₦airaland Forum

jude33084: The rest will change one day except the cancelled one.

I doubt.....especially on the oil one.

But for me the real issue is that Nigerians do not force their leaders to do well at all. We really don't want a good leader...because a good leader would make it difficult for most of us to do the little corruption we do ineveryday life and hold us all to standards...which we do not like.(That is why Muritala had to die.....he made it diffiicult for small time and big time corruption).

Oil dependence is what really annoys me. Goodluck and the PDP are not doing the needful to take us off oil. Things like marked increase in technical and vocational education, improving infrastructure,ending petty corruption.

Finally, I think this Governemnt needs to do something about tribalism.....the US spends a lot of time and money fighting racisim...why not Nigeria?

cold: You still haven't answered my question.What exactly is the role of prayer/God in the scheme of things?

You pray for guidance...then you listen closely for what that guidance is.

You do not pray to feel religious, or when you have actually heard from God on the right things to do.

Which is the problem with these prayers at aviation...they are praying to feel religious, and they know what is the right thing to do, but won't do it.

Thus their prayers are bunk.

Afam4eva: The title of this thread will come as a rude shock to a lot of people considering the fact that i'm neither a sycophant nor a paid agent of Jonathan and what i'm about to say here is not necessarily related to developmental strides of Jonathan which is not obvious to a lot of us. I won't join the bandwagon of those folks who keep telling us how Jonathan has changed Nigeria in his short stay as president. Jonathan is not a saint and has not lived up to the expectations of majority of Nigerians but neither did our past leaders including Obasanjo. But if there's one reason why i will want Jonathan to continue as our president, it's due to the fact that him being a present presents us with a new political dimension from what we've had for decades now. Ordinarily, someone of Jonathan's caliber would not have mounted the exalted seat of the presidency if not for the fat that befell his former boss, Yaradua. When Yaradua was presented to Nigerians, those that chose him wanted a vice president for him and they wanted someone that would be seen but not heard. They needed someone who would do their bidding without asking questions. They had the opportunity of presenting the likes of Donal Duke, Peter Odilli who were more more popular as far as that region was concerned but instead they went for a Jonathan who was the governor of a Bayelsa state and who didn't exactly have the political clout as he got to that seat due to what befell his oga at that time. So, we were presented with Jonathan and many of us top he would remain a figure head under Yaradua but as fate could have it, Yaradua died and Jonathan had to fill that void. I'm not sure this is what the political heavyweights or the cabals who put him there were expecting. They had a game plan and Jonathan becoming Nigeria's president couldn't have been part of the plan. The political atmosphere was boiling as at when Yaradua died and those in power were hesitating to give Jonathan the full powers to take up from where Yaradua stopped and that was because Jonathan did not belong to that caucus of political leaders who had held the nation to ransom and they knew Jonathan could squash their plans. When they eventually gave Jonathan the power to become a substantive president, a lot of people were expecting him to cause a political revolution and this was what necessitated the protests by civil society groups for him to be made the substantive president. Some months after Jonathan was made the president, a lot of people were disappointed cos it seemed Jonathan was going the way of his predecessors and a lot of people called him a weak and ball-less president cos he was very slow at making decisions and they felt he was receiving order from God knows where. Over the years, i have watched Jonathan grow in confidence and it can be seen even in his boldness when being interviewed on TV. Today, Jonathan has become more bold by the day and it seems to be that he has started making decisions independent of those cabals that put him there. I think this is the first step of moving away from the status quo. We have seen the ramblings in the letter that OBJ wrote Jonathan. We have also heard the likes of IBB, Atiku and other elder statesmen calling for the head of Jonathan. We have also seen people who we thought inherited PDP from their father moving over to the opposition party. I think this calls for celebration because when Satan criticizes someone then that person must be doing something right. Jonathan may not be the best leader we can have. Far from it. But i think he represents a paradigm shift from the status quo that has been molded by the cabals who have held this nation to ransome since 1970.

Not really.

We are still

1.Dependent on oil

2.Corrupt and tribalistic

3.Poor power supply

4.Poor rail and other infrastructure

5.Poorly funded education

6.Poorly funded youth development

7.The same cabals are still incharge...new management.

Anyways, Jona cananot be the catalyst for change because Nigerians do not want change....they want to chop money.(Which is the main reason why people want Jona in power...and why some want the north in power.).

Sorry...but change ain't happening....and things will get worse once the oil price crashes.

cold: Thisis exactly why Nigeria remains a laughing stock in the comity of nations. Rather than doing the right thing,they supplicate to an imaginary friend. Pray tell,does this god fly planes? Or is he an avionics expert? What exactly is his role in the scheme of things? Just makes you wonder what exactly is the problem with the black man?
Prayer does everything but...

