₦airaland Forum

Emperoh:
I wonder if people actually read the papers!!!

The Lagos Yatch Hotel was a project between Lagos State Ministry of Tourism and Diamond Bank
Diamond Bank financed the project and are currently in court over onwership issues and failure in contract terms by the Ministry.

I read someone saying somewhere on this forum that the Badagry express is an ECOWAS project.
Now its the Federal Government. SO FG paid the compensation for the houses demolished?
So FG that can't even maintain the most important and busiest highway in Lagos, Oshodi - Apapa Expressway
will embark on a multi-billion naira Lagos - Badagry highway with BRT lane and metro rail line?

People are irredemably daft and onmiscient dullards. . . . . .FYI, the bond that the LASG raised last year
was solely for this project and also the rail project from berger to Iddo and down to CMS and also the Eko Atlantic City project

If you people are not aware of fact or don't know issues, you will do your personality a world of good by keeping quiet!!

CHAI!!! Ignorance is surely a disease!!

Fahola may not be a Saint but surely, he is giving us what others couldn't do with available funds!!
That is a fact!!

We ask questions because we require answers to some of Lagos State Government programmes we  do not understand, after all we are in a democracy, so it is expected that you help us understand the issues raised without reading some bias against Fashola.

My problems with Governor Fash is that i believe his programes are not well conceived and thought out. For example how come he is having problems with the Federal government over Badagry road, when it a known fact that badagry road is Federal Road. During the Tinubu administration, there were signs everywhere saying "bear with us - This is Federal road". Meaning the Lagos state govt was not responsible for the road. So Fashola should have cleared all legal obstacles by seeking the active involvement of the Federal Government,before committing funds to the project as was done with the Bar Beach Reclamation project.

Also i hope he is planning to build a new railway line and not think of using Nigerian railways lines for his project or in the alternative seek the permission and support of Federal Government. Because from what I see of the New Tejuosho Market, the trains were planned on Nigerian railway lines going to Iddo. Then we deserved to be furnished on the details of the projects like budget, time duration and concessions granted.

For once Becomerich and I are operating on the same wavelength. I would shout it again and again, SAY NO NO NUCLEAR POWER STATION!! It is a white elephant project.

The Niger Delta has enough gas (most of which is being flared) to supply half of Africa with electricity and probably pipe some to energy hungry Europe also. The Niger Delta can be converted to one giant electricity generating zone. It is easier to expert electricity than to export gas.

Also we still have untapped rivers where we could dam to obtain plenty hydro electricity.

adefemi1:
@forpeace@all you critics of Fashola
do you school in lagos, if yes which of the school, he has made so many efforts in changing the face of our public schools in lagos, he had build and completed at least a Block of classrooms in each school across the state.

in the area of health i will welcome you to pay a visit to Gbagada General hospital which is now Lasucom Annex,
have you been to lasucom of recent and see magnificient complex being constructed and completed by Fasola.

where do you reside in lagos, tell me and i will tell you about development going on presently in your area.

in the area of recreation and sports, If blind i wont comment more on this area cos it is obvious that Lagos was voted the best af all pitches and stadium facilities during the Under 17 world cup with greatest turnover per match courtesy of free transport provided by our Gov.
dont you see the new campus field was it an achievement of tinubu or fashola

area of tradition and tourism : the new Eyo festival which is one of the best and most recognise festival in nigeria and africa was it an achievement of tinubu or fashola

All i am saying is that this man called fashola is human and he is bound to commit and pls the devil we know is better than you so called saint. bye Eko Oni Baje

I have lived in Lagos for 35 years, so i know how Lagos has evolved. I attended both my primary school and secondary school in Lagos - and they were both public schools. You assertion that Fashola has built at least on classroom block in each school is untrue. I told you i live in Ikorodu and the public schools in Ikorodu are an eyesore. What is required in Lagos are brand new public schools to cater for the children hawkers that are arrested daily by KIA officials. Maybe Fashola is Painting and and building a new classroom block or two in highly visible locations, but nothing is going on in the interiors.

We are taking about health and you can only tell us about newly renovated Gbagada General Hospital. What about Lagos Island, Ajah, Mushin, and other Local government areas, what facilities are provided in these places. the stadium you mention must be a joke, or else you want to attribute the Teslim Balogum Stadium to Fashola - It was commissioned by Tinubu.

Also the Eyo festival you mentions is a bad Joke, or you want to attribute the Eyo festival as part of Fashola's performance. What makes the Eyo Festival different from any other festival in Nigeria, like the Osun festival or the Arogungun festival.

You Fashola's supporters are doing a horrible Job for him. We asked you people to educate us on the achievements of Fashola so far, especially with the huge amount of money spent so far, and all you people can come up with are projects initiated by Tinubu, road expansion projects, a few renovated hospitals, an already commissioned stadium and Eyo festival. Please endeavour to provide us with more concrete projects and i am not even asking you to provide cost yet.

I cannot comment on the corruption allegations against Fashola, because the accusers have to present more proof, than articles on the pages of a newspaper. But i do know that Fashola's so called performance is not commensurate with the revenue lagos is getting. I live in Ikorodu, and very little of Fashola's performance is felt in Ikorodu. I here same thing is what is obtained in Badagry and Epe and other outlaying areas of Lagos State.

