₦airaland Forum

3Ceagle:
They have their own plan to integrate all the South West states. I guess they are still on design and funding plan stage.

I think the railway system should be handle by the various regional development commissions with strong participation by the FG and state Governors to ensure accountability. This way continuity can be sustained, no one Governor will stall the project.

I disagree.
Regional development commissions are funded by the Federal government and this amounts to the same Federal government that is more focused on its trumpeted' concrete roads infrastructure which will still not cope with the army of trucks on our highways. In my opinion this will take decades, generations to achieve.

Let states fund it. The more states adopt the masterplan the higher the pressure on states that have not. No state will want to be a rail wilderness when it's neighbours are serviced.

It just takes the Federal government (through a rail infrastructure commission) to work with the states on the plans, routes and standards every state will adopt.

Wow, this is fantastic.
You just wish other states had similar boundary to boundary rail infrastructure plans.

As a matter of fact the Federal government should be pushing states to develop rail infrastructure over and above road infrastructure. It should call for a moratorium on new road works in favour of rail transport which is an economic force multiplier.

And if it can bring states to arrive rail lines at their borders, a total national rail network can be achieved in record time. But the Federal government has to quarterback such planning to make it effective and the financing solutions efficient.

At the very least Benue and Plateau may have a peaceful Christmas celebrations.

It is about this time and at the turn of the year for two or three years consecutively that communities in those states have had to dig mass graves.

But it doesn't have to take external coercion for a democratic government to deliver it's mandate. Governance is not all about money, revenues and projects. It is also about service to humanity, at least to the people that mandated you to govern them.

njokuuche77:
When you break it down by numbers, APC currently dominates a significant portion of the country:

South-South: 6/6 (100%)

South-East: 3/5 (60%)

South-West: 4/6 (67%)

North-Central: 5/6 (83%)

North-East: 4/6 (67%)

North-West: 5/7 (71%)

With this level of control across states, especially the regions where APC is fully or majorly in charge, there really shouldn’t be excuses for hardship. The same places that are politically aligned should also show the strongest results in governance, economy, and quality of life.
If performance doesn’t reflect this political strength, then it simply means the party isn’t living up to the responsibilities that come with such power.

At that point, calling APC a joke wouldn’t even be far-fetched, because the results should speak louder than the politics.

Nigerians don't relate their.politixs to governance. They keep them in separate containers, governance in a flimsy wicker basket and politics in a solid metal portmanteau.

lapintoz:
Wetin go con happen now as I don yab Donald Trump well well.....and they know i am a fan of the Democrats.

O ti lo ni yen

That is the beauty of a working democracy.
Just wait till his tenure is over....and hope another hawk is not hatching and a new Democratic government may emerge and throw the gates wide open again.

All we want is an alternate view of things.
One perspective cannot adequately describe an elephant.

One mirror cannot adequately serve the safety of an automobile. When you arrive safely home you realize you have used all the mirrors your car has to offer. That is life, the multitude of counsel as the Holy book says.

If the way we have been practicing our democracy is best, then why is the country like this.

amazingspiderma:
Please Get tired of Colonial Master story...
Africa was not the only continent that was colonized.

India, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong etc. were also colonized , other times nations plundered weaker nations including Arab nations.
Make una get small sense it's 2025.

I don't get it. This endless sob story.

Britain was overrun by the Vikings, Romans, Normans.
North America was overrun by the Spanish, French and British (I think in that order).
China was overrun by the Japanese who occupied almost all of Asia at one point.
Almost the entire Middle East was 'owned' by the British at one point.
And on and on and on.

The whole world is one long story of power fluxes with empires rising and falling, wealth and plunder ebbing and flowing from one part of the continent and the world to another. It has always been like that.

If it all remained as it was 2000 years ago, Italy today will probably be the richest country in the world courtesy of Roman rule. They plundered all of Europe and parts of Africa and Asia minor and took slaves in great number.

Or is it Greece, Macedonia, Mongolia, Egypt. These were once great empires that ruled much of the world and commandeered much of it's wealth and enslaved much of it's people's but are struggling economies and states today.

So abeg, Africa doesn't have a special case in the context of antiquity. We should rather focus on building ourselves to become a great, unified and progressive continent state that is immune from invasion and resilient to exploitation.