There is nothing wrong with praying....it is listening to God that Nigerians need to do more.

Most of the time Nigerians pray to feel religious. They forget that part of praying is listening to what God has to say.

That is why we are not prospering as a nation..we are not doing the listening aspect of praying.

I think we do not need prayer...rather we need...

1.More investment in aviation by private organisations..so that we can have newer planes in the Nigerian sky.

2.A better run Nigerian airways, run by a private organisation....that is how British airways and Emirates went from being jokes to modern airlines. Nigeria airways was run aground because too many people used it as their personal money tree....

3.Airports should be run as public private partnerships. Was in Abuja airport...and it is still in a mess.....time Government stopped running all the airports..time we had Airports run for profit.

4.Time we got a made in Nigeria airplane...by increasing investment in industrial training and infrastructure.

[quote author=nijanigga]But a good example of a devout practicing Muslim is the pe.do.ph.ile senator Ahmed Yerima and I didn't hear Muslims condemning his defiling young innocent girls. Or maybe Emeka is not converting to the real Islam.

Re- underaged marriage. Note that Iam not defending Yerima or underaged marriage.

Back in the day, when mortality rates were high and you had a low chance of making it to your 40TH birthday, child marriage was desirable. Hence the Muslim founder marrying a girl at the age of 9....back then there was no such thing as antibiotics, or modern medical care. Catching malaria in the 7th century could mean a death sentence.

And note that until as recently as the 80's...many rural areas in the North have limited exposure to modern health care. Plus, they are highly dependent on agriculture...and you need many hands to farm. Hence the high rate of child wives.....taking advantage of a woman's fertile period to produce as many children to farm(and also to ensure that many kids survive too..)

Perhaps if we mechanise farming up North and increased access to education and health.....child marriage would reduce.

Aisha died in her 50's BTW....today we would say she died 'young'....back then she was at a ripe old age!

Plus Mohammed was certainly no pedophile, particularly as most of his wives were older women and widows, and young women in their twenties. If he was a pedophile....there would have been a harem of child brides in his house.

How many people still remember the how Yoruba Muslims in Kano were slaughtered in 1999, including at least one who had his manhood cut off,later died in a southern hospital.They claimed that the youruba Muslims were not Islamic enough.

That had less to do with Islam and more to do with tribalism....considering as the attacks were in reprisal for a similar attack in Lagos on Hausas. Of course both attacks were wrong...and I blame the governemt for doing nothing to supress violence.

Religion has destroyed Nigeria. Take a look at the prosperous middle eastern countries, they enjoy life just the west,but illiterates here carry religion on their heads, yet CORRUPTION has eaten deep like cancer in our society.

Nigeria is underdeveloped because our economy is Dutch diseased, not because of religion. The UAE prospers because they do not rely on oil alone.

Read this article....Pass the books , hold the oil .http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/friedman-pass-the-books-hold-the-oil.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.......for a reason why Nigeria is not developed.

Orikinla: [size=18pt]Many Intellectually re-tarded Igbo tribal bigots on this topic.

Only an intellectually re-tarded and politically naive person as the OP will make such a recommendation.
No wonder the Igbos are the first tribe in the 21st century to establish baby factories as a cottage industry and kidnapping is their best trade after second hand clothes rag trade. Idiots.[/size]

I think it would be better if we dumped the tribe issue and started [size=20pt]WANTING[/size] our leaders to actually work for us.

Thing is, we don't.

owobokiri: Convert or no convert, if i see any mosque at urualla,i will organise a riot. Igbos have been spared of the diblitating trends associated with islam, less than 0.5% of igbo population are muslim, we are blessed.. we have christian dogmas and the menace called traditional religion to deal with, adding another layer of trouble shouldnt be of any help. Islamic inroad into igboland should be mercilessly repelled. To hell with freedom of religion. . This particular religion will bring no upgrade to the process of igbo cultural modernistion, so what is the use? You convert qnd you stay there.. On this one, we have to be culturally cocky before it becomes a trend.

Don't be a bigot.

Mr Ezeugo's conversion to Islam should not be a means for Christians to panic.

Look if I million Christians decide to convert to Islam, that does not make Christianity a false religion, or a failed religion.

Christianity is not about 'how many Christians there are in the world'.....but 'whether the Christians are imitators of Christ'.

I wish Mr Ezeugo well in his spiritual journey...and if he wats to come back home to Christianity.....that's all right with me.

So, let us Christians stop the silly anti-Islam bigotry.

[quote author=holly-pagan]Who is Emeka Ezeugo,he convert to what[/quote]Played for the Eagles in the early 90's

eaglechild: The OP is a Yorobar bigot.
Go and read the first page then you will understand her purpose.