Babapupa, you propaganda is of Nazi level, The Oluwole Market you are brandishing as Fashola's achievements was started out way during the first year of Tinubu in 2000.  I was executing a project near the site in year 2,000, so i knew the site was cleared for the project. In fact it was the same area boys that collected security fees from us that collected security fees for the project (they told us that they collected 1.5 million from the Lagos state government to allow the project commence). So it is a bit dishonest of you you attribute the projects wholly to Fashola.

I am sure that if you analyze most of Fashola's "performance", you will find out that outside road expansion and beautification projects, most of them were planed and started by the previous administration.

~Bluetooth:
it is becoming clearer day after day that chunks of those calling for breakup of the nigerian state are largely from the niger delta and south eastern regions.the reason is not far-fetched,they believe they have the oil to live on afterwards thereby not minding the consequences of the actions necessary to achieve their selfish interests.it started with the monthly resource control derivatives allocated to only niger delta state which currently stood at 13 percent and all efforts to gear it up have not been acted upon by the federal govt due to little impact the fund have on the poor citizens of the region.imo,i wonder if the two regions would cry for break if they have only arid land like the northern part of the country.that is why these people will always incite those that may have sympathy or related opinion to their cause.the ghadaffi case ought to have been discredited if truely we are an indepedent and ONE nation but a polarised section of the public chose to support the comment provided it could incite people against the central government.i only hope the niger delta and south east can lower their ego,let patrotism override their ethnocentric attitude so that we can move forward as a nation.the country should not split because of ethnic sentiments because oil has done more harm than good to this country.will these regions had cried for secession if they dont have oil,hell NO.long live federal republic of NIGERIA.

Prior to your comment , i had given you more respect that what you wrote above. I never believed you could be that myopic.

I am from the Niger Delta, In fact my Village has 13 oil wells , about 6 of which had been drilled. But my people have no pipe borne water and we drink from the same river we defaecate and wash. No single school, not even a creche, no electricity, no road, in fact no land also as the are is sinking and the house are built on stilts. The government and oil companies refuse to sand fill the land. I could go on and on, but let me stop here.

I am not an advocate of splitting up. I have read a lot of history and i know that small nations are often not strong enough to protect themselves and have to be at the mercy of larger nations. In measuring national strength, size is a decisive factor. That is why the whole of europe is integrating to be able to withstand, the us, china and russia. Left to me i believe the whole of west Africa should integrate under one very loose government, one currency, one foreign policy and probably one large and well trained army. (Our individual armies are a Joke when compared to the major powers like France, US, Britain, Russia and China).

The Major problem i have with the current Nigerian structure is over-centralization. It is annoying for someone from another part of the country to come to our land and dictate how to use our father land - oil or not. A person ancestral land have a lot of intrinsic value, whether it contains oil, gold, diamond or just water or sand. That is why the Israelis are ready to die for their desert land and would not substitute it for any oil rich region.

It is a pity you see our land as only good for providing you with free oil even to our own detriment. We had no oil when the Europeans came and we were not under Nigeria then. So why do you think we cannot survive without the oil. Besides i have not heard Niger Deltans advocating for a break up of Nigeria, what they want is their ancestral lands back and their rights to determine their destiny. About the oil, we do not mind sharing the oil with the whole West African regions, the sharing should be done with equity, justice and fair play, and not like a conquered people as exhibited by the Nigerian state.

Seun:
For a protest to be successful, you have to make clear and unambiguous demands.  E.g. when ASUU goes on strike, they make a demand that we won't return until salaries are increased by X%.  Imagine the NLC calling a strike and when you ask what they want, all they can say is "enough is enough".  What is enough?  What are you demanding?  If you don't have specific demands then you're just disturbing the peace.

I disagree strongly with you here. You cannot compare a protest by labour or any other partisan protest with a general protest about the sorry state of affairs in Nigeria. The protest is a general protest about the lack of governance occasioned by the unnecessary politic of Yaradua's health. The country had been drifting from one crisis to another, while the National Assembly, the PDP, The FEC and the presidency had been pretending that all is well, and that Nigerians are not complaining. The protests show that people are beginning to complain.

You cannot underestimate the importance of the protests, the protests sends powerful signals to the "Cabal", the PDP, the Governors Forum and the National Assembly that they do not have the support of Nigerians on how they have been running their affairs. It also sends powerful signals to the Military that a coup will not be welcomed.

The protests asked for some specific demands like  Good Governance, electricity,  Electoral Reforms to stop rigging.

n this issue, i must concur with the Judgment, you cannot start an investigative process on a mere newspaper publication by a faceless group. Also i do not think the National assembly can just initiate investigative procedures without a report from an investigative body, like EFCC, Code of conduct Bureau or Police to act on. The State Assembly is not an investigative body and cannot truly investigate crimes - financial or otherwise.

If really the faceless group has anything against the Lagos state governor, they know where to direct their petitions. The court cannot stop EFCC and others from investigating a valid petition.

I suspect this is the handiwork of Tinubu, i am sure they cannot bring in the EfCC into the matter, as the investigation would certainly get out of control and implicate the Godfather himself. So they decided to use the House of assembly which can produce a carefully doctored investigation.

Having said that, i have not absolve Fashola from the allegations, not pronounce him culpable. But i think for political expediency, he should address the allegations giving us his own facts and figures. This would shame the Tinubu or is it PDP "detractors"

Before Fashola's fanatics begin to unleash their venom, you need to excuse my ignorance and strive to educate on the fundamentals of the project.

