₦airaland Forum

Abeg you guys should stop making noise, do you think crystal and caviaar is chiken change?

[quote author=Kukura on the Move link=topic=144323.msg2469974#msg2469974 date=1215383126]SkyBlue, you are being mischievous with your line of argument. Edwin Madunagu( I hope I got the surname right) wrote in the Guardian some years ago and posited that all the authentic leaders of the Niger Delta that have tried to better the lot of their people by negotiating with the Nigerian govt, have always ended under six feet.
You do not negotiate with thieves and robbers! That is what they are. They see the nigerian project, if indeed it can be defined as such as a well acquired for their thirst. Plans are made on how to loot and covertracks if necessary!
Rather than pure violence, an analysis of the baseline conditions should be done, strategies for moving forward, players involved, know the reactionary characters that are within the context of the situation, detractors, identify and encourage authentic leaders, identify the frauds and make it hell on earth for them, identify thecriminal elements and ensure that they are set up and handed over e.g. child kidnappers,
A review of the situation with a commitment to move forward.
People like skyblue and others who have never set foot in the niger delta should please not insult the years of silence and patience of this long-suffering people and their justified demand to get a share of what actually belongs to them. The leaders are a reflection of the country and its rabid leadership that foisted false opportunistic leaders on the people. When they do realise this and take action they are called odious names. Remember the 4 vultures of ogoni land? Thats one of the excuses that was used to kill Ken saro-wiwa. Find out.
If we should find out now in the case of skyblue, his LG chairman is supposed to have done certain projects, but left them undone, nothing happens, the insincere leaders are only in the niger delta because they are given such huge sums of money to perform and they fritter it away, Please go and clean up your own stinking kitchen![/quote]@Kukura how do you know whether i have never set foot in the Niger Delta? What exactly do you know about me? So because i don't agree with you i don't know what i am talking about? Whatever you want to believe, i won't go through exhaustive lengths to argue anymore about such (no disrespect to you). So who are the "real" leaders that Edwin Clark speaks of and if Peter Odili and co were not the "real" leaders why were they supported so much by the traditional "rulers" who are mostly nothing but a shame? Is Edwin Clark not a traditional ruler? How many chieftancy titles did Peter Odili obtain or are this all from "fake" traditional leaders? Are these traditional leaders who were collecting "allowance" also "fake" leaders? All i need to say on this i have said i will not repeat myself. If you choose to dismiss my arguement even after not knowing anything about me and say it is mischevious without towing any debate, whatever, i am not offended or moved by such and don't need such validation. Have a nice day.

@iseobio why are you even complaining sef, at least doctors can schedule operations on their five minute days in confidence that for that amount of time NEPA won't take light. If you need operation during the day wey your turn neva reach or the thing wey you wan do pass 5 minutes, that one na your wahala. So people who want to fall sick for no reason thereby needing operation, hold it, and pregnant ladies that might need c-section if you are not willing to push you better respect yourself and hold that baby till that 5 minutes or more reaches your area.

@debosky, hey at least it is better than nothing. You never know, the different parts of Nigeria might even assign the days there 5 minutes is on as public holiday. People will cook rice and kill chicken to celebrate the ocassion, if NEPA forgets to change for 5 minutes, people will kill goat. 20 minutes? You want to kill people with such obscene levels of ecstasy? That one is cow plus party.

Interesting development, so how is 900mW going to be shared among the whole country exactly because it still isn't explained? Even if it is turn by turn  900mW still isn't enough for 12 hour periods as suggested. This is basically trying to share one orange among a whole village, so basically one one lick each should do the trick. Well, they are managing what they have. Hey, if people are going to be informed as to when their side is getting their five minutes of "normality" then at least they can plan in advance how to use their five minutes. So maybe you can proceed with watching an extra five minutes of that film that has been in your dvd player forever or maybe just basically experiencing what living with electricity without noise feels like. Take heart, you will finish watching that film one day.

LOL, you actually took me serious. On a serious note i think the answers are quite obvious so i don't know if it is a rhetorical question. The country is so messed up so where does one start, and do you mean how citizens can work towards this or are my meant to answer on account of what the government can do? On a more serious note though, i can't believe you are asking how the power of positive thoughts can work. We all hold hands and think positive thoughts and things just happen, it is a Nigerian phenomenom. You do not know this, and you call yourself a Nigerian?