We Yorobars are intelligent, we are the only tribes that go to school.

We are all graduates, we just don't like enrolling in JAMB or WAEC, and we prefer to live under rusted roofs because we are very humble and respect our parents so we will never pull down the roofs they spent their lifetime building.

Instead it is better to throw owambe party for them.

Your sarcasm becomes you.

BTW....we Nigerians need to stop voting for people on the basis of tribe and religion....and on actual performance.

And PDP over the last 14 years does not impress me much.

And I am not Yoruba, thank you, or Hausa or Igbo.

[quote author=rudedough][b]I get where you are coming from and i know where you're driving at but don't tell me that there was no power supply in Abuja or any other places except Lagos. That is being economical with the truth. Read the comments in those links and see Nigerians from all over commending the improvement. Everyone except the APC goons experienced the improvement.

I speak from my own experience living in the FCT.....power supply is still awful in all the area councils apart from Abuja Municipal.

And I can say the same for most parts of the country....outside Abuja and Lagos.

My solution is that we need to invest in Nuclear power....which could add up to 15,000 MW to the power supply. Plus, bring MAMBILLA Hydro on line, as well as more investment in solar energy...a joint project with Niger to build solar panel arrays in the Sahara could be of immense benefit.

Thermal power is fine, but limited.

Anyway let me ask you two questions only.

How many Nigerians can afford a dynamite explosive?

Quite a number can....seeing the explosions by people in MEND and Boko Haram....plus ye don't need dynamite to make a big boom.

Again, most of Nigeria's pipeline infrastructure is old and needs replacement.

Plus, NNPC has a big problem with sabotuers who routinely sabotage power lines so that they can award fat contracts to fix things(this problem predates GEJ...i first heard about it in the 90's). Anyways, the gas line has been repaired.

And of what interest does it serve Nigerians other than the desperate APC to blow up a gas pipeline supplying gas to 4 power plants?

If you can answer these questions righteously then you will know who blew up the gas pipeline. Why?[/b]

I doubt APC needs to blow up a gas pipeline to prove that power supply is poor in Nigeria...they just need to go to Abaji Area Council in the FCT....and ask about the power supply there, or many rural areas North or South...and they will get their proaganda.

Theproblem with discussions on GEJ'S presidency is that it always degenrates into a tribal war-fest.

Right now, we are being told by many supporters of GEJ that we must vote for him because he is a Southerner and a Christian.Likewise, the North says that GEJ should not be voted for because of an 'agreement'. Note that it is't about performance, or about a commitment to do right from both sides, but about getting my tribe into power.

Why?Because Nigerians as a whole are not interested in development, or in fighting corruption. The average Nigerian is far more interested in benefiting from looted oil money. And even if we divide, we would still think in the same way. That is why our political class at all levels does not perform well in office.....it is because Nigerians do not want them to perform. Nigerians only want them to give a share of the looted funds....so that they can enjoy.....and enjoy.

I think that whoever wins the elections in 2015....Nigeria will continue to be in a mess. Until Nigerians stop looking for crumbs and tidbits from the elite's tables and start looking for actual development....like better schools, better roads, high speed railways, 80,000 watts of power supply, end to corruption, etc. Nigerians should start being a serious people.....this isn't about my tribe or yours.It is about the legacy we leave for future generations.

[quote author=rudedough][b]My parents told me that they are enjoying power in early 2013, i confirmed this from my relative. I also confirmed from friends and they said it is not 24/7 but they are enjoying a relatively steady power supply.

Even there was a post about it on Nairaland but it will never make the front page because it does not serve the interest of the APC.

https://www.nairaland.com/1438317/lagosians-commend-phcn-improved-power

And on Business day

http://businessnews.com.ng/2013/09/13/lagos-residents-commend-government-improved-power-supply/

That is in Lagos. Power Supply is still awful in the rural areas across the country. Inthe FCT.....outside Abuja , there is little or zero power supply in the city.

PDP needs to invest in nuclear power like South Africa did.....they just aren't couragoeus enough to do it. Plus, they made a silly mistake in sacking Prof Nnaji.....they need to bring him back.

Power supply is still bad in most parts of Nigeria.

Suddenly, the APC got jealous and blew up the gas pipe line powering 4 power plants, sending us back to the stone age. Now you're denying that you did not witness the improvement. Why APC? Why make Nigerians suffer because of your political will? Why the struggle and desperation to get into power if you really want to serve?

Why should Nigerians suffer because you want to propagate the idea that GEJ is a failure? Stop the war and propaganda and embrace peace and civilization. If you want to proof GEJ wrong, do that in the poll. Stop destroying our infrastructure.[/b]

1.Do you have proof that APC blew up the pipeline? If you don't then you have just committed libel. Sad.

