₦airaland Forum

^^^Gents, make una take am easy! The report will come out tomorrow na!

^^^ My brother man, I am already so excited that GEJ thought along these lines! I wish he can pull through with these LGA issue. It will a big boost to GEJ's political sagacity, if he can hold the governors to ransom and empower the LGA system of gvernment. This will be great, just too great, the best thing to happen to Nigeria in this era of GEJ. May God help him and help Nigerians!

I suggest that the NASS should pass a law that will compel all levels of the executive to allocate a comfortable percentage of annual budget to fund education every year, failure which they risk impeachment!

What do you propose?

As undergraduate students of Quantity Surveying at Ahmadu Bello University in the mid-1970s, one of our greatest sources of pride was not just the fact that ABU was the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa, but the only university in the whole world that offered honours degrees in QS.

Our closest competitors were two polytechnics in the United Kingdom. The University of Reading joined the league much later. The quality of scholarship was highly rated; researchers and students from all over the world jostled for places. Only those who could not secure places in Nigeria went abroad for studies.

Today, a ranking of the top 8,000 Universities in the world done last year showed only 5 Nigerian Universities in the first 100 in Africa.

Our top universities were: Ilorin (55th – Africa, 5,846th - World), Obafemi Awolowo (61st – Africa, 6,265th – World), Ibadan (63rd – Africa, 6,396th – World), Jos (74th – Africa, 7,000th, World) and University of Lagos (79th – Africa, 7,246th – World). What happened? Why and where did things go wrong? And how can we revive the most critical component in human capital development?

At independence, Nigeria’s 56 million people had 15,703 primary schools with a total enrolment of about 2,912,618 pupils. We had 883 Secondary Schools, two Federal Government Colleges, 315 Teacher Training Colleges and 29 Technical/Vocational Schools - all with a total enrolment of 169,019 students. We had one university college at Ibadan. By the time we became a republic in 1963, we had four Polytechnics and five Universities with a total of 2,445 undergraduate students.

In those days, Nigeria spent an average of 40 percent of her budget on education (compared to today’s two percent). The Old Western Region under Chief Obafemi Awolowo's visionary leadership devoted 55% while the Northern Region under an equally committed leadership of Sir Ahmadu Bello spent 46% of its budget on education.

Things went relatively well until the civil war. By 1970, shortly after the war, a period designated for reconstruction by the Federal Government, a few things occurred, which subsequently opened the floodgates drowning education today.

The Federal Government rolled out a national policy on education, which among other things introduced universal primary education, leading to the takeover of all primary and secondary schools previously owned by non-state actors, particularly missionaries.

The period coincided with oil boom – and the misconception that throwing money around was the panacea to national development rather than sustained discipline and upholding standards. The educational sector, like all others also got infected by the “oil boom bug”.

By 1980, primary schools had increased to 36,683 with a total enrolment of 13, 760,030 pupils nationwide. Post-primary schools increased to 5,003 with a total enrolment of 2,366,833 while we had 42 Colleges of Education, 24 Polytechnics and 17 Universities with a total enrolment of 154,392 students.

Public spending on education even then averaged about 25% of the budget or 7.5% of GDP, and the quality of education remained generally acceptable. It was also an era when the authorities tried to refocus educational policies within the purview of the constitution which placed education on concurrent list with responsibilities shared between the Federal, state and local governments.

The 1980s also witnessed a significant upsurge in the establishment of secondary and tertiary institutions. Within that decade at the onset of the 1990s, the population of the country had increased to about 80 million, and public expenditure on education had collapsed to about 8% of the national budget, or less than 1% of GDP.

The establishment of new tertiary institutions was motivated by political considerations rather than qualitative development. Even at the post-primary school level, there was an incessant proliferation of secondary schools without due attention to quality of facilities, entrance standards and teacher-training.

When the oil money dried up in the mid-1980’s, and the introduction of IMF-like austerity programme appropriately called SAP, funding to education was cut, quality suffered, good teachers fled and entire structure collapsed.

The budgetary attitude to education is yet to recover from this reversal of fortunes. Since 2007, Nigeria spent an average of about 0.7% of GDP and about 3% of the budget on education - among the lowest five ranked countries in the world!

And so we are where we are today. The percentage of enrolment at all levels of education has increased, but the overall performance is down.

The British Council/Harvard School of Public Health Next Generation Report describes the situation: “…three out of ten graduates of higher education are not working. A highly educated Nigerian is not significantly more likely to find work than one with no education at all.

