₦airaland Forum

odoguigbo: I think they fall below average, mindful of the high tribalistic standard they have maintained here. Some times it makes me wonder the purpose for which this forum was created.

omosexy1: I will ask you a simple question - Do you feel comfortable riding an okada?

alj harem: gbam, really making the youths intellectually lazy. Okadas are simply not sustainable

pro01: Maybe you should define who a "Lagosian" is. If by that, you mean 'indigenes' of Lagos State, then maybe you should know that you fools have not contributed even up to 1% of the wealth/revenues/commerce that makes Lagos what it is. What percentage of the properties and businesses in Lagos is owned by you lazy fools that think you 'own' Lagos?

Without the non-Indigenes, Lagos State would be as wretched as Ebonyi and Gombe et al. Some of you need to put on your thinking caps helmets. "Go back to your village" bla bla bla. . . Only dimwits would say stuff like that.

Paul John: It won't be a surprise if majority of these okada riders are not Lagosians.
If this is the way they want to go( vandalization ), Fashola needs to send them to whatever region/village they're from.

Youngzedd: Bross easy naa.
My village in particular don full as I dey tell ya, no space for others that traveled out.

Soon it will turn to Ikeja.

Did the government provide atleast the job half of this niggas will engage their selves into.

Sending them to the village isn't a better idea.
Make peoples yam and other food stuff no lost, b4 that unmentionable, drinkable and eatable thing that is ban from NL increase the more.

dayokanu: Thank God for the ACN govt in Oyo

Sky Blue: Contradict yourself much?

Your types are the most dangerous on this forum where many impressionable people from around the world visit. I will gladly take an open racist anyday than your types that try to cover bigotry with pseudointellectualism. Keep using Chinua Achebe's opinion as your excuse, the man remains hugely respected around the world. Anyways, one more poster to ignore.

9ja voice: Yes we need the alliance now than ever.

To my opinion, let's the south join hands and vote an igbo man after Jonathan in 2015 or 2019

Up southern unity

OAM4J: ...what we meant by 'sensitive topics' are topics that put an ethnic group against another and not 'sensitive topics' that affect the whole country...

OAM4J: ...We cannot change our past, but sometimes we need to honestly analyse our past to formulate a good future for ourselves, that is the aim of debating such topic.

Jarus: TOPICS -
FIRST ROUND: The 1914 amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates - a historical mistake?
FINAL ROUND: Sovereign National Conference (SNC) - way to go?

Jarus: Sure, sensitive and emotional topics will be avoided.

The 1914 amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates - a historical mistake?

whitecat007: The thing is, SW fought for the few Yoruba in Ondo, but majority are non Yoruba and carried the vote.

whitecat007: Congratulations mimiko! may your state be accepted into SS region where you really belong so you we the real Swesterners can move forward without you.

mrkels: [size=13pt]Seun went to Tai solarin university before moving to ogun [/size]

Gbawe: This is very true. I am still assessing Ajimobi but I must admit that Oyo is no longer about news of thuggery and mayhem as was the case under the PDP.

Gbawe: This is what we keep saying to some here. There are no miracle workers or 'messiahs' amongst our leaders but a good starting point to begin the turn around of Nigeria would be the deployment of leaders with a proven track record and history of solutions provision. When this becomes the norm, Nigeria , gradually, will become OK and remain OK.

dayokanu: Gone are the days of PDP Adedibu, Tokyo, Eleweomo. May we never witness PDP again in my state Oyo

When the Oyo State administration headed by Senator Is'haq Adeyemi Abiola Ajimobi came on board, the governor promised quality service delivery. Almost one and a half years on, his Commissioner for Information, Mr. Bosun Oladele, says the promise has been fulfilled. Oladele also speaks on how quality development has permeated the zones of the Pace Setter State.

When your government came into office, it promised quality service delivery. To what extent would you say that has been fulfilled?

If you want to talk about quality service, you first look at places where people are feeling it and where it could be most felt in terms of infrastructural development. The state government, since inception, has done well over 190 roads and, if you look at the number of those awarded, we may be talking of 260.

And if you look at the past administrations, you wouldn't take that as the benchmark because that benchmark was below zero. If you look at that, they did most roads just as they were about to exit and the roads became bad after 60 or 90 days in some instances because of the shoddy, rushed jobs done.

Now, what we have come up with is to ensure that there is proper and adequate drainage system because that's the only thing that will ensure that the roads stand firm on the ground. And you know because of the weather here, what we have done is to ensure that our drainages are well constructed with stones and concrete. Two, the asphalts on the roads are not just the peripheral type that was the order of the day in recent past. These are solidly asphalted roads that will stand the test of time.

