₦airaland Forum

Tpia,

You are somewhat right; however the East is less dusty than the West. The soil in the East is more of laterite clay than sand and silt, making  it more dense but also more prone to gully erosion.

OAM4J
You will be surprised that if everything is taken together (revenue available vis-a-vis development, how spread is the development, how many people are negatively affected by the development and how many are positively affected, etc), Fasola might not be the best governor

I am going home to Ala-Igbo after 6 eventful years in Obodo Oyibo. I plan to tour the whole of Igboland during the period and I am particularly interested to visit as many special natural/historical landmarks as I can. I am able to remember these landmarks and would be pleased if you can help populate the number of such places I plan to visit

1. Oguta Lake in Imo (the second largest lake in Nigeria) and its confluence with Urashi River. I hear that the two waters (Oguta Lake and Urashi River) do not mix and can be seen diffferently
2. Ogbunike Cave in Anambra
3. Arochukwu Cave temple in Abia State showing the famous slave route to Calabar
4. Azumini Blue River In Abia State. I hear the water is blue in color
5. Uburu Salt Lake in Ebonyi State
6. Enugu rolling hills along Enugu-Nsukka Expressway.
More=====================

^^^^^^You can see I was appealing to him. That is the reconciliation (difference) unlike your case where you already judged me and want me to do what you like.

Tpia, Ibadan in particular is a very dusty place.

@Topic: How do you rate best governor? If gov x receives 200 naira (by virtue of a large population and thus large taxes and other revenues) and executes  5 projects and gov[b] y[/b] recieves 100 naira (due to less population and thus less tax and other revenues) and executes only 2.5 projetcs, is there any difference between their performance?

^^^^^^
Depends on Airline. A woman gave birth on a flight recently here in the US.

This Jona dey craze oh! Is that flooded photo of Enugu or  of Ibadan? The link says it is Ibadan and it looks very much like Iwo Road round about. Na wa for you.

Jona,

Please, it would be appreciated if you could create different threads for the other states and kindly not dilute the Enugu thread with extraneous photos. Thanks

^^^^^^^
You have no business deciding for me what to post. Ok?

Maintaining an ethnic equilibrium is of primary importance



Ayo Akinfe

Over the last few weeks, the commentary about the health of President Yar’Adua has taken on a new dimension. In fact, the crescendo is so loud that we have virtually written the poor man’s obituary and everyone is focusing on the post-Yar’Adua era and what it will involve.

How I wish some of the commentators would just sit back for a minute and consider the implications of some of their comments. Can I start off by saying that Umaru Yar’Adua is still alive and I hope he remains so until 2015. It will save us all a lot of bother if he manages to do so.

Nigeria is one of those countries that is in a perpetual state of transition. Nothing we fix appears to stand the test of time and our presidency is no different from anything else in this regard. We thought we had sorted out the matter but alas, an unforeseen problem has come forth to torment us.

Following the departure of the military in 1999, all sorts of ethnic and communal tensions that had been repressed with force burst on to the surface with a vengeance that shook Nigeria to her very foundations. Across the length and breath of the country, we witnessed all sorts of despicable violence, pogroms, ethnic cleansing and xenophobic attacks against Nigerians from other ethnic groups.

In a trend that is as old as humanity itself, people took their frustrations out on their neighbours who they saw as outsiders and blamed them for their socio-economic woes. Some estimates indicate that as many as 100,000 people died in the communal and ethnic violence that swept across the country between 1999 and 2005.

Being the adaptable people we are, however, we somehow managed to find a way around the problem by agreeing on a rotational presidency. For all its shortcomings, the National Confab, which took place in 2005, did come up with a few sensible suggestions that appear to have stemmed the violence.

I do not believe that anyone can fault the principle of the Nigerian presidency rotating between the north and the south. Personally, I do not believe it will make a blind bit of difference to the policies pursued or the socio-economic well-being of one Nigerian but in the real world, perception can be as powerful as reality.

To carry everybody along and make everyone of our 140m people believe they are included in the national project called Nigeria, it is important that they feel part of it. On the streets of Nigeria, this means that people need to know that someone from their ethnic group can and will one day become the president of the country.

