₦airaland Forum

Said it was a monarchy. He's just moved from Buckingham palace to Clarence House.

And only if they knew what some couples will do to get just half a child. This world sef.

Inept thinking by government once again. How it intends to sustain this kind of program over the long term beats me. These people need jobs, the region needs infrastructure badly. Does it take a guru to put one and one together. Put them to work, real work so that they can earn real salaries. If what they do, their trades can support those salaries let it be. It is real work that creates real expectations.

But I'm one hundred percent sure that all projects are still in the hands of government apologists and the enemies of Nigeria that fritter away our resources and send the rest to Switzerland. Give these people roads to construct, bridges to build, rail lines to lay, refineries to instal. When these roads fail, bridges collapse and refineries implode then we wil all know our limits, learn the hard way and tailor our expectations. That is development.

I really don't know what Nigerians want. The bad, bad, bad Bi-Courtney has still managed to build (no matter its short comings) the best airport terminal in Nigeria (pls feel free to contradict if I'm wrong). Yes it is expensive, yes a few facilities need a repair but it remains the best. One would have thought that all stake holders will have fallen over themselves to replicate these advances in all areas of infrastructural shortcomings. The MTN we speak about was expensive, highly inefficient and highly indebted when it started (as with GLO) but with time, additional investment and scale it has become the most profitable enterprise.

For goodness sake these roads will make money from day one, tons of it, but no one except the enemies of this country can see this opportunity. Believe me if we cannot free our ourselves from this: government will do all/allocation/contracting mentality, the dustbin best describes our economy when oil runs dry. Then we will know what re-colonization is all about.

When JFK famously said 'ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country' he was not speaking politics and socialism alone but of economics and enterprise. The ability of people to rise up and feed themselves. In those days communities gathered together to erect electric poles and purchase transformers. What has happened to us. Suddenly no one wants to pay for anything, to do anything. Government this, government that. as if we don't know who they are - a corrupt, inept lot.

These same banks are falling over one another for government accounts and willing lend billions to senators for their over-bloated salaries, why wouldn't they pay for this mess. They are the ones killing Nigerians, killing industry, killing enterprise. If I had a bank it is better if it went down financing a road, rail line or refinery than have it dissolved by bad debts to political campaigns and senators salaries. At least there is something to take over, something to sell.

It is pointless reminiscing about the gargantuan capital flight to South-Africa via MTN, Multichoice or Bi-Courtney (to come). I will not give myself hypertension over lost jobs or lost cyclical investments. At least the services are there. What really pisses me off is the lost billions to foreign banks through capital flight in contracting with the attendant corruption. That is what we should fight. Our natural resources are our legacy. We should not fritter it away. If we have hands let us work. The more we privatise the more we prevent those evil men and women from destroying our legacy and the lives of our future generations.

mathskill:
With all due respects you are still confusing the mayhem going on in maiduguri were as i stated earlier on another topic that 90 percent of the attacks of boko haram are in maiduguri the borno state capital not and i repeat not the whole of northern nigeria,the point here is stop lumping the entire north with borno.
Upon presenting your green passport in any foreign country the first experience most nigerians face is that of profiling,you are seen as a potential drug peddler,419er,or yahoo yahoo which all nigerian's complain off bitterly then why should we come back home and do the same.
Apologies but your thought process must be distorted to insunuate that i take more offence at profiling than the killing's going on in borno.
You are also overlooking,ignorant or not current as to  does felled by boko haram,amongst them are cordinary citizen's who  report their activities to the authorities,islamic clerics who critisize thier use of religion to commit violence  and just because people  don't protest and condemn them on the street doesn't make accomplices they are simply afraid for thier life's.
The trauma you say the press is capitalizing on is exactly what i suggest they should be held responsible.

No Sir, I'm not confusing the activities of this group which has struck in other northern states aside Bornu, has in its repertoire a wide range of targets from individuals to government, banks to churches, civilian to military. Highly indiscriminate. What kind of war is that. When people agitate they have targets legit or not. Militancy is targeted. ND militants attacked oil related infrastructure and kidnapped (not killed) staffers. When the military attacked they retaliated. It is clear what they stand for. Who or what are these people after. If they don't want western education then attack schools.

Secondly the concept of profiling is entirely an personal one. Practically everyone does it knowingly or not. It may be blatant at embassies and airports but don't we see it here everyday on Nairaland involving religion, business and politics. It is true. We may gloss over it in print but in practice when we feel hurt it is futile to lash out against the so called perps. The only attitude left is to change.

