₦airaland Forum

JomoGbomo2: This is a welcome idea and i believe it will create a more friendly environment for us to share our views on our current political landscape.

And as a way to contribute, I will like nominate myself as a Judge in the first Debate session.

cheers

OAM4J: Thank you all for your support of this idea. We indeed want this debate to count and become a reference point to many of our politicians.

We want to get our panel of judges right. We need about Five people with at least 2 ladies. So we welcome more nominations. You can also nominate yourself.

I nominate Sisi_kill and Coogar among the judges.

Gbawe: Well done guys. Good to note you have listened to the suggestion of some of us that the politics sections should be a more useful 'tool' to Nigeria and Nigerians , as an Arena of ideas, instead of the 'Jerry Springer' Stadium it currently is. With this move, you set a precedence for civil discussion that will hopefully be entrenched and accepted generally by users of this forum.

Jarus: The success or otherwise of the exercise and the ability to achieve the bigger picture of intellectualizing discussions here depends on everyone of us.

A good number of Nigeria's policy makers and pundits actually come here to read these stuffs. I know Pat Utomi does, I know el-Rufai does, I know many politicians do, that is why some of them have planted their boys here to project their image.

So, we need to raise the level of discussion on this forum so that the potential can be achieved.

Gbawe: Totally correct. Jarus, I see you and OAM4J as decent guys. I am just surprised this has not happened earlier. I have been saddened that a powerful forum like this, which should naturally be used to put our leaders under pressure and make them understand we are their boss, is a congregation ground for rancour, e-fights and ethnic bigotry. Anyway, better late than never. As I said earlier, this may just set a precedence that will impact positively on how we discuss here. Good one guys.

Long One: Nice one, this means one can pick up one or two things instead of the utter chaos which is occasionally apparent, resulting in the drowning of good ideas.

Apart from announcing winners, is it possible to transform the solutions into something meaningful? Like, contact legislators/politicians or at least create ‘best practice’ solutions to known issues / some kind of knowledgebase for people in power? I know Jarus mentioned Pat Utomi and El rufai, but I mean people who are already there and capable of making a difference.
That way, even a Nairalander who finds him/herself in power one day, might remember this forum and put these ideas into practice.

Jarus: Hello all,

The moderators of this section have decided to introduce a monthly debate session as a way of raising the intellectual value of the section.

We are aware that debate goes on everyday here and indeed every thread is a debate, but the difference this would make is that it is going to be moderated and there shall be winners.

DATE:
We are proposing last Saturday and Sunday of every month (6-8pm Nigerian time, to be dubbed 'Weekend of Titans' or 'Political el-Classico' or any other fanciful name to add some colour to it)). First round on Saturday and final on Sunday. We are starting this October.

TOPIC:
The topic shall be drawn from contemporary political issues or any other topical issue. As much as possible, we shall avoid very sensitive and emotional topics.


COORDINATORS
The Mods shall be coordinators and will not be part of the panel of judges.

[
My partner will come in to chip in more things.

Your input and opinion are welcomed in the meantine.

UPDATE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2012


1, CHOOSING OF TOPICS
This shall be thrown open, suggestions taken from everyone, and topics arrived at by consensus. Topical and developmental issues shall be given preference. 2 topics shall be arrived at, one for first round, another for final. Or same subject but different angles as points of debate in first round and final.

2, CHOOSING OF DEBATERS
This can be by voluntary indication of interest and/or nomination by another member. At the end of the day, we shall settle for 4 debaters for each cycle(month). Topic will also play a role in settling for debaters.

4, DEBATE PROPER
Debate thread shall be opened at least 3 hours to the commencement, where the rules, brief Nairaland citation of debaters, list of judges, shall be posted. The thread will then be locked till 5 minutes to start of debate when the coordinators shall declare the debate open. The debaters can then post their arguments within 20 minutes. Then, the debaters will be given another 20 minutes to take on one another, fault opponents arguments etc. Then another 20 minutes for judges to throw their questions at each of the debaters and debaters to respond. Then we shall take 1 question from audience(viewers) based on first post, first recognized basis. Note that the viewer/audience rep is only to ask question and not endorse/fault an argument.

While the debate is going on, any comment other than from debaters, coordinators and judges shall be hidden and the poster risks 2 hours ban from Politics section. When it's time to take a question from 1 viewer/audience, the coordinator will announce.

Then the judges will compile their results and email to the coordinators, who will aggregate and announce the results on the thread.

We expect the exercise to take between 2-3 hours.

5, POST-DEBATE
Then the thread shall be declared open for regular Nairaland discussion and comments.

kettykin: [size=15pt]How Close was Chinua Achebe to the Nobel prize [/size]

ochukoccna: To think one if his last actions before he expired was to water the soil of ethnic tensions and fertilize further tribal disharmony with a sprinkling of Igbo supremacy
Shame!

ichidodo: **closes eyes and inhales deeply** dont u just love it? the smell of tribal bashing in the air.

Afam4eva: If this is really true then expect the traffic at Seme border ton increase very soon. People in Lagos don't have heart their their fellow Nigerians in the north. It just takes the explosion of one bomb for everybody to go on a pilgrimage to Cotonou. I hope it's not true sha.

KINGwax: East-side!!!

Afam4eva:
According to people on this thread, Igala means Antelope in Yoruba. How about the author looking for the meaning of Ahmadu or Ali in Yoruba instead of denigrating his tribe by telling us what it means in Yoruba. Whether he was referring to Ali's tribe as Antelope or Ali himself, it's racist to even involve his tribe in this show of shame. It's even more shameful and satanic that some people see nothing wrong with it.

Fhemmmy: But the question still remain, what would happen to how to charge the tablets