₦airaland Forum

No probs, if you still want to "hit it" like the indegenes just dumb down your vocabulary and change your name to something like Musa, its all good. @Jakumo, you definately won't pass for an indegene, you just aren't convincing enough. For your case you might have to go to extreme measures to convince anyone like say burn a church before you are treated as an indegene. That move alone and you are sniffing it once again with the big boys.

All this unecessary worry, why? As long as the nuclear plant is built next to aso rock why would anyone break sweat? Peter Odili and other politicians all have mansions in Abuja, so it would be a win win situation. If it works then we are happy we have more power, any errors and . . . . it is a win win.

davidylan:
Its Omar Bongo, why is anyone surprised?

My thoughts exactly. I mean, what else would you expect him to say?

Jakumo:
Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it.    At least you won't get busted for scuba diving in the gutter, which is definitely prefereable to what would happen if you stood beside that same gutter smoking a joint.  Rather than ridicule the gentlemen who have turned Nigeria's fetid open sewers into a treasured natural resource about which Nigerians can finally be proud, we should applaud their resourcefulness, ingenuity and undying spirit of adventure.

A few condensed thoughts on Sewage Surfing :

"I never met an open sewer that I didn't like, which is more than can be said about some people."   

"Marijuana and cocaine are  crutches for those who don't have the balls to do the Kano Gutter Trawl."

"Flotsam, in my nostrils, makes me happy.   Green slime, almost always, makes me high."

"Well since my dealer left me, I found a new place to dwell,  It runs alongside get-high street - The Sewage Hotel."

Any fool can fire up a joint, but it takes a REAL man to " do the sewage thang" .

"Rubba Dub dub I was taking a bath,  in raw sewage on a Saturday night."

"I love the smell of sewage in the morning.  It smells like nirvana."

Jakumo you seem to be well schooled in this area, do you "do the gutter"? 
This "Sewage surfing" would soon form part of the informal economy so people should take advantage of it while it is free oh. And you know you have to get to Kano to do such, Kano gutter is in a class of its own, it is the "o.g". Soon it would be 50Naira per sniff and 5k for 1 minute of gutter surfing of which you would have to have booked in advance especially if you plan on "hitting it" at the hot spots of the Kano metropolis where the politicians and celebs sniff.

Come, that man in the picture looks like he is standing in front of a poster, abeg tell me that is a real boat. The topic gave the implication that a fleet was headed for the Niger Delta, a fleet of one or a fleet of one boat and plenty canoes??

I hope no one is going to run to blame Yaradua for anything, we aren't even sure if NITEL has reconnected the land line back to Aso Rock. For all we know communication and orders from Aso Rock could at the moment be transmitted by a series of flag sequences. With the added difficulty of the obsolete NEPA aka PHCN making things difficult to see at night the people receiving flag signals could have misinterpreted "The president is in toilet" with "President says start Nuclear programme".

hilli666:
Nigeria witout oil is nothing. A desolute country, abandoned by the international commitee, and left to fend for itself. Nigeria without oil, is a humanitarian crises. as million will die due to poverty. Ethnic factions will take up arms against one another. Religious fanatics, in a frantic and desperated bid to secure what every power is left, will use propaganda to galvanise the will of the people to arm. This will be a sad time for Nigerian history.

But is this far from the truth? is it possible? That one day the vast oil wells of Nigeria will dry up, sending the nation in to economic turmoil? Sadly enough, oil is a finite comodity, meaning it wont last forever. Currently countries like UAE are already reporting oil wells drying up. But lets not worry about our brother in the UAE. Because they, at an earlier stage realised that a county could not just depend on oil alone. So they decided to create deferent industries. Currently the UAE has invested several hundred million dollars in jump starting a steel industry that will help sustain the economy.

The people of Nigeria will experience a rude awakening, when oil runs out. It is only then that the great injustice brougth about by corrupt officials will truly reveal itself. And while many feter away in astute povert and the country implodes into civil war. Those who have stolen our oil, and sold it for cheap in the black market to China, Those who have chosen wealth over the peoples well beign, they will retire into their masion in France, Ameriaca, UAE, England, and watch. Where will you be?

