₦airaland Forum

we neva start corruption for naija sha. this one is just to chop. peace has not come to iraq yet and they are spending $600m to build embassy. na wa o.

define rich

http://grandioseparlor.com/2007/09/turn-lagos-bar-beach-to-a-windmill-farm/

With the wind speed and protracted power shortage in Lagos, has anyone ever thought of turning the beach to a windmill farm?

Mamajama:
Seun and how many people can afford to go to a private University? why can the government modernize the public university? I am not sure if this story is true do you know We have most graduates comming out of Nigerian in % more than the so called Americans?

university education is not for everybody

zebra:
Take am easy; na lie!! Whats your friends name?? The Nigerian Air Force is better called Nigerian Ground Force. Which planes do dey have at the moment?? The squadron of Alpha jets they bought during shagari regime which dey used to scare cameroon then have only about 2 or so flying. I was told this by one of my friends (Flt. Lt. ------------); a fighter pilot with the Air weapons School, NAF, New-Bussa, Kainji where the Alpha jet fighter squadron is. He is the youngest fighter pilot in the NAF at the moment. Are you going to use only 2 flying jets to fight and win a war?? The Nigerian Army infantary, armour and artillery put together to some extent can fight and win a war but i won't say they are the best in West Africa because they lack a lot of computerized systems and weapons which would have given them advantage.

zebra:
@Mariory

They don't have anything more than i said. Ilhave lived in different Airforce bases north, south, east and west in nigeria; and i'm still living in one of the bases, so i know what i'm saying. Take it or leave it. Most of those Aircrafts listed in wikipedia don't exist in the NAF inventory. It's pure propaganda. Go to their combat base at Makurdi, PH, Yola and Kainji and visit their hangars and see for yourself, fleet of grounded jet figthers and combat helicopters.

It may also interest you to know that most pilots in the NAF have not flown any plane for more than 15 years now while some have been grounded and will never fly in the NAF again because there are no aircrafts for them to fly; especially those who were type-rated as MIG-21 and Jaguar jet pilots as well as BO-105 helicopter pilots.

bros your graduation na wa o. from being friend to to living on. wahala no dey sha.

shey dem soboma george don dey beg

tell dem o

http://www.akin.blog-city.com/6billiontokeepyouth.htm

Lost in the waters of migration

I am not sure if I should see this as a welcome development but it is a start.

The images of migrants and asylum seekers hanging on for dear life as they cross the desert and set sail in boats that are basically watery graves, that come into their own when the occupants are far from help are distressing enough.

Then those who seem to come within sight of help from fishermen trawlers who try to balance out the economic need for more fishing than the compassionate need to save desperate life, usually plumb for the former and they are left to be overcome by the seas and lost.

Money to keep them at home

The fact that the West African Economic Monetary Union (UEMOA) has noticed the problem and decided on a development initiative to help migrants seek opportunities at home is heartening.

$6 billion has been earmarked to this effort, $5bn of which was pledged by foreign donors and the African Development Bank since last November.

I am however not sure that where this money gets directed to would be the panacea to the youth of Africa risking their lives for the uncertain but compelling opportunities in the West.

Boring and farming opportunities

This is supposed to help halt the emigration of young people from the West African region with the exciting job prospects of drilling 3,000 boreholes which should benefit the arid Sahel region, hence allowing people to earn more for their crops giving them less reason to leave their rural existence to the cities where their disappointments might encourage emigration.

I am not aware of many of a youthful age who work on farms or want to eek out an existence on farmer where elements of genuine fair trade do not exist, or enough is known as to how to manage their produce for markets beyond the local ones.

The longer term incentive

It would have been a different thing if these youth were given decent educational opportunities and national governance dealt with issues of nepotism, corruption and abuse of authority such that these youth can meritoriously gain a foothold in the economies of their countries and career prospects that would occupy them with developing their scopes of influence.

The only real development here is the recognition of the emigration of the youth, beyond that, this would probably be another white elephant, with this kind of money about, one would have expected a better inspired goal for giving the youth hope in their futures at home.