Before i continue, i must state that i am not particularly anti- Fashola, but i quarrel with his elitist and sometime uncoordinated knee jerk reactions to governance.

The tejuosho markets which was a thriving  market for low and medium class lagosians (sometimes patronized by the elite class), built in the early 70s, got burned in December 2007.  In the aftermath of the tragic accident in which trader lost millions of Naira, fashola visited the Market and promised to rebuild the market and  ensure that traders displaced at the burnt Tejuosho market will be allowed to get back their stalls.

We hear that the Lagos State Government concessioned  the project to a private firm and that the shops are open to the general public at a price of N6,000,000 per 10.8m² space. So how are the people who had lost everything in the inferno going to afford these shops. The people Fashola promised to help. As i have always insisted, a government that needs the votes of the people to get into power is meant to satisfy the people, especially the masses.

The project itself now raises loads of questions, that need answers;

1. Was turning the turning the Tejuosho markets into a modern supermarket part of the original plan of BRF, or he just decided to take advantage of the fire to convert it to one.

2. What was the actual agreement with the private developer, lets have an idea of the consession agreement, after all the land still belongs to the Lagos state government and by extension Lagosians.

3. Why is the price so high. The price of other private shopping complexes are much lower. Sura shopping complex handled by the same LSDPC goes for around N3.500,000, also the privately developed Ikota shopping complex goes for about N3,000,000 for a 24m² ( more than twice the area of the Tejuosho shops).   

4. Is the Tejuosho Project a Market or a shopping complex? Although it is named Tejuosho Market, the project resembles a Shopping Complex to me. Would there the sellers of tomatoes, onions, fish, fresh meat, ugwu, palm oil, rice, beans, etc in this market as what was obtained before?

5.How is the government taking care of people who were affected by the fire, are they left to their own devices? Or as some Fashola's supporters always say " If they can't cope, they should migrate to other states".

Sorry once again for my apparent ignorance, i only need some answers. After all this is a democracy, we are allowed to questions even a saint, no matter how silly the question may sound.

honeric01:
Who are these people for God's sake? i wish i knew both of you one on one, i don't care about your ages, I'd give both of you 10 correct thunderous slaps for your face.

He's doing something, you're complaining, if he does nothing, you will complain, what on earth do you guys even want for God sake? you want nothing to be done or what?


Let me tell you one more thing, all the fire stations are being rebuilt now, repainted, re-equipped, the old vehicles are being repaired and replace, things are going on, yet people like you no go allow us breath.

if you are so much good at condemning, what's stopping you from going in person to condemn the rest that have done Nada since they became governors or even your dead president?


seriously, though, i am not around you guys right now, but i pray that 1-2 out of the 10 slaps i should have given you should be given to you by other people around you before this week runs out, be it your boss, wife, son, agbero, soldier, police, naval officer, air force man, iya alata or any other person  

Well, i do not blame you, you have never experienced a properly organized society, so you celebrate what ever you see. That is why i sometimes do not blame Government officials, they get better accolades when they embark on "visible projects" and scream about it, instead of taking a more sustainable and effective long term approach.

Reread the report. here are some interesting pointers;

His words: “This is our innovativeness on a short term. On a long term, we intend to return our state to compete with other cities and states by reintroducing fire hydrants back to our major roads and installations across the state.

Meaning buying the trucks is a show of their innovativeness for now. But they plan to reintroduce fire hydrants back to major roads. Now if My governor is thinking holistically and not the short term "visible project" approach. Which should come first, the fire hydrants or the trucks? - given the time left for this administration.

“The Ministry of Works, as our consultant, is already charged with the responsibility to put on their thinking caps on how we can put back our fire hydrants in strategic areas in the state.”

Oh it is the ministry of works that is charged with the responsibility of thinking how to plan and install fire hydrants?
Another question, who is meant to formulate the fire policies of a state and who is meant to implement them - the governor or the Ministry of works?

Fashola also disclosed that plans were on to build fire service stations in Ejigbo, Abesan and Lekki areas in the state before the end of the year and urged Lagos residents to take precautionary measures to prevent fire situations to save lives and property.

So there are plans to build fire stations, and before the end of the pear for that matter. So fashola is still in the planning stage, when will they employ consultants, invite contractors to bid, award the contracts and then the contractors deliver the projects? Can all that be done in the 8 months left before the year runs out. Remember, the last quarter of the year is for politicking and governors are more engaged with campaigns.

Attempt to answer the above questions,Do not worry if you do not know them , you will not be penalized if you miss all questions.

Can somebody please explain to me how division of Nigeria would stop violence?

How many units would you need to split Nigeria into to stop Fulani-Beron violence, Ife-Modakeke violence, Itsekiri-Ijaw violence, Jukun-Taraba, violence, Ogoni-okrika Violence and tens of other sectarian violence all over Nigeria.

What is need is a round table discussion to table all our grievances because every single tribe in Nigeria has them, and a to have some degree of autonomy to be able to develop at their own pace.

Niseed:
Wow! 16 fire trucks we should all be happy, the celebration and acceptance of mediocrity by Nigerians is astounding. in a state that is home to millions (most areas inaccessible to these trucks) i wonder what difference this is going to make. Its like having 16 police cars in the state, how effective are they going to be?

Mr Biggs was burnt almost beyond recognition, i dont think any fire engine was present and ironically its right next to water.