Many are also forced to accept jobs that do not use their qualifications to the fullest. Many educated men and women can only find marginal employment in sales, agriculture or manual labour….”

Compared to other African countries, Nigeria has a lot to do in providing accessible and quality education. Oil revenues may have bounced back, but we still have over eight million children out of primary school.

According to a survey by the British Council, Nigeria was supposed to have 16 million students in secondary schools by 2008, but the number enrolled was 5.8 million, suggesting that only 36% of children of secondary age were in school.

Out of 1.3 million candidates who wrote the unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in 2010, less than 10 percent secured admissions into Nigerian public universities!

On October 2, 2006 the then Education Minister and my sister Oby Ezekwesili raised the alarm about the then only 20% pass rates (including Math and English) of WAEC and NECO, the cabinet then thought things were so bad that with "We Can" reforms she proposed things would only get better! The reforms stalled under her successors, and the situation has expectedly worsened.

That universities no longer have faith in the results of JAMB and now insist on post-UME examinations mirrors the inconsistency in the sector, but nothing underscores the issue more than the 2009 secondary school examinations result released by WAEC and NECO.

Both bodies showed that almost 98% of the candidates failed to clinch five credits, including English and Mathematics and only about 2% got five credits with English and Mathematics.

As present, Nigeria has about 117 Universities - owned by the Federal, some states as well as private individuals and organisations. Available data indicate that most are poorly equipped and grossly understaffed.

According to the Consortium for Advanced Research Training (CARTA), instead of an academic staff requirement of 45,000 teaching staff, there are 33,000 – a shortfall of 12,000 academic staff in our universities.

Worse still is the fact that about 12% of the existing manpower is aged and may soon be retiring, while the quality of replacements are falling.

At the primary level, there is proliferation of privately owned schools charging exorbitant fees but mostly lacking competent teaching staff and quality infrastructure.

In a study by the World Bank in which attainment of education milestones in 22 countries in Africa were compared, pupils in Nigerian primary schools were rated lowest with national mean scores of 30% compared with 70% in Tunisia and 51% in very poor Mali. More worrisome is that the Nigerian girl-child is worse off, particularly in the northern states.

Comparatively, while the average Nigerian teenage girl in the south (example, in Lagos) has the benefit of 10 years of early education, a similar teenage girl in northern Nigeria only has an average of one year! If the northern governors had invested more in education in the last decade, some of the current social and economic crises we face today in the region and the country as a whole, might have been averted.

True, Nigeria has been acknowledged by the World Economic Forum to have capacity for innovation (ranked 47th out of 133), our overall public expenditure on education which is about 3% of the current annual budget is abysmal, particularly when compared with about 40% at independence.

Nigeria is placed 128th (WDI – 2009), 91st in Internet Access in Schools, 97th in Quality of Mathematics and Science Education,115th in overall Quality of Scientific research institutions, 90th in Networked Readiness Index, 102nd in percentage of Internet users, 117th in Broadband internet subscribers. (ITU – WTI, 2008 -2009)

Given that education is a tool for human capital development, how well and fast a nation develops is dependent on its literacy level. The accumulation of intellectual capital can help a nation strengthen its technology and become prosperous.

Even though oil, gold and diamond may generate wealth for some countries, it is evident that they are no longer determinants of wealth - intellectual capital and technology rule the world.

It is easy to neglect education because the consequences are not immediately felt. But if we bear in mind that the current decay are the results of policies of the mid-1970s and spending cuts of the late 1980s, it becomes imperative for Nigeria to urgently review and refocus educational policy, and spending priorities to ensure quality of output.

Apart from reviewing spending levels on education, we must enhance supervision to ensure strict adherence to standards at all levels.

The states and local government areas must take up more responsibilities in educational development. More private sector participation should be encouraged with the right incentives - access to free land, single interest-long tenor loans, subsidised teacher training, etc! Political considerations should not be the yardstick in establishing tertiary institutions.

Teachers’ education and welfare must be improved as priorities. At personal levels, those of us that have had the benefit of affordable and quality public education should all offer to teach voluntarily at the Nigerian university and public secondary school nearest to where we live.

I have already done so. If we do not act now, consider what will happen in a generation, when today’s semi-literate students will be teachers and professors.

I will conclude with just three facts to reflect on: There are over 60 quality universities in the Boston area - about half of what we have in the whole country.