There is no doubt that this money would help rural areas, but to stem the flow of the youth from West Africa to the West, somebody should go back to the drawing board and come up with something that would work.

What the youth want

What the youth need is relevant education, untrammelled opportunity, inspired mentoring, the ability to use the skills they have acquired and access to finance for the entrepreneurially minded to become independent and productive members of their societies – if they become the engineers and project managers of the borehole projects with the requisite skills to run projects to their beneficial conclusions, we might have something going, if it is to sweat out digging and toiling like slave hands ordered around by overpaid under-qualified foreign “experts”, this would be a non-starter.

Let us see how this evolves.

our people are too good at avoiding the issues and shifting the blame and not doing anything about anything.

err since i missed it enlighten me na. abi u want me to wallow in ignorance? no be bad thing be that?

bros no be me write am o. i no fit heavy grammer at all. if u give me maths i go do am. but grammer i no sabi.

a great suggestion by ono. but i still want to hear what pth has to say. what is his own suggestion since only him has a monopoly on opinions.

so since u r such an authority WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST?

na wa 4 u sha

PTH:
lol, this is the hallmark of intellectual cretins. As soon as they run out of excuses they either create new threads or turn a lively debate into a personal attack. Chxta is better than me because he writes an article that makes little sense? Do you think i give 2 shakes of a ducks tail?

u give more than 2 shakes of a ducks tail ortherwise it wont bother u like it clearly does. and u r d one who turned this into a personal attack. am following ur lead.

pth anoda one.

http://bjmatix..com/2007/08/lets-do-it.html

I am Nigerian! From my childhood, there's been an endless bombardment of fear, which I won't bother listing here. But from those of us who grew up in the traditional family, you can identify with the whole conservatism. Fear of the unknown. Fear of being unaccepted. Fear of failure. Fear of this, fear of that. Most of our lives has been hijacked by fear and it impedes progress. But now, things are taking shape as I try to fight these traits I find unacceptable and unrealistic in step with the times.

As a people, unfortunately, that inborn fear is almost taking an intrinsic feature in our lives. It shows its ugly head more often in decisions we make. Just like any other proud Nigerian out there, I will love to see this country reach its full potential and exceed it. Giant of Africa this, economic/financial hub of Africa that, the efforts have to start somewhere. Just read this interesting and provocative article by Chxta and all that went with it. Funny how people tend to misread intentions (as is obvious by talkbacks to that post), but I'm not going to assail any of the opinions therein, here. The thing is efforts need to be collective. There's power in numbers. While there is definitely going to be differing opinions on how to get us "there", synergy is needed, not bad-talking.

I tend to be a groupie and while that word carries some negative nuances there is nothing wrong with trying to get things done with the help of others. At the same time, it is wrong trying to defer things to other people, to get the work done for you. That attitude doesn't help with progress. And that is another attitude prevalent in our society, trying to shirk responsibility. Why should I hurt myself and let others have the fun? You know, poke the task with a stick from a safe distance, no need dirtying my hands. In the end, we'd all celebrate the success. Now when there's success, we see people trying to take credit for what isn't rightfully theirs. That attitude does not help! I am not immune to this, some times, on some matters. It is a fight between what I am and what I am trying to be and striving to be it. When there's failure, I take responsibility. It's hard to be brutally honest, but how many people out there are willing to take the smear, even if it is temporal and would help make things better in the long run?

It takes time and an overall overhaul of our thought process and actions. Education is important (duh). Sacrifices HAVE TO be made. For those who have already taken up their lance and shield. Kudos, and way to go! And for the rest who are struggling, but are yet to be on the front line, but are making every effort to be useful and contribute meaningfully (in this category I fall in), may we muster enough gumption for what lies ahead. It would not be easy, but with unity and a common goal, we can get ourselves there. No need trying to outdo the other person or try to tear down his efforts. Where he is lacking, you try to help, but at the same time you watch your back so you don't break while helping.