They may say 'you will certainly get high in a bus full of Colombians' or get 'mugged in a bus load of Nigerians but I will certainly get down from a bus full of those who don't give a hoot about dying for no reason whatsoever'. Is it up to these groups to dispel these stereotyping, I would say yes. We created our situation so we have to fix it. No one is saying the every northerner has such tendencies but it seems inordinately strange that the region has produced continuous blood letting for the past thirty years over one thing - religion. Yet this religion is present in other parts of the country. But where another one has come bearing yet another name, what can people say. What do we expect, the south to fix the situation or America or Britain or we all fold our arms.

In the Niger-Delta struggle every man and woman south of the Niger knew and appreciated the cause if not the means and for the means alone a lot of people opposed it. If it is the same in this case it means the people snuggle up to the cause but are merely condemning the acts. But if the cause and the acts are both condemnable then opposition should be more vociferous there. I say this boldly today if ND militants begin a campaign of random destruction of lives and properties they will be equally profiled as mere murderers and no one will complain.

If you are silent you will be given a name - that is the work of the press. Let the BH (which has been given an amnesty without a conflict) come out and state its terms clearly and repeatedly so we can gauge the reactions of all concerned - the residents of those states, the government and the people of Nigeria. Even Al-khaida manages that.

Another one! Well asteroid K2157 is reportedly headed for mainland united States.

Well if Bi-Courtney defaults on payments on MM2 why doesn't the banks take it over. That is a silly excuse. Banks have failed period. I am not holding forth for Bi-Courtney but who in his right mind will see a project that could potentially generate millions daily and not move on it. We can clearly see the results of the capitalization - bloated overheads, un-viable branches everywhere and yes more shops in Dubai and London. Let South Africa take over and let the Multichioce story start again. Nigerians amaze me. We criticize government day in day out yet cannot move a finger to finance a two hundred kilometer road. Yet those CEO's live in billion naira mansions in Ikoyi and grumble while driving their multi-million naira automobiles over pot holes they can be making a fortune from.

We can't take reasonable risk. Everything is short term. We cannot trust each other so we expect foreigners to trust us. What is eternally wrong in paying for infrastructure. We die daily, complain bitterly yet are unwilling to pay for safety. When we get to Europe and the US don't we. Government contractors don't want PPP and will do anything to sabotage it just as they have done to our refineries, power stations, railway and now roads simply because they are lazy, wicked and evil. They rather want multi-billion naira contracts out our non-existent and much hyped resources to eternally repair.

Virtually all major roads in Nigeria are eternally under repair costing billions without remedy. That is what we want. I've said it before even in one of the most socialist countries in the world - China, people pay for stuff. What we cannot pay for we do not deserve. Wake up Nigeria is not Saudi Arabia and never will be. It is not in our culture as Africans to wait for people to do stuff for us.

I don't know Bi-Courtney or Babalakin but what he says is absolutely true. Sorry to say so but let us ask Julius Berger and the likes to open their books and let us total what we have paid to them since the seventies to build us roads and bridges and why they cannot by now raise cash from the banks in Stuttgart (where they have been remitting huge amounts of money to) to participate in the PPP. We are just programmed for waste in this country. And here we are insulting our own, just a man, one man, trying to take the bull by the horns against impossible odds. Let him leave it and let's see how the road will improve. I think Lagos state has tried Badagry and has seen how easy it is. Nonsense.

Said it times without number that air transport is a fish out of water in Nigeria. It is just too sophisticated for us to manage. The reasons are simple. Everywhere in the world air transport is driven by the economy and supported by extensive infrastructure both public and private which we don't have. When the economy goes up airlines become marginally profitable. When there is a downturn they merge or collapse in debt. And when I mean economy I mean travel for business or pleasure (to do deals or head to the beach) we cannot afford either. The Nigerian economy has never really improved so i don't expect the airline industry to develop. That is why the high turnover of airlines, that is why incident liabilities such as insurance payments cripple them. A bad accident and its all over. Unfortunately its has also been the grave yard for the loot of many a political office holders and patrons, too many to mention. It has never been a serious business.

