₦airaland Forum

Reference:
But c'mon guys.... if you are going to handle cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars the least you can do is to create an environment for that. I mean why do your repairs all out in the open and in such tough conditions. Looking at the picture for instance there is no protection around the hood edges and these engines are massive so you end up with paint scratches and dents here and there and.... abeg if the owner came around... where will he sit.....

Someone here actually looked at that shop and said "at least it doesn't look like the average mechanic workshop."

There's some risk I just can't take. And this is one of them.

Unless of course, the alternate story that the mechanic is Odu B and he is the preferred go-to-guy for UHNW individuals with luxury vehicles in Nigeria (there are hundreds to thousands of such luxury vehicles in Nigeria parked in high-walled compounds) is true.

Still for a guy who is in this exclusive line of work, he is either not charging enough or he lacks basic branding skills. That shop should look much better if he truly handles vehicle repairs for the elite.

Rolls Royce has a partnership with Coscharis. I'd feel better having Coscharis handle the fixing than odu b.

And for those asking the simple question about sending the vehicle back to the UK for a simple fix. Yes, if that's what it takes to have a thoroughly done job. Whoever has the money to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom (not even Ghost) can spare a few millions to ship it to the UK for repairs. And if the vehicle needs multiple repairs, he can just sell it off in the UK (plenty of buyers for used Royces) and add money to buy another.

Nigerians are fond of taking unnecessary risk. If you no longer have the money to fix it, keep it in the garage or negotiate a sale. You can use the proceed of a sale to buy a used Rolls Wraith or Bentley Continental. They're not as imposing as the Phantom, but at least you still have a luxury vehicle that'd keep your hyper-inflated ego satiated.

-Lord

Timelezz:
I find is unbelievably sickening and unacceptable. But it is part of the modern trend of loss of culture and normalisation of taboo.

I have just too many doctors as friends and I know medical certificate isn't a moral certificate. Male gynecologists insert fingers inside their patients vagina looking for who-cares-what and press and fundle the beasts looking for lumps...

This is madness of course and can only be permitted by me only during life-threaning emergency.

INSECURITY AT ITS FINEST.

Why permit it during life-threatening emergency? You could just ride your moral high horse to the stratosphere it's taking you.

There are bad eggs in every profession, but you need to realize that gynecologists thread a thin line. If a patient thinks she is being sexually exploited by her gynecologist and reports to anybody higher up in the chain of command. The least that gynecologist will get is a formal inquiry.

The patient also has the right to sue.

So, I'm not sure where you get the notion that male gynecologists play around with the private parts of their patients and get away with it because they're gynecologists. There is no such thing. The women are not kids and are not stupid either.

If you can't stand the thought of a male gynecologist examining your mother, sister, gf, wife, or daughter, ask for a chaperon or go to med school and train to become a gynecologist.

-Lord

Dfinex:
lol @topic. I used to feel same way before. ..those guys don't see u as a man/woman., they only see u as a human anatomy. ...lolsss

but truth is those guys don't have ur time....like going by the number of women they meet how many will they now have relationships with .....of all professions medical doctors are the less promiscuous (I stand to be corrected though )......cos the few I have made friends with always act like they are not even seeing u

except ofcourse for the highly perverted few.....

at the bolded.

I'll keep mute, since your comment is based on your experience. For a lot other people (I'd know because I have close working and personal relationships with a larger sample size than yourself), the bolded is as true as saying the Earth is flat.

To the topic, I remember one peculiar instance. Still in sch, was on a compulsory holiday posting, and on one auspicious day, a hottie came by for an HSG. Funny enough, in the past she played hard to get with the guy who was to do the HSG. Nigg* was just shaking his head all thru.

Like c wetin mk diz sista dey form 4 me that yr. Nothing untoward happened, and I didn't care to observe her facial expression. But my bets are on the fact that she'd have preferred to have it done elsewhere if she knew he was the guy that was going to stretch her vagi.

-Lord

Rockquest:
Until Nigeria come hard on currency hawkers and make it a capital offence but allowing only Bureau de change and banks to do the business, the Naira will continue to fall. No matter the intervention of CBN, the mallams will continue to jeopardise their efforts. We have a very unique society that requires firmness to succeed.

Una don start again.

All these Economic Nazis like your Grand Patron Bubu.

Capital offense to sell currency. You should be hanged for making such a vile suggestion.

-Lord

obailala:
Haha, brotherly, borrowing to pay salaries is one of the clearest things that a government should NEVER do. If the government's hands are so badly tied that it is has to borrow money to pay salaries, then that is one clearest signs of impending doom.