The United States (with roughly twice Nigeria’s population) has a total of 5,758 higher education institutions, an average of 115 per state. One private university – Harvard – has an annual budget that exceeds the 2011 FGN investment in education, and its endowment funds were worth $37 billion in 2008! As you read this, Nigeria’s total external reserves is about $33.5 billion.We have work to do.

The earlier we start, particularly in the northern and other educationally-backward states, the better. And this will only start when all public officers and political office-holders are compelled by their oaths of office and terms of appointment to enrol all their children in public primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria. That will be some really fresh air indeed.

Source: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/why-education-can-t-wait/95888/

Very True!

Na wa oh!

^^^But I have never been able to recharge MTN except glo! How does it work for you for MTN or even Zain?

send to my email: rolchi@ovi.com

Thanks

Does anyone know to purchase MTN Airtime via the GTB GTMobile platform. Is the service currently working for MTN and other Networks, except Glo?

Be Patient!

A friend just confirmed it, people are leaving! But the cost of transport has increased as well. Borno is quietly going back to the middle ages, May God help Bornostan!

Make Eko-Ile catch una,

IMHO, what happened in Lagos is not a natural disaster! Its just a failure to plan and a failure by government to do its work. What it means is that if a Natural Disaster hits Lagos, then we are in a big mess!

Even Fashola while inspecting the flooded areas never called it a "Natural" Disaster. Government knows what to do, let them begin to do it. The floods will abate!!!

Good boi, that's my boi!

Why are some of these governors, immoral?

Demdem:
look, there is nothing you av written up there that is new to me. You are unnecessary bringing up sentiments here. The bottom line is the kind of waste being experienced here in the ND cant be compared to anywhere again in this nation. a fraction of such waste by these crooks (politicians) called govt of ND is enough to transform the lives of the people. i know what i am saying. i said earlier that i have been living here for years and also visited quite a number of communities and i honestly know the challenges these lovely people face daily. Bayelsa for instance has a population of about 3million people and one of the highest paid state by the FG yet the vast population is in abject poverty, can you simply explain why this is so?
Companies have social responsibilities, i agree but these companies arent your government. You have to understand this.

I personally was oppurtuned to go to bayelsa of recent and somehow stumbled into the compound (heavily guarded by his boys and MOPOL) of one of the former warlords whom i was told came from the president village and i was amazed with the kind of vehicles i saw in this compound, 3 Hummer3, 1 Hummer2, Benz Jeep and Fords of all kinds etc. it was as if the guy's house was a vehicle depot and i begin to wonder what exactly these guys where fighting for initially. i dont need anyone to tell me that the funds to acquire these exotic vehicles somhow trickled down from Abuja.

The people should channel most (not all) of their efforts to the real criminals of these zones who to me are the politicians, the boys (ex-militants) and unfortunately the traditional rulers.

i am also for resource control and the cry of these people for 50% or more derivation honestly is legitimate but eh all i want them to do is to justify the little (13% and more) being given. If and only if this can be done you will see if i wont join the bandwagon.

Yes, it is sentiments. I am never saying that our leaders should not be held accountable. But, good friends, it takes so much to build a road in the ND. Like you said you visited Bayelsa State, how much do you think it costs to build that road from Mbiama junction to Yenagoa? Just to give you an idea, imagine that those houses by the left and right of those house are almost under the road. It means that the road was sand-filled to that height! You only visited Yenagoa but have you taken time to visit the villages off Yenagoa? How much does it cost to travel on Speed Boat for a journey of an Hour compare that with the cost of traveling from PHC to YNG.

I agree that our leaders are corrupt, but it is a Nigerian Problem and not a ND Problem. Or how else do you explain Ogun State, Oyo State, Zamfara State, Kogi State and all the rest where their erstwhile governors are undergoing trials for corruption.

Now, the people do not know the NASS or the FG, they know and see Shell and Shell sees and knows the FG. Let Shell task the FG to bring light to the people, simple clinics to these people and portable water to the people.

Again, I tell you, come, live with us here in the bush, in the very creeks, stay with us for a week, a month or even up to six months and your understanding of these place, ND will be broadened.

texazzpete:
May God save us from these illiterates. Since when did it become mandatory for every Nigerian to live in his state of origin? In answer to your question, i informed you that I do not live in my state of origin. How did that translate to not living in Nigeria?

