₦airaland Forum

Napata77:
Sorry but those are foreign invaders’ religions.

Why should govt spend a single kobo on them?

Our traditional religion is very different.

We must honour and reconnect officially with our ancestral heritage, or we are still a colonised people.

We are not English people.

We are not Arabs.

We are Africans, and Proudly so.

I never said that government should spend money on them. I am responding to those that are complaining that government spent money on them and I am saying that government did not spend money on them.

For some reason, people seem to think that anything that has the word "national" in its name is owned or was built by government. That's obviously not true (government doesn't own the National Association of Nigerian Students, for example).

The National Mosque and the National Christian Center are not owned, neither were they built by government.

President Shehu Shagari began putting up structures in Abuja in the early 1980s and it looked like he wanted to move the Federal Government to Abuja before the end of his tenure.

Prominent Muslims got together and decided that they needed to have a central worship center in Abuja. They created a fund raising committee to raise money for the project. The committee was chaired by Sir Siddiq Abubakar, who was the Sultan of Sokoto at the time. Money was raised and AIM Consult was selected as the contractor to design the mosque. The National Mosque, Abuja was thus opened in 1984.


Christians began talking about building a National Christian Center in Abuja. They got a piece of land opposite the National Mosque in 1989, but the project was abandoned for many years.

They began talking about reviving the project in 1999 and fund raising began.

The National Christian Center was opened in 2005 and the ceremony coincided with Nigeria's independence anniversary.

I remember the ceremony because President Obasanjo said something that had been on my mind for a while.

Nigeria built a lot of structures during the oil boom in the 1970s. However, by the 1990s, the country did not have money to maintain them properly. I remember that the central air condition at the National Theater in Lagos was not working.

At the opening of the National Christian Center, President Obasanjo told the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that they needed to plan for money for maintenance. He said, for example, what would happen if the air condition system had a fault? He asked if they would have the money to repair it.

The altar/stage at the National Christian Center rotates and President Obasanjo asked CAN how they would be able to afford to fix it if it developed a fault.

These structures were not built by government.

Previous thread.

Lagos State Government Executes Concession Agreement For Medical Park.

https://www.nairaland.com/7637897/lagos-state-government-executes-concession

My post from January 24th, 2019.

naptu2:
I forgot to explain Jimi Disu's comments about the nursing school.

When Jimi Disu asked Jimi Agbaje the question about the nursing school on Sunday, I said that it was one of his favourite topics. I listened to his show in 2014/2015 when he interviewed Akinwunmi Ambode and the nursing school was one of the issues with which he tackled Ambode.


The Lagos State Nursing School was on Awolowo Road for many decades. The complex is almost opposite Creek Hospital (military hospital) and it is just before the ramp that takes you to Ring Road Bridge (on your way to 3rd Mainland Bridge).

However, the school was moved to Igando c2012 and the complex in Ikoyi has been abandoned. The walls are covered in dust and weeds are growing in the premises.


There is a rumour that Bola Tinubu bought over the complex from the Lagos State Government and it is that rumour that annoys Jimi Disu very much. He often challenges APC candidates that they should explain what has happened to the complex and none has given a satisfactory answer.

Jimi Disu said that the nursing school was built at that location because it is close to the General Hospital Lagos, the Island Maternity Hospital and the Massey Street Children's Hospital and this makes it easy for student nurses to get practical experience. He is angry that the school was moved to a far place like Igando.


However, on the other hand, I've also heard a different story.

I remember that Bola Tinubu fell ill when he was governor and he had to go to the United States for treatment. Many people criticised him for going abroad for treatment. When he returned he said that he was working towards establishing a hospital in Lagos that would be like the hospital in which he was treated.


He later came up with the idea of a medical park (the Obasanjo led federal government also had a similar idea). The idea was that Nigeria had many medical doctors that were practising abroad. These doctors were among the best in their field. Therefore, the government would provide infrastructure (land, electricity, etc) for these doctors to come back to Nigeria and set up practices where the major ailments that were afflicting Nigerians would be treated.


Basically, it would be like a large park where surgeons, dentists and other Nigerian medical professionals that are based abroad would be able to practice for a few months every year. This would reduce the need to go abroad.

It was initially proposed that the park would be in Lekki, but it was later decided (during the Fashola era) that it should be at the nursing school complex. There are billboards on the walls of the nursing school that advertise the medical park idea.

However, the complex has been abandoned since c2012 and its decrpit state is annoying a lot of Lagosians.

My post from April 2nd, 2023.

naptu2:
I knew that they were serious this time when I discovered in October last year that they had demolished these buildings and cleared the land.

My post from April 4th, 2021

naptu2:
My Lagos State Nursing School rant


From memory.


Governor Bola Tinubu fell ill and was rushed to the United States for treatment. This was in the early or mid-2000s, so might not find a record of it online, but I remember it very well.


His return was marked with fanfare because people were happy that he had recovered. There were a lot of journalists and other people at the airport when he returned. I remember the news footage very well. The present Oniru was his ADC at the time.

Governor Tinubu told journalists that he was happy to be back. He spoke about his ailment and said that he was feeling better. He also spoke about how impressed he was with the hospital in which he was treated and he spoke about his desire to build something similar in Lagos.


There was talk about the hospital that Tinubu wished to build and this talk went on for months after his return. However, just before he left office, this talk changed from being about a hospital to being about a medical park.


The idea was that there were many Nigerian doctors abroad and so the government would get into a partnership with them. Government would provide land (there was talk about it being sited in Lekki) and other amenities and the doctors would also provide some kind of investment. The doctors would spend some time in Lagos every year and use their world class skills to treat Nigerians, while the government and some private entities would provide the equipment that the doctors needed.