Anyway its a step in the right direction albeit a half assed step, but its still a step

Na wa o! my brother, i am flabbergasted and dumbfounded. A governor purchased some trucks or is it fire trucks and we are here celebrating and commissioning. This is the height of low expectations. I have lived in England, i had never heard of a mayor celebrate the lunching of anything. Same in the US, you cannot see a jamboree anything a mayor (which is the equivalent of a council chairman), uses the council funds to purchase cars or anything. Here a governor would embark on Jamboree, if he purchases anything, from Taxis, to Keke Marwa, to trucks. One would think that he is using his personal funds. In a sane society, the governor should not be directly involved with such purchases, the various government agencies, including the fire service should be well funded and empowered to make their purchases. After all every agency goes to defend its budget in the house of assembly. Every single penny going out of state coffers does not have to pass through the governor. The governor should be busy designing policies and strategies and allowing agencies to implement these strategies.

A fire fighting strategy goes beyond buying vehicles, it involved design specifications to be spelt out by relevant building codes, adequate training and motivation of fire officers, appropriate enlightenment and education of the masses on how to handle and report a fire outbreak, adequate water availability (water hydrants) all over the state, good communication and other allied equipments, and loads of others.

rethink:
@fhemmy and winret


From the first page your arguements were partly wrong and partly right.

The solution however is the

USE THE POOR TO BUILD THE AREA

The people of that area will be used to destroy and rebuild the area this will give some sense of ownership to the place and the city.

At least you you are factoring in the poor. Most of our elites, including the various governments, see the poor as a cancerous ligament that must be excised from the main body of society. The most generous among the elites feels that the poor deserves nothing more than pure water, Okada, keke Napep, some even suggests bicycle. Go to suburban poor neighbourhoods, you will not find tarred roads before you talk of flowers, no pipe borne water( not even boreholes that now cost less than N250,000 in some areas.),No class rooms.  Nothing!. Meanwhile the state budget is meant to be share fairly evenly among the social classes within the society.

Of course your suggestion is one solution. In Israel, it was the Local unemployed members of the society that the government used in building their kabbutz, with farm settlements attached. this was the fulcrum of the Israeli development strategy. And in less that 20 yrs after the creation of Israel, it became a net exporter of agricultural products - with zero unemployment. That shows that the poor can be an assert rather than the nuisance they are made to constitute.

Apart from tribal tension and religious tensions, there is also class tension within the Nigerian society, the rich seems to abhor the poor, while the poor show hated toward the rich. I have seen situation where a jeep slightly hit an okada rider, and you will see lots of other Okada drivers showing aggression to the "rich" man irrespective of who is wrong.

Shame on us westerners - including myself. All we get na mouth. Were are the Giant of Africa, the most enlightened and educated people in Africa, the best at this and that, etc. And we deride the Northerners for being Almajiri's , as intelligent as cows, kunu sellers, etc. Yet we cannot feed ourselves. It is a big shame that we cannot even plant ordinary tomatoes and pepper, or even Yam and onions. Meanwhile it is the "mumu" Northerners that is feeding us.
Just take note, that if hostilities break out, they would not need to fight us, they would just starve us to death - The Awolowo solution.

Meanwhile we are said to have performing governors, with some building mega-cities, with no policy on how to feed the inhabitants of the proposed mega-city. Most of the agricultural layouts planned by Awolowo (including some industrial layouts) had been sold by the western governors, to the highest bidder. No single policy on Agriculture.

A people that cannot feed itself and depends on others, will not be completely free and independent.

Did I hear somebody say we would use our oil money to buy food? well I got news for you, the oil fields are owned mainly by Northerners and the oil industry is controlled by Northerners, that is apart from them controlling the military.

Enjoyment1:
I will still say it, it is good when some slums are demolished. In fact, all slums.

Do you not think that it would make more sense to "demolish" the factors that are responsible for creating the slums in the first place, than demolish the slums itself without creating alternatives. Since the poor people cannot vanish into thin air, you can put your money on it that another slum will rise from the ashes of a demolished on, in another location, its just a matter of time.

honeric01:
Fashola is a lawyer and he knows that you can not displace anyone living legally on any land, so those that were displaced from the illegal market will get no compensation but those who were displaced from their legal land/shop/businesses shall duly be compensated. i heard of a church that was demolished, but then the church was built on a legal land and had legal papers, at the end of the day, the government paid the church #45million naira to get a new place and build a new church there because the land was hindering the development of that area.

in essence, if you want to point at Lagos when pointing at other developed cities, be ready to bear the pain because toes would be stepped on (especially those on illegal lands)

The issue we are discussing is not necessarily legal, its social. People have needs, it is government business to find ways of attending to those needs. People need livelihood, housing, security, government have to fashion out innovative ways to address those needs, these people are voters, and the government is meant to work on their behalf.

Developing countries did not develop by rendering people jobless and homeless, they developed by creating jobs and housing along with some other things. Nigeria's case is an aberration, where development is expected from monies collected from Abuja, so the government feels the people - especially the poor are a nuisance.
In a developed country, development is carried out by the government empowering people to be productive and able to pay tax. Hence development flows from within the social structure and not without.

ziga:
Problem with Naija is not new things, we need to fix and maintain the old things we have.

We need to take care of all the old things we have, hospitals, roads and all.