Sorry, my very learned friend! You live in Nigeria but not in your state of Origin as implied. So, you are close enough "not" to know what is happening in your LG of origin, good!

Again, if Shell is upright, let them threaten to leave BAYELSA! Let them close shop in Ogbia and leave! It is simple. They are free to remove all their investments in Ogbia Land. They can even sell the fields to the Chinese in Ogbia Land. This is common sense, the host community makes life difficult for me, I will leave.

Afterall, there are other communities in the ND with oil that wants Shell. For your information, Shell has been out of Ogoni Land since the time of Ken Saro-Wiwa and till date, Shell (to my knowledge) is doing everything humanly and spiritually possible to return to Ogoni Land, Make dem enter na, dem no dey fear.

I remain your illiterate friend!

I have no concern what my LG has done for its people in my state of origin. I don't live there so it does not affect me in any way.

Sooooo, you are not a Resident Nigerian? Now, I can see, No need talking with you. Again, you are not a good teacher. If you have the balls, ask Shell to leave,

texazzpete:
This kind of slavish mentality is what i killing the Niger Delta. More than enough money gets to the Local Government councils, far more than neccessary to carry out such projects. How did Alams manage to steal over N50 billion? Are you saying N2 billion could not have electrified this community?

Oil companies pay billions in taxes and carry out some other social development duties. Whether you consider that to be enough or not is debatable, but a[b]ny Niger Deltan who does not realize that the State and Local Governments they put in power should be largely accountable for the development of their community is a big mumu and deserves to suffer[/b].

I challenge anyone here from the Niger Delta to show us what his/her local government chairmen have done for their community. It is a shame to see people who do not know their rights, who happily sell their birthright for peanuts. T[b]he same people protesting here are the same cretins who have been rigging their oppressors into power since 1999![/b]

PS: It's worth noting that in all this, no one is willing to show or brandish any signed formal agreement with Shell for power supply.

Which state are you from and what is the name of your LG? What has your LG done for its people? Are you a Shell rep?

While we hold our people accountable, NOCs should send the excess money in Nigeria, (Big FULL STOP)

texazzpete:
So now people aren't allowed to change their minds again?

The bottom line is, the man on the street is getting his minimum wage of 18k, PR stunt or not. Quit being an assclown.

Check out this thread: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-706579.0.html and thereafter make your conclusions. Again, in matured arguments, learn not to call names, it is not good for your health!

Demdem:
If trully Shell went into an agreement with them then its simply honorable to honor such however it isn't Shell's primary responsibility to do such.
These states (ND states) are basically rich states (when compared to other states of the federation) whose inhabitants shouldn't even be poor at all considering the vast amount of resources being given to them monthly. By the time one considers the federal allocation to the state and local governments, the 13% derivation given to them, money given to NDDC to develop these area, even a federal ministry for this region and also not forgetting the local taxes these guys also collect from individuals and even these oil companies etc i see no reason why these guys should be within the poverty cadre. Something is definately wrong with the leadership of this region no doubt and i would love a situation whereby the people will Protest against their leaders more than these oil companies.

I for one, i av been in PH for years now and i honestly cant point one single project my local govt (Obio-Akpor) has ever done (though i admit this is debatable). The bottom line is despite all their allocations, their impact isnt felt and yet they come out on the highway intimidating and harrasing innocent citizens for funds.

ND peeps should hold their leaders much more accountable.

Every Nigerian has the right to discuss the ND, the money they get and all that. But we fail to realise that they live their lives in a difficult terrain! Now, let me paint you some pictures

How many of you have seen a fire mast before? In some of these communities, it is horizontal i.e. you can actually feel the fire. Now, they dry their fish beside this fire even in the raining season. Again, some of these communities are in the riverine where even PHCN cannot extend services because of cost! Building materials are very more expensive because they have to be transported over land. Now, if a bag of cement sells in PHC or Warri for 2K, by the time it goes to these communities, it gets up to 2.6K? Just because of cost of transportation.

While these Nigerians are still as poor as people you find in other parts of Nigeria and they the conditions of where they live makes life more difficult. Again, it is possible that Shell facilities is built on the choice part of the land that may be dry, where do you expect them to farm?

