live in Naija? (I want to guess no but I stand corrected)

I wish mate. I have given up in my search though.

At the moment, I do live in Nigeria. I must say though that each new day is a challenge living in Nigeria.

Cronnie7:
@ Lord Adam, cud u expatiate on what u meant by "science doesn't claim to know anything"?

I actually typed "Science does not claim to know EVERYTHING". I do not want to write another lengthy write-up, so I will keep it simple. Change is welcome in science as long as it is proven. Very different from religion.

Religion says it has all the answers, Science says it's looking for more answers. A lot of things can't be explained by Science, it is why there are ongoing research. It is why you did or will do a project during your tertiary education depending on your current level of education. The project is to seek an explanation of some unresolved occurrence or to formulate a solution to an existing problem.

In contrast, if you were to seek an explanation or want to figure out a solution, religion says pray to God and fast. It's funny, pastors commute with cars and private jets. Geez, why don't they just "pray to God and fast" to get from one place to another? This paragraph is directed to those who had no meaningful contribution to make than use the cliché "pray to God and fast" or something similar.

It is not my intention to make fun of people's beliefs, but sometimes it's difficult to make a point without giving a jab.

esthersolomon00:
Hello Nlders,

I'm an ardent reader and follower of this great forum.
So,I had to create this acct for personal reasons.

To avoid lengthy episodes permit me to keep it simple by going straight to the point. Thanks

As a young lady who's in her early 20s I find it extremely difficult to love a guy not to talk about being in a relationship with one.

There is this guy who can't just help but to love me passionately. We've been together for 9yrs now but who would believe we had sex just once? YES! Just once after enough fighting and struggling.
Sometimes,I had to lock myself inside to weep cuz it's painful and it hurts! Why can't I have normal sex like any other lady out there?

I just detest having sex with a guy and it's as a result of this that I've lost most of my relationships. This stuff is making me sick cuz I want to enjoy sex with a man like any other lady.

THE MAJOR PROBLEM IS THAT AM "BIsexual" but a larger part of me hungers for same sex

And the ladies are not even helping matters cuz they also yearn for me every now and then.,
,
I've tried hanging out with some cool guyz even to the extent of doing stuff with them YET! Nothing positive came out.

Presently,am dating a banker and believe me every other thing is perfectly in order EXCEPT the issue of sex.

Am worried cuz I know exactly what it means for someone you love so dearly to deny you of something.

I've prayed
I've also cried my eyes out
I've even gone for counselling @least to ameloriate this kind of lifestyle YET! Things are still the same.
Someone should pls tell me what else to do...

Lalasticlala

Please seek the services of a sex therapist and a SECULAR psychologist. Keyword on secular, you don't want a reverend father as a psychologist in your case. If I were you, I would want to know what the experts say, rather than feed off the comments of people who typically can't obey traffic signs to save their lives.

Cronnie7:
Durentt, it isn't a scientific fact yet that people are born with homosexual inclinations... All we av yet are hypotheses....scientific guess work for or against. Although I must say that the scientific work that disproves genetic homosexual makeup is more scientifically coherent based on the fact that basically all living things that engage in sexual reproduction do so primarily because they need to preserve their species and not for the pleasure (infact not many living things derive pleasure from sexual reproduction). And if we must perpetuate our species.. Homosexual relationships may be an aberration that is unaccounted for genetically

Oh please. Don't try to talk smart simply because your vocabulary is more extensive than the average guy.

Science does not claim to know everything. That's in defense of science. Now here's the fact, science accepts the theory of homosexuality. Scientists may not have decoded the gene sequence accounting for same-sex attraction, but Science accepts evolution, yet scientists are uncertain of all the details of evolution.

About genetics and nature. Here's the thing, there is homosexuality in the wild. Apparently, homosexuality is not just a human phenomenon, some animals have their special cases.

To understand homosexuality, try understanding the concept of right-hand and left-hand. Our society is predominantly a right-hand society, and I remember my elementary school proprietor severely punishing her first son who was born as a leftist until he changed to master writing with his right hand.

Today, parents are more tolerant and support their children regardless of their orientation of hand-use. But here's the food for thought. My elementary school proprietor's son writes with his right hand, but sweeps with his left hand. In fact, the left hand is his power hand. I guess, some things are not meant to be changed.

I imagine it is difficult to accept homosexuality because of religion. But religion has been wrong many times before. The Bible and Koran condone slavery, how many of you have slaves. The Bible clearly dictates that a woman should not preach, I see the pentecostals have torn up that page and the Roman Catholic Church is considering ordaining female priests.

When people say homosexuality is a demon, all I can think of is how many twins were killed in Nigeria because they were tagged evil beings. How are you so sure you are not making the same mistake?

By the way, I'm not gay. There is good and evil, those with legs and those without, those born with sight and those born without sight, those that like Pepsi and those that prefer coke, those that are jovial and those that are quiet, I can keep going. It is however convenient to accept that only those able to foster opposite-sex romantic relationships are normal. Like some of us believe that because they are Methodist and another is a Presbyterian, only the Methodist will make heaven and the Presbyterians will make hell.

What can I say, I get a good laugh every time I try to wrap my head around the epic bigotry, hypocrisy, double-standardness, and dare I say stupidity that many Nigerians easily exhibit. For those looking for the country's problem, I just gave it to you on a platter.

I cannot claim to know all details of the history of the indigenous groups in Nigeria. However, with the much I know, I will state the following.

Niger-Delta is the most diverse major region in Nigeria.

The Bini people affiliate with Yorubas. The old Bini empire may have been at loggerheads with the old Oyo empire. However, they share the same ancestry.

Cross-River and Akwa-Ibom may be tagged Niger-Delta, but they are well within the geographic location of historical biafra. And their people have fought on the side of Biafra.

Biafra can lay claim to the Ikwerre areas of Port Harcourt, although it wouldn't mean that they lay claim to Rivers as a state. Similarly, they may lay claim to Asaba even though they do not lay claim to Delta as a state.

The Urhobo-Isoko people point to different ancestries. They are generally tagged the Edoid people, but most clans trace their ancestors to Bini while others to Igbo (usually Anambra).

