₦airaland Forum

Lets becareful cos am seeing a looming food scarcity if proud override public interest as it normally does in Nigerian scenerio. We import wat we produce and export wat we dont produce

Promhize: AUTHOR: JIDE OSUNTOKUN

The chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Festus Odimegwu said recently that he would need N600 billion to conduct the next census. This is at a time when the Federal Government through its act of omission or commission has shut down all state and federal universities in the country because it cannot find N87 billion being demanded by the teachers. It would not surprise me if this same Federal Government finds N600 billion to give to the census body when you cannot ride on any Nigerian road without running into huge craters and gutters. At the end of each census, we come up with spurious numbers that are not believed by anybody or believable at all. What is apparent in Nigeria is not always real, it is the case of the more you see, the less it counts. At election times, small states produce more votes than states that are much bigger and much more populous if only to get their preferred candidate elected.

Apart from the census of 1956 which put Nigeria’s population at 32 million, all other censuses have been marred by forgeries. During enumeration of people, it is not uncommon for villages to contribute money to give to enumerators in order to boost their population figures and yet we call this a census. Enumeration of any kind in Nigeria is totally without integrity. When states are asked to come up with the number of school aged children, the figures given sometimes outstrip the population of the entire state. Any exercise requiring figures in Nigeria is usually manipulated because of the financial implications of figures in Nigeria. Would it not be better to save N600 billion and just get statisticians to give us projected population of Nigeria based on a baseline of 1952 and rate of increase at 3% per year or something of that sort rather than the spurious figures bandied around dishonestly by NPC?

Nobody can swear on the figures of Nigeria’s population. Today, we are told that we are about 170 million but I do not believe it. I personally do not believe that Nigeria is more than 100 million; the remaining 70 million are ghosts as far as I am concerned. The idea of population count every 10 years should be jettisoned and replaced by population count every two decades. The money saved should be used for development of infrastructure of the country. Imagine what N600 billion can do in the development of Nigeria. Odimegwu and his NPC should be asked to go on holidays and come back 20 years after the last census and give us the chance to use the money saved to develop the country. Census is about people and about development. Arbitrary figures are of no importance whatsoever to the development of Nigeria and if we need to take the next census, we should do it scientifically by calling in experts from the UN to do area mapping of Nigeria and to point out the centres of concentration of people through settlement pattern and then project the overall population of our country. This can be done through area photography without the arduous, primitive enumeration and money guzzling system Nigeria revels in.

We know that elections are around the corner and people are looking for money for election, but we can’t be fooled all the time. The figure of N600 billion for counting Nigerians, many of whom are poor, despairing and despondent such that they would take the money rather than being counted, if given the option is outrageous. There are so many outlandish things going on at the centre in Abuja; recently, the Nigerian Space Authority or something of that sort says it is planning to send Nigerian astronauts into space by 2020. When I read this in the paper, I just laughed that what a country! And I asked myself – how is that important to the ordinary men and even to men who are not ordinary? What direct benefit will sending an astronaut into space bring to Nigeria? Are we going to reinvent the wheel?

Countries that are sending people into space are already developed and have the basic requirement of decent living for their people. Why would a country whose people still defecate in the bushes or in open space and whose people have no potable water to drink or electricity to light their homes and power their businesses, decent educational and health facilities, efficient transportation system be planning to engage in the expensive venture of space exploration when the Russians and the Americans, the two leading nations in this area are deemphasising state participation while encouraging the private sector to take over these expensive ventures?

We make fools of ourselves by pretending to be a big power when in fact we are not. We should cut our coat according to our cloth and face the reality of underdevelopment and try to overcome it. This is the challenge we face, the challenge of husbanding our resources and embarking on rapid development, transformation and industrialising our country while we still have the resources accruing from hydro-carbon exploitation. Our mono-cultural economy cannot be sustained forever and in fact cannot be sustained for too long, we have only about 30 years to transform this economy or die. Future generations of Nigeria will not forgive us if we do not embark on the process of transformation right now. Unfortunately, there is too much politicking in the land, too much talk about election in 2015 when in fact nobody knows who would be around tomorrow. We need to do the first thing first, let those who are in government right now discharge their responsibilities to the electorate, fulfil the promises on which they were elected and let the future take care of itself. Nigerians are a long-suffering people and I admire them for that and there is even wisdom in being long-suffering because revolutions do not always pan out. It is better to be long-suffering and to hope for evolutionary changes rather than wish or engineer sudden changes. But sometimes herd instincts and mob mentality can push a people to the edge of a precipice when they feel that the situation is hopeless. We are getting to this point in Nigeria where the more we spend on power generation, the less power we get. For the past 14 years, power generation in Nigeria has not increased past 4000 megawatts and yet, billions of dollars have been spent on this sector without any appreciable change in our power generation situation. Electricity generation is not rocket science, other third world countries and indeed other African countries like our neighbour Ghana have managed to stabilise their power sector to the extent that generators are not as everywhere in Ghana as they are in Nigeria. Would it not be wonderful if the present regime can tell us categorically when every home in Nigeria will have power 24 hours n for granted in most countries of the world even in countries where the frigid weather should militate against this. If we have a government that can guarantee regular supply of water and electricity, then we woulding out of the stone-age in which we have been consigned by previous administrations. The needs of Nigerians are not many and not outrageous or outlandish. What we require are basic needs for decent human living and we hope and pray that one day, a government would come that would be able to deliver on this simple needs rather than giving us outrageous budgetary figures on space exploration and demographic enumeration.

http://www.nigeriaintel.com/2013/09/05/n600-billion-census-budget-outrageous/


Personally, we cannot continue like this. FG's biting more than can chew o, all this one that Atiku, Jonathan, Obasanjo, Maku, are playing politics, thinking and acting like they own Nigeria.
I'm not Hausa but Walahi, Nigeria will be worse than Egypt and Tunisia.

