₦airaland Forum

Ishilove:
I'm hungry and I can't think straight right now. What is wrong with that?

naptu2: The Dantata/Dangote family have always been involved in charity work. However these deeds often go unnoticed, because of the family's principles of maintaining privacy and lack of flamboyance.

Al-Hassan Dantata was passionate about education. He backed the establishment of a western style school in the Dala area for hausa (I.e non-fulani) traders' children in the 1930s and established the Dantata english and arabic school in 1944.

Mariya Dangote (Aliko Dangote's mother) donated a hospital, which she built at Rijiya Lemu, to the Kano State Government in 2003.

Aliko Dangote has made the following charitable contributions:

2.5 billion naira to the national fund for flood victims in 2012. 430 million naira to Kogi flood victims. 100 million naira to Sokoto flood victims. $2 million to Pakistan's flood victims. 120 million naira to fight famine in Niger. 600 million naira to women empowerment and free school feeding schemes in Kano State. 500 student capacity hall at Kano State University. 10 million naira annual scholarship for Benue students. $2 million to African Young Leaders fellowship in conjunction with the Forum For Young Global Leaders. $1 million towards education and women empowerment in Tanzania. 1 billion naira to states suffering from the Boko Haram insurgency. 1,000 bed hospital in Kano. And many more

He established the Dangote Foundation which is the philanthropic arm of the dangote Group where yearly he spends millions for worthy causes such as contributions to educational and healthcare institutions, sinking of boreholes and giving of scholarships.

The Dangote Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have jointly pledged to donate huge sums of money towards the eradication of polio in Kano State.

He also established the Dangote Academy.

naptu2:
Institutional memory and ecology of administration.


One of the things that amazes me in this country is that we often solve problems, then forget that we've solved the problem and, more importantly, forget how we solved the problem and so we re-introduce that problem.


Someone asked a question a few days ago and I was happily surprised that everybody else knew the answer.

She asked why the beautiful new bus stops in Lagos did not have benches. People replied with the short answer, but I'm going to tell the story from the beginning.


Sometime between 1983-1985 the Lagos State Government built big new bus stop shelters across the state. These shelters were built with concrete, were quite roomy (so you'd be sheltered, no matter how heavy the rain was) and had enough benches to seat a reasonable number of commuters. It seemed like a perfect idea.

But, unfortunately these bus stop shelters became the homes of lunatics, area boys, homeless people and NURTW thugs. Commuters could not seek shelter in them because of the kind of people that occupied the shelters. They became dangerous places, especially at night. It was so bad that some of the shelters were eventually dismantled (eg, the bus stop shelter on First Avenue in Ikoyi).

Subsequent governments (Marwa and Fashola) built much smaller bus stop shelters, so that commuters would be sheltered from the sun and rain, but the shelters would be too small to serve as homes for lunatics and thugs. The government had learnt.



Ambode's huge mistake

Twice a week, very early in the morning between 1979-1983, I watched payloaders, bulldozers, compactors and humoungous trucks of the Lagos State Waste Disposal Board (LSWDB) evacuate refuse from a huge dump in Lafiaji as I drove past. Those giant equipment often held up traffic. There were many similar refuse dumps and large waste bins across Lagos.

Despite the efforts of the LSWDB, Lagos was known as the dirtiest city in the world. Foreign TV stations, newspapers and magazines often showed pictures of refuse heaps in Lagos. Most Nigerians felt that Lagos wasn't really as bad as it was being portrayed in the Western media.

Rasaki came and his era wasn't too different from Jakande. However, I noticed that the LSWDB did not evacuate refuse as regularly as they used to. Rasaki eventually converted the LSWDB into LAWMA and placed the management of LAWMA in the hands of the local governments.

Then came the worst era in the history of Lagos. LAWMA completely stopped evacuating refuse during the Oyinlola era. Those large waste bins overflowed with refuse and the trash took over entire streets. The dumps became so full of waste that people dumped their waste anywhere, including on the median of major highways like Ikorodu Road and Lekki Expressway. People relied on cart pushers to evacuate their waste for them. No sane person could dispute the fact that Lagos was the dirtiest city in the world at that time. Colonel Oyinlola recently claimed that people deliberately dumped refuse on the streets in order to sabotage his government.

Things weren't much different in the Marwa era.


Then came Bola Tinubu. He scrapped the practice of having large waste dumps and bins by the roadside. He also banned the activities of cart pushers. Instead, private companies were given franchises to go from home to home to collect refuse from residents. The franchisees would then take the refuse to LAWMA's transfer loading stations and LAWMA would dispose of the waste.

This meant that there was no need to have piles of rubbish on the roadside. Residents were compelled to pay a refuse tax and this meant that they had to use the service in order to get value for their money.

The refuse heaps across the state vanished! In fact, for the first time, the foreign media stopped referring to Lagos as the dirtiest city in the world.

Fashola came and improved the system a bit by ensuring that the private companies used compactors to transport the waste, rather than open trucks.

Now Ambode is here and he has brought back the huge waste bins and restricted the activities of the private companies. I understand what he is trying to do and he has good intentions, but those large waste bins on the road side are a very bad idea. There is no way that Lagosians will resist the temptation to turn them into large refuse dumps with waste spilling on to the streets. I've already seen it happen on Alexander Avenue. Very small waste bins are ok, but those large waste bins will be a disaster.