Says who?

Oil prices began to drop mid-way into 2014, i.e. from about 3Q 2014. From 3Q 2014 to 2Q 2015, I'm not sure i understand how you arrived at 18 months, that's more like 9 months to me.

With that aside, I'm keen to get more details of how wonderfully well you claimed GEJ and NOI handled the economy when oil price began dropping because within this 9 months period, the following happened (prove me wrong if you can):

(1) Nigeria's GDP growth rate steadily dropped from 6.54% to 2.32% as at the time of handover (of course it continued dropping after the new govt took over until we got to a recession but after looking at the chart below, I find it rather weird and outrightly callous that many intelligent folks like yourself still argue that recession was all Buhari's fault (not even oil price is blamed by you guys).

https://cdn.tradingeconomics.com/charts/nigeria-gdp-growth-annual.png?s=nigeriagdpyoy&v=201701041223t&d1=20140516&d2=20170216&type=column

www.nairaland.com/attachments/4878902_gdpvscrudeprice3_jpeg6d384f239fc88507a3734eb2818bdc65
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/gdp-growth-annual

(2) In desperation to save the economy, $10 billion was expended from the nation's forex reserves to defend the Naira (between Nov 2014 and May 2015), hence our reserves crashed from $38.5bn to $28.5bn as at handover, but even with that huge amount, the Naira still crashed inevitably from N165 to N220/N230 at the parallel market. And this was despite the fact that Nigeria still drilled 2.2million barrels daily and oil prices still sold above $60.

Of course with the dangerously low funds in the reserves, it would have been foolish to keep disbursing FX further to save the Naira hence the new admin instituted forex restrictions to prevent a Venezuelan situation (zero reserves). But of course the restrictions gave a big hit to the Naira and chased away loads of investors who could clearly see Nigeria was already in a mess. You do not need a soothsayer to tell you the Naira wouldn't have fallen beyond N250 and we wouldnt have been in this mess had there been adequate money in the reserves to be disbursing $10bn every six months as NOI and GEJ did. That is why smart economist (including NOI herself) still blame the govt of GEJ for not saving nada.

(3) I don't need to re-mention the fact that GEJ and NOI were already borrowing to pay salaries (a clear disaster), fuel subsidy was already being owed importers for the full 9 months period spanning from Aug 2014 to May 2015; of course this forced importers to halt importation for fear that the new govt may not pay them either, and this led to the harshest fuel scarcity in Nigeria's history in May 2015 when even banks had to start shutting by 12 noon for lack of diesel to run generators.

In summary, I'm sorry bro, your claim that NOI and GEJ handled the crash very well is very flawed, baseless and borne out of ignorance of what really transpired. GEJ and NOI were just divinely lucky enough to bailout before the pangs of the impending recession started getting to ordinary Nigerians on the streets and of course the scapegoat Buhari took all the blame when the eagle eventually landed. You may want to argue that they may have done something differently further down the line had GEJ won, but that is only an ASSUMPTION which cannot be substantiated. Fact is that they can only be sensibly judged based on their performance that we saw between 3Q 2014 and 2Q 2015.



Oh yes oil prices have fallen a couple of times and the harshest was in 2008 when oil prices crashed from $148 to $35. But just incase you aren't aware, that crash of 2008 lasted only 6 months between mid-2008 to early 2009. In addition, it is on record that the CBN then, disbursed a whooping $20billion into the market to bail Nigeria out of that global crisis and that was the only reason Nigeria survived it and the pangs weren't felt; remember that $20billion was readily available to be disbursed simply because OBJ had accrued massive savings.

Now kindly remind us of how long the present oil price crash has lasted? It's approaching 3 years now... and while you are at it, kindly remind us how much NOI and GEJ left in the reserves for Buhari to utilise in balancing the effects?

Please while we all agree Buhari isn't doing enough to stem the economic crisis we are presently in, kindly stop insulting our sensibilities by claiming GEJ was any better when it is simply clear they both experienced totally different situations.

Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla...

1. Growth rate did not drop to negative.
2. Nigeria's rating drop and the Sick One's (PMB) lack of cabinet were the major reasons investors avoided Nigerian like the plague. That would never have happened under GEJ. Don't blame the monetary policy. Because even with the managed float, investors over-subscribed our $1b bond by over 700% recently.
3. Nigeria disbursed $20b and an additional $5b for bank bailout in 2009 primarily because of the Global Financial Crisis. Don't blame it on a 6 months oil price crash. Because if that was the case, GEJ would've used $35b to wedge the 9 month oil price cash. But he used far less, $10b.