Under the terms of the agreement reached in 2005, the Nigerian presidency will rotate between the north and the south. Whenever it is the turn of one half of the country to produce the president, its three constituent geo-political zones will sit down and decide whose turn it is.

It is elitist and arrogant to dismiss this arrangement as irrelevant as all the evidence so far has shown that it has bought us a bit of time, space and peace. In every zone of Nigeria now, people have a guarantee that one day, “one of their own” will be the occupant of Aso Rock.

However, the plan has several faults, which no one foresaw in 2005 and one of these shortcomings is plaguing us at the minute. It was assumed that every president would serve an eight-year term and would peacefully hand over to a successor from a different half of the country. No one factored in the possibility of a president dying in office.

I do not believe that there is a remote chance of a Nigerian president being voted out of office after four years, so the eight-year on, eight-year off principle appears to be OK but if a president passes away while still in Aso Rock, it throws this carefully structured balancing act into disarray. Yar’Adua has to save us the agony this will entail by remaining alive until 2015.

Let us be honest with ourselves, there really is no need for what I would describe as mid-term elections every four years. One non-renewable eight-year term would have been a more honest approach to things but that can only work if a president serves out his full term of office.

If we remove the need for mid-term elections, it will solve one problem but the hassle of what to do if a president passes away while in office remains. With his ill-health, Yar’Adua has presented us with another headache we could have done without. All he has to do is stay alive until 2015 and we will get some stability.

Just looking at the options facing us if Yar’Adua passes away fills me with dread. If Goodluck takes over, the three northern zones will feel cheated. If Goodluck is by-passed, the south-south will be up in flames.

More frighteningly, I believe that the south-east took a backseat in 2007, conceding the vice presidency to the south-south and the speakership to the south-west in the knowledge that the presidency will be theirs in 2015. I believe they are well within their rights to demand that pledge be fulfilled whatever happens to Yar’Adua.

Simply put, the pieces will be very difficult to put back together again if we allow our delicate balanced ethnic pot to fall and shatter. Personally, I would do whatever it takes to keep Yar’Adua in office until 2015, even if it means importing a number of life-support machines.

In the European Union (EU) for instance, they have a similar carefully-constructed balancing act in which each member state produces two commissioners, the presidency of the commission is rotated between the regions like Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, the Mediterranean, etc and agencies are located selectively in each state. They have managed to stick to this arrangement, knowing that any departure from it spells doom for the community.

In terms of complexity, Nigeria is just as diverse as the EU when it comes to languages, peoples, ethnic groups, religions, cultures, etc. We should look at how they do things and use it as a guide to keep our complex nation together.

This also goes for the four other large and multi-ethnic African nations – Ethiopia, Sudan, South Africa and DR Congo. We ignore the national question at our peril.

Unless we can find a way to keep our diverse ethnic groups contented and feeling part of the Nigerian project, we risk returning to the violent era of the 1999-2005 period. Yar’Adua, just do us a favour and save us the agony by staying alive please.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13937&Itemid=55

She also has English, Calabar and Igbo names, the later given to her not by me, but by her parents. That shows the extent to which her family is igbotic, despite their calabar origin

This is the only way those of us in diaspora can gauge what our different govs are doing. We need photos of Abia, Imo, Anambra, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Bayelsa, Edo, and others so that we can judge which governors are at least performing, and on the basis of the money available to them.

Jona, you are from Bayelsa. Stop claiming Rivers. Even, the whoe of Rivers is not developed like PH. Ogoni, Eleme, Andoni, Okrika etc are essential primitive places.

Not because there are no good hospitals for child birth in Nigeria. It is simply because of US citizenship for the kids which is automatic for any child born here.

Jona,

Please tell me a Nigerian state where everywhere is evenly developed. Can we see photos of Yenagoa and sagbama, and kolokuma and oloibiri? Even development in Lagos is not even.

She is Calabar by origin but Igbo by every other thing.