Although we probably should not just build everything around predictions, but with the current state of affairs and with the way things are going, this is the most realistic prediction of a Nigeria without oil that i feel has been suggested on this thread. I don't know why instead of planning for the future and working towards it Nigerians would rather relax in fantasy and delusion. "Nigeria will be fine we have other resources" blah blah blah, does the country even have a working refinery? Do these industries take days to set up? And yet people want to continue to tell themselves these dreamy stories so that they can sleep well at night. God help the future generations because with the way things are going I already desperately feel sorry for them. Why don't we open our eyes and begin to work towards diversifying the economy and actually building up the country to a standard we aspire towards? How many decades now and the economy has still been completely dependent on oil and there has not been any thoughts of doing anything to address this while the looting continues, but people still dream of a Nigenria more diversified with oil when such diversification has not existed since? This whole idea of planting oranges and expecting apples seems to be a  Nigerian phenomenom that cuts across every area of public life and to be honest just seems like blatant laziness to avoid working for anything.

blasterman:
The funny matter na say the oil sef no be we de comot am na oyinbo man wey no get oil think of machine to comot am from the ground.Comon to build refinery wey go provide jobs na wahala.

The militants wey dey fight na money for them pocket them they find, Who no wan enjoy after Efosa hammer 1m via kdnapping me sef go hammer my own na as long as God dey, why u dey talk like say u no know.Most na area boys and confra men wey de look for quick money to buy hummer , do every thing sharp sharp.

As for me na people like Babangida i blame, because im spoil naija to the level wey im no get head today.
All the Gulf windfall every thing straight to paris ,swiss and every where else.

Abacha sef look say me sef must do like my guy carry oil the money go use am develop another man country.

Wetin Naija need na good governace make the LGa, Governors no they chop money ,Politics is not a business na service to humanity .Na the only solution to the palaver.
Viva Nigeria

Succinctly put 

4 Play:
$1500 ? You are too generous to these legislators. You seem to presume they would have booked economy class.

LOL.

To be honest i am not really that interested anymore. There was and is so much that has transpired that simply put, i won't put anything past any of these Nigerian politicians. On the media aspect of things, the news media in Nigeria is terrible on so many levels. On the technical aspect i was surprised that NTA still has that static sound in the background as if it is part and parcel of the news. The coverage isn't wide in scope in Nigeria not to even speak of Africa or the world. The news stations are not aggressive enough in their interviews and enquiries when dealing with politics, there is still too much oga sir and a significant number of well known papers are owned by politicians so how on earth can people in the country obtain a more objective picture with all of this? Also the ajebo and phonetics that is blown on some of these channels, mercy, you won't even know if you are listening to English in the first place. People who might be able to understand hardcore scottish accent may not even be able to make out what these newsreaders are saying.

@4 Play Nigeria is supposed to be practising federalism, does texas get 100% of the revenue it generates? To be honest i think that giving Niger Delta (especially with the criminals like Odili and Ibori still loitering around) 100% oil revenue allocation will actually bring more instability to the region and make some men potentially as powerful (if not more) as the federal government. However with the arguement you and doyin make this is not the issue and towing that line of reasoning to be honest i am actually slightly curious to see what such a direction will actually achieve. The problem with Nigeria has never been money but actually spending the money in the country properly. However with the ammount of people gaining from the current state of everybody sharing oil money do you think Nigeria will ever be so bold and uncowardly as to actually allow such to happen? It is an iteresting premise. My only problem is when people come on Nairaland and defend and glorify the obvious criminality of the militants that were part and parcel of a wicked anti people government in the first place.

@lucabrasi sorry but i don't know what reference you are taking from me that i apparently stated earlier but are you actually sure these militants represent "the heart and mind of the south south"? Go and ask people in port harcourt that have been terrorized or killed by the "freedom fighters" if they won't be happy to see them go.

@lucrabasi please do not liken what is happening in Zimbabwe to a democracy by saying things like 'they should go through their democratic processes'. What democratic processes?

