₦airaland Forum

InvertedHammer:
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Nothing that you are saying has not been said before. But when you realize that you might as well be talking to a wall, you calm down to keep your sanity intact. If your goal here is to make sense of things happening in Nigeria, then you have failed before you started. Take it as you see it or show by example. The people in charge do fly to UK, US and some exotic places. They know how things should be done but choose not to do it. A lot of people complained many times and finally gave up.

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Shut the FURK up. Useless anambra BOYI.

Cjrane2:
Enugu is even one of the best cities in Nigeria. But being the best city in Nigeria is like saying you are the best behaved in hell. Enugu should compare and aspire to levels of other African cities outside Nigeria and not cities within Nigeria EXCEPT Abuja.

Enugu is so close to achieving the Kigali transformation if it only took it's environment seriously. It will only take a couple of youths mobilized with shovels and palm /other tree species to go all over the city and plant on the road medians at intervals of 5 meters apart.

The question is if the rulers of Nigeria think a good environment is important at all?

My brother, I was at Enugu for a few days three years ago. I even went to ShopRite and also saw the new enugu Secretariat. The Secretariat looked better in picture than in real life and the number one cause of that is the shoddiness of the surrounding environment. The comparison with Kigali is not right in that way. Kigali does not have STREET TRADING, STREET HAWKING, TRADING ON PEDESTRIAN SIDEWALKS, simply trading everywhere like it is in igbo cities. Some of the onitsha style three and four deckings that was replicated in enugu and other igbo cities is an eyesore. If you look closely at the Kigali pictures this guy was kind enough to post, you'd notice that there are no BROWN ANYWHERE. It's the same in western countries. You will never ever see an exposed ground anywhere in the US, a country the size of west africa. The reason is because they do 100% landscaping. The first picture is enugu while the rest is Kigali. It's obvious looking at the pictures, that the enugu one looks very disorganized.

davear:
Nwanne ina afu uzo.

The sad truth is that we have a large populace of uninformed people being governed by dumb and corrupt individuals. Just take a look at some simple minded persons attacking you, then you ll realise we have long way to go.

I have been reading people's comments since this thread was established, and as far as I know, the problem has been this useless anambra village BOYI. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of his village. If I do, I'll substitute anambra BOYI with the name of his village BOYI. Some people are saying that he's not igbo but I don't think so. Obviously, he has mental and psychological issues the way he has insulted everybody. I really don't bother responding to his rants except on unsual occasions. Criticising obiano or onitsha doesn't mean that you hate anambra people. Everybody should be able to constructively criticize without being insulted. We need help with the way governance is done in igboland. We should stop postponing to do things the right way, like building gutters and calling it drainage. We should start right NOW.

Cjrane2:
For those searching for frantic excuses to justify why we shouldn't make our cities look decent -- Shame on you.
Why not also make excuses with mosquitoes too instead of cows and goats? Or better still make excuses with the heat of the sun and claim the sun is hotter in Kigali than Nigeria?

Countries like Rwanda that transformed Kigali on meager budgets (About the size of a state govt. budget in Nigeria) have proven that even if a country doesn't have money for big infrastructure such as bridges and flyovers, utilizing the little in it's possession to ensure clean streets adorned with tree-lined boulevards and beautiful open areas will achieve the same effect. Since maintaining Kigali, their government has attracted a lot of foreign investors to build hotels, set up telecommunications etc in their country!

Compare Kigali to Abuja where the vast of Nigeria's resources were spent since 1976? The progress made by Kigali by simply planting trees and cleaning up it's streets since 2006 almost make the two cities comparable! Enugu should copy the Kigali example and maintain the little it has. You really don't need to build multiple flyovers to build a world class decent city.

There are actually some u tube Kigali videos that will blow your mind, a poor country with no MINERAL RESOURCES.

BeijinDossier:
Useless frustrated primitive old fool. Dumb ass.hole. How did you know he was from Anambra in a forum like this? Hopeless frustrated villager from the rural area called IMO STATE. It is useless and worthless people like you are the reason Imo state is a backward village filled with the poorest Igbos.

All you do is come here everyday to write long useless essay with nothing to show for it.


[s][/s]

You can create as many names as you want, and think you can get away with it. But in the end, all comments have DNA's. Try as much as you can to disguise, I can still smell your USELESS ANAMBRA'S ASS from a mile away.

BankeSmalls:
My friend go and sit down!

Lead by example and stop foaming in the mouth with too much talk and zero action, BUILD A HOUSE WITH NO PLASTERING, DRYWALL AND NO PAINT AND LET US SEE!

Start the revolution of find a seat and rest.

Shut the FURK up you DUMB SUCKER. Punk ass mother FURKING son of a DUMMY. Better still, go back to your backward village, the only thing you've known your entire time. Useless anambra BOYI.

OreMI22:
I am not making excuses for Gov Ugwuanyi. But, If you consider that Ugwuanyi has one of the lowest allocations in the country, you will appreciate him. Personally, i think it will be a monumental waste for Ugwuanyi to spend money building more flyovers in Enugu, when more than 8 already existing are unkempt.

I just blame him when even less capital intensive things he could do- such as beautifying the environment and all open areas such as Naira triangle and roundabouts and flyovers are left in unkempt conditions. Many African countries with much less resources than Nigeria look a lot better than Nigeria because they maintain their environment with aesthetic trees, flowers etc. They can't afford flyovers, but they build aesthetically pleasing roundabouts furnished with flowers which more than compensate for flyovers.

Let Governor Ugwuanyi concentrate on how to transform Enugu using trees and flowers along the roads and in ALL roundabouts and already existing flyovers.If he budgets N1 billion naira for that project, he will see the quadruple effect of his effort to beautify the city as the choice destination in SE and SS regions. Beautifying Enugu with trees and flowers will more than transform the ambiance of Enugu as a tourist garden city than building a N50 billion naira flyover at ninth mile or Emene.