Before we start to build new things, we need to be able to take care of the old.

Thanks Ziga, you are arguing with common sense instead of with emotions.

I agree with your above assertions; but only partially. That is why we want to understand the policies of Fashola.

If you talk about roads, i might concede to your arguments. But when you talk about Hospitals, Schools, Water, energy, i would prefer a different approach.

It is a fact that the population of Lagos had been growing exponentially for the past couple of decades, so the number of hospitals and schools that was adequate 20 years ago would be grossly inadequate today, that is why many many children of poor families die, because public medical facilities are overstretched. I pray you do not have course to go to a public hospital, it is like a market place. I found out that if you want to see a doctor, you would have to get to the hospital before 7, and by then the queue would be so long, that you would be lucky to see a doctor by 1:00pm.  Many very sick children die while waiting to see a doctor.

Lagos state needs more new hospitals. it does not have to be anything sophisticated, maybe just simple consulting rooms with qualified doctors. Complicated cases can be referred to ultra- modern hospitals. Simple diseases like Malaria, typhoid and simple infectious deceases are the major problems of the society, which can easily be treated by consulting clinics.

Same for schools, Lagos needs many, many new schools. And also it does not have to be anything sophisticated. Simple Jakande-like schools would do. A lot of professionals in the society today were products of such schools.

Same for Water Schemes. No city worth its name is without clean potable piped water. The existing ones are grossly inadequate.

So Lagos state need a lot of New things before embarking on the so called Mega-city project. Building a new Mega-city without the supporting social and physical infrastructure is a recipe for anarchy.

justfash50:
@wirinet

This is what i just spoke about, even if u can go and see for yourself what FASHOLA is doing, u can please goggle in the comfort of your room where u r typing hogwash(no offence pls).

You claim he is doing nothing meaningful for the masses and i wonder the kind of people we av in NIGERIA.

Well sha u r not speaking for the masses.Assignment go to all local Government and ask if he provide all the claims u provide above before i disproove your claims.

You have spoken but you have said nothing. Since you are more adept at google than i am, why don't you do me a favour by posting your google links, so we have have something concrete to discuss.

Also you know that it is not practicable for me to visit all the local Governments in Lagos compile all Fashola's projects, but since i follow the various media, it should be easy to know fashola's projects.

I live in Ikorodu, so i can at least tell you Fashola's impact in Ikorodu. There are no new roads in Ikorodu, in fact no road expansion project had taken place in Ikorodu. Fashola is developing a new housing estate in Igbogbo.

Since you are more knowledgeable than most of us, please give us updated statistics on fashola's projects, especially the ones that benefits the masses.


How many new roads have Fashola built (Please do not give me renovated or expanded rod)

How many new hospitals has Fashola built.

How many new primary and secondary schools; I remember the day i was taking a bus form Marako to Ajah, with lots of secondary school students from Victoria Island Secondary School - built by Jakande. I was Inform that there in no public school in the Ajah- Jakande Axis, and children of poor parents who cannot afford private school, has to attend the VISS opposite mobil head office. Please contradict their claims.

How many new markets has Fashola built.

How many new water schemes has fashola built.

How many new housing estates has fashola built and what is their cost.

When we discuss, lets argue with facts and statistics and not conjectures and assumptions

Dr Kitun and co,

It is a pity you people take any criticism of Governor Fashola personal, you sound as if you have personal interest or relationship  involved.

Although some people might have political motives by criticizing the policies of Fashola, a lot of people do so out of genuine concern and convictions. According to a lot of people Fashola's policies are elitist, anti-people and incoherent.
I had tried so much to explain that the purpose of government is to provide social, physical and  economic security to the greatest number of people - especially the poor masses.

This involves providing social structures like either free or cheap schools - My governor instead of building new schools prefers to demolish sub-standard schools aggravating the already dire illiteracy levels. A social responsible government would assist the sub-standard schools with books, teaching aids or grants. It could even have adopted the Soludo option of consolidating 3 or four sub-standard schools.

A socially responsible government would care about the livelihood of its poor masses and put in place cheap markets and shops before demolishing existing illegal markets and banning street trading. It should even provide micro credit through collaboration with existing banks.  This same government that embark on anti people economic policies would turn around and impose all kinds of taxation and levies on these same people.

A socially responsible government should be building health centres in every local government or is it Local Government development areas to attempt to alleviate our horrible health statistics , instead of building one or two Ultra - modern hospitals that is grossly inadequate to serve the masses.

I laugh when some people say that people who cannot cope with Lagos should relocate to their villages. I do not blame them. that is the typical black mentality - Pull down the ladder you used in climbing up so that no other person can use it to climb. If that was the official policy of governments past, most people saying that would still be in their villages contributing to the illiterate statistics. Over 80% of Lagos population have their roots in other states and came to Lagos to look for greener pastures. Even Fashola is not indigenous to Lagos.

Fashola's Lagos generate more revenue that all other previous governments, he could afford to embark on projects that would be beneficial to everybody including the poor masses, instead of concentrating on projects for the elites like Dr. Kitun.

I do not really blame him, he did not promise Lagosians anything before he was voted in. He did not outline a Health policy, an economic policy, a water policy or any other policy. He was just imposed (just like Yara dua) by Tinubu. He got to power on the strength of opposition to PDP as Lagosians did not want to be captured by PDP.