So according to you then, if every country in the world decides to deny Nigerians visas then we are a "kidnapped" people? So people who are refused visas are "kidnapped? People who can't leave the country because they can't afford to due to the appaling state of things only exarcebated by such atrocious leadership and direction are "kidnapped"? Nigeria is not big enough to move in?

@davidylan, well britain does have a very messy past with the southern africa region. From the way apartheid was handled to the way people like tatcher's son got involved with instigating coups to the whole Zimbabwean issue whereby the british government were initially supposed to pay for the land or something along that line but didn't do it (hence serving as what seems a precursor for Mugabe throwing out the white farmers). Basically to say the least, it is a messy situation.
However this should not be seen as a reason to excuse the actions of dictators and anti people leaders and this continues to be far from the fundamental problem in the region. Africa's problem in this day and age is not what the west does or does not do but is what Africa itself does or does not do.
Mugabe has kept on using these anti western sentiments as a platform for his candidacy intead of dicussing the issues (can you imagine?) He won't discuss how he plans to deal with the inflation problem but will take time out to "stick it" to 'the west'. The west is not the fundamental problem so let us not make it the case. At thesame time people should understand why a minority can be easily bought by these sentiments, but that should be left in the past and the present and future should be the focus. Let us not justify evil and wrong doing.

@lucabrasi i don't think you understood my post. You keep on speaking of britains intervention as if it is the fundamental issue and i just simply don't get it. So are you saying that it is because of britain's intervention that Zimbabweans want Mugabe out? Zimbabweans are not allowed to choose who they want and you say it is because the "democratic options" have not been "exhasuted"? So does the fact that iraq have problems justify the situation in Zimbabwe? If you want to improve at something do you compare yourself with lower standards in order to improve? Why make "the west" and whatever it chooses to do or not do or its so called hypocricy or its stance the fundamental issue when people are dying? So people are still dying in Zimbabwe, does that then make everything justified? What exactly is your stand because as far as i can see it does not connect with this discussion. Please don't take offence, just clarify if you feel you need to do that. How on earth does "the west" becomes fundamental in this affair and other african ones?
Is Mugabe a dictator who keeps on imposing himself on his people? Do the people want him? Do the will of the people count in Zimbabwe? So how on earth does iraq or Nigeria or 'the west'  become a fundamental issue?

The heroic light in which these so called "freedom fighters" are continuosly thrown is amusing. Let us not be so quick to forget. These militants have been treated with kids gloves and in the beginning of the year the federal government was even begging them to drop arms and give peace and discussions a chance, no was the response. When the officers who sold arms to the militants were caught and the militant group it affected knew their weapon supply was affected then they said they were willing to give peace a chance. After Yaradua declared war just a week or two ago, news headline ago, the militants want cease fire and are willing to give peace a chance. There you go @lucabrasi, the brave militants that only remain brave when it doesn't seem like it would cost them a strand of their hair. People please don't take my word for it, just search the headlines of the instances the "freedom fighters" wanted ceasefire and compare it to what was happening at the time, i remember it well because each time i thought it was pretty cowardly for a group he kept on making mouth and trying to take responsibility for anything that happened in the south. There is car crash in Abuja they will take responsibility. Okada runs over someone's leg in Abia, they will take responsibility. An old woman falls down on her way to church, they will say it is them that caused it and that no one should mess with them.

And then saying OBJ could not fight the militancy you now have to ask yourself if militancy was actually genuinely fought during the OBJ era. Wasn't Odili OBJ's political godson? Wasn't Odili in cahoots with the thuggery in the state?

The way this thread has progressed is funny, it was initially a joke thread and amusing at that. It then moved over to serious discussion whereby the main focus of the discussion kept on shifting from implications of the actions of one man in a country and its effects on his people to the hypocrisy of "the west".

@lucabrasi i genuinely think you might need to open another thread to start a debate on the effects of "the west" on africa etc because that arguement in this discussion seems inhumane and seems lacking in compassion for the suffering masses in Zimbabwe. You keep on speaking about allowing Zimbabwe to exhaust all democratic options, how can you make such statements in the light of the undemocratic disposition in Zimbabwe? First of all you have elections that in previous years were conducted then the results released quickly but in the first round of the current one it took about a month to release with the most contrived excuses given. Where does one begin? How can you say the people who want Mugabe are are "overwhelming" in number? Are you counting the millions who fled the country out of fear? The many that were beaten and forced to vote for Mugabe or those that were denied food unless they voted Mugabe?