Don't think you can rewrite history and get away with it.

GEJ/NOI are miles better than Buhari/Osinbajo/Kemi and the entire band of misfits in the present FG in handling the oil downturn. You can't even deny that if you were bribed. My points still stand, and your poor excuse of a retort just proved you to be a biased fellow nit-picking facts.

You did not retort any of my 7 hefty bullet points why Nigeria would never have entered recession if GEJ was the President. Your inability to do that makes all your 3-numbered quackery gibberish null and void.

-Lord

TGM2015:
Are this daft? Was Jonathan not borrowing to pay salaries few months before he left? Was he not owing some Ministry workers before he handover to Buhari?
If a well developed and rebased economy that Jonathan acquired and developed was still that strong, I very sure that a whole FG with strong developed economy that have not collapsed will still borrow to pay a recurrent expenditure such as salary. Is just like you are telling me that a father that can not meet up the demand of feeding his house is highly buoyant.

Summary is that Jonathan had destroyed the strong economy he once built by his reckless way of life and corrupt associates and handover already distressed country economy which later manifested on change of government. Just imagine if CBN had not bail out Union bank then, the next MD will be tagged a failure not knowing that the then big, strong and reliable bank then was just a walking corpse.

Rebasing an economy does not make it more developed.

It is like doing census.

The Nigerian economy heavily relies on the government and the government heavily relies on oil. But Jonathan was changing that. And it was in that light that he refused to implement TSA after formulating it.

Jonathan chose to borrow to pay salaries rather than chop off money for other projects. For example, he wasn't borrowing to pay fuel subsidy of more than 1 trillion naira annually. Whether that was a good decision is up for debate. And by the way, GEJ borrowed majorly from within the country. So, he envisaged that when paying back, the money stays in the country.

What you fail to understand is that GEJ and NOI knew how to pilot Nigeria through 18 months of oil drop without a recession setting in. If GEJ had continued in May, he would have held the fort steady for another 8+ months before the prices started rising in 2016.

Nigeria would have NOT entered a recession if GEJ was still the president. And I'll give you a couple of reasons why:

1. The N5.2 trillion naira in the TSA would still be in the economy keeping it afloat.
2. Nigeria would not have lost its credit ratings in 2015/2016 that led investors to remove billions of dollars from the economy.
3. GEJ/NOI would have done better to assuage the concerns of investors by readily devaluing the currency slowly and carrying out other fiscal reforms that would make us sustain our 2014 FDI levels (or at most record minimal drop).
4. NOI would already have formulated a new fiscal policy within 1 month of GEJ's re-election as Co-ordinating Minister of Economy. Osinbajo has not being able to do same more than 18 months after election as head of the economic unit.
5. With that fiscal policy, our monetary policy will be in tandem with our fiscal policy, and it'd lead to more stable thorough economic decisions, rather than the flip-flop economic decision-making that this government is known for, because more than 18 months after being elected, we do not have a fiscal policy, not to talk of harmonizing fiscal and monetary policies.
6. Nigeria would not have had an administrative vacuum for 6 months in 2015.
7. GEJ would never have gone abroad to de-market Nigeria like Buhari did in 2015.

All the warnings and the austerity measures by NOI were to alert Nigerians to adjust. That is what sensible, qualified, liberal economists do. Kemi and her band of APC misfits did the exact opposite by saying all is well, only wailers are suffering, recession is just a word, Nigerians are overreacting. See where that got us?

Since 1999, oil price has fallen 3 times under 3 different PDP governments. All 3 governments were able to manage it without any negative growth EVERY SINGLE time. With that 100% record, there is no rational human being that wouldn't say Nigeria's economy had a hell of a lot more chance riding the 2013-2016 price drop under Jonathan than under a medically-, academically-, and intellectually-unfit ex-dictator and coupist who did not improve himself one bit in over 30 years outside Aso Rock.

Jonathan had his faults, like every body, but comparing him to Buhari is an ABOMINATION. Buhari should never have ruled Nigeria. Not in 1983, not in 2015. PDP tried their best to clean the mess he made in 1983-1985, and inflated by his comrades IBB and Abacha. God helps whichever party takes over after he is done with the mess he is creating now. And God forbid more APC comrades come after him like his military comrades in the 80's n 90's.

By the time they are done, Nigeria will have a new 4th-World category all to itself.