Now to make matters worst, some claim that Shell and other companies pay taxes and government should do the rest. How much of the taxes get to the local government to do the job? FG take 52% while the states share the balance of 48%, How much gets to the LG then? All LGs are not equal. The LGs that are riverine suffer most as to get those infrastructures to those communities cost more. But surprisingly, you find Shell & Other Oil Companies generating power even more that they can consume in those riverine communities, what is wrong if they power the community? and I tell you that the community will even agree to pay a token if only they will have constant power from NOCs? So, in most instances, you find light glowing in a thick bush surrounded by water only at the locations of the NOCs. Friends, it is unfair. This cannot happen in Saudi Arabia. Even in the gulf. Why ND? In most cases, the NOCs generate more than they need.

I live in one of these communities. Even to get drinking water is a challenge. But there is portable water inthese locations, even more than they can consume. NOCs make alot of money. You need to see how to bring in expatriates, pay their wives, pay their girlfriends, dogs, etc. Let them provide for the people of Nigeria. In other countries of the world, they are responsible for the communities. In Nigeria, they take our illiteracy for granted and sell us crap and even our Nigerians begin to support them because we don't know anything.

If they have an agreement, let them fulfil it to the letter. How did Obama treat BP? Find out!

Don't Worry,

They will pay now, so they said in Lagos!

I dey laugh oh!

Gbawe:
Indeed.
You forget that Governance should be fluid , innovative and stimulated . An effective Government is not defeatist or unreasonably rigid. There are ongoing talks regarding revising the current revenue allocation formula. The Government , if it accedes, may yet still help out burdened States . Even minus the Government 'pitching in' , good leaders can 'tweak the books' and cut cost (as is going on in the UK - one the richest Nation on Earth) to make money available for essential spendings. The likes of you can conclude that the ACN thrives on media popularity yet I doubt you have anything to say about how GEJ , and thus the PDP, is totally in support of maintaining one of the most unproductively expensive democracy on Earth!!!

What strategies did they not consider when they called the Kabiyesis and Labour in their respective domains! Come end of July, we will catch them again!

This is my proof again that ACN is using the machinery of the media,

Gbawe:
Indeed.
You forget that Governance should be fluid , innovative and stimulated . An effective Government is not defeatist or unreasonably rigid. There are ongoing talks regarding revising the current revenue allocation formula. The Government , if it accedes, may yet still help out burdened States . Even minus the Government 'pitching in' , good leaders can 'tweak the books' and cut cost (as is going on in the UK - one the richest Nation on Earth) to make money available for essential spendings. The likes of you can conclude that the ACN thrives on media popularity yet I doubt you have anything to say about how GEJ , and thus the PDP, is totally in support of maintaining one of the most unproductively expensive democracy on Earth!!!

I agree about fluidity in government! But, my understanding of simple english language on this is: that they will pay, this means that by end of July, civil servants in SW will be happy. It does not depend on GEJ or FG reconstructing the revenue formula or removing fuel subsidy. It means that they will PAY! So, by end of July, we will catch them again!!!

Did you read what Rep. Gbajamiala said recently? During the electioneering campaigns, none of the contesting governors complained that they will not pay and till date, the Assemblies of these states have not said anything, so, let them pay.

Thank God ACN governors will pay, so all workers come end of July, 2011, you will be happy

DrummaBoy:
@Chimonie
I have followed Tunde Bakare's life and teachings since 1998 when I became a christian and I can state categorically that that man is a man of truth and means what he says, while saying what he means.
One of the things I discovered about him is that he someone whom the world unfortunately labels 'living as the Spirit leads'. He does he things as he is sincerely led of the Spirit. For example the theme of the Jan' 2010 protest 'Enough is Enough' was the title of a message he preached mid 2004. It took him another 6 years to again use that theme for a mass protest. Today everyone is saying 'enough is enough', even the NLC, that where unseen in the Jan' 2010 protest. It could only have been God who would ochestrate such a well planned and effective protest through a man who dared to be led of the Spirit.
Where I am going to is the issue of this man sincerity, on whether the SNG was a means to Bakare's political end or not. I firmly say no. He was led by God's Spirit into it.
How? Like we all know Tunde Bakare was one of Buhari's harshest critics. From his words he along with members of the SNG met with leading political figures in the PDP, ACN, CPC, etc. They were looking for some certain minimums in the party's manifesto and style, like internal democracy, manifesto, etc. He said that of all of them, only Buhari's CPC met this minimum. He spoke of an incident of how he met Ribadu in London and both of them had a long talk in the latter's car for hours. Still he was not convinced of Ribadu.
He was later to come out publicly to declare his support for Buhari. By Dec 2010/Jan 2011, the SNG began working at an alliance btw the ACN and CPC. The alliance talk broke down. This was when Buhari resorted to Bakare for his running mate, for which Bakare at first took up reluctanctly. It took the like of this The Sun Newspaper Editor, to write an article @ 'Run Bakare Run'. After careful consultation bakare took up the challenge and the rest is history today.
I maintain that good man did not have a preconceived plan of running as running mate to Buhari, atleast based on his messages and what I know of him from his lifesyle.

