₦airaland Forum

english will always be our unifiying language but we need to promote the other ones. we can have more than one official language like south africa where they have news papers in zule and xhosa and spell check in those languages on the computer. switzerland seems to get along fine with more than one language, as does malaysia and india. it can be done if we want to do it

Seun, in India, depending on the state, they study in various languages. some of them thier local languages, not english. and you dont need to know english to be a softwarre programmer. dont you see software coming out of france and japan?

that definition means little, its hardly a bible. Out pidgin is the same as the one in sierra leone yet they call it creole, or krio. its just a name change and doesnt make it anymore elevated. The fact is its as much a language as afrikaans is to the whites in south africa. afrikaans is just pidgin dutch

Pidgin is our language, like yoruba and kanuri. Frankly i think all our languages should be made official. We should strive to be bi-literate. For those that think it will make it hard for us to communicate with the world, how do the japanese, koreans, chinese, israelies, lithuanians and the rest communicate with the world?

I think there are too many rules, but one I support is the rule on excessive use of CAPS. it makes it almost impossible to read. Other than that, i think people should be free to express themselves as they see if without profanity

figured as much. I was going to say africa comes from a roman word, but since roman wasnt a language i assume its italian.

Etymology

The name of the river Niger probably derives from the Latin or Portuguese word for "black", niger; another theory suggests that it comes from the Tuareg language gher n gheren = "river of rivers", The West African nations of Nigeria and Niger are named after the river. Its inhabitants have a variety of names for it depending on language, notably Joliba (in Manding) and Isa Ber ("big river", in Songhay).

The middle and lower course of the Niger was also known as Quorra.

I would think its oil, but that doesnt make too much sense because without oil i think nigeria would be even closer. Oil, or the fight over oil, polarizes us. I think over time we have become used to each other, even though we may hate each other at times, like a bad marriage. And as they say, when you are married to someone, after awhile you guys start looking alike. I think nigeria and nigerians have created a culture within themselves, despite thier dislike of each other, and that keeps us together. there is a feeling that a broken nigeria will not reach the same heights as the unified nigeria.

Hopefully we get a government that looks at our commonalities and creates symbols and monuments to these values in our culture in order to help strengten the nation

@Chxta: There are many more like that, that I have seen. I don't know what is their wahala

Thanks seun, but that doesnt really answer it. You know the word africa itself isnt an african word. I imagine niger comes from a european word, though i read somewhere that it is arabic

after all of this the ivorians will later abuse nigerians and call us thieves

then why the call for obasanjo "especially"

precisely. They are using some cooked up image of africa to justify robbing it of its heritage.

yes, but river niger, is that an african name?

where did the name Niger come from

They article and the inteviews i heard stated that war and famine caused africans to harm these animals and they would be best kept in the US. in addition it will help american rural communities make money. It may be a good for them from a business standpoint, but what of countries that depend on these animals. Why doesnt the US relocate thier wilde life, bears, wolves etc to africa?

Africa's largest animals arent in danger but the tone of the proposal states that the nature of africa warrants them taking these animals, and who knows, in future the largest animals will be in danger too. Besides why take elephants and lions when people are doing a great job reviving them

Songhai?

these guys want to take all the animals abd put them in the US since we africans are too stupid to care for them. Thats thier position

Though i think the rebels are the bad guys here and need to go, I find itinteresting that they would ask for Nigeria over south africa to mediate problems

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/1f554b7ce1bc7b18d410ff3e754eb561.htm

COTE D IVOIRE: Rebels reject South Africa as mediators

The rebels have also accused South African President Thabo Mbeki of
prioritising the expansion of South African industry in Cote d'Ivoire --
the world's top cocoa grower which was once the economic pride of West
Africa -- instead of concentrating on their assigned job of working for
peace.

He also criticised Mbeki for turning a blind eye to the Ivorian
government's "flagrant abuse" of a UN Security Council arms embargo and
appealed to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current head of the
African Union, to intervene.

"We demand that the African Union, and especially AU president Olusegun
Obasanjo, take his responsibility and find a new way," said Konate.

Thats the biggest issue.But duke is a sensible man and will likely support someone with sense enough to continue what he did

i already invest, but i want to invest even more. maybe even go for politics one day

Yes, im from cross river akwa ibom states. I'm very impressed with the governor because of his clear vision and capacity to make it happen

http://www.newswatchngr.com/editorial/allaccess/special/10830133752.htm

Donald Duke, governor of Cross River State, has succeeded in putting the State on the path to greatness through several unique projects

For any foreigner who has been to other parts of Nigeria before visiting Calabar, it will be very difficult for him or her to believe that Cross River State is a part of the same country. There are striking differences between Calabar and other major towns in Nigeria. The first impression the foreigner gets as he or she drives into Calabar is the orderliness that pervades everywhere. Residents of Calabar go about their daily routines in an orderly and disciplined manner unlike the situations in other towns which are characterised by hustling and bustling.


http://www.newswatchngr.com/editorial/allaccess/special/10830133552.htm

Newswatch: Tourism seems to be the jewel or the crown of the Cross River State. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

Duke: Three years before we assumed office, we sat down to draw up a blueprint on where we should be in twenty years. We did a study of our state to identify areas we have a comparative advantage. We identified two primary areas-agriculture and tourism. In agriculture, you know our people are agrarian in nature. We have large arable land, we have wide climatic regions of the mangrove/rainforest of the south to the semi-Savannah in the northern part, then we have in some parts of the state, the semi-temperate region.

kodewrita, don't you think as all nigerians we should be able to exercse our dreams and skills in every part of the country?

OBJ could have affeected the US raid if he was the one that called them in to search his own VP. and if diplomatic immunity applies, he may be the only one capable of removing it

These hackers are worse than 419ers

Like typical Nigerian journalism, they then wade into other issues: link

Arsonists set VP, Atiku's property ablaze
By Jide Ajani, Umar Yusuf, Rotimi Ajayi, Charles Ozoemena & Emma Aziken
Tuesday, August 30, 2005

* As PDP mediates Obasanjo-Atiku feud

YOLA - PEOPLE sus-pected to be arsonists have set on fire the ABTI Academy Complex housing the ABTI/American University and ABTI Ventures, both in Yola and believed to be owned by Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. The police say they have arrested five persons in connection with the attack.

When i mentioned the value of atiku's house, it wasn't criticism. I was merely stating its worth as I found it online. Secondly, i dont know if diplomatic immunity applies to Atiku since he isnt a diplomat, and secondly even if it does, having his house raided doesnt mean he will be prosecuted. It likely means they are seeking evidence to prossecute the US congressman Jefferson. Thirdly, even if he has diplomatic immunity, indications point to the house being in his wife's name, so she may not enjoy the same immunity.

So far it doesn't seem like anything illicit has happened on the Nigerian end. And for some reason, no one is talking about the Ghana VP connection

We need trade schools, but Nigeria is hardly spoiled with an abundance of universities to be complaining already.

they have the education, but there isnt anywhere to apply it. Its not th euni's job to create employment, but most of the nigerian graduates i have met are ver very capable

i think the subsidies should not be totally removed. the price should go up, but some subsidies should remain even if its entirely privitised

dont fall that BS. degrees are the best way to go, on average