A great number of Nigerians don't think. And when they eventually think, they are afraid of what the result of such thinking will mean for them. They'd rather deal with the status quo, no matter how bad it is. And still, even when the change does come, there will be a lot of bad-talking and resistance to change. It's good to criticize, but constructive criticism is what helps. "Patching up" will not help! It is time to "fix it", it is time to push for change. As Catty said in one of her posts, ", they are too busy with the business of surviving." There's too much struggling to do trying to get food on the table, to even have any time to bother about being creative. It's a vicious cycle! Of course it isn't an enabling environment, but there's no reason to despair or balk. There's much word around that motivates on "what to do", now there should be a shift to "time to do", which is NOW.

I'm a groupie and I'm game for change. I'm ready to do what it takes to help build a life for my society, myself, and my unborn loved ones. Let's do it!

A lovely weekend to y'all.

I am Nigerian! From my childhood, there's been an endless bombardment of fear, which I won't bother listing here. But from those of us who grew up in the traditional family, you can identify with the whole conservatism. Fear of the unknown. Fear of being unaccepted. Fear of failure. Fear of this, fear of that. Most of our lives has been hijacked by fear and it impedes progress. But now, things are taking shape as I try to fight these traits I find unacceptable and unrealistic in step with the times.

As a people, unfortunately, that inborn fear is almost taking an intrinsic feature in our lives. It shows its ugly head more often in decisions we make. Just like any other proud Nigerian out there, I will love to see this country reach its full potential and exceed it. Giant of Africa this, economic/financial hub of Africa that, the efforts have to start somewhere. Just read this interesting and provocative article by Chxta and all that went with it. Funny how people tend to misread intentions (as is obvious by talkbacks to that post), but I'm not going to assail any of the opinions therein, here. The thing is efforts need to be collective. There's power in numbers. While there is definitely going to be differing opinions on how to get us "there", synergy is needed, not bad-talking.

I tend to be a groupie and while that word carries some negative nuances there is nothing wrong with trying to get things done with the help of others. At the same time, it is wrong trying to defer things to other people, to get the work done for you. That attitude doesn't help with progress. And that is another attitude prevalent in our society, trying to shirk responsibility. Why should I hurt myself and let others have the fun? You know, poke the task with a stick from a safe distance, no need dirtying my hands. In the end, we'd all celebrate the success. Now when there's success, we see people trying to take credit for what isn't rightfully theirs. That attitude does not help! I am not immune to this, some times, on some matters. It is a fight between what I am and what I am trying to be and striving to be it. When there's failure, I take responsibility. It's hard to be brutally honest, but how many people out there are willing to take the smear, even if it is temporal and would help make things better in the long run?

It takes time and an overall overhaul of our thought process and actions. Education is important (duh). Sacrifices HAVE TO be made. For those who have already taken up their lance and shield. Kudos, and way to go! And for the rest who are struggling, but are yet to be on the front line, but are making every effort to be useful and contribute meaningfully (in this category I fall in), may we muster enough gumption for what lies ahead. It would not be easy, but with unity and a common goal, we can get ourselves there. No need trying to outdo the other person or try to tear down his efforts. Where he is lacking, you try to help, but at the same time you watch your back so you don't break while helping.

A great number of Nigerians don't think. And when they eventually think, they are afraid of what the result of such thinking will mean for them. They'd rather deal with the status quo, no matter how bad it is. And still, even when the change does come, there will be a lot of bad-talking and resistance to change. It's good to criticize, but constructive criticism is what helps. "Patching up" will not help! It is time to "fix it", it is time to push for change. As Catty said in one of her posts, ", they are too busy with the business of surviving." There's too much struggling to do trying to get food on the table, to even have any time to bother about being creative. It's a vicious cycle! Of course it isn't an enabling environment, but there's no reason to despair or balk. There's much word around that motivates on "what to do", now there should be a shift to "time to do", which is NOW.

I'm a groupie and I'm game for change. I'm ready to do what it takes to help build a life for my society, myself, and my unborn loved ones. Let's do it!

