₦airaland Forum

@Aisha2,

Well done for making the right sort noise. I only hope that Mr President would take note. My best mate suffered same problem, but was one of the lucky few to be flown out. But for everyone luck chap, there are probably 1000s of unlucky people.

This is why I constantly come on here shout. A new Nigeria is only possible if Nigerians trully and earnstly seek it. There is so much worng with our society, I just cannot understand why we as a people cannot move to change our situation. We never really act as a people who want change. We should be taking our politicians to task, demanding they do thier job, rather than wait for constant payouts.

Very true Beaf, very true.

@Beaf,

these are well accepted facts in the outside world, why we as Nigerians fail to see this and act with the required urgency, I dont understand.

Ribadu has not declined, probably studying the environment properly before declaring. That said, I do agree with Big B1 that Nuhu may not be the best candidate for the top job, he is best suited to the top police job, were he is likely to make big inroads, but that said he represents change. and I believe he has the balls to challenge that evil that has kept Nigeria down for so long.

I think Nasir or Pat would be better choices, however they do not have the popularity of Nuhu. Maybe a Nuhu / Pat combo or Nasir /Pat combo.

terrible decision, once again GJ has failed. We should not be spending more that #150m, in a country were there is not real reason to celebrate

@ Beaf, AC on first thought might seem like the worng party, but it is the only party that has some sort of platform to challenge PDP. By the way, it is all so easy for us to sit and analyse this whole thing. The important fact still remains that if Nuhu does decide to run, how many people on here are prepared to vote for him and defend thier vote. Because what I sense is that we are back to this same old, same old, " he wont won, so I wont vote for him"

From initial thought, I dont think there is a single politician (including GJ), that can claim he ro she is likely to win the next election. it is still up for grabs, Nigerians as usual are not prepared to do what is takes to get credible and qualified people into power. We all sit here analysing things, and u know what, pdp might not even have to do anything special to claim victory.

I have always argued that Nigerians are far better off voting for change, but from what I can see, 2011 will not be different from 2007f. A country where people suffer so much, and yet are not prepared to do anything about thier situation.

GJ decision was flawed in the first place. I wonder who is advicers are. This should never have been allowed to happen. Saying that though, he has done a very brave and honorable thing by recognising his mistake and corrrecting it. It is very refreshing to see.

GJ just make sure you seek wise advise before you rush off and open your mouth, only to find that you will be eating your words not long after.

Please we are sending Udu to come and serve as houseboy, because that is all he is good for. I have heard good things about Rotimi, and that really warms my heart

Shey Delta state is near Rivers why cant we learn from them?

Na wha,

This is so so sad. But says a lot about our country.

No proper employment law, thats why people are getting away with murder. Dont forget this same Dangote was on telly recently flashing his new jet.

Anyway, my people these are some of the very basic reasons why we must all come together and seek a good Nigeria for all. We all have this selfish attitude and are not really our brothers keeper. There is so much wrong with Nigeria as  a country, just too much for us to ignore for so long. I know there is serious global economic issues, but Nigerians should be accorded so some of protection.

We must all fight so our kids dont go through what we have gone through, our generation is fast turning into a washout.

a desperate Thief. No shame

Well one can play on the sensitve side and say the kids should be left out, but just as some have said, Aaondoaka's actions did not spare lots of kids. He did not think twice about how his actions would prevent kids from going to school, or getting proper healthcare. By the way what are his kids doing studying abroad, why are they not enjoying the rotten educational system like every other Nigerian

If this will make the situp and take notice, I am for it. this same bloody fool deceived nigerians for months, so why should we have pity on him and his family. Expose them is what I say. Nigerians have suffered for far too long

My take on Nasir is that he has been actively trying to bridge the gap between North and South. His language is extremely moderate, and progressive. He seems to be asking the right questions about our country. Refreshing is what I say

Hi Guys,

I saw this and had to share.

Please review this from Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and then re-assess your position on him. Please be objective.

Introducing The Council For Youth Empowerment
By Nasir, June 22, 2010 3:08 pm

Nigeria won't grow rich with what's under our ground but will with what's between our ears.
Dear Friends,

Sometime ago on this blog and on my facebook fan page I wrote that Nigeria will never grow rich by what is under the ground rather wealth will come by what is between Nigerian’s ears.