Kemetian:
FUNNY HOW THE ''WORST GOVERNMENTS'' EXCLUDE ALL THE COUNTRIES THAT LOOTED AND PLUNDERED AFRICA OF ITS WEALTH AMOUNTING TO AN ASTONISHING $5,000 TRILLION ACCORDING TO AI CHATGPT.

THE COLONIAL LOOTERS AND PLUNDERERS THEN LISTED THEIR VICTIMS AS ''THE WORST'', WHILE SITTING ON OUR $5,000 TRILLION.

THE AUDACITY OF THESE PEOPLE.....

PAY US BACK OUR REPARATIONS, TO THE ACCOUNT OF EACH AFRICAN.

THEN WE WILL BECOME THE BEST AGAIN, JUST LIKE WE WERE IN HISTORY - THE CRADLE OF CIVILISATION - BEFORE YOU INVADED WITH YOUR GUNS AND BOMBS TO STEAL AND DESTROY.

There is no country on earth that has not been invaded and plundered. If you are talking about treasures nothing compares to what Europe took from the Americas.

Even Africa has had its share of plundering empires. The famous richest man that ever lived, Mansa Musa famously took Africa's treasures out of Africa, on his pilgrimage to the Holy land, treasures he obviously plundered from conquered African states of that time.

The question of evolution is why Africa with all it's purported capabilities never found it important to invade other continents to make it's native land greater than it is today.

When we ask for good governance they equate it to 'opposition politics', when it is just common sense. Now everyone is crying out of fear for dear life.

When the economy is good FOR ALL, crime will naturally abate, but no they want it all for themselves, family and friends.

Now the individualism is even more poignant with the senator's cry. He is essentially saying, 'guard me alone first', the people are less important, they don't matter, I alone matter, I alone need to be secured instead of 449 of my constituents plus 1, me, which is the United Nations policing density standards.

This will have been the view, the reaction of a typical British or American or German or French citizen to the senator's tirade and he will not have escaped their wrath.

I simply cannot understand a democracy whereby people vote a person from amongst themselves to represent them or govern them and accept such uncaring abandonment, a complete detachment from the very people he came out from.

Such a sorry state of affairs in Nigeria. We are in a defacto state of war with all sorts of criminal and genocidal elements rampaging through the land and all he can do is to compare importance, trade-debate salvation like Nigeria was some Titanic going down and he booked the first class cabin so deserves the life raft.....

Honestly if I am a soldier there or a company commander, I will try to get my own kit to save myself and my men. There is no way I will operate in that kind of environment without having a drone in the air continually. And when we bunker down for the night I will establish a kill box round our position and line it with flares and anti personnel mines. This is just unacceptable.

I do respect this.
This is the way it should be. This is the way policians in civilized climes behave.

You finish your governance and leave the stage completely. Not messing around the polity, making yourself a totem pole or some golden calf to be worshiped in perpetuity.

You won't see Tony Blair hanging around number 10 meddling in the affairs of Keir's government or George Bush Jr playing Republican godfather.

They are all back to where they came from. In business, practice, the academia or just marking their days giving back to society one way or the other.

Not here where they want to install their kids, relations or lackeys to cover their soiled arises and perpetuate their misrule like some ancient monarchy.

SEOJanitor:
What's the name of the American General that ordered firebombing of Japan.
Curtis something.... I hate him too he is a war criminal. Like hitler

That one is purely war.
There is no apology for that.
Both countries fought against each other and moreover Japan started it all when they attacked Pearl Habour killing thousands of military personnel and civilians at the naval base and surrounding communities totally unprovoked.

If America is a mean war machine today it is Japan that is responsible for that not even the war in Europe.

thesicilian:
Some of these people were obviously despicable, people like Hitler and Vlad the Impaler. Some of them were just nationalists doing what they knew best for their own people. However for people like Idi- Amin, Gaddafi and Sadam Hussein, I don't really see who hated them apart from the USA. Even someone like Osama bin Laden who was trained by the USA in the art of espionage was not really hated by any other people apart from the Americans because he used their own evil strategies against them.

By the way who hated Pablo Escobar? That guy was and still is a role model to millions of youths

How can you say this.
That people did not dislike some of them.
Are they not all mass murderers despite whatever agenda they were pursuing.