Kigali does not have a single flyover, yet it's rated higher than Kampala or other African capitals that have multiple unkempt flyovers. Kigali simply make their roundabouts and roads beautiful and stand out.

Gov Ugwuanyi should simply concentrate on transforming Enugu roads and open spaces with beautiful trees as Kigali has successfully done in the last few years. Enugu should totally focus on the Kigali example and try to out-do Kigali in planting trees and flowers along major roads and roundabouts. Then Enugu will have achieved it's niche as one of the few truly habitable Nigerian cities.

Nice pictures of Kigali, one of the most beautiful and cleanest city in all of africa. You will even be SHOCKED more if somebody can upload the city SKYLINE. Almost all of the high-rise office buildings you will see there were built since after the genocide. It's noteworthy to mention that the country have no MINERAL RESOURCES. Before the genocide, the country was a poor and crumbling country. If you show an equivalent picture of aba, owerri or onitsha, it will show thousands of people trading all over the street, pedestrian sidewalks, the shoulders and median strips of the roads, with other people walking and milling around, carrying stuff on their heads, hawking all kinds of wares. Because there are no garbage collection system, the whole landscape will be littered with all manners of refuse.

davear:
Good to know we still have enlightened people in southeast. Most of those attacking you are paid minions defending the government

My brother, I tell you this, we need to correct a whole host of things we are doing wrong in nigeria. I'm not joking whenever I say this, and I've said it a lot of times; we have practically done everything the wrong way for a long time in nigeria. In the year 2018, with the world civilisation having passed major milestones, like the stone age, the locomotive age and currently the internet age, we need to start correcting some of these problems RIGHT NOW. We should no longer postpone them.

I have totally and completely diagnosed the problem. The number one reason we have the problems is because we really don't know any better. The one single thing that have allowed me to do that, is the fact that I've lived in a developed country the last thirty six years. I was away for ten years before I came back to nigeria. Right from the airport before you step into the muggy hot polluted ikeja air, I was SHOCKED to my bones. It hits you like a ton of bricks. You immediately know that you just arrived at a third world country. I even began to wonder if the country was the same place I left ten years earlier. So, I've not only diagnosed the problems, I also have solutions.

A lot of nigerians think that having lived in a developed country allows people to know how things are done there or have solutions that will enable us have the kinds of things obtainable in developed countries. WRONG. You can live in a developed country for ten years and sleep walk your way around, the entire time. On a recent visit to nigeria, I was having a chat with an old friend who use to live in the US, and this guy didn't know anything about water and waste treatment plants. He never bothered to find out his entire time there, what happens to his pee and poo whenever he flushed it down the toilet. He never observed the fact that they don't build houses here with block and cement. THERE ARE NO PLASTERING OF HOUSES HERE. Most buildings here are built with brick, granite and tiles that can last for two hundred years without a drop of paint. The interior demarcations were done with DRYWALL not block and cement, hence, there are no CEMENT BILLIONAIRES here.

I can go on and on. Having seen the CONSPIRACY of silence where people who ought to say something have remained mute which have allowed this MEDIOCRITY to take ROOT, I shall not remain silent. I will get a crash course on how to meander my way around the net, of which I'm a novice right now. When I do, I'm gonna start posting videos of how things ought to be.

Ofuzo:
It's true that shutting down the millions of hawkers and street traders will upend people's means of livelihood, which is why I suggested that it should be done GRADUALLY, but in the end, it should be DONE. Another form of it that can be adopted is street vending. Street vendors can be licensed and allowed to ply their wares in strategic locations in the city ONLY with the approval of the city government. The reason for this, is to checkmate it's proliferation and unbridled explosion as it currently exist. There are certain other things that can be done on the quest for this formalisation. One of them is the regulating of people's entrance into the workforce. People, should only be allowed to join the workforce from a certain age. Nobody from the age of one to the age of thirteen should be allowed to work. People from the age of thirteen, to the age of sixteen should only be allowed to work for only, say, four hours a day and sixteen to eighteen year olds can be allowed to work full-time which is eight hours. The state government should pass a law to this effect. Along the same lines, the law should also stipulate a mandatory requirement for all parents to register their wards in school. Failure to do so should attract penalties like fines and jail time. At this juncture, all the igbo states should have instituted a free education system from kindergarten to secondary level. I don't agree with free education at the university level because the states just can't afford it.

Now, before the GRADUAL phase out of the INFORMAL sector, certain things needs to be accomplished for it not to cause pain and hardship on people trying to make a living in any way possible. Some certain wealthy igbo business people that currently have business operations with very very positive cash flow, should be invited to build the massive infrastructure that will be needed to accommodate street traders. There have to be a REVOLUTION in the way that housing infrastructure is built. Usually, in developed countries, only real estate companies are involved in the construction of residential and commercial buildings, in collaboration with the city and state governments. Most of their constructions are MIXED USED developments. Mixed used, in construction parlance simply means private and commercial. So when these real estate companies build residential properties, they also build commercial ones. The commercial buildings are built on the major boulevard of the estate, while the residentials are built behind them. Real estate developers understand the dynamics of the occupancy rates, that allows them to continuously break new grounds for new estates, when a certain occupancy level have been reached. So, in developed countries, there's never any street trading because there are letable shops for anybody interested in plying their trade. Trading on the streets and sidewalks are not allowed.

Moreover, we can't continuously use poverty as an escuse to not advance our CIVILIZATION which is stuck in the 20th CENTURY. Other countries of the world have FIGURED out how to live better than what's obtainable in aba for example. When okada people were rampant, people believed that bad things will happen if they were BANNED. Same thing is happening with keke. Like I said, we should endeavor by all means possible, to get away from okada and keke civilisation, if not, we will end the way of India, a country where 300 million people are shiiting on top of 1 billion people.