@digitalman it seems that Okada ban really got to you  . How vision 2020 will be achieved? By the power of positive thinking of course, i can't believe you even asked

@debosky do you really think a before and after of Abuja will come anywhere near the scale shown above? Yes abuja is nice but let us not turn this into a joke thread  . With regards to the blue sky, when Nigeria gets to that level then they can use the babalawo that people in dubai used. These guys are not ordinary babalawo, you have to book in advance to get the "blue sky" job and it is no chicken change at all, even London city council could not afford the full package so they had to book for the "three months in a year" premium, lots of cities in the states have been getting it at discount   .

@dblock, sorry but you will have to put up with the fact that i am Nigerian and do not share your views on what patriotism really is. Why do parents discipline their kids (in Nigeria anyway)? Is it because they don't like their kids or is it due to love for their kids and the potential the parent see in them to be better? So what exactly is the problem with speaking the truth? That is just what i don't get, what is wrong with speaking the truth, or are all these criticsms based on fiction? I believe that if Nigerians were generally patriotic the country would be different, would it be because they were telling themselves everything would be ok? Would it be because they preached positivity? Would it not be because due to how much love they have for the country the people will not allow tribal sentiments, corruption and other vices to ruin things for everyone? At present Nigerians have such high tolerance for rubbish, do whatever you want and people will just tighten up their belts, wreak havock on a whole state and all you will have is the inconvenience of noise been made.

Do you know any other country with as much "public secrets" as Nigeria has? If patriotism is love for ones countries, does such love place such trivialities as "what would others think", tribal sentiments, etc above the suffering of a people one claims to love? Does such a love and desire and want for progress and development have such infinte tolerance and accomodation for wickedness, corruption and other vices that spoils it for everyone? If you had a child that was exhibiting wickedness, rascality and other such behaviours, do you pet that child and hope he changes or do you discipline him? So looking at the state of things do you think people have actually been "too hard" (LOL) on their analysis of the situation? How many corrupt ex govenors are in jail today? And people and being too harsh? What image are we exactly trying to protect? Isn't it selfish to put such above actually developing and fixing things so that we won't have to work overtime to protect this kwashiokor ridden image? Abeg, let all be exposed to put it perfectly "make fowl yansh open", after hearing of gutter surfing this week, I think Nigerians all over the world can handle whatever is being hidden. Some thing else you might not consider is that people continue to lambast and spend time speaking the truth not because of resignation, but because of hope that things can get better and because of frustration at why on earth they aren't with all the country has.

And yes, for such a countmry rich in all aspects, (mineral resources, human capital, etc) and still is the way it is, Nigeria deserves the wrap it gets. The leaders and people are not even getting close to the wrap that is deserved, people that deserve to be flogged in public are getting chieftancy title and yet all is well? How did such happen, how did things get so ludacris, were we all sleeping?

Jakumo:
The law authorizing citizen's arrest in Lagos state gives every pervert out there free rein to "arrest" women spotted wearing revealing clothes, or deemed to be of questionable character. I'm emigrating to Lagos right now to enforce morality there.

LOL

fyneguy:
The solution is to outsource Nigeria governance to Japan on a govern-and-transfer basis for 30 years.

LOL, i second the motion abeg. Let the "patriots" put this to a vote and get the shock of their lives, this leadership mess is just getting too much. Outsource to Japan? Why don't we just outsource anti corruption enforcement to china? That alone and you will see wonders. By the time 5 people are shot for dipping their hands in the public pot the rest of them will fall in line.

@Dis Guy, i disagree. If the CCTVs are used to actually sucessfully prosecute criminals, who one earth would want to be commiting a crime in front of CCTVs? They have worked as a deterrent in quite a few countries. If CCTVs are places strategically in the central business district for instance, after a few weeks of well publicised busts by the police with the aid of CCTV and the word is out, who would want to go and take free photo when he is commiting a crime?