Tpia and Jona*

My wife, though Calabar by origin, is a complete Igbo woman. I married her from Igboland. Her (family) father lived in Obinze, Owerri as an army colonel for many years. She speaks Igbo even more than I do and she completely sees herself as an Igbo. Our trado marriage was done in Igboland like an Igbo one (igbankwu). She is perfectly one of the Igbos I mentioned above, and she is crazy about me, an Igbo man.

There is one Dr. Dejo Raimi, an important member of Afenifere from Oyo State. He was in complete support of Igbo presidency as I read from his interview a few years back. I do not know his current position, but clearly there are a number of reasonable Yoruba that support a rotation of the presidency to all the regions. So let the NL yoruba continue to bark; that is all they can do, bark and not being able to bite.

Maintaining an ethnic equilibrium is of primary importance



Ayo Akinfe

Over the last few weeks, the commentary about the health of President Yar’Adua has taken on a new dimension. In fact, the crescendo is so loud that we have virtually written the poor man’s obituary and everyone is focusing on the post-Yar’Adua era and what it will involve.

How I wish some of the commentators would just sit back for a minute and consider the implications of some of their comments. Can I start off by saying that Umaru Yar’Adua is still alive and I hope he remains so until 2015. It will save us all a lot of bother if he manages to do so.

Nigeria is one of those countries that is in a perpetual state of transition. Nothing we fix appears to stand the test of time and our presidency is no different from anything else in this regard. We thought we had sorted out the matter but alas, an unforeseen problem has come forth to torment us.

Following the departure of the military in 1999, all sorts of ethnic and communal tensions that had been repressed with force burst on to the surface with a vengeance that shook Nigeria to her very foundations. Across the length and breath of the country, we witnessed all sorts of despicable violence, pogroms, ethnic cleansing and xenophobic attacks against Nigerians from other ethnic groups.

In a trend that is as old as humanity itself, people took their frustrations out on their neighbours who they saw as outsiders and blamed them for their socio-economic woes. Some estimates indicate that as many as 100,000 people died in the communal and ethnic violence that swept across the country between 1999 and 2005.

Being the adaptable people we are, however, we somehow managed to find a way around the problem by agreeing on a rotational presidency. For all its shortcomings, the National Confab, which took place in 2005, did come up with a few sensible suggestions that appear to have stemmed the violence.

I do not believe that anyone can fault the principle of the Nigerian presidency rotating between the north and the south. Personally, I do not believe it will make a blind bit of difference to the policies pursued or the socio-economic well-being of one Nigerian but in the real world, perception can be as powerful as reality.

To carry everybody along and make everyone of our 140m people believe they are included in the national project called Nigeria, it is important that they feel part of it. On the streets of Nigeria, this means that people need to know that someone from their ethnic group can and will one day become the president of the country.

Under the terms of the agreement reached in 2005, the Nigerian presidency will rotate between the north and the south. Whenever it is the turn of one half of the country to produce the president, its three constituent geo-political zones will sit down and decide whose turn it is.

It is elitist and arrogant to dismiss this arrangement as irrelevant as all the evidence so far has shown that it has bought us a bit of time, space and peace. In every zone of Nigeria now, people have a guarantee that one day, “one of their own” will be the occupant of Aso Rock.

However, the plan has several faults, which no one foresaw in 2005 and one of these shortcomings is plaguing us at the minute. It was assumed that every president would serve an eight-year term and would peacefully hand over to a successor from a different half of the country. No one factored in the possibility of a president dying in office.

I do not believe that there is a remote chance of a Nigerian president being voted out of office after four years, so the eight-year on, eight-year off principle appears to be OK but if a president passes away while still in Aso Rock, it throws this carefully structured balancing act into disarray. Yar’Adua has to save us the agony this will entail by remaining alive until 2015.

Let us be honest with ourselves, there really is no need for what I would describe as mid-term elections every four years. One non-renewable eight-year term would have been a more honest approach to things but that can only work if a president serves out his full term of office.