-Lord

adegeye38:
EFCC and ICPC are as good as useless, their role is not to prevent corruption but to come in after the act has taken place and there is somehow a mistake by the offender that could no longer be covered up, then they come, make some statements and thats the end of it, why?

Cos when a nation has powerfull individuals, but no powerful institution, corruption and crime will be rampant.

people in EFCC and ICPC are Nigerians, they are controled by the Federal government who are also Nigerians, so it all goes back to an average Nigerian

WITHOUT THE CHANGING OF THINKING, MINDSET, CULTURE, HABBIT OF THE PEOPLE, NOTHING WILL EVER WORK.

ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO BUILD STRONG INSTITUTIONS.
A COUNTRY WERE THE JUDICIARY IN DEEPLY ROOTED IN CORRUPTION.

If true federalism is established i dont think anything meaningfull will be achieved, cos there is virtually nothing that will prevent corruption in each state

corruption would NEVER be Reduce

It all goes back to the PEOPLE and the SOCIETY

POWER ONLY RESIDES WHERE THE PEOPLE BELIEVES IT RESIDES. simple

IF some powerful individuals are corrupt, but majority of the people aren't, The impact is very less felt and powerfull Institution can easily be built.

I don't think the situation is such that it cannot be remedied. Most of what we require are good decisions. And stop waiting for quick fixes.

Fixing Nigeria's corruption issue will take at least as long as it took us to get to this point (it's easier to destroy than to build). While it may seem insurmountable now, with good decisions things will slowly take shape.

My submission is that the population problem and ethnic diversity is hindering the ability to come up with these decisions.

-Lord

adegeye38:
I understand your point ,now lets take a critical look at Nigeria now and what could be the solution

-Nigeria has Zero powerfull institutions that prevent corruption, unlike other countries, also the people has a peculiar problem.

-True Federalism wont make any difference, state Governors and their cabinets, would only buy more private jets and steal more billions

-Total disintegration, unlikely, but still wont solve the problem

The problem is with 180 million Nigerians, how do you change the total mindset, thinking, culture and habit of these people positively?

ITS AN IMPOSSIBLE JOB

You don't build powerful institutions by simply wishing them into existence.

Do you know when the mob bosses stopped overrunning the cities in America? Around 50 years ago. The US is 241 years old.

The EFCC and ICPC that are pretty much lap dogs for the ruling party may become more independent like the FBI and Scotland Yard in the future. So, we must be willing to work it out.

And it starts with changing the political structure. True federalism will make a difference. It might make the State Governors mini-emperors, but it'd also make them more accountable, because the focus will no longer be on Abuja, but state capitals that are within reach of every concerned constituent. The protests against Buhari of recent, there'll be many of them for states. And if the states handle it badly, the FG will move in.

Moreover, the split is more likely to be along geo-political lines (aka zones). I'm not saying it'll magically erode corruption, but it'll be a hell of a lot more stricter on corrupt practices than the current feeding bottle system. Even if the gains are worth only 20%, it's better than the shi**y 100% f**ked up mess we're dealing with now.

Plus there'll be increased competition. We'll channel our tribalism to better use. It'll be less about who gets federal appointments and infrastructure projects, and more about whose economy is attracting the most FDI and whose indices are improving the most. Regions like the SW and SE will not be held back by other regions. And if what we need in Nigeria is disproportionate development, so be it. After all, even in the US, there is a California (where everyone wants to be in) and there is a Wyoming (where some people cannot locate on a map).

You cannot flip a switch to "change the total mindset, thinking, culture and habit of these people positively." That's part of the problem. We want quick fixes.

So we expect to elect a President that'll get there and imprison all corrupt people and the country will start running fine again. Except... That's obviously not working. It will never work. It goes against every physical law in the Universe.

We are relying on steady progress. First with the creation of EFCC and ICPC. Then with introduction of BVN... Now there's whistle-blowing.

That's a natural, positive progression. Not an hurried, unrealistic, break-neck 1-click fix.

If you want to change Nigerians, that's going to take time (I'm talking decades). And we should be talking about changing our children or even grand-children. There's very little than can be done for the older and this generation. Thus, it's a long-term plan. One that starts with changing the political structure, that'd launch the drive for each ethnicity to develop newer innovation and solutions that's uniquely adaptable for them. That's the true representation of the apothegm, "strength in diversity."

When Awolowo launched Free Education in the SW, it was a huge success. The Premier of the Eastern Region tried to copy and it was an epic failure. If it was a federal thing, we'd be wasting tons of money trying to make it work every where, when that is simply not possible. That's just one example.