10000 CCTVs, very encouraging development. I just hope that the law enforcements agencies actually use this to aid in solving crimes. The only stifling factor is the power supply. Of course i don't see why such can't be solar powered if street lights can be.

he he he, all these "patriotic" Nigerians and their wahala, let me guess, people should "proffer solutions"? LOL. It might not have occurred to you that people keep on shooting down the actions of the government and houses out of not only frustration at how defeat is continuously chosen over victory but also because such actions are appalling and deserve to be shot down. Should we now lower standards in order to accomodate all the rubbish that transpires in government? Profer solutions, profer solutions, how many solutions have been "profered"?  How many books have been written? Are the problems from mars? Simple, use money allocated to projects for the actual projects and don't steal, if you steal or loot, be thrown in jail and send a message. That would be a start. Is it rocket science? To be honest i think that the "patriotic" camp are actually the unpatriotic because is seems to be more about the image of the country and how it looks to outsiders than the actual suffering of the people or actually developing the place and improving the country for everyone. If people in other countries don't want to shoot down bad actions of their own government (which they do all the time and a lot of the time in mockery when it is called for) that is up to them. Is Nigeria really something to write home about at the moment? So what is wrong with stating this? It is not even done well to be honest. When politicians after looting money meant for developing airports and buying communication equipment now come and say it was because of occultic powers that the plane crashes were so rampant as opposed to them not doing their job, and then such are dragged unto TV and lambasted then we can even begin to talk. Instead what you get is "oga sir", chief this and chief that, sorry i asked you such a hard question etc.

It might also not occur to you that people also continue to lambast the government not only because they very rightly deserve it, but also because the huge potential Nigeria has is evident to them and also because of genuine concern for the country, so much that one would waste time and effort criticising obvious stupidity. If "patriotism" means telling tales by moonlight of vision 2020 when the generating capacity is 900mW and not taking solid actions to change it, then i rather wholeheartedly be "unpatriotic".

Yaradua made a fuss about how the reason for the delay on implementations in the power sector being carried out was because he was awaiting a report. The report is in and it has been a couple of weeks now. So what is the plan now? Please any talk of vision 2020 should be relegated to the joke section of Nairaland for the time being.

naijaking1:
Abeg no forget winch our power supply from 900mw to the desired 10,000mw oh jare

LOL 

naijaking1:
Texting Babalawo for juju advice is ironical. She should have used direct mind-mind connection, ESP, or whatever they call it, or our Babas can't pick up info from ESP?

If our grand parents did so well, how come the European juju just catch-em off guard like that? Enslaved many of them, killed many them, and shipped many to cultivate the lands of far away America with their hands, not their redundant juju minds.

@naijaking, can you blame babalawo for wanting to expand and advertise his services and fitting in with the state of things? At least with the use of text, the news can spread of the service provided. When you get a text and someone asks you "who was that?" and you say, "oh it was just my babalawo let me give you his number", advertising has been done indirectly. Before long you will start hearing of babalawo sales: "50% off mondays"; "buy one get one free tuesdays"; "spend 20k get free love potion wednesdays"; "free goat head with all purchase on saturdays"; "harmattan clearance sales"; the sunday specials with names like "the sango experience", "the amadiohalets", etc. This one is 21st century marketing and business. I just have this image of some babalawo all dressed in his gear of wrapper, village hats, "hasn't baffed in 2 weeks" odour, etc, with a bluetooth headset taking business calls.

@SeanT so how many people are "the people" and how many are the "oppressors"? If african countries actually ever fought for justice of the people it would actually go a very long way in installing more stability and setting a precedence of accountability in such countries and places because it would show people standing for justice and such (obviously). However when almost all the wars are just about seizing power, weak tribalistic sentiments, politrickery, etc, again, why express horror and shock that this is instead the system that has been installed and strengthened? A system that just allows the will and greed of successive men to flourish over the needs of a people.

@SeanT leaders are very easy to blame and with the rate people do such you would be forgiven for thinking countries like Nigeria were under a feudal form of governance. If accountability won't be handed to the people on a plate then the people have to take a united stand against common vices like corruption, mismanagement, etc. Without that stand or willingness to act and "fight" for the right why on earth should anyone express shock or horror that people are getting what they have not refused? Please let us be shocked when it is called for.