On a good note, the igbos are excelling in all spheres here in the US. Last year, about six igbos were drafted to play in the national football league, NFL. I think, another four was drafted to play in the national basketball association the same year. The igbos by a mile has the largest contingent of non indegenious Americans playing in the NBA and NFL. The early pioneers in this regards are obed ariri, igwebuike, christian okoye nicknamed by the media here "THE NIGERIAN NIGHTMARE". This year again, another six were drafted. Join me in congratulating them and pray that the make the active and final roster that will allow them to play during the regular season. Their names are

UCHENNA NWOSU
DERRICK NNADI
CHUKS OKOROAFOR
JOEL IYIEGBUNIWE
OGBONNIA OKORONKWO
DUKE EJIOFOR

This is VERY VERY remarkable. Just found out one additional igbo guy that was drafted by Tampa Bay buccaneers. Even though his name was not called during the draft, GODWIN IGWEBUIKE got a phone call by the buccaneers to join the team. This makes it a grand total of 7 igbos drafted to the NFL in 2018. Once again, congratulations to mr GODWIN IGWEBUIKE.

SoNature:
We can realistically reduce Nigeria’s informal sector by supporting the players with low-interest-rate loans and GRANTS, so that their businesses will grow and start paying taxes and employing people

If we move to reduce the informal sector by sending people out of their sources of income, we are effectively increasing abject poverty and crimes in the society

Official statistics states that the informal sector contributes over 60% Nigeria's GDP. So, we must be careful so that we don't shut down the entire economy.

Really, the informal sector gets me worried sick because they control over a half of our entire economy

It's true that shutting down the millions of hawkers and street traders will upend people's means of livelihood, which is why I suggested that it should be done GRADUALLY, but in the end, it should be DONE. Another form of it that can be adopted is street vending. Street vendors can be licensed and allowed to ply their wares in strategic locations in the city ONLY with the approval of the city government. The reason for this, is to checkmate it's proliferation and unbridled explosion as it currently exist. There are certain other things that can be done on the quest for this formalisation. One of them is the regulating of people's entrance into the workforce. People, should only be allowed to join the workforce from a certain age. Nobody from the age of one to the age of thirteen should be allowed to work. People from the age of thirteen, to the age of sixteen should only be allowed to work for only, say, four hours a day and sixteen to eighteen year olds can be allowed to work full-time which is eight hours. The state government should pass a law to this effect. Along the same lines, the law should also stipulate a mandatory requirement for all parents to register their wards in school. Failure to do so should attract penalties like fines and jail time. At this juncture, all the igbo states should have instituted a free education system from kindergarten to secondary level. I don't agree with free education at the university level because the states just can't afford it.

Now, before the GRADUAL phase out of the INFORMAL sector, certain things needs to be accomplished for it not to cause pain and hardship on people trying to make a living in any way possible. Some certain wealthy igbo business people that currently have business operations with very very positive cash flow, should be invited to build the massive infrastructure that will be needed to accommodate street traders. There have to be a REVOLUTION in the way that housing infrastructure is built. Usually, in developed countries, only real estate companies are involved in the construction of residential and commercial buildings, in collaboration with the city and state governments. Most of their constructions are MIXED USED developments. Mixed used, in construction parlance simply means private and commercial. So when these real estate companies build residential properties, they also build commercial ones. The commercial buildings are built on the major boulevard of the estate, while the residentials are built behind them. Real estate developers understand the dynamics of the occupancy rates, that allows them to continuously break new grounds for new estates, when a certain occupancy level have been reached. So, in developed countries, there's never any street trading because there are letable shops for anybody interested in plying their trade. Trading on the streets and sidewalks are not allowed.

Moreover, we can't continuously use poverty as an escuse to not advance our CIVILIZATION which is stuck in the 20th CENTURY. Other countries of the world have FIGURED out how to live better than what's obtainable in aba for example. When okada people were rampant, people believed that bad things will happen if they were BANNED. Same thing is happening with keke. Like I said, we should endeavor by all means possible, to get away from okada and keke civilisation, if not, we will end the way of India, a country where 300 million people are shiiting on top of 1 billion people.

On a good note, the igbos are excelling in all spheres here in the US. Last year, about six igbos were drafted to play in the national football league, NFL. I think, another four was drafted to play in the national basketball association the same year. The igbos by a mile has the largest contingent of non indegenious Americans playing in the NBA and NFL. The early pioneers in this regards are obed ariri, igwebuike, christian okoye nicknamed by the media here "THE NIGERIAN NIGHTMARE". This year again, another six were drafted. Join me in congratulating them and pray that the make the active and final roster that will allow them to play during the regular season. Their names are

UCHENNA NWOSU
DERRICK NNADI
CHUKS OKOROAFOR
JOEL IYIEGBUNIWE
OGBONNIA OKORONKWO
DUKE EJIOFOR

Abagworo:
Igbos and Nigerians don't like paying tax because of our records of mismanagement. Even Europeans met their stiffest resistance while trying to tax Igbo women which led to 1929 "Aba women's riot". The best way to solve our infrastructural deficit would have been privatization like Eko Atlantic or Dubai but we have that mentality of believing Government makes enough money from sales of crude and shouldn't disturb our business. Imo free education is sponsored using Governor's salary and security votes supported with deductions from workers salaries.

I sure do agree with you on igbos and nigerians not wanting to pay taxes. But, it's not just nigerians or igbos, but a world wide phenomenon. In western countries like the US, paying taxes is a vernacular event that is strictly observed. Since nigerians do not like to pay taxes, they must be COMPELLED to do so. Having said that, there are mitigating circumstances that will block a smooth implementation of taxes and tax laws in the chaotic, informal environment that is the climate in nigeria. I recommend two things (1) streamline the tax process (2) gradually phase out the INFORMAL sector. In streamlining the tax laws and processes, you must identify which taxes will be easy to collect. We all know that personal income taxes will be hard to collect, especially by the state government, so you must rule that out. The one tax that will be easy to collect by state governments will be REAL ESTATE TAXES. That one is a no brainier because all the public, residential and commercial buildings are all out there for the world to see. For the towns and localities, sales tax on goods and services will surfix, because they are closest to the people and so will be easy for them to collect.
However, for collection of sales taxes to be successful, the two tier system that is rampant in our cities MUST come to an end. By two tier system, I mean the INFORMAL sector ie HAWKING, STREET TRADING, HIGHWAY TRADING AND ATTACHMENT TRADING. Collecting taxes in nigeria, nay igboland will never work as long as you allow these two tier system of established businesses and informal ones to operate side by side.