The Itsekiri people trace their ancestry to the Yorubas.

The Ijaws are a lot like the Igbos, not in ancestry or customs but in how quickly they colonize the land of their host. It is why they are proponents of the skewed representation that they are the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, simply because they are present in Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, and Ondo. In all states except Bayelsa (Lagos city has roughly 15 times the population in the whole state of Bayelsa), the Ijaw people share territory with other ethnic groups that significantly dwarf theirs. The title for fourth largest ethnic group is much fitted for either the Tiv, the Ibibio, the Urhobo-Isoko people.

It is thus safe to say that Niger-Delta has a region is much like Nigeria, united by imposing powers than by unity of purpose. Niger-Delta does not have a voice of unison to dictate if they would or would not join Biafra. It is left for the indigenous ethnic groups to make the call.

Currently, some groups are pioneering an attempt to actualize the goals of the Lower Niger Delta movement which is to form an enclave of South-South minorities, analogous to Biafra of the East, Arewa of the North, and Odua of the West. So the Biafrans can see why the Ijaws are grudging in their support.

Even so, with the strong militarization of the Ijaw ethnic group, it is safe to say that should Lower Niger Delta movement be actualized, all groups in the region will be surmounted by the Ijaws. The Ijaws have a replica of the born-to-rule mentality of the Hausa-Fulani, only so in the South-South.

The question for the minorities in the South-South is that a power tussle is raging between the Ijaws and Ibos in the region. If Biafra is actualized, I doubt an Ibibio man will ever become the President. Maybe a Vice-president but never the President.

If Lower Niger Delta is actualized, only Ijaws will hold the seat of power.

The minorities will have no say, and not even the supposedly large groups like the Urhobo-Isoko and Bini people will be able to turn the tide.

Don't believe me, look at the present tide.

1. Akwa Ibom has four major ethnic groups, the Ibibio, Annang, Eket, and Oron. Since 1999, the Ibibio people have held the state government.

2. Against all protests, in Rivers, only those of Igbo ancestry, call them Ikwerri, Ndoni, or whatever, have occupied the governorship position since 1999.

3. In Delta, the Itsekiri's have laid seige to the governorship position from 1999 till the recent election of Okowa. A bona-fide son of the Urhobo-Isoko, Delta's largest ethnic group--Chief Ogboru--has contested the seat every election year (5 times) without winning. Okowa is an attempt to appease the Anioma people rather than concede the position to other ethnic groups. After his eight years, we can expect power to return to the Itsekiri people.

Also, Biafra does not need Rivers. Akwa Ibom is the largest producer of Oil and Gas in Nigeria. It is why they receive the largest revenue allocation of all the states. The state is also clamoring for the ibaka sea port that would rival that in Port Harcourt. The state already has an International Airport. The state can very well become Biafra's connection with the sea.

Nigeria is a mess. Hausa-Fulanis, Yoruba, Biafrans, Ijaws, are all frauds. Everyone going in for their own interests. Give Nigeria regional government, and let us strengthen through diversity. Splitting the country is never going to be the solution.

Yorubas and Hausa-Fulanis are too egocentric to stay under one roof without resorting to a civil war. The South-South is too divided along ethnic lines to stay together not to talk about about joining Biafra. And I'd like to know how long the Ibibios will play second-fiddle to Igbos in Biafra.

At the moment, Biafra is an imagination. Unless there is a behind-the-scenes movement gearing up. Biafra does not enjoy the support of those that can make it happen. Kanu is like Ojukwu, trying to unilaterally make Biafra happen without getting all the right people on board first. We all can attest to how the first time played out. History repeats itself.

There is no One Nigeria. All ethnic groups should speak for themselves, not speaking under one umbrella region.

On this note, South-South or Niger Delta is only a means to an end for me. It will never be the mouthpiece of all the ethnic groups in the area. And I'll be damned if I condemned the descendants of my ethnic lineage to perpetual slavery under the Igbos or Ijaws in an unholy Union or Alliance.

What nonsense! The IGR from all states in the federation for last year was not up $5b. How can these mofos fine a company such amount. That's one-fourth of our national budget.

Where will this money end up after being collected by the way? Is this how businesses are supported? No wonder Nigeria is not among the best 130 countries to conduct business in. CBN just did theirs, now NCC.

Mega fines, with zero accountability. Lackluster electricity, Death-traps called roads, OYO security, awful tertiary academic system producing half-baked graduates; and yet these half-witted dimwits are destroying the same corporatocracy that's keeping the nation's economic engine going.

Nigeria is a failed state!

Quote me anywhere!

-Lord

Image123:
The root cause of Lagos traffic is population, Lagos is overpopulated. The best way to solve that is to decongest the state. This can done by developing other states, especially neighbouring states. Or by a cooperation of the Southwest states and the FG to build a modern railway system that connects Lagos reliably. If people can steadily get to Lagos in one-two hours on trains from Ekiti, Ondo, Osun,Ogun, Edo, they'll rather live there and work in Lagos. House rent and living conditions will also be better.

cc: Explorers

You are right. With the current infrastructure in the Lagos metropolis, it is a shocker to find out that it sustains over 11 million people. The population of the state is above 20m. So we have more than half the total population of the state living in one city. More accurately, 80% of the state's population occupy 37% of its land area.

The issue is not simply improving the infrastructure like introducing an efficient railway system. That would help a great deal, but more people are just going to pour in to congest the city more.

What we need is the urbanization of more city centers in the country. It should be an holistic approach. For example, in the US, you don't just hear New York, Washington, Las Vegas... as the major melting pots. There's San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Detroit, Atlanta... All of these cities are terrific places to live in. In Nigeria, major cities are a few and in-between which leads to overstretching of already dilapidated infrastructure.

It is why I said we need a plan or more accurately several concurrent plans for the different sectors. Right from the federal government to state government to local government. For a nation as diverse as Nigeria we need at least two more levels of government--regional government, and city government with limited power.

