₦airaland Forum

RuudVanNisteroy:
I read it and there there was no proof in the article they were accountable to the British. The document that might have shown the agreement was not released under the Freedom of Information act.

Stop talking rubbish. Where is YOUR proof that ''600 billion dollars'' was stolen since 1960? Where did you or your sources sit down and count the money?

But all of a sudden you are demanding ''proof'' where it comes to British corruption and mendacity?

We have accounts from their own colonial officers stating what occurred. That's enough 'proof'. What do you want? A public confession from the British govt?

RuudVanNisteroy:
We were able to recover the looted Abacha funds from UK,Switzerland,USA and Liechienstein. Let us try and recover what we can, they are now all storing their loot in Dubai,UAE their new favourite destination to launder their funds.

You've not recovered up to 2 billion dollars out of that '600 billion dollars'.

It's a wild goose chase, primarily because the nations holding the money refuse to return it.

RuudVanNisteroy:
The colonialists were accountable to UK. The Nigerians leaders from 1960 were accountable to us.

Actually, they were accountable to the British who installed them in power by rigging and manipulation.

Read the article above?

RuudVanNisteroy:
Let is try and recover what we can. We know all the looters that went into government and become billionaires overnight with private jets,bullion vans,Lamborghini's and properties in UAE,UK,USA and South Africa.

If the British will not return the trillions THEY stole, what makes you think that they and their allies like Switzerland and co will return your ''600 billion dollars'' - monies being held in THEIR banks?

This is why you have to go back to wayyyyy before 1960.

RuudVanNisteroy:
It doesn't change the fact the fantastically corrupt class has looted $600 billion dollars since 1960 and continue to loot at federal,state and local government level.

And what about the fantastically corrupt colonialists who looted 10 times that amount?

So, given the above, if you merely start investigating Nigeria from 1960, you would be like the toddler in Achebe's novel, who, when asked to bathe himself, washes only his belly.

RuudVanNisteroy:
The only structures left was ownership of the oil resources which is currently 60:40 ratio. We had full control of the federal, state, local and traditional institutions.

How can you have control when there was colonial corruption at the very outset of independence?


BBC documentary

Britain rigged election before Nigerian independence

Barry Mason

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2007/08/nige-a09.html


A BBC radio documentary on the events leading up to the independence of Nigeria, Britain’s former colony, charged the British government with interference in the election to ensure the result was in line with its interests (see “Rigging Nigeria”).

The programme cited two files held in the British National archives covering the period leading up to independence in 1960 that to this day remain closed to the public and will remain closed for another 50 years.

One file contains material relating to the governor general at the time of independence, Sir James Robertson, and the other material on Dr Azikiwe, known as Zik, who was leader of the nationalist pro-independence political party, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC).

Mike Thomson, the investigator on the programme, spoke to Harold Smith who had gone out to work as a British Colonial Officer in the 1950s after graduating from Oxford University. Smith was based in the then capital, Lagos, working in the ministry of Labour, then headed by Festus Okotie-Eboh, a flamboyant politician who was treasurer of the NCNC. The NCNC was based in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. Under colonial rule the country was divided up into three regions, North, East and West.

One day Smith was given a secret file containing a minute that ordered him to get involved in regional elections taking place in the late 1950s in the run up to independence. He was to make vehicles, staff and other resources available to the NCNC colleagues of Okotie-Eboh who was standing in the elections. Smith was shocked at the request. He explained that the election had to be fixed because the plan was that the Northern region would hold power on independence.

Thomson asks, “Could an allegation of British government involvement to rig an election or at the least to favour a particular party be substantiated?”

He interviewed Professor David Anderson, Director of the African Studies Centre at Oxford University. Asked if such manipulation of an election result could have happened Professor Anderson replied: “In almost every single colony the British attempted to manipulate the result to their advantage.... I would be surprised if they had not done so.”

Nigeria’s Northern region constituted three quarters of the land mass of the country and had roughly half the population. Professor Anderson explained that the North, with its Islamist culture, was very conservative and had enjoyed a close relationship with its British colonial rulers. The British had ruled through the emirs.