And you can see that for the first time, a civilian administration in Oyo State is constructing a flyover; the one in Mokola at a modest cost of N2.2 billion. Put that side by side with similar jobs in other states and you will discover that we are getting the best quality and for the price to beat.

The other thing is that, recently, the state government awarded the contracts for the dualization of the entrance into Ibadan and most of the major towns in Oyo State. This is also part of the infrastructural development agenda because that is one of the policy thrusts of the Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration that development should permeate the zones.

Also beautification of the environment is ongoing. The beautification is not just make believe, we were all living witnesses when an administration in the past attempted to plant palm trees at the median of the express road from the toll gate to Iwo Road. The plan failed because there was no planning. And you can see that within the short time that we commenced our beautification programme, it is already changing the landscape of the state totally and the state is getting neater.

I will tell you that right now, our governor is being referred to as Mr. Quality. Yes, and it is a sign of the acceptability that some of his programmes have been able to establish with the people.

The education standard, going by WAEC rating, has dropped drastically in this state. What has your government done to up this standard knowing fully well that education formed the bedrock of the pride that any South West state enjoys anywhere in Nigeria today?

We were number 34 when this administration was coming in and, if you juxtapose that with the position we were during the time of Alhaji Lam Adesina, which was number three, you can now begin to see, within a decade or so, the kind of rot that had set in. And you know it's so easy to destroy, but it is never that easy to build. Because of that, the state government has organized extra-coaching classes for students. We have also institutionalized the writing of mock so that our students will be in the right frame of mind to write WAEC and sit for NECO. And the arrangement has been yielding results. Right now, the schools are being renovated; we started with 235 schools across the state. And if you look at that, that is key to ensuring a conducive teaching and learning environment.

Teachers no longer get paid three months in arrears. They now get their money before the end of the month. They are also being trained because it is also part of the package to encourage them to get committed to their jobs. And that is also rubbing off on the students because they are getting better by the day.

Above all, what is your performance like in term of security?

Oyo State is no longer what it used to be in terms of security challenges. We now have peace and it's been a wonderful experience. For the first time we have all these seasonal festivities with no incidence of violent robbery and all the rest. And it shows that we can also live in peace in the state. People can now sleep with their two eyes closed. Gone were those days when people would brandish cutlasses all over the place. People now believe that there is a government in place that is responsible and responsive. We have our Operation Burst in place, which is a joint patrol team of the military and the police. Just recently the state government also launched a security trust fund and corporate bodies also have been able to support because they can now see; it's something that could be felt physically. It's not a mirage. People can feel there is security.

How has the government been able to seize the secured environment as opportunity for investments attraction?

Of course the absence of security is absence of investment and lack of interest from the side of development partners. But since the government came in and security has been entrenched, they have discovered that Oyo State is back on the radar. Before now, we were lost on the radar. They didn't want to listen to us because the quality of presentations coming from this place was nothing to write home about. But right now, the quality of presentations is so excellent that the IMF, the World Bank, all the world bodies development partners want to listen when we talk.

THE aim of a leader should be the welfare of the people whom he leads. I have used the word "welfare" to denote the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the people.

With this aim fixed unflinchingly and unchangeably before my eyes, I consider it my duty to Yoruba people in particular and to Nigerians in general, to place four imperatives before you this morning. Two of them are categorical imperatives and two are conditional.

One: Only a peaceful solution must be found to arrest the present worsening stalemate and restore normalcy.

Two: The Eastern Region must be encouraged to remain part of the federation.

Three: If the Eastern Region is allowed by acts of omission or commission to secede from or opt out of Nigeria,

then the Western Region and Lagos must also stay out of the Federation.

Four: The people of Western Nigeria and Lagos should participate in the Ad Hoc Committee or any similar body. Only on the basis of absolute equality with the other regions of the Federation.

I would like to comment briefly on these four imperatives. There has of late been a good deal of sabre rattling in some parts of the country. Those who advocate the use of force for the settlement of our present problems should stop a little and reflect. I can see no vital and abiding principle involved in any war between the North and the East. If the East attacked the North, it would be for purpose of revenge, pure and simple. Any claim to the contrary would be untenable. If it is claimed that such a war is being waged for the purpose of recovering the real and personal properties left behind in the North by Easterners, two insuperable points are obvious.

Firstly, the personal effects left behind by Easterners have been wholly looted or destroyed, and can no longer be physically recovered.

Secondly, since the real properties are immovable in any case, recovery of them can only be by means of forcible military occupation of those *

On the other hand, if the North attacked the East, it could only be for the purpose of further strengthening and entrenching its position of dominance in the country. If it is claimed that an attack on the East is going to be launched by the Federal Government and not by the North as such, and that it is designed to ensure the unity and integrity of the Federation, two other insuperable points also become obvious. First, if a war against the East becomes a necessity, it must be agreed to unanimously by the remaining units of the Federation.

