₦airaland Forum

satani22:
, everyone knows that this reclamation is one of the causes of the problems we Ikoyi residents face,

Why is reclamation causing "flooding" problems at a non-reclaimed land?

Kobojunkie:
Drainage has little to do with ground saturation. Even when you live by the beach, the water that hits the sand, mostly drains into the sea.

NO and Yes.

No because if the ground is saturated you will need another type of drainage to channel the water away from the saturated grounds.

Water drains into the sea because it is sitting lower than the beach. If the water rises above the beach, it is coming onshore and the only thing you can do to stop it is to build a levee.

[quote author=alj_harem link=topic=692914.msg8538903#msg8538903 date=1308335923]hmmm i agree, good lesson learnt by me. thank you[/quote]Wow…a Nigerian that doesn’t argue blindly? You’ve just earned my respect!

[quote author=alj_harem link=topic=692914.msg8538571#msg8538571 date=1308332589]well said kobo

no sir

flash floods are caused when the water does not have any where to go and thus move from a region of high gradient to a region of low gradient. this occurs mostly on clay soils because the soil is compact and does not absorb water that fast unlake other type of soil

lagos on the other hand is most sandy and humus soil because of its close proximity to the shore,

nature always move from to a region of high entropy, thus if rain falls in lagos, it is natural for the water to move down stream (provided there is a good drainage)

if the amount of rain per unite area per time is high, provide there is a good drainage, we would not experience flooding because apart from the drainage, we have a sandy, humus soil in lagos

the only way lagos can be flooded is if the lagoon over flood it's banks which is very unliklly because it is connected to the ocean and the amount of water lagos/ogun can hold will be insignificant to the amount of water in the ocean

thus the flood is caused by no proper drainage.[/quote]Your assumption about Lagos will only be true if the ground can never be saturated. Even on a sandy beach, there will be a point in time when the water or rain on the sand will saturate (stop percolating) the ground, even if only momentarily; otherwise, according to your logic, Bar Beach or any other beach should never overflow.

Again, even with the best drainage system in the world, if the ground is saturated and the rate of rain fall is very high, you will have flooding. Water can only move so fast and if it collects in a certain saturated area, it will be there for a while even if it has a place to go (downhill).

ziddy:

Oloorun, if there's a proper drainage system in place Lagos would not get flooded like this after just three or four hours rain.
Going by your brain-dead arguments, if it rains for an entire day straight we should all drown.

Internet Muuumuuu

The answer to your question depends on how fast the rain is falling! If it rains for an entire day but the rain per inches per time is very little, the drainage might be able to keep up and successfully drain all the water. However, if the rain per inches is very high in a short amount of time, even the best drainage system in the world will flood, which is why you have flash-flooding.

Here’s a fact: the highest point in all the islands in Lagos is only 22 feet (7 meters) above sea level. That means that the lower lying areas will always witness flood when there’s heavy rain as the surrounding lagoons will start back-flowing. When you compound the topological problems with blocked-drainage, you will get pure wahala!

The bottom line is that water has to flow somewhere and only travels downhill. If water has to travel uphill, then you better get your pumps ready and protect your city with a levee.

I usually don’t comment on religious issues because it is personal but I can’t help but think that people are blinded by ignorance, poverty, and/or wishful thinking!

Shouldn’t these so called “men of God” be helping the needy and the helpless? Why can’t they use the money to run hospitals, free schools, motherless baby homes, community development programs, recreation centers, shelters for battered women, borehole projects in rural communities, or anything to make the less fortunate believe that God is there to take care of him or her?

Are you guys aware of what the white missionaries did and still do? Why can’t there be African churches with black missionaries? Why can’t we the fortunate ones, including the so called men of God, help the less unfortunate ones?

And the worst part is the ignorant people defending the men of God because they purportedly spread the word of God! Men of God are humans just like us, which makes them fallible, and as such shouldn’t be above questioning. Word of God is not questionable but a human’s interpretation of it is questionable.

I am religious but you don’t need religion to know that you need to give a helping hand to those in need, especially if you’re fortunate! And all these men of God are fortunate by virtue of their positions!

I read an article recently that said Bill Gates donated about $28 billion of his money already and that each of his 3 kids will only inherit $10 million when he dies. The rest of his money will be donated. The funny thing is that Bill Gates is probably not religious, and yet has more compassion than the so called men of God!

Perhaps, training some of the old staff is an option but there are times that certain positions call for people with specialized skills that have been developed by a combination of experience and education. You can’t just simply train or educate people to develop a skill that is usually acquired through experience.

Imagine a surgeon that graduated medical school without ever touching a patient trying to perform heart surgery without any guidance…

Firstly, you have to realize that there are three independent branches of government – the judiciary branch, the legislative branch, and the executive branch. In other words, one branch cannot tell the other what to do or how to behave. So when you say the “government,” which branch are you referring to? Only the Judiciary branch can mandate such a requirement on itself.