And then the continuous focus on "the west" is what i think is inhumane. I think it is inhumane because you make this so called 'hypocricy' a fundamental arguement in the discussion when masses are suffering and dying as a result of the actions of one man that they have refused and said no to who continues to impose himself on them anyway. Yes masses are dying all over the place, so does that some how justify what is happening in Zimbabwe? AU? Please let us not turn this into a laughing matter . . . . .AU? LOL. The president of Nigeria has a case to answer about the legitimacy of his own elections, all over Africa there are questionable leaders and dictators who have ran their respective countries into the ground and then all of a sudden an orgy of such characters under the umbrella of "African Union" becomes a yard stick for sound reasoning?

Why can't we just see something that is bad and call it that? How does 'the west' become fundamental in this discussion?

RedHotChic:
That's almost equivalent to kidnapping them.

@RedHotChic, how is that even remotely close to kidnapping them? Does that mean that citizens of the country who due to innactions and non chalant attitudes of the members of the house as well as the endemic corruption who do not have a means to leave Nigeria are all kidnapped? What are the house members going to find outside of their constituencies when even Bankole has said that the house is seriously lagging behind in its duties? How many bills have been passed out of those submitted, and they are travelling abroad as if it is their backyard? That is the height of insensitivity to the masses the house is supposed to represent. Everything is dissolved into committees which is just a front for making money and telling them to stay in the country and perform their duties is equivalent to kidnap? Please do elaborate

@folahan britain is already finding it difficult to cope with the immigration flood from europe itself into the country not to speak of Africa as well as a problem with illegal immigrants from africa which is a problem in europe anyway, so put things in perspective. The visas won't be coming easy anymore. You think some members of the house from Nigenria of all places with a history of corruption and shady dealing will become priority??

Members of the house of assembly, ESPECIALLY at national level are very lucky i am not in charge of issuing visas out of the country honestly. Everywhere will be blocked, not even to travel to dafur. For each significant bill passed a new country would be opened as a destination and no member will travel anywhere outside Nigeria until the FOI bill is passed. When the FOI bill is passed then cameroun would be opened. When whatever bill needs to be passed to sort out the whole free trading in tinapa issue is worked out then benin would be open for travel. By the time europe (before even speaking of america) becomes a destination you know work has been done. Travel expenses to europe? Each member will have allowance of 100euros or £70 (what?, they can pack bole and sandwich from Nigeria).

Leadership positions are too attractive in Nigeria and come with too many perks, given the state of the country.

Yes oh, oil is the problem, if oil goes everything will become perfect, corruption will automatically disappear like magic, selfishness and greed would become tales by moonlight, leaders will automatically become more interested in spending money from whatever revenue on the people infact nigeria will become paradise (dubai wetin?) and we won't have to do any work to achieve this so all the better, whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep well at night.

@PAPABOMBOY, LOL

atutupoyo:
Nigeria will be a better place without oil. We are nation blessed with natural resources, Good climate, Soil, human resources(population) and intelligence. Every region and state will tap into her natural resources and fend for herself, other industries will also add to your economy, farming, fishing, shipping, manufacturing.
Countries like Japan, china, India don't have oil see their economy, a country like Malaysia thrive on her shipping, fishing and farming to sustain her.
Greed, corruption, and poverty will reduce.
Nigeria will be a better place without depending solely on oil.
Also our environment will be better.

We have had all this intelligence, good weather etc, so what has been the result of this so far?
Greed, corruption, etc would reduce? You know this how?

@ono is it the federal government in America that develops New York, Houston, California, etc? This line of arguement is just something i can't even comprehend. Should people not be ashamed that they can't develop their own states? It is like a dissection into the Nigerian psyche, passing blame and cowardly avoiding confrontation with the monster starring you in the face. Let the militants go and capture Odili and co then i might begin to see them as a bit more than the bunch of hooligans and criminals that they are.