-Lord

Meiji:
Just to address the part in bold, it's not true that the 3rd Mainland bridge has "never" been closed for maintenance - I think there was one sometime last year and another two years ago (if my memory serves me well).

I agree with the substance of your post, however.

Thank you for pointing that out, the bridge was closed for maintenance in 2008, 2012, 2013, and 2014 in recent times.

Although, I must point out that neither of these maintenance were proactive. For example, the repairs of 2012 were to negate the effect of erosion of the abutment by reinforcing the abutment and then apply a treatment that prevents erosion from having sizeable effect on the abutment, only after there was substantial erosion. If routine maintenance was a culture, they would have anticipated the erosion and protected the abutment from erosion at first, rather than repair the effects of erosion on the abutment and thereafter protect the abutment from erosion.

Clearly, I should have added "never" been closed for 'routine' maintenance. Routine maintenance is just as important as repairing the bridge when it has become a death trap.

Let's use a comparison: the Golden Gate Bridge has 49 permanent maintenance staff number to carry out routine maintenance and painting all year round. Of course if a major repair was to be needed, contractors will be hired.

-Lord

Timoleon:
Its amazing how we can wish and wish then drop all blames in the government. when the Brt first started in lagos, nurtw kicked against it as being against the interest of drivers of danfo. when government decides to ezpand road to accomodate more traffic, residents petition the courts to give orders of injunctions. when commuters board buses, they encourage the drivers to be lawless "this driver is not sharp, take one wat na". Our road users use d roads arbitrarily... you may find a car owner stopping to chit chat wit a pedestrian in d middle of d road, you find people parkng cars illegaly o the road, traders taking chunky spaces from d road to advertise their wares, bus drivers pick passengers at all kinds of stops, drops passengers off in the middle of the road(is d driver alone on this illegality? surely he is in cinnivance wit the passenger). Suggestions exist that sometimes potholes are intentionally created in some roads by road hawkers(gala lacasera chips).

Are our leaders corrupt? undeniably Yes! However, many of these projects cited above are either too lofty at present(the canadian interchange expressways and bridges) or clueless as a new innovation(the new york/dubai cab) we already have cabs y increase d number of vehicles on the road, the netherland bicycle too is not much of anything, the accomodation deficit in lagis means dat peopke are forced to live very far from work...i couldnt possibly bike from badagry or sango to ajah or apapa.

surely, the government has a lot to do...but private citizens are not left out of this. Private entrepreneurs can take up d idea of the amphibious buses for instance or ferries, purchase dem and take up license of practice from government...afterall, the government doesnt buy danfo for people, people buy and get licenses afterwards.

we can sit on our butts n criticize all day, i am however certain dat all d projects cuted by the op were not projects completed by single regimes. each successive government is however charged to have massive improvements on ifrastructures from what their predecessor managed to accomplish.

We can't have those infrastructure in Nigeria. It simply is not possible. You could blame the government all you want, however most in the government were once ordinary citizens. The government is a reflection of the citizenry.

Nigerians are short-sighted, have zero maintenance culture, and have chronic Alzheimers.

We do not have the discipline or know-how to plan effectively, we do not have the capacity to follow a plan even if we had one. Then what about the markup in price that can inflate the cost of a project from as low as twice the price to as high as a dozen times the price. N170m was used to build a borehole I remember. And that's where the borehole was constructed. In some cases, the same amount of money will be used to construct an artificial reservoir to collect rain water. In the worst scenario, no project will be done.

Now if any of those happened, there is zero accountability. If any one were to be convicted then all of it is politically motivated, how else is Ibori in jail and Tinubu is not?

Even if we were to get the project going, how are we sure sub-standard materials and personnel will not be used? Our roads are a good example of what I mean. Going further, do Nigerians have a maintenance culture? When last was the Third Mainland Bridge closed for maintenance (The answer is Never)? So what makes you think we would start with those mega road networks.

Our politicians travel, heck even the citizenry do. We are amazed by what we see outside. And you ask why not they replicate those stuff here? How about we replicate following simple traffic rules for a start? Do you adorn pigs with precious stones? How is it that a typical Nigerian will not litter Shoprite with the packaging of their sweet, but will litter sachet water packaging in the local open-air market?

You see, Nigerians like to blame everyone other than themselves for their predicaments. The government, another tribe, their kins in the village. Keep the blame games going while everyone else is moving forward.

If the perpetual traffic gridlock in Lagos were stabilized (note not eliminated, Manhattan, Beijing still experience traffic gridlock for several minutes at a time), Lagos will be the fastest growing local economy in Nigeria.

-Lord

.

Of all the allegories of marriage, yours of it being akin to communism/socialism wins it for me.

With that said, you must understand this. If it doesn't make sense to you, it does for someone else. Furthermore, it turns out, 'it does' for the majority of people out there. So it stays.

I'll give you a pass because you explicitly made it clear this was only meant to be about you voicing your opinion. Now, in the event that you get to share your opinion next time, be sure to add a disclaimer. I bet you, most humans are programmed. I'm not going to make it about Nigeria, but in a country where marriage is taken as the ULTIMATE, good luck trying to sell your opinion.

Pushing the discussion further, there are a number of institutions, acts, preconceptions, and facts that are relics from yesteryears. Any objective person could make a long list. But then, the fun about mother earth is that there are just too many things to fix, to keep people busy for a lifetime. Now you can get stuck trying to chart a new course or try to sound a conviction with a vuvuzela, but please while doing so, appreciate the difference in opinions and let all of us flow along.

Over to all those that swear by marriage. Those who've planned theirs well in advance. Those who can't think of a world without a husband and children. Those who are frantically searching for Prince Charming and the myth dubbed 'happily ever after'. To them I say Bon Voyage.

Ciao
-Lord

.

Kastonkastroll:
lol.

The op is clearly a buhari hater and a dumb PDP goon.

Ochejoseph's thread was even more analytical than this one, atleast there were some certain points he raised that I agreed with. This op's argument is just the same dumb and silly copy and paste the wailers have been pasting here.... I'm glad you also saw through his deceit.

But this lord Adam punished me sha because i had to read every single word in this his lengthy jargons.