Those dumps, apart from being unhygenic and an eyesore, will be a PR disaster for him like they were for Colonel Oyinlola. The best strategy remains the strategy used by Bola Tinubu, i.e. intercept the waste in homes, factories and offices, before it gets on the street.

osazsky:
when u start to watch match, cos there was no dstv in d 90s and how many pple could afford a TV in d early 90,s mister supporter since 1960,Liverpool started to have fans in 2005 after the heroic cham league comeback,

dabossman:
I usually avoid quoting you because you often sound bitter and ignorant about the game of football. But I feel the need to educate you on this ignorant post. First off, many homes had TV's in the 80's and 90's. We grew up watching both local and foreign shows. @Naptu2 might need to educate you on that.

Secondly, we actually had the opportunity to follow footballing events outside Nigeria. The first World Cup I watched was Mexico 86 and it was on NTA. We had a Saturday sports show called Sports Spectacular back in the 80's into the 90's that also showed games and highlights of European football. We also had a private TV station called Clapperboard TV in the early 90's that showed EPL matches.That's where I first watched Manchester United play and started supporting them in the 91/92 season. Then you had teams like Oldham United, Luton Town and Wimbledon in the Premiership.

Thirdly back then NTA actually broadcast selected Champions League games. The first UCL game I watched was the 93 finals between Marseille and AC Milan. I still remember it was Abedi Pele that took the corner kick that led to the only goal of the game which Marseille won. NTA also broadcast the Euros. I remember watching Euro 96 hosted by England. I even remember the theme song. We also had DBN that showed a lot of Sports.

So, if you think we started watching European football when DSTV came to Nigeria, then you know very little child. You've just been schooled.

Rockyrascal:
if I backtrack this goat man's history on political participation, I won't be surprised he was once a member of the PDP

trustyshoess:
Nigerians sef, pick one mothers day and stick to it. Y'all celebrate the British one, the Catholic one and then you will still see "happy mothers day " during the American one

naptu2:
1) Mothers Day - 2nd Sunday in May (US & many other countries).

2) Mothering Sunday (Anglican, Catholic & many Christian countries) - 4th Sunday of Lent.

3) Mothering Sunday (some Catholic churches including Nigeria) - Sunday after Easter

4) International Women's Day (Russia & United Nations) - March 8

Oparanozie: Nigeria's lack of 'adequate preparation' to blame for drubbing

By Oluwashina Okeleji
BBC Sport, Reims

 07 April 2018

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Nigeria's players ahead of their friendly international against France in Le Mans on Friday night

Nigeria striker Desire Oparanozie says a lack of "adequate preparation" was to blame for their 8-0 drubbing by France in a women's friendly international in Le Mans on Friday night.

Valérie Gauvin's hat-trick, plus goals from Eugénie Le Sommer, Gaetane Thiney, Aminata Diallo, Marie-Charlotte Léger and Faith Ikidi's own goal resulted in Nigeria equalling their record defeats against Norway (1995) and Germany (2010).

It was a blow for Thomas Dennerby in his first real test as Nigeria coach.

The Super Falcons were playing their first match since winning an eighth Women's Africa Cup of Nations title in December 2016.

"To be honest, I think we didn't have adequate preparation going into this game, taking into consideration the fact that we were inactive for as long as we were - 16 months," France-based Nigeria striker Desire Oparanozie told BBC Sport.

"We are the champions of Africa and we can all say it was rightly deserving. However, we can't deny the fact that while we were out, our opposition have been busy getting stronger.

"They were definitely more prepared than we were. They began camping before us even though most of them are home based. The bulk of us came from outside France and had just one full day of training together before match day.

"I admit it might not be a good enough reason for the scoreline but France were bound to put in a better showing than us," Oparanozie added.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/695/cpsprodpb/148B1/production/_99754148_dennerbyii.jpg
Nigeria coach Thomas Dennerby had to make late changes to his squad for the France game

Decimated by late withdrawals and without reigning African footballer of the year, Asisat Oshoala, Nigeria were forced to include five new players into the 18-team squad.

The French side, who beat the Black Queens of Ghana by the same scoreline last October, dominated play to prove that continental giants Nigeria are still way behind Europe's best.

Despite the result, Oparanozie insisted there are some positives to take from their time in France.

"It's been good here and I also have to note the introduction of some new young players into the squad for the very first time," said Oparanozie of their training camp.

"They are definitely good additions and one thing is certain, as long as they continue to work hard they would only serve to make the team stronger.

"Importantly, the fact that this is our first training camp with the coach, we have started to get his idea of football and that's a positive."

As the players return to their different clubs, focus will switch to securing a qualifying spot at the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations in Ghana as they aim to retain their continental title.

This year's Women's Nations Cup will take on extra significance as it will also decide the continent's teams for the 2019 Women's World Cup - in what could be Nigeria's eighth record appearance at the tournament.

Oparanozie welcomes the latest friendly against France but insists they need more games to progress.

"We deserve consistent engagements with Grade A opposition just as we hope to compete against them on the global stage.

"We also need proper facilities...and women teams need adequate, documented and properly planned logistical arrangements, preferably before tournaments/camping to ensure seamless experiences."

Nigeria are the only African team to have played in all of the Women's World Cup tournaments since 1991.

They have failed to translate their continental dominance on the world stage, their best performance coming in USA in 1999 when they reached the quarter-finals.

igbodefender:
Wonders shall nefer bend! I absolutely agree with part about taking on half of Nairaland. Almondjoy did that back in 06.