Now that airlines have upped the ante (not altogether because of high aviation fuel but also because banks have to call back the massive amounts of cash - they too have to survive in the face of dwindling handouts by their wealthy shadowy patrons) it spells the death knell for most of them. First, it will only cut the number of those traveling by air and make the cost of doing business for those who remain loyal much higher. Certainly not what you want to do at this time when the economy remain weak. And as the planes empty the average number of planes per airline may fall further leading to larger over heads and a vicious downward cycle.

I've said it before the only way out is for airlines to voluntarily merge or the government should compel them to more stringent operational conditions such as cutting unprofitable routes, setting a minimum limit to the number of seats each airline is permitted to operate daily and investing in infrastructure to eliminate these foreign trips for services. It will be difficult to bring all of them on board and overcome certain egos but the reality is plain before them.

THE question I would like to ask is - how will a bank survive without charging interest - that is in a depressed economy. How do banks make money??. Can anyone please square this circle. Cut out the round tripping and COT which we all love to hate (and which cannot sustain banks anyway) how do they make money. If it involves profit sharing, Sanusi himself has stripped banks of all ancillary businesses - insurance, mortgage and the lot so this isn't a option. Where will the money come from to establish and sustain these institutions. Who invests in such businesses. He has to answer these questions. Sorry, non interest banking is not what normal business people practice and banking is a BUSINESS. If you are not out to make money then what are the MOTIVES. If it is a charity then its promoters must come out and guarantee that their INVESTMENTS are not meant to destabilize current institutions and promote an agenda that is currently hidden.

I really don't comment on personal topics but I can't help but say two things here. In virtually all Nigerian cultural groupings a man does not refer to his wife in the first narrative particularly to someone younger. He cannot say to his younger sister 'My wife is taking my child out, bla, bla'. First of all that would be disrespecting you before someone who is probably younger, secondly Nigerians and Africans generally view the relationship of marriage in the a more wholesome context with the children included. You are married to complete a family which includes children so part of your worth which he would like to portray are the children. In Africa children are an honour and I'm sure he would would love you more if you could address him likewise instead of his first name which I'm sure you do currently.

I don't really appreciate culture (more problematic in the context of national unity) but there you are. On the second point don't you think for a moment that the ages of his sisters could be the one under question. Their purported ages could be the magnet besides your compass. If you permit me (ladies) African men do not usually alter their ages, certainly not when it involves socialization, business and earnings perhaps but not when it concerns relationships. They usually have nothing to fear and maturity is more of an asset not a liability. Unlike the west, here it is usually women who tamper with the calendar for obvious reasons.

mathskill:
When the story made the round that a truck load of dynamites was stopped by soldier's Nairalander's heaped abuses and rained curses on muslims and northerner's but events have proved otherwise.As the saying goes Falsehood shall always perish and truth will forever prevail.Yesterday it was a fulani woman caught trying to plant a  bomb at a filling station in lagos,the other day northerner's transporting bombs caught in abuja,soon they will start arresting petrol tanker driver's because petrol can be used in making petrol bomb,trailer's conveying fertilizer's too will be intercepted as they can be used in making explosives,when hydrogen peroxide is found in your first aid kit you'll be a suspected bomber too.It is high time our journalist's are held to account for their unproffessional conduct just as rupert murdoch is being grilled in the UK,Australia and the US and at the same time never believe all you read in a newspaper.

Be real. There's a war going on in a northern and you don't want people to be concerned. Don't play ostrich here. Nigerians are worried because of exactly this kind of attitude, the failure of fellow Nigerians to condemn such actions in its entirety. If profiling is to be avoided why is there no opposition whatsoever in the north against this group. No protests, nothing. Just apologies and muted responses while people are killed daily. You think those policemen, youth corpers and civilians slaughtered have no right to life. People have died and all you are concerned is about profiling. After 911 what happened to muslims in the US - profiling. When a man is killed in a community and the murderer is let out of jail what do you expect - a glorious welcome. How many whites are operating in the Niger Delta today. You think they have no stories. For goodness sake Force headquarters was assaulted with explosives, a truck load is found a few weeks later enroute Abuja loaded with explosives and you expect a red carpet welcome.

Men and women of the armed forces and security outfits are under great stress. Yes some may be naive and incompetent so you cannot fault their over zealousness. If I was trading in explosives today should anyone tell me to inform security agencies in advance before driving up to the gates of Abuja. I bet if it was Afghanistan and some explosive detection device tracked that truck, strike aircraft will never let it get near the city gates.