Abagworo:
If Igbo States had the kind of money in Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwaibom and Delta States nothing would have prevented Igbo cities from competing with international standard cities. All Southeast States receive basically 36 billion Naira per annum respectively which is barely enough to offset salaries and service loans. However our pace is better than others when you put into consideration the funds available for infrastructure.

I completely disagree with you on this and I'll tell you why in a little bit, but before I do that, Let me try to say a few words about taxes. TAXES is the OIL that has powered great civilisation to reach their apogee, and attain their lofty heights. It is the building block that allowed the accelerated development of these civilisations. All the entire western countries were built with TAXES unlike in third world countries in africa, where the countries are developed with the royalties of their mineral resources. For most part of their history in the US, high income earners paid upwards of 90% of their income in taxes. That is to say that, if they made $100.00 of income, they will have to furk off 90 cents for taxes and only 10 cents for themselves. The high income bracket have since come down from their peak, starting from the Kennedy years, when he slashed taxes to about 50% of income. Nowadays, in the US, the high income bracket pay taxes in the 28 percentile. These taxes were collected and used to build a first rate infrastructure that was the ENVY of the world. Basically, all the roads are tarred in the US wherever there's human settlement. Water from a water treatment plant is piped straight to their homes, businesses and public buildings. The water that is used in peeing, pooing and washing is then piped back to a waste treatment plant, where it's impurities are removed and the water is discharged. Instead of buying gas cannisters for cooking, gas is piped directly to people's houses. Some states in nigeria are celebrating their first overhead bridge (called flyovers in nigeria), but, there are millions of such bridges in the US. As a matter of fact, you can easily count about fourty overhead Bridges from Washington DC to Baltimore on interstate 95, the distance of which is less than thirty miles. On that same highway, the grasses that are planted next to the shoulders of the highway are periodically trimmed, to make it not look bushy. Americans will build a road from calabar to dakar Senegal, which is probably about 3000 miles, plant grasses on both sides of the roads, and will regularly cut and trimmed them on the entire length of that road. The INFRASTRUCTURE here is just FURKING UNBELIEVABLE.

Now, back to taxes. I have in the past accussed Okorocha and the rest of igbo governors of embezzling their state taxes. There's no way, this can be a secret!! It's very obvious to the naked eye. The shocking thing about the daylight robbery is the conspiracy of silence about the issue. This is the nonchalant, conspiracy of silence behavior that has allowed MEDIOCRITY to run supreme in igboland for several decades now, where blatant abuse of things are going on, with everybody feigning ignorance about it. This exactly why I regularly brought up the bravery of Arthur eze, for lambasting and tongue lashing abia state elders and the governor in their faces. This is how serious this lack of accountability is on tax collection. Now listen to me carefully, I can go from ngwa high school area of aba owerri road and collect taxes from people trading there to the end of portharcourt road, and collect not less than one billion naira on a DAILY basis!!! I'm talking only about one road that is not upto three miles long!! YES, you heard right, just one road in aba on a daily basis for one billion naira. Just multiply that on millions of trading, on hundreds and hundreds of roads in its two major cities and you'd know what I'm talking about.

I remember seeing Okorocha on u tube videos talking about his ambition to start a free education system in imo state. That ambition, he regularly stated, was anchored on the fact that imo state generated about 1 billion naira in IGR. That was the reason he gave for it's affordability. Fast forward to a few years later, and I watched a channel TV documentary on the large numbers of hotels springing up in owerri. I specifically remembered one commissioner that was interviewed, stating that the IGR of the state had increased tremendously as a result. Well, if that's the case, why am I hearing that imo state is generating a measly 500 naira a month in taxes? How did imo state go from one billion naira a month seven years ago, to five hundred million currently, with frenzied development which is usually followed by bursts of economic activities. Something shady is going on. If abia give me the mandate to collect their taxes, I'll be netting not less than fifty billion naira a year. Ditto to the rest of igbo states. Sometime ago, anambra state was jubilating about raising their IGR to about 1.4 billion naira a month, about the same time that little old, one city state of bayelsa announced a monthly IGR of 1.3 billion!!! FOLKS, this a big JOKE. We ought to do better than this.
Finally, the igbo states, with their large commercial enterprises don't need that little pittance from the federation account to succeed. There are a slew of TAXES that can be collected to power their developments to infinite heights. In developed countries, their system is designed to generate taxes every time money changes hands. On a daily basis, the taxes yielded as a result is soo humongous that it was enough to POWER all their developmental objectives and ambitions, without MINERAL RESOURCES.

Abagworo:
Much of Owerri has the potential to achieve that crispy ckean looks of American and European cities with just a little touch like redesigning the walkways or adding Western standard walkways where there's none.