Oshejoseph made his analysis on credible figures, but was lopsided in his comments.

Bevista:
Easy bro. I can feel the vexation from miles away. The @op should have done a better job in concealing his prejudice. People with half knowledge are sometimes more dangerous than people with no knowledge, because they suddenly think they know everything.

You do not conceal prejudice by staying on one lane only. Actually, the saying is "Ignorance is bliss" not "Some knowledge is bliss". No one knows everything and I'm not claiming to know everything either.

Bevista:
This is the only NEUTRAL thing the OP said all through the article.

First and foremost, I was expecting the @LordAdam to objectively analyze the points raised by both @passingshot and @ochejoseph. But I observed that the OP analysed only one side of the argument and left the other. Secondly, how can the op find fault (no agreement) with ALL the points raised by passingshot, and then justifying the previous administration on EVERY of those points. I agree that some of the OP's points are valid, but that bro could not have been COMPLETELY wrong. Thirdly, the OP started his counter-argument decently, but latter his true self was revealed when he started addressing @passingshot as 'obnoxious', 'dumb', 'ignorant', etc. These are all clear indications of a BIASED and PREJUDICED person. Writing NEUTRAL in the topic could not disguise this fact for the discerning mind.

Truth be told, I am not in the mood, I would have taken you to cleaners on most of that gibberish you wrote. How can you say the bailout money was SWF? Are you not aware that it was from the NLNG payment. Have you looked at the stock market trend of most major economies in the last 6 months to see if the case of Nigeria is special? Tell me which oil dependent economy has not felt the brunt of low oil price. The only difference is that the impact is restricted due to either a diversified economy or huge foreign reserve. Do you blame PMB for our low FR and our undiversified economy? I could go on and on, but that would be a long economic epistle in itself.

For the records, Economists all over the world (even the very best) always disagree on how best to deal with the economy. Economics is not an exact science that you can claim authority over all the models and theories.

I will give you a pass there. It is often possible to not fully comprehend the message in a thread. This thread is a neutral response to Passingshot's thread. Read the thread title again.

I gave the previous administration the benefit of a doubt. I wasn't far out of line with my remarks. If I were I apologize to him, alone, but I really to do deal the low blow as a cautionary measure. It is dumb to say China is not important in a public forum. A lot of people bought that lie.

About the downturn in the trend of major economies, I believe I made it clear that "there is little, if anything, that can be done by Buhari to change the current trend". The question is not the trend, the question is how the trend is handled. No one can reverse the current trend of the economy, but we can at least put in measures that can check the fall... That is the whole point. Buhari has not placed in checks except those left by the last administration. How do you keep that going for 100+ days, tell me? Does a new captain after the demise of an old captain leave the control room during the storm because it wasn't his fault that the ship was ill-equipped to deal with the storm? Again, I refer you to the Obama 2008 takeover, and Nigeria's handling of the financial crisis in 2008.

Kastonkastroll:
There is absolutely nothing neutral about the trash you wrote up there. First do you even understand what neutrality means? You only attacked one person(passingshot) and left your fellow pdp apologist, is that your own definition of neutrality? Anyways there is nothing different from this psychopathic jargons with the one written by ochejoseph, both of you are PDP bootlicking retards who will never see any wrong in the last administration.
This statement here even gave you away as the jonathanian that you are ;
You were so quick to say this trash but you didn't see anything wrong with the gigantic corruption that was going on in that administration.
Nigeria was not the only country battling with terrorism during the last administration. Kenya, Israel, Egypt, USA, Russia, france, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, were one way or another battling with extremist ideologies and their reserves didn't depleted like ours. Who are you even fooling?
What power improved in the last administration when Nigerians rarely even see the electricity? Yes the country was generating about 3500megawatts in the last administration, tell me please, what has the corrupt gov't of gej did to increase our power generation in the last five years?
You don't want more propaganda indeed. So what do you have to say about all the lies the last administration fed us with?
You are just a deceitful wailer hiding under some stvpid neutrality banner. I shouldn't have even drop a comment on this stinking, smelly, disgusting and hate filled thread, but your deceitfulness was clearly dangerous that a sane mind shouldn't ignore.
You even made yourself sound more silly when you said Jonathan has the best economy team ever since Nigeria came into existence...... The "best economy team" that crippled the country abi? You are very silly and a numskull at the same time.

Again, I should make it clear, that the thread is a reply to Passingshot's thread (read the thread title). I do see things wrong with the last administration, but it is not anything we haven't seen before. Corruption, fund mismanagement, insecurity, dilapidated infrastructure; we have been singing that song since 1960.

A lot of Nigerians make it appear, especially change-chanters, like GEJ's government in 6 years created all the problems Nigeria currently have.

GEJ could not have eliminated all the rot in the government in his 6 yrs nor will Buhari be able to in his next 4 years. We should thrive on ensuring sustainability, small gains on small gains lead to huge gains. This is no rocket science.

Was there massive looting under GEJ, yes. Can we say the magnitude is of the same magnitude as Abacha, maybe but I don't think it is a fair description. I am not going to pretend that GEJ's government did not irk of all the wrong things we complain about or that he contributed his fair share to the problem.

But will we throw all the strides he gained because he was unable to solve 5 decades old problems. Now we have Buhari, would we all be contented in him eliminating Corruption and insecurity, but then leaving our economy and infrastructure in comatose situation, no? There must be appropriate gains in the vital sectors of the economy.

Most of us are aware of the fact that terrorism under GEJ was politically motivated. Also, look at the scale of the insecurity problem, which country had as many attacks and casualties as Nigeria apart from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq, Pakistan?

I'm not going to make excuses for the last government about the power situation. But let's see. The manufacturers' association has estimated the power needs of Nigeria to be above 100,000 MW. Right now we are at a paltry 3500 to 4000 MW range. I'm not even going to fault Buhari if he is unable to meet that target, because it is virtually impossible to meet that target in a 4 yr period from where we are now. Also, the power situation is a complex one because of the vested interests in there. Discos are running at a loss and yet trillions have been spent on the sector. That is another example of gross mismanagement, that yes happened under GEJ management but didn't start with him. And to think of it, can you remember how many strikes and the huge fund that was used to make severance payment for staff of the now defunct PHCN before it was successfully unbundled? How much of this can you blame on GEJ? Was it not Prof Nebo who in his time as Minister of Power made mention of materials needed for electricity transmission being holed up in the ports for 14 years?