I am not positing for government for they have done more harm than good and fertilized the ground on which the weeds of militancy have grown but you cannot fault the tension in the populace. They should not be victims of this war. The press is merely capitalizing on their trauma.

In the days of Abacha you needed to copy the police before trafficking or use of explosives for construction. Why this should be reinstated now is obvious, why it hasn't since militancy spiked five years ago is puzzling. The police, SSS and DMI should look at these instances very carefully and adequate measures implemented such as the storage which should be in the hands of government agencies preferably the military until the day and time such is to be used. No civilian storage should be permitted for now. You can imagine if BH can storm police posts and cart away arms what they can do to civilian facilities. Just yesterday a train in Eastern Europe was freed of (was it) components for sixty missiles. And when you look closely at the list of companies that ordered those explosives their origins are not entirely inspiring.

Today you certainly don't need dynamite to create a bang, bags of Urea, congealed petroleum or hydrogen peroxide can do it but these agents are volumetric but when the screws are tightened by check points and searches it is only natural they would up the ante and that is where that bad stuff comes handy. So don't rule it out. happened in the Niger Delta. If our police was real they would have discovered by now what substance was used in the force HQ assault so that they know what step up the ladder these folks have climbed.

Dynamite in the hands of construction companies in Nigeria for now is really, really risky.

The best amnesty is to sort out the wanton corruption and establish social justice which the distinguished senators and representatives should be prosecuting. This escapee attitude will only tighten the screws. Why are people persistently asking for their (BH) agenda. Its meaningless. Just a wake up call. Just sort out the country and brother will turn against brother, simple. As the elites tighten the economic screws the masses are merely crying out. I don't feel the killings are justified in any way, shape or manner but the government knowingly and unknowingly has created the perfect storm and put in place every part of the machinery called militancy everywhere in Nigeria.

When are we going to wake up in this country. Boko is a political scepter turning on its creators. Odili did the same in Rivers. Like nuclear energy, it is easier to turn on than to quench. And like those dreaded isotopes these groups have a half life and will eventually run out of energy very much on their own. But since we have no means of harnessing the wave of positive energy these sad events provide (such as looking inwards, restructuring our nation, ending corruption, establishing institutions and entrenching social justice) like Fukushima all we can do is to keep on pouring water to cool them down to avoid a more lethal blowout. That is what their amnesty says to me. Its more about them than its about Boko Haram.

The Americans have had their civil war and come out stronger and more united, the two world wars made the chief protagonists - Germany and Japan super powers today. Iraq is fast becoming a giant in all aspects in the middle East and even Afghanistan with all the battles going on probably has more hours of electricity a day and more people coming out of poverty than our great nation by the minute.

Yes Niger Delta militants were bad, Boko Haram is badder (permit me) but the baddest calamity yet are those who insist on pouring water on the melting fuel rods just to save their own skin and preserve their ruinous ways of life.

This is exactly what Lagos needs right now. For those proposing a light rail system except if it is going to have minimal penetration the question you'd like to ask, just where is it going to pass in that congested city without sacrificing roads, public and private building and enmeshing the sate in endless debilitating legal tussles with individuals and the Federal Government. Subways are called just that because they enable minimal surface disturbance during planning and construction.

For those looking at the floods as an obstacle I would tell you quite authoritatively that subsurface systems in three countries were constructed with flood alleviation a primary consideration and a further two were built initially as subsurface water channelization but later modified to bear trains. Yes, and they are all working today in the west and in Asia. As a matter of fact the government could focus all its developmental planning for the 'Mega City' supply and transport efforts into this one system.

One single tube could carry communication, power lines and garbage (on conveyors) on the upper deck, the middle deck for two rail lines and the lower deck split into three sealed tubes operating under pressure - one incoming fresh water supply line, and two outgoing lines for storm water drainage and sewage respectively. With this you can split the city into sectors starting with areas of highest pressures and set a hundred year project completion period. With this parts of the transport, environmental, power and water departments can be merged to save costs lost currently to duplication of efforts at certain levels.

On the Atlantic end there is a very easy and cost free way of getting the water up (because the ocean surface will be much higher) and into the sea and keep the entire system from flooding. Can't mention that here. That is third generation technology.