"Owerri has the potential". This is why I'm jumping up and down for joy with okorocha's URBAN RENEWAL PROJECTS. Even though, they're mediocre, he at least have the vision. The problem of our government/ governors is lack of VISION. Okorocha, with all his faults have some vision. He had the foresight and fortitude to start the first FREE EDUCATION system in the south east. He had the right idea on how cities are supposed to look by starting URBAN RENEWAL PROJECTS. He has the balls to get rid of the nuisance called keke off owerri's major roads (me thinks they should be banned altogether) He has attempted to move markets to new and different locations. He walked in to Douglas house as a governor and started bulldozing old DILAPIDATED structures and replacing them with brand new ones. The next thing a governor of imo state should do is to end STREET HAWKING, STREET TRADING, TRADING ON PEDESTRIAN SIDEWALKS, TRADING ON STREET/ROAD SHOULDERS AND MEDIAN STRIP. Even trading on our HIGHWAYS are going on in igboland. The landscape of igbo cities and indeed all nigerian cities are LITTERED with residential buildings with zinc attachments where people are trading in all kinds of wares. Just trading everywhere and anywhere should be banned. If you bring in a JAPANESE or a GERMAN to igboland to govern their states and cities, they will replicate what is obtainable in western countries there. It's not rocket science, rather, it's plain simple planning and organisation. In western countries, every single thing is ORGANIZED. Because of that, there's RULES AND REGULATION for everything. Because of these rules and regulations, an ENFORCEMENT mechanism was instituted to make sure nobody DEVIATES.

Simple organizational instruments and enforcement mechanisms are nowhere to be found in igboland. People wake up in the morning and drive whichever way they want, build whatever they like, trade anywhere there's space etc etc etc.
I left nigeria in the early eighties. I was gone for about 10 years before I came back for the first time. I was SHOCKED to my bones of what I observed. Nigeria is the most DISORGANIZED thing I've ever seen in my entire life. If I hadn't left nigeria to very ADVANCED countries, I could still be thinking that aba is swell, or enugu is beautiful!! I already made a comprehensive observation of what is wrong with the place. So the diagnosis and the solution is permanently planted in my mind. Yes there are solutions, even though we practically did everything the WRONG way.
Let me use our cities as an example. Before you start building a city, the FIRST thing that MUST be done is to start building on a virgin land unlike what you have in igboland where cities were built in people's villages. The simple reason is to avoid what you have now where igbo cities are surrounded by people's ancestral villages and therefore, cannot expand further. When a city cannot expand, decay will set in, and the city will eventually die. The first thing you build in a city, before you start building anything else, is a WASTE AND WATER TREATMENT PLANT. Right now, what you have in igboland is people burying human waste in their backyards, which they have now compounded by drilling boreholes for drinking and bathing, a mere ten feet away from the septic tanks where this human waste is disposed off thereby enhancing the possibility of drinking water contaminated with human waste because the septic tanks can leak. There's no cities in the western world built like this. Of course, an aerial mapping of the city should also be done, which will allow the government to define a geographical spread that will encompass the said city. After that, the government will then slowly develop the cities residential and commercial districts, by parceling out land to REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS, as opposed to what's obtainable in igboland where individuals are selling ancestral land to individuals to build WHATEVER!! When you allow real estate companies to develop cities, there's a uniformity in the building and construction and a regularity in the landscaping and designs. We make fun of Yoruba cities, but the concept I just described here are easily attainable there, because of the way they built their cities.

Ofuzo:
The second picture is definitely not nigeria. That picture (2nd one) exemplified what I was talking about on the enugu thread before this useless parasite with different names came there to dispute my claims. Those houses were built with brick, not block and cement PLASTARD houses in nigeria. Look at the landscape, the pedestrian sidewalks, the trees planted at exact intervals, street with demarcated lanes, the lush green GRASSES that are planted at different locations instead of leaving the ground exposed. Something else I even talked about was shown on that picture, which is the manhole covers to indicate the water pipe infrastructure that are laid SMACK in the middle of their roads. That small round thing in the middle of that road, after the first packed car on the right and before the second parked car is that MANHOLE cover. I am technologically disadvantaged because I don't know how to maneuver my way around the net. I don't know how to post pictures or videos. I don't even remember how to copy and paste anymore like I used to. But for the purpose of enlightening some of you FOLKS in nigeria, I'm gonna go learn. This is very very important. It's the difference between the RUT that our people face and what's obtainable in western countries. The difference between the two worlds are mind boggling of epic proportions. Based on some of the stuff that is posted here on a daily basis, some of you guys don't even have a clue.

I was actually talking about the two pictures that was labeled GRA owerri.

Abagworo:
New GRA, Owerri

The second picture is definitely not nigeria. That picture (2nd one) exemplified what I was talking about on the enugu thread before this useless parasite with different names came there to dispute my claims. Those houses were built with brick, not block and cement PLASTARD houses in nigeria. Look at the landscape, the pedestrian sidewalks, the trees planted at exact intervals, street with demarcated lanes, the lush green GRASSES that are planted at different locations instead of leaving the ground exposed. Something else I even talked about was shown on that picture, which is the manhole covers to indicate the water pipe infrastructure that are laid SMACK in the middle of their roads. That small round thing in the middle of that road, after the first packed car on the right and before the second parked car is that MANHOLE cover. I am technologically disadvantaged because I don't know how to maneuver my way around the net. I don't know how to post pictures or videos. I don't even remember how to copy and paste anymore like I used to. But for the purpose of enlightening some of you FOLKS in nigeria, I'm gonna go learn. This is very very important. It's the difference between the RUT that our people face and what's obtainable in western countries. The difference between the two worlds are mind boggling of epic proportions. Based on some of the stuff that is posted here on a daily basis, some of you guys don't even have a clue.

Yyeske:
I don't read epistles, next time be brief and concise.
It is your feeling of inferiority that you'd always compare Imo with Anambra, are you done criticising your governor for his bad governance of the state? All you and abagworo do is roping Anambra into your mess as if we caused it. Your hate for Anambra and Obiano will kill you soon if you ain't careful. Obiano bought keke ambulances and how is that your headache, has any Anambrarian complained to you, have the people it is to serve in rural areas asked for your opinion?
What is the state of education in Imo since her citizens enjoy free education, I guess all schools there are Ivy League schools now.