2.Is APC responsible for power supply to most of the nation that still has poor power supply.? No...it is PDP

3.Stop blaming the failures of the PDP governemnt on the opposition.....the PDP is in charge, not the APC.

4.PDP has a lot of improving to do.

[quote author=Obiagelli]Going by achievement and overwhelming love for Gej across the country, the pdp should pick enugu state governor as vice presidential candidate for 2015.

Chime has performed excellently well and this would also make easy the actualisation of an igbo president in 2019.

By doing that, you would further alienate the North and the South West...and the Middle Belt isn't even certain yet.
Sometines in politics, you have to make compromises.

We should do without the Northern born to rule mentality.

Another reason is that the pdp is purging itself of corrupt northern elements.

And therein is the problem Ihave with some GEJ supporters.

OP, some of you are so bigoted that you hate anything northern.Admittedly, the Northerners have also been seriously tribalistic (witness their arrogant behaviour in 2011), but that does not mean that GEJ's people should be tribalistic too.

If you want to win in 2015, ditch the anti-Northern and anti South West rhetoric. Get GEJ to fight corruption, improve power supply and spend more on infrastructure projects....and he may yet win.

Besides, it is high time we ditched this Northern or Igbo or Yoruba president nonsense and voted for performance or willingness to perform.If we want rotational presidency....put it in the constitution via National Assembly.

GEJ and Chime is NOT a good combination.

It would lose Jona votes of the North and the South West, as well as large segments of the Middle Belt.

Please....let us stop this tribalistic nonsense. Jona has lost a lot of friends. If he wants to win the elections, he betta get friends in the North and SouthWest...urgently.

This year, we 'celebrate' 100 years of amalgamation( for me, I think it is unnecessary!)...and what is on my mind is why Nigeria is underdeveloped.

To me, the following are not responsible for Nigeria's underdevelopment.....the Hausas/Igbo/Yorubas/Nigerians/the President/the PDP/the APC/Buhari/The witches,/the Whites/the Chinese/you insert your example.

Here are my main reasons(for now) why Nigeria is underdeveloped...

1.MISUSED EDUCATION.

The average Nigerian youth gets an education not to solve problems, but to get a comfortable desk job where he/she can get a big salary. Most Nigerian youngsters despise vocational and technical education as 'being for dropouts and neer do wells'.

The thing is....it is the graduates of vocational schools that form the basis of tomorrow's technical workforce...who will help to keep your industries running....and we don't have enough of them right now. Even our university graduated in Tech based courses want to go into business(read contract cornering) instead of using that education to innovate solutions around which an industry can be built.

So.....misused education.....

2.TOO MANY RESOURCES.

Nigeria has resources....and yet we refuse to use them to fire our industrial development. Instead, we sell them off on the foreign market....and share the money....which is then used to import everything...including things we can manufacture.

Countries without a strong industrial base are not developed.....and yes, that includes Saudi Arabia and Libya under Ghaddafi. Because if you are importing the weapons you use to stock your army...how do you expect to stand up against foreigners in war....the same foreigners who sold you the weapons?

3.TRIBALISM....

Nigeria is a sharing country...which is why when we discuss who becomes president or governor or even traditional chief....we do not talk about merit....we talk about 'whose turn it is'. This enshrines mediocrity....and leads to a mess.

What are your views on the above.? Any additional reasons why you think Nigeria is underdeveloped?

P'S-----This article explains a lot of what I say.....[url].http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/friedman-pass-the-books-hold-the-oil.html[/url]

Omooba77: Members of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) begins 100 days fasting in January 2014, to plead for mercy and shape individual destiny. This is not a show off, but a plea for all members to join in plea to God. The last time something like this was done was in 1993. May God bless every member of RCCG, our leaders, mummy and daddy G.O.

You know something...we all need to do a LOT of prayin in 2014...a lot.

[quote author=Uyi Iredia]Na me talk am ! And I no bring pics or evidence. That is up to you to decide. The Lagos state govt. is just better than other states. In faft, there is only so much a state govt. can do in a centralized power structure like Nigeria's but despite the progress we've recorded under Tinubu (who Fashola is a godson to and an extension of) what do we still have:

* On the whole, a very poorly planned urban centre. Estates are the exception to this but the prevalence of stalls or shops besides open gutters (attimes sewage). The almost useless ministry of physical and town planning which couldn't curtail collapsed buildings last year. Need I say more.

Yes...that is the fault of years of poor planning, which predates Fashola. And utting it in order is going to cost billions.....which may have to come out of your pockets in increased taxes.