In an effort to build entrepreneurial skills in Nigerian youths I want to institute a body to empower the youth of Nigeria. To this end, I have set up a Council For Youth Empowerment to be Headed by Berkeley Trained MBA – Otto Abasi Williams. The Council, which is completely independent of Malam Nasir El Rufai, other than being my brain child, will determine winning business proposals from the contest and empower Nigerian youths with my personal funds.

Membership of the Council includes: The Chair: Otto Williams who has an MBA from the University of California in Berkeley and has passed through the Haas school of Business. Pastor Mike Iyoke, a Youth Pastor and head of Michael Iyoke Ministries based in Benin. Pastor Iyoke is also a lawyer with 10 years post call experience. Also on the Council is Malam Salihu Lukman, a Nigerian reformist and youth enthusiast.

On my facebook page, and my blog http://www.nasirschronicles.com/ they are announcing a contest for Nigerian youths to send in proposals for a Small and Medium Scale Enterprise that they want to start up. Please send proposals to councilforyouthempowerment@yahoo.com. Do make sure to include your full names and a day time phone number. There are no conditions other than that the idea be original and the participants must be Nigerian citizens living in Nigeria with business ideas designed to be implemented in Nigeria.

The winning bid as well as the second runner up will each receive $5,000 from me. It is my intention to help rebuild the fading principle of innovation by demonstrating to Nigerians youths that they will never grow rich by what is under the ground but by what is between their ears.

Members of the council will as part of the initiative offer free consultancy services to youths with the winning bids. Council members will visit the business locations physically and Consultancy services would be continued until the business venture moves from the start up stage to the stage when it is stable and profitable.

The winning bids will be announced in the month of July 2010 on my facebook page, my blog as well as on the Nigerian print and electronic media.

Malam Nasir El Rufai

See, I think we should start by demanding transparency. I want to see the document that states the we need $6BN. Let them publish the consultation document that gives a clear indication on how they arrived at this amount. I am begining to think that this is a figure they plucked out of the air. Besides i am not convinced that Nigeria has that sort of Electrical resource demand.

Well thats good coming from Buhari. Buhari may not be a member of pdp, but he is entitled to critisize a very divisive policy by a useless party. That is what being in the opposition is all about.

Good on the general.

The scale of the celebration is totally unecessary. It time of great difficulty for all, it is so insensitive of the government to spend this sort of money. My hope is that all this is a big lie. If true, then Jonathan has really shown Nigerians his true colour.

In all honestly, we should not be spending more than #250M, not at a time of difficulty for all

Good

Well, I am not sure I was expecting this problem to be tackled and fixed by Jonathan. We lack the collective will to move our country forward, Until we deal with that issue, Nigeria will remain where it is - rotten and Finished

This is an opportunity to be part of change, for those who can make it please go

@Chidichris,

a very limp attempt at making a very dry joke. The point still remians that we must all register, and vote, and most importantly we have to start learning how to defend our vote.

Inspite of what most people say, there is still a lot of good left in Nigeria, we just need to let it shine

Yes I had a voters card for the last election, I am not sure if it is still valid, but I will do exactly what I did the last time, That is queue up for how long it takes, register and Vote my Conscience.

The simple truth is that if you dont study, and I mean study, you will fail. And the same applies to Nigeria, if we dont try, and I mean make a real commitment to succeed we wont. We as a people have gotten too used to the easy way out, we want to cheat our way to success, it doesnt work that way.

@bluetooth,

my broda, I understand our peoples frustration. I feel the same way, but I am also convinced that things just dont happen, you make them happen. if we want good governance, then Nigerians have to fight for good governance. it will not happen in a day, but the real big shame is that after 50yrs we still cant wipe our backsides.

lets not forget what the south Africans went through, i mean these guys suffered real wicked evil oppression, and today remain a testimony that one can overcome from all sorts of adversity.

Freedom is not cheap, Democracy is not easy, one must fight for it. What troubles me most is the totaly lack of real desire from Nigerians to drag themselves out of where we currently are. there is no collective will

@Chdichris,
why forcing ourselves to be together when we are all convienced that it is not working.