Lagos state MUST transit from gutters. No modern city with these types of challenges - Population and environmental persists in these wasteful acts. Yes these gutters are wasteful. They just don't work. If you built them in NewYork or London they will be filled with garbage and become heavily silted attitudes or not. The Abuja master plan provides for underground storm water drainage so does the new Portharcourt master plan and these have all been working despite the filthy nature of Nigerians. Lagos should follow suit. Invest properly once and for all. The costs of constant clearing and de-silting makes nonsense of the pennies spent on 3 x 3 feet drains prevalent there. With an integrated subsurface supply and service network floods, power supply, water supply and flood control can be handled in one fell swoop.

And my will it create jobs. In building it, foreign technical supervision (only) yes, measured application of machines (yes) and plenty of heavy lifting (yes) to give those area boys a taste of real work.

This is exactly what I have been saying and to think that Shekarau who stood for the highest office in Nigeria would agree to be a part of this kind of thing. Perhaps we were clouded by a sense of patriotism and deluded by a whiff of hope. Then we all hailed his articulation and his humble background. But alas it was all just to get into power. They are all the same. Making and keeping dirty deals even across party lines. Same thing is happening in the house. The huge expenses incurred by the Upper and Lower houses are being enjoyed across the board. If I'm not mistaken no major fight has broken out over the excesses. Corruption is a Nigerian thing that has no fixed address, respects no internal boundaries, age or creed. Everyone seems to be in it. This is the path we have chosen and we have to live it out. So sad.

Well the welfare of Lagosians is the concern of Lagosians across all parties so it must be expected. I don't think it is a matter of playing politics or of performance. Opposition seeks to put pressure on the government in power. If it doesn't who will. Democracy works when opposition works no matter what its composition. The Bush era republican party still speaks vociferously about the economy they ruined, the Labour party in the UK likewise. We should not be deluded that politicians on their own need no supervision.

We must realise that the longer they (even the ACN stay in power) the more complacent they will become. That is inevitable. The flood thing is not Fashola or ACN's fault but the result of decades of corruption, misplaced priorities and the damaging cultural influences which Nigerians generally have but the ACN is in power and is the only institution that can handle the situation for now so the pressure will come. Governance is not easy. It is not meant to be. Your visit to a hospital to get medicare and the confidence you will get it doesn't stop you from screaming in pain even though you may have caused the accident yourself.

Final word on this. Not all parts of Lagos are habitable. The island is fast falling under this category. The hardworking people who live and work on the island will have to work harder to keep the ocean out. Long term I seriously doubt the viability of that finger of land. The west coast of Africa may be shielded from the consequences of tectonic movement but global warming dictates sea level rises by precipitation, convection and melting ice.

So NIMET is correct, the situation will get worse. Heavier rainfall, longer wet season, slower rate of runoff and percolation. So the government should start building the next generation drainage systems. Gutters and canals just won't do when the sea is higher. As we speak the Atlantic is above the door level of buildings on Ahmadu Bello built in the seventies and early eighties.

To make matters worse instead of walling the water out like in New Orleans or Amsterdam where they have sealed tubed pressured systems and locks they are instead encouraging the extension of the coastline in many parts and only a fool will fail to realise the gradient of the gutters have all but flattened. Just imagine the distance residents of dolphin have to cope with to get their rain to the lagoon with that stupid sandfilling. Government no see am or residents of Dolphin and its environs are not tax payers.

For developers, landlords and tenants perhaps its time to begin to categorise housing like is done in Russia or other frozen lands - summer and winter housing. We can have dry and wet season housing so for those who cannot swim they pay only six month rent per year and move out in April.

And her advice is the much sung 'refuse in drains' as the government's own hymn is 'building on canals'. For Lagos state to be building 3 feet by 3 feet drains in this time and age on major streets as we speak is simply foolhardy and asking for trouble. Flood control measures are simply inadequate. We've been told for ages now that the ocean WILL rise by another 30m in the next century. That means most of Lagos will experience persistent and more severe flooding.

This is coming at a time the city is expanding at a faster pace than ever before and instead of the silly government to act fast they are busy generating revenue by issuing permits for the reclamation and development of wet lands - the only naturally occuring sponges left. When they are all paved over let me see where all the water will go. Perhaps to the Atlantic (the lagoon is being reclaimed from all sides)  through their 3 x 3 feet gutters. I laugh.

Just 3 kilometers from Alausa right under the governments nose Isheri is being reclaimed legally - news headlines of tommorrow. In the back end of the Ogba/Agege axis houses have been built right down into a canyon the depth of which you'd think you were in an aircraft flying overhead. Some have legal documents. Tell me which drain will command water to flow upwards. You might as well live in a bath tub. All around LASU on the Badagry axis you see houses with roofs below bridges, culverts and drains and you just wonder who in his right mind will pay good money to live there.

