₦airaland Forum

I weep for myself in self exile and for my dear country in bondage.

asha 80:
a very serious upheaval with same effect as pre civil war scenario.believe me these issues will not be resolved without some sort of serious chaos happening occurring first

I nurse this fear though I do not wish it for anyone. Although I now live in Europe with my children, I still remember horrors of the Biafran war.

Things can change faster than we think and hope.

What may likely be a solution to this?

Back to topic: then we don't have real democracy. If this is the situation, why do many people put so much energy on rotational presidency instead of addressing real issue of representation at all levels? It beats my imagination. Nigeria is full of enlightened minds.

bottom line is that everyone paid.

asha 80

This will suggest that if people know about projects and that their leaders are holding them at ransom, questions will be asked

olas2u:
This is not true.Why will the Nigerian case ring a bell.Their is corruption in italy ,abeg dont educate us wrongly.There is no paradise anywhere

I believe the thread is about Nigeria not Italy. I only tapped from my local government experience. I can proudly say that I did not bribe my way in.

Sorry I mistook u for olas2u

Once, Imo state Governor, Sam Mbakwe, taxed everyone in the state to build Imo airport. People obeyed him.

monkeyleg:
I think the last elections would be a good starting point for you. Did Nigerians really have a free fair and credible elections? Are those who got into office by what ever means doing what people expect them to?

Earlier on u noted there were no credible elections in Italy. I suppose you were actually equating it with the situation in Nigeria. There is corruption in Italy just like elsewhere but Nigeria's case rings a bell.

asha 80:
that is not entirely the reason but i am sure you might be more concerend with the money you pay as tax to the lg chairman living close to you or next door if he uses it for himself.

as for allocation being public fund yes the people might know but i think the issue is more cultural.

Culture can then be regarded as inhibition to real democracy since we are blessed with abundant natural resources and rural dwellers may not as yet be paying direct tax.

asha 80,

Are you suggesting that lack of accountability is as a result of absence of direct tax? Aren't people aware that allocation is public fund?

monkeyleg:
Defintely none. But as nigerians we are masters of self deceit

Please can u expatiate?

olas2u:
who told you there is democracy in Italy.Maybe at the local level you saw a different thing.Democracy remains foreign and is not giving result, except corruption,nepotism,favortism,

Thank you for replying but I must insist that my experience at the local level is not garbed by the factors you enumerated.

Dear all,
I was privileged to serve for a period of four years in the Municipality of Modena, northern Italy, as Counsellor. With immigrant community numbering over 70 thousand, the local government deemed it proper to give resident non nationals two seats in the Assembly. Within my counsellor-ship I had a glimpse of democracy in action. I noticed that Representatives cut across professions from law, to teaching down to trading. Counsellors sat once/twice a week without giving up their own trade - being their major source of income. We only received sitting allowances of a hundred euro per sitting - gross pay. Reps had regular meetings with members of their constituency and who could equally come to witness deliberations in the house.

My question goes: do we practise real democracy in Nigeria? Do we have a devolution of power in a three tier formula? Why do we clamour only for the seat of the presidency ignoring vital areas of Reps, Senate and local government? Why do local government chairmen become rich overnight but no one seems to care? Are the separation of powers working in Nigeria? Please I will be glad if someone can join me in my perplexity.
Thank you

Kobojunkie:
Again, our democracy was created with this agreement established from the beginning within these groups and so it was built on this. In much the same way our democracy includes Sharia and all it's ills. Calling it nonsense now, or pretending that the people voting negates all that does not change that. If you want to change things, you do not come out, when it hurts you, to cry in public that it is wrong. You go to the root of the issue and tackle it from there.

I don't know what you mean by fake agitators and all that nonsense really, but according to INEC, there are at least 30 political parties in that country. If replacing PDP is what you think is an issue, in this democracy, then I suggest you probably want to consult INEC and the individual parties. However, the PDP had an in-party agreement which the current president ignored, and this resulted in the violence  as promised prior to the election, by the groups he supposedly went against.

This was never about all of Nigeria from the beginning. Jonathan himself battled the decision to run for months before he decided to burden the country with this. We need to stop injecting all of Nigeria into these party issues, even when it concerns persons from our own ethnicity. You are calling for others to disconnect from this, yet you unknowingly engage in the very same, as far as I see it.

You have gone off topic!

I thought that this topic had to do with Jonathan's election causing insecurity in Nigeria.

But our democracy was built ON this agreement within the parties.  Yes, it makes nonsense of Democracy, in much the same way that I believe Sharia does, but guess what? It is our reality and we need to accept what we have allowed. So, if you want to argue for democracy, then you I think denying the case we have here does not help.  For pete's sake, we allowed this to go on for almost 12 years prior to Jonathan's bid for presidency.
The assertions made in the article are close to factual. Zoning was in place before the Jonathan showed up to the scene. He and Obasanjo conveniently chose to deny the existence of the agreement within the parties so they could get their way, a fact that was confirmed when right after the elections(as soon as it was clear that all was not well) when Obasanjo confessed that it was infact true that such agreement existed and would henceforth be adhered to.