If we remove the need for mid-term elections, it will solve one problem but the hassle of what to do if a president passes away while in office remains. With his ill-health, Yar’Adua has presented us with another headache we could have done without. All he has to do is stay alive until 2015 and we will get some stability.

Just looking at the options facing us if Yar’Adua passes away fills me with dread. If Goodluck takes over, the three northern zones will feel cheated. If Goodluck is by-passed, the south-south will be up in flames.

More frighteningly, I believe that the south-east took a backseat in 2007, conceding the vice presidency to the south-south and the speakership to the south-west in the knowledge that the presidency will be theirs in 2015. I believe they are well within their rights to demand that pledge be fulfilled whatever happens to Yar’Adua.

Simply put, the pieces will be very difficult to put back together again if we allow our delicate balanced ethnic pot to fall and shatter. Personally, I would do whatever it takes to keep Yar’Adua in office until 2015, even if it means importing a number of life-support machines.

In the European Union (EU) for instance, they have a similar carefully-constructed balancing act in which each member state produces two commissioners, the presidency of the commission is rotated between the regions like Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, the Mediterranean, etc and agencies are located selectively in each state. They have managed to stick to this arrangement, knowing that any departure from it spells doom for the community.

In terms of complexity, Nigeria is just as diverse as the EU when it comes to languages, peoples, ethnic groups, religions, cultures, etc. We should look at how they do things and use it as a guide to keep our complex nation together.

This also goes for the four other large and multi-ethnic African nations – Ethiopia, Sudan, South Africa and DR Congo. We ignore the national question at our peril.

Unless we can find a way to keep our diverse ethnic groups contented and feeling part of the Nigerian project, we risk returning to the violent era of the 1999-2005 period. Yar’Adua, just do us a favour and save us the agony by staying alive please.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13937&Itemid=55

Bluetooth

What position is the Yoruba occupying today? 4th. So essentially both Igbo and Yoruba are irrelevant as of today based on your logic, as compared to SOUTH SOUTH. Moreover, what has the 4th position brought to you guys when even Obasanjo's 8 years in office brought nothing. 43% of poverty in your land compared to 27% in mine is an enviable feat. So what is your logic?

Enugu is taking shape. Together with its rolling hills and breathtaking landscape, it is a city to watch. Kudos to the governor. He is working silently unlike others who invite the press to come and see what they are doing.

There are two women in Nigeria: Igbo women and others.

Anambra women, together with other Igbo women, are the most educated, most beautiful and most hardworking females anyone can come across.

Bluetooth

Igbos did not go into extinction when your evil father Awo planned it, is it now that they are only 27% poor compared to your 43% poverty that they will go into extinction? Hausa and Yoruba will instead drive the whole country into extinction due to their corrupt tendencies and crass incompetence, and as usual, Igbos will rise again from the ashes of an extinct Nigeria. Poverty sticken lots.

Depilot:
@Eziachi:
Again, my bloodline is directly connected to all 3 (Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba), therefore, I'm able to clearly relate to all.

When you say Hausa, the first 2 things I see are: Unity and Leadership

When you say Yoruba, the first 2 things I see are: Education and Enormously Large Quantity

And when you say Igbo, the first 2 things I see are: Igbo Made and Fast Money

So your other blood half loves money not so? What a hybrid.

Who are the Yorubas more educated than? Certainly not the Igbo and even the south south (if you calculate based on % population). May be their half brothers the hausa fulani.

When you talk of Yoruba what comes to mind is nothing other than fraud and corruption as well as crass untrusthworthiness and gaping incompetence. The posts from nairaland alone on Yoruba fraud can vouch for me. What a hypocritical and anything-goes society.

NBA President, Akeredolu In N11.3m Scandal
Written by Uchenna Awom, Abuja
Monday, 07 December 2009 19:40
The seeming festering crisis of confidence rocking the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)has taken a new dimension with an allegation of 'fraudulent manifestation' running into N11.320million and violation of the constitution of the association levelled against the National President, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, by three officers of the association.