A lovely weekend to y'all.

dey here dey attack person wey dey make suggestions. at least diffrence dey between u and him. i don start anoda thread make u go look am. u want 2 attack that guy again? these are people that are better human beins than you. face it.

oya all d haters. pth dem come see anoda one.

http://grandioseparlor.com/2007/08/progress-comes-with-the-right-mindset/

With what I know about Nigeria - where I spent the bulk of your lifetime before leaving for the US in 1998 - having the right mindset will go a long way, and longer way in fact, to resolve the problems in the land. This same treatment has been used to solve arching problems everywhere in the world, except Africa.

Compare a mindset like that of the Malawian kid, William - who went out to build a windmill from scrap plastic and wood to power his family home in rural Malawi - to the typical Lagos residents whose homes and streets always get flooded every year but will choose to grunt and grumble and live life as it is. Why aren\u2019t many Nigerians with a can-do mentality similar to Dr Stong\u2019s - a retired American engineer who bridged two villages in rural eastern Nigeria working with 30 volunteers and without heavy equipment?
People always look up to the government as if it holds a magical wand which can be used to willy-nilly reverse the rots in the society. People talk of, and look up to \u201cleaders\u201d to fix problems -as if they are extra-terrestrial beings that dropped from the sky. The last time I checked, these \u201cleaders\u201d share one major characteristic with an average Nigerian: The same mindset.

Back to the Lagos flood. Adaure, a Nigerian blogger writes about the floods in Lekki peninsula and Victoria Island, affluent suburbs of Lagos, where the rich and lords of the land have their magnificent mansions and live in opulence. As I commented to her post, \u201cIf this people would pay little attention to something so basic but critical as proper drainage, then we shouldn\u2019t be surprised that Nigeria is broken\u2026\u201d Nigeria is broken and will remain broken because the bulk of Nigerians have failed to tune on the right mindset.

Why do Nigerians continue to do the absurd like building houses where they shouldn\u2019t? Or in locales without proper and adequate drainage system? Why has it become impossible for the government to employ proper strategies to fix social issues in the land?

I and several commentators have been accused of being overly negative of Nigeria; \u201cwashing our dirty linens in the public\u201d some have accused. Only a mentally-compromised person would fail to draw comparison between what happens in a broken Nigerian society and the one I live in now in the United States. I\u2019m not the only one who see how the machinery of these societies work. I believe there isn\u2019t many of the so-called leaders in Nigeria and Africa that haven\u2019t been to America or Europe; many studied there and continue to visit on regular basis. But the wrong mindsets have continued to make it impossible for the leaders to see and transfer home what they come to enjoy overseas. Likewise, the governed too, continued to be robbed of basic amenities of life because their mindset is off alignment.

Until Nigerians start taking baby-steps to effect changes, changes that can only be brought about by a change in mentality and orientation, Nigeria will remain broken. These steps will commence when we learn to ask questions\u2026simple but meaningful questions. The simple \u201cWhat\u201d, \u201cWhy\u201d and \u201cHow\u201d. Identify the problem, figure out why they exist, or remain protracted after several failed remedies, then imagine how it can be fixed.

If William can figure how to power the family house in rural Malawi, then any adult can do this. For this to work, attention should be on local issues - at the street level and in the neighborhoods. All it takes is just a handful of champions\u2026to take the first step. And there are abundant social issues to question: From flooded streets, to the the menace of the ubiquitous area boys (social miscreants).

but this topic is now boring sha. of all the armies in africa it is only us that they always beg for peace mission. why?

PTH:
thank you McKren! I'm sick to my stomach seeing ignorant people continue to defend the indefensible! And they tell us we are wallowing in ignorance when they can't even see their noses. Building windmills my foot! South Africa has nuclear power plants and someone is telling us to go build personal windmills in the yr 2007. Maybe Michelin tyres should have built windmills to keep their Port Harcourt plant open.