@Kobojunkie, that whole "thinking like the west" issue is something that does exist though. People do equate common sense things to "the west" and it is highly irritating because it just seems to me another form of buck passing and making excuses for the madness on the continent. Next people will start giving excuses like 'we need to work on making elections fair since it is a new thing to us, it is more a western thing'. Want to make elections fair? then don't rig or cheat or intimidate, etc. What just caught me up on this thread was when the obvious was so blatantly stated and i guess was meant to be another excuse. All the corrupt leaders in africa are black (even if that is wrong)? What do you expect? Quite amusing

@SeanT i think you did not really assimilate what my previous post was actually stating, it is still there so i won't just type what i said all over again. It was not necessarily a history lesson as these things are still happening. However the irony is that you seem to be doing some buck passing of 'let someone else do it'. Do europeans have 2 heads? Please let us not contiue to make excuses for the madness that has swept over africa with 'it is a black problem' and actually wake up to fix things. For africa to develop africans would need to wake up to develop it. Your question of wether a dictator would be allowed to run somewhere like America might go to show that you did not actually read my previous post completely as i addressed such towards the end.

SeanT21:
If You look at africa, all the corrupt presidents are BLACK!!

Nelson Mandela is the only african president that actually stood 4 something.

All african president want is power and money. Mo Money, Mo Problem.

I can't believe i am replying to this thread but i just really need to ask @SeanT what on earth do you expect with the highlighted text? It is like me going to india and stating that the corrupt leaders in india are indian . . . .? ?  ? Also i am sure you have heard of Ghadaffi right? Africa was not allowed to develop in its own direction and had a peculiar history of subordination and pillagery, however what i find disturbing is when people allocate commonsense as a "western" trait and stupidity as an african one. When people talk about good governance or accountability it is mostly looked at as "thinking like the west" as opposed to common sense whereby the good of the people is put above selfish interest. This is fundamentally about accountability of people in charge to the people that are being led and not necessarily about black or white. it just happens to be a very big problem in Africa, a black continent.

I also feel that i should remind you that there are a lot of corrupt whites also who after leaving the 'civility' of their countries come to africa and act in the most 'uncivil' of ways, even sometimes acting worse than has been ascribed to the continent (and i am sure i don't need to throw in slavery do i?). One example of this is Tatcher's son who was part of a group that planned to instigate a coup in an african country and thereby taking advantage of the very flawed system of the scared and cowardly majority and the bold, crass and power hungry minority which seems to be a continent wide system that allows evil men to thrive (and the tatcher incident is not an isolated one). So why is it that people even africans can act civil in "civil" countries and then when back on the continent feel the obligation to retort to the madness? Why is it that people can come from all over the world and behave like animals in africa? Could it be the system all over the continent of unaccountability of leaders who can do whatever they want knowing they will get away with it? Or that bribery seems to open all doors? Could it be the system that has been allowed to flourish? Maybe that is the question to look towards not all this "If the white men ruled africa"

@Kobojunkie keep on "Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud", do you know the potential this venture has? When people in Kano begin attracting foreign investors with such a novel idea and use the revenue generated to develop Kano thereby turning it into Nigeria's premier urban metropolis then we would see who would have the last laugh. Now when people say "i dey go surf" you won't be so hasty to assume they are going to surf the net.

Advertisers would soon begin to use it to market their goods.

A plate of rice at mister biggs - 200Naira
The bus ride home - 50Naira
A cool bottle of maltina after surfing the gutter - priceless

Jakumo:
How dare you cast aspersions on the pride of the Nigerian Navy, those life-sized inflatable replicas of WW II naval memorabilia which have now been towed out to the delta to be moored offshore where they will loom menacingly on the horizon, inspiring panic in the hearts of all Ijaw fishermen who behold them.

LOL, good thing they did not go overboard and forget an action man figure on the "warships" before taking that picture.

RedHotChic:
Just don't bottle fake farts unless you want NDLEA to be on your neck. Nigerians can even bottle carbon monoxide from an old car in the name of monkey or cow farts.

LOOL. Imagine the audacity, someone goes to score a bottle of original cow fart only to realise that he/she can't get to that "special place" after hours of sniffing because he wasted money on the fake stuff. But i still don't get it, so do communities just gather around the gutter and all just stand there sniffing? I just have this image of an old guy sitting by the gutter and reading a news paper trying to look non chalant and meanwhile he is getting high.