EPISTLE!!! Is that the only grammar you know? Please stop blowing your useless grammar!! You can compare all you want. You can show pictures all week/month/year long. I really don't care about that. I only care about you INSULTING and TALKING DOWN on ebonyi and wawa people. Posting pictures of igbos (ihedioha) showing respect to our traditional institutions (igwe of onitsha). OR showing the former CEO of diamond Bank, Alex Otti, which is the 6th largest bank in nigeria, in an uncompromised position, with a common board member (obiano) of fidelity bank, which is the 9th largest bank in nigeria.
Go and tell your obiano to leave LANDMARK projects that he can be remembered for. The way he's going, he will only be known as somebody who was able to pay salaries of government workers!!!!

Yyeske:
Ofuzo, prove your Igboness now or Igboland would eat you up anytime you step on it.

Shut the Bleep up you DUMB SUCKER.

BankeSmalls:
@ Ofuzo, the person you are responding to is not an Igbo person. His trick is to claim Igbo and clash sister states to curse each other by his useless comparison.

Don't fall for his trick. He is from the brown roof republic.

I don't think so. There are people like him in igboland. I've followed his every comment since the start of enugu thread when he first started attacking ebonyi people. Now he's disguising by camouflaging with new names every so often. He's very easy to spot though, because comments have DNA's.

Yyeske:
Inasmuch as I dislike Chino meddling in other Igbo states' threads, I equally dislike people like you and abagworo who endlessly go comparing Anambra state with others.
This is the official Imo thread we all know, discuss Imo only here and stop bringing Anambra into it as we would come time to time to disrupt it, Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, Delta, Rivers may keep quiet but we won't.
There have been several confrontations here because of that and if you want this thread to progress, desist from subtly denigrating Anambra as it would always be frustrated and resisted.

What do you mean by comparison? Are you trying to suggest that criticising the governor of anambra state or development in anambra state is DENIGRATING anambra people? Are you FURKING KIDDING ME? If that's what you guys are fretting about, then I was right about you guys MENTAL and PSYCHOLOGICAL state. If the issue is about comparison, then there's nothing wrong with that, and I'm all for it. In any given fora where issues are raised and discussed, people should be allowed to provide CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Try to debate that, instead of talking down to other igbo groups, by making it sound like anambra people are superior to other igbo groups.

I have steadfastly criticized obiano for GROSS underperformance. I led the fight on the vangaurd comment section for him not patronizing INNOSON. Of course, I also criticized the other south east state governors for riding around in Toyota SUV's instead of INNOSON G5. The man didn't add much to any physical infrastructure since Peter Obi left office five years ago. He has not even finished building peter Obi orient bridge this useless guy keep posting here over and over. And why is it, that the so called leading light of the igbos don't have FREE EDUCATION in primary and secondary School. The only thing/s that they keep repeating about his achievement was his ability to pay state workers as at and when due. The man (obiano) just bought some KEKE for rural ambulance! While Okorocha is trying to eliminate keke from our sights, obiano is trying to entrenched it.

Abagworo:
Nothing wrong with the roads other than the guy shot his video during Harmatan. You can see same place after Harmatan.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKa0dr7Hd-0



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlxmMWOnOPc

That one minute video is good but it's not a replica or microcosm of what the entire city looks like. In other words, 95% of the city doesn't look that good. Our goals and objectives is for 100% of the city to look that way.

BeijinDossier:
I am equally a grown boss man. So just like you, i talk about any Igbo state, whether in good light or otherwise is a matter for another day.

You and I have so much in common then. It is my honor to meet my like finally.

Whoever that does not like what ofuzo and BeijinDossier are doing should hug the nearest transformer.

You are a grown up man with psychotic mentality. Engage people in constructive criticism that will result in exchange of imformation and ideas instead of talking down and insulting them. Stop throwing ZIK, ojukwu and chimamanda on our faces. Every igbo group have their own successful famous people. There are super wealthy people from the entire igbo speaking groups. Anambra state is not the only state with successful igbos. If anambra state is all that, your cities and towns will look differently than the cities in other sister states. As far as I'm concerned, anambra villages and towns don't look or feel any better than what you have in sister states. It's an embarrassment to our collective intelligence to keep posting the same anambra pictures again and again. YOUR NEON LIGHT BRIDGE IS A JOKE OF MONUMENTAL PROPORTION. It's only DUMMIES like you that are impressed with NEON lights. Tell your governor to finish that Peter Obi bridge you keep posting over and over. Go and reopen your anambra thread instead of living on enugu and imo state to threads.

BeijinDossier:
This thread has always been about talking about other states than focusing on discussing your state. Incidentally all those states are far ahead of Imo state in all ramifications.

Anambra, Enugu even Ebonyi have their own a threads but they have never lost focus and derail into discussing other SE states. Only this dumpsite Imo thread does that. WHY?

Why is it difficult for you people to focus on your state and how to lift it from its current mess?

I am grown ass Igboman. I talk about any, and all igbo states as much as I want to, whenever I feel like it. Like I have told some of you before, I don't talk about or care about abeokuta lokoja or lafia, I only talk about and care about onitsha nnewi awka asaba, agbor, owerri, orlu, okigwe, umuahia, aba, abakiliki, afikpo, and portharcourt. I not only do so here, but other places like the vangaurd or this day. NOW, WHOEVER THAT DOESN'T LIKE IT SHOULD GO HANG THEMSELVES.

asha80:
I doubt you are abreast with infrastructure development in ebonyi

Why don't you guys create an ebonyi thread to showcase the developmental strides going on in the state. Don't do what anambra people did by abandoning your own thread instead of keeping it going like imo state and enugu state people did. I'm still waiting for abia people to start something, anything.

discusant:
.



Thanks for corroborating my stand all along that Owerri is developing but SCANT development in Orlu

But why must Owerri develop but SCANT development in Orlu?

I don't see huge industries in Owerri built by indigenes of Owerri.