We generate billions of dollars in oil revenue yearly and someone says we should go build windmills. Why don't we just do away with government in the first place?

oya u y r u there criticising? do away with govement. why not lead from d front? ur mind is so closed so as not to even see dat in other parts of the world green energy is the way forward. d uk only recently comissioned d largest wind farm europe. holland runs mainly on wind energy. be there doing arm chair criticism. hypocrite.

well said. but to butress one thing it is me that put up what chxta said here.

u said that i don't have an opinion on this issue. that is another place that u f-ed up very well. an opinion doesnt have to be an original thougt. it can be influenced by what another person said or wrote. in this case my opinion is influenced by what chxta wrote. ur problem is that u are too arrogant to accept it even when u r wrong.

PTH:
Afam, as usual you have completely twisted every single post you reference in order to make a point that really goes no where.

sorry bro it is u dat keeps twisting d point here to make a point that goes no where.

No one has accused Chxta of intolerance. There is nothing in his write up to suggest such.[/uote]
read shangos post well. read donzmans post very well. u dont have to say somethng to imply it.

The government is the people, but the people elect a certain minority to represent their views. What attitudes do we have that is radically different from those of South Africans or Germans?

in germany which ave been to most people build their houses and furniture by themselves. if soemthing breaks down in the house u dont see people rushing 2 look for d nearest carpenter or plumber or electrician. in naija if no body comes to work it it will remain like that. true or false?

This is counter productive, You can never develop as a nation if we refuse to hold our government accountable. How many of the 150m Nigerians can afford a generator to power their ramshackle homes? How many serious nations have their large industries running on generators?

go back and read what afam wrote. he didnt say everybody must buy a generator. maybe u dont want 2 see his point but d point is this if u try 2 hold d government and they are not coming will u throw ur hands up and say okay since i dont have light let me live in darkness? that is what our people r so good at doing.

again it is erroneous to merely equate nigeria's problems to that of just attitude. We don't have the worst attitude in the world, why are we so blessed and yet so poor?

we probably have d worst attitude in d world. u urself has said it so many times that the avergae naija is selfish. what is worst than that one? we are not our brothers keepers and tat why naija is where it is.

No, read my post again, i did not talk of "colonisation" as the bane of those countries BUT the cobbling together of incompatible peoples to form a nation.
Nigeria - Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo hence our problems till tomorrow.
Iraq - Kurds, sunnis, shiites - are we surprised it is a theater of war today? There are kurds in Turkey who are minorities, why were they not naturally allowed to form a separate nation with their kurdish brothers in Iraq?

so you now want to say that turkey is a cobbled together nation? there are scots in scotland who want to form their own nation why cant they leave? in the article chxta provided a link 2 all the seperate militias in india. were they not cobbled together? people like u just like to emphasise on our differences as a negative when it can be positive.

Chxta says our problems are all down to "Attitude". The right "Attitude" to develop Nigeria then should not be running to London only to start telling the rest of us to change our attitudes and build private windmills to power our homes while he enjoys the benefit of an accountable government.

u that is always complaining what r u doing in america? r u american. it was this kind of thing that he talked about in one of his articles. instead of attacking the points u r always attacking d personality. ono is d most guilty person of this but u r not innocent. if he is in london so what? does it mean he can develop naija from there? does being soemwhere else remove his nigerianness? u r just a disgrace.

PTH:
@ Imani
lol, it is only in Nigeria that i hear the absurdity that the nation does not owe its citizens anything. The same citizens who pay taxes to the government?
Of what use is a nation when it cannot protect its citizens and does not "owe" them anything?
Even foreign countries treat illegal aliens far better than Nigeria treats its citizens and we are here helping to perpetuate the aberation that Nigerian governments abdicate their civic responsibility.

- Nigerian workers have a poor work ethic? Could it be because the harder they work the smaller pay they get? Some that are unlucky go months without pay and you expect them to put in the same amount of work as the average English man? We had a far better work ethic before 1979, Nigerians in foreign countries are largely hardworking so we can safely conclude that Nigerians are not lazy.

