Nigeria has a lot of problems, including poverty, the squandering of oil revenue, fighting in the Niger Delta, poor infrastructure and social division. What should be the priorities of President Umara Yar'Adua to get Nigeria on the right track to economic and social development?


WEB

Well you don't want Hillary to run for the Democrats. She is widely hated in the country and in the last poll taken in October, 58% of people polled said they would oppose her.

The one you want to run for the Democrats (if you want them to win) is Evan Bayh, a good centrist from Indiana.

Hillary getting the nomination is just a gift for the Republicans. Someone mentioned to me a good observation on the effect of a Hillary bid for Presidency: "nothing else would get out the Republican base like Hillary running for the Presidency."

I think that actually the primaries are only 12-15 months away so I will do what little I can to say no to Hillary now.

Well it seems very likely that the Democrats will take the Senate. There is a dispute in Virginia about who won, however the Republican incumbent who currently has less votes has said that he will conceede tomorrow if the gap does not close by then. So it could very well be that the Democrats take both houses of Congress.

I started a thread on this but it wasn't taken very seriously. Could it be that some people are interested in American politics? :p

Interesting. Bush already tried one of those scams. What is the Nigerian number for scam again? I forgot. :p

If you care that is. :p


I'm rooting for the Democrats and this election will have one of the highest voter turnouts in US history according to the news. Do any of you guys care about US elections, or only stuff about Nigeria?


WEB

I'm in. Join me?

Oh, I see, but you are Nigerian, right?

No problem. Just curious, are you in Nigeria now?

I'm just an American in New York State looking around this place. I heard there is a chatroom. Where is that? Do you know?


WEB

Well, I've only been posting a very short time here, but I definetely find

debosky
nilla
Havila


To be very interesting and intelligent people.


WEB

Hello there,


This is really a great board. It's very active and people know a great deal about Nigeria. Nigeria is perhaps the most interesting country in Africa, although Egypt, Algeria and South Africa could also compete there.

In any case, I just wanted to share with you all a world politics forum I run. A lot of the posters there are very knowledgeable about the United States, Europe and China. However, we are very ignorant on Nigeria, and it's a real shame since there's no one there who can represent such an important and rich country and a lot of people have questions too. Well, I see that there are many intelligent people on this board who are interested in politics and if any of you would like to stop by to answer some of our questions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Forum Frontpage http://www.usandworldpolitics.com/

Forum Homepage: http://www.usandworldpolitics.com/forum/

African Politics: http://www.usandworldpolitics.com/forum/african-politics/

Nigeria Threads:

http://www.usandworldpolitics.com/forum/african-politics/141-nigerian-oil-debacle.html
http://www.usandworldpolitics.com/forum/african-politics/287-nigerias-failing-federal-experiment.html


Cheers,
WEB

[QUOTE author=Old Shame]
Nilla

Piece of $hit country with too many Arabs. The pounds is bleeped, life is hard, and the place is too small. The most overrated country in the world in my Opinion. Love me some Good Old USA!!! London is the most bleeped city in the world. I would rather be in Harare, yes i said Harare.[/QUOTE]

What's wrong with Arabs?

My condolences to the families of those killed in the crash.


WEB

[quote author=nilla link=topic=27351.msg677260#msg677260 date=1162053455]
WEB

Other countries have problems too. Different types, and even the ones that are similar sometimes have other factors that still make the problem unique.[/QUOTE]

Of course they do. Almost all countries (except perhaps for the onses in Scandanavia) have problems. They do have different kinds of problems though.

nilla:
I still think corruption is the biggest problem, Even though the many tribes we have in Nigeria are the cause of some problems. We have to understand that its not very easy having so many tribes (which have their own culture) in one country.
But i know things will get better, because there have been good times.

What do you think causes the corruption?

[quote author=Havila link=topic=27351.msg675407#msg675407 date=1161906579]
@Web,
Good question, but it would have helped if you've given some vague introduction of yourself and why you are interested in this topical issue in Nigeria since you said you are not familiar with Nigeria. [/QUOTE]

Well alright. I don't think I really need an explanation as to why I am interested in Nigeria.

I'm from the United States. I'm not Nigerian. I'm half black and half Chinese. You could say that I am a very interested foreigner. I am very much interested in world history. In college I specialized in studying world history and international relations. I am trying to build up my knowledge base on ALL parts of the world. I've read history books on Latin America, Europe, China, Japan, the Middle East, and Africa.

Nigeria is the most populous and powerful country in Africa. That is one reason I am very interested in it. It also does seem to have a lot of problems, and that makes it important as well as very interesting to look at those problems.

I study politics too much really. I run an international politics forum. You can see this displayed by clicking on my username and clicking on the link next to "homepage." I really like to discuss politics with intelligent people with something to say. Havila, if you have any spare time to come by and share some of your comments with us, you would be very welcome to do so.