I just think goverment has to be proactive in its urban planning regulations. The spread is enough. Its time to go up, bigger buildings not sprawling ones. Private, corporate and public development has to be consolidated. Lets be realistic we live in houses far too big for most of us and I'm not talking about a room or a compound but the cost of the surrounding infrastructure. Lagos is terribly congested. Build or rent what you need not what you want.

On a personal level if a man has an alternative location outside Lagos where the family can be packed, stacked and racked, take it. The penalty is gradually becoming unpayable.

Finally if you are buying or renting it may be useful to take along a GPS. Most good phones have one. If the location us anywhere below 15m the vendor should give you a good reason why you shouldn't konk his head. Its crazy. Or like someone humorously said on radio as we all instal burglar bars and razor wire and sometimes fire extinguishers perhaps the standard requirement for landlord will be to provide lifejackets in the home. So when it starts to rain someone blows a whistle and everyone dashes for the locker. And perhaps in up market island lets a jet ski may suffice to get big man out to work where his SUV just can't.

Fantastic news for us that have been battling the tsunami of cheapo stuff flooding our shores. Maybe we can breath this year. May the naira find its true value and may the government have the courage not to plunder the reserves to aid the importation of some stuff unmentionable here. If we can't make it we don't need it.

Sorry folks but I have to agree with Kobo on this one. Level every building in Lagos and it won't stop the floods in most places. If you notice the second article it mentioned silting and the need for dredging. This says one thing - the rainwater moves too slowly to prevent sediments forming. The quality of drains being constructed are far too inadequate in terms of size and connectivity for that very flat topography.

For instance in the flood prone parts of inner Ogba/Agege typical streets have no more than a 3x3 feet deep drain. This is adequate for a thirty minute downpour but not a twelve hour tumble. If that rogue building was at the receiving end of the full force of last Sunday's flood government needn't demolish it. But because the connecting drains are not properly sized and aligned we have a faulty plumbing system.

My little knowledge of plumbing tells me its the size of pipes and the gradient of flow that determines if your toilet can take the dump without slagging. Of course Fashola isn't a pro in these matters. He needn't be but he's paying someone to get it done.

Not enough data for an informed judgement deary. Since the issue is between boss and loss perhaps the poor man stuck out his neck to help out and now the thing has gone viral the Boss of bosses is livid and demands someones head. What kind of job does she do. Does she work for the mob, is she a 24hr duty brain surgeon. Does she work at Fort Knox or NORAD, or does she have the codes to boot the Nasdaq main frame or perhaps Woodlock. Like the Corporal said in the movie 'where eagles dare', what makes her so damn important. Or perhaps she's a voice over actress for a delayed summer blockbuster release of 'Alice in Wonderland 2'. I don't get it.

seyibrown:
Life imprisonment instead!

E no matter. Life imprisonment for Nigeria na death sentence in slow motion. For murder you go get real dungeon. No be like US cage wey get tv and gym. Here na prison dogs dey keep fit with 3,000 naira wackies per day while guests dey manage 300 naira wey get suspended sentence sometimes to be released after servicing aunty warder.

Some people dey say hanging dey barbaric. Na electrocution by NEPA you want. I no understand because the only light wey fit kill dey inside faulty transformer, the one for chair na half current wey go only tickle your kini.

Abi na lethal injection. This one I fit agree say you go die but no because e work but after contractor and comptroller share money na ota pia pia go settle matter.

Dis country.

Nollywood's got her the ear of the Supreme Court. The fact she's a lady is causing commotion here. That lady holding a sword and scales is blind to this case too. If it was an old bum doing the male specialty - rape and strangulate he'd have no sympathy. What kind of devious mind lures and poisons oh Willy Shakespear.

The poster is partially correct industrialization a.k.a producing stuff is the only way out so unfortunately Nigeria CANNOT develop. I've said it time and time again, tar all the roads, provide all the power, security like Fort Knox if people are not ready to work they won't.

Infrastructure does not create jobs and businesses it merely enhances them. Makes them more efficient. They are like fertilizer, only beneficial to what is planted. I mean, 85 percent of China remains rural - no roads, no power and down right poor but they work like horses. Same for India. The US on the other hand has great infrastructure but has exchanged all its industries for hollywood and the soft end of silicon valley - facebook, twitter and Apple as if that puts food on the table so even they have to borrow from rural China to survive.