Would you work 16 hr shifts if you get payed just enough to feed for 2 days while your boss who does no stroke of work has bank accounts in Switzerland? Enough of just blaming the people!! We have been made scapegoats for irresponsible leadership for too long!

liar!

it was not a 9ja person that said ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country.

well he isnt sending replies through me. i copy and paste some. but u failed one thing there. nigeria also did not exist as a nation before d british came. also no nation existed here before they came. so that is where you're wrong.

Imani:
Nigeria doesnt "owe" it's citizens anything. A nation merely reflects the "thinking" capacity or productivity of its people. Not a lot of contries are blessed with the amount of resources we have, but they can probably manage what we have better than ourselves.

Nigeria, however, is a case of some people really working so hard but with nothing to show for it because the system doesnt encourage productivity. Lets be honest, the system is being ruined by corruption, therefore it is hard to differentiate those that make their money through sheer hardwork and those that "stole" their wealth.

Some Nigerians have very poor work ethics and it is manifested sometimes over here as well. Some people don't seem to realise, that it is not only the government that is responsible for the wellbeing of the country, we the citizens are. The government workers, are the worst in this regard. I was in Nigeria recently and visited a government organisation, and saw a lot of so called government workers just time wasting on the job. This attitude is very prevalent. Maybe the government is not motivating them enough enough in terms of pay package. However, this mentality of not giving our best in most things we do, has led to the steady decline the country has witnessed in recent years.

Yes, we should criticize our country constructively, even the so called developed countries do likewise. Why should Nigeria be different?.

KPOM!

osereka:
its a pity that some boi boi in america thinks
they know naijas problem than the naijas here.
hnmm pity pity, pity!

but u yeye o. if na oyinbo man come tell una say see where d problem dey una go listen. but if na naija tell una una go start to dey argue. colomental.

otokx:
Those people causing mayhem are not militants; they are political thugs who are being owed salaries by the state government.

so political thug is now a full time employement eh? do u know how u sound. but really sha what is d differnce between political thug and militant. asari, george and ateka no be political thug dem be? no be militant dem be?

all these militants are just criminals. oya ono come hia.

shango u r actualy very wrong about american dveloping internally. the country was divided up and colonised by the british. they fouhgt for independednce and got it. meanwhile where is donzman to talk again? he went to chxta's blog to say what he said here and chxta answered him. since then he has not said anything again. it will be good if some peeps do d same so dat they can learn instead of forming scholar here.

Ahh Donzman, one of my favourite members of the Biafra automatically means success group,

What has improved in Nigeria since 1960?

Good question. Only one thing: our population, if that can be called an improvement.

Your dad has a positive attitude towards his own upliftment, that is good. But what about the upliftment of his neighbours? Has it occurred to you that when you try to raise your neihbours up as well, that you would improve even better? Did you read the example I gave of the broken down lift?

In any event, I am not going to attack your dad, I think he is a good man, but I can bet that he sees the people he has lived amongst more as human beings than some of your comments across this blog (and Nairaland) indicate that you do, and that is the crux of the matter when it concerns people moving around. Remember the question about whether mobility has actually opened people's minds? Get it straight, the point made about Nigerians knowing each other was made with respect to national unity, not with respect to things getting better, or worse. Anyways, I can also guarantee you one thing: your dad is much more likely than the Obinna who sat in Onitsha all his life, to understand what makes people from Sokoto tick, and much more likely to understand their foibles as well. That already makes him a better Nigerian than Obinna.

As to your second point, the question would then become where have you been these past few months (and articles) when I criticize things? Or you only visit these parts when something positive is said? If you had bothered to read the write up properly, you would have seen that I gave what I think to be the exact reason why people are pessimistic -attitude. Try read harder next time.

One more thing, these pages of mine are littered with suggestions (after criticisms of course) for improvements in Nigeria. I'd also entertain suggestions from you as to how you intend to make Biafra work. Just a thought,

i agree with it that is why i brought it here. abi no be so? see i know my limitation and i know that i cant argue long like other people. but i know something tha makes snese when i see it. and what u said makes no sense.

babyosisi:
skinny dipping in the atlantic

wicked gal