Ok @buchio i have a question for you. If the country woke up tomorrow to find out that there is no oil at all and it all just disappeared, what do you think will happen? There are hardly any working refineries, no solid industries, no power to supplement or aid any viable sector like the service industry, etc, a militancy crisis in the south, please do tell me honestly, what would happen in the country if such occured tomorrow? Also don't forget about the corruption issue and mismanagement. So what is going to happen? The president will snap his fingers and BAM!!! everything is going to be ok? The steel mill and refineries are going to magically start working? Money which is normally generated from oil that is not there will magically appear to fund development needed? What exactly, please do tell.

it is not unpatriotic or wicked to be honest and say what one feels or expose what conclusions one draws from an analysis. It is just being sicere. Does it mean i don't see potential in Nigeria? Of course not. I love Nigeria as well and i hope @hilli does as well, but let us not lie to ourselves because that in itself is folly considering what is at stake. If things aren't the way they should be, then we need to work together to make it the way we aspire it to be. But at current, if oil was to go tomorrow, will everything be ok?

So there are now real and fake militants? Can the leaders please provide the militants with badges or name tags so that when people are being shot or robbed or kidnapped they will know whether it is the fake or real militants that are responsible?

@buchio "proferring solutions"? How many times would these solutions be proferred? Diversify the economy, kickstart the oil refineries so that a wider range of higher value products can be obtained from the crude oil instead of just selling crude oil. Kick start Ajaoukuta steels so that we can stop importing steel which is needed in the construction boom that seems to be occuring in abuja and lagos and we can even start exporting steel as well. Invest in agriculture. Where do i even stop? We import almost everything and then call ourselves the giant of africa. Instead of taking it out on @hilli why not see the situation for what it really is? With the way things are going now, out of all the posts on this issue @hilli's was the most realistic. The industies are in shambles and have been so for decades but you want us to do what? Say "don't worry we have other resources it will be fine"? If things continue the way they are, it won't be fine. If that wakes people up to do something then good!

Big B1:
We now also know why Nigerian pilots at one point were using GSM phone to contact the Air traffic control tower before landing.

I tell you what, someone definately has to be held responsible for the appaling aviation track record over the past years in Nigeria. The day i read on the news that Nigerian pilots were using mobile phone to contact the air control tower, i just did not even know what to say, were they on glo kor mtn? After hearing how poor MTN service could sometimes be whereby you call a number and they connect you to another number. So what if the pilot meant to call control tower and got connected to some mamaput place? I was not shocked o fcourse because i had earlier head of planes being delayed in Lagos due to pot hole on the runways and then the incident of a cow on the runway in Port Harcourt that caused go slow. Someone definately has to be held responsible if you put things in perspective there is then no reason to be shocked at the number of plane crashes that occured during the past few years.

Kobojunkie:
@Tayo_D, please No. You can not compare those two. The Haiti case is unfortunate and understandable but sniffing gutter?? That is the lowest of all lows. Even monkies would not do that, in my opinion , ROFLMAO!!! This is not human, even dogs know to cover their noses when looking for scraps in the gutters, if you ask me , ROFLMAO!!! This is as low as any being can go, but then again, I will not put it past Nigerians to prove me wrong, yet again, ROFLMAO!!!

LOOL, you think you have seen the worse? Next week you will hear of people queing up to inhale cow farts as was suggested already. Hey, if this can generate revenue for Kano good for them.

[quote author=Tayo-D link=topic=146656.msg2444851#msg2444851 date=1214914737]@kobo,
They do it for the same reason some people in Haiti I believe, now bake clay to eat - affordable substitution to the otherwise unavailable/expensive original.[/quote]Except this is not an imitation of anything, this is in a whole different league of messed up. Why don't we actually take time to absorb this and assimilate it, people are getting high of sniffing gutters!! LOL, Nigeria, what would you not hear? No really, what would you not hear??

Kobojunkie:
oH YUCK!!! I would gladly buy these people glue to sniff, anything to ge tthem off the gutter sniffing deal.

LOL @Kobojunkie i did not know you are a supplier of the sticky stuff, well well well, now we know.

@dblock, if alternatives are provided for the street traders and the ones currently street trading now leave such a life, considering the population in lagos and the fact that people are still flocking into Lagos in high numbers what makes you think a new batch of street traders won't move in to fill the vaccuum left by the old? If government however makes it clear that street trading is not an option and illegal then work can be done from there. Of course alternatives have to be provided and if you read the article and follow news you would realise that new markets were built but the street traders did not move in. The street traders are better patronised in the streets by motorists. Sure these are lives we are talking about but putting sentiments aside, this culture has simply got to stop and it can't continue to be the norm. As much as government should provide alternatives which they seem to be doing anyway, it should be made clear that street trading is not an alternative form of employment and hence i think the lagos state government is in order.