In Europe while the English buy and sell money a.k.a trade poverty, the Germans make stuff and are the only viable economy in Europe. When our banks were asked to capitalize you'd have thought it a great tool for development (afterall money is the raw material for the banking industry) but when I saw them opening new branches, employing new staff and perking themselves up I knew the end was nigh. If the engine room of business doesn't know what to do with capital then there's a fundamental problem in Nigeria. And this problem is of sloth, ineptitude and corruption.

If not why should we be asking for a rise in minimum wage. For what. What do we produce to deserve this - extracted oil by foreigners. I laugh. This is one of the few countries where rumeneration is rationalised by consumption not production. Yeah, we want more money because stuff is expensive. Sure dummy it is called inflation and Eco 101 says it happens when you watch African Magic all day long instead of making decoders and dishes. Or we want more because our reps squander a million bucks a day talking. Then we say we are the most hardworking people on earth. Nigerians are hardworking indeed, yet 90% of our income comes from one product controlled by 5 foreign companies. Without them government ceases and without budget announcement nearly all companies nosedive. Haba.

We are simply not cut out for REAL work (and I don't mean buying and selling, supply and fix). I mean looking at yourself top to toe and pointing which one you fit make. If today China Plc stops selling is it not unclothedness, hunger, diseases. Caveman status fully restored. Abeg our sufferings are yet to come.

When Indians and Chinese come to Nigeria we accuse them of low wages, exploitation and I laugh. They have sized us up and are merely offering wages commensurate with our economy and productivity. Take a trip to inner China and see the living standards of those that make: I pass my neighbour, Kalvien Klieeen, toys r' death, cassava/wheat alloy called biscuits, and all the substandard plastic goodies we and Americans just love; are they all enjoying steady light, good roads and drive around in 4x4's, renting 50,000 dollar apartments. I think not. But the country has a surplus in trillions. So why has a so called Socialist country not simply shared the money like we stupidly do here. Simple, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Free stuff kills work. Ask Russia.

Abwagoro God bless you. Crude oil and cheap money has ruined us and until it finishes and we begin to suffer we CANNOT develop. I've been looking for more hands on my rural establishment since Jan. Many have come, they take one look and move on. Its never good enough. All the establishments around me are being sold to speculators and I just wonder what the future will be when the noose is tightened around me. Lately I ran into one of those early job seekers by the road side under the guise of road union toll collector. Good job for him. He extorts 700 naira per vehicle passing per day and his delight is the new house he's building. Progress without productivity. That's the story of this country.

Exactly how this bank will operate beats my imagination. Zero interest rate in this economy, haba, this is eldorado banking. I don't know whether the promoters have studied what led to zero interest rates in certain countries like Japan and what manner of problems it caused. Adopting the model practiced by a few institutions around the middle east will get us nowhere. The Nigerian and Arabian economies bear no semblance whatsoever. The downside of the Gramin bank is very bitter and I hope we know Socialism is dead worldwide.

And we say in the midst of next to zero productivty, free falling currency, no borders and lax exchange controls, weak purchasing power and bad infrastructre and you cap it with WISP (wide spread poverty) you charge no interest.

I tell you something foesn't add up here. Who's paying for this stuff. Where is this free money coming from. I mean if its cool, clean cash where has it been hidden all rhis while. Something just doesn't add up.

That's the worry. It could either destabilise the prevailing financial system or crash shortly after takeoff. Since it is politically driven I am betting on the latter but certainly the casualties will be great. Nigerians are inherently capitalist. Can't see the chemistry here.

Lagos will probably have a population of a hundred million (perhaps due to the attraction of dynamic leadership) and the ACNPDPCPC (one party state by then) will be raising a trillion naira every month in taxes and poor Lagosians will be living triple decker or take it in turns to sleep, one hour thirty minutes per person per bed space per night. And the present Victoria Island will probably be mid town, the coast having been extended another ten miles out to sea. Cool.   .

I think the concept of Tinapa was not meant to stand on its own. It has a second and third phase to cater for most of the questions that have been raised concerning infrastructure. Was it too ambitious, probably. Was it well conceived, moderately, yes. Duke got the carnival up and running before Tinapa and it does well during the carnival, patronage is high but this is just one month in twelve. However I do agree with those who feel industries that cater for Nigerians first should be the primer that ignites the fire of development. To this end remains the questions that surround this project and his administration in general. Whatever happens it was one heck of a try and I commend him for the sincere attempt. Pity most of his projects are not working now.