[quote]* Lack of cheap mortage or low-cost housing. At the risk of underestimating, It appears since Tinubu has made nonsense of Jakande's example in this regard. For those who don't know, Jakande is said to be the brains behind the forgotten low costs estates at Ajah which are STILL uncompleted projects. We know Fashola for harassing slum dwellers, not a few were hurt by his policy. Slums will always remain as long as economic exploitation and rich-poor gap remain. They are a symptom that society has problems, not just problems.
I find it funny that LASG claims to have made housing accessible whereas it obvious the LASG has built few, if any, low-cost housing schemes.

So, what type of low cost housing do you want to build for people? The high rises one sees in the US and the old Soviet union that are despised by their occupants? Or a series of bungalows?

Besides, the thing is.....people will move in and promptly refuse to pay utiltiy bills, or maintain the houses. And don't think of starting a Government agecy to maintain the houses....because it will turn to 'Loot House'.!

* Roads still poor. Yes, a lot has been done by LASG in this regard but em not much. I say so even tho' there has rehabilatation of College road (linking to Iju road) in my area. Lagos has a dense network of roads given its population. And many are still in bad shape, especially those linking main roads, or those on the outskirts of the state. There are many. Even TVC_which Tinubu owns_shows them

Good point....although we do need to develop intra-city railways.....which is what is being done (slowly) in Lagos and Abuja.

* State schools still in bad shape. In truth, the state has a looong way to go in this area. Teachers still receive paltry sums. I was discussing last year (yesterday) with a former lesson teacher of mine. She said some new teachers get paid #10-15k monthly. Her school she teaches is not in good shape. In fact, forgetting the Millenium school at Oshodi which is airbrushed to show state achievements, and some haphazard renovations here and there, some even by concerned citizens. The state school infrastructure is still comatose. And BTW why did LASU students have to still be on strike despite the fact Fashola increased their fees ? That's mismanagement on LASG's part.

The thing is, state Governemts run too many schools.....and the education budget is not growing (which is why some Governeors are handing over to missions now!). Plus....education is expensive. Even now, school fees are subsidised heavily.

Thing is, state governemts need to hands off schools, and make them autonomous and increase fees drastically. But that would lead to protests...so the mess continueth.

Besides....how much are local communites investing in their schools?(and mind, not just in Lagos, everywhere else?)

* Better but not good for waste management. Lagos state has done well undrr Tinubu waste-wise. Tho' I wonder shether that is part of whitewashing the state. It's like what I did as a kid when told to sweep when I was lazy too. I will sweep the dust and hide under the carpet. Hide trash behind or under chairs etc. Just to make it seem neat when no real cleaning was done.

The thing is, no city in Nigeria wants to use trash to generate wealth. I don't know why.

@cap28

WEstern education merely transformed us into docile robots who unquestioningly follow the dictates of our white masters. Christianity came along and put the final nail in the coffin of our collective psyches. We are nothing more than glorified slaves of the white men. WEstern education taught us not to question anything and accept the white man as our lord and saviour.

Actually it is the way we used the Western education. The South Koreans et al used it to invest heavily in technical and vocational education(and BTW...THEY were heavily infested by that same Christianity.....and Indonesia Islam)....

As for accepting the white man as our Lord....have you not heard of Pan Africanism? ...Besides..

The problem is the way we used the Western Education.....to look for desk jobs, instead of developing technical and vocational education.

What can you do with an education that was designed to keep you in perpetual slavery? Don't you see how our leaders behave when they are in the presence of Europeans and americans?

Our education was not designed to keep us in slavery...indeed some Colonialists opposed the introduction of Western education on the grounds that it would 'spoil the African'!

Again, education is how you use it. The Japanese Education system, language aside is basically German. And the Germans emphasize technical education.

Development in South Korea would never have got off the ground if the united states was not in support of it - how come the same helping hand was not extended to Nkrumah when he approached Eisenhower for financial assistance in the development of the Volta dam in the 1960s ? Why was Nkrumah railroaded into accepting a world bank loan which put Ghana onto the road of indebtedness and financial ruin? Unless you want to tell me that Park Chung Hee was a greater visionary than Nkrumah. Please lets stop lying to ourselves and face up to the reality, Nkrumah had grand plans for Ghana which were openly scuppered by the United States govt along with the CIA.

The Volta dam was eventually built, not so? What needed to be done next was to focus on industries. But no, Ghana simply continued to depend on revenues from exports, like most African countries. Thing about dependence on exports...when the raw material gets uselsess...you are bankrupt.

Oh, and one thing about South Korea.....they have very little resources. So...industries. African countries on the other hand, have a mass of resources, which they sell to Westerners and the Chinese, and then'share ' the money among themselves....instead of developing industrial backbone. Plus the South Koreans invested in education. Finally, South Korean family industries are well run....not like Nigerian industries which are looted by the 'family' on the founder's death!