-Lord

adegeye38:
I agree with you on the fact that Nigeria is a country that never should have existed, but still corruption is an epidemic that has rendered this country useless

Over 400 billion dollars stolen since independence and still counting, billions of dollars stolen every month, every sector, the federal government, the state government, the local government, the ministries, contractors, the private sector, the Judiciary, the law enforcement, Health sector, Churches, are all a bedrock of massive corruption.

Trillions spend on electricity with nothing to show for it a meager 3000, while other countries are generating hundreds of thousands

The allocations state governments and local government recieves that should have been used on boosting the economy of each state and infrastructure have all been stolen, Lagos for example is a bedrock of the highest corruption i have ever seen It economy is one of the best in africa due to massive IGR, but the infrastructures are one of the worst, decayed and rotting

d problem of corruption in nigeria is nt d leaders, itsd people, we are naturally selfish, self centered, greedy, destructive its in our blood we were born with it, we all contributed in destroying dis country, we love corruption, we encourage it, we justify it and we are currently enjoying the dividend our religiousness doesn't help either cus we wallow in religion hypocrisy, so morrally we are decayed, religion wise decayed, society decayed and d samesociety will keep on producing fools as leaders.Change must come from withinonly the almighty God can help us.

God will not help us.

This is not within his purview.

I never said that corruption is not an epidemic. But we must ask ourselves how did we get here, and why.

That is the question. Except we just want to be rabble-rousers and use the "corruption" buzzword as the sole scapegoat.

I maintain that corruption is the symptom of an underlying problem.

I don't want to write another long epistle. But when you have the kind of system Nigeria runs, the huge population, and the diversity in ethnicity and religion, you have the perfect recipe for corruption to thrive. The conditions are perfect for corruption to thrive.

It's why even when the whites come here to do business, they bend to our ways. Likewise when law-abiding Nigerians leave the shores and go to a place where the conditions are not suitable for corruption, Nigerians become far less corrupt and more successful. Case in point, Nigerian-Americans being the most educated group in America. We beat the Jewish Americans, Indian Americans, and Chinese Americans (very formidable groups with more numbers) to get that coveted tag.

So, easy on the blame tag there. Nigerians in the diaspora and Nigerians here are the same genetically. They just live under different rules and conditions. Which is why I said corruption is just a symptom.

Change the rules and the conditions, and corruption will slowly fizzle out (it wouldn't be easy, but it is possible).

And all I'm saying is that the critical step of sketching an actionable plan to formulate said rules and conditions is practically impossible because of the numerous interests championed by a bloated demography and ethnic bias. That's my theory. The theory may have holes, and that's why I posed the question.

-Lord

[quote author=engrchykae post=53723201][/quote]Exactly my want. It's the classic "angel" "devil" scenario.

The so-called youths who would take over are the current councillors and aides to current politicians. They're already part of the problem. So, fairly if we were to do a "Ghana" on the political elite, more youths than "old men politicians" would also have to go.

The Senate President and Deputy Senate President both have over 500 aides combined. More than 60% fall under the youth tag.

Our population and cultural diversity can be both a blessing and a curse. Now, they are a curse. And more importantly are preventing the possibility of us utilizing them effectively to be a blessing.

-Lord

grandstar:
Name? :

If you can't use Google, I'm not replying any more of your comments.

-Lord

delivryboy:
You started your write up with the aim of buttressing your earlier point (population and homogeneity) but you got yourself derailed and consumed by other pre-existing ideas, I really don't get your point, are you suggesting Nigeria be split into 400 new countries to suit each of its 400 ethnic groups? Or you hope some Nigerians vanish away to reduce the POPULATION?

Corruption has been in existence long before "1985" you quoted (Refer to "Man Of the People" by Chinua Achebe - 1965)

The rest of your write up is totally incoherent and can not gain much marks if passed for an article in an examination.

Maybe if you attended your English classes, I wouldn't have to break things to alphabet level before you understand.

That you didn't understand the difference between institutionalized' and started' just makes me want to take back everything I've typed to you. And to find that you were able to make a prognosis of Nigeria's problem with your shoddy comprehension just give credence to the fact that you're a sound board. You echo what others tell you. Completely incapable of sorting out issues yourself.

I wasn't trying to connect an intellectual chord with someone like you. That is as baseless as pouring water into a basket.

-Lord

Brightology2:
Lugard

A special place is reserved for that man in hell (if it exists).