Normally, if you want to change the law, that’s the job of the legislative branch and once changed, the judiciary branch will interpret it however they want. But in this case, the law will be telling the judiciary how to behave. Does the legislative branch have such plenary power enshrined in the constitution to control the judiciary branch? Probably not otherwise the three branches of government won’t be independent.

Secondly, there are court reporters that transcribe what goes on in the courtroom and are available to officers of the court (lawyers & co) for a fee, at least in the US.

Thirdly, judges have the final say in “their” courtroom and whatever they decide goes until it is reviewed by a higher court, unless you’re already in the Supreme Court. Most judges will have a problem “immortalizing” their voices as you might catch them in a moment of “brain fart.”

The bottom line is that, in a democracy, change is extremely hard to come by. Imagine an audio recording of a judge showing his bias or incompetence that can be heard by anybody in the world at any time?

But I do agree that any case that cuts across state lines should have the option of being televised.

oladayo042:
Can someone explain the bolded? How does it become a zero-sum game?

It is not really zero-sum because more money is being introduced into the system and if just one person or a few people somehow absorbed all that new money printed, other people will not be affected directly. Indirectly, the person or people that absorbed all that new money might create inflation. Imagine if that person now decides to buy all the houses in VI with his billions. That will reduce supply and create demand because other people want the same.

Also, someone said the raise of a billionaire means the fall of another. That’s not true. If the whole of Nigeria gives me one naira per day, I will become a billionaire at Nigerian’s expense and not another billionaire’s expense.

In addition to what Jarus said on the first page, you need luck, timing, hard work, discipline, perseverance and obsession.

We all like to believe that we can be another Dangote if given the same startup capital but that’s not remotely true. If it is true, how do you explain most people born into wealth that can’t seem to multiply it? There’s a huge difference between having a few millions dollars and being a billionaire!

Here’s an adage for you, "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations." Typically, wealth only lasts three generations; with the first generation making it, the second generation preserving it, and the third generation depleting it.

[quote author=tnt_hommie link=topic=679145.msg8428232#msg8428232 date=1306861374]Osama bin laden was left handed,i guess he's special too¿. :-x[/quote]Yes he was special; just not in a good constructive way! He used his "specialness" to destroy instead of to create and/or build something positive. Having people blow themselves up based on what he spewed in order to kill innocent people, many of whom shared his faith, while he lived in a million dollar mansion required something special!

Yoruba culture is very funny when it comes to left-handedness. Even up till now, my uncles usually want me to hand things to them or eat with my right hand. And I always chuckle and let them know that everything they do with their left hand, I do with my right hand including cleaning myself!

There is some truth that left-handed people are special, which is probably due to how their brain is used. Lefties are more likely to engage in divergent thinking (thinking outside-the-box) as opposed to convergent thinking, which may explain why there are disproportionate numbers of lefty geniuses. Male college educated lefties earn about 10-15% more than righties. But it appears that female lefties are not so special.

Some notable lefties -
Albert Einstein
Michelangelo
Isaac Newton

See the explanation of the study below:
http://www.slate.com/id/2147842

Outstrip:
Nope the ones walking beside the vehicle in trench coats

They are probably trying to hide their assault riffles.

Four out of the last five US presidents are left-handed, which is pretty significant considering that left-handed people only constitute 10% of the population. We are taking over the world!

Shy-One, you made some interesting remarks but you lost me with the first few paragraphs. What are you trying to say about being black in America? I wish I have enough time to provide rebuttals to most of your comments.

Generally speaking, what most fail to recognize is that American values and American interests are not always in tandem. There is no question that America has interests in Nigeria.  That interest is being fulfilled and will be fulfilled even if we have a military dictator for government.  What they are trying to do now is to help in other ways outside of their interests and perhaps, instill some American values in Nigeria. What are the American values that I speak of - Freedom, equality, justice etc.

To those saying that the election is flawed – no shit! Saying something is “best” doesn’t mean that it is perfect. It means that among all the elections from the past, this is the best one.

phantom:
sensible post, yes,he's doing well, yes,they can praise him, no,they absolutely cannot throw away other performing governors just because of 'PDP', must we throw away the baby with the bathwater

Absolutely not! Didn’t the recently concluded election show that people voted for personalities rather than parties? If you have a PDP governor that is performing to a level that you’re proud of, by all means, toot his horn! Can you just imagine if all the political leaders in Nigeria are performing at the same level as Fashola or Fashola’s performance is the lowest common denominator?

Bad leaders cut across all tribes and we’ve all had our share of bad leaders! Stop making excuses for incompetent leaders and bring them to task! The truth is that the highest political office in a state requires skills that most people lack, no matter how good their intention is. Leaders should be evaluated objectively without any sentiment and if a leader is below par send him on his way! You’re either making grade or not, period.