How about Burkina Faso - why was Thomas Sankara assassinated by French intelligence operatives? Do you think it might have had something to do with his plans to make Burkina Faso an economically independent country and loosen France's control over its economy?

Or that his friend Blaise wanted to be the ruler...

I like Sankara, but did he have plans to actually develop Burkina Faso as a country freeof reliance from cotton? No.

Congo had problems , but who created the problems? Wasn't it King Leopold of Belgium that annexed this country in 1885 and transformed it into his personal property?

Wasn't it this same Leoopold who enslaved millions of Congolese and forced them to work on rubber plantations? Wasn't this rubber exported to Belgium and the proceeds of its sale used to develop Belgium whilst Congo was left undeveloped?

Don't get me started on the genocide that he perpetrated on that country which resulted in the deaths of over 10 million Congolese people. In a nut shell Belgium, the US and the rest of Europe owe Congo a huge debt and the least they could have done was help rebuild the country but instead they chose to destroy it with the help of one of their puppets. Mobutu was recruited and assisted by Europe and America what is the point of talking about the way he looted, the issue is not how he looted but WHY he was even allowed into that position in the first place.

Yes...and South Korea was messed up by Japan for thirty years...and before that by China.....

Plus.....the problem with the Congo was simple....
1/.Relaince on exporting raw materials.

2.Leaders who looted and invested abroad..instead of at home.(Mobutu , as I said is similar to Suharto of Indonesia....the difference is that Suharto invested his loot at home...and then had to develop indonesia...or lese his investment would have been destroyed...while Mobutu invested his money in Swiss banks. The result....Indonesia in 1998 was developed, Congo in 1998 was underdeveloped.......and Indonesia too had brutal rule by the Dutch and the Japanese.

Plus...the excuse you use for the Congo was the same excuse some Congolese friends of Nzeogwu used to explain to him (Nzeogwu) back in the 60's why many of their countrymen were so lazy. Nzeogwu refused to accept that excuse. Niether should we.

Countries get messed up....yes true, and yes we should demand for justice. We should also demand that our leaders do the right thing. But in a country where people were referring to Abacha as God-sent, while he looted the country dry......

Indonesia is not a country that I think you would wish to emulate, are you aware that Suharto under instructions from the CIA eliminated over 2 million people in a space of less than a year?

The CIA drew up lists of people who were suspected of being communist sympathisers and these lists were handed to Suharto who instructed his thugs to systematically torture and kill these people - this is well documented in a documentary/film called "The Act of Killing" google it and see the horrors that were perpetrated on innocent people in that country. Anyone who wanted a fair chance in life by way of a more equitable system under a socialist/communist govt was butchered by Suharto's killers - is that what you wish for Nigeria? By the way this was done so that the US and Europe could implement neo liberal economic policies without having to worry about opposition groups within the country.

Yes, Suharto developed the country but only because he was told that in doing so he would be given a big share of money that would be generated from foreign investment, Suharto's regime was one of the most corrupt and brutal dictatorships in the world but the west turned a blind eye because of the huge returns they were making on their investments.

Have you asked about the price the indigenous people had to pay - the only beneficiaries were Suharto and his cronies and thugs while ordinary people (that is the ones who survived the death squads) ended up working in sweat shops making products for western multinationals - is that your idea of progress?

I am aware of all that....note that I never expressed admiration for Suharto or Mobutu(I called them both theives). I merely brought them up because I wanted to point out why countries with similar histories do so differently.

Both of them were CIA creations.....the difference is that one invested his loot at home, the other took it outside. The result...Indonesia, while not Shangri La,....is no basket case either.

If the US truly wished for a more developed Congo why did they assassinate Lumumba who for all intents and purposes was more than willing to go down the route of development of the country?

Lumumba was killed because he wated to ally with the Soviets....so Cold war politics.

But like I am trying to point out....the concept of a good leader is complicated. Sir Khama of Botswana (1966-81) was a Western imposed leader....and yet left his country in a great state. By contrast Sekou Toure was a leader free of the West....and yet his country was left in a mess.

The thing is.....the problem with most African leaders post independence was that they took the money from selling their raw materials and used it to develop more desk jobs to share the money...instead of developing the infrastructiure and the technical and vocation al education needed to develop Africa.

Black countries do not prefer to flog their resources to the highest bidder - sankara of Burkina faso wanted to control the resources of his country himself and this earned him a bullet in the head, Lumumba the same thing, Gbagbo wanted to limit france's involvement in ivory coast's economic devt , this ended up with ivory coast being invaded by france and his subsequent arrest and deportation and imprisonment.