Did Idi Amin not overthrow a civilian regime (of Milton Obote) and left a trail of bodies, hundreds of political opponents murdered and fed to crocodiles?

And Pablo Escobar that murdered hundreds of judges, government officials, police and military men having escaped incarceration such that the orders were for a shoot on site because no jail could contain him...

If you are not a victim or dig deep into history your perception is bound to be skewed.

I agree some started off well and with good intentions but their ends still warrants their infamy and I also agree that sometimes the vices of the victors often masks their share of the corpses that litter mass graves throughout antiquity so that of the west is restricted to ancient kings and common criminals while their modern day political counterparts such as George Bush and Tony Blair should have a mention.

3seriez:
Our Justice system needs a total overhaul and in dire need of reforms.
Unfortunately we are not a serious country.

Part of the "unseriousness" is that there is no synergy between our politics and governance. In other climes they use politics to change society for the better by making demands of those that stand for office. That is what is called voting for the "right reasons".

They come for your mandate, you tell them it is not for sale, rather what you want is change. If they agree you press further for details and if you are satisfied with their plans and presentations you vote them in and they deliver. If they don't for any reason you vote them out while looking for better, simple.

If we feel it is only government legislation that can change the criminal justice system for the better then let us make it an issue in 2027 if we are SERIOUS.

They will not demand for the kind of good governance that will benefit their communities and citizens of their state and nation in general but for what will benefit INDIVIDUALS.

This is the summary of politics in Nigeria and the fuel that fires feudalism and burns development. Individualism. Master and servant democracy.

The African has next to no horizonal relationships. Cannot build viable, prosperous societies. He only thrives on vertical relationships. From his God, his king, his elder and onto himself. It ends there.

What will an appointment say a Minister of Special duties or Works do for a whole state or community of people..... very little. What they are really after is the sharing of money and award or contracts.

If Mungo Park, David Livingstone or Christopher Columbus had been a present day Nigerian he will have come into the foreign lands and cut deals for himself while telling his respective king that 'nothing dey dia abeg, no bother'. Even pirates had their countries in mind and shared their booties with the Crown.

But you rather wish all these things were done when he was in government so that some of the issues at hand will have been prevented. That is what working institutions do to help good governance. They try to catch them in and about the act.

Unfortunately the damage is done. Lives have been lost to terrorism, much of the funds misappropriated will never be recovered.

We must insist institutions work Insitu and not cower to powerful individuals in the government of the day only to run helter skelter when the coast is cleared by the felon's inability to align himself with the government in power.

In a democracy there is no issue with the people deciding how their own revenues and taxes are spent. If they want subsidies so be it.

However such decisions should be by popular advocacy not a government imposition. When the liability is borne by the people they themselves will find the route to compensating for other underfed sectors.

One of the big problems of our democracy is government doing things no one has asked them to and simultaneously neglecting things the people desperately need.

In a democracy there is no issue with the people deciding how their own revenues and taxes are spent. If they want subsidies so be it.

However such decisions should be by popular advocacy not a government imposition. When the liability is borne by the people they themselves will find the route to compensating for other underfed sectors.

anonimi:
Are you talking about the same Obi who had doctors on strike for 13 months as Anambra people were dying because he couldn’t care less?

The governors of the 36 states are not much different from each other, because 200 million Nigerians are united in our mediocre expectations of the looters we hail as tribal leaders.

This is exactly the case.
People don't understand this democracy thing.
That democracy is not a beauty contest. It is not about the individual. We have done that enough.

Obj, military man. He has discipline, he was also an ex HOS so is experienced.....later, no,no,no he was too brash and undermined democracy.

Goodluck, he is an intellectual, he will bring the thought process to government....later, no,no,no he was too soft and clueless and corrupt.

Buhari, yes we need a disciplinarian, and an ex military man to slap Nigeria into shape....later, kai everything is worse than where he met it.

Now, it is your turn, we have a performer, an astute 'politrician' with administrative pedigree... but Nigeria is drifting, almost all indices are even worse...

So wither Nigeria. Is it really about the person's or the system. About the employees (the politicians) , or the company (Nigeria) or the owners of the company (Nigerians).

Where does the blame lie for the state of Nigeria PLC and who can fix it of the three groups.