Fhemmmy:
Even if that was given, they will all ignore it.
I do agree that petty trading is a source of employing oneself, however, there is a need for govt to look into how safe they were, i remember in those days, how people used to run when the train is coming in oshodi at the sound of the honks of the trains, and one second after the train has passed, they are back on the track again . . . . .Imagine a train without a honk, what would have happened, in a nation that nothing works and nothing is being maintained.
I am sure they will still blame the govt if train misharp happens.
It is sad that they have to find a way to make a living, but i think it is necessary

Fhemmmy, I think you still do not get it. You have this notion like Nigeria's elite, that poverty is a kind of mental illness and so poor people must be expunged from the society. Every society has its poor and the strength of a society is measured by how it treats its poor and weak (widows orphans and unemployed).

So you think the people selling on rail tracks have some form of mental illness by facing oncoming trains probably without good brakes day in day out, in order to make a living?. You put all the blame on the poor for devising innovative but dangerous means of survival. These people you look at as" them" are people like you and deserves to live like a human being.

Do you think that if government is alive to its social responsibilities by providing cheap lock up shops, that the people will embark on suicidal missions every day?

The primary aim of Government should be to provide for the masses and not for the well to do, who does not need government anyway.

olafolarin:
You got it all wrong.Its obvious from your assumptions that you didnt know the area demolished so well.
Ajelogo was a temporary market created to ease the pressure on Mile 12 Market.But it as now turned into armed robbers,assasins and hoodlums hide out.I used to visit a family friend very close to that area and its scary at night.
Most of the shops in the market as been turned into makeshift residence for these hoodlums and love-peddlers.
It is a most welcomed development because the market has completely outlived its usefulness.
Making alternative for Ajelogo is like creating another slum-market.
The best thing to do is to demolish the market as it is and construct a befitting international market that will have alll security dtails,

Your above post confirm the very first sentence of my last post;

The problem with most Nigerians is that we only see things from our own perspectives and support actions that either favour us or not directly affecting us.

You are looking at the issue from how you were scared at night on going to visit your friend close to the area.

The issues you raised are numerous;

First you stated that it was meant to be a temporary market to ease of the pressure on mile 12 market, so in effect the use of the area as a temporary market had some government backing or at worst the knowledge of the government. So we is the permanent market and how long was the temporary arrangement support to last.

Then you stated that the shops had been turned to make shift residence, so is that not an indictment on the government on the need to provide affordable housing for its people,even if it is one room apartments or even face-me-i-face-you housing. Do you thing any normal human being would be happy sleeping in a 10m² shop with not sanitary facilities and running water? Forget the fact that the people are very poor, they are still humans like you and me and so deserve some measure of consideration. And besides, you will be surprised at the rent being paid for these shops accommodations.

Then you stated that the place had been turned into a hide out for armed robbers,assassin and hoodlums. So you telling me that every body that stayed there was either a robber, an assassin or a hoodlum. That is the overstatement of the century, it is similar to saying that all Nigerians are terrorists because one of us was caught trying to blow up a US bound plane. If you read newspaper reports you will discover that a lot of people actually use the shops to sell and store goods as a lot of people lost their goods to the demolition exercise, while lots of others evacuated their goods in time.

I am sure that a few shops are being used as a hide out, but to label the whole area a hide out is a bit of an exaggeration. If it was so then nobody would be able to pass under the mile 12 bridge or mile 12 area itself, after 9:00pm. I stay in Ikorodu so i pass by mile 12 everyday and sometimes as late as 11:00pm and i had never had any incident.

Now even if i agree with you that the whole area is a hide out, then is demolishing the place and releasing assassins, robbers and hoodlums the most appropriate solution to a socio-economic problem. Will the displacing of the social miscreants make them disappear from the face of the earth or even Lagos. The government would only succeed in distributing the miscreants around the city, because they would look for another hide out. A government that understands its social responsibility would tackle the issues creating the miscreants in the first place, like lack of affordable housing, high levels of unemployment by young able youths, zero levels of social services like cheap medical care, free or cheap education, cheap transportation, etc.

I am sure most of the people staying in the slum are people serving serving the market, like "alabarus" (people who load things on their heads), agberos, petty traders, etc, who cannot afford the high transportation costs of coming from elsewhere.

Yes the best thing is to construct a a befitting international market that will have all security details, but it has to be within the reach of the mile 12 traders. And it should have been built before the demolition exercise.

The problem with most Nigerians is that we only see things from our own perspectives and support actions that either favour us or not directly affecting us.

One thing we should learn is that societies are built around people and not necessarily structures. Government should be about people and that is why democracy is defined as government of the people for the people by the people. The Lagos state government behaves as if they would not need the peoples vote to retain power in 2011.

Now i am not necessarily against demotions of slums and illegal structures per se, what i am against is carrying out such actions without making alternatives available to cushion the effect of such activities on people. People are still suffering from a similar demolition of Marako some twenty years after. This government had carried out similar demolitions all over lagos and rendered so many people Jobless, especially in the worsening economic climate people are facing today. When the government decides to embark on some palliatives by building shops, the government itself would price the shops beyond the people that were displaced in the first place. Yaba market is a typical example.

I am not making a case for illegal shops and structures, what i am making a case for is some kind of social responsibility from our governments.

Leaders like Awolowo and Jakande built houses, shops and schools for the poor in the society, even though they were poor construction, they were very useful to so many poor people in the society. Our present Governor believes in demolishing facilities for the poor like ramshackle schools and shops without providing alternatives.