[QUOTE author=Havila]
Probably, some of the earlier skimishes could have been avoided. But you are indeed a quick learner with your insightful questions. Anyway, all well and good. [/QUOTE]

I'm trying, but I still don't know much about the various tribal divisions of Nigeria. However, I will try to find out a bit more on the internet.

[QUOTE author=Havila]
@All,
Saying tribalism has nothing to do with corruption is a gross misconception or misunderstanding of issues in Nigeria. The two of them act synergistically in retarding the growth of our nation. For example, while tribalism is the root of the call for "rotational presidency" in Nigeria, the aim is to corruptly enrich ones' own kith and kin with the nations resources; thereby creating power-brokers or Godfathers in ones tribe with financial muscle which, in Nigeria, translates to political power. Corruption is not only in monetary terms, there is corruption in employment into the Federal Civil Service in Nigeria, stupidly sugar-coated as "Quota System", whereby merit is sacrified on the alter of tribalism because various sections want "administrative/political" power which eventually leads to corruptly enriching your tribes members. You can go on and on and you will see, that tribalism and corruption are intrinsically woven or an integral part of each other in our dear nation Nigeria.

These problems can only be addressed if we revert to true federalism; which could be simplistically explained by the term 'decentralisation' used by Web (really brilliant guy). By this, I mean we need to reduce the power at the centre and disolute power to the various geo-political regions that exist, with semi autonomous adminstrative powers and full regional resource mobilisation and control.
Open to critique.!!
[/QUOTE]

It would be interesting to see if people agree that tribalism is a problem, or believe the problem to be more like individual greed and a "culture of corruption." If so, how can that be solved?

P.S. Thanks for the kind words.

According to Transparency International, Nigeria has the 6th most corrupt government in the world.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781359.html


So corruption is the greatest problem for Nigeria? Do you think "tribalism" makes it worse?

Donzman:

I think the problem with Nigerian isn't really much about tribalism, nobody actually gives a damn about tribalism. It's all about individualism nowadays, every man for themselves. An Igbo man will get with an Hausa man as long as it guarantees him some sort of monetary benefits, days of tribalism are long gone. I mean people still favour people from their own tribes but they won't do it at their own expense. It's a 'me first" attitude in Nigeria!

What do you think might help to solve corruption? Do you think that more decentralization and more local elections might help? That could make politicians more accountable.

[QUOTE]
when it comes to 'tribalism' i wd prefer you define what you mean clearly. the problem(s) of nigeria stem from the colonial times when dissimilar people were forcefully banded together and ordered to have a 'nation'. divide and rule policies of the british (playing one tribe against another, destroying some tribes cultures, lording one tribe over the other) have all led to a deep mistrust between the groups, fostered in no small part by the poverty affliciting the general population, and the tendency of the 'leaders' (read people in power with access to resources) to play one against the other (just like the british) to achieve theur selfish ends, as well as a lot of ignorance and lack of true integration among the units in Nigeria.[/QUOTE]

I think you've given the definition of tribalism. I think tribalism is what you've said. Where instead of loyalty to an ideology or to the nation, the loyalties of the Nigerian people are to their tribes. So it seems that they are only interested in advancing the interests of each tribe so each tribe tries to get someone in power who will divert the resources of the state to their tribe. People like that don't care that their leaders are corrupt, as long as the corrupt leader is helping out their tribe.

You spew childish taunts with much relish. If I am wrong, then correct what I've said. Or are you merely an ignorant braggart?

I have read up on it a little bit. I know that Nigeria is divided between a Muslim north and a Christian South and that the Muslims are trying to institute sharia law on themselves and the Christians. I've heard that the Christians are just as fanatic.

Furthermore the country is divided into several large tribes and they reside in a couple different regions. They combine into alliances to control the government.

I know that Nigeria had military governments for about 30 years and that Abacha was a crook, and that Obasanjo was the first civilian president in 30 years and then when he was elected (in 2004 I think) that he became the first elected civilian President in many years.

I've heard that there's a lot of corruption and that there is a big fight between Obasanjo and his Vice President over corruption and the 2007 election. Lastly, I've heard that Nigeria has a lot of oil, but in the areas that have the oil, the people somehow don't get the proceeds from the oil revenue.


So, having said all that, maybe I could focus the question a bit more:

How bad is tribalism in Nigeria today?

I am really ignorant of Nigeria, but I looked up Donald Duke on Wikipedia and this guy sounds really awesome. I like his quote about democracy and food. That and he seems highly competent and not corrupt (since it says that he is the only governor NOT under investigation).


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


I hope he wins, but from what little I read, it sounds like the party of the former Vice President is the one with the advantage, right? Too bad.

I've looked for it quite a bit on the web, but I don't quite understand.


Thanks

I'm fairly ignorant on Africa and Nigeria. What do you guys think the biggest problem in Nigeria is today?

Corruption?
Tribal Rivalry?
Poverty?


Do you think the election of President Obasanjo was fair or was the election rigged?

[img]http://pub.tv2.no/multimedia/na/archive/00262/nigeria-t_262805c.jpg[/img]