Tough crowd!!!

Guys, there’s no need bickering…times have changed and the era of a selected few holding the population at bay is long gone! In this information age, everyone now has the opportunity to compare and contrast their leader’s performance without being at the whim of the state controlled media. Take advantage of your new found freedom and use it to demand more from your leaders.

Social networking will only become more popular and your leaders will be forced to take notice of your complaints or issues but you have to stop making excuses for them!

If your state doesn’t have enough money, what is your government doing to raise revenue and lower cost? What are they doing with the “little” money that the state is getting? This is not a Yoruba, Igbo, or Hausa thing as most, if not all, states are governed by indigenes. If your “brother” is incompetent or stealing your money, fire his ass!

Lastly, you can’t blame the people who are excited about Fashola for tooting his horn, how else do you expect them to show their appreciation for a job well done? For those of you with school-age kids, when your kid comes first in class, don’t you encourage him by buying him stuff or, at the very least, say attaboy? How do you think all the accolades that Fashola is getting makes the other governors feel? I bet you that the sensible ones are buckling down!

Eko Ile:
How do you justify such ignorant understanding when the same states with just 5 million people have more money than Lagos and they spend more money than Lagos with massive 18 million people and larger responsibility?  Does it make sense, instead of enabling such senseless nonsense, you should be calling them out to justify the spending since they are richer and post higher budgets than Lagos.

Shouldn't these states be doing 2-3 times what Lagos state is doing?

What are they doing with all that money?

When are you going to start asking that question

Yeah, but calling people out will turn into who has the largest e-penis or at the very least bring the e-thugs out! The truth is that most people on Nairaland can’t seem to argue or make a point without name calling and I’m not ready to be called “brother agba ya”! I’ll leave the calling-out to you as you seem to have a thicker skin or just more in-tuned with their etiquette:-)

But the bottom line on development is res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself). If people can’t seem to understand that their governments are there to serve them and act accordingly, too bad for them!

edicolove:
I respect you posts because it is devoid of name calling and insults. when people cant argue rightly, they resort to insults. So lets look ate the indices you have put out,

unemployment = 45% in my book
education = 30%
healthcare 55%
traffic congestion = 90%
pollution = 60% - the beautification project has helped this a lot
housing = 25% he hasnt done much here
security = 40% This is getting really bad as there has been a sharp rise in raiding of estates by robbers
Power = cant rate him here. still in the pipeline
Roads = 50% - Would have giving him a really good score here if I were judging by VI roads. But the mainland is still very bad
Infrastructure = 60% but i think he has done more repairs here than building of innovative and creative stuff
Good leadership = 90%. this is where I score him the most. He has been able to carry everyone along and is a good builder of bridges just like GEJ.

Thanks, I appreciate your candor!

Like I said before, Lagos is a megacity and there are a lot of challenges still ahead but when megacities of the world are compared, Lagos ranks 6th in the annual growth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacity

Fashola still has quite a way to go but he’s well on his way as long as he doesn’t get distracted.

The Government of Cross River seems to be pulling their weight but it in no way detracts from what Fashola is doing. I think it is a good thing that we are seeing a new breed of governors that are more interested in serving their people rather than lining their pockets.

With respect to people saying that Lagos has it easy because of revenue generation. Well, the corollary is also true that all “that” money makes stealing on a grand scale very tempting!

Eko Ile:
No, I think what Fashola is doing and how the world is reacting to it went over your head, see my reply.

I see your reply. I’m not one to criticize especially if the person is doing a great job and Fashola is doing a great job! Mega cities by their very nature have inherent problems that other places don’t have. There is no other place in Nigeria that can be compared to Lagos due to the stress on infrastructure. Period.

Fashola seems to be on the right track to solve real critical challenges affecting the people of the state like; unemployment, education, healthcare, traffic congestion, pollution, housing to rid areas like Makoko, security, power, etc.

I think we should shower him with accolades to make him strive even harder!

Eko Ile:
Say what

Very meaningless,

"Very meaningless" just because it went over your head? See post #191 for explanation.

[quote author=DAY11. link=topic=674518.msg8391474#msg8391474 date=1306336818][/quote]You don’t see my point? Governments in other countries, especially western countries, build infrastructures all the time and also commission different projects but people will only care if it personally affects them. For example, no matter how well Obama does in “everything” including world peace, he will only be measured on jobs created or maintained.

What I’m saying is that in a country like Nigeria, especially a mega city like Lagos, where everything works against progress, a guy doing what might seem to those in advanced countries as mundane deserves to be praised. Imagine what he could achieve if he had all the infrastructure he needs?

Like other people are saying, if you measure Fashola’s success by how much he has done, it would not seem that impressive. But if you measure his success based on the state of the infrastructure on ground when he started with respect to his accomplishments, he deserves every single accolade!