The British government was concerned that the result of independence might lead to partition. They regarded the Northern region as a bulwark against opposition. Professor Anderson explained that British analysts at the time thought that West Africa as a whole with its high levels of poverty was highly vulnerable to communism.

The politics of the North was dominated by the Northern Peoples’ Congress Party (NPC). Britain was aware that the NPC would be unable to rule an independent Nigeria by itself and would need the support of a major party in the East or West.

This is why, explains Smith, he had been ordered to help the party of Dr Azikiwe (Zik), in the East, the NCNC. He explained: “They had to fix Zik of course, there was stuff they have got him for that could send him to prison ... [they] forced him to do a deal with the North.”

Smith is adamant the orders to help the NCNC came from the top, the governor general Sir James Robertson. Smith described Robertson as “a thug and he had a terrible reputation....We loved Africans, but these people who came to do this job were a different breed, these were the ex-SOE [British Secret Service outfit set up during the Second World War] and MI6.”

According to Smith his colleagues reluctantly went along with the orders to aid the election campaign. Smith refused and asked to see Robertson.

He describes his meeting with Robertson. Robertson said, “I want you to know that everything you have alleged about the elections is correct.... You know too much and I want you to know how much trouble you are in. The Colonial Service is just like the army, you know what happens if you disobey orders on active service and that is what is going to happen to you.”

Smith added that Robertson was so angry he half expected him to produce a pistol and shoot him.

Smith showed Mike Thomson the copies of correspondence he has sent to the “great and the good” over the years in his campaign to highlight his allegations. Thomson remarked that without recordings of the conversations Harold Smith claims took place and no copies of the orders it is difficult for him to prove his case.

However, Thomson was able to quote from some documents that give a hint of what happened. One document is a letter written by Sir Peter Smethers who was a private parliamentary secretary at the British Colonial Office throughout most of the decolonization period and had been present at most of the independence negotiations, including that of Nigeria.

Writing of the Northern political class he says, “The attraction of the Kanu rulers was that they had a long and successful experience of government ... offered the obvious choice to head the new experiment. It was difficult to see an alternative to the early stages of independence.”

Smethers died last year at the age of 92.

The other document was from the memoirs of Robertson, who died in 1983. He explained that in the elections that took place in 1959 to choose the government that would rule after independence, before the result was known there were rumours that the NCNC in the East and the so-called Action Group in the West were considering a coalition and would be able to form a majority in the House of Representatives.

He explained how he thought this might result in the North leaving the federation. Part of his role was to appoint as prime minister whoever he thought best able to command a majority in the House of Representatives. He invited Abukakr Tafawa Balewa, the Northern leader, to form a government even before the result of the election was known. He did so without consulting the secretary of state in the British government.

Thomson also explains how the British carried out a census in Nigeria in the years leading to independence and were accused of overestimating the numbers in the North to give them a higher representation in the parliament. Professor Anderson agrees it was certainly in the interests of Britain to have done that.

Both Professor Anderson and Mike Thomson applied under the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to the two files but have been refused.

Anderson told the programme:

“Clearly someone in the British government, when those files were classified, did not want us historians to learn something about what they contain and that raises my suspicions that those files might contain information about whatever deals were brokered between the British government and the NCNC. Because it is certainly the case that the NCNC would not have won the election it did without British support. Nor could it have formed a coalition with the NPC at independence without British support. So I would love to see what’s in those two files about Sir James Robertson and Dr Azikiwe.”

RuudVanNisteroy:
Nigeria became independent in 1960, so let us start from there.

Many would argue that the independence was a ruse, and it still left the same pro-western power structures that presided over the colonial era, merely exchanging pink faces for brown.

Thus 1960 was at best an artificial line of era demarcation.

So starting from 1960 will not do adequate justice to any task of resolving the Nigerian question.

Themainboy22:
#EndSARS if possible #EndNIGERIA let everybody go their way. We are tired of this forceful union. Have you been wondering why there are no #EndSARS protest in any of the northern states? It's simply because there's nothing like SARS or Police brutality over here in the north...