Owerri development is mostly from ill-informed State governors using the federal allocations meant for development of entire Imo state to build Owerri, while rest of Imo state remain far behind Owerri.

FYI, the same time Rome was being built, Roman Emperors were also building other Roman Empire cities like, Paris, Barcelona, London, Damascus, etc., if not, the other parts of the Roman Empire could have revolted against Rome and its Emperors.

The flawed and Apartheid development policy in Imo state, exacerbated by Rochas Okorocha, must be condemned in any medium, including Nairaland.

Yeah, after I corroborated you on owerri, please return the favor by corroborating me on nnewi people not whining and complaining because there was too much development in awka. Of course, nnewi people cannot complain about too much development in awka because there is not much development in awka! How about afikpo people whining and complaining because there was too much development in abakiliki! Like I told you before, and I'll tell you again, tens of cities in nigeria cannot complain about a sister city getting too much development because there are absolutely no cities getting any developments. If Okorocha had done what other governors did in their states by just coming in and tarring one or two roads in owerri, you will never have been complaining of the neglect of orlu.

discusant:
Beautiful boulevards in Owerri but with very scanty human and vehicular movements. Implication: successive governors of Imo state waste the federal allocations to Imo state and its lgas to build boulevards in Owerri, while the larger population of the state live on dusty, muddy and squalid streets, especially in Orlu and Okigwe areas.
If Owerri has 1 million inhabitants, Orlu Municipal has half as much, or more; followed by Okigwe Municipal.

Imo state now needs a fresh governor to redress the huge development imbalance between its three senatorial districts.

It's no longer acceptable to have a state where one district is over-developed by the state government, while the other two districts are left decades behind.

It's completely false the entrenched belief in Imo state that a state capital is supposed to be developed by government more than any other town or lga in the state.

If you had looked hard enough, you'd noticed that there is SCANT development everywhere in nigeria. Like I told you before, the only reason you are complaining about SCANT development in orlu is because there was development in owerri. What if you are from abia state, or anambra state or ebonyi state. You see, nnewi, which looks the same way it used to look fifteen years ago, are not complaining about everything being built in awka and not nnewi because nothing is being built in awka. Also, okigwe people are not here everyday whining about this and that. I don't told you several times to sue Okorocha, instead of coming here everyday to disturb our peace.

ChimaAdeoye:
Drive through OWERRI, IMO State



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxQVg7G1DTk

Unbelievable! Driving around owerri for half an hour without seeing even one KEKE. Thank God for okorocha's foresight. Next thing is to force owners of commercial and residential properties to do landscaping. This will mostly solve the problem of dust, and the brown that envelope the landscape.

Unemadu:
I have to say that the USA is a very peculiar country, even to Europeans. What I would like is to see what we can learn from Europeans or developed asian countries.

Actually not. The new world (as they are sometimes called) like the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are carbon copies of OLD europe because they were populated and BUILT by the same people. That's why certain things like their cities, jurisprudence, government all look the same. The US congress building, for example, is a carbon copy of most european parliamentary buildings.

Xander85:
It's very frustrating that gov'ts can't seem to keep up with the pace of development in our state capitals. This is the case in varying degrees in ALL our state capitals and major cities. Just look at the latest pics Spyder posted....but for the overhead water tanks and terrible roads, they could pass for a prosperous city in Europe.

The solution is for gov'ts to ensure there are no leaks in their IGR collections, as presently they collect only a fraction of what they should. When there is enough funds, gov't can then dedicate a percentage of what's collected in a city to improve its infrastructure..and also publicise what it's doing so tax payers would be encouraged to pay as and when due. There are some cities in the South East you can think of and you'd struggle to point at what the state gov't has built there in the past three years to justify asking people to pay their tax.

Also, i think the state capitals should have Mayors who would be voted for every four years. These Mayors sole responsibility would be to build infrastructure with the IGR raised and their share of any allocation available. They can also be mandated to enter into PPP arrangements with banks and foreign/local investors. Their remit would also be to sell their city to the world like we see being done in London and New York where their Mayors are the cities major ambassadors.

The situation now where the state Governor oversees all this is not tenable, and it's distracting for them when they should be more concerned with the overall economic development of the state.

For the past few days, I've been talking about land scaping/land management, erosion catastrophe, urban renewal projects, buying and selling land by individuals, building gutters and calling it drainage. I also talked about water and waste treatment plants on the imo state thread. Let me pivot to a different subject, something I briefly mentioned which you brought up in this post, when you said that state capitals should have MAYORS.
Well, not just state capitals, but also major cities and small towns. Like I have repeatedly said, we practically do everything the wrong way in nigeria. The practice in developed countries, is to have administrators in all localities. In nigeria, after a state, you have local government areas. In the US, it's called COUNTIES. In these counties, you have towns and cities, major and minor. The prerequisites for having a locality tagged as a city is the population. Once a locality reaches that population milestone, the state awards them city status. There are certain advantages that accrues to a locality with city designation because it empowers them to do certain things like collecting TAXES, electing their own MAYORS, having their own police department etc.
So, in the US, all the cities and towns collect their own taxes, of which REAL ESTATE taxes is the most important. But, they are saddled with responsibilities of which they MUST be able to fulfill and satisfy. Cities are essentially responsible for PAYING TEACHERS SALARIES, COLLECTING GARBAGE/THRASH, BUILDING AND MAINTAINING CITY ROADS, MAINTAINING LAW AND ORDER with their police department. And most importantly above all others, they are responsible for ENFORCING city ordinances, or rules and REGULATIONS.
SO YES, this is how it's done in the US, unlike how it's done in nigeria. The same we are clamouring for decentralization from Abuja for powers to devolve to the states, we should also be fighting for state powers to devolve all the way to our VILLAGE COUNCILS. This set up where nigerian state governors are micro managing most things like GARBAGE COLLECTION in the entire state is a JOKE OF MONUMENTAL PROPORTION.