Actually, if you want to rebuff my statement about the economic team of GEJ's administration being the best, please tell me which economic team of a previous administrator was better? The economy was not run aground by GEJ's government. It was not the best, but it wasn't the worse progress we made. Give credence to who credence is due and stop hating.

If there's anything about the emergence of Buhari that I'm happy about, it is that impunity and magnanimous corruption in the Civil service and the government is about to hit the back burner. That is a gigantic step in the next direction. Funds will be efficiently managed and accountability will be celebrated.

Now we cannot make a big break in this aspect and backtrack on the economic gains already made. Let us see the progress of this country as a journey not several journeys. If the economic team of Buhari will deliver, when they are announced, only time will tell. But as at today, the Buhari presidency has done a poor job of stirring the economy right and that is a fact. That is what this thread is about.

The economy is a camera that's always rolling. Why was the selection of an economic team not expedited citing the importance of making decisions in this aspect? We all can wait for 1 yr maybe for a Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, but of finance and trade, that is a disaster.

kITATITA:
You are neither neutral nor analytical. The time you spent penning your literature is abysmally wasted; it is even punitive reading everything you wrote.

Actually, it is punitive responding to your comment, because you clearly did not read my message.

DanGombe1:
Honestly, I am kinda rather pissed after reading the long epistle written by the OP. And the useless person even had the guts to write a "neutral" analysis as the part of the PDP hatchet job which he just wrote. I wouldn't have minded either way which side he picked. But the deliberate misleading title is what's making mad.

ODE!!!!

Misleading?! Because I didn't give Buhari a garland and a plaque right? Anyways, the piece was not directed at folks like you.

So save yourself the heartache and look for the next propaganda and ethnic-bashing thread to vent your anger and frustration. Let saner minds discuss how best to support the current administration in moving the economy to higher levels.

First off, the "See What Is Happening To Nigeria's Economy Under Buhari" thread--https://www.nairaland.com/2590889/see-what-happening-nigerias-economy --by Oshejoseph, and the "Re: See What Is Happening To Nigeria’s Economy Under Buhari" thread--https://www.nairaland.com/2592360/re-see-what-happening-nigerias --by Passingshot; are obviously politically motivated. While both threads hold valid points, they are mired in political ideology that are borrowed from the pre-election days of smear campaigns.

We are nearing 4 months after the swearing-in of PMB, and the campaign days are clearly over, so what the people want to know is this: Is the Nigerian economy better off under Buhari than it was GEJ?

To be fair, it may be too early to dismiss Buhari as a failure in steering the economy right, I mean the man hasn't got an economic team yet. Nevertheless, with a population of 180m+ (we actually have more population than in the entire Eastern Africa bloc), a $500b economy, and the hope of an all-black nation climbing into the league of top-grade economies; any excuse is no excuse.

Anyways, the purpose of this thread is to stir the public in the right course. THE FACT IS THE ECONOMY IS NOT DOING WELL AT THE MOMENT. NOT THAT IT WAS DOING WELL IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS OF GEJ'S ADMINISTRATION, BUT WE AT LEAST HAD SOLACE IN THE REALITY THAT THE GEJ ECONOMIC TEAM HAD A PLAN, AND UNARGUABLY GEJ'S ECONOMIC TEAM WAS THE BEST ECONOMIC TEAM NIGERIA HAD EVER PRODUCED IN ITS 55-YEARS POST-INDEPENDENCE EXISTENCE.

Without much ado, let's tackle the major indicators brought up with facts, rather than political hullabaloo.

1. The Nigerian economy operates a budget which is heavily skewed in favour of recurrent expenditure (about 90%) against capital expenses (about 10%) as represented by 2015 budget here http://www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-signs-n4-425tn-2015-budget/

Implication of this is that there will be no real development in the core areas that sustain and improve economic development.

Nigeria's major problem is not the ratio of recurrent expenditure to capital expenditure. The problem is management of available capital. Capital and recurrent expenditure are pumped into the economy to support jobs and development. While capital expenses reflect more in driving jobs, there are still a lot of jobs dependent on recurrent expenditure. You cannot strengthen the weak, by weakening the strong.

We are all also aware of the fact that the maintenance culture in Nigeria is appalling. Rather than blab about how much should enter capital expenditures that most likely would age out of neglect, why not we leave the issue completely, so we can discuss prudent financial management and ensuring timely maintenance of already existing structures. For example, when last was the Third Mainland bridge temporarily shut down for maintenance? Answer goes here _________.

2. Nigerian economy is largely dependent on crude export. Even the crude price has fallen below the benchmark price ($53 per barrel) on which the 2015 budget was based. Crude now sells at around $47 per barrel.

And so? The fall in oil price is not just affecting oil-based economies like ours, it is also affecting other economies. But then there are economies like those of Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia that heavily depend on oil but are not in free-fall like ours. How about we put off the crude price is falling crap and see how we can meander ourselves out of this shi*hole we've found ourselves. That's exactly what every right thinking government is doing rather than finger-pointing past governments and carrying on with ego-massaging.

When the US's economy hit rock bottom in 2008, and Obama inherited the mess, he got on ground and starting working. Today, the US is better off, unemployment rate is at lowest levels since 2008.

3. As at April 2015, the Federal Government of Nigeria had borrowed $4.4bn to pay salaries of its workers for March and April 2015. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3070070/Nigeria-borrows-pay-salaries-cash-crunch-worsening.html

That's what we call following an economic plan. Note that the country's reserve was at about $30b. Now by following your logic, we easily could have removed the $4.4b from our reserve rather than borrow to make the payment. But governments and businesses are not run that way. You can not fault the decision of ardent macro-economists because you happen to know how to use a calculator.