LOL, i tell you Nigeria needs a functioning law enforcement agency. These things have been allowed to go on for too long without anybody being arrested, it is just plain ridiculous.

@ono, you don't have to agree with me and i have been in this arguement a bit too much and keep making thesame point so i am going to leave you guys to fight among yourselves or draw what ever conclusion you will. If you want to keep directing anger towards the federal government while the state governors of that region continue to kill their own people, terrorise their residents and just practise blatant broad daylight robbery then that is up to you, i am not going to frustrate myself any longer with responses. Yes it is the job of the federal government to build roads and schools in each state in the country as well as provide jobs in each state, the state governors are actually there to loot and rightly so, right? have a nice day.

Ok, let us forget first of all that the Niger Delta gets the highest allocation for a sec. Who is making the noise that his/her state is not being developed? What part of the country is making the most noise? Is it not the Niger Delta? So since this noise has been made then you now have to ask and try and find logic in the fact that for a group that so desperately wants to see development come to the area why are these militants not holding their leaders more accountable? The money allocated to development is used by your governor to enrich himself (do you actually know how rich Peter Odili is?) and then you ignore all of that and go and blame the federal government? Then who are these militants terrorising? Is it not their fellow people? This topic has been discussed in more detail in other threads that were assigned the topic so i won't keep repeating myself. All i can say is that such reasoning is either cowardice to actually stand up to the main people responsible (i.e. the people allocated money who steal it) or its just people being mischevious. And what you said is not quite true, the people of the Niger Delta don't hold their leaders to higher accountability, they let them do as they please. It is others who after hearing all this noise of under development that begin to wonder why those leaders in that area who always have the most money are not the ones being held responsible and rightly so. So you want to go and hold federal government responsible for your governor chopping money that he has "assigned" for building roads? And then now complain that money assigned for building roads in calabar is actually used to build roads? *sigh*, i just don't know anymore for Nigeria.

@davidylan and ono you still want to have this arguement on this thread? Yes it is really disgusting that although there is corruption everywhere in Nigeria in the case of Abuja the capital city some of the money allocated to projects was actually used in executing those projects, right? While in the case of Port Harcourt etc all the money allocated by past governors was actually used to enrich themselves and fund terrorism, and yet Peter Odili is walking free governors and Abuja and federal government is the main problem abi? LOL quite amusing. Calabar is meant to be the cleanest city in Nigeria and has good roads and some notable projects, please do tell, isn't calabar in what part of the country is calabar in? Why must we continue to ignore what is in front of us and then go and blame someone else? If it is not cowardice ui don't even know what elese to call it. When Peter odili was in Port Harcourt what did these "freedom fighters" do? Nigeria

Guys of course they are both Abuja. In the second picture is the National Ecumencial centre (church) and in the background you can see the for NNPC towers. And no, i don't live in Abuja

LOL, this thread is amusing. Shouldn't the title be something along the lines of "what good has oil wealth brought Nigeria"? How can we ignore the over riding corruption in government and the irritatingly non-chalant attitude of the citizenry towards this? The country has had all this money from oil and has not been able to use it and then all of a sudden if oil goes and we "tap" into new resources then that would automatically stop corruption? I ask, is that not just wishful thinking? Please let us refuse to continue living in fantasy and deceiving ourselves with "it would be better without oil" when oil is not the problem, the citizenry is the problem. Until Nigerians wake up to their responsibility and duty towards developing their own country the rest is just a people telling themselves sweet stories so that they can sleep well at night. Nigeria has not been able to use the money we have to develop the country but all of a sudden the money from other ventures is going to be used effectively? So the money from other ventures, is it going to be special anti corruption money?  Why must we always look for the short cut to by pass the fundamental problem or take the very long road in order to avoid confrontation with the real issues? WOW.

@Sly sorry the sarcasm was lost on you i am guessing you read my post with one eye closed?  Besides my post was a response to Kobojukie's so you did not have to respond

@yemmight no one was insulting Fashola but out of curiosity people want to see more pictures so that we can see how far the development spreads, is that so wrong? The pictures posted above are available online anyway.