The three officers, Barth Okoye-Aniche, 3rd Vice President;Chief Ganny Ajape, Welfare Secretary, and the Assistant Financial Secretary, Steve Onyechi Onoye, had in a letter of September 4, entitled "Complaint Against: Your Fraudulent Manifestations, Your Violation of the Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association," and addressed to Akeredolu, alleged that he fraudulently converted N8million of the association's money to his personal use. He was also accused of awarding and approving a N3million contract for the printing of the Bar Perspective and Voice of the Bar to his company; AKT Ventures Limited with RC No 104097.

In the letter which was attached with relevant documents, including photocopies of bank cheques, deposit slips, Corporate Affairs Commission's Form C.O.7 which contains the particulars of directors of the company, AKT Ventures Limited, the authors gave Akeredolu seven days to respond to the allegations, failing which, at the expiration of the ultimatum, they would 'take further measured actions without recourse to him'.

On the said fraud, the trio alleged that he (Akeredolu) approved and signed a cheque for N3, 320,000 and paid into the said company account in two installments. The said amount, they added, is not provided for in the NEC approved budgetary allocation for the year, having approved the sum of N1million instead of the sum of N900, 000 provided for publication in the budgetary allocation for the year.

"The fraud in this matter is that after approving the sum of N2million described in the memo of July 29 as printing expenses, you went further to approve another sum of N1.320million against the tenor of the first application, all because the amount was to be paid to your private company.

Succession intrigues: Don’t count on us, Middle Belt tells North
By Terna Doki (Makurdi) and Adeola Yusuf (Lagos)

• President’s absence stalls deregulation, PIB

Northern hawks were told on Sunday not to count on the support of the Middle Belt in their quest to subvert the Constitution if it turns out that President Umaru Yar’Adua cannot continue in office.


Second Republic Communications Minister, Isaac Shaahu, who is the President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), described as insincere Northerners seeking the resignation of Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, in anticipation of Yar’Adua’s incapacitation by ill health.


He stated in an interview in Gboko that those who want to circumvent the Constitution are vultures and scavengers who should mind their scheming because Niger Delta militants are watching their steps.


“If the vultures and scavengers of the North stir any fight with any part of the country, the Middle Belt will not come in to fight for them. The Middle Belt will not be part of any trouble they start. We fought for them in the past, but we shall not do it again,’’ Shaahu warned.


He advised them to allow wise counsel to prevail by abiding with the law on succession.


However, he maintained that Yar’Adua’s sickness does not warrant his resignation, because Nigeria is not the first country to have a sick President.


Shaahu blamed the country’s predicament on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, “Who knew that Yar’Adua was sick yet imposed him on the people, so as to create room for a Southerner to take over.


“It was Obasanjo’s design that a President of Northern extraction should not last more than six months on the seat. But since he did not consult with God first, Yar’Adua is still moving, to his very surprise.”


Shaahu said if Nigerians are not courageous enough to jail Obasanjo “for the atrocities he committed while in Aso Rock, God will unfailingly take Obasanjo back to prison.”


He argued that the only way Nigeria can be free from trouble is to imprison Obasanjo, expressing fears that the country is heading towards full destruction as everything has gone bad.


Yar’Adua’s ill heath may compel Abuja to shift the dates for the deregulation of the oil industry and the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).


Both were anticipated before the end of the year, but a source said at the weekend that “his ill health has halted progress on them.”


Although the National Assembly (NASS) has concluded plans to pass the PIB into law, it has to be delayed until Yar’Adua returns from Saudi Arabia, the source explained, because his assent cannot be obtained at the moment.


The Petroleum Ministry is also nervous about announcing deregulation behind his back, with the source noting that Labour “has threatened a show down with the government over deregulation, and everybody is being careful not to cause anything that could destabilise the country in the absence of the President.”


Oil marketers have, however, alerted that Abuja plans to announce deregulation at a time Nigerians least expect.


Minister of State for Petroleum, Odein Ajumogobia, disclosed last month that the refineries in Warri and Kaduna could resume operations this month, which analysts speculate could mean deregulation before December 31.


“The assurance we have from various meetings with government representatives is that deregulation will come before the end of this year, and it will come when it is least expected,” warned Independent Petroleum Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Mosimi Depot Chairman, Adebisi Bada.