TOO BORING TO MY LIKING. I CANT READ THIS PISH

Thieftunubu obviously look like monkies, he needs banana

Hezron or wateva u called urself u sound like a demon to me! Shameless ppl!

So where is the Train?

Like if u think Nigeria will draw and that stanfeit wouldnt shake keshi's hand after the match

U wake up in the morning, u saw the sunshine, the weather, the rain and in ur mind and hearts of heart u didnt contribute in any or quarter in putting down those things that actually benefited u as a living human being, and THEN U DONT THINK SOME ELSE DID IT? U ARE THE WORSE slowpoke. Atheism is just a mind game and arrogance towards God, they obviously knw the truth

[quote author=IGBO-SON]^^^Can we have your take on a non-desperate politician then.......some examples? And you reckon there's a difference between a desperate politician and a person who has a desire and vision to better the lot of his people having seen what so-called non-desperate politicians have done to his state and people; and how they've tried to scheme him out of contention?[/quote]Open ur eye this people dont even care about u, u are doomed for life

Am surprise this Old man is still relevant in this country after Trillions he looted and squandered frm our national treasury. Obasanjo by all justification should be a prison father if things were actually working and done riggt in this country, but we all compromise with this monsters and we all deserve the leaders we get

OBJ holding mike telephone in church? Go and return all the money u looted frm the treasury this Old wizard!

Two desperate crooks. A desperate Politician is a dangerous Politician

There is Hell and there is heaven, its all depends where u want to go. Accept Jesus today and run away frm the wrath of God which is to come. No last Prophet can save u or show u the way to God accept through Jesus

Let 2 of them appear for the election, i think PDP's vote would be shared among them and let me see how both would come our victorious

RoblesOg: Nigeria's salvation is here finally

Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party has finally officially split into at least two factions.

A new faction, consisting of seven of the party’s 23 governors has announced that it has taken over the party.
At a press briefing in Abuja, Bala Kaoje, a former sports minister, was announced as the leader of the new faction of the party.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/143906-pdp-splits-seven-governors-oyinlola-atiku-members-of-new-faction.html

No amount of internet propaganda would make PDP not to vote for the Presidency come 2015. APC may win in my state Anambra because of Ngige but after that no more. We will surprise the rest of the country with wat we did in lagos; vote the governor(APC), vote the presidency(PDP)

Association of Past Criminals, APC should not take this as a weak point cos PDP still got south east and the igbos, and the igbos still got their back. We are here!

Goldenboy007: The recent story about the adventurous lady with the popular man of God in Abuja brings me to this topic. These days it seems churches have now become a harem for girls of questionable virtues. Although this problem had been existing for a while but it seems more prominent nowadays. Churches used to be an holy sanctuary where moral values are inculcated but these days they have become a sanctuary for chronic unrepentant revelers and moral degenerates, these houses of prayers have now become proverbial "Den of Thieves".

Okay, the above is a topic for the Religion Section; to my main concern. Most of the guys - "wife prospectors"- in the church are familiar with the slogan "No sex before marriage", most times "brothers" that have honored these No sex deals have found themselves in deceitful marriages. Don't get me wrong, this is not an advocacy for moral indiscretion but these days that term has been severally used with ulterior motives. These daughters of Eve have now adapted to the guys strategy of running to church to pick "good" girls so they too have repackaged their product to meet market preference. I laugh at losers that fall into the hands of such born again Jezebels, they know how to dangle the forbidden fruit in your front for so long that your common sense would short circuit! Some guys are just pure ignorant or reaping their atrocious deeds. You meet a girl in church, she claims born again so no sex, you are there suffering from "Conji" and she is there getting regular servicing from assistant boyfriend. You are just a bloody ignoramus, bible that says be as wise as serpent but gentle as dove knows what its talking about, that same mouth you are reserving for " You may now kiss the bride" is the same lips giving one nuisance nincompoop "mouth action"(Seun's correction Bot word for BJ). I once went for a wedding where the bride was a topic of discussion for a group of guys sitting next to me, it was obvious they have all "marked register" at one time with Holy Cinderella and the "Dollo" groom was there busy dancing Alingo for his wise choice !!! There is this story of a church sister i know very well, a choir member....Ok story for another day.

OK

Better than black muhammad

Nonsense and stvpid things ppl die for

They are taking ur sperm for rituals and sacrifice. Be warned my people, no everything is worth the money

Corrupted minded intelligent criminals. Looting without being noticed

Infact i am getting tire of all these stvpid irrelevant msg popping up on my phone every minute, if only VAS will knw that i dont even got to open and read it before deleting them, better 4 them

Association of Past Criminals, APC is a party which Ndigbo shouldnt romance at all. If not 4 Ngige whom i might vote for in the next coming elections here i wonder wat relevance that BOKO haram party is to the rest of Ndigbo here. A party that welcomes a jihadist lack intergrity first even before it defends itself

[b][/b]Its Sad the guy had to be knocked down but why is he not using the pedestrial bridge? Must we always blame the govt of our foolishness? Op i think u should rather create awareness about the use of pedestrian bridge than bashing the govt for making our road so motorable

Nigerians can lend them money. We have billions of dollars to waste in those oil thieving bastar.ds

If we dont STOP these anima1s they will wipe out an average african culture. Idi.0ts, and one of the most annoying thing is that their parents were there to welcome them