I agree with you. I have often said that, Jonathan's primary task would be to call for that National Sovereign conference. We are at a stage that we must agree either how e are going to live together or go our seperate ways. Nigeria as one entity is not functioning

In my opinion, I would like to see the Labour party challenge PDP, my understanding is that they are the only ones with some sort of socialist ideology, with the backing of the union. If properly organised and led, they stand a very good chance of defeating pdp.

I have been shouting about this thing for years, na look look 2011 go catch us again. Business as usual

@Bluetooth,

you made a very interesting comment about the politicians not having ideology, true, but that applies to all the political parties in Nigeria. They all stand for nothing. But then again you need to ask yourself a political party like AD that lets its opposition PDP, infilterate and corrupt the system, never had a solid foundation from start.

You see, I belong to the school that believe that there are enough intelligent and smart Nigerians to make the change we all so desperately seek. the big problem is the desire, collective will and perseverance to go get that change. The spirit might be willing the drive is absoluetly lacking. I have never understood why, but this has always been a Nigerian thing. Even when I tell my story on how I queued for well over 12hrs to register to vote during last election, because i so believed in the need to be part of change, and how Nigerians had to believe that they had to be part of that change, I saw lots of people fall by the wayside. not because they did not want change, but they were not prepared to pay the price for change. Even a small this as queuing for 12hrs ti register to votre was just too much. Now we need to find out how the African Americans did it, what if the South Africans.

We have very good candidates that are fully qualified to lead Nigeria out of her troubles, but Nigerians must be prepared to do the hard work. There is a saying "No food for Lazy man", well "No freedom and true democracy for lazy citizens"

I dont understand why you guys are all shouting foul, as if you have all seen ghosts. I have been shouting on this forum for years, that Nigerians must wisen up and chase after a credible oppositon. Some of the names I suggested were quickly shot down, and in some cases were accused of corruption as well. We do not have a credible opposition to figth this evil called PDP. PDP know that, and as far as they are concerned it is business as usual.

So lets all stop crying like children and wisen up. we all have an opportunity to join a credible opposition, that is if one comes along and fight. 2011 is a very important year in the history of our great country, and we can all chose to be part of history by defending our votes. Let us start looking at possilbe candidates, and I would advice that we leave sentiments behind.

I for one will always favour a Nasir El-Rufai  / Pat Utomi combination. I am personally convinced that these guys are a winning combination if you dont think so, please visit thier facebook pages and follow what they have been doing.

That should be Jonathans principal task. We must have that National Soverign Conference. Nigerians mus be allowed to decide how and if we must remain in such a loveless shotgun marriage

But I have been saying it that PDP represents the biggest EVIL in that country. Get Rid of that evil club, and half your problems are solved. Short live the PEOPLES DESTRUCTION PARTY of Nigeria

Well in Nigeria anything is possible, and by the way Has Atiku not been re-admitted, what about IBB, even Potential Convict Ibori, is still a member of the biggest Thiefing club in the world.

So in the words of Warri man "Na today Nyash dey back?"

Well well well, this isnt new. The country is in such a state that it is constantly being raped from all corners. If this is not bad enough, look at what is happening in PDP. PDP is a direct mirror of the total rotten state of our country.

Look at is members

1: IBB
2: Atiku
3: Alams

My mum used to say, show me your friends and I will tell you who you are

@Bluetooth,

Na true. Guys let me introduce the National Audit Commision (NAC). Probably headed by Nasir El-Rufai or Ribadu. Lets starts from there

@Beaf,

You don come again, but I agree with you. What is it with us as a people. Does the Senate president not have any shame, he wants to be paid #1BN every year.

There is absolute lack of accountability in Nigeria. No audit no challenge. Take my state for instance, who actually audits the state governor and his commisioners. Who actually challenges what they spend the states money on. Where is the opposition? now there is new begining to filter through that he has stopped all work (that is if he did anything in the first place) in preparation for elections. Should the executive governor of a state allowed to do this? should he be allowed to hold a whole state to ransome (with our funds), because he plans on contesting the next election. Should people be allowed to do this. So you see this bad behaviour is not unique to the Senators, the whole system is damn rotten.