Xander85:
That's got to be either UNEC or the golf course! My money is on UNEC!

This picture of enugu is what I mean when I talk about LUSH green grass vegetation that covers much of the open land in developed countries. The only difference with what you see in developed countries is the block and cement PLASTARD fence whose paint will start peeling off after about five years. If it was in one corner of London, that fence will probably be either red brick or brown brick.
Unfortunately, the entire city of enugu does not look as clean or green as this. THIS, my friends, is EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

AKswift:
Joor, stop this over generalizations! What do you mean by lands are sold off to only Real Estate Developers in cities and suburbs?

Hear this out: here in Ohio, lands are sold off to companies (real estate developers or otherwise) as well as private individuals. An individual can actually buy off a scrap building, raze it down and builds what he likes, as long as he has the permit from the city. A close relative, a pharmacist, recently bought an old house from a built-up city in Cincinnati. His known intent is to tear down this building and erect a building of his choice, upon confirmation from the City government. And yes, he is not a Developer but a private individual. So, E’Jor, stop this your 30yrs living in America over generalizations of situational issues.

Since you are in Ohio, why don't you drive around the state and show us ALL THOSE LANDS FOR SALE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT and post them on nairaland. Please do that for all to see. If and when you do that, the SHAME is on me. Of course, sometimes your house can catch fire and burn down. You can take insurance money and buy another house instead of rebuilding. You can then decide to sell the burnt house to somebody else to rebuild. OR your house might be so blighted by neglect and abandonment that the building code inspectors give you an ultimatum to either sell, remodel or be confiscated by the city. There are literally hundreds of thousands of such houses in American big cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore etc. The ones in Detroit was sold for scrap to real estate developers and individuals alike to develop as they see fit.
But this is not what we are talking about. WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT AND THE REASON I BROUGHT IT UP, BECAUSE THAT HAS TO STOP IN IGBOLAND, IS THE SELLING AND BUYING OF PLOTS OF LAND FROM INDIVIDUALS TO INDIVIDUALS. This is exactly how all our cities was built and this is why they particularly all look like shitholes. This is not BEST PRACTICE in developed countries, states and cities of the world like OHIO where you claim that you live.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, which is what I'm trying to impress on our people back in igboland who really don't know any better.

InvertedHammer:
/
No land(s) for sale in US?

You are a joke. I don't see the relationship between how many years you live in US and misinformation.

Go to https://www.zillow.com/ca/land/ and choose land/lot for sale.

Eg. The one plot at 1 W Garrett Ave, Fresno, CA 93706 is for sale by the owner for $47k == N17m
(less than some plots of land in Nigeria). I have seen a few empty secured plots in some cities for sale
with local numbers to call for interested buyers.

It is not a law that only real estate companies can buy land(s). Many individuals cannot because of
the factors I outlined earlier.

They have many listings.

One can live in US and still be grossly ignorant.

No! Abuja is being built by real estate developers and private contractors including DIYers.
Real estate developing companies and private builders have always and will always work in developing cities.

Keep living in your fantasy world

*/

Shut the Bleep up you DUMB SUCKER. You cannot educatel me about cities I've lived for years. I've lived in the bay area for about 6 years, and in the DC area for about 30 years. Some of you people live on googling stuff to find information, but I'm a live witness. What your DUMB ASS probably did was to google land for sale, and then come here to talk rubbish.
I know for a fact that you are a complete DUMMY, when you said that houses in american neighborhoods don't look the same. DON'T ARGUE WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW. Also, don't argue by wikepedia and google alone, because they have a tendency to mislead. THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO INDIVIDUALS SELLING PLOTS OF LAND TO INDIVIDUALS IN THE US. RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES IN THE US ARE BUILT BY REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS . You think you know the meaning of ignorance because you can spell it, trying to educate me on cities I know practically every street and every neighborhood. ONE OF THESE DAYS, I'M GOING TO TAKE MY CAMERA AND DRIVE AROUND US CITIES, TAKE PICTURES AND POST THEM DAILY ON NAIRALAND. When you watch the videos you will completely SHUT your mouth forever and some of you people will hide your heads in shame.

InvertedHammer:
/
A little nudge and you are beginning to make exceptions and clarifications unlike your previous post where you said real estate developers built all developed nations.

I talked about cities not farms in USA.

No! All the houses do not look the same.

You need to move around different cities in USA to know.

I am using So.Cal as an example with emphasis in Los Angeles area.

There are lands for sale. But people don't follow that route because 1). It is expensive 2). They don't understand the process 3). The stress of dealing with city inspectors, etc.
4). They don't have the money to build (no kobokobo project).

Most houses are financed by mortgage lenders and they push borrowers towards finished houses because they are easily recoverable.
/

/

YES. When you come to new Carrollton MD, all the houses you see there was built by one REAL ESTATE company which is why they all look the same. There might be some small variations, but even a dummy will know that everything looks the same. When you go to northeast Washington DC, YES, almost all the houses you see in certain neighborhoods look exactly the same. THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO LAND FOR SALE IN ANY AMERICAN CITIES AND SUBURBS. I've lived for more than thirty years, both on the east coast and west coast, so I know what I'm talking about. Now, when you see a sign saying land for sale, it's not for sale to INDIVIDUALS, but to REAL ESTATE COMPANIES. REAL ESTATE companies build the houses and then sale to individuals. There are NO single plot of land selling going on in the US and most developed countries. This is not even supposed to be in doubt because they did EXACTLY the same thing in abuja. Abuja from all practical purposes was and is still being built by REAL ESTATE companies. The igbos don't even have to COPY what the developed countries are doing. Let them just copy what they are doing in abuja. WE SHOULD ALWAYS ASPIRE TO DO THINGS THE RIGHT WAY. RIGHT NOW, WE ARE PRACTICALLY DOING THINGS, ALMOST EVERY SINGLE THING THE WRONG WAY IN IGBOLAND.