₦airaland Forum

How can our airports be ok with the kind of leadership we are burdened with in Nigeria? They travel all over the place but really are unconcerned about the state of things beyond the rhetoric of sounding right because we are in election season, shame!

A good actor always know when to leave the stage,

While I am not enamored with Audu Ogbeh running Ribadu's campaign for Nigeria's presidency, I hope he can help in pushing the dream of the Czar to a good location.

Things are usually VERY interesting in Nigeria.

The situation can be likened to a systemic epidemic that requires careful solution. The first thing to be done is that education must be given priority in our national budget. Secondly, our politicians must be banned from sending their children to school abroad. While this may sound funny, i strongly believe that it would help in stemming this unfortunate slide.

It was painful that IBB was not the chosen candidate of the funny northern group; it would have been so nice to see him disgraced at the PDP's primary!

May her soul rest in peace and my prayer goes to the governor and his family that they will have the fortitude to bear this loss.

What happens to the Med and Dent students now?

Only time can tell the level of damage this guy's revelation has caused the US

It's pretty obvious which site is the numero uno!

Very interesting,

About time we had people like Bishop around! I wish him God's speed

In sane societies, only the highly qualified and successful people make it into government, the reverse is the case in Ng! shiooooo

Nice article but still a bit insulting!

I hope it materializes; it's about time we start taking giant strides in Nigeria and we have the resources to do that but only the greed our people has taken us thus far!

This is simply absurd!

Whatever must have been the shortcomings of Ribadu when he headed EFCC, IT'S HEARTWARMING THAT HE HAS NOT BEEN ACCUSED of taking bribes. If we had three Ribadus running our three most important public institutions viz Customs, Police and NNPC; 'am sure this country would rival any developed nation of the world.

I laugh at times when people talk of Human Rights and Rule of Law in Nigeria as it is glaring that we actually mean the opposite and try to force issues when people are guilty. May God help us!

People should just be careful about how they conduct their business online. The truth of the matter is that every country has it's own criminals and to generalize all Nigerians as 419ers is simply unacceptable!

I read the first book in 2003 and it kind of helped me to make better decisions with money. The subsequent ones WERE A BIT too ambigous for me so I stopped reading him. I have never played the game and I don't think I will!

No need to jail anyone; just fire all of them, put Siasia in charge of a new team and plan towards 2014!

I just hope it's not true because if it is, we might be facing a force greater than Tsunami!

We need technocrats like the Prof in governance. Just look at Gov Fashola of Lagos and imagine what would happen by the time we have at least 20 of his type in the states; there won't be hiding place for fools and thieves!

It's well with Virgin Nigeria, ouch; I mean Nigerian Eagle Airline!

Good result for the Gunners. BTW, I don't think any Premiership side will do what Arsene always does in the Carling Cup i.e field teanagers!

May be the chicken will finally come home to roost for Ibori; even if abroad!

May be this will attract the attention of our 'go slow' president that something is wrong with his government!

As I drove along the Murtala Mohammed International Airport road, it suddenly dawned on me that the rebranding campaign of the federal government is wastage of resources and exercise in futility! Thinking through and mentally replaying major adverts promoting different countries on CNN, I came to the conclusion that one thing is mostly common in those marketing communications: Major highlights of the infrastructures available in those places. From Poland to Hungary to Latvia to Romania to South Africa to (wait for this), Angola. The story is always the same-Show case your infrastructures

Now according to statistics from FAAN, 65% of all foreigners enters Nigeria through the MMIA and by implication would be driven through the eyesore of a road linking the airport to Oshodi and then to Oworonsoki to the Island. Would it not be a very smart and economically viable move if the federal government as a matter of urgency and national importance see to the upgrade of this road?

What use would it be If I go to another man’s country and ask him to come and invest in my own telling him about how profitable it would be for him to do so only for him to arrive and be held up for 3 hours on an almost impassable road that ironically is less than 20 kilometers altogether? What would foreigners think of us as a people when the kind of sight that immediately confronts them on arrival is that of dirt, chaos and collapsed public infrastructure?

Our people say charity begins at home. All the places we run to for medical attention, vacations, shopping and philandering were built up and maintained with the resources being generated by the governments properly and fairly elected to do such job. Renowned cities like Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam, New York, Berlin, Zurich, and Dusseldorf didn’t drop down from heaven; they were created by people, leaders who had vision and knew what the future holds for their destinies would be determined by how they apply themselves while serving their nation.

They understand what proper investment in public infrastructure can engender for their country and they go about it with single mindedness without any political bias or tribal sentiments. Today, all the industrialized nations have functional mass transit systems backed up with massive road infrastructures that could continue to meet the expectations of their people. And they do not stop! Year-in, year-out, they keep investing on these infrastructures to better the lot of the people as well as keep in focus the economic benefits of such investments.

Ghana, just 45 minutes from us by air invested heavily in her infrastructures and today is enjoying the benefit. A friend travelled there recently and had to be driven around for over three hours before he could secure hotel accommodation. Virtually all the hotels were booked due to massive influx of foreigners to the peaceful former gold coast!

What brought this about? They fixed their energy-They generate electricity for at least 22 hours each day. You know what it would mean if we had light everyday in Nigeria for just 16 hours: Massive change that would translate into increased productivity, more employment, economic empowerment, security etc. The list goes on and on.

Yet we are talking of rebranding! How I love the payoff: Nigeria-Good people, great nation. It sounds so nice and well thought out. But (a big one for that matter) is this where we should have begun our rebranding exercise? How about starting with the basics?

The basics that include the provision of world class infrastructures not shabby constructions to score cheap political points; putting into place the necessary cleanliness that leaves lasting impression on all of us when we travel to other climes; equipping our police to secure lives, property and investments; ensuring energy availability and efficiency; clamping down (seriously) on corruption thereby INDEED ensure the rule of law; aggressively address massive unemployment and creating the enabling environment for foreign direct investment (FDI).

If we did these, genuine business concerns would tumble over themselves to come over to our nation. We won’t need to be begging and making a fool of ourselves all over the place begging for foreign investors. Seeing is believing: All an intelligent investor needs to take a decision is to come and see our roads and epileptic power supply and terribly deprived police. He won’t need a soothsayer to tell him that it’s a NO NO. The ones that have managed to stay here over the years are mostly investors that have contributed nothing to the development of the country. Some of them indeed have become part of the problems!

To attract the major corporations of this world into our dear country requires more than cosmetic appeals. It requires absolute dedication to physical development and transparent popular governance. May I add that for the Toyotas, the McDonalds, the Bechtels, the GEs etc of this world to come and indeed establish REAL presence here would never be a child play. But it could be done by doing the right things.

We can indeed start by improving our infrastructures and ensuring security of lives and property in the country. A situation where kidnappers have the upper hand over our police is totally unacceptable. Nigeria cannot continue to tolerate religious fanatics and their message of hate and death and expect other nations to see anything good about us. Indeed there is a lot to be done and we must start today for tomorrow may just be too late.

I can't but continue to feel a sense of deja Vu. We have bungled our chance to top the group and put everything in our hands to qualify. The permutations and what not begins again and I dare ask, now what?

May her humourous soul rest in peace!

It's a shame where our leaders have led our country to. Why would organizations like Sony not rub it in? But they must be made to realize that Nigeria is greater than the fools governing us-It's time for all of us to do the little we can on our own sides to move this nation forward.

It's unfortunate the kind of priorities we set in this country. Many nations of the world are prioritising their education while Nigeria is compensating militants for accepting amnesty. All in order to sell crude oil. But when the oil finish, it is the knowledge and skill acquired by the educated that will keep the nation running. Shame