He asked IPMAN members to prepare for deregulation “any moment from now,” and cautioned them against fuel hoarding because Abuja is “looking for scapegoats for the policy.”


Bada said the IPMAN will not defend any member caught hoarding.


The Warri Refinery refines 125,000 barrels per day (bpd), and the Kaduna Refinery 110,000 bpd.


Though the government hopes to finish repairs on the two refineries this month, their combined refining capacity cannot satisfy domestic consumption of 30 million litres per day.


“The Chanomi creek pipelines are still bad. Once they are repaired, we are told that by the middle of December crude will go to Warri and Kaduna,” Ajumogobia told reporters on November 18.


In the mean time, Mosimi depot is running short of fuel and this has shifted major loading operation to private depots in Apapa, Lagos.


Bada confirmed the shortage at Mosimi, which he said plays a vital role in fuel distribution nationwide.


His words: “The Mosimi depot, which is under system 2B is the most strategic because it serves the depots in Ibadan, Ilorin, Ore, and others. But at the moment, loading at the depot is very tight.


“We were getting about three million litres on daily basis before; now, our members load in Apapa due to the fact that we get insufficient volume from Mosimi.


“Out of the little that Mosimi can serve is being given to the NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) mega stations, while part of that is also being used for bridging.”


He blamed the uncertainty of the date of deregulation for the panic buying of fuel, which has led to shortage in some states.


However, the lull in violence in the Niger Delta has enabled workers to begin repairs on the Chanomi pipeline, which has been attacked by militants in the past.


The two refineries in Port Harcourt are currently in operation with a capacity of about 210,000 bpd.


Nigeria’s four refineries have a nameplate capacity of 445,000 bpd but have never operated at that level.


And even if they operate at full capacity, they would produce only a fraction of the needs of Africa’s most populous country of 140 million people.


Refinery outages caused mainly by mismanagement and sabotage force the country to depend on fuel imports for domestic consumption.


“Once the refineries are working we will reduce our importation by about 40 per cent,” Ajumogobia said.


Despite vying with Angola as Africa’s top oil producer, Nigeria imports 18 million litres of petrol a day or some 85 per cent of its needs.


Fuel subsidy, which Yar’Adua has promised to abolish, costs Abuja N45 billion each month, Ajumogobia added.

Patience people, patience. Every hidden thing will come to light in due course. Like Soludo, Sanusi will not be there forever. Then, his own ariri/asiri go open too.

Depilot (the hybrid Nigerian),

Please do well to remove the log from your Yoruba half before you do so for your Igbo half. Do you also have an hausa/fulani half? Ewu man

sjeezy8:
ok its no big deal i consider my self 100% yoruba(though im very much mixed) and I dont like my igbo family members except the women, the guys  haters and full of shiottt, theives, greedy and way too opinionated.

Sjeazy8

I love it when you talk about crime and other vices and try to relate it to Igbos. I thought you would have learnt your lesson by now and you well know our modus operandi: to prove that for every 1 Igbo bad guy, there are 10 Yoruba. So do not start before I flood you with evidences. Thanks.

Readily mentionable SEners who can lead Nigeria and lead it to the promised land:
Emeka Anyaoku
Bart Nnaji (Professor of Robotics and former minister of Science & Tech)
Okonjo Iweala (Igbos have no political inhibitions about their women unlike other groups)
Oby Ezekwesili (same as above)
Soludo (as along as he is found not to have corrupted himself while at CBN)
Former Senate Presidents Nnamani and Anyim
The current Enugu state governor (doing a wonderful job in his state)

Eziachi:

Yeah right!!!
You really make me laugh. You sound like most white racist anytime they want to defend themselves, their first line of defence is always that their best friend is black or their so so bloodline had black, but you know they are all talking bulls.
You are nothing but a closet bigot tribalist. Even if Jesus Christ is an Igbo man/candidate in an election, I am sure you will cast your vote for Lucifer

Hahahah! Sjeazy8 also said the same thing. I too, am Yoruba.