You are dead wrong. Our democracy is build on a supposedly Nigerian constitution and of course, the people's mandate through ballot boxes. If anyone argues that the last elections were rigged, then the fellow must also convince us that previous ones were not. These fake agitators on Niaraland have not told us which other political party will replace pdp or are they saying that pdp will only be accepted if a northern candidate ascends to power?  They are full of contradictions and give others a glimpse of their fake love for one Nigeria.
It is in the headlines now that over a hundred Nigerians have been murdered in the north. How can someone who sucked from his/her mother's breasts say that Jonathan is responsible because he stole the people's mandate through the ballot.
When a war breaks out tomorrow, the likes of alj_harem will write a best seller on A STOLEN NORTHERN MANDATE. Please direct your anger to northern leaders who have impoverished the people by not sending them to School. The irony of the whole situation is that they have made them to believe that going to School is EVIL. The last time I checked, they were receiving educationally backward allowance and no one bombed anyone. Oil money go kill ndi ara!

Nayah, U don't need to argue with nitwits who do nothing but rigmarole. Your assertion is as simple as a non demented f**l will understand. Nigerian political woes are not caused by Jonathan who is barely one year in office. Such arguments on zoning (which tend to exclude a section of the Nigerian population) makes nonsense of democracy. The problem with Nigeria is allegiance to tribes. Period.

There are dogs and there are dogs - dogs sitting in a manga and of course nothing will ever work until another Biafra, but this time, it will be different! Some people are still living in the past, deriving joy from past glories, yet empires come and go; that's what history tells us. Let's keep our fingers crossed and wait the doom's Day. God save Nigeria.

It is shocking how northern Muslims on this trend equate thirst for blood with dishonesty. It makes no sense.

Noffin! once a terrorist, always a terrorist. It's a crime that must be fought like all other crimes.

The scenes that led to the Biafran war are sadly being repeated.There was a pogrom in the north with carnage of thousands of victims in revenge for a supposedly Igbo led coup of 1966. Today BOKO HARAM, formed to impose Islam on Nigeria, has become very active since Good-luck Jonathan assumed office in the most dramatic fashion. Those who continue to blame ndi Ibo for attempting to secede from the federation are not commenting the senseless and wanton killing of innocent people for what reason? Before Ojukwu declared independence in 1967, there were series of meetings in Ghana, at Aburi, at worse, to actualise a confederated union. There were nothing guaranteeing the safety of easterners as these events played out in the North then. It was not enough to urge returnees to go back to the north while nothing was done to protect lives.
Jonathan appears a sitting duck for traceable reasons. Ojukwu broke off in suicidal self defence but resisted 3 years of cruel struggle. Was it worth the fight? It all depends on a person's point of view. Sadly again, hundreds of people of the North and mostly of Southern extraction are being targeted and killed. Jonathan has tried to negotiate and at least find out what these elements actually want. The Niger Delta tabled their reasons for resorting to violence. Such motive can never justify their violence yet there was good motive to negotiate.
How do you now negotiate with an Islamic fundamentalist group that wants to convert you by force? Usman Dan Fodio belongs to history just as British missionary conquest.  Today Religion is a matter of personal conviction that cannot be spread by force. It is late in the day for these people to notice the evils of western education. If western education is evil, simply don't embrace it, but please don't kill others. If Arab civilization support's this kind of spreading Islam, then there are issues. If the real reason is poverty, Muslim leaders must review their love for the down trodden Muslims. If it is about the pendulum of political power, then another war is imminent.
GOD SAVE NIGERIA

Enough of these killings

I have an impression that many Nigerians are either ignorant of the underlying factors in Nigerian politics or are out-rightly begging the question. Someone earlier asked in this trend where power actually lies?. In my humble opinion, political power has not left the north since Biafra. Obj. with his post war political experience was just able to perform some fit while maintaining a corrupt system that kept the north in check. I doubt if they really like him over there. The north are still occupying key positions - they are everywhere - whether qualified or not! Yes JEG is occupying the presidency but is he ruling? He is paying a heavy price to keep Nigeria one and united. This is why a section of NL consider him RITARDEEN. He cannot descend on BOKO HARAM without ugly consequences. He seems to be weak regarding the middle belt crises. He had no idea that his boss was dead while his boss's wife & co  wanted to rule Nigeria with impunity. A typical proud igbo woman boldly cried out not minding the consequences; she paid a high price but I consider DORA a winner any day.