To this governor, the poor should simply leave Lagos so he can embark on his Mega city project for the super rich.

Jonathan is learning fast, the intricacies of how to assume and hold power, using a bit of Obasanjoism. Since it is as obvious as daylight that the Ministers had been helping themselves from our common pot of soup, since the beginning of this administration, as Yaradua had been incapacitated for a long time. It is obvious that casting a wide net would hardly miss miss any fish ( or is it ministers).
The ministers better start queuing up at Aguda Lodge to pledge loyalty or else!!!!. A word is enough for the wise.

oge4real:
In as much as this threat sounds silly, it is a known fact that the strike will definitely affect the south because we ACTUALLY need these food items. I guess its hightime we started paying attention to agriculture in the south to forestall this kind of threat.

Educated and sophisticated Southerners pay attention to agriculture ke? are you out of your mind? You want a southerner to learn to use a hoe instead of a pen, to work in the sun instead of inside an air-conditioner, to wear dirty farm clothes instead of a suit or well starched agbada.
They would rather starve that get caught working in a farm.

aisha2:
Haba Papabrowne, I will say with all respect am disappointed in your interpretation of the situation. Did you not read their reasons, how fair is it that a group of boys will just impose levies of all kinds on people who are working hard to make a lin=ving. Have you evr traveled in one of those trailers? Do you know how many days they spend on the road, bad road bad weather and almost dead cars just to bring food down south and make a living? how fair is it that a grooup of boys who dont work and who are not government officials impose taxes and levies on their small profit?
These are hard working suffering masses, they mostly dont give a hoot if YarAdua is Presdinet or anything, we have had lots of leaders from the north who had no impact on their lives because the roads are still bad and they need good roads and better transport faclities to earn a living and stay alive for their children. Am from the north and believe me the average northern amn prefers to beg and lazy around, the ones that bring food down south are the hard working ones who know that their children deserve a better life and so embark on the suicidal journey.
I think of you with so much more respect, these men are just trying to earn their pay

I like your analysis of the issue and it is very valid. The only problem is that you are looking at it from a very narrow perspective.

The problem of illegal levies is a very serious and wide spread problem, especially here in the southern parts. It was first introduced and perpetuated by various government agencies. First the police collect levies and every checkpoint for any business involving movement of goods from one section of the country to the other.  Sometimes they even collect levies for personal goods, once it is over a certain quantity.

Other agencies like customs and quarantine find excuses to collect their own levies (illegal of course). Then the various local governments get a bit innovative and introduce all kinds of levies.  (I have paid local government levies just for moving tiles from Orile-Coker to Ajah)
So i do not like your sensationalizing  the issue. Levies are collected from people irrespective of tribe, tongue or religion. The blame should be put squarely at the foot of the federal government who turn a blind eye to the illegalities going on, especially its own agencies.

Another thing i have problem with is the timing of the threat. Why is it at this time, that there is power struggle between North and south, that the remember the injustice of paying levies in the south, Levies they had been paying for more than 20 years. Then even if they want to issue threats, they are issuing it to the wrong quarters. They should issues threats to the Federal government concerning the bad roads and illegal levies as done by Oil tanker drivers and not to southerners as a whole.

MyJoe:
They are of value, very high value. But they are not life, since they are individually incapable of growing to become a sentient human.

who told you that an egg in incapable of growing to become a sentient human? have you never heard of cloning, whereby a sperm is not required. The genetic material of the woman is stripped up one of her cells and inserted in to the egg and it grows up to be a fetus.

MyJoe:
An egg does not equal a fertilised one. Life begins once fertilisation has taken place.
What you seem to be asking for is a world where there are no consequences to wanton s[i]e[/i]x and abortion, that is, a moral state of nature where reckless s[i]e[/i]x and abortion reign. I would be very circumspect about such a world since the boundary is bound to be extended.

So you mean that the sperm and the egg are not alive, so individually they can be wasted and are of little value, but once they meet as per fertilization, they become "alive" and very valuable.

What consequences are u proposing for wanton s.ex and abortion and consequences for who? the baby, the mother or father?

If you want to know a world where reckless "s.ex and abortion" reign, then you need to go to Scandinavian countries - Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. Then come back and compare our moral state of nature and theirs.
Oh before i forget Prostitutio.n is also legal in those counties.

Krayola:
@wirinet,  wetin do my analogy? I go blow u o 

I beg no blow me, as i no get power o!

The problem with your analogy is that the homeless person did not stray into your house as a result of your unlocked doors.  na you go drag am in because you wan enjoy watin he get for hand. Now after you enjoy am, you come tell am to leave, but him no gree. Him say na for your house him go die put.  So now you would need to use drastic measures to get him out, especially if you are not ready to share your house and take care of the guest.

I do not accept the argument that  a week old foetus, being a living thing must be allowed to develop into a baby, even if the mother categorically does not want it. It should be noted that an average woman shreds an egg every month for about 30 odd years, giving us a total of 360 eggs. So if we have improved abortion methods whereby a woman' womb is unaffected, a woman can invariably get pregnant every month. The major problem is that most back street abortion procedures damage the womb each time a woman undergoes abortion and so the womb is easily damages after a few of such abortions. Which would then become a problem in the future when the woman needs to have a baby.