The fact is that Lumomba's death too was linked to who controlled the rights to sell the raw materials. And that is the problem...because we are so resource dependet...we fight over who gets the right to sell the resources and share the money. Not how the North argues for power in Nigeria...not based on qulaifications...but on who controls the oil money. And most often they are killed by their coutrymen who want to cotrol the money..so that they can share it. Same for everyone.

Gbagbo was thrown out because he was a tribalist.......research the whole 'Ivorite' nonsense. and you will see why Ivory Coast has issues.....tribalism is a snake that bites you badly.

Qadaffi though not a black African incurred the wrath of Europe and America when he refused to allow their oil companies set his crude oil prices and take over the running of Libya's banking system. Prior to the invasion and devastation of Libya by NATO, Libyans enjoyed the highest standard of living on the African continent.

Qaddafi was a tyrant....and he was able to share oil money...after all Libya produced oil ten times more than Nigeria...and had a population of five -six million. ...so enough of the oil money tricked down to give an aura of goodness.

But my problem with Ghaddafi was that he did not use the oil money to develop an indigenous industrial system.....including a local arms industry(and before you ask...the chemical weapons he had were developed with foreign help). That was why he lost.

And his tyranny built up a lot of bitterness....in 1984...he massacared thousands in Benghazi.

The pattern is the same throughout Africa - European and American exploitation of black African

No, the problem with us Africans is

1.We look down on technical education.....and we prefer to use education to get 'a desk job where I will be eating money'. So in the process, we end up with a glut of university graduates with no job....and a lack of technicans....the chaps who keep an industrial economy running.

2.We have resources....which we refuse to use to fire our industries, because we feel that it is easy to import rather than manufacture.

3.We have leaders who steal from us....and then invest in foreign banks...because they are 'African chiefs'..to whom the people are nothing but a mass of slaves. Asian leaders, including thugs like Suharto and Park Chung hee...invest in their local economies.

4.Our family businesses are looted by the children and relatives of the Founder...whereas Asian family businesses are well run..Toyota is a fine example.

5.We refuse to spend on infrastructure projects like railways and electricity. Because we can always import genrators.

6.We view leadership as our opportunity to be big men....not developers.

7.We are so tribalist....whereas China(with over 50 tribes) and INdonesia(with over 200) while having tribalist issues....still somehow surbodinate it for the greater good.

8.We are corrupt. Please....alll those racist Europeans would like to invest in Africa....but who wants to invest in a country where YOU have to pay for security?

That's not true, Africans are entrepreneurial especially Nigerians, but the problem is that we are living in a world where the odds are stacked against us.

The bottom line is that the European would rather aid the progress of an Asian rather than an African.

Off topic...but that is not necessarily true. The good thing about colonialism is that it left us exposed to Western education. It is what you do with the Western Education that determines how you progress as a nation.

I will use South Korea as an example - in the 1950s the united states actively assisted this country in its economic development in order to ensure that it did not fall under communist control from china, compare that to the US's involvement in DRC in the 1960s.
DRC has an estimated mineral wealth of $24 trillion, the US rather than aid in the development of that country preferred instead to overthrow a democratically elected prime minister (Lumumba) and impose a corrupt dictator (MObutu) who presided over the economic destruction of that country for over 30 years - what stopped the US from applying the same economic policies that they applied in South Korea to DRC? It is apparent that the Europeans do not want to see the progress of the black African race but would rather over see the wholesale destruction and ra.pe of us and our resources.

Respectfully, I disagree with you for the following reasons...

1.South Korea in 1958 was an economic basketcase. Then in 1961....they got a millitary ruler called Park Chung hee....who was a brutal thug(he was shot dead in 1981)..but a brutal thug with an idea for industrial development. First he improved South Korea's transport infrastructure, then he startedand completed South Korea's Ajaokuta (a steel complex) in 1971....which jumpstarted their developemt. Plus, the heavy emphasis on education...something it has in common with China and Japan....and hence why it is developed.

2.Congo had a LOT of problems....begining with a small educated elite, and an army that by independence had all white officers(Nigeria by independence already had Black Nigerian generals).

As for Mobutu...the problem was not that he looted but in the way he used the loot. Mobutu came topower around the same time as Suharto of Indonesia....both were put in place by the West. Yet, Indonesia,by the 90's while not developed, was far better than Congo DR (In the 90's both Mobutu and Suharto were kicked out.) That was because Suharto used his loot to invest in Indonesia. Mobutu took his loot to invest in castles in Europe. The result was that Suharto had to develop indonesia....or else his investments would be damaged.....while Mobutu had no desire to develop Congo....all his money was abroad.

You see.....the problem with African leaders is not who supports them, or what ideology they yarn.....but how they lead.