-Lord

adegeye38:
It would still be how it is now, d prob with nigeria is nt abt population check china 4 example or india, the prob wit naija is maasive corruption, from every nigerian

I don't have the time to spell it out to everyone who quotes me.

Nigeria's problem is not corruption. Corruption is only a symptom. Corruption is a relatively new phenomenon. The person that institutionalized corruption in Nigeria is still alive. He started ruling in 1985. You can guess the person.

China is more homogeneous than Nigeria (language is Chinese, culture is Chinese, there's no religion, they have rich homogeneous history going back at least 1,000 years, and there are only 56 ethnic groups for a population of 1.3b people).

India may have around 2,000 ethnic groups for a 1+b people population, but the country is far more homogeneous than Nigeria. Almost 80% is Hindu. Hindi is the major language. Hindustan is an informal name of the country. It reflects in the Indian culture, dressing, cuisine, and identity. These people have been staying together sharing the Indian identity for over 1,500 years.

You can't compare that to Nigeria with more than 400 ethnic groups for only 180million people (50 million people in 1960, and we've lost some ethnic groups). There is less than zero homogeneity in Nigeria. Less than a 100 years ago, our great grand fathers didn't know the people they were lumped in together to form a country.

And this heterogeneity fueled corruption. It is why not too long ago, 3 of the most corrupt Northern leaders alive came together and said their Patron Abacha (arguably the poster child of corruption with billions of dollars stacked abroad and still being returned) was not corrupt. One of the corrupt Northern leader that passed that vote of confidence was a direct appointee of Abacha to head one of the agencies in the same petroleum ministry that Abacha pillaged. That same leader is the current president who is insulting every reasonable person's intelligence by talking about being anti-corrupt.

Interestingly, none of Abacha's immediate family members have been prosecuted by the Nigerian state. But the wife of the immediate past president who does not have a property abroad, foreign account, nor sent any of his kids for elite education abroad is being prosecuted while here husband is still alive, while the widow of Nigeria's most disastrous dictator is treated like royalty and waltz in and out of Aso Rock to this day with impunity.

And perhaps understandably, you have people from the ethnicity of the immediate past President and ex First Lady calling it persecution.

Tomorrow, when a Southern President goes there to do same, it'd be termed persecution by the Northerners. This is a country where a Southern President killing Northern terrorists is unacceptable by Northern leaders, but a Northern President killing Northern terrorists is acceptable by same leaders.

Similarly, a Southern President cracking on Southern militants is acceptable by Southern leaders (killing of John Togo), but a Northern President cracking on Souther militants is unacceptable by same leaders.

Corruption is not Nigeria's problem. If you believe that, then you could very well believe that the Earth is flat because you are currently standing on a flat surface.

-Lord

bettercreature:
It's not about population it's corruption

The only places that are near free of corruption on the planet are the modern, futuristic, countries in Scandinavia. All of them have less population and are more homogeneous than Nigeria.

Every country in the top 20 most populous and cultural diverse countries has substantial corruption including the US of A.

Nigeria's case is special because when corruption was slowly becoming the norm into public sphere notably in Shagari, Buhari's first tenure, and culminating in Babangida's time as dictator; nothing was done to hamper it. Now that it has grown into a pervading monster that's imbibed in the Nigerian DNA, it's the same population and ethnic diversity that fed its growth that prevents it's obliteration.

Corruption in Nigeria is a symptom, not a problem. Take away this feeding bottle system, and you'll stop hearing of billions of dollars vanishing or not remitted. Look at what Awolowo was able to do with proceeds from Oil Palm and Cocoa in the West in a homogeneous region and low population in the short few years he was the premier and compare it to what Nigeria's federal rulers since Ironsi have done with proceeds from oil in a non-homogeneous Nigeria and rising high population.

You'll find that corruption in Nigeria has a birth date, and it grew into the 40+ year old adult that it is today.

Saying corruption is the sole problem in Nigeria is part of the grand plan of the elite to shift focus from providing solutions that tackle the real problem. Because they know that as long as this disastrous federal structure remains, no man born of a woman can tackle Nigeria's corruption head-on. The most anyone can do is stamp intra-party, intra-religious, or intra-ethnic corruption, while corruption by any person not in the same party/religion/ethnicity is stopped, money retrieved and shared between those who are in the party/religion/ethnicity. (Spoiler: this is what is happening under Buhari).

In the end, this favors the political elite because switching allegiance is as easy as reciting A, B, C. Same thing happening in the federal trickles to the states, local governments, civil service, and private sector.

-Lord

Agimor:
Population is an advantage for speedy growth if well annex. Check out China.