Probably because the crime rate in the north is less than 5% of what it is in the south.

landforeast:
God gave us everything in this country but we chose not to open our eyes and utlilise God given gifts to better our life. Imagine if it is UAE that is occupying Nigeria. Someone will leave here and pay huge amount of money visit Desert safari in Dubai when we have a lot of Tourism Attraction cneterd here

Stop moaning and blaming, and do something YOURSELF.

Building recreational and tourist facilities is not the government's job.

It is the job of the PRIVATE SECTOR, ie YOU.

Omooba77:
That you are in power doesnt mean you should rig or oppress others.

Tell that to Trump, cos that's exactly what he's doing in America, while 'warning' Buhari.

Rubbish.

Omooba77:
But you can collect aids and loans as independent nation!

That somebody gives you a loan or grant does not mean they become your god, unless you are a bloody fool with no brain.

Grgton:
it's so bad, of all African countries, the roads we celebrate here in Nigeria can't even stand international standard, esp road marking, signs, sidewalks etc

It slowly changing. These days in Nigeria most new roads in residential areas are built with sidewalks. Wasn't that way 15 to 20 years ago.

KnowAll:
Me too I approve railway from port harcourt to Maiduguri in my bedroom. This is just cheap talk not backed by any credibility.

I bet you said the same thing about the Abuja - Kaduna line, Itakpe - Warri line, and the Lagos-Ibadan line.

Smart people need to ignore the negative, anti-progress musings of your ilk.

I'm always highly suspicious of these historical accounts of pre-Jihad Hausaland. The claims about social conditions before the Jihadist arrival are all made by Islamic writers of the period, and naturally, they would have exaggerated any ills in the society and claimed Islam saved the people from them.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/12475054_img20201008054648_jpeg7a6728cf46ceb0db2e7017c7120cd36e

weyreypey:
Nope false history

Are you saying those events never happened? This story was made up?

Zendinho:
Thank you so Mr OP for bringing this episode here...

This is the topic I'll be treating with my students next week.... COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION


This week am treating.....
HAUSA/FULANI PRECOLONIAL ADMINISTRATION.....


A proud teacher any day, any time....

You might be interested in this piece on the Benin Empire.

Highly revealing.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/18/story-of-cities-5-benin-city-edo-nigeria-mighty-medieval-capital-lost-without-trace

weyreypey:
Silly story. Write about the original Kano not the one already conquered by jihadists

Don't be ridiculous. This is also history.

Cjrane2:
Your posts are always deceitful and baseless.

There was an old line between Lagos and Kano, it just got so messed up that a new gauge had to be reconstructed.

How does this negate anything I wrote?

I would have argued with you that no single country uses two gauges at the same time.

Because if you did, you'd be wrong. Britain operates narrow and standard gauge rail lines.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/27/top-10-narrow-gauge-railway-journeys-britain-kent-devon-wales

Just like no country allows cars with right hand and left hand drive at the same time in the same country. But, Nigeria isn't really a country and might not survive as a country for long. So it can allow 3 types of gauges in the country. No problems.

Keep hallucinating about Nigeria not surviving while your mates like INNOSON are cleaning up. Very soon, he will enter railway equipment manufacturing, while you'll still be there blaming Buhari and 'Nigeria' for your uselessness.

Their own turn to be conquered will definitely come.

This world operates by the law of karma.

The whites will one day be slaves to the blacks on this earth.

''He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.''

- Revelation 13:10

The clock is ticking.

chiefolododo:
I believe it won't be a platform to embezzle fund.

But expanding this railway of a thing to Niger Republic is something else

That line stops at the Nigerian border and does not go a single inch into Niger Republic.

Stop following online disinformation from malcontents.

Guide777:
NOI is going to win and not because she is the most qualified but because she is representing an interest.

Yup... She is a Bill Gates' vaccine pusher.

''Okonjo-Iweala served two stints as Nigeria’s finance minister and one term as foreign affairs minister. She has experience working at international governance bodies as a former managing director of the World Bank and as a chairman at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization...''

- Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-07/two-women-advance-to-final-round-of-wto-leadership-race

They're going to use her to push these dodgy, untested 'covid' vaccines onto African countries.

eagleu:
Approved is not budgeted, financed, contract awarded, or even construction started.
Meanwhile, the railway to Niger republic will be completed sooner.
'Approved' is meant to divert attention from the Niger republic project.

You are WRONG.

The contract for this line has been awarded over 3 months ago to CCNC.

How can the FG ''approve'' a project at a 3.2 billion dollar cost if it is not budgeted, a contractor has not been identified, and a contract awarded?

Some of you are just dense.

Oh, and there is no ''Niger republic project'', you lying devil.

That line ends at the Nigerian border AS EXPLAINED REPEATEDLY BY THE GOVT.

chrisxxx:
RAILWAYS

PH-MAIDUGURI-EASTERN LINE.......narrow guage

LAGOS-IBADAN-KANO LINE......Standard gauge

ABUJA-KADUNA LINE.....Standard guage

Zero segregation?
Zero 2nd class status?
No comments

Unfair criticism. The Port Harcourt - Maiduguri line is being rehabilitated, as there is actually an old line there, albeit narrow gauge. The Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna lines etc are brand new lines, and so had to be built standard gauge in line with modern convention.

Narrow gauge lines are still operated all over the world, and it would have constituted gross wastage of public funds to abandon the current Port-Harcourt - Maiduguri line to build a standard gauge line at perhaps triple the price.

In fact, ''In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard; Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Australian states of Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania..''

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow-gauge_railway

pandax:
Narrow guage in this age and time Amaechi. You built standard guage in West and North, and you plan narrow guage for your people for $3.2b

Lagos to Ibadan is $1.9b and about 200km for standard guage. Why don't you do PH to Makurdi, a distance of 380km with that $3.2b and when there is more money, we can do Makurdi to Maiduguri.

In any case, I know it will never get off pipeline until this administration is over. I am deeply disappointed in you if this is your plan for us

Unfair criticism. The Port Harcourt - Maiduguri line is being rehabilitated, as there is actually an old line there, albeit narrow gauge. The Lagos-Ibadan line etc are brand new lines, and so had to be built standard gauge in line with modern convention.

Narrow gauge lines are still operated all over the world, and it would have constituted gross wastage of public funds to abandon the current Port-Harcourt - Maiduguri line to build a standard gauge line at perhaps triple the price.

In fact, ''In some countries, narrow gauge is the standard; Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Australian states of Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania..''

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow-gauge_railway

chiefolododo:
My question is "how important is the railway"?

Will it improve our economy drastically ??

Will it take care of unemployment??

The USA became the world's biggest economy largely by expanding its railroad infrastructure starting from the late 19th century.

Rail transport has the effect of drastically reducing the cost of transporting goods, and hence, drastically reducing the cost of doing business, which leads to an EXPLOSION in commerce, trade, and manufacturing.

Nigeria has a national railway masterplan which connects every single state by rail, and this latest project is just one of many in the pipeline.

Kudos to the Buhari administration.

Flytime:
the question is wouldn't the world have gotten past that and new styles of buildings would be erected and all that would be ugly and outdated?

I don't actually think so. 45 years is not THAT long a period whereby architectural styles would radically change.

Here's a picture of Los Angeles 45 years ago...(1975)


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/71/71/1a717104f2ea497bd5ec1221802833f2.jpg

Sure, it's hardly Dubai, but this skyline wouldn't look out of place in a city today.

sbaks:
lol but e still dey possible. Anything can choose to happen last minute. The eyes of the citizens could finally be opened and then they'll begin to hold their politicians accountable for everything. We just never can tell

This thing you said is already happening, even though we tend not to notice. Political accountability has improved in Nigeria, most notably among state governments.

There was a time looting was just a normal thing, and Nigeria was Number 2 on Transparency International's corruption index after Colombia or something. This was in the early 90s under Babangida. It was just free for all. Nothing like EFCC, and anyone who tried to raise alarm was quickly 'settled' by the IBB govt (egunje).

We underestimate how far we've come politically. There is no reason to think that this trajectory of rising govt accountability will not continue into the future, as Nigerians become more politically sophisticated, and socially attuned to their rights and responsibilities.