Our overall blindness for who ever is in power (because he comes from my tribe) is the bane of the country. North African type of revolution can never happen in Nigeria because of tribal allegiance.

No one cares about what their representatives are doing in the House. We are just content with allocation of zone's seats. I hear that they have time to talk about prostitution and gay matters; do these issues top our priority? I think not.

Biggest atrocities are committed at the local government level - God knows what they do there? In Europe the local government is most felt in their functions to the citizenry.

I hear people talk about the Pdp as if any meaningful political party exist in Nigeria.

Let us be realistic. Our problem is not zoning but accountability. I must however feel bold to say that if I were JEG ( I consider him weak) I will start resolving key issues which are being blocked by the north; e.g, population issues, ID cards, making people accountable to duties assigned to them, tacking corruption etc. People have given him a mandate and he has no reason not to perform. A man dies but once. The people's mandate are his shields. I hope this message gets to him

pheesayor:
before my uncle got married in 1999, he was warned not to marry the woman that she will bear three children (which she has now) but will destabilize him, he refused and went ahead to marry her. Immediately after marriage he lost his job, the wife has become something else to the rest of the family. The whole family now avoids him because of his wife. He's still jobless but no one is ready to help him.
Prophecies are real!!!

The prophesy does not imply that your uncle's wife is responsible for the state of things. The prophet, if he was real, simply foretold the future. It was your uncle's business to verify a number of things before marriage. He could as well have three children with any other woman if God had so decreed. As for his job, except the wife is a witch; the prophet shoulda been kind enough to warn him before hand. Your uncle should go sort himself out. Witch hunting will tie him further in bondage. Prophesy is real but,

Most posts on this trend tend to muddle up the very concept of prophesy. I believe, until I'm proved wrong, that prophets are those endowed to foretell the future and admonish evil without fear. They are not supposed to be match makers or guys recommending success/failure. For instance, if a prophet looks into the future and tells us that our national team will loose a match, this implies that independently of how good/bad they play, they will still loose. The logic here is not WHY, but the final score. If a prophet tells you that you will have a fruitful future with Agnes instead of Comfort, so it will be, whether you are righteous or not. Bottom line, it is not his business to change the obvious. However he can advice you to stay away from evil/sin if at the end of the tunnel he sees doom. In this case, he is telling you that you are the architect of your doom/fortune. We have thousands of sorcerers who are masquerading as pastors and prophets especially in Nigeria. Reason? There are millions of potential clients in what has turned out to be Church Business. Bible remains the most misinterpreted book in the whole; in Nigeria, it is a free for all, self service business, kinda preach as you understand, devoid of standard, save the catholic that has a magisterum for everyone under it. If you must look into the future for a spouse, then look into da future for success,failure,death,sickness etc. etc. That makes U fortune-teller dependent.

I mentioned an eye witness horrendous war event and you term it silly and one sided. I do not know how old you were during the war neither do I know what history books you have read about events preceding the war. There was a pogrom in the north, not caused by Ojukwu. Thousands were murdered alive: children, pregnant women, defenceless segment of the civil population from the east. All in the name of revenge for an Igbo led coup. My dear brother, do you have a heart? Are you logical in your reasoning? Several thousands were forced back to the East; I happened to be among the lucky ones that arrived alive from Lagos. We need to be focused on the events that lead to the war. Secession as pronounced by Ojukwu was the last act on the unfolding tragic drama. If Ojukwu was such a self centred General, the Igbo nation would be stupid not to hold him personally responsible for loss of many lives. Yet every Yoruba friend/foe I have ever met outside NL have strived to heap all responsibility either on him or on all Igbo greed to control the nation's crude. I rest my case.

I have followed this trend with keen interest and have this to say:
that there is actually a burden on the federal side which cannot be wished away with mere Grammar!
As a young boy of about 12 years, I was sitting in my father's compound shortly before the war ended. I watched helplessly and in utter disbelief as a Nigerian Jet Bomber exterminated an entire market population of women and children. The market was and is still located in the area of present day Imo airport. It was an atrocity, a genocide, comparable only to events of the holocaust. After the war, I tried to read all books on what must have caused the beginning of hostilities. I have also read THE MAN DIED by a prominent Yoruba man whose bright mind at least recognised some act of injustice not without a cost to his liberty. If our Yoruba brothers continue unjustly, to hinge immediate cause of the war to Igbo greed, sweeping other factors under the carpet, the wounds of that war will never heal. An igbo proverb says that you cannot beat a child and at the same time be alarmed that the child is crying. It is mere vainglory for people to shun history and continue to sing a sarcastic victory song amid so much injustice and yet pretend to call for united Nigeria.

Do you know the number of youths (students) in Imo state? Parents strive to pay school fees to sustain students in school here in Imo, and Rochas gave out a whole lot of about N70,000,000.00 (if well converted) to sponsor foreign trip for just 60 students (politicians' children).