I only asked this question 'where is Save Nigeria Group' because Bakare hardly mentions it in his messages I listen to on the internet. But from what many of written here I harner that when GEJ could not bribe the key leaders of the group, he then infiltrated there ranks and bought them over to himself. And typical of Bakare, rather than joining issues with those guys he left the thing for them.
Like most discusses on NL one can never win an argument. You can only make your point as resonbaly as possible and hope that some are convinced.
Tunde Bakare formed the save nigeria group as God led him to save this country from great evil. He did his bit and probabaly felt he could go further in helping by running fro elective position. But the people or is it the PDP felt otherwise and we've LOST the chance of a life time.

GOD SAVE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.

Long Sermon, but will god lead you to reject something and again lead you to pick it up? The God I know does not change neither is he the son of a man, that He should lie. If He says yes, he means yes!

Media Hype!!!

Only 2 Weeks ago, it was reported that Amosun and Ajimobi called all stakeholders in their respective domain including the traditional rulers to report that they cannot pay the minimum wage. Now, after a meeting in Lagos, they can now pay!!!  

This is just another proof that ACN thrives on media popularity! Let us wait for them to begin to pay,

if you read the story well

a total sum of N100 million was allocated to each of the 27 local government areas as take-off grants of the state Rescue Mission on Health, Security and Education.

One will find that the 2.7Billion is not going to Education alone. It is going for Health, Education & Security. FRom my simple arithmetic, that means that education will get 34million per LG! Do NL feel that this is enough to renovate our secondary schools in Imo, just think!

Propaganda!

oladayo042:
Blame it on the controversial monetization policy

But the Monetization policy does not include elected officials. So, President Jonathan will forever occupy ASO ROCK? We will then go and build NUMA ROCK again?

This is what I call "delusional STEALING". This is wickedness. Monetization is for Civil Servants. So all the state governors will now retain their official residences/ My God, think of this., even the CJN?

If the monetization involves them, that should be revised. The Legislature is too expensive. Our Democracy must be reviewed. We can do modernize our Legislature to become Unicameral.

There is no argument to support this bi-cameral house in Nigeria. Someone will have to convince me with hard facts!

@Katsumoto,

I like your presentations. I sense you are a Muslim too. Like me, I am a Christian. But, I like how you talk. You speak devoid of anger or resentment.

Like you said, I as a Christian, do not have any issue with "ISLAMIC" or Non Interest Bank. What are the guarantees against failure? Will it be supported by AMCON too, in case, it fails? Will Nigerians be thrown into another controversy of bailing it, if it fails (since it carries the Appelation of Islamic)?

Like you said, the fear we have is not about the Islamic Banking but about the perception or fear we have of the Northern Muslims. I have a Muslim friend who lives in Kano, but I have always been afraid to go visit him because of the fear of Violence. Many times, he has assured me but still afraid. I have a cousin who lives in Maiduguri, but believe you me, I call him everyday because of the bombs! He will soon return to South.

Now, I have followed LagosShia arguments too. I think he gets too angry when Nigerians express their fear of the violence up North. Quickly, they blame the failure of government to protect. But, if I am killed and dead, of what use is the government going after those who killed me? Every human wants to know he is Safe anywhere. It is not about government. Imagine the Afghanistani government telling the world that Afghanistan is now a tourist country and security is assured and immediately you arrive, you are assigned 100 strong security men, will you just wake up to go and enjoy there, Impossible. The reason is that you know the place is not save and if anything happens to you, will you blame the government?, Nope, you will blame yourself in the other side of life for coming to Afghanistan.