As for the US....I am sure that they would have preffered a much more developed Congo than the mess Mobutu made it into. Because, when foreign companies invest in a country....they prefer that everything works. And I would argue that Mobut made things more difficult for his Western backers, rather than easy.

One more thing.....Black countries are rich in natural resources....while Korea, Japan and even China have little or not enough resources...so they have to become Industrial. African countries , on the other hand, prefer to flog their resources to the highest bidder...and sell same to earn maney..which is 'shared'.....leading to violence...and more underdevelopment.

And another thing. .....Korea has sucessful family run industries....like Hyundai and Daewoo. Nigeria ? Our family industires are run by men who get rich quick, then marry 'wives' who produce children, who are spoilt, and as soon as pappy dies.....share the loot.

Blacks historically are hardworking people, we were instrumental in building the white man's industrialised societies.
Lazy people are not enslaved.

Well, yes, we are hardworking.....but to what end? That is the question.

The issue of Asians opening shops in black areas is a big problem which needs to be addressed by black people, as far as I am aware no black person can set up shop in an Asian neighbourhood and expect to be successful so I see no reason why Asians should be allowed to run flourishing businesses in black neighbourhoods, especially given the fact that Asians can not stand black people.

True....though(I speculate here)...balck businesses fail because of poor business planning.

I think the reason blacks patronise Asian shops in black areas goes back to the low self esteem we collectively suffer whereby we accord more respect to foreigners than to each other - this is a legacy of slavery and colonialism.

No, because Asians work harder, and have better business sense. We should look at why they succeed and follow them.

Xtremely Coded: Cancellation Of 2nd Choice Option In Jamb UTME 2014 – What Do You Think Is the Reason Behind?

As you all are aware, JAMB has Cancelled the 2nd Choice Option for UTME 2014, This means that you can only Choose 1 University, 1 Polytechnic & 1 College of Education, No more Second Choice.

From my Observation, JAMB even went as Far as not allowing Student to Change their Institution as it used to be.

This will really slim down the Number of Admission Space in all Tertiary Institution in 2014.

What do you think is the Reason for JAMB to Take such Decision & how do you think it {will go}?




EDIT:-
i dy feel on top the world baba give me grace..........thanks to God oga seun,my moderators.........makinq frontpage dix first day of the year...........i climb on top aso rock dy dance *skelewu*

Well, here is what one needs to do.

1.Start studing earlier for JAMB.....at least 9 months previously before the exam.

2.Start solving as many past questions as possible.

3.Don't wait for EXPO. Take it from me...you do not need to go into the exam hall with the answers in your hand if you have read well enough.

4.If you get admitted into a college of education or poly...don't scream.....use this lemon to make lemonade. Make the best of your polytechnic experience.(My uncle went to Polytechnic...and became a successful accountant).

Two useful articles...

HOW TO STUDY FOR EXAMS......http://www.wikihow.com/Study-For-Exams

HOW TO STUDY FOR A-LEVELS(EQUIVALENT TO UTME).....http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/aug/22/gcse-students-prepare-for-a-levels

Only had experience of the UK.....I lived in a Northern UK town while doing a PG degree(Liverpool)....and I would like to say that the UK is pretty tolerant.

Though...the said town had four universities, and several international tertiary level style schools, which heavily recruited foreign students, which in turn brought money to said town.

So any racist behavior would be disastrous for the town's economy.

Like some people have said, Nigerians can be racist.....example, some Nigerians who refuse to agree to their children marrying a foreigner.

[size=14pt]Lord, this year I want to change,
and I've said that in the past.
but now my prayer is different
'cause I understand at last.
I wanted my own way before,
I ignored your loving plans.
But now I'm putting everything
into your nail-scarred hands.

I promise to obey you
out of gratitude and love.
I won't be giving orders
to my Father up above.

I finally realize the truth
and so I've changed my prayer.
The safest place for me to be
is in your gentle care.

Please be my shepherd, Jesus,
that's all I ask of you.
In good times and in bad this year,
Take my hand and lead me through.

Amen.

Jack Zavada[/size][font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font]

New Year resolutions

[size=16pt]Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.
Jonathan Edwards [/size]



[size=16pt]Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.
Goran Persson
[/size]

For the new year.....

Happy new year.

May the old troubles , trials and temptations all come to an end this night.

May you and your loved ones see new things each and every day.

Rejoice in the LORD ALWAYS!

So long as your BMI is above 25.....you are fat. Above 30=obese, .

It isn't a bad idea....

My only problem is that the teaching of Nigerian languages in this country is done in such a way that it is sometimes difficult for beginners to learn.

If the University can divide learners into beginners, intermediate and advanced classes, it would be much better.

Other universities should do same.....

Sorry Newcastle....

King Wenger......

Still calm, still calm