Now let us see, Buhari sent out several billions of naira from the Sovereign Wealth Fund to bailout states that hadn't paid pending salaries. Does he even know what that money was meant for? Does he have a plan on where to get the next bailout fund from, assuming things stay the same way or worse? You see, you are not exactly an economist because you can recite Adam Smith's definition of Economics, or happen to sit for Economics in your SSCE.

Under GEJ, when the FG made the move to borrow, they heard from a fully functioning Ministry of Finance with a celebrated head, a fully functioning Ministry of Trade and Commerce with an equally bright head, the CBN governor, special advisers and all the top-minds that made up his economic team. And we can be pretty sure, they made a good decision judging by what was before them. Let me ask, who did Buhari (note not the FG because Nigeria does not have an FG now, we only have a President and a bunch of agency stalwarts) consult before going ahead with each of his economic decisions to date?

4. GEJ met the reserve at $47.7bn in 2010 but still managed to reduce it to $29.6bn despite that crude sold for an average of $100 per barrel (peaked at about $140/barrel). The country’s FR plays a huge role in giving confidence to foreign investors in Nigeria’s economy. The higher the value the higher the confidence in the economy and vice versa.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3070070/Nigeria-borrows-pay-salaries-cash-crunch-worsening.html

Aren't we all comfortable with quoting numbers when it suits our selfish objectives. Was the drop necessary, maybe not. However, let us be fair here: How efficiently can you boost reserves when you're fighting a war incited to cripple your government? When you can only boost of a 4000MW maximum power production limit, when the second-largest economy in Africa (which Nigeria dethroned) produces 12 times more to serve a population that is less than one-third the population of Nigeria? When your manufacturing industry is a joke? When the Agricultural sector is nothing to write home about? When we spend more money to import fuel than it would take to feed the 5 most poorest nations? Should I stop here, or should I continue?

I should stop here, but I wouldn't. The Nigerian people have taking more than a beating since 1960, we don't want more propaganda and plenty talk, we want specifics. How does the reduction in crude oil prices correlate to farmers not receiving fertilizers which they had been receiving just barely five months ago without hitch. Or need someone remind we all that agriculture employs several millions of Nigerians who otherwise would be under the poverty line.

JP Morgan de-listed Nigeria

Good or Bad? Bad! There's no way we getting off that list is good for the economy. True, the review started under the last administration, but the decision was not made then. In fact, the decision was made before the agreed date. Can anyone read the signs, or am I the only logically-thinking Nigerian in the universe?

JP Morgan stalled at first because there was an economic team that could make an argument for our position and provide a measure of assurance that things would be handled in due course. And then they made their decision hastily, because of the exact opposite. You do not keep over $8b of someone else's money on hold who isn't even a patriotic citizen for 3 months, because you are trying "to build a firm foundation." Like an analyst said, Investors do not read body language.

Now lets see, it is not like the duo (central bank and the presidency) is taking a different stance from that of the previous administration. Let's commend their stance as well, but let's not say they couldn't have handled the situation better. It's good to be patriotic, but do not burn existing bridges trying to make a bush path.

60,000 Nigerian loose Jobs in the construction sub sector - NLC

http://www.channelstv.com/2015/09/08/nlc-says-60000-nigerian-workers-lost-jobs/

60,000 people lose their jobs, and all you can think about is capital expenditure? Haven't the capital expenditure always been a tiny percentage of the budget? Is 2015 the first year, release of budget has run late? But do we see 60k+ construction jobs lost at each of these times? Let us be realistic for a second. Or are you saying that if all 10% of N4t had been released before the exit of the last government, all 60k people would still be in their jobs.

These are 60k people for crying out loud. We all know construction jobs have decent pay, so the ripple effect is not one to be soothed by blind political hogwash like you are dishing out without a modicum of restrain.

Zenith Bank Sacks 1200 workers in a single day

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/4819-zenith_bank_sacks_over_1_200_employees.html

To this you reply, "Job losses are a constant part of any economy and if it’s not as a result of a government’s policy or not on an industry-wide scale, you cannot put the blame on the government." Who else should we lay the blame on, my village elders? How is the Zenith bank job loss not representative of an industry-wide layoff, don't you read the news? The Banking sector is on a thread currently, and you do not send reassurances by running a one-man show with no clear economic policy. So you are waiting for another bank to lay off another 1k workers before it gets to you that there's a problem worth solving? Are you for real? In fact, let me ask do you know anyone in the banking industry whose job is at risk?

Now to cap the whole job loss thing, let's keep it simple. These people getting kicked out of their jobs are not sports betting agents, they are professionals who make a living keeping our country together. They thrive in two core sectors, construction and banking. And let's take a recap, we haven't heard of any large score of new job opportunities, but we are hearing of a large number of job losses. Genius right there!

Naira in free Fall - Business Day

http://businessdayonline.com/2015/09/naira-weakens-on-black-market-as-dollar-demand-grows-2/

Holding the naira hostage does not stop the free fall of naira in the black market. I have a heart, unlike you, there's little, if anything, that can be done to halt the fall. But I'm not going to write off your cheap jab on GEJ's administration -- "At some point during GEJ’s era, the naira exchanged at above N235 to a dollar. That it trades at N220 currently represents an overall gain from N235/N240." So what, Buhari made the gain. Listen to yourself. I'm sure if he did make the gain, then he could hastily ensure that $1 = N1.

Aside pissing off JP Morgan, China, other Foreign investors, thus reducing the FDI flowing in (which is essentially backtracking on 6-year achievements of GEJ's administration in 100 days); what else has Buhari done to ensure that the Naira make gains or at least hold steady without sliding to oblivion? Answer or forever remain silent.

And then you type this, "The CBN is on a mission to make it difficult if not impossible, for stolen dollars from our reserves to be easily exchanged or transferred abroad." I am continually amazed by your ignorance. The dollars you are referring to are not stolen dollars moving from politicians to Swiss bank accounts. If anything, they are ensuring that we are not overrun by dollars which would weaken the naira. Get your facts straight, or stay mute. CBN is not on some corruptocalypse-run like PMB, they have their hands full already.