This arrangement would ensure that Lagosians would not need to travel abroad for first class medical care and in fact, it might attract other Africans to come to Lagos for treatment.


The Federal Government, led by Olusegun Obasanjo, also expressed its desire to build a medical park.


Tinubu left office but no medical park was built.


During Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola's second term the government began saying that the medical park would be sited at the Nursing School, rather than at Lekki.


The land for the Lagos State School of Nursing was provided by the legend, Mrs Ayo Vaughan-Richards (here is Mrs Vaughan-Richards' 1988 interview with the Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-05-29-8801030310-story.html) and the idea was that its location should be close to General Hospital and Island Maternity to make it easy for the student nurses to get practical experience.


The Nursing School was on Awolowo Road in Ikoyi and you could actually walk from there to General Hospital, Odan, Marina and to Island Maternity, both on Broad Street.


The Nursing School was subsequently moved to far away Igando. It had been on Awolowo Road for many decades.


The Nursing School was moved, but nothing was heard about the medical park. In fact, that complex on Awolowo Road was abandoned and people began to speculate that Bola Tinubu had bought it. I wrote about that speculation on this thread in 2015. Akinwunmi Ambode was the APC candidate in the governorship election and Jimi Disu interviewed him ahead of the election and asked him about the complex. Mr Disu was very angry because he believed that Tinubu had taken over the place. Ambode could not provide an answer to Mr Disu's questions.


I knew that the place was the designated site of the medical park and I was shocked that Ambode did not know this. Signboards had been placed on the walls of the complex just a few months before that interview and the signboards stated that it was the proposed site of the medical park.


Ambode became governor and in 2016 his government signed an agreement with a private company for the development of the medical park at the former Nursing School on Awolowo Road. You can find articles about the agreement online. The signing of that agreement was the last that we heard about the medical park.


The former School of Nursing and hostel complex has been overtaken by weeds, wild plants and small wild animals. I can't imagine how Mrs Vaughan-Richards would feel if she sees the place today. You can go see it for yourself. It is located beside the ramp that leads to the Ring Road Bridge at the Onikan end of Awolowo Road. It is opposite Creek Hospital (Military Hospital) and Protea Ikoyi Westwood Hotel.


I have attached some pictures just in case you can't go there. You can see the signboards and banners that were put up by the Fashola Administration. They've all faded. Just take a look at this nonsense!

Babajide Sanwo-Olu @jidesanwoolu

At the Africa Investment Forum in Rabat, Morocco, I met with the promoters of the Lagos Medi-Park Village Project.

This partnership with the IASO Consortium will deliver a 120-bed tertiary healthcare facility on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi. The Medi-Park will feature state-of-the-art diagnostic and specialized healthcare services, aiming to minimize medical tourism and provide Lagosians with access to world-class medical care in their own city.

Jubril A. Gawat @Mr_JAGs

THIS IS THE PLAN: The Lagos Medi-Park will be situated at the site of the former School of Nursing by Awolowo road on the way linking 3rd Mainland Bridge.

#GreaterLagosRISING @jidesanwoolu ⭐️

EFCC: We Didn't Discover $800M, ₦700bn Cash & Drugs At Bello El-Rufai's House
https://www.nairaland.com/8285805/efcc-didnt-discover-800m-700bn

[quote author=FreeStuffsNG post=133168837][/quote]Thank you. I am rationing pictures because of Nairaland's new policy.

JAWBONE:
All Christians worship in one way. In spirit and in truth.
There is only one message in Christianity, which is Christ.
Any Christian denomination that deviates from that are on their own

🤣 You don't know it, but you have proved my point.

pellummy:
The Comment is overdue rage against the use of tax payer money to finance pilgrims and more

That's also not true. Pilgrims pay for pilgrimage. In fact, government officials have been sacked and arrested for stealing money paid by pilgrims.

Federal Government stopped paying for pilgrimage after the end of military rule (although some states pay on behalf of their citizens)

illicit:
That's right
The difference is that most christian sects use the same settings

But traditionalists have different settings

Even among yoruba alone, Ogun can not be worshipped in sangos temple, oya and osun are not the best of friends

Ayelala, soponna are worshipped in the jungle because they are gods of disease and miserable untimely death

They all require different types of sacrifices...


This place will just be a symbol, in utility it will just be used for gathering

You get my drift?

It's still the same as the National Christian Center and the National Mosque.

Catholics have their cathedral in Abuja. Mass is not usually said at the National Christian Center. Anglicans, Methodists, etc have their own cathedrals in Abuja.

But the National Christian Center is used for things like Independence Day, Armed Forces Remembrance Day, etc interdenominational services.

pellummy:
Well, Nigeria is a secular state, and every religion is allowed to be practiced but the act of building religious standing by the FG Is crazy to me.

Hopez456:
We just love wasting scarce resources in this country. I thought Nigeria is a secular state.

Not built by government. People donate money to build these things.

illicit:
Well it's simply going to be symbolic

No single temple can accommodate all traditional religion

The moslems worship the same way, the christians too, but the idol worshippers differ...

Ebubu6:
It's going to be chaotic because we have over 1,000 traditional gods in Nigeria.

When traditional worshippers gather at national traditional religion temple, who are they to pray to? Sango and Amadioha have different modes of being worshipped, not to add other 1,000 gods.

This is why it has not come to pass, I for one would worship in that temple if built.

Different Christian denominations also worship in different ways and that's why time is allocated to different denominations at the National Christian Center. The same can be done for different traditional religions.

We already have the National Christian Center in Abuja and the National Mosque, also in Abuja, so this is a welcome development.