Like Fashola cannot lift the average Lagosian out of poverty so Donald could not take Cross-riverians shopping to Dubai. Governors simply cannot do macro-economics. Nigeria is poor so most of her citizens. No doubt infrastructure brings investment but like I've said before I'm not too sure in Nigeria's case if you repair all the roads, build airports everywhere, criss-cross the country with rail lines and provide round the clock power supply whether it will bring us out of poverty. It just probably won't.

It is only those in Abuja that can cause the basic change in living standards that will make a success of such projects but since they choose not to devolve power the likes of Duke, Fashola, Amaechi are basically wasting their time but earning good credits for it.

boy t:
when a foreign firm wants to invest in Nigeria, some people say it's exploitation. when Foreign firms pull out of Nigeria to other neighbouring country, you say we are a failed nation. which way out

While I agree that beggars can't be choosers. I mean they come from a land with 10% unemployment to a land with over 50% unemployment (where the peoples moan and groan about bad wages to come - very strange), I can hardly call this kind of investment desirable. When it comes to retail believe me Nigeria has no problem whatsoever. There are probably more shop keepers and salesmen in Nigeria than in the entire North American continent. The kind of investment we need is the type that truly transfers wealth, technology and skills we lack not those we already have.

And those speaking of standards are enemies of this country. What is the benefit of a better packaged sachet of yam flour to a hungry man. Tell me.

FIFA won't allow us run the game as we want to in this country. Now they want to re-write our laws too. What next, our constitution. ?

It is not easy to balance the political books. How do you do it. Edwin Clark is important whether GEJ likes it or not. If this was a country of values you'd just Strauss-Khan him out of the way but nothing moves us. Get that man angry and once again the threats of making the country ungovernable begins to appear. That's why the era we find ourselves cannot be perfect. I personally feel his type together with traditional institutions, godfatherism et. al should be abolished but who will support me on this, no one.

There will always be power brokers and men of influence in every political theatre but its far too brazen and distractive in Nigeria. Clarke is very important in the ND struggle but where does the government place him. This is a tough question. Will you readily swap that appointment with your goose that lays the golden egg. Whether we like it or not the President and the State will have to negotiate with these fellows and these sourly groups for the foreseeable future. What it needs to do is to ensure that proper institutions are built and the personality cult in our politics watered down.

When in the future it is not certain the house will approve any candidate Mr. President sends then few including Clarke will bother to nominate. But when the house is just a poultry full of 'yes' men then mediocrity spills all over. And when the jobs of these nominees become too difficult for politicians to handle then the right people will shine through. I suppose we have all been watching the screening of these ministers and I must admit even the few enlightened ones simply let me down. Why won't Edwin take a shot.

My friends here I have tried my hands at re-floating a dead business and believe me from every angle it looks easier than it is. I don't blame him at all. What has led Ogun state to where it is goes beyond OGD and naira and kobo. When I started I had to contend with everything from staff attitude to wrong products, no forward planning. Ogun state is like an aircraft that has stalled and fallen from the sky. What Amosun is doing is increasing the dive and applying power to come out of it as soon as possible. It will get worse, much worse before it can get better and by then we all together with the concessionaires, ghost workers, banks, et al will know what hit them.

How can and why should a state earning 1 billion naira be paying salaries or 4 billion, paying its staff a quarter of what it earns. I saw similar things and I just refused. Popular or not popular, votes or no votes he much shave that work force by 90% or ask them to work for free. Afterall they contributed to the dire situation the state is facing as I scolded the staff. They must work for their salaries or have none, period. If you have bought government assets I would not take them back but simply increase the taxes and the rates of your statutory obligations until you have had enough and voluntarily leave.

Amosun is simply a head, the problem is not his only, it belongs to the people as well. So he is merely whining on their behalf.

If this is our new found definition of world class and if this man is the only hope we have for national team glory then Siasia need not bother. We're in a deep mess. My dear forumites Osaze has been in this team for years. What special thing has happened this year to suddenly make him the messiah of our dear national team; 15 goals for Westbrom in the EPL and two player of the month awards and we are screaming high heavens. It is now I realise just how far our football has fallen. It is truly shocking.