China has only 56 ethnic groups (with 1.3 billion people). Nigeria has more than 400 (with only 180 million people).

China banned religion. Nigeria's religious divide is sharp between North and South.

China runs a highly efficient government that is communist in name, social ideology, and most spheres of Chinese life but capitalist in economy. If there was change in economic policy by Mao, China would have still being a cesspit of poverty. They were able to make that change because of the homogeneity of the Chinese polity.

That cannot happen in Nigeria, where we still have people complaining about and even thinking of reversing ordinary sold electricity assets, when the alternative is continued unbridled corruption and inefficiency.

If Nigeria was more homogeneous, it'd be easy for the country to come together, realize that the current structure is a disaster, and seek actionable steps to restructure.

-Lord

grandstar:


Dont take it too serious.

Only Egypt consist primarily of one ethnic group which are Arabs.

Algeria and Libya both have large amounts of indigenous Berbers. They are like the light skinner Tuaregs that we see begging in Lagos. Botswana has more than 1 ethnic group.

Somalia has more than 1 ethnic group.

-Lord

maasoap:
Neither the population nor the multi ethnicity is our problem. We're simply kleptomanics in this country. I'm even surprised by your post about the population and ethnic.

We're kleptomaniacs inundated by a population and ethnic problem that axes our ability to make decisive changes without raising ire from at multiple quarters.

For example, there has been a recommendation to reduce the size of the civil service. Most Nigerians agree that it is bloated. But when it's time to downsize, you'll start hearing, they're only removing Fulanis or Igbos or Yorubas or Southerners versus Northerners.

Nigeria has grown from a population of barely 50 million people at 1960 to over 180 million in 2015. By 2050, we'll become the 3rd most populous country at current rates (we might get there sooner), taking that spot from the US.

There are no checks and we've never had a proper census. With piling debts and an increasingly divided country along ethnic and religious lines, we will not be able to fully take advantage of this rise. Rather, in the years to come we'll still be struggling for basic issues like food security, child mortality rates, and the remaining standard third world problems.

With the current structure we are under, the population and ethnic diversity is a hydraulic press sucking the life out of most Nigerians.

-Lord

grandstar:
Like Somalia

Somalia is an outlier.

For every Somalia, there is a Botswana, a Libya (before the neo-West destabilization), a Egypt, a Rwanda, and an Algeria.

In fact the odds that Nigeria will be a Somalia if were were not ethnic diverse is less than 20% (and that is conservative). And most of that is for the possibility that the Hausa-Fulanis are the only or sole major tribe accounting for 70+%. If any of the southern tribes accounts for 70+%, the odds go below 10%.

Answer intelligently.

-Lord

delivryboy:
If Nigeria had had one tenth of its population and single ethnic group and monotheist but with the same crooked mind set, Nigeria would still be this bad, maybe worse. My friend, population is an advantage in most highly populated countries so is ethnic and cultural diversity.

Nigerians didn't always have a crooked mindset.

Before the civil war, armed robberies was alien to Nigeria. We only had thieves and pick pockets. Before Shagari, corruption was a purely political affair. So, Nigerians have not being a corruption-ridden country from day 1. A lot of bad decisions got us here, and the good decisions that'd take us out are hampered by the dangerous mix of ethnic and population diversity.

Na my person, we still dey benefit, na we plenty person are hindering some tough decisions this country have to make like fiscal restructuring.

-Lord

darkckUSA:
Our problems are not population or tribes... Blame the old school political elite..

The old school political elite are human beings too like every one of us who rose through the rank and file and represent everything that is wrong with Nigeria. They did not come from Mars.

We've had two generation of politicians and a third one in the works. All of them are the same, and the newer are worse. So, selecting one set of politicians as the culprit just fits the narrative of looking for a scapegoat.

Eliminate the old school politicians and leave things same way, and we'll have a new crop that'd do worse than them.

-Lord

delivryboy:
If Nigeria had had one tenth of its population and single ethnic group and monotheist but with the same crooked mind set, Nigeria would still be this bad, maybe worse. My friend, population is an advantage in most highly populated countries so is ethnic and cultural diversity.

Really?

The only success story of recent times with same cultural and demographic diversity as Nigeria is India. And it had very little to do with the diversity, India has always been a successful nation. Even when it was subcontinent and still wasn't split into today's Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, India was the most prolific civilization in the East.

Every major success story since the end of the third war, from Brazil to Malaysia to Qatar, UAE, Singapore, Japan, Chinese you name have lower population or are less ethnically diverse.