Here are some examples to put the discussion into proper context.

1. Obama’s kid gets admitted to Harvard and ends up being a world renowned scholar? I would say, good for her because she could have pissed away her opportunity!
2. A kid from the Niger Delta region wins a scholarship to Harvard and ends up being a world renowned scholar? I would say, wow, what are the odds of that happening! Maybe a movie should be made to chronicle the odds he overcame!

Here’s another: Bill Gates’ kid ends up being a billionaire won’t be that impressive, at least to me but a Niger Delta kid ends up making billions of dollars, legally?

See the difference?

dustydee:
what we need to know is how much it costs to produce locally and how much it costs to land imported cement in Nigeria. I bet you the cost is not the same so why is the difference not noticed in the market?

Because they are colluding to fix price. Here's what I said in another thread:

Wallie:
[] I should have been a lot clearer that I was generally referring to anti-competitive behaviors, and more specifically to “collusion.”

In this instance, you have an oligopoly that consists of less than a dozen companies, that appears to price fix for their mutual benefit. It doesn’t matter it the oligopoly includes a thousand companies. What matters is that the decision of a few significantly affects the market.

The danger of collusion is that increasing pricing does not result in loss of sales due to lack of alternative (licensing restriction).

Just to be fair to the Dangote’s…

There’s no way a Nigerian business will compete with China head-on. You guys are probably right that you can get the cement to Nigeria at a cheaper financial cost but what is the overall cost?

Every country has an element of protectionism in their policy; otherwise, you will run the local businesses out of existence. There’s also no question that there’s collusion going on in the cement industry, among others.

What Jonathan needs are people that understand the balancing-act that has to take place to allow local companies to grow while not gouging the public. It may be as simple as limiting the number of imported cement or taxing it enough to a price point that allows local companies to compete.

When you kill local companies, you not only kill jobs but you also lose the technical know-how and spend all your foreign exchange enriching other economies.

How are people interpreting Section 28(1) of the constitution?

All it says is that if you were not born in Nigeria, and you acquire a citizenship of a third country (not your birth country), you will forfeit your Nigerian citizenship.

For example, you will forfeit your Nigerian citizenship if you were born in the US but acquired British citizenship.

EDIT: Let me caveat my post by saying that there are different ways of interpreting the law and the Supreme Court has the final say.

The solution is simple; we don’t have to re-invent the wheel since Nigeria’s Federal Republic is modeled after the United States’. Just copy them all the way since their version seems to be working.

Every State and Local Government should be autonomous and the 3 levels of government should impose taxes on income, property, imports, exports, payroll, estates etc. The more work you put in or the location in which you find yourself will determine how much you “eat.” If you're not so lucky to have oil under your feet, like in the Beverly Hillbillies movie, you better find "something" to do! Why is that so hard?

What I find funny is that “outsiders” lump the Yorubas, Igbos, Hausas, Ijaws, etc together and call us Nigerians or Africans! It is only in Nigeria that people start differentiating!

Do you think the Nigerian business people “winning”, to use Charlie Sheen’s word, care about if they’re partnering with an Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa man, as long as the partner is trustworthy and has what they need?

Do you think a successful business man cares about situating his factory only in his homeland? Business people only care about risk of investment, market size, skills, taxes, physical access, friendly govt (laws) etc. If all that checks out and two locations are the same, then they will use soft factors like homeland. Imagine being a wireless service provider and being given money and the opportunity to deploy in Lagos or somewhere else with a population of 500?

One thing is certain; the last thing on successful business people’s mind is tribal sentiments! Your own tribesman can screw you over just as well as any other tribe! How do you think Dangote got to his current position? You think it was just on the back of his fellow tribesman? Keep bickering…no wonder why Nigeria is being ruled by a selected few!

I’ll leave you with this saying…

If you want to be incrementally better – be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better – be cooperative.

I can’t comment on the specifics of the OP but there’s some truth that people generally prefer taller males but could it be because the population, especially in the US, is growing taller? The average height of male Americans in 2005 was 5ft 9.2in (1.8m).

There’s also a theory out there that the taller candidate in a US election will win.

Tallest candidate wins electoral vote 53 % of the time and popular vote 59 % of the time. While a shorter candidate wins electoral vote 39 percent of the time and popular vote 33% of the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heights_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States_and_presidential_candidates

How about heights in business? The same trend holds true. The average height of Fortune 500 CEOs is 6ft (1.83m), which is 3 inches (7.6cm) taller than the average American. 30% of the CEOs were 6ft 2in (1.88m) tall or more. Even more telling is the fact that less than 3% of CEOs were below 5 ft 7in (1.70m).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Height_discrimination

What do all these say? It says that if you have identical twins with identical “everything” except one is shorter than the average height, the taller twin will have “it” easier in life.