Nigerian Economy slumps - NBS

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/nigerian-economy-slows-in-q2/

Of all the statements to rebuff the original poster's comments, I am particularly astounded by this one, "Again, the [s][fact/s] is that the economy would have collapsed completely had GEJ managed to win the last election." Where did you pull that fact from? From CIA Factbook? Wikileaks? Your ar*e? I am guessing, it's the last one, because I see no way anyone can make such an obnoxious analysis.

Now to the issue of the economy entering a downward turn. There was no other way for the economy to turn? GEJ's team managed the situation and made concrete steps to ensure that things didn't fall out of hand. Now tell me, what has Buhari done to consolidate these actions rather than run this country on auto-pilot?

The state of the local and global economy has changed a tab bit since last three months when Buhari entered, why are we still using ageing policies rather than smart new policies that reflect the changes?

CHINA : Nigeria's biggest Trading partner and Investor, Snubs Nigeria over Buhari’s Behaviour

http://uncova.com/china-snubs-nigeria-over-buhari-as-it-holds-africa-investment-summit

Wow, and to this you said, "Must Nigeria do business with China or any other country for that matter?"

Truth be told, you made a lot of dumb statements in your comment, but this statement is by far the dumbest. America owes China more than $9t. UK owes China above $4t. Let this get into your thick skull, the Western economies are afloat on Chinese money.

Not doing business with China is recipe for getting cast back into the stone age. Do you know how much of Chinese products are in Nigeria? Do you know about the dollar estimate of our exports to China?

The world is a global economy. Doing business with China is worth more to Nigeria at the moment than doing business with the US. Neither is our true friend nor foe. Why not we make the best of our relationships with both than let ourselves be used to fight a proxy war.

Nigerian Investors loose 311 Billion in 24 hours - Daily Trust

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/stocks-lose-n311bn-bonds-suffer-after-jp-morgan-index-expulsion/110194.html

And then you typed this, "The loss is not Nigeria’s loss but investors. When investors have gained in the past, was the gain given or shared with the country?" A word of advice mate, before you hit the submit button next time, ensure that you've taken your meds. Because it is only a person on meds that can't see how the economy shrinking by N311b affects no just the investors but also Nigerians. Investors finance ambitious projects of the coys you want to land a job at. When they lose money, they lose confidence, and then they pump their money into another nation's economy. That you can't see this connection amazes me. Now, I can only hope that the words I typed out made sense to you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In summary, the Nigerian economy ain't doing good, nor is it doing better than the previous administration left it.

We can play politics with FG appointments and allocations, but we can't with the economy. All the kids going to school, they'll rely on the economy to make a decent living when they get out. The parents need a thriving economy to put the kids through school. Do you know how difficult it is to do business in Nigeria? The World Bank says we rank 170 on a list of 189. I think we should be ranked much lower. And it's not the fault of just one administration. It is the fault of 55 years of lackluster governance.

Buhari ruled once, how well did he improve the economy in his first run? Or should we give him a pass because he was a military administrator then and Jonathan wasn't? It would be great if PMB plug the leaks in the government and runs an efficient government, but you cannot say the state of the economy in Nigeria of 2015 as at the time of GEJ's departure was worse than the Nigeria of 2010 as at the time GEJ took charge. That gain should be celebrated and consolidated upon.

Buhari should use the handover notes given him (of course that's all he has been using since he entered power, but he has to do much more than follow instructions left by his predecessor) and with the help of economic think-tanks chart a desirable course for our economy. In 2008, in the heat of the financial crisis, Nigeria was able to stay afloat while other countries including SA had it rough. The fall of the price of oil is not the worse that can happen to Nigeria. The question is how can we weather the storm while it lasts, especially seeing that the pressures show no sign of abating soon. And how do we build a stronger economy going forward, in anticipation of the better days that will inevitably come. After all, after the storm, there's sunshine.

And finally, I'm sick of having change-chanters use the excuse of "did GEJ do any better," to avoid owning up to their failures. If GEJ didn't do better, does that give Buhari free reins to under-perform. I mean, why else was PMB presumably voted in, if not to succeed where GEJ failed? For the wailers, I got nothing. GEJ has done what he could, that's in the past now. What next Nigeria?

LordAdam

CC: Lalasticlala Seun Obinoscopy

directonpc:
I have seen a lot of webmasters on Nairaland over hyping responsive web design.
I am going to state 3 reasons why responsive design sucks and why you should take the stress of designing mobile versions of your site.

1. Responsive sites load slow on mobile and consumes users data(megabytes). This is very true as responsible sites download same high resolution contents that were designed for pc version of the site it only useless css to cut some put and change width and height for others.

Unlike responsive design a lite simple dedicated mobile version won't include contents that are heavy.

Before you bash a technology, it is important to understand the problem the technology was developed to fix.

Now, before responsive design became a common term in the Web Development field, screen sizes of gadgets used to access the net were either PC size or mobile phones with definite form factors.

Then came iOS and Android, accompanying the rise of touch screen mobile devices. From then on, devices were manufactured having every measurable screen size imaginable. Today, there are mobile devices with screen size of between 3" and 12". Call them phones, pallets, tablets. Then there are hybrids (tablets that become PCs when a keyboard dock is attached).

At about the beginning of the varied size expansion, having two versions of a website reigned supreme. But as the variation increased so was the immense work required to design sites versions that kept up with the different screen sizes.

That was when the brilliant idea of one site design for all devices was birthed. It was a brilliant idea at the time, it still is.

History class is over. Now let's discuss your point. All new technologies have their caveats, and with responsive design, it is a reality.

However, here is the fact you should understand. A truly responsive design should mean less data for lower-sized devices. For a well-optimized responsive site, it's appearance on a 15.6" laptop, a 9" iPad, and a 5" Galaxy S6 should be different.

The s6 version should not load high-res end-to-end images used on the PC version. Because, that's the whole point of responsive design, the site responds to the screen size and a better-looking version of the site is loaded.

2. Less low-end device/browsers support.  A responsive site might look good on high-end mobile devices and browsers but it is the opposite on opera mini and stock browser of older devices.