What i am saying is that we need to tacking Abortion and its related problems comprehensively and realistically, instead of our present approach of sticking our heads in the sand and wishing the problems away, meanwhile the  continues to compound.

MyJoe:
Your analogy is way off. But to answer your question first, Nope.

“If you no fit hold body, use a condom,” goes the common advert. Now if I move into a new town and everyone tells me not to leave my windows open at night as homeless people in that town are fund sneaking in I will be well served to listen. If I don’t and they sneak in the first thing people will say is, “But you were warned.” That does not give the intruder a right to live in my house.

The intruder came uninvited – my inadvertence in leaving my window open not having served as an invitation. The foetus, on the other hand, came in wielding a gold-plated IV. intimacy is an intention to have a child – yeah, that’s how babies are made. In the case of a breaking condom the onus was on the parties to ensure that did not happen. Terminating that pregnancy would be like turning out my invited guest in the middle of the night at winter on the excuse that I wasn’t really thinking  when I sent out the IVs.

Although i am not in total agreement with krayola's analogy, yours is also way off. Nobody invites an unwanted foetus, in fact it came in uninvited. You are very wrong to claim that s.ex (aka intimacy according to Seun) is an invitation for a baby. Nothing can be more absurd. People have sex in order to satisfy physical and psychological needs  most of the time and only do it to "invite" a baby, very few times in a life time. Unless you are telling me that anytime a couple have s.ex, they must want to have a baby. Then most people would need to have s.ex less than ten times in their life time.

What we should be looking is measures a couple (married or unmarried) can take in order to have s.ex without the fear of having an uninvited guest, and only invite the guest when they really want to. This should include better s.ex education, better prevention mechanisms and techniques,  and if the need be better clinics and qualified doctors to carry out abortion without endangering the woman or her womb, and better legislation to regulate when it is safe and morally acceptable to carry out abortions.

Anything short of these would just be like stop the stop the sun from shining by simply closing your eyes

InesQor:
Thanks wirinet. So does that mean there is no other form of reality besides the one we "normally" observe, and if Jack Robinson should ever experience such notions of another reality, he is being affected by an adverse medical condition and he should see his physician ASAP?

Well, i cannot say that there are no other "realities" beside the one we normally observe. We have not finished observing the "realities" inherent in the universe and we are searching and discovering everyday the nature of these "realities". What i am inferring is based on your description of the isolated experience of Mr Jack Robinson, and i never suggested that he see his physician, since you told me he had just gotten a clean bill of health from his physician. If the experience keeps re-occurring to the point of affecting his normal functioning as a person, then he would need to see his physician ASAP, or are you suggesting he sees an exorcist instead.

InesQor,

There is nothing you have stated above that gives an indication that Mr Robert had experienced any spiritual or metaphysical experience. The symptoms you state still fall within the realm of physical (medical) experience. I have had one or two of such experience where i was walking and perfectly healthy and all of a sudden fell the whole world crumbling and felt my feet no longer obeying my instructions. But after a few minutes rest, everything became normal again and  i i continued with my journey.

I am sure most people have had that experience during their life time, and i do not thing people read spiritual meanings into it. The cause could be one of many medical conditions, it could be a temporary fatigue, or a temporary low sugar level or oxygen level delivered to the brain. It could even be a mild electrical malfunction of the current in the brain. A person without any medical complication usually gets back on his feet within 10 minutes.

The National assembly has be going from one comedy to another, since they commence this legislative session, it is now bordering on Tragi-comedy, because the nation has been suffering greatly as a result.

And i put the blame squarely on the feet of OBJ, it is he who masterminded the weeding out of more competent legislators, many of whom had many years of experience in the legislative process, because opposition to his third term project. We are now left with confused neophyte who have not added any value to the legislative process. As bad as the last legislative session was, with all the intimidation from the executive, i cannot imagine them being helpless in the face of the present Yaradua inflicted debacle afflicting the nation today.

Now the National assembly things that, their job description is primarily to pass resolutions, meanwhile the actual job of lawmaking which is their primary responsibility along with their oversight function had been abandoned. Week in week out we hear of one resolution or the other.
Two weeks ago it was a resolution declaring the vice-president as acting president, when what they should have done is commence impeachment proceedings or direct the executive to provide the medical report of the president.

The traji-comedy continued yesterday with a series of resolutions by the house of representatives. One being that the Edo state governor should reinstate suspended local government chairmen, another condemning the impeachment of the former speaker of Edo House of Assembly and another directing the I.G to investigate alleged signature forgery by some members of the Edo house of assembly.

Governor Adams Oshiomole has rightly rebuffed them that he cannot be intimidated, and is reminding them that he is not bound by their resolution because Resolutions by the National assembly is not a law, it is only an opinions or at best a suggestion. The funniest one is the one directing the IG to investigate a case of forgery. Does the police require a resolution before they can carry out their duty. If that is the case then the house would need a whole lot of resolution, resolution to investigate any crime that occurs in Nigeria before the police can act. Why don't the people that allege that their signature had been forged report officially to the police, for the police to commence investigation. Is that not the way crimes are to be treated in Nigeria?

Please someone to tell the National assembly, that there are very crucial sectors that need laws to be promulgated so as to begin the road to recovery. We need Electoral Laws, FOI Laws, Power sector laws, in fact the List is endless, so they should stop passing useless resolutions and constituting useless investigative panels.