LagosShia, same thing here. The way you lash at Christians/Missionaries says you still have that morbid fear of Christians which is the idea that many Northern Muslims have. You are not uneducated, as it seems you are very well educated. Now, in as much, I also understand and do believe, that in a free country, you have rights to your religion, no problem, but we are just scared because of the violence, finito. When it happens, many good Northern Muslim Leaders do not come out to strongly condemn it. I remember the last violence after the elections. We are yet to hear the Northern Peoples Leadership Forum to come out and mount a campaign to distance itself from violence. When you talk of kidnapping (atleast, you are released after ransom) down South, it is very different. Nobody wants to just die when they hear "allahu arkbar". Nope, that term, that is supposed to be a praise of the most powerful supreme being, has become a death sentence. Just like telling me that Kidnappers kidnap in the name of Jesus (they even go to church to kidnap), but it is not a religious issue, it is social. Or are you saying that someone has never been kidnapped in the north before? So, break it off a little and lets' face the fact, there is a problem up north and we must be part of the solution. Islam, is a beautiful religion, but it should not be associated with violence, in our Nigeria.

Then coming to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, he should not be the one campaigning for the establishment of the bank because he is a regulator. Let those who are sponsors of it campaign and enlighten Nigerians. the Regulator will be criticized if he personally campaigns for it. SLS is a good man, and he should be readily available to offer the license if everything is in order to guarantee the success of the banking (IMHO though) but not to personally campaign. Or does Islam permit someone to be the judge, accuser, the judged all at the same time. Let other prominent good Muslims campaign for it, why are they all quiet (someone will ask too)

Again, I advise our rich Northen Muslims to begin to build more primary/secondary schools (whether for Western/Islamic Education). People like Atiku, Muttalab should build more schools to educate the young ones too. (if they have built some, they can build some more, this is a call to a national Duty). They have money. Scholarship schemes by the Northern Rich should be put in place to send children to school. I believe, my good friend LagosShia, will not say this should be done by government alone. The working class in the North or even the Whole Nigeria, should be taxed more to build these schools. We need education, education, education for these people causing the violence. Any type of education to enlighten our Northern bothers should be encouraged by all means.
Listen, if government tells me that they are going to increase my tax to build more schools up north, then so be it. Let them do it but let the Violence stop. All hands must be on deck to help.

@Jarus

You are doing a good job, keep it up.

Furthermore, being someone that has read more than 3 dozens of Sanusi's articles written over a period of 10 years, I have a fair idea of Sanusi's thinking. If anybody will use his post to favour any religion or ethnicity, I can vouch that it is definitely not Sanusi. Sanusi has seriously criticized religious(Islamic) demagoguery in the past, even went to the extent of fighting dirty Kano's most popular Islamic cleric, late Sheikh Adams Ja'afar, and SLS was seen as a persona non grata in Kano. He has taken up Yarima and co, who in his(Sanusi's) opinion, was manipulating Islam for personal political ends in the past. SLS, to me, is definitely not someone that will initiate a policy not in national interest!

I am a Christian and from SE, as per this Islamic Banking, as long as it is not going to be abused (our Nigerian Experience has shown us that a lot of things are abused against the original intent), then, lets have it. Its a matter of choice.

stormm:
I do not agree with you on this. Are you saying a right thinking political leadership should not take time to asssess what he is meeting on ground, to know the extent of the rot or progress? You will recall that in the first 6 months of Tinubu in Lagos, residents complained about his being too slow bla bla and compared him to Marwa, thge erstwhile milad. When he went for second term, he was voted in overwhelmingly and was even given the opportunity to appoint his successor.

My point is, is it not better to allow the people to know the extent to which the collective patrimony has been mortgaged, things that were formerly coveredwith the state's secret act? Imagine somebody concessioning Olumo Rock and virtually everything he met on ground and yet OGD still acknowledged owing N50b, wanted another N100b and the state has nothing to show for it.

Why invest in 70's technology all in the name of providing electricity when the comapanies that manufactured some components of your equipment may be moribund?

OGD's company Kresta Laurel got most of these contracts and its time to unveil those responsible for the impoverishment of the state.

Since Amosun knows it is Kresta Laurel, then let him go to them, retrieve the "concessioned" or "sold" and then resell after passing thro' State Executive Council and Assembly and then come and pay workers. All these ACN governors in the SW (except Lagos Sha), should keep quiet and face governance. They should sit up and stop crying like babies, Ajimobi complained to trad. rulers and Amosun too is doing same, Ogbeni has not appointed State Executive Council for 8 months now and he is in India.

We watch and laugh, did not OBJ call Amosun his son, just like OGD used to be?

I dey laugh

Accuse GEJ of just one crime that the elite commit!