I'll give it to you, responsive websites don't look too great on low-end devices/browsers. However, there are literally a ton of responsive websites that look great on opera mini (it's all about optimization and pedantic coding).

Occasionally, a few page elements may be out of place or appear awkwardly. Still, it's a small price to pay for the benefits of not having to code separate sites for high end devices simply because they have different screen sizes.

And here's the last one, data is super-expensive in the country. It isn't elsewhere. Emphasis is on fast-loading of sites not necessarily how data-intensive the site is. I understand both are related, but you have to figure that designers design sites for people across the board, with the average person being someone with a decent device on a decent Internet connection.

After this, there are other accessibility issues that are catered to. Like those using legacy (low-end) devices, blind users (ensuring that the site can be read out by a screen reader)... For many businesses on a budget, there's a limit to how much of this support they can afford.

Thus, having a responsive layout for different screen sizes makes sense. And then later on in the project or sometime later, a mobile specific version that's very lightweight is designed to capture customers/audience that do not use high-end devices or use crappy network or have low data usage limits.

3 . Facebook, YouTube and google are not doing it so you should know that it is crappy. That is all and nobody can counter these points

Are you freaking serious? They all are doing it. With a catch, they also have mobile-specific versions. Along with media sites like CNN, BBC.

You know why? Because they have millions of users and do not want to alienate any user. You're using multi-billion dollar businesses whose main source of revenue are through their websites, and have tens of thousands of workers (a huge percentage are Web developers, Web designers, UX developers, UI designers as well as several sub-niche specialists) with each getting 5 to 6 figure dollar salaries; as examples. And comparing them to a one-man design team.

With several millions of users who use Java phones in regions that do not have a 3G network, Facebook, Google, YouTube know they have to support these users by developing specific mobile design sites that are featherweight. Google's mobile version of it's search page is less than 100kb, who do you think it was designed for? Now on that mobile version there is no use of Ajax, but on their responsive site version, Ajax is supported.

And why not? It's a numbers game. Facebook and Google rely on increasing number of users to convince advertisers to spend billions of dollars annually through Facebook Ads and Google Adwords.

Finally, I noticed where you rebuffed someone who said Google now favors responsive websites. The real deal is that responsive websites and sites with mobile versions are both taken as "mobile-friendly" by Google and given the necessary push in the SERPs.

So, the Google algorithm wasn't a firm rebuttal of your points. However, you did make an inaccurate statement that a site cannot rank ahead of Facebook. Geez, several company sites rank above their Facebook page.

SEO is a whole different ball-game where the rules are about who has the most relevant links pointing back to their site, as well as a host of different factors. But inbound links are the most important. Facebook has billions of links pointing back at them, that's what's keeping them on top not the mobile-specific version or that you think they do not have a responsive site which they obviously have.

There's no hard and fast rule in Web designing. Whatever rocks your boat while using technologies that will stand the test of time and that fit the billing of what the site has to offer.

An information-based website catering to farmers in Nigeria should have a mobile-specific version, no question asked. Don't try convincing a service website catering to trendy young workers in the heart of Seoul, South Korea (where network speeds are insane and no one is screaming "you one finish my data?" that responsive design is crap.

PS: I usually do not comment on NL, unless I'm adding something new to the discussion. Read the first and third pages and was disappointed that there were no firm rebuttals to the OP. I was like the OP can't go on SitePoint and start a thread like this with the exact same reasons posted and not receive a backlash from the community over there.

@OP, this is 2015 not 2008. Responsive design is here to stay. If you are a designer, then clearly you need to know more about your industry and present arguments with really good facts that people can't shake a stick at.

tranxo:
What is the exchange rate like through ATM (your last withdrawal was at what rate) and what are the charges? I want to compare it with local bank withdrawal. Now.....this is Tranxo

Bank withdrawal is the best option in my opinion. ATM withdrawals have a $3.15 fee on every transaction, and if you're making large withdrawals, there's the limit of withdrawing in batches of 20k.

Bank withdrawals are free on the other hand, Payoneer takes a 2.5% cut from the current market exchange rate which is still higher than the ATM exchange rate. The only caveat is the minimum limit of $200.

To answer your question, I made an ATM withdrawal mid this week at N192/$ rate.

-L

The guys behind this site, ecurrencyxchanga.com, are sophisticated scammers. Continually tried to get me to send them more money, without ever getting the exchanged value in another ecurrency.

They scammed an Australian of $3500 through an alias Web address. How it all went about is all on bitcointalk.org.

Lost $200 with them so use them at your own risk.

-L

.

TopUpGold:
With due respect sir, you need to start adhering to instruction.
We told you to send the screenshot of the transaction details on the PayPal account and you didn't. Rather you forwarded the email notification that was sent to you by PayPal.

Buying PayPal have procedures, we can't allow our PayPal account limited because of you. We have no idea if the said money was transferred from a hacked account and you expect us to buy the funds without you providing us the details we need.
It's not done that way, you need to follow the due procedure.
please note that we have the right to reject some fund which it's source is mind clear to us.

Thanks.

First off, your instruction was to send "evidence of the source of fund". I sent you the mail notification of the transaction and mails received from the client who sent me the money. If that wasn't what you wanted, how does notifying me six days later make you a good service provider?

You were not specific in your request and are terrible in keeping communication going with a client, and your gracious reply is that I "need to start adhering to instruction." Absolutely no apologies for keeping me waiting. This is exactly how not to run a business.

Happy holidays!

Really?! 4 days and still no reply? And you call this a service?

-L

TopUpGold:
If it's PayPal, you need to provide us with the evidence of the source of the fund.

We only approve PayPay request on funds we know the source.
On the website homepage there is a notice. "NOTICE: If you want to sell PayPal,Payza & Fiverr, Send us an email before placing a request."

Thanks.

Sent a mail to support@topupgold.com.

-L

Please, when am I to expect an admin approval?

-L

Hey fellas!

Can anyone type out the probable line of events in this festival? And probable dates as well?

And do any of the new airlines ply Warri to Calabar route? I've searched hard and there doesn't seem a flight option.

-L