So you can peddle another name, Peter Obi or Yele Sowore or some other populist. You can employ any kind of expert in any field you think Nigeria needs. The bottom line is MANAGEMENT. The quality of management, citizenry will determine the fortunes of Nigeria.

But does Burkina have the hardware to protect it's airspace. Not many countries do and in Africa perhaps just a couple, if any.

Emzedz:
Wicked n useless politicians that's hw wike built ICC with 59 billion while school teachers in fct are on strike,, wat of hidi sirika with nigeria Air fraud with billions still missing

If he doesn't do that how is he going to expand his property portfolio home and abroad or finance his unending political battles.

He cannot see Idu Industrial. Has not spent a penny on bringing industrial concerns to partner with the FCT to create jobs and spur REAL development. Yet he is running around turning over every stone to find money for.....yes, contract awards.

When we are ready to empower into office real visionaries, generational thinkers that are selfless, caring and patriotic, then we will go to the ends of the earth to find them and shun all these pirates that force themselves on us.

That is why we continue to demand for good governance no matter who gets angry with that. It is the only way to sustainable democracy.

As Adamawa is so are most other states and indeed their daddy, the Federal government. Spending billions and trillions on white elephant projects while leaving the core mandates of industrialization for job creation and economic recovery, education and health for sustainable mental and physical wellbeing to the people and foreigners to sort out for themselves.

Yes, Nigeria has always been known as the 'contracting' capital of the world, a contractors paradise of sorts where most MDA's are no better than market places, bazaars and Aladin's caves where you can walk in with an empty briefcase and emerge minutes later a billionaire many times over.

And until the people are ready to understand the proper workings of the democracy they profess, nothing in their lives and their fortunes will change for the better.

If this writeup annoys you then it is absolutely true.

babzo:
That directive won't work for the simple reason of leadership by example.
If the President and his family don't live on their salaries as in they enjoy the Nigerian loot, there is no way you will tell a policeman with a salary of 150k a month not to argument his pay with extra 200k by providing services for people especially when his Ogas collect quota.

Things like this will work when:

1) Corruption becomes a crime in Nigeria and people are prosecuted

2) True salaries are paid people. Paying a President 1 million naira or a policeman with a gun 150k is a joke.

3) Governorment creates a safety net for the people so that within a generation,money is no longer the only symbol of success

Totally understand.
The economy is in a terrible state.
Most salaries simply do not make sense.
Most Nigerians live illegally and unethically to make ends meet.

But the truth of the matter is that policing remains a social service, an obligation of the state as per the constitution.

But the Federal government is mistaken if it thinks it can fund the policing of this country to any reasonable standards alone.

Two things it should do:

One, press legislation to have state and local government police. The Federal government retains somewhere about 40 percent of all revenues accruing to this country. In simple terms it should be paying only 40 percent of the police work force in Nigeria. States and LGA's should fund the rest to their capacities. Only 4 out of 10 policemen should be a Federal officer.

Two, press legislation to have personal protection and facility protection services as an independent institution which will be administered and commissioned by the end users at their cost subject to certain eligibility laws. So that everyone from the Presidency to the Bank CEO, everywhere from refineries to government buildings are protected by this service.

Government can then make their security a line item in the budget and made payable to this organisation and civilians as well in their company and personal accounts.

Then the police will become a truly independent, apolitical institution and regain a lot of professionalism and respect it has frittered away cavorting with the very people it should superintend over.

Every great play must have a curtain call.
Nothing lasts forever.
Your career at the very top is over Mr. Salah.
Don't go out like this.

Perhaps high time Nigerians go full VietCong at home and on the road.

Angelfrost:
I would pick Ghana, Mali, Ivory Coast, and all North African teams ahead of Naija.


Every person with the slightest football sense would do the same.

If you saw Iwobi and Sam Chuks's decent game yesterday you just wonder how they play so poorly for the Eagles. The Tech Department is not doing their job.

Most other African players give as much quality to their national team as their clubs but you can count the number of Nigerian players on the fingers of half a palm that come anywhere near their club forms.

Not a Messi fan by any stretch of the imagination. But that is the fact. Portugal is a highly talented team but with a glass jaw.

They find it very hard reacting to setbacks in matches and in tournaments even with a host of big game players.

They look coordinated on paper but delaminate and fall apart when put under severe pressure.