Grow up! and grow wise!! before you turn to a f.o.o.l
Quote from: micawber on Today at 09:52:07

Bad belle people like you make the likes of Philip Emeagwali to remain abroad! One hundred students do not make one hundred Emeagwalis, remember.

People are just impossible! Some reasoning can simply be nauseating! Whatever one does, people will find motive to criticize the rationale behind it; not that this is in itself intrinsically bad, yet some non-constructive criticism are evil. Even India and China currently pushing ahead positively on world economic chart simply cannot resolve completely issues of poverty in their respective countries, neither can they do so in the next hundred years; there's so much poverty in the USA than many can imagine. Here's a guy who decided to invest in human recourse, yet armchair critics find fault with it. Let someone tell these critics that our fathers sold lands and other community property to send some of their children abroad and to high institutions. They did not change the world with their gesture but they were intelligent enough to invest in human recourse. Some of these sponsored brethren were lost to the white man but many came back to invested! Chinua achebe mentioned these noble  ideals in his Books. Rochas may not be able to change the entire world of IMO State but I still believe that since Mbakwe, who also could not change the world of IMO State due to obvious constraints, yet both men are/have impacted lives in IMO State. Owelle Rochas abeg carry go! Opposition is part of democracy, so don't be distracted.

mufikings:
FACTS ABOUT COL GADHAFI AND LIBYA:

·                     There was no electricity bill in Libya; electricity was free for all its citizens

·                     There was no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at 0% interest by law

·                     Home considered a human right in Libya –Gaddafi vowed that his parents would not get a house until everyone in Libya had a home. Gaddafi’s father has died,  while him, his wife and his mother are still living in a tent

·                     All newly weds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family

·                     Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83%

·                     Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms –all for free

·                     If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US$2,300/month accommodation and car allowance

·                     In Libya, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized 50% of the price

·                     The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 (N22) per litre

·                     Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 billion – now frozen globally

·                     If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he or she is employed until employment is found.

·                     A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens

·                     A mother who gave birth to a child receive US$5,000

·                     Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country

Under this bad man called Gaddafi, Libyans had the highest standard of living in Africa. In 2010, the United Nations Development Programmed rated Libya as having the highest ranking in its Human Development Index for Africa. In terms of the world, the UNDP HDI statistics considered Libya better than countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Brazil and Turkey.

Nigeria was rated one of the worst developed nations in the world in terms of the Human Development Indices for both Africa and the world. Countries such as Ghana, Cameroon, Benin Republic, Togo and even poverty-stricken Bangladesh were ranked as better than Nigeria. Even worse, Sao Tome and Príncipe that Nigeria donates money to, was said to have a better standard of living than we do.

Gaddafi’s Libya had free health care, interest free loans from banks, free education and subsidized housing. Libyan’s schooling abroad had access to not only finance for their studies but recognition for engaging in scholarly activities. While our university system progressively loses value like termite-infested wood and our graduates can’t even write essays much less books, Libya had a literacy rate of around 90% with women receiving an almost equivalent exposure to education as men. Of course, our rating is somewhere far behind them, even Tanzania and Gabon are doing much better than we are.

Petrol in Libya in March this year was the equivalent of 19 Naira per litre, subsidized by Gaddafi’s government without complaint, while in Nigeria successive thieving governments have attempted to yoke the masses into perpetual slavery by increasing the cost of petrol each year, now they are threatening to cut out subsidy and leave us with fuel at 142 Naira per litre next year.

Nigerian refineries catering to 180 million people have a combined installed capacity of less than 460,000 barrels of crude oil per day, yet we’re lucky if we get 75% of this production capacity.

Under Gadaffi, Libya’s production capacity in its refineries was for 378,000 barrels. Their population is 6.4 million people. They only use about 220,000 barrels per day for domestic uses and export the rest.

Libya under Gaddafi had total installed electric generation capacity of 6,248MW for their 6.4 million people. Nigeria  have 4,000MW installed but we only see about 3,000MW of this capacity performing for 180 million people.

The inevitable in life is CHANGE and no man can claim monopoly of knowledge, I think that have warranted some Libyans for a forceful change.

Nevertheless, if Gaddafi have done so much for his people, I think having him in Nigeria will be a blessings to us.

So What's the Problem with Libyans? The long rule? Or what? Col. GADHAFI, needs to rule Nigeria for 500yrs! Pls we need Gaddafi like type

Abraham Lincoln once said that no man is good enough to govern another man without the other's consent. No matter how good Ghedaffi was, he still needed the consent of the governed; 42 years were not 42 days.

middayhost:
Very Very GOOOOOOD. Are u just waking up ?. The Northern sates have been doing it since 1980. More Ibo State should join him, KUDOS,  You be true Igbo man

I do not share the above opinion