It's just a question I'm posing.

What if Nigeria was solely made up of the Yorubas or Igbos with everything else as the same? I fail to think thing will be this awful.

-Lord

Sometime I wonder what Nigeria would have been like if our population was much smaller and had just one ethnic group.

-Lord

deji68:
Baba and searching Sha.. certi search . Land in PH search..Ministers search....

Who knew you had a sense of humor?!

-Lord

Blue3k:
Lol at least we know he isn't thin skinned. If he doesn't swing ban hammer.

I dey wait am.

The very first post I made with this account after they axed my main account wrongly was to take a swipe at the mods.

They already know a ban is counter-productive in my case.

But to the topic. How would an employee be so stup*d as to make that statement (I'm referring to Mynd44 statement). It's like an employee while in the presence of his/her employer saying it's okay for other employees to steal from their employers/companies.

It's shooting oneself in the foot, and I'm not surprised one bit that Mynd44 said that. I can gesticulate his IQ score with the number of fingers on one hand.

-Lord

Mynd44:
So your employer deserves to know where you are while on vacation?

Okay oooo

Seun, note what this one is saying oooo.

An employee that sees nothing wrong in another employee telling lies about his health status and taking indefinite vacation without recourse to the employer should receive a pink slip.

You are one of the most unintelligent mods on NL, and mods wen no get sense plenty.

-Lord

EverestdeBliu:
Well, that was in 2009 when the constitution had no provision for such.
We are in 2017 now,and the president/governor must not be incapacitated for 90days(3months),else their Deputies take over. #Welcome2Nigeria.

Please provide a link or resource to support your statement. Alternatively, quote the section of the constitution where this is stated.

-Lord

freeze001:
I wonder why some pigs will open their mouths wide n say d health status of the president doesn't have to be revealed, in other words, Nigerians are of no importance and don't deserve that information!

I will be surprised if the AG responds to this or releases any substantial information because this government has displayed so much impunity and have seen the 'worst' gullible Nigerians can do which is to vote them in. With their sit-tight military mentality, they will rather subvert n suppress the will of the people just to perpetuate themselves in power.

I still can't get over the excruciating ignorance of Bola Tinubu that wil open his own rotten buccal cavity to say that slow death of the naira compared to the dollar and other currencies doesn't matter because we earn salaries in naira and we are not importers n exporters! I cannot fathom how he is a 'jagaban' with zero economic knowledge! If the dollar-naira exchange rate didn't matter why was it a major campaign point? Maybe that part was directed at importers and exporters, as if Nigeria is not an import-dependent, consuming country down to petroleum products that practically power d economy!

Tinubu is overrated.

-Lord

akorakor:
Some persons might just need cash urgently and he is using wat he has to get wat he wants...just my opinion

It's common sense to go with a 'sound mechanic' when buying a used car.

It's just that many Nigerians are in the habit of cutting corners and making reckless decisions just to 'economize.'

-Lord

babyfaceafrica:
not in Nigeria

India has more than 2,000 ethnic groups, more than 1 billion people, and India is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions (although 2/3 of the population is Hindu but not hugely more divided than Nigeria that's sharply divided into a Muslim North and Christian South). Yet India is one of the top 10 economies of the world.

Nigeria with less than 500 ethnic groups, less than 200 million people, and with only two major religions is supposed to be too multi-cultural to work?

The major problem with Nigeria is the political structure. Every other problem from corruption to tribalism to religious intolerance is a symptom of that problem.

-Lord

Historically, Nigeria only makes critical changes at the 11th hour.

Peaceful restructuring will not happen in Nigeria because restructuring is the darling of the opposition.

There is no body in the high rank of the polity who wants restructuring. Atiku is using his talk about restructuring to cozy up with the populace, like Tinubu did. The Nigerian people are too daft to realize they need to press for restructuring, because they only listen to what the politicians tell them.

And for now, they are sold on anti-corruption as the solution to Nigeria's woes, while they are completely oblivious of the fact that eradicating the system (I mean the entire country) of corruption with the current feeding-bottle federalism is IMPOSSIBLE!

The polity has the nation and its populace wrapped around their fingers. They'll only consider restructuring when they do not have another choice. And from my observation, that can only happen when the country is in a deep ethnoreligious crisis (akin to a civil war) with secession of regions in the cards, and the only way to sue for peace and keep Nigeria as one is to restructure the country.

So, like every change that has happened to Nigeria since 1960, many Nigerians will have to die before the country will be restructured. It's the grim reality.

-Lord