In this connexion, it must be remembered that the West, Midwest and Lagos have declared their implacable opposition to the use of force in solving the present problems.

In the face of such declarations by three out of the remaining four territories of Nigeria, a war against the East could only be a war favoured by the North alone. Second, if the true purpose of such a war is to preserve the unity and integrity of the Federation, then these ends can be achieved by the very simple devices of implementing the recommendation of the committee which met on 9 August 1966, as reaffirmed by a decision of the military Leaders at Aburi on 5 January 1967, as well as by accepting such of the demands of the East, West, Midwest and Lagos, as are manifestly reasonable, and essential for assuring harmonious relationships and peaceful coexistence between them and their brothers and sisters in the North. Some knowledgeable persons have likened an attack on the East to Lincoln's war against the Southern States in America. Two vital factors distinguish Lincoln's campaign from the one now being contemplated in Nigeria.

The first is that the American civil war was aimed at the abolition of slavery - that is the liberation of millions of Negroes who were then still being used as chattels and worse than domestic animals. The second factor is that Lincoln and others in the Northern States were English-speaking people waging a war of good conscience and humanity against their fellow-nationals who were also English speaking. A war against the East in which Northern soldiers are predominant, will only unite the Easterners or the Ibos against their attackers, strengthen them in their belief that they are not wanted by the majority of their fellow-Nigerians, and finally push them out of the Federation.

We have been told that an act of secession on the part of the East would be a signal, in the first instance, for the creation of the COR States by decree, which would be backed, if need be, by the use of force. With great respect, I have some dissenting observations to make on this declaration.  There are eleven national or linguistic groups in the COR area with a total population of 5.3 millions. These national groups are as distinct from one another as the Ibos are distinct from them or from the Yorubas or Hausas. Of the eleven, the Efik/lbibio/ Annang national group are 3.2 millions strong as against the Ijaws who are only about 700,000 strong.

But when you have substracted the Ibo inhabitants from among them, what is left ranges from the Ngennis who number only 8,000 to the Ogonis who are 220,000 strong.

A decree creating a COR States without a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the people in the area, would only amount to subordinating the minority national groups in the State to the dominance of the Efik/Ibibio/ Annang national group.

It would be perfectly in order to create a Calabar State or a Rivers States by decree, and without a plebiscite. Each is a homogeneous national unit. But before you lump distinct and diverse national units together in one state, the consent of each of them is indispensable. Otherwise, the seed of social disequilibrium in the new state would have been sown.

On the other hand, if the COR State is created by decree after the Eastern Region shall have made its severance from Nigeria effective, we should then be waging an unjust war against a foreign state.

It would be an unjust war, because the purpose of it would be to subordinate them to the dominance of the Efik/Ibibio/ Annang national group.

I think I have said enough to demonstrate that any war by the North against the East, or vice versa on any count whatsoever would be an unholy crusade, for which it would be most unjustifiable to shed a drop of Nigerian blood. Therefore, only a peaceful solution must be found, and quickly too, to arrest the present rapidly deteriorating stalemate, and restore normalcy. With regard to the second categorical imperative, it is my considered view that whilst some of the demands of the East are excessive within the context of a Nigerian Union most of such demands are not only well founded, but are designed for smooth and healthy association amongst the various national units of Nigeria. For instance the East has demanded.

(1) the creation of separate Regional Monetary Authorities;

(2) the diminution of the appellate jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme Court and

(3) the dependence of the Federal Government on financial contributions from the Regions.

These and other such - like demands, I do not support. Demands such as those if accepted, will lead surely to the complete disintegration of the Federation which is not in the interest of our people. But I whole-heartedly support

the following demands, among others, which I consider reasonable and which are already embodied in our own memoranda to the Ad Hoc Committee.

(1) that mines and minerals should be residual subjects;

(2) that revenue should be allocated strictly on the basis of derivation, that is to say, after the Federal Government has deducted its own services, the rest should be allocated to the regions to which they are attributable:

(3) that the existing public debt of the Federation should become the responsibility of the region on the basis of the location of the projects in respect of each debt, whether internal or external;
(4) that each region should have and control its own military and police force and

(5) that with immediate effect, all military personnel should be posted to their regions of origin.

BUSH MAN: very nicely put.wow! you sure are very academic this post just changed how i view some muslims

idowuswap: Hey stop shit that is hausa land not yoruba lannd na hausa no dey go school but yoruba muslim get position.

lazbay: Now that A C N has lost Ondo, Osun is next. Aregbe should get set for d battle of his life.