Other teams that traditionally have this problem include the Netherlands and of course England. Over the recent years Brazil has drifted into this category. Very fragile teams.

Whereas teams like France, Croatia and indeed Argentina find a way to win even if not playing at their best. Real tournament teams.

babzo:
Private temporary assignment of of off duty policeman will never stop. Its the detailing of police who should be on duty that has to end.
If i am not wrong, at least 20% of policemen will always be off duty whether during the day or night, they can be allowed to be hired and paid.
Even in America, that's how policemen argument their salary.

But to permanently place policemen to be guarding people, that needs to stop, but only if the government allows the security outfits to be armed and also NDDC or what do they call them again?

I believe the directive was clear enough.
That personal protective services and facility protection by the police has ended and such duties will be handled by the Civil Defence going forward.

So I don't understand what excuses these are.
For a policeman to leave his posting to travel as a so called escort.

When you begin to find loopholes to laws and directives the end result is a total collapse of such laws and edicts because Nigerians are notorious for exploiting and abusing them to the fullest.

Expect the generation of a thousand new excuses each week going forward in this lawless country.

Powerful individuals forming and arming militias as he alleged is symptomatic of a failed state and mirrors the situation in the Congo around the time of Joseph Kabila. Believe you me we don't want to get there. Just one step away from civil war.

Those that won't join us in calling for good governance but continue to play the ostrich or pat the present government behind the back in the face of very serious governance shortcomings should count their teeth with their tongues.

If you travel by road across the country from town to town you see all sorts of armed groups called 'vigilantes' taking over the roles of security agents and agencies.

These groups are not known by law yet they act in such capacity. This is state failure. Who funds these groups, who commands and directs them, what are their rules of engagement and most of all, who regulates them.

This is bringing a matchbox to dry tinder. It will only take one mistake, one miscalculation, one indiscretion and a full blown ethno-religious conflict can be ignited.

That is why I have continued to advocate for the restructuring of the country that will birth a new policing and security structure in Nigeria. One that will involve all the federating units, making it constitutional and legal. Having checks and balances and a uniform code of administration and operations.

So that I can sit in Sokoto or in Lagos and know what is lawful in Kebbi or Benue. And know that as a sojourner my security is guaranteed and I will receive a fair hearing as a non indigene or a non national.

There is so much work to be done. Unfortunately little is being proposed let alone done to address the challenges we wallow in. Poor governance in my opinion. Defeated citizenry, a certainty

MaziObinnaokija:
Appeal it rather than crying

Civilian rule is all about 'first amongst equals'. No one is bigger or more important than another person. And this is the foundation of democracy - consensus, agreement.

There is nothing that makes one person more deserving than another. To the extent that he makes rules that compel every other person to abide by.

Have you ever considered what makes for societies that work well. Everyone is given a fair chance to SET THE RULES OF THE GAME they all play in.

Was Omisore consulted on these rules and did he agree to them before the game began.

The black man just finds it exceptionally difficult to reach a consensus on how to rule himself and form viable and sustainable societies. We are terribly feudal in nature. This is the origin of the stop start democracy we practice in Africa.

In order subvert justice and perpetuate themselves in power directly or indirectly civilian regimes plan coups against their opponents and hide behind the pan African hunger for democracy when the men with guns do same.

This is how it all starts.

And what are the seeds of this tragedy in Benin Republic.

The manipulation of the electoral contest towards indirectly extending the tenure of the incumbent by rooting out any possibility of a REAL change of government. A classic case of the goat pushed to the wall.

This has been the bane of democracy in Africa.
The manipulation of already weakened institutions to toe the line of feudalism.

Let democracy work in it's purest form and coups will not exist, but no. They cannot willingly let go AND WALK AWAY after their tenure is over or when the citizens are fed up with their rule.

They must manipulate the system. Buy up institutions, trample upon the voices of those calling for justice so as to perpetuate themselves in government one way or the other.

If Jonathan did not walk away in 2015 this democracy may as well have ended shortly after.

So the onus is on this present Nigerian government to govern well and leave when it's tenure is over or when the people say enough is enough. Only it will decide whether the hard fought for democracy will endure another twenty five years.

There is no substitute for social justice and equity and the